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The Ambassador rolls his eyes at the party's explanation while taking the envelope. "Very well. Thank you for your contributions." He turns around and departs. His guards standing outside ready to escort you out of the embassy. Upon returning to the Grand Lodge, Ambrus Valsin thanks each of you for the excellent work. "I had high hopes for this team from what I was told by Venture Captain Xar'z. You even managed to exceed them. Here is a token of my gratitude, as well as your payment." He hands each of you a token stamped with the House of Thrune’s insignia.
The party retraces their steps through the Embassy, collecting extra servant disguises along the way. Urk even manages to sneak a turkey leg from a platter before getting out the back. Upon reaching the waiting room, the pathfinders collect their stashed gear, and wait several minutes before the door opens and the Ambassador steps into the room. "I am told you have urgent information for me. What is it that needed to interrupt my Gala?"
The party makes their way through the vents back to Zarta's office.
The party splits up to the four labelled cabinets while Gronak wanders the room. After only a few minutes, eaveryone finds something of interest. Gronak finds a map near the front desk that notes what subject each file cabinet pertains to. Wrofyx finds a series of letters written in a halting hand that resembles the paracountess’s. Upon closer examination, however, the letters’ writing differs significantly from the note found in Zarta’s study. The forged letters are addressed to a prominent House Thrune enemy, and in them “Zarta” discusses selling privileged Chelish information supposedly meant to foment political insurrection. Zarta’s personal travel logs, written in her natural hand, are also included. Lugrok finds Zarta’s personal travel logs, written in her natural hand, are also included. While the first entry—a trip to Absalom’s Ivy District—does indeed match with the letters’ indication of Zarta’s supposed treasonous activities, the second entry proves the paracountess was away from Absalom during a time the letters claim she met with her conspirators in the Petal District. Ringo finds various Dossiers on high profile spies and politicians. Ver'Yanion finds Zarta’s prisoner receipt document is largely written in the internal security cipher.
Gronak finds within the stuffing an exquisitely carved jade amulet worth 300 gp. Some of the most interesting locations in the room include the four cabinets immediately adjacent to the table nook (labeled “Internal Security: Receipts,” “Internal Security: Evidence,” “Imperial Security: Dossiers,” or “Imperial Security: Misc.”).
The party thrashes the chair into flying fluff and splinters.
Gronak continues toi struggle while Ringo and Ver'Yanion deal a decent amount of damage on their strikes. Unfortunately.. Urk is still confused about why to hurt furniture. The Chair continues to move at Ringo.
but misses again. Bold May Act
Gronak wades into the fray but unfortunately swings just wide of the moving target. Ver'Yanion saves the inspirational gnome while Lugrok and Urk play distraction. Ringo takes a solid chunk out of the chair with his second hit, as the chair turns on him
but it misses badly. Bold May Act
The gnome successfully plunges his little dagger into the stuffing... he just doesn't know if it did any meaningful damage. Ringo on the other hand manages to strike successfully at the chair's wooden legs and chip it... but not as hard as he thought it should have been. Meanwhile the chair gives the gnome a big bear hug.
and squeezes t he Gnome into unconsciousness before dropping him. KN: Arcana DC8:
This is an Animated Object in the form of a Chair. As a construct, it has a number of immunities to mind affecting, as well as a tendency for Hardness. Bold May Act
Urk makes a confused attack against the chair while Ver'Yanion's Fist flies wide of the melee. Bold May Act
As Wrofyx steps up to the cabinet, the party starts to look around... and the chair behind him suddenly moves towards him
And Wrofyx is hit and tugged into a seating position on the animated chair. Party Initiatives:
Bold May Act
Wrofyx, Gronak and Ringo climb down the staircase into the room, while Ver'Yanion confirms they can get back up to the vent with ease. As Wrofyx steps into the middle near the table, he notices the inner shelves are actually cabinets.
Ver'Yanion succeeds at prying the vent from its fitting...
as it slips away from him, her lunges his fingers to barely grab it before it clatters to the floor. This room is large and square. The walls glow with a gentle blue light, and the air feels unnaturally cool and dry. Shelves line the walls and stand in ranks through the middle of the room, punctuated by a wooden table and ornate chairs. An imposing, unoccupied desk faces the main entrance to the room. On an easel in one of the aisles is a map of the room.
The party deftly maneuvers past the scales, followed by another right at the crown. Ringo believes the dust on your hands and knees indicates no one has been in here in months. The party comes upon a dead with a partial centaur mural. Its bow is pointing to a vent. No obvious movement is seen beyond.
