Session 60: Strife of the Party


 * Level up to 10!
 * We talk with Yanger and Kalti in the cart, on the way to the palace.
 * We explain that we need to find Lenore, and Yanger Reduce Persons himself to be medium and fit in the cart.
 * Vikrit and Sarienne drive the cart. Yanger confirms with the group that we are attempting to save the queen (Vikrit makes everyone verbally confirm, and Vanesse has some trouble but gets it once Mogen suggests we're saving one person to kill many).
 * Yanger says Darro invited him. He says that everyone will be wearing masks, and Kalti pulls out some cheap masks. Vikrit points out that he is going to stand out as the only poison dusk there, and Kalti says he can be his assistant. Sarienne gets to work bedazzling the masks.
 * Vikrit suggests that we try to find out if Darro has any anti-poison effects on him to see if he knew about the assassination plan.
 * Kalti is going to go above the crowd and point out people to us; Yanger will stand across the room from the queen and the word to signal Lenore is approaching the queen is "haberdashery".
 * Mogen's messenger apps now relay with everyone.
 * We arrive. There's a wild party going on at the palace.
 * Vesun is disguised as Cornerio (because Dan), Vikrit has the hat and looks like a halfling, Sarienne has done makeup to look different. Everyone's dressed for a party. We hear an elephant trumpeting.
 * Yanger stutters while he introduces himself and the guard is suspicious at first, but then there's a crash and he shrugs it off. As Yanger enters the room, a few people recognize him and approach him.
 * Sarienne walks into a room with people laid out on couches insufflating some kind of very rare, fancy substance. Mogen finds the coat check with a beleaguered human desperately trying to manage everything.
 * Vanesse finds a human man who is passed out from wine and a woman is sitting with him. She makes small talk and the woman whispers that the queen is going to be making an appearance. Vanesse says she started a fanclub for the queen and asks what her favorite thing about Queen Aurala is, while she tries to rifle through his pockets--but grabs something intimate instead.
 * Vikrit and Tork head towards the elephant when they hear a shriek coming from where Vanesse is. The ballroom is packed with people except for the elephant; it has some kind of magical collar on. It's very upset.
 * Vesun (Dan) walks into a library; it's empty except for a man (Michaelangelo) sitting at a desk with an open book. He's wearing a large triangular gold pendant and he looks confused at Vesun. He notices the man has a warforged leg grafted on.
 * They shake hands and he immediately wipes his hand off once Vesun lets go. He asks who Vesun is, and he says he's a humble servant of Yanger by day (he came with his grad students) and a lover of learning by night. He can tell that the man recognizes the name and tries to hide his smile.
 * He seems amused that Yanger showed up, then says he has an idea and leans in to whisper to pretend that Vesun broke his leg, and they need a powerful wizard to fix it.
 * Vikrit gets a natural 20 on sniffing for Lenore. There are tons and tons of smells here, but he gets a whiff of Lenore from upstairs. He passes this along to the group via Messenger App.
 * A guard comes over to Vanesse to investigate the shriek; the man (Gregory) is freaking out. They wave him off and he leans against the wall outside the room. The woman (Virginia) mentions that it's odd that there are guards inside the building. Gregory starts to feel sick and Vanesse leaves the room. She suggests that the guard "doesn't like half-orcs" (rolls a natural 20) and he gets very flustered. She gives him a hug and she swipes his keys.
 * Sarienne, Vikrit, Mogen and Tork head upstairs.
 * We hear a gong and see 2 people: Darro and some kind of cat person. We have to make a will save and only Sarienne fails; she feels frightened and shaken. Mogen and Vikrit recognizes the cat person as a rakshasa.
 * Darro yells, "Look what the cat dragged in--it's me!" and no one laughs. He refers to the rakshasa as "the ambassador" and he says that the queen will enter after the gong is rung 3 times. He turns to the rakshasa and Sarienne hears him say, "arrogant bastards, the lot of them."
 * Darro and the rakshasa pass by going downstairs and apparently take no notice of us. Vesun tells us about the prank and goes to find Yanger. We see guards dressed in better regalia, with good weapons, standing on the opposite side--royal guards. Vanesse bounds up the stairs excitedly.
 * Vesun finds Yanger with well-dressed nobles, talking about some battle during the war. He tells him about Michaelangelo's plan, and he's surprised that another member of the Twelve is here. He suggests Michaelangelo and Mogen should chat; he says he loves pranks and was the most recent member inducted. Vesun describes the prank he asked for and he said it will be awkward for him. Vesun suggests that the distraction could be used at an opportune moment.
