Shenanigans: Episode 042

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==Recap==
===The Job at the Estate===
Ralph and Alok Lier are sitting together inside Shenanigans. A minor Nobles has posted notices asked for guards, offering to pay people 60 gold for a month's of work, see Humphrey for details. References are required.
Alok Lier gets some paper to get a forged reference. Ralph asks to tag along. Alok Lier agrees, and includes Ralph in the letter. The two then leave Shenanigans and heads towards the estate.
20 minutes outside of Bergshire is an estate in the middle of the grounds, edged with White Picket fences. The butler, Jewels, is standing at the front door and greets the party. After looking at the letter of recommendation, Jewels insists that Ralph leave behind his dirty footware & pitch fore before leading the party inside to a sitting rook to wait for Lord Humphrey. After a little time the Lord arrives. Lord Humphrey is an overweight man with a large powdered wig and wears many pieces of jewellery. The Noble looks at the letter and accept it.
Lord Humphrey explains his troubles. He believes there are thieves everywhere, and suspects his 2 missing chickens were taken. Lord Humphrey suspects a missing servant named Oliver will try to steal some paintings from his gallery. He hires the party for a month to protect the gallery.
Jewels the servant leads the party to their servant rooms where they are stay for the next month. 2 burly humans, Brumpletimber & Stouthill, are in rooms next to the party's rooms, and were hired before Ralph and Alok.
Ralph goes outside to retreive his pitchfork and shoes, but finds his shoes are gone. A servant named Tapestries says that Jewels threw them away. Ralph gets back the shoes from the trash and flirts with Tapestries a little. Tapestries reveals that Lord Humphrey renamed her to this name, like he does with all the permanent servants. Her real name is Lisa. Ralph returns to his room and discovers he was given brand new boots.
Over the rest of the day 3 more guards are hired, Jonathan, Bonathan, & Solnathan, and are roomed near the party.
At night all the guards are called into the Art Gallery and given stations to guard. The party are told the guard inside the gallery as the other guards are stationed outside.
===The False Chanterelle===
During their long shift in the Gallery, the painting "The False Chanterelle" which depicts a naked chained up woman, begins to move and begs the party to help her. Ralph wants to help by going inside the painting, but Alok warns him against him. Ralph goes to look at the panting from another angle and what he sees inside of the painting shifts perspective, revealing the room inside the painting is three dimensional. Alok Lier gets a draping and covers the "The False Chanterelle" as the woman cries for help. She says the ones who put her in these chains is a man with hairs of snakes and a serpent body.
Ralph goes out the front door and calls Jonathan inside. Jonathan pulls off the cover from the painting and the lady talks with him, asking for help. Jonathan touches the painting and appears inside the painting. He unties the Lady, who then flees the room inside the painting, then appearing in the real world, trapping Jonathan inside. The lady takes the painting off the wall and wraps it in the covering. Alok fights with the lady over the painting and ends up getting trapped inside himself. Ralph chases after.
===Inside the Painting===
Inside the painting Alok and Ralph don't see Jonathan anywhere in the room. They see the portal outside the painting be covered up by the lady again.
The party go explore in order to find an exit. They arrive in a large chamber filled with shadows where a woman whose skin glows midnight-blue, pacing back and forth. The blue-skinned woman claims that Jonathan went into the next room. The party ask if she knows a way out, and she claims if the party give her music with the owner's consent she will show them a way out.
The party thought he door indicated, and find a staircase. After some time travelling they find the dead body of Jonathan, appearing to have fallen from a great height. After looting Jonathan, the party head back up the long staircase back to the previous chamber with the Blue-Skinned Woman. The Woman isn't pleased to see the party return without any music, but they says they'll just go into a different door for the music.
===The Shadow Clock===
The next room has a rotating light around a pedestal. Alok tries to stay in the shadow in the room, but ends up falling into an invisible pit. Ralph leaps after Alok. Alok and Ralph end up in separate 20 foot by 20 foot room. Above them the shadow of the room approve opens the hole ever 60 seconds.
During one of the segments, Ralph escapes out of the room, using his Pitchfork to get out. Back in the room with the shadow pedestal Ralph sees 2 lizardfolk women with cleavers. Ralph tries to get to the exit because that is where Alok fell in, but the lizardfolk just raise cleavers menacingly. The 2 woman enter the circular chambers, going opposite directions, avoiding creating a shadow.
