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The King listens closely as you each speak, giving a small nod of acknowledgement to Kazador then turning to Count Aral and Viscount Turick for confirmation. They both confirm, speaking highly of how you have proved yourselves as investigators in matters of extreme sensitivity.

When the king turns to Beaumont, the Duke sits straighter in his ornate chair, takes a deep breath, and begins "Your grace, I fear I must report crimes of the utmost treason. These so-called investigators broke into my home, assaulted myself and my staff, kidnapped me from the grounds of my own home, and kept me bound and unconscious for an indeterminate period. Such crimes against any member of your council must be considered to high treason."

The Duke looks extraordinarily surprised and narrows his eyes at you "Assassins! Kidnappers! Treason! Guard, arrest them!" The king's guard is un-surprised by this outburst and calm the Duke, a captain responding "Have no fear, my Grace. The King has sworn to sort this matter out himself in a private court session. Any guilty parties will answer to royal justice soon enough." The Duke takes a deep breath and composes himself with supreme confidence written across his face, nodding and rising to walk with ramrod posture.

The guards take all of your weapons and detectably magic items then lead you into a large, wood-paneled room with a long table. Four men and women wearing gray cloaks stand behind the young man seated at the head of the table. He wears an exquisitely tailored purple robe and a thin circlet of gold on his head. Blue eyes pierce you all as you enter the room and are shown to seats. You see that Count Aral is already seated in the room. Viscount Turick and Duke Beaumont are shown to seats while you are shown where to stand.

Wonderful summary, Mel. Take a hero point for encapsulating this journey so well.

I will add that, yes, Kazador was the closest thing to an adventurer before the campaign. But he was a very broken man with little to no purpose. So he was close to being a commoner in terms of morale vs. grand challenges, if not in ability.

Counting auto-aids and the appropriate difficulty here, that succeeds.

The guard captain swallows and nods, waving you in and signaling to the other guards in shiny armor. Then she heads inside ahead of you to bring word to the king.

You are led into the palace and met by more guards and a wizard in a room where the wizard clearly casts Detect Magic on you while the guards search you for weapons and give you written receipts for everything you leave with them. Another guard captain steps forward and gestures to the Duke "The king has said that the Duke is to come before the court conscious and unbound."

Onward!

When you are ready, you ride in a carriage with Viscount Turick to the King's castle in Bannerhold, Duke Beaumont dressed in fine clothes provided by Turick but still bound and unconscious. When you get to the palace gates with Turick's entourage, the guard captain who Turick addresses is quite surprised. "You have the Duke prisoner and request and audience with the king? This is highly irregular." The Viscount explains that there is a great deal of evidence he would present to the king and mentions your group as having obtained the evidence. One of you speaks up...

Diplomacy check to persuade the guard captain. You guys are extremely likely to be getting the royal audience either way. But the manner in which the Duke arrives, you arrive, etc. and the first words the guard captain relays to the King will be influenced by this. Others may aid with at least a little RPed speech.

Hal? And any further aid on disguise checks or other prep?

Count Aral pens back "Very good. I am arriving in Bannerhold now. I expect I will have to bring all my remaining influence to bear for the hearing to be anything but a self-righteous outburst by the king's favorite Duke. But I will ensure you are heard."

Hooray for good old book of puzzles.

Hmm... I guess you don't quite have enough help to take 20. I was thinking the Viscount's staff could help with your disguise check but that would require revealing your race to them which would be... a choice!

Disguise aid checks are fine. Taking 20 is also fine since you have a significant amount of time and assistance around.

Agreed on your interpretation of Greater Magic Aura, Mel.

Correct, the weapons will be taken from you. Even a staff. This isn't the Golden Hall of Meduseld.

Yes suppressed auras will likely work. The duke regularly wore magic items with magic aura suppressing their auras, after all.

If you want Turion to cast anything to help you be sneaky or prepare, that's fine. Otherwise, he can just stay at the Viscount's I suppose.

Turick will have you briefed.

