"Hmmm... Raslo. Thats the name of that half-orc who works for Henrid Pratchett. I sold the property for the Dreaming Palace to Pratchett. As part of the transaction, I saw some of his early architectural drawings. They always struck me as eccentric and remarkably inefficient, with lots of extraneous chambers and nothing properly standardized. To each their own I suppose. I haven't seen the man nor been to the location since we finalized the deal and I was paid my commission." she responds
Thanks for the information. I have heard some stories about the place being scary and people not returning but I tend to not believe those kinds of stories. What do you think?
"I don't traffic in rumors, just facts." She responds. "I've told you all I know as fact."
Murals of impossibly high mountains and endless forests cover the walls here, while marble sculptures of winged snake-women curl around pillars in the corners. On one side of the room, a live griffon is chained to an artificial nest, glaring at patrons and snapping at tossed scraps, while waitstaff dressed as Calistrian clergy maintain a careful distance.
The rooms patron is Ahmoset, a dark skinned male dwarf. The rooms challenge is to approach the griffon and place your head inside the beast’s mouth.
Taking a little time to feel out the room and finally work up his courage to approach the predatory beast, Mason will attempt the challenge.
Aeric sees the fantastic display Mason put on for the patrons of the room. With a small smile and nod of his head, he sits back down with his drink.
Not going to better that performance.
Ahmoset, clad in a patchwork set of armor bearing pieces from all across the globe, claps his hands and says, "Masterfully done, my friend. What can a humble man, such as myself, do for you?" in a thick Osiriani accent.
”Oh no. More like, what can we do for you? This trip though the planes has been wonderful tonight, but I fear, many of our hosts have seen their share of problems as of late. Have you anything pressing that might need the help of an outsider? “
"Problems? Me? No my friend, no. I live a charmed life. I know not, of these problems you speak. Who has been having problems? "
Mason glances towards the other "planes".
"Oh, you know. People like to talk. A few of the other residents seem to be having issues with a place called the Dreaming Palace. Some say it's scary. Others say it's scaring off business. No one really has told the full story of the place. Makes me think there might be something worthwhile hiding inside its walls."
The dwarf contemplates for a moment then says, "One thing you might find within the walls of the Dreaming Palace is an ochre jelly. The owner had me procure one. And odd thing for a hotel, to be sure. He said it was for a unique garbage and sewage disposal system. Personally, I didn't care and asked no questions. I collected my pay and haven't really thought if it since."
The walls of this well-lit room are painted with blue skies and bright, fluffy clouds, except for the wall behind the bar, which portrays an enormous mountain. Waitstaff drift between the tables wearing revealing white robes and fake feathered wings. A one-foot-high round stone pedestal stands in one corner.
The rooms patron is a male human named Reginald. The rooms challenge is to publicly confess a sin or crime while standing atop the Pillar of Truth—a pedestal enchanted with a zone of truth spell. A Diplomacy or Percormance check will be required to sufficiently win over the crowd to impress Reginald enough to gain an audience. Particularly juicy transgressions might garner a bonus to your roll.
Roscoe would want to gather information in the room first.
Roscoe will then move to the top of the Pillar of Truth and say,
I have lied and said I was unable to help someone when they needed healing but then turned around and helped someone because they had money to pay me. Then later I hear that the person that I declined to help had died.
Reginald listens intently to Roscoes admission, " Ah yes the sin of greed. Whom among us can say we haven't felt its sting? Be unburdened from it with your confession. You are forgiven in the Kingdom of Heaven." He smiles and welcomes the halfling over with a gesture.
Roscoe will head over to Reginald and say, It feels good to get that off my chest and glad to be forgiven. I do have a question for you though. Have you heard about people going missing in the Dreaming Palace. To me it just sounds like it's a crazy rumor or people teying to make the place scarier than what it is but just want to make sure.
"Oh! Missing persons? How positively... dreadful." the man say, clearly perking up at the news. "You know, these sort of stories play well in my newspaper. And the exposure helps bring potential witnesses out of the woodwork. Who's missing?"
Unfortunately I do not have any names. Do you happen to know anything about this Dreaming Palace or anyone by the names of Raslo or Henrid Pratchett? Just trying to learn more information about them.
