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RPM:8 Traps and Bombs

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Prologue

You walk slowly down the long hallway, keeping alert to the comings and going of a small army of people. To your right construction workers are rushing in fresh lumber in an attempt to finish the last of the house repairs before the festival ends tomorrow and Hugo’s grant runs dry.

You pass by the kitchen, where you smell delicious baked goods and pastries being made for tonight, the biggest party of the week, the conclusion of the Festival of Saint Theodoros.

Papers shift in your hand and you’re reminded that you have to get back to the proceedings. The papers you hold are copies of the previous day’s transcripts, dropped off by a fresh-faced boy who runs errands for the official court scribes. And his official Lion escort.

Security is high near the proceedings, just like you wanted. The guards are vigilant and despite being a brother in arms, they pat you down as you comply and drop your weapons into a bag next to the door.

As soon as the door cracks open you hear the yelling back and forth across the table. It’s like this sometimes. Other times the room is quiet for a half an hour as every contemplates the next topic or their next move. Things are going well and today the group is finalizing recommendations. Tomorrow everything they’ve discussed will be officially presented to the Senate and then published for everyone to have access to.

Investigating Iosif's Secret Door

🐺 Ildefons: M. Pandis approached me. After some small talk, he asked me, bluntly, to search the secret room in Iosef's office, immediately. He said that le commandant had told him about it over lunch. I told him we absolutely would be checking it out, though failed to commit to doing it immediately, as I am concerned about our duty with making sure the event completes successfully. I'm tense that the things have been too smooth, and there might be a last-minute mishap. I see him approach Rosalie.

Shortly, after we're gathered for a discussion of plans, Rosalie ham-hands us to take on the task, immediately. We do all agree that it could be dangerous, that things are safe enough, and that Pandis' insistence is highly suspect.

We check the place out. Certain it's trapped, we take our time. It's a good thing we did; otherwise, the whole wing was going to have been turned to rubble. As it is, on the inside, I am marked with an ink trap in the end. [not repeating details in DM note below.] Inside is Iosef's real office: a bar, numerous tables, and uncountable leaves and tomes, and its own small armory.

Documents indicate that the tubes were imported acidic oozes, which were to be an emergency lockdown safety system; the pipes for them are already installed. We found coded (not decoded by us) messages, and copies of forbidden books.

His will was found, along with a locket with illustrations of his family.

There's a dead man's switch in here, rigged to explode the place if it's not reset every 7 days. The man died a month ago. Someone has been coming in here. This should be top-priority after the negotiations are over. As the others return to the negotiations with the party, I retain Lemuel for assistance with researching who has been coming. We find, in the log books, records are missing. Very precisely cut out right at the spine.

Unfortunately, Gritaan summons me to the party; I ask Lemuel to check other book and coordinate the data.

💃 Milady Rosalie: It has been a long time since I've seen Orion. In fact, its has been so long I'm a little suspicious. None the less, he gave some of the group a mission; Iosif had something to hide and we need to find out what it was.

Ildefons came across a hidden door in his office last time he was there, so we figure this is the best place to check. His instincts weren't wrong, either. Iosif was always a bit off his rocker, and he was a bit overprotective of delicate matters. The amount of traps he used here begs to let us know that what is behind here was pretty precious.

I expected money, goods, maybe even a hidden torture chamber for the Sorcier. I was taken aback that it was forbidden lore. He was never much interesting in holding this himself, so I suspect that he was holding it for someone else. I'm not sure who, but I intend to look into it.

There is a letter I should send off personally. For all I know, it may shed some light on what is happening.

🐘 One-Tusk: Iosif's secret door is, well, a secret door. It's loaded with traps, at least some of which are primed to explode. We can't simply bash the door down and hope for the best- we must be… creative. Ildefons remains a steady, stabilizing presence, Ehsan has eyes sharper than a Hawkblood, and Rosalie… it's good fortune for us all that she uses her connections to protect the revolution. Too many latter-day nobles forget their new place.

There are secrets in this room; one of them is personal, and many of them are forbidden. The latter should be carefully secured- and hopefully destroyed. Knowledge is a weapon, and our enemies could wield this weapon against us as easily as we can against them.

🏹 Ehsan: A secret door in Iosif's office begs for investigation, and settling the matter sooner rather than later would be prudent in this situation. If it was unknown to even Captain Hernaut there is likely things hidden within Iosif did not want getting out, potentially dangerous things. Ildefons argues that we deal with the matter after the festival, but the rest of my companions agree we should look into it now and so Ildefons retrieves the keys to Iosif's office.

Though I don't think it a good idea, we decide to bring a scribe with us to bring a sense of accountability to all this. I understand their reasoning but surely we're going to find things inside this secret room that Iosif wanted to remain hidden. Potentially illegal things. A more delicate hand is needed, but I am outvoted.

The door is predictable trapped, though the method in which it is set is something I am familiar with thanks to my training back home. While trap finding certainly is not a specialty of mine, there are markers to look out for and with a secret door it is easier to be aware of the fact of their presence. Rosalie pulls some strings and manages to track down the mason who drafted and built the door in order for us to understand how to open it while OneTusk, in a surprising fit of calm, manages to deactivate the pressure plates that would set off the trap.

What lies within is a secret office of sorts and it's contents are somewhat lackluster. Weapons, coded notes, letters to lost loves, secret architectural plans and illegal books; all typical for something that should be secret and for one who runs a prison housing magical criminals. The others are more shocked by the books than I would have expected. It would be reasonable to assume a man who is in charge of prison like this would need to be aware of all that magic has to offer, but then again I did not live through this revolution like I did. OneTusk is more adamant about the destruction of the books, but this is not our call to make. I believe they should be preserved. It would be unreasonable to expect that even Captain Hernaut wouldn't own a few of these books himself so I believe this matter will sort itself out.