Turick raises an eyebrow at all of Beaumont's hidden gear and nods. "How interesting..." He turns to Hal. "My master of etiquette will brief you while my staff can provide you with magical cleaning and new clothes, if you like. I will warn you that magic of any sort in the king's presence will not be allowed..." He gestures to Mel's and Hal's magic items for changing their appearance. "...knowingly" he says meaningfully, gesturing now to the Duke's items and giving a small, half-wink.

You are whisked away for the Viscount's staff to prepare you.

Though you can also get away to prepare yourself some if you like, they will only take 30 minutes of the two hours.

The Master of Etiquette is a woman with iron gray hair and stern lines, wearing an impeccable smooth dress and ramrod posture. She sighs at the goal of educating you in thirty minutes but does her best, pointing out the basics of being presentable then emphasizing the rules of engaging with royalty. "Bow when you enter the king's presence. No sudden movements, no magic in the king's presence, only speak when directly asked a question, do not make eye contact with the king unless he speaks to you then break eye contact when he does. If you are speaking to the king in response to a question from him, address him as Your Grace." The rest of the time flies by in a bustle of preparation.

Any specific questions for Turick, the Master of Etiquette, or special preparations?

Turick's eyes widen as the litany of offenses grow and then he personally moves forward to lift the Duke's head and sees his face. He pales and nods. "This is it, then. We will either stamp out corruption in the Council for a generation or hang."

He turns to the captain of his guard and begins issuing orders. The evidence and prisoner are soon whisked away for safe-keeping, though you are consulted on the security arrangements and able to check on them as you like.

An hour later, you meet the Viscount in his study. He looks excited and harried, his hair disheveled. "I have arranged an audience with the king in two hours. A rider says that Count Aral will arrive in Bannerhold in one hour. He will also attend the audience. We must prepare to present the evidence to the king. Beaumont has a great deal of influence and a platinum tongue. He will try to find a way to wiggle out from under the weight of your evidence. I would greatly appreciate it if you would attend the audience to testify. Without you, the evidence will be worth significantly less."

Royal audience social combat, though not via ultimate intrigue rules, is coming up. This is your warning to prep as you can.

You arrive at Turick's and are checked carefully by his security. When you each provide the proper passwords, you are brought to the Viscount's presence. He raises an eyebrow. "I hear you have some significant news and..." he glances at the bound and gagged man in plain clothes that Kazador is carrying. "Who is that?"

I see! The shipment of weapons belonged to Iustia and was intercepted by "pirates" that were actually Concordat agents. Beaumont tipped Faedi off to the route and timing of the shipment so she could help organize the top secret operation to grab the weapons, boosting her political stock in the higher, inner circles of the Concordat.

You decode the passwords to both Books of Whispers and get a trove of treasonous information. It takes a while to piece everything together but you get plenty to execute the Duke, if the King agrees and believes you. Many of the things in this book clearly explain how the Duke has managed to APPEAR so helpful to the interests of Iustia. Some samples of his particularly treasonous activities:

1. The Duke told Faedi when troops were moved from a border outpost, resulting in a successful Concordat raid on the empty outpost.

2. Faedi told the Duke of the Concordat's top-secret manipulation of orcs to attack a small village in the Bishopric of Helm. He used this information to appear uncannily well-informed to the ambassador from Helm to Iustia.

3. The Duke told Faedi about a shipment of weapons down the western coast of Iustia that was intercepted by "pirates" actually flying a false flag operation for the Concordat, greatly raising Faedi's stock in the Concordat.

Mel guesses "eagle" correctly!

You currently know about the four words of import:
1: C _ u _ _ with an "r" somewhere but not 3rd or 5th. There is no "u" 2nd. "o" somewhere but not 3rd. "t" somewhere but not 2nd. hnksaeglyidmpfb
2: S p e a r
3: C h i l d
4: E a g l e there is no "a" 3rd. rysuchnkildtompfb

Remaining guesses: 3/11

Indeed double letters are handled in an annoying way. IF that has come up here, I would have handled it the way Wordle does. Example:

If the word was CREEK and you guessed DEALS, you would be told there is an E somewhere but not 2nd. If you guessed SEVEN, you would be told the E at 4th is correct and receive no hint that there was another E somewhere else.