The party follows Ver'Yanion to the left past the Lion. 15 feet later is another junction with the scales of justice to the right, while the left fork is plain wood.
Ver'Yanion begins crawling through the vent. Once in the tunnels, the PCs must crawl along on hands and knees to move through them. Occasional vents punctuate the walls and provide dim light throughout the tunnels. At the first junction, the wall to the left of the fork is adorned with the head of a lion, cut off from whatever mural sustained it in the room below, and the right side of the fork shows an ancient banner unfurling.
as if the gnome's question were magical, the vent pops open from Ver'Yanion's skilled hands. Insive the vent is a valise containing 50 gold pieces, a pouch of magical dust and a magical cloak. further in... this crammed vent leads to a series of old ventilation tunnels. The floor and some of the walls of the tunnels are plain stone or plaster, but in many places the walls and ceiling display pieces of crumbling mosaics, frescos, murals, and bas-relief sculptures. These tunnels are narrow with low ceilings, and tend to be about 3 feet wide and 3 feet tall.
The pathfinders definitely believe the note with numbers is encrypted with a code. The vent remains firmly attached to the wall.
Ver'Yanion thinks he may need to use his tools to jimmy the locks open.
The party takes several precious minutes to thoroughly search the hidden study... Lugrok picks up the sheet of paper on the desk . Wrofyx looks at the vent cover which appears solidly attached to the wall but big enough even for the humans to fit in. There does appear to be a sack hidden inside. Ver'Yanion notices a note on the back of Valsin's picture. Gronak stumbles across some things of interest in the cubbies... a felt bag with three carved tower figurines in the Thassilonian style. There is also a list labeled “SL Operatives” among the myriad papers spilling out of the cubbies.
Wrofyx finds the carving moves just a little now as he swings open the secret door. In contrast to the large and lavish rooms that make up the rest of this side of the embassy, this secret study is cramped, utilitarian, and sparse. Almost all of the room is taken up by a long desk topped by a series of cubbies full of papers and curios. The desk itself is clear except for a piece of paper and a small, framed portrait of Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin with a lipstick kiss-mark on it. The walls of the room are irregular and look as if the room was shoehorned into wasted space between other rooms. Like the rest of the personal chambers, this room is windowless, and is pierced only by the secret door and an air vent in the southern corner.
The party has thoroughly... examined.. the contents of the playroom and the bedroom.
Lugrok searches the room, finding most of it has been cleaned thoroughly and recently. Through the open door to the north... This room seems to be in pristine condition, with little evidence of renovations. The chamber is full of a variety of equipment suggestive of a dungeon or torture chamber. The walls appear to be thickly padded and sustain hooks holding a number of whips, bludgeons, and other instruments of pain. Spaced between large mirrors are several extremely obscene paintings. Among the paintings on the wall is a rather blasphemous portrait of Sarenrae in a compromising position with two succubi.
The party slowly but surely took care of business.
while Ver'Yanion finally shakes the last of the poison.
Ver'Yanion continues to suffer the effects of the poison as Gronak gets a solid swing on the imp.
The imp does its best to sneak into range of the rogue...
and it manages to dodge everyone and stick its stinger.... into the wood carving behind Ver'Yanion...
- Round 3 - Bold may act!
Lugrok and Ringo ineffectually swing at the remaining Imp.
- Round 2 - Bold may act!
Ver'Yanion follows the good advice of the bard and lays a brutal strike on the imp in front of him. Gronak on the other hand, strikes the wall paper. Both Imps converge on the now dangerous foe, and Ver'Yanion takes a swing at the first bugger to enter his square, Ringo also targets it.
Ringo hits it for a tiny amount of damage as it stabs at Ver'Yanion
as the little bugger makes him feel it, the second one tries to dodge past Lugrok, Urk and Gronak!
The bugger starts laughing as Gronak gets off a surprise swing!
- Round 2 - Bold may act!
The party members spring into action! Flailing ineffectually at the imps. - Round 1 - Bold may act!
One of the imps follows Ver'Yanion to sting him again...
His longsword slices into the imp dealing some damage... but sees the wound is healing already. and the imp misses. The other imp grins at the Gnome and attacks him
Ver'Yanion shakes off his earlier poison as the gnome succumbs to it. - Round 1 - Bold may act!