Ralph casts "Nahal's Reckless Dweomer" to try to create an illusion, but instead causes the two Lizardfolk's race to randomly change. The two lizardfolk woman transform into storm giants, casting massive shadows under them. The 2 giant's legs fall into the now massive pit that Alok is inside, along with the pedestal. Ralph helps Alok get out of the pit and the two enter the door on the far side of the room.
===The King===
In the next room are 2 new doors and a alive old man impaled with 3 swords wandering around the room. The old man begs the party to remove the swords. Alok Lier agrees to help in exchange for the man to write down music. The old man writes down lyrics to a old song he had once heard of. The old man claims he used to be a king before his thans betrayed him and put him into this place. Once they party have the lyrics, they pull the swords from the king, and he falls to the ground, dead. From the king gas erupts, creating 3 humanoid shapes. The ghostly gaseous forms telepathically demand the 3 swords. The party refuse and fighting breaks out.
Alok is knocked out right away by the ghostly forms. The ghosts who pick up their swords then vanish. Ralph gives up his sword, then stabilises Alok.
Ralph drags Alok back to the previous room, and see the two Giants are wrestling, trying to knock the other over. Ralph leaves Alok behind, promising to come back for him, and then works his way to the other side, barely avoiding death from the 2 giants's footsteps.
Back in the room of shadows, Ralph gives the music to the Blue-Skinned woman, and asks her to save Alok. The Blue-Skinned Woman isn't impressed by the "music" she is given, but agrees to help Ralph. She goes into the room with the giants and breaths a deadly gas on them, melting them into puddles. She then heals up Alok.
The Blue-Skinned woman then reveals a new door that she claims heads to the exit.
===The Mosaic Room===
The party enter the next room and find the floor is a mosaic that creates the image of a beaufiful woman. The walls are entirely bare. A riddle is somehow communicated to the party though the floor tiles.
:The first to cross these coils must dance,
:The second sing to safety reached.
:The third must bleed or risk mischance,
:The fourth one dies between my teeth.
:The next will be the first once more,
:Do not cheat, I am keeping score.
Ralph starts to dance a ho-down across the 60 foot long mosaic, and safely eaches the other side. Alok awkwardly sings as he sings across.
The next room leads to a deep crevasse that drops to shadow, with no way knowing the depth, and a single rickety rope bridge leading across the 100 foot wide crevasse. Alok goes across the bridge first and reaches the other side and sees a painting on a pedestal that depicts a lounge-room with Colonal Sanders, the Mayor of Bergshire, inside. Ralph then makes his way across the bridge. The two then go though the painting.
===Escape===
Mayor Sanders is startled at the appearance of the party from the painting. Alok briefly explains the magical painting, then the two leave the Mayors house and return to Bergshire outside. It is now daytime.
The two head back to Humphrey's Estate. On the way back Ralph buys a new pitchfork.
Back at the estate, the party see that the number of guards at the estate has quadrupled, with 8 guards standing at the front door alone. The party walk over, and none of them are any of the guards from before. Ralph asks to speak with Lord Humphrey. After Ralph identified himself, the guards seize the party and escort them inside. 
The party are brought before the Lord, and he tells them a week as past, the painting had disappeared, Bonathan & Solnathan slain. Alok explains honestly what happened from the party's point of view. The Lord considers the story entirely drivel. They point out that the Mayor saw them leave the painting. A messenger is sent for the mayor.
A few hours late the party is released, and given 15 gold each for their week's worth, and told their services are no longer needed and to never return. Ralph wants to see Tapestries again, but isn't allowed, so decides to see here again later someplace else.
==Experience==
975 exp each
== Significant NPCs ==
* Lord Humphrey - Hires the party as guards for a month, Overweight Human Male
* Jewels - Butler to Lord Humphrey, Human Male
* Tapestries - Servant at the Humphrey Estate, Human Female. Real name is Lisa.
* False Chanterelle - A lady trapped inside a painting
* Blue-Skinned Woman - Humanoid Woman of unknown species, breaths acidic breath
* Colonel Sanders - Human Male, Mayor of Bergshire
== Significant Locations ==
*Bergshire - Shenanigans
Category:Shenanigans Episodes