Hal guesses Fable and then Mel guesses Spear. More arcane resonance arises!

You currently know about the four words of import:
1: C _ u _ _ with an "r" somewhere but not 3rd or 5th. There is no "u" 2nd. "o" somewhere but not 3rd. "t" somewhere but not 2nd. hnksaelyidmpfb
2: S p e a r
3: C h i l d
4: _ a _ l e there is no "a" 3rd. rysuchnkildtompfb

Remaining guesses: 4/11. With only four guesses remaining and a significant amount of progress achieved, things are coming to a critical point.

Reminder in case it's unclear, your guesses are applied to all words simultaneously to help you get information fast enough. This would be statistically impossible to do in 11 guesses otherwise.

Hal attemps "Stomp" and the book quivers as Hal does more divining.

You currently know about the four words of import:
1: C _ u _ _ with an "r" somewhere but not third. There is no "u" 2nd. "o" somewhere but not 3rd. "t" somewhere but not 2nd. hnksaelyidmp
2: S _ _ _ _ with an "a" somewhere but not 2nd, an "e" somewhere but not 5th, and an "r" somewhere but not 3rd. "p" somewhere but not 5th. uchnklyidtom
3: C h i l d
4: _ a _ l e rysuchnkildtomp

Remaining guesses: 6/11.

Mel attemps "Child" and more, stronger arcane resonance results.

You currently know about the four words of import:
1: C _ u _ _ with an "r" somewhere but not third. There is no "u" 2nd. hnksaelyid
2: S _ _ _ _ with an "a" somewhere but not 2nd, an "e" somewhere but not 5th, and an "r" somewhere but not 3rd. uchnklyid
3: C h i l d
4: _ a _ l e rysuchnkild

Remaining guesses: 7/11.

Does Hal guess "Court" now?

Kaz attempts "Curly" and more arcane resonance results.

You currently know about the four words of import:
1: C _ u _ _ with an "r" somewhere but not third. There is no "u" 2nd. hnksaely
2: S _ _ _ _ with an "a" somewhere but not 2nd, an "e" somewhere but not 5th, and an "r" somewhere but not 3rd. uchnkly
3: C h _ l _ with no "c" 4th. rysauenk
4: _ a _ l e rysuchnk

Remaining guesses: 8/11.

Is "steal" the next guess? I just want to be sure to resolve one at a time.

It is both a totally legal guess and a fairly strategic guess.

More arcane resonance is felt!

You currently know about the four words of import:
1: C _ u _ _ hnksae
2: S _ _ _ _ with an "a" somewhere but not 2nd, an "e" somewhere but not 5th, uchnk
3: C h _ _ _ with a "c" somewhere but not 4th. sauenk
4: _ a _ _ e suchnk

Remaining guesses: 9/11.

Hal detects some magical resonance!

You currently know about the four words of import:
1: _ _ u _ _ with a "c" somewhere but not 4th. sae
2: S _ _ _ _ with an "a" somewhere but not 2nd, an "e" somewhere but not 5th, uc
3: _ _ _ _ _ with a "c" somewhere but not 4th. saue
4: _ a _ _ e suc

Remaining guesses: 10/11.

It is Wordle but each of the 11 guesses applies to all words at the same time. There is a special name for this version of the game though. ;) All of the words are five letters long.

If, for example, the words were Seven, Kings, Fiend, Dodge and you guessed Broad, I would update the board I am posting to something like

Word 1: broad
Word 2: broad
Word 3: _ _ _ _ d broa
Word 4: _ _ _ _ _ but there is a d (not 5th) and an o (not 3rd) bra

I can't format it on here as well as the dedicated website does, of course, but the information is there for you.

