03/03/2020 - Mounted Madness in the Magical Manor-house

## **TL;DR**

* Investigated portraits through the house and found they depicted 'Grand Archmages’
* Ves  rode Narko  and everyone saw lol
* Explored the second floor of the house and found a meeting chamber, an alchemy room, a private study and many dorms
* When trying to spy on the city at night someone or something sneaky caused Rocky  to become terrified and he bolted into the dark forest

## **Not Enough Cooks?**

While they were resting, Bayul  and Ves  showed the group the books they discovered. To Bayul’s  disappointment, his Loxodon book was readable by everyone and appeared in different languages to each person. With everyone feeling refreshed, the executive decision was made to investigate the rest of the manor. Marching through the foyer and past the heap of splinters that was once a proud door, they made their way into a great dining hall. They observed several long long tables laid out along the room complete with full silverware, and along the walls many hefty portraits of quirky but important-looking individuals. These were all framed in different styles and the plaques below were written in languages that seemed to correspond to the race of the rendered figure. Reading a few, they ascertained that these were all ‘Grand Archmages’ of the past (and one of the present - Grand Archmage Tur, 15th Dynasty, 3rd year).

Rocky  got bored of looking at pictures of old people and decided something needed hitting. He cast Rosie directly forwards and on the return she careered into the frontal podium with a crash. This triggered some unknown mechanism and suddenly a veritable feast served itself on the fully-primed tables. Ves  was suspicious of this free food that appeared from nowhere and left to find other rooms in exasperation while Rocky  and Narko  tucked in heartily. She was exploring the upper platform and saw there four doors, each with different elemental symbols inscribed on the front. Rocky  soon chased after her with an armful of pudding and she begrudgingly got involved with some cake, before he dumped the rest at the top of the stairs and the group reconvened for further pudding-related banter.

## **‘Gallery Time, Bitches'**

As the giddy goliath galloped into the gallery, the others remained wary but followed on. They noted that the portraits were more formal here but, at first, displayed the same Archmages as the dining room. However, unlike the Archmage pictures in the dining room, the dates on these pictures were not given in "Dynasty time", but in "TB time" like the ledger Merric found in the market (which suggested a recent date was 700 TB). By finding a couple of Archamge's who had pictures in both rooms, the group was able to make a coupe of correlations between "Dynasty time" and "TB time":

5th Dynasty 12th Year = 102 - 134 TB; Grand Archmage Sabia

15th Dynasty 3rd Year = 653 TB - present (700 TB?); Grand Archmage Tur

As the group continued along the gallery it widened out into a broad chamber and re-converged to a  corridor, where the pictures appeared to now feature somewhat less grandiose individuals, assumed to be various alumni of the school. In the centre of the chamber was a circular platform raised a couple of feet off the ground, which was mounted by Narko  and Ves  after some fruitless probing. As they did so, mechanisms clunked into action and they began to slowly rise. Shocked at first, they managed a slightly awkward goodbye as the group was severed in two.

Emerging through the floor of the level above, it was all Narko  could do to jink to the side as a cloaked figure raised its arm and sent a bolt of arcane energy barreling towards him. He tried to engage it in conversation but was rewarded only with a second bolt that both ducked away from. The two realised it was simply firing mindlessly in the same spot and went to investigate further, finding a set of buttons - the friendly green one turned on a light and deactivated the cloak, which simply floated to the floor. With the light now on, they could see that they were in a broad circular chamber ringed by chairs and punctuated by two sets of double doors. They descended down the platform to rejoin the others, and in order to catch them swiftly Narko  allowed Ves  the honour of riding on his back.

Meanwhile, Bayul , Gimble  and Rocky  continued down the gallery on a quest for the most recent alumni portraits. In the silence, it was not difficult for them to notice the clattering cacophony of Narko’s  hooves pounding the wooden floor and, despite his attempt at sneakiness, they all caught a glance of Ves  dismounting the proud centaur and shared a wry glance. As a collective they decided that the gallery could go on forever given tricksy wizarding shenanigans and it would be more efficient to explore the second level together.

Taking advantage of the Narko  situation, Rocky  offered Ves  a race back down the corridor. She accepted and promptly transformed into a horse. Unfortunately, Rocky  was not well versed in the way of the druidic arts, nor particularly in the concept of object permanence - he saw this as a perfect opportunity to gain an edge in his race with Ves (though he wasn’t sure where she’d gone) and leapt atop the mare. After several seconds of wild bucking and Rocky  just barely maintaining his grip, everyone else decided that while it was amusing they should probably step in. As soon as he was talked off her back, Ves  shot off down the corridor and took a clear gold in the race as she reached the platform, though Rocky  still gave it a hearty attempt and arrived with a grin not long after.

## **Alcoholic Alchemy**

They all ascended on the platform together, easily evaded the cloaked custodian and made their way inside a set of the double doors. Rocky , being the first in, excitedly declared it to be a bar with funny glasses. The others quickly warned him against drinking the range of colourful and viscous liquids occupying a variety of vials and beakers, and set about finding out what they could. Narko  filched multiple potions (known and unknown), as well as what appeared to be the diary of an Archmage, and Bayul  managed to find a jar of pickled eyes to hold a few extra eyestalks. Just off this room, they found a small study containing a desk, some scrawled notes and a cabinet containing a gem-encrusted sword that Bayul took. Through the second set of double doors from the central chamber, they came upon a large number of dormitories. Finally, they looped back around to the main foyer and checked the elemental doors that Ves  scoped out previously. These opened into the various rooms that had just been explored, and although strong magic was detected they found out nothing more about the nature of the doors. They exited the house via the classroom, in which Narko  acquired a book on rune magic vs arcane magic.

## **Night Terrors**

Bayul  proposed that, given the unusual circumstances, it would be wise to leave the city before darkness completely fell but also to remain close by to see if anything notable occurred. They attempted to move stealthily in the half-light, but it was generally agreed that they probably made more noise than if they’d just walked normally. While waiting on the bridge outside the main gates, Rocky  was visibly upset. He felt that nothing he’d done that day had been useful, and offered that perhaps he wasn’t cut out for this work after all. However, while they consoled him, Ves’s ears suddenly picked up on a faint whispering. Before she could react, Gimble  and Rocky  cried out in animalistic fear. The gnome’s vision was completely drowned out by images of the horrors of his final battle, in which he narrowly evaded death and lost many companions, while Rocky  was subjected to a massively amplified version of the torments he was already feeling. He bolted, his muscular frame disappearing into the gloom in seconds. Bayul  picked up the sobbing form of Gimble  whilst Narko  chased after Rocky  and repeatedly bellowed his name.

Narko  clattered back up to the group just as Gimble  began to recover from his nightmare, revealing that Rocky  had well and truly buggered off. Bayul  considered splitting the party when a strange smell caught in his ever-sensitive trunk, clearly from the direction of the gate. With the merest glint of twilight remaining, he followed his nose and caught a glimpse of a set of small footsteps at the edge of the bridge.