Wrofyx sees no magic auras... Ver'Yanion starts poking and prodding the keyhole with his tools. He smiles as the lock suddenly clicks.... and two Imps appear stabbing him for his troubles!
Party Initiatives:
KN: Planes dc 7:
They appear to be Imps... LE Tiny outsider KN: Planes dc 12:
Imps are tiny evil, extraplanar, lawful devils that inject poison with their stingers, heal very quickly and have damage reduction good/silver - Round 1 - Bold may act!
While examining the woodcutting reveals that the Asmodean star hanging from the nymph’s neck is actually a keyhole.
This extravagant bedchamber is dominated by a massive four-poster bed that takes up half the room. Red-varnished wardrobes and vanities complement the black silk sheets on the bed, which appears to be in the process of being dismantled. The walls of the room have been stripped of the portraits that once hung there, faint outlines of the art pieces being all that remain. The exception to this is the eastern wall, which is occupied by an elaborate woodcutting depicting but a single nymph in a seductive pose, garbed in nothing but a necklace bearing an amulet shaped like the Asmodean star.
Lugrok and Ringo find a crumpled and roughly folded canvass with a full-length artistic rendition of Zarta in nothing more than a long red ribbon, along with several other pieces of art apparently considered too lascivious to remain. The bucket holding open the door is full of a mixture of turpentine and varnish.
Ver'Yanion finds the key is on the chain. The party slips in and closes the door behind them. The furniture in this luxurious sitting room is covered by drop-cloths, and buckets of paint sit against walls where erotic murals are in the process of being replaced by a neutral institutional taupe. An enormously tall gilt frame leans against the wall. A door to the east leads to a hallway, while to the southwest a door is propped open by a bucket and displays the half-dissolved inscription, “Where Love Comes to Die.”
The party is able to time their approach to the door, but find it locked.
The party slips across the hallway to find another vacant servant's quarters. They continue to the next door and find an extremely busy hallway - servants going back and forth working the Gala. Perception dc12:
Every servant going back and forth has a platter or tray in their hands. Perception DC 15: The Door to the west is not in use by servants - you think you can time your approach between servants passing by.
Ver'Yanion peeks back out to the hallway, which remains deserted. He checks around the corner for a minute before checking back with the group.
The party moves into the room.
Door is unlocked and appears safe to open. Scattered servants’ outfits hang over the edges of bedposts in this sparsely furnished private quarters.
Ver'Yanion succeeds in casually walking through with a platter while the party sneaks through.. until ringo accidently trips one of the servants who barely manages to hang on to their platter. after a glare and a quick scolding, he manages to talk his way out of trouble and get out super quickly.
Ver'Yanion sneaks through the door, and closes it behind Ringo as he finally escapes. This narrow hallway grants access to the servants’ quarters. The two ends of the hallway connect to the western edge of the south gallery and to the staging area, respectively. The hallway is deserted as all hands are on deck for the gala.
Ver'Yanion succesfully swipes a platter.
Ver'Yanion believes he saw enough options for food and wine trays to get a disguise bonus but would suffer a stealth malus. There did not appear to be uniforms or coats in the room.
The party carefully makes its way across the garden, darting from bush to bush. At one moment, it seems like the gnome tripped and snapped a large branch... a party goer on the balcony looked over the garden confused as the party held its breath... but she quickly became bored and returned to her conversation. As everyone arrives at the door, Ver'Yanion opens the door a sliver after searching it. What likely used to be a side chapel is now in use as a staging area for the gala. Magnificent stained-glass windows and vaulted ceilings look down on the racks of platters, dishes, wine bottles, and glasses stacked neatly on long wooden tables. This area is a hive of activity. The doors to the garden and to the servants’ passage aren’t seeing much use but the double doors to the south gallery are constantly opening and closing as platters of hors d’oeuvres and other gala necessities are shuttled through to the garden or ballroom.
Ver'Yanion slowly makes his way across the garden while the party watches. You are pretty sure he is avoiding attention with ease.
These gardens shine in the moonlight, but dark shadows hug the lower reaches of the bushes, topiary, and trees. Two marble staircases wrap around a balcony where revelers are silhouetted against the light shining from the ballroom’s stained-glass windows. A tall wrought-iron fence divides the garden from the city beyond and below. Small servant’s doors enter the garden from the north and the south.
Both doors are unlocked. Ver'Yanion doesn't hear anything... or maybe that was the sound of leaves swaying in the breeze? Ringo is pretty sure he hears the sounds of swearing and pots banging. |
