Behind the Curtain

"**Behind the Curtain**" (1x16) is the 16th episode of Dun-Johns and Dragons.

### **Previously on *Dun-Johns and Dragons***

After being framed and arrested for a series of murders committed by the Baelor Butcher, the party escaped imprisonment in the Netherkeep, unaliving several guards in the process. After a brief encounter in the sewers with a figure called the Rat King, they found Captain Olo at the abandoned headquarters of The Penumbra. Olo, furious with them for killing so many of his guards, ordered them to kill the real Butcher, whom they'd previously identified as Lord Stanton Owsley, and then leave the city, saying if he ever saw any of them again, he’d kill them himself. Under cover of darkness, they made their way to Owsley's residence and prepared to strike.

### **Part I**

The party manages to climb over the fence without detection; the house has a turret at each of the two corners facing them, with one guard in each. Magpie casts Sleep and manages to down one. Zander casts Spider Climb on Yoolna and she picks up him and a rope and climbs up to the turret with the sleeping guard, who stirs and begins to wake up. They quickly duck back down below the edge; Zander sneaks over the edge and ducks into the shadows but the guard spots him. The guard takes a shot with his crossbow, but misses.

Yoolna hears the shot and leaps up onto the turret as well; Zander casts Eldritch Blast and the guard falls down the stairs, quite dead. Zander and Yoolna pull his body back up the stairs and set him back where he’d been sleeping before. They secure one end of the rope and the others climb up. Stone checks the guard’s body and takes his keys, and gives the crossbow bolts to Magpie.

They descend the stairs and find themselves in a large, well-appointed bedroom with a circular staircase in the middle leading downward. The room is tidy but covered in a thin layer of dust. There are several paintings on the walls; Magpie defaces them in various whimsical ways. The party searches several smaller rooms leading off the main one; Magpie takes some fancy clothes, and Yoolna snags a silver tea set.

Magpie casts Disguise Self to make herself look like the dead guard and they descend to the next floor down. Here, Magpie finds chests containing a black dragon scale, which she pockets, and a pouch of powdered ruby, which she gives to Dugluss. They all find a strangely cold wooden box. Dugluss opens the lid; it is lined with lead, and in the center are two large blocks of ice. Next, they find a large stone stairway leading down. They descend and find themselves in an entrance hall with flagstone floors and a large golden door opposite the stairs.

### **Part II**

In the entrance hall, they see two large statues at the foot of the stairs. Magpie draws eyebrows and a mustache on each in turn. In an antechamber off to one side, they find two silver serving trays, which Yoolna stows in the Portable Hole. There is a door on either side of the stairs; Zander peeks through one and sees a large, well-lit hall full of tables and chairs. On a dais at one end, Lord Owsley sits in a large, throne-like chair, holding a silver goblet.

After a quick, whispered conference, they decide half the party will enter through each door simultaneously. They go charging in, Dugluss landing a decent hit straight to Owsley's face, but Owsley nonchalantly says, "Ah, you all made it. We were worried we would have to track you down and deal with you ourselves, but it appears you've saved us the trouble. You have our thanks." Owsley monologues for a bit about the residents of the city being pathetic, subservient beings, and their gods and kings being a veil hiding the true power running things. He tells them to take a seat at the tables in front of him. Dugluss, Zander, and Father Buckitt do so; Magpie, Stone, and Yoolna remain standing. Magpie, spotting another statue, walks over and draws a mustache on it as well, staring at Owsley as she does so; he merely smirks. Finally, after a prodding remark from Father Buckitt, Owsley produces a magic wand and tries to cast something at him, but Buckitt makes his saving throw and is unaffected. The group rolls initiative.

As the first attack hits — an Eldritch Blast from Zander — Owsley jumps up, shouting, "This is our house! This is our city!" He makes one attack with a magical ring that hits Dugluss, Buckitt, and Zander, but after a few more hits, Dugluss sends Folar to do a force strike against him and Owsley, still grinning, cracks and then shatters into chunks of ice.

Yoolna grabs the ring off the floor and Buckitt picks up the wand. Zander examines the statue next to the dais; it appears to be made of stone, but is wearing armor that seems too closely fitted to have been just put on. Dugluss later investigates it and confirms at least that it is made of stone, and not a petrified person. He also casts Identify on the ring and learns it is a Ring of Shooting Stars, which requires attunement outdoors at night. They all agree to give it to Stone. They examine "Owsley’s" remains; the ice appears to be normal ice, but as they pick up the fine clothes, an enchantment seems to fade from them and they are revealed to be plain studded leather.

Father Buckitt finds a small switch under the high table; he presses it and the whole floor under the center of the room falls away. Dugluss starts to fall, but Stone pulls him to safety. They try various methods to determine the depth of the pit, but can only discern that it's very deep.

They go back upstairs and re-examine the ice box, but everything looks the same as before. Father Buckitt hits the ice with his hammer and smashes one of the cubes into two triangular halves. They return to the entrance hall; it occurs to them that they haven't actually confirmed that the golden door leads outside; they manage to unlock it and open it a crack. They peek through and see a guard; he turns at the door's creaking and locks eyes with Magpie through the crack. Thinking fast, Father Buckitt imitates Owsley's voice and growls, "I don't want to be disturbed – make sure no one comes in." The guard looks at Magpie, still disguised as a guard, and says, "Well you heard him! Shut the door!"

They do so, then decide to go back and investigate the pit again. They manage to just get Magpie to the bottom by tying all their rope together. It's a very large cavern, the floor squelchy mud, with scattered deeper pools of water, and the roof too high to see. She looks around at the walls but doesn't see any sort of exit. She sees some clumps of swamp grass, but no other definite signs of life. She uses Thaumaturgy to call up to the others what she can see, and the rest of the group follow her down, except for Buckitt who stays at the top to guard the rope.

Zander checks around the walls, looking for any sign of an exit, but doesn't find much. Dugluss examines the water and finds that it's not the same as the ice cube water, which seemed to have been brought from somewhere else. He takes a vial of the cave water for research; the smell reminds him of the water in the scorpions' cave. He also finds a patch of mushrooms with purple glowing spores, and harvests several for research. He also tastes one out of curiosity; it tastes strange, but has no immediate effects.

Yoolna steps into one of the pools to test how deep it is and immediately finds herself treading water; she climbs back out and reports it to the others. Dugluss tosses a clump of swamp grass into one of the pools to see if there's a detectable current; it remains still, but he does see some kind of movement in the pool below. He puts his hand to the surface of the water and sends a jolt of electricity through it, but nothing happens.

Stone casts Light on a stone and tosses it into the pool; the water is murky, but they see two points of reflected light, and then a flurry of movement as an enormous black dragon comes bursting out of the water. It lets out a tremendous roar; Magpie, Yoolna, and Dugluss are Frightened. Buckitt, hearing the roar, begins scrambling down the rope. The dragon snarls, "This is my city!"

## **Featured Characters**

### **Player Characters**

* Dugluss Deep-Forge
* Father Buckitt
* Magpie
* Stone
* Yoolna
* Zander Brushspark