Chapter 2: Lost in History

[Gregorotto]

Backtracking and playing with the lights, Armen's flicking of the light affects the bar room Greyrose and Ka find themselves in, as well as the lofty bedroom. In the door that Ka came from, he finds nothing of note: simply a smaller bath than the one in the finer bedroom, a washing basin, and nothing of note, except footsteps that must belong to Ka. What a strange place.

Greyrose, meanwhile, looks around the room and with key in hand, begins using the keys to search the bar-like area, with Ka helping him as she takes immense pleasure in the strange buzzing on and off created by Armen's flicking of the lights. Behind the bar is an area with a locked cabinet, which the smaller, simpler key does in fact fit to. Turning the lock, there is no trap, nothing to fear, but he opens it and within he sees, mounted into the wall, what can only be described as an incomplete crystal ball. Circular and glittering, what makes it incomplete is a hollow in what is the ball's top, facing directly towards him. With this piece, the device could be activated, judging from the way it would fit in and lock: but now, it is just a simple oddity in the wall. Searching the room, he and Ka also find a wand beneath the bar, the wooden handle covered in dust and displaying a scene of revelry with much food and drink, and a strange spoon, wide in the basin with a flower on the end. Magic? Almost certainly.

The puzzle continues to grow: but where is the missing part?

Out of Character

Let's get some investigation going on each room; bear in mind this will take time. Whoever succeeds, I'll have you roll the hours involved.

[BlackHat]

So, the key he originally discovered in the southern dormatory opened something in the mess hall. It stood to reason, then, that the ornate key that Myrthe found near the sofa would open something found in the storage room. Greyrose called out the switch-changes necessary to illuminate that room (ideally, the combination of switches that would illuminate all four rooms from wherever Armen left off) as he made his way around to the storage room to search through the dusty boxes and stone tiles looking for a keyhole... or any other detail they might have overlooked in their initial shock from Ka's dramatic appearance.

[Kavonde]

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Armen Lotheed | Human Bard/Cathartic Mage 2
HP 26/26 | AC 17 | Fort +5 | Ref +6 | Will +8 | Perception +8 | Hero Points 1
Focus Points 3/3 | Spell Slots (1st - 2/3) | Class DC 18

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Visualizing the space they're in and acting on a hunch, Armen moves to the little chamber between the dormitory and the storage room and begins investigating the walls there for any secret buttons or switches or pressure plates or what have you. After all, if one were building a presumably underground bunker, why would you dig out more stone than you absolutely needed to? Why have all this empty space in the middle of the complex?

As he searches, he hums to himself, unconsciously channeling a bit of occult power that could potentially aid the efforts of his companions in their own searches.

OOC

I moved Armen on Roll20, and he'll be doing a Search action (Perception +7) in this li'l corridor down south.

He'll also be using Uplifting Overture to potentially Aid anyone else rolling Perception within 60' of him.

 

[Gregorotto]

They begin their quest to find out what exactly is going on and how they can get out of this strange rectangular mess. Greyrose leads the charge with Armen behind him, the others helping as they can in a casual way.

Early in the search, a message comes down to the bunch wearing Martella's senatorial aide badges, with Morilla giving her own message to Myrthe.

If that does not spur them to action, unfortunately whatever they had hoped to accomplish quickly prevents them from getting too far. Searching becomes an hours long process, meticulously going through each room: the Social Room where the device was found, going through each crate and cask, each shelf and each section; the dormitory, under each bed; the storage room in each crate and in the mural yet again, the Fourth Exploratory Army standing firm in their minds. As they head into the primary bedchamber, another message comes through.

The books in the primary bedroom are, in a world, decrepit. Many fall apart as soon as they are opened, given they come off the shelf at all, but with each passing message, it seems more desperate up above. While the others scour the rest of the room, Greyrose and Armen go through the books, and both note a recurring theme: the Fourth Army of Exploration is a recurring theme, with books dating to near the event itself, suggesting this library was created at the latest a few centuries after the event, rather than the distant millennia from where they stand now. Finally, on the fourth hour, Greyrose finds what they're looking for.

