War for the Crown Gameplay Part 1

"We started in those rooms," Wilfen, who seems to have appointed himself spokesman, replies, "We all, to my knowledge, are guests of senators, and our aide badges flashed and teleported us here when we were attacked. Poor Develin stepped out to investigate where we were and was ambushed by those fiends, dead before we could save him."

”And he didn’t even have the decency to hold on to life long enough so I could get to him,” Momo sighs under her breath, surveying the crowd. ”Anything useful in your rooms?”

"Nothing in particular," Wilfen shakes his head. The Abadarian also shakes her head, "None besides a few days' worth of rations." The halfling servant has nothing either, adding, "Nope, nope, nothing at all!"

"Well, the important thing is everyone's relatively safe, and hopefully we won't be here so long as to need the rations," Adelaide answers with a small smile. "Does anyone have any idea where our badges brought us? The plan before you came out was to investigate that further."

"I do," Malphane speaks up. "These are safe rooms made by senators ages ago in the lower levels of the senate building."

Adelaide considers that. "Hm, and if the fight's continuing upstairs... thank you, Dame Trant."

"Probably best to avoid going upstairs, but perhaps there will be a way out of the building in the lower levels?" Sarina suggests.

Adelaide gives a small shrug. ”It’s probably prudent to look around further, at least. Does anyone want to join us?”

After a brief conversation amongst themselves, the Sargavan speaks up. "We will follow a room behind, let you all clear everything out. If you can find us a way out of here, I'll give you 300 crowns." The promise is echoed by all the other nobles save for Malphane. "And you can have my lucky silk hankie!" the halfling servant adds.

After raiding the center room for it's collection of fantastic scrolls, the party heads north, using the key they found in the suite to unlock the door. Pristine glass display cases stand along the walls and in the center of this immense rectangular display room. The area is more than sixty feet wide and forty feet long, with the outer walls covered in glass displays of armor, save near the two northern doors and along the southern wall. Two rusted and decayed suits of armor stand separate, protected in glass cases. Tarnished and discolored weaponry fills the cases in the center of the room. Circles of various sizes have been scratched into the glass and drawn on the walls with chalk and paint.

Corey observes the circles, trying to figure them out, but as he's looking he spots an interesting crossbow. "Hey," he calls to the others, pointing it out. "Ah saw a replica of this upstairs. Looks brand new, too, and accordin' ta the fella who told me about it, it's got special properties that make it shoot better." The plaque underneath it reads Dignity's Barb.

As Momo touches one of the displays, two phantom armors spring to life from either side of the room. Their assault is completely ineffectual however, as neither manages to land a hit. Corey and Josie quickly dispatch the pair.

Momo surveys the damage, and nods to herself. "That was annoying," she declares, dusting off the bottom of her dress and carrying onwards.

After moving forward through a room of glass displays with artwork, the group next finds themselves looking at a fearsome winged beast posing ferociously in the southeastern corner of this square room. Two wolves stand in similar poses in the northern corners, while an immense coiled serpent poises itself in the southwestern corner, ready to strike. A small elephant stands in the center of the room, its head drooping far too low, and the top of its neck torn open. Thick cords of rope hoist avian creatures of every size along the ceiling, with an impressive eagle taking up the most space above. Doors exit to the north and west. However, as they prepare to pass through the northern door, the wolves rise on clicking mechanisms, their bodies straining to stand on two legs. During this movement, however, one of the wolves’ hind legs collapses, while the fur on the other wolf’s back splits open, rendering them both inert. Following this horrific display, the griffon’s wings begin to beat, only for one wing to tear off entirely. Moments later, it rips off the front foot attaching it to its display and moves to attack any living creatures in the chamber, as a spark of insight pushes it to inflict pain on others.

As the beast struggles its way back to life, Josie and Sarina quickly blast it with a volley of ranged blows. One of Josie's arrows finds the stuffed griffon's eye, and though it still somehow swipes at Momo successfully, a similar set of strikes from Corey and Josie subdue the creature.

The next room, rectangular,appears to host a celebration frozen in time. Gaudy nobles crowd the corners of this room, all of which are dressed in ostentatious and pretentious fashions. Tremendous wigs soar toward the ceiling, each covered in thick layers of dust. A larger gaggle fills the center of the chamber, each aristocrat presenting a jovial or mocking leer as it stares out blankly. One of the figures is sprawled on the floor; overlapping circles cut into its waxen chest and face.

