War for the Crown Gameplay Part 1

"Mhm. It's safe for us to check that door," Sarina notes, as Derea returns from her investigation there. "I could have her check the other now, or we can see if there's another door past this one."

Adelaide nods, and with assent from the others, they go to investigate in the direction Derea scouted in. A wooden counter juts from the northwest corner of this thirty-foot-by-thirty-foot chamber. Open cabinets of dusty liquor bottles stand behind the bar, while one cabinet remains tightly sealed with a visible lock. Three tables with adjacent chairs fill much of the room. Portraits of posing nobles and historical scenes adorn the walls, all faded with age. Doors exit to the south and east.

The young noblewoman considers the lock. ”I wonder if breaking into this would be a poor idea,” she muses. ”It feels a little like a bad idea, but it’s rather unsettling not to know where we are.”

"It doesn't seem occupied enough that anyone would mind," Sarina points out, running a finger along one of the dusty portrait frames. "I wonder how old all this is."

Looking at the portraits along the wall, Adelaide comments, ”Those are all figures from the Fourth Era of Exploration, so... quite old.” She frowns at the lock again, and then sighs. ”I suppose I could always put it back, if it turns out we’re crossing a line.” Adelaide carefully inspects the lock as she pulls out some tools.

Still reeling from the rapid fire calamities happening all around them, Josie follows along mutely, anxiously scanning every area for more danger. After the apparent calm has had a few minutes to sink in, she lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and tries to take stock of the situation. Suddenly she gasps and asks, "Has anyone tried to use their badge since we got put in the dark?" Looking around, she looks to see if anyone has an answer.

”No, Lady Martella is probably still fighting,” Adelaide comments, not looking up from her work with the lock.

"Might be a bad idea to try to talk to her right now," Sarina adds. "If we distracted her, it could cause an issue."

Having followed around, moving slightly closer to each of the items people were inspecting than the others, Momo eventually finds her way to Adelaide's illicit activity. Momo raises an eyebrow at Adelaide working at the lock, and asks, "When did you pick that up? Not particularly lady-like, hm?"

Josie quickly retorts, "Well, we got put in some weird dark room all of a sudden. Maybe she did too. It would be pretty strange if the five of us were the only ones affected by that big flash out of that huge room of people, right?"

"The flash originated from our badges. As far as I'm aware, the ones who had them were ourselves and Lady Martella," Momo counters, adding, "And I believe Lady Martella to be more capable than us, currently. I wouldn't be surprised if she was the one who made the flash happen."

”I learned this while at Sinora, actually,” Adelaide answers, looking up briefly to shoot Momo a grin. ”Certainly not in an official course, though. One of my friends thought this was a more practical way to exercise the mind through solving puzzles, and another was keenly aware of underhanded assassination attempts through traps. The skills for opening a lock and dissembling a trap are often the same. Aha.” The lock finally opens, and Adelaide opens the cabinet. Inside the locked cabinet is something that resembles an immovable crystal ball built into the wall.

"Magic can work like that," Sarina says with a shrug. "I feel like if Lady Martella was in a position to talk, she would be contacting us. I'd rather not run the risk of distracting her if she is still fighting. Though, speaking of the badges, how long ago was Senator Voritas's time?" she asks as a thought strikes her.

"His line died out about a century ago. ...What are you thinking, Sarina?" Momo wonders aloud, folding her arms. "If you're thinking something insane like 'oh, we traveled back in time!' then I think we need to get your head checked before you start murdering young ingenues."

Thinking about Sarina's words for a moment, Josie taps her foot impatiently before saying, "I agree that we shouldn't be trying to distract her, but a few quick words won't be much of a distraction, if any. One message seems fine, and we hold off on more until she replies." Her mind made up, Josie clasps the badge tightly and asks, "Can you hear me?"

As though on cue, Martella's voice chimes through the badges. "Your badges had a contingency spell on them! They were meant to teleport you all to safety, but I don't know where. Gloriana Morilla's allies from the Pathfinder Society are securing us a way out of the senate building! This is an organized force."

Sarina rolls her eyes at Momo's comment. "I was just curious if he was a contemporary of these portraits here. If this place was his, that would explain why the flashes came from his badges."

Adelaide frowns at Lady Martella’s explanation. ”Stay safe,” she answers through the badge before letting it go. ”All right, I’m not sure what this thing in the cabinet is. Anyone else see anything interesting in here?”

Looking around the room, Josie finds two bottles of whiskey sealed in wax up on the shelves, and a wand of create food and water (14 charges) and a sustaining spoon rest in a drawer under the bar. She scratches her head and mutters, "I don't know if any of this helps with our immediate situation though."

"Well, at least if we're stuck down here, we won't starve?" Corey shrugs. "Ah ain't fixin' ta stick around here that long, though."

Considering, Adelaide slowly comments, ”It seems like the top priority right now is figuring out where we are, that way when Lady Martella reaches back out, we can tell her more. Does anyone mind waiting for a minute?” She starts pulling a few vials out of her alchemy equipment. ”That’s as long as it’ll take for me to mix up an extract for higher awareness. It’ll help me notice more and remember information more clearly.”

Josie shrugs.

"Go ahead. Ah don't think it's gonna make much difference." Corey frowns. "Ah'm good, but that fella who came at us, Ah could tell he was in a league above me. Ah don't think we're gonna be much use even if we get back."

Adelaide takes the neutral response as go ahead, and works on her mixture.

Noticing a button on the wall, Josie presses it. Nothing appears to happen. Disappointed, Josie heads to the previous room to check for a button there, and sure enough there is another button. She presses this one, and suddenly the room everyone else is in fills with bright light. Calling back to the others, she relays, "Hey, I found a button in both rooms. The one over there didn't do anything, but this one turned the lights on."

"At least there's one place I don't need to be constantly using magic," Sarina says with a sigh, allowing the orbs of light to vanish, having had to already refresh it a few times. "It certainly seems this area was well set up."