 * Tork heads to the balcony upstairs and Mogen follows. She jumps off the side and scuttles up to look in the windows of the room one of the guards is standing in front of. She sends Shimmer inside and goes down to the garden. It's an empty kitchen (with great-looking food) and a slumped-over human. Shimmer takes a bit of cheese at Mogen's request. Shimmer moves further in and hits a door she can't get under, where there's a hallway and a pair of legs. She goes out to the private balcony, where Queen Aurala is standing. A few people seem to notice her, and she goes back inside.
 * Vikrit determines Lenore is somewhere in the other side of the second floor. Vanesse suggests there's something super important behind the door that the guard downstairs is watching and tells us she stole the keys.
 * Vesun sees two women in big fancy dresses arguing over who should dance with him. Kalti looks at him desperately for help. Instead of helping, he casts Command and he goes with the left one.
 * Meanwhile, none of the keys work on the door leaning toward the quarters where Lenore seems to be.
 * Mogen tells the group that the queen is on the northern side, away from Lenore. Tork spots 2 people moving among the hedges outside and tells the party.  Mogen goes to look and hides.
 * Sarienne checks for traps on the door and picks the lock upstairs. Tork makes the sounds of people laughing and chattering approaching the hedges. Mogen spots two people combat roll across the way; they look like a yellow-haired gnome and dark-skinned half-elf who looks a fair amount like Sarienne talking to each other.
 * Vanesse goes into the bathroom downstairs and summons a dire rat. She releases it near the guard and tells it to bite someone. There are noises of panic and chaos and people start running out.
 * Vanesse tries to get him to go after the rat. He almost lets it slip that he's not here to protect people, he's here to protect something else--and convinces him to go.
 * She goes into the room he was guarding. She finds an empty storage room with some tables, plants, and a half-orc who has been beaten, and is tied and gagged. They appear to be semi-conscious… it's Giggs, who Vanesse doesn't recognize.
 * Vikrit hears breathing and pacing coming from the room and recognizes Lenore, and reports where she is. He suggests that he and Sarienne block her door and see if anyone else is in that area.
 * Mogen secures her messenger app onto Shimmer and sends her toward the two figures. Everyone hears them bickering; Sarienne recognizes her cousin Jerome and his friend Baylock; we hear Baylock say that they need to find Giggs; they have a note saying he's at a party and they know Darro wants him dead. Mogen has Shimmer tail them.
 * Vikrit and Sarienne check the door in Lenore's room; the door opens outwards and there's something? Someone? on the other side of the door. Sarienne tries to jam up the door with her dagger. Vesun indicates that Darro and the rakshasa are heading up the stairs and Sarienne and Vikrit pile into the bathroom and hide. We hear someone walk out of Lenore's door, but the pacing is still happening--so someone else is there.
 * Vesun stands and watches the elephant from the landing above the stairs. Tork hangs out near the door to the wing they’re in. Mogen continues monitoring the two idiots.
 * Vanesse ungags Giggs and says she was hired to find him and that she's not sure whether they want to help or kill him--he says they're his friends.
 * MON: "Are you offended that he said "by the Host"?" GGY: "No because I don't know what that means!"
 * Vanesse asks why she should keep rescuing him and he doesn't give a good answer. He says that when Darro captured him, they beat him for a while and they asked him about the Mockingbird, and he gave Jerome and Baylock's names up.
 * He says his friend Jerome has a really cool cousin from the sickles who taught them how to be thieves, and they stole a jeweled mockingbird; Jerome came up with the idea, Baylock helped and he crafted a wooden version. They swapped them out, then someone they didn't know (definitely working for Darro) wanted to join their "Thieves Guild", and then a little while later, Darro's men grabbed him.
 * Vanesse listens at the door and hears the guard arguing with someone about finding the rat. She cracks open the door, and starts casting Obscuring Mist, covering the area in white fog.
 * Meanwhile, upstairs, Sarienne tells Vikrit that Jerome is her cousin.
 * Vikrit hears the door handle start to turn, and dives into the tub, activating his armor to be invisible. Sarienne rolls a 40 to hide and is basically invisible when Konstadin comes in the door.
 * Vesun sees Michaelangelo give him a big wink. Vanesse and Giggs head out the door and see no one else. The guard yells, "FIRE!" and a lot of panicking starts to happen. Mogen gets knocked to the ground as people run out and recalls Shimmer. Vikrit and Sarienne feel Konstadin leaning over to look into the tub but he gets distracted with the yelling and "smoke" seeping up through the floor.