Episode 81: Treasured Times

The Lost Episodes

After the battle against seemingly incessant teleportation traps and various undead in very questionable water ends, the party decides to escort Emil (rescued from the dungeons) back upstairs. The arcane fountain of white flame with a hovering hourglass will have to wait another day, as the upper floors called Xarlamin's name. Passing the main floor, they return to the room with Bannoch's treasurer, Leif. Xarlamin swings down dawnblade and with an arc of green flame shatters the chain that was holding Leif in place. Leif, showing just how invested he is in his Stockholm syndrome, runs to sound the alarm for (the deceased) Bannoch.

Xarlamin humors him by creating the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Leif, seemingly victorious, proclaims the party's imminent demise at the hand of Bannoch. Vin then puts his shapeshifting to good use, and steps out of the room only to parade back in masquerading as Bannoch. Between Leif's shock and Vin's extraordinary acting, the fact that 'Bannoch' is dressed exactly as the adventurer that just left the room escapes notice. A bit of sleight of hand, and words from Ars Demonica, and Vin proclaims the party's demise behind the now closed doors of the 'treasury' Leif was found in.

Leif hurries onward with Vin in tow to check the (real?) treasury and confirm that the party hasn't managed to breach anything. In a study oddly warm compared to the chill of the rest of the castle (central heating not being a priority for vampires) a poker in front of the fireplace is thrown revealing a secret room. Vin dismisses Leif as he hurriedly calls the party upstairs and promptly deletes Leif's memory of the whole affair.

The party in the meantime had found themselves with a stirring Ireena on top of the Kazandroid. Greatly confused at the sunlight that creeps in the windows, she recoils from the light, but without the burning that typically comes from vampires. Emil recoils from Ireena and wants to be "nowhere near that white woman". The party confirmed she didn't appear to blatantly be a vampire and that Emil didn't recognize her from elsewhere. Perhaps he had just watched a comedy special and found her particularly offensive?

The party compromised and left the Kazandroid with him as they hurried upstairs with Ireena who, still shaken, refused to be left alone. Entering the study where Vin was, Xarlamin quickly became emotionally erect at the books littering the shelves, after just being so bored at the accounting tomes he had discovered in the rooms below. Sorting through them he found Bannoch's diary bound in red leather. As Xarlamin rummaged and muttered his arcane words, Bamya triggered a trap within the secret room, and narrowly escaped asphyxiation. Stealing a torch from the hands of a skeleton, the party triggered a second secret door and continued to advance.

Spiders and gargoyles slowed them down, but underneath the belfry they found evidence of yet another secret door. Unable to find how to open it, a well placed shatter spell and some brute force from Nestor cleared the way. The party stared in confused awe at a room with artificial starlight shining down on a metal tower built within the castle itself.