Session 26 – game day 28 – afternoon
Entering the palace on top of Tower Rock the party triggered a mechanical trap. A spinning top with whirling blades dropped from the ceiling and cut up the rear of the group. Once inside there were three possible directions. One way was a set of double doors beyond which was light and the part could hear faint music from beyond. In another direction was a dark single door. And finally there was another single door with light. Garn approached the last door where he heard a woman yelling “Please don’t put me back in the painting!” Garn immediately took action and broke down the door. Inside was an art gallery. All of the paintings had women frozen in sad or frightened expressions. Undead creatures were trying to force another woman into an empty painting. The party rushed to save her. The frightened woman ran to the party, but having slipped to the back of the group she attacked the surprised Rangrim with a dagger. The woman’s face briefly became amorphous when she gouged a deep wound into the dwarf invoker.
Once Rangrim recovered he used his prayers to throw the treacherous woman back into the room. As her undead allies fell she ushered a command word, “Yu-Gi-Oh!” and released the other women from their paintings. The new women seemed genuinely scared, but the woman with the changing face grabbed one of them. The two spun and then there were two identical women. Not knowing who was who Balasar knocked one woman out at random. The girl fell unconscious and did not change form. Then the other woman surrendered. She was a doppelganger working for House Saundir and informed the party that Saundir paid the cursed King to use his palace to funnel necromantic supplies. They hide the supplies inside the small poems and float them down in paper balloons. A sha’ir who also works for Saundir has ink magic where he can hide objects (even creatures) into paper and canvas. The gnome Misty in the town below then collects the poems and delivers them to the empty caravans.
The party tells the other harem girls to wait as they move to confront their captors and destroy the necromantic supplies.
Treasure: Poisoned Dagger +1, 35 gp, (possible 200 gp from 5 paintings)