War for the Crown Gameplay Part 1

"Finally," Corey mutters, looking around for this alleged exit. "Shelyn forbid the fella have a door and lock it like a normal person."

”What way out?” Adelaide asks.

"There's a staircase, right there," Sarina says, pointing at it. "Can you not see it?"

Adelaide shakes her head. "Maybe each of us needs to put in a coin for it to work?" Sarina suggests.

"Seems worth a try!" Adelaide takes one of the coins and puts it in, and she can see the staircase after doing so. "Aha, good thinking, that worked. And there's definitely enough coins for everyone to do it."

"Great," Sarina says with a smile. "Lady Martella, we have a way out of the rooms we're in." she says through the badge.

"Figure out where you are... if you come outside, be careful. Should be getting safer though. Stavian’s forces retreating, military is divided. Maxillar Pythareus seen moving with impunity through Stavian’s assassins," Martella's voice chimes back after a brief delay.

Adelaide nods after hearing the message. "I think we should check the stiars to see where we are, assuming they do in fact go out. Otherwise, it seems like the best way to keep our heads down is to stay in here."

"I don't much like being cornered here," Sarina says. "If Pythareus brings the majority of the military around to his side, we could be trapped here with no escape. If the coast is clear upstairs, I think we should take whatever useful items we can from here, and try to make our way out."

”Why would the grand prince even be looking for us?” Adelaide answers, crossing her arms. ”None of us are important enough for his side to be looking for us at all, let alone going through the trouble of tracking down an old abandoned building on absolutely no clues. The scenario you’re concerned out could indeed present a problem, if it was even remotely likely.”

"I don't think they'll be looking for us, but I think they could start searching for where other nobles might have ran and hidden." Sarina explains. "And if they just happen upon us, I don't think we'd stand a chance if we're trapped here."

”Again, if this building is as old and abandoned as it seems from the inside, I’m not sure they’d be able to find or seize it quite that easily,” Adelaide answers, sighing. ”But I suppose either way the first step is to check outside, and it doesn’t hurt to be armored or prepared before doing that. Though I’m not sure how to make this armor work with my clothing,” she adds with a frown, looking at the studded leather armor.

Snatching up the chain shirt, Josie sets about putting it on over her dress. Once that is secure, she grabs the longbow, clutching it probably more tightly than is necessary. Her hair is mussed, the dress is wrinkled and bunched up awkwardly under the armor, but she sighs in relief anyway. "Feels a lot better to be properly armed."

Grabbing a coin, she puts it in the slot and peers up the stairs. "Doesn't seem like we're all the way out anyway." The stairwell ends in a stone wall and a brass lever, illuminated by the eerie blue flame of a lantern. Heading quickly up the stairs, Josie yanks on the lever and reveals chiseled stone statues of Taldan Phalanx soldiers standing atop plinths in the outer corners of the room, visible from any point in this ominous hall. Sturdy wooden doors line the outer edge of the hall: two to the east, two to the south, two to the west, and a single larger door to the north. Right in the middle of the floor lies the mangled corpse of a middle-aged nobleman, blood still fresh as it pools around him. Josie's face pales as she backs into the stairwell and quietly hisses, "There's a dead guy up here!"

Death by claws placeholder

Adelaide swallows at seeing the body, but since Momo is undeterred in her examination, she resolved to do the same. ”Ah, these markings...” she says after a moment, needing to clear her throat. ”They’re from walcofindes, a kind of undead. They’re created from people who were sealed up in a structure and left to die there, usually from being walled in. That’s how they end up with claws, from desperately tearing at the walls...” The noblewoman sighs at the depressing background. ”As long as we stay on our guard, we should be okay if we run into one. We have armor, at least, or magic. I wish workers being walled in was a slightly more isolated event and less of a common thread in Taldor’s history, then I might have a guess where we were.”

As if on cue, on either side of the walls emerge two emaciated, mummified, stone-coloured figures with long, bony claws and smoothed over features, reaching and grasping for the newest living flesh they can sink their claws into.

Corey holds one of the walcofindes at bay with his glaive while the others handle the second. Once they've finished it, the group collapses on Corey's opponent, quickly dispatching it.

Adelaide has to take a moment to catch her breath when the battle is done. "Momo, is this bad?" she asks on rejoining the group, keeping her hand on one of her injuries.

”Well, it’s certainly not great,” Momo quips, forcing healing magic through her palms. Before too long, two ivory waves have cascaded from her, healing the party twice and returning them to good condition.

The young noblewoman sighs in relief on feeling most of her wounds mend. ”But it’s not out of your capacity to fix. Thank you.” Adelaide gives a sheepish laugh. ”Sorry to ask silly questions, it’s just, before tonight I’ve only ever used a rapier in structured dueling. Anyway, what next?” she asks the group as a whole.

"Time to decide whether to hide back in those chambers, or explore more and try to make our way out," Sarina says. "As before, I prefer the latter option."

”We still haven’t found our way out, so I’m inclined to agree with further exploration now,” Adelaide answers.

Before anything else can be done, however, the northwestern door opens and a young nobleman with slick black hair peers out. "Have the creatures been slain?"

”Yes,” Adelaide answers immediately. ”Who are you?”

The man steps out properly then, revealing a slim build and youthful features. "Lord Wilfen Botoles, but I am not the only one here." He moves about the room, knocking on a few more doors in there, and one by one more nobility files out. Two more come from the same room as Wilfen - another young man, this one dressed in a simpler silken shirt compared to Wilfen's garish extravagance, and a similarly aged woman in a fine verdant green gown. From the northeast emerges a simpering halfling man dressed in servants' garb, while from the southeast a female Sargavan with a holy symbol of Abadar hanging from her neck steps out first, followed by Dame Malphane Trant, who clutches at her rapier.

”Goodness,” Adelaide murmurs to herself as more people emerge. She notices something about Dame Trant, and chooses to give her no more than a nod of acknowledgement given the crowded room. ”All of you were able to hide before being injured by the walcofindes?”