But what is interesting within this office is the secondary trap; an hourglass that would empty after a period of 7-8 days. Upon emptying it would trigger an explosion, destroying the contents of the office. Kettleblack has died some weeks ago now, and yet the office is still here. It seems someone besides ourselves is aware of this office and has been visiting in order to reset the trap. Investigating the ledgers would be a reasonable course of action, and Ildefons offers to do so after having been stained blue by the tertiary trap set on the hourglass.

🎲 DM Challenge Details

This was set up as a Challenge.

  1. 🐺 Ildefons started off by calming everyone down with the aspect Calm and Chummy.
  2. 🏹 Ehsan searched for traps using her survival training from the military. Overcome +3
  3. 💃 Milady Rosalie used her resources to find out who the stoneworker was who made the secret door to uncover their pattern to find out how to open the secret door. Overcome +3
  4. 🐘 One-Tusk used his reserve of will to prevent a series of pressure plates from setting off a trap. Overcome +4

Content of the Room

Iosif’s real office. Inside there are several tables covered with notes and papers, bookshelves line two walls, filled with manuals and war histories, and in the rear corner is a station for creating bullets and repairing pistols.

  • Classified architectural drawings for tubing to be piped into La Magie De Prison to deploy acidic oozes at various locations in the prison in the event of a jailbreak.
  • A shoebox filled with obviously coded messages from people using obvious aliases.
  • Several bookshelves filled with books on the topics of sorcery and dangerous creatures
  • Sand hourglass on a scale set to gunpowder charges. This needs to be reset every 7 days.
  • A dagger is stuck through an envelope and into a wooden beam with a locket hanging from it. Inside is the picture of a woman and a little girl.
    • The note is addressed to Violaine Kettleblack-Rose, “I have too much pride to bring you these words while I live, and so, with my last words to you, I say that I am sorry. When you ran off to be a homemaker my world ended. I wanted for you a future that you did not want. My world would’ve been better had I accepted that. I leave everything of mine to you. Love, your father Iosif Kettleblack.”

Celebration of the Festival of Saint Theodoros

This party is the raucous conclusion to the weeklong Festival of Saint Theodoros

Le Roux Estate Map.jpeg

💃 Milady Rosalie: I'm glad this festival is coming to an end. There is always a scandal, uproar, or the like on the final day. I have to make myself quiet, though, to not be seen. I am here on a mission, and if I'm forced to run my social circles I'll never get anything done.

Hernaut did not seem surprised when I approached him about Iosif's hideaway. He does want the information we gained, and neither of us are aware of who went in there previously and reset the hourglass. It's an investigation best left for later.

I was on my way to find Orion when I saw Alyn caught my scent. Someone must have tipped him off. I went to hide in the pantry closet to avoid him. He saw me though, and had me cornered. I'd hate to say it, but thankfully there was the passed out body of Jean in the closet. Unfortunately, the firearm was missing. This means someone is loose with a loaded weapon, and it can only mean all hell is ready to break loose.

I hate the Festival of Saint Theodoros.

🐘 One-Tusk: The downside to security-by-scoundrel is that our security is provided by scoundrels. I watch the watchers for a bit, when there's a commotion- the Red Wolf Brigade have arrived and are making demands. This is going to go badly…

🏹 Ehsan: The party has started to pick up by the time I arrive. OneTusk seems to be handling the management of security for the evening and Ildefons is off mingling with the various diplomats. As for Rosalie, I'm unsure of why she has arrived so late but I see she seems to be keeping a lower profile. I assume it is to move throughout the floor with little interruption. Alyn approaches me a bit into the evening and asks after her. Though I don't know where she is exactly I tell one of the servants to keep an eye out for her and to inform Alyn of where she is so that they can speak.

In the gardens a woman by the name of Irène Darche seems to be in some distress. A man by the name of Stanimir Koslov, captain of the Red Wolf Brigade, has been hounding after her despite the woman's clear signs of no longer being interested in the man's advances. I inform her that if she were to see him, to take to the wing under construction as a place to lie low for a while. I inform the guards of her possible presence within the wing and to keep a close eye on her as we don't want any "accidents" to occur. It is under construction after all, who knows if there might be loose beams or unsafe areas where she may wander.

Some hours later there is a commotion outside of the estate. I finish my drinks in the kitchen and find OneTusk. It seems we have been surrounded by the Red Wolf Brigade. This should be...interesting to say the least.

🐺 Ildefons: I arrive late to the party, after taking effort to hire an artist to make me a mask that integrates the blue tag-trap stain. I socialize with Gritaan and Yvette (and others), but can't help but to notice that Evette is acting very contrary to her type. Unfortunately, I can't get to her. I also notice OneTusk piss off our thieves guild guards. They should never have been hired, but I had no say in the matter.

I am called to the door for a disturbance.

Locations (Aspects)
Ballroom Loud music and dancing, Elbow to elbow people
Kitchen Drinking games, Stash of food
Garden Lovely night, Winding paths
Wing being remodeled Under construction, Poorly lit
Bell Tower Under construction, Rickety Stairs
Attendance (that the PCs interacted with)
Evette Lussier
Gritaan and Yvette
Jean Choffard (knocked out Lion)
Irène Darche
Captain Stanimir Koslov of the Red Wolf Brigade
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