Josie and Sarina notice one of the wigs is free of dust, and Sarina identifies it as a hat of disguise. As she takes it to put it away, she notices some of the hairs in the wig moving of their own volition, immediately dropping it and backing away from the offending item.

"... aw hell, mah daddy fought on a those once. It tries ta get ya to put it on, then it latches on ta ya." Corey readies his glaive for a fight.

Upon hearing that, some of the hairs inside the wig, held together by some transparent ooze, tries to slide away as fast as it can, leaving the wig of disguise alone.

Adelaide jumps when the creature emerges, and stabs it reflexively on seeing it. ”Gross,” she comments, wrinkling her nose.

Intricate banners hang motionless against a wooden pillar in the center of this room. Wooden racks line the south and west walls, each bearing up a unique banner of its own. Two additional banner racks lie on the floor in the northeastern corner of the room, their flags pulled away and inked with dozens of circles. Two doors exit this room, one to the east and the other to the north.

Corey, who's been studying the circles as they go along, lets out a low whistle. "Y'know, Ah ain't sure what these are s'posed ta be, but Ah'm purty sure whoever made 'em's fig'rin' it out as they're goin' along. It reminds me a when Mister McGuinness moved in from the city and tried ta build his own barn without any help. Smart fella, he fig'red it out fer himself, but ya could see real easy where he had ta guess at how some things came together."

As the group moves on, Adelaide notices something at the next door. ”Wait, don’t open that,” she says to the others, spreading her arms to block the path. ”There’s a magical ward of some sort that will trigger if anyone tries to open it. I wonder if the circles were intentionally set this way...?” Adelaide tilts her head, and drops her arms. ”Actually, it looks like we can disrupt the ward by smudging the lines. Want to go for it?”

This ten-foot-wide hallway leads north for roughly forty feet before abruptly ending in a wall of dirt and broken wood. A door exits to the west, while another door leads south. As Momo heads towards the next door, leading to the west, she stops the group and points to the scaffolding, where a bundle of precariously balanced ceiling boards threaten to topple onto any who disturb this hallway's delicate balance. "There's no way this is gonna hold up once we walk through it, but if we move things around a bit I think we could get through without breaking anything."

”Let me take a look...” Adelaide looks at the setup, nods, and sets to gently moving objects around. Soon, the way is clear.

Upon passing through that door, the group sees graying wooden reception counter extending from the eastern wall, overshadowed by a faded, curling portrait of a group of several Taldan nobles. Comical alterations adorn the portrait, with red and green markings adding in stink lines, ridiculous mustaches, and other odd embellishments. A door exits to the west, while other doors exit to the northeast and southeast. A red kobold stands behind the counter, waving enthusiastically when he sees people, speaking rapidly in one language before transitioning to another, then a third, watching hopefully for a reaction.

[Placeholder for Adelaide identifying gnome, undercommon, and draconic and asking the entourage]

"Gnome? I speak that," the foreign Abadarite speaks up. "Important language for diplomats." She walks into the room to join the group, then begins to translate. "His name is Mimips, he claims to be setting up a shop here with goods he's scavenged." The kobold enthusiastically starts setting a variety of valuable goods up on the counter from behind it with a wide smile, even with little tags scrawled that list prices. He says a few more words that are then translated, "He's open to bartering too if you don't have coin on you."

The group shows interest in quite a few of Mimips' wares, including all the alchemical items he claims with pride to have made himself. The haggling is fairly quick in getting him to agree to market value for what he sells, and the Sargavan cleric naturally falls into the role of translating and mediating commerce. Once all the trades have been made, with Mimips willing to pay a premium for the high quality booze, he gives a few helpful directions as well. The west door apparently just leads to the hole the sinkhole he fell into made, as well as a tunnel into the Darklands, while the north door leads to the surface, though he's not sure exactly what's there because he's afraid of the rats, which he helpfully gestures to the antiplagues and remove disease potions for being useful against. Last, he asks whether they liked his "equations" that he drew everywhere.

"They're very nice," Sarina says, with the cleric translating. "What are they for?"

"Sinkhole!" the Sargavan translates back from the kobold. "It dropped me here, I wanted to figure out how it works. Geometry, size of circles, how one layer of weak ground over another sucked me in. If I know how the sinkhole works, I can figure out lots of other things too."