"Oh come now, this is a place of confession and I know you're holding back details. Spill, spill. My readers across Absalom want to know. And if there's a killer on the loose they deserve to know. Hmmm... yes its probably a serial killer. Stalking the streets, snatching people, never to be seen again. I'm sure there's some commonality between the victims. We need to get this in print... so people can protect themselves, yeah."
I can tell you but you have to let me in on any information that you know. I had heard that a number of sex workers have gone missing. I do not know an exact number but it was enough have someone start to ask around.
"I can see the headlines now. 'Deranged killer doles out justice to immoral sex workers.' But there's more to it than that isn't there? You're still holding back." he says confidently, raising one eye brow and staring expectantly at Roscoe.
A bit perhaps Roscoe will give a bit of a smirk But I can't be the only one giving information. How about a bit of an exchange, you give me some and I give you some more.
"Hmm.. I have enough to go on. Bored now. You may leave." and Reginald shooes the agents away.
Roscoe will just shrug and look at his friends, On to the next room then.
Strolling into the next room, Mason chats up the other patrons.
Red lanterns drench this room in bloody light, illuminating walls painted with fiery pits and rocky crags. All of the tables here are inset into waist-high pits in the floor, and the bartender stands in their own bottle-lined pit in the center, sporting either a tiefling’s brow-horns or a set of remarkable fakes. Elaborate torture devices stand at the ready all around the room.
The room patron is none other than the proprietor, Jeremin Hoff, a human male of large and imposing stature. He wears gaudy amount of jewelry and has the front if his shirt open enough to reveal a large tattoo of the Eye of Aroden on his chest.
The room challenge is consent to be tortured with “butterfly boots.” As the owner of the House of the Planes, Hoff enjoys showing off new and unusual torture devices, especially if he’s operating them himself on willing subjects. Imported from Tian Xia, the butterfly boots method involves lying down and putting one’s bare feet inside an apparatus of wooden boards. When an affixed rope is pulled, the boards rapidly close, painfully smacking the feet and ankles in a motion like the flapping of butterfly wings. A character who consents to let Hoff torture them in this manner must succeed at a Fortitude save to avoid taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage and earn the full circumstance bonus to Diplomacy, though if they fail they still gain a partial circumstance bonus for attempting it.
Roscoe will walk up and will consent to the torture. Roscoe will lie down and doesn't have to remove his shoes since he is already barefoot.
Towerr will stride up to the contraption after Roscoe's valiant attempt. "Pain is but an obstacle of the mind. One must simply overcome it to achieve one's goals, and I intend to do just that."
Once Roscoe exits the torture device, Towerr will take his place. "You may proceed."
Mason considers for a moment, but agrees to give the device a shot.
Roscoe willingly enters the contraption and howls in pain, much to the delight of Hoff and the onlookers.
Towerr approaches and Hoff sizes him up. "Do you even feel pain?" he asks.
While awaiting Towerr's response, Mason decides to give it a go. Despite the Bludgeoning damage, Mason bites his lip and doesn't cry out. Hoff nods his approval.
Towerr gives a metallic chuckle to Hoff. "Don't let this metal exterior fool you, I indeed feel pain though I do a decent job of not letting it show. It also helps not having distinct facial features to give such information away. To aid in your belief, all I can imagine is my foot as a tin can possibly being crushed in your contraption. Such a thought makes me shutter inside. Will that likely happen? Probably not, but the thought remains. I just choose to not let it show... if I can help it. Screeching metal and stone is not the most appealing sound. Haha!"
Satisfied with Towerr's answer, Hoff allows him into the machine. For a brief moment Towerr is surprised by the pain and thinks it will break his resolve, but reaching deeper the automaton masters the internal fortiitude needed to keep his reactions in check.
After Roscoe gets out of the contraption he will walk a little softly at first over to Hoff.
Nice contraption there, didn't hurt one bit. Roscoe will give a bit of a chuckle, I was wondering if you know anything about some missing workers of the Dragonfly Pagoda. I heard you were the person to talk to in order to locate them.
Mason clears his throat. "Odd way to ask, but yes, some of the workers from the Pagoda project have run off or something. Heard you were the one that got em hired, figured maybe you might know how to find them, so we can wrangle them back up and get em back to work."