In a book entitled "On the Failures of the Fourth Army: Exploration or Exploitation?" by Flavius Fangburnes, the entire middle section of the book has been cut out and a glass prism, exactly the size of the missing section of the device, hides within. As they head back to the device, restless and ready, another message comes in for all but Myrthe.

Good news, at least: Eutropia stands. but why were Martella and Morilla separated from her when they were so close in the Senate chamber?

Whatever the answer to that, Greyrose places the glass prism in the device; and there comes a noise like a machine starting.

And nothing obvious happens.

Gods, what now?

Out of Character

Not updating the map, huzzah, progress!

[Kavonde]

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Armen Lotheed | Human Bard/Cathartic Mage 2
HP 26/26 | AC 17 | Fort +5 | Ref +6 | Will +8 | Perception +8 | Hero Points 1
Focus Points 3/3 | Spell Slots (1st - 2/3) | Class DC 18

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Martella's updates are a welcome distraction from the tedium of searching the bunker. It's also amusing to Armen that his sister clearly remembered her brooches are one-way communication devices; she must have been rather frazzled during the initial conflict.

Of course, if the military is split between loyalties, that's likely a recipe for a civil war. It had been awhile since Taldan had suffered one of those. (At times in the nation's past, they'd been quite common, happening almost every time a ruler died.) The thought of such senseless slaughter at the behest of a couple of paranoid reactionaries makes Armen feel glum and melancholy. It's human nature, of course, to bicker and brawl over stupid and senseless things that will never matter in the long run. Perhaps he's a fool for letting himself care about Eutropia and her cause. Perhaps he should just go back to work on his magnum opus once they find their way out of here. What's the point of participating in this war? Even if Eutropia prevails, will the positive changes and reforms she makes balance out the pain and grief necessary to put her on the throne in the first place?

His brain is distracted pondering these thoughts while his body continues working, running fingers over the walls and the corners of every piece of furniture he comes across. He doesn't realize he's sharing space with Myrthe again until he nearly walks into her. "Oh, uh, hello," he says, shaken abruptly out of his thoughts. "Have you heard from your patroness? It sounds as though she and Martella made it out."

Edited Friday at 03:23 PM by Kavonde (see edit history)

[Fletcher]

 Lady Myrthe

AC: 19 | Fort: +4 | Ref: +10 | Will: +8
HP: 22 / 22 | Hero Points: 0 / 3 | Perception: +8
ConditionsNone

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Solving riddles and puzzles has never been a strong suit of Lady Myrthe - besides the schemes of nobles - and the Forlorn seems to drift between Lady Martella's agents as they work towards finding the answer that would get them out of this place. Since they've circumnavigated the whole of this safehouse, Lady Morilla's aide appears less wary of attack, hands no longer hovering in the vicinity of her blades. Her keen eyes follow the actions of her companions as they slowly gather their answers and narrow as she feels the grinding sound of achievement. The desire to reunite with her Lady has not diminished in the slightest despite her calm demeanor, and she immediately shifts to move in the direction she heard the sound - but finds herself nearly colliding with Armen once more as he rounds the corner, still inspecting the place.

"Have you heard from your patroness? It sounds as though she and Martella made it out."

Myrthe looks up at Armen, remaining in his space for a few heartbeats longer than one might after such a breach of conduct. He has learned enough of the subtle tells in her dour expressions to know she continues to feel an urgency to escape this place. Their delay has cost them so much time and potentially life. "Yes," she answers simply, stepping back and beginning to drift in the direction he had been going, as if to accompany. For a moment, it seems like that is all she has to say on the matter, until she looks over her shoulder and murmurs, "My Lady says the Society got them out, but she has been separated from your sister..." Despite the difficulty of some of the Lotheed family personalities, Myrthe had always been quietly fond of Martella, from a distance. Her chest aches to make sure she is found safely as much as Gloriana - both personally and professionally. "I must get to Westpark... though I do not know where Martella will be."