Hal disarms the trap on the black book soon enough! Able to search through the book without being attacked, you realize that there are only so many words that could be the reminder for his book of whispers, the password to it, the reminder for Faedi's book of whispers, and the password to that. Using some extreme magical hacking skills, you are able to try out specific words and test for arcane resonance with some of the letters.

Mini-game time to hack this puzzle! 1/10 of a hero point to whoever knows the official name of this mini-game. It's like Wordle except there are four words you are trying to guess. Any guess is applied to all four words, giving you information on all of them. You have 11 guesses to get all four words.

You currently know about the four words of import:
1: Nothing
2: Nothing
3: Nothing
4: Nothing

Remaining guesses: 11/11.

Anyone who can disable magical traps may attempt to disable it with disable device. Alternatively, one could try to brute force it with dispel magic or the like.

Hal determines a LOT of new information. The book is indeed protected by a magical trap that forces anyone who attempts to open it to shake off the book's magic or be mentally trapped in their worst fear, screaming and disabled to alert anyone nearby. That is the only magic on the Duke's little black book of passwords.

Additionally, the Duke has plenty of magical items on him that do not detect as magical due to the Magic Aura spell.

Headband of mental perfection +4, Belt of physical perfection +4, Smuggler's Collapsible Robe but it looks nice instead of terrible, Major Burglar Boots, Necklace of Fireballs type VII, four summoner potions of Dimension Door.

I won't require Hal's will save vs the book because he did not try to open it, as far as I can tell. He only tried to ID it.

Yes please go ahead and assume you have an identify then sort it out afterwards.

Yes Hal. Please proceed with some decision on the book.

Identify is the main spell I know of that explicitly gives a chance to beat magic aura.

Yes to both questions, Hal, corroborating what Mel said.

I'm curious to see what aces Hal has up his sleeve to examine/disarm the trap on the book. The trap does make it hard for it to be examined as evidence.

Looking through the pairs of words with incredible code-breaking abilities, Turion determines that each pair is a reference to one of the Duke's password-protected possessions and a reminder of what the password is for that possession. With further work and help, he may be able to determine which pairing refers to the secret letters to the Elven Concordat.

The Count writes back "Excellent. If you can show treasonous letters in the Duke's handwriting, that will be sufficient for truth-telling magic to be brought to bear if the Viscount and myself throw all of our political clout behind the effort. I am preparing to come to Bannerhold immediately. I should arrive within 12 hours."

You can go ahead and wake up, Hal.

Turion detects no magic on the book. However, when he opens it...

Linuistics for Turion.

Tears to wine is still good. It's only been one hour since it was cast.

Mel finds several lockpicks and small blades hidden in the Duke's hair and the lining of several of his garments. She also finds many scrolls, gems, and what appear to be potions but none of them detect as magical!

I was curious to see how sympathetic you guys were to Rogers wanting to take his cat into witness protection with him. Turns out, very sympathetic. Good on yinz.

Hal... drives? Rogers back to his home to grab a few possessions and get his cat while the rest of you do... something... with the unconscious Duke.

You sneak back out into the sewers without any further trouble.

You guys are good to leave now. It's just a matter of whether you want to do anything else here.

You get down to the basement without being spotted and without, you think, being heard!

I love the thought experiment of how enchantment could be used for good irl. I also think if we were voting on whether enchantment magic were real, I would still vote "no". I would probably vote that way on most magic...

I would like a basic climb check from each person carrying an unconscious person. The DC is not high but it's also non-trivial. Ant Haul will give a +4 circumstance here.

"The latter is to reflect Mel's time as Eugenia Crixton, an episode over which she will feel guilt till her dying day."

Ah yes. Just what we need for Mel. More trauma and guilt... My goodness playing an adventurer with a real conscience has been rough for Tinalles.

Geoffrey replies "Well I will manage without everything else if I can bring my cat. He is at my tenement a few blocks from here."

Also, on that note, everyone may level up to 11 for the final level-up of this campaign.

Possessed Geof thinks back "Given what just happened, the sky is going to fall. I want to be in another country."