"Sure they came to me. Complaining about their lodgings. I wanted to make things right so I offered to pay for better out of my own pocket. Set them up in the Dreaming Palace. After that business was done I haven't seen them. Thats what you get for importing foreign workers. My people wouldn't have abandoned the job when it half finished." Hoff responds.
We have heard some kinda crazy stories about the Dreaming Palace being creepy and people who go there don't come back. Have you heard anything about that?
When Towerr gets off the contraption, "Phew... for a moment there I thought I was going to crumple from the pressure." Towerr laughs off the pain, maintaining composure.
"If I knew anything like that, why would I send those folks to go stay there?" Hoff responds, looking a bit perplexed by the question. "Listen... the three of you grilling me about these folks feels a bit like an interrogation. Y'all keep asking me the same damned questions. I told you what I know. Why are you so interested in these folks? You aren't cops are ya? If you are you have to tell me." he says, his irritation starting to show.
I know you wouldn't send people there if you would of known beforehand, I didn't mean to offend. No im not a cop, I have been asked by a friend of the workers why they haven't been seen. Thank you for the information, it's appreciated. Roscoe will give him a nod and walk away, headed towards the last area.
"So you gonna answer my question quiz master? You guys cops or not?" he asks again, his irritation growing. He raises a hand and snaps his fingers. With that gesture some of the many guards walking g around with clubs, wearing planes themed masks, and looking quite formidable look to their boss at his signal.
No I'm not a damn cop. I have been asked to see what happened by a friend of the workers. That's it.
"B*%!+!%!! Cops aren't allowed here on or off duty! Everyone take a good look at these sneaky cops and feel free to do whatever you want to them once they're outta my establishment!" he roars. Heads turn from all angles with dirty, angry looks. Some make midly threatening gestures. "See these a#&&&~*s out!" he orders.
Any and all attempts to resist or over power the guards are quickly realized to be futile. The agents are picked up, bodily, by enough guards to overwhelm them and shortly tossed out a side door into an alley, unceremoniously on their rears.
Well that's nice Roscoe will stand up and brush himself off. No offense but Towerr next time don't ask the exact same questions that Mason and I are asking. But we should check in with Sargeant Ollo and let him know about out lead with the Dreaming Palace. Just so he knows what we found and where we are going in case we fail.
Towerr pointedly looks at Roscoe, "Now now short one, there's no need for this short temper of yours. All I can say is if you're going to tell a lie, best make it believable or not lie at all. You'd also best take care of that foot before we start running, rather than run your mouth. I do say I don't believe I've ever heard such a high pitched tone of squeal come from a man before, I'm quite impressed!"
Towerr stands up and brushes himself off, "Besides, I'm rather fond of not being in there any longer."
First thing, don't call me short. Second my foot is fine, been running around barefoot for over 30 years a little slap isn't going to kill me. Let's head to Sarg to fill him in. Roscoe will glare at Towerr before being on our way.
Dusting off, Mason shrugs.
”Let’s get out of this place before we find ourselves in worse trouble.”
It’s a good thing I picked human for this. Was hoping to keep my normal form for some of these jaunts.
With a remorseful tone, "Ah, I do believe I may not have picked the most correct words in what was supposed to come off as a lighthearted poke at you to lighten the current mood, Roscoe. My apologies if anything I said was taken in offense for it was not implied to be. I'll restrain myself from referring you by your stature in the future as well as from commenting on your feet. Though I am a little concerned if they suffered any internal damage from the contraption. I could mend them for you if you would wish. Lastly, as for the comment on your voice, I am rather impressed on your ranged. Have you ever considered singing at taverns? I'd believe you would be great at it!" Towerr finishes with a boastful tone, attempting to bring up the mood.
No problem Towerr, I appreciate the apology. My stature is something that people have always made comments about so it does bother me a bit and was upset with the whole being thrown out part. The feet comment don't bother me and us halflings are used to be barefoot all the time. Maybe I should try out singing but I might need a few pints first. Roscoe will chuckle as we head out.
The agents make their way back to the Edgewatch precinct. With the distinct impression they may have just angered some powerful enemies they keep a close watch on their surroundings.
Upon their return Sgt Ollo greats them. "Welcome back lads. What'd you learn?"