Grim Deed Part 3

Previously...

The adventurers had arrived at the Manor of Umbergloom with little, but foreboding effort. Within, they were brought over to the parlor to enjoy refreshments to the tune of eerie music. And whilst the adventurers were discussing their next move, few of them found the mimic lying in hiding on the table.

Skyler, the Sky-pirate, managed to hit the mimic hard, but also lost his sword to the sticky creature, now fleeing at mimic speed to the kitchen.

... and one of the odd servants with their heads covered in white fabric, closes the door just after the mimic runs inside. Clang clang goes the sword as it hits the kitchen appliances inside.

"My sword...!" Skyler looks absolutely stricken as the chest-turned-mimic flees with his beloved scimitar lodged into it. He winces with every bang, even as he kicks off to run after the damned mimic, hollering after it, "The damn deed *has* to be in the mimic!"

He hops in place for a moment on one leg, a bizarre little dance that soon bears fruit as he draws a dagger from his belt. "Don't let it get away! Jarik, *someone*, zap it, dammit!"

"Shit, could be the actual deed, could just be pretending. Not sure why, though." *Reithak grumbled as she hopped over closer to the door. "'Scuse me, I think that that creature may be what we're looking for, so please let us through, and we'll be on our way, alright?"

Jarik stares at the chest mimic as it starts waddling off, banging around the sword stuck to it. It might almost be funny, well, it is a little funny. "I don't have a zapping thing ready." He mutters, but he does stride off after the others as they head towards the kitchen. "Can you even put stuff in those things?" He asks, wondering even as he strides across the room, sliding his crossbow free.

Culix isn't about to give up the advantage of the darkness and so she dashes along the wlal she dimmed with her blood magic, keeping low to the ground to try and slip around the servant blocking the way and open the door, taking advantage of the bigger and noisier folks distraction to open the door behind the servant.

The servants are all now looking at the rowdy bunch of adventurers, including the butler. Nobody is making a hostile move though - they simply stand and look. Except at Culix of course - the rogue has the perfect cover with the darkness and the distractions to open the door and slip into the dimly lit kitchen.

It is a spotlessly clean affair, with simple utensils spread out. The coffee pot is on the counter next to quietly boiling hot water; the cookies were laid in neat rows. The cook - with the apron - looks very much like the other servants with their white covered head, except taller and bigger. The cook too, is looking at the door. For a moment, looking at Culix - before she realizes that gaze is looking past her.

There is some scuffling around the corner, before there is a sudden loud clang, a bang, a disturbing 'schlick' sound, and then silence. A trail of slime glistens on the ground.

Rounding around the kitchen corner, the trail of slime leads to a drain grate pulled open, with even more slime hanging down. The scimitar is unceremoniously dumped in front of it. It looks like it did not fit; however, it is covered in sticky slime.

Into the kitchen rushes the swordless himbo, dagger poised for a mighty blow...

... only to be confronted with a sticky sword and a drain pipe. He blinks, glancing at the sword as he slowly makes his way over. He squints at the pipe, and then picks up his sword gingerly as he carries it over to the sink to rinse the mimic-goo off. "What if I drop some alchemist fire down the hole?" He suggests as he begins to clean his sword off

Culix sighs, and pulls her hood back, standing up straight and visible once again, which might startle folks near her as she seems to simply emerge from the shadows, wisps of shade hanging to her like a dense fog. "It always ends up back at the sewers." she says then. "Fire is... probably not a good idea. We're after a piece of paper, right? No deed, no payment. Really wish I just snuck in and thieved it to begin with." she says to the others, as she gets to work on trying to open up the grate so they can continue giving chase.

Jarik frowns at the drain, frowns hard. "Sewers? Are we sure? Why can't it just be a cistern, or a dungeon." He really doesn't want to go traipsing about the sewers again. He does nod in agreement with the suddenly appearing Culix, though he eyes her sideways as she just seems to appear.

"Look, we just need to go by, and figure out what's going on with those documents." *Reithak sighed.* "Seriously, the hospitality is appreciated, but we don't need to get in your hair here."

She looked back to the others, those who were still blocked from entry, and shrugged. "What d'you think we should do?"

Carver looks where a few struck off into the kitchen, just shaking her head. Mimics. Strange behavior abounds without accepting the reality of those terrible aberrants. The strange servants entire presentation here was more than enough. "Well... we can try to explore the rest of the house, or we can push through where the rest of our crew got off to."

The pleading falls to deaf ears, it appears, as the servant simply looks towards Reithak. The three other adventurers managed to run past - but now the neatly dressed figure seemed to be bent on preventing entry. By politely standing in the way, of course.

The effort to open the drain is suddenly halted as a large... broom, is shunt down in front of it. The tall cook looks down at the three party members in silence. The disapproval was palpable. Though... the figure has exactly the same poise as all the other servants.

"I mean... it always ends up being sewers." Culix tells Jarik with a shrug, and then the broom is in her way. She pinches the bridge of her nose and huffs a frustrated sigh. "Alright, I'm getting pretty close to just starting stabbing. Your lordship said we were to come here and collect the deed. There was a walking suit of armor with him which I'm guessing is the missing one from the hall. So clearly, you guys know who he is. How about you get out of the way, before I start figuring out how much you're worth in scrap value?" a pause, she shouts back to the other room, "Check on what you saw in that side room!" as a suggestion back Carver's way.

"One moment!" Skyler calls to the people outside, as he turns to the sink to wash the gunk off his sword blade, turning to the broom-holder. "Hey, do you have some pumice or a towel I can wipe this off with? Otherwise, I'm going to smear this snail trail all over your nice, clean kitchen." He sticks his finger into some of the goo, and attempts to splatter the chef with it.

Reithak has partially disconnected.

"Side room? Well, alright, doesn't seem we're getting through the strong, silent type in the way, here." *Reithak shrugged, turning back to the rest of the room. "How about it? Best to strike while the iron's hot, I say. You're probably better at tracking things than I am, too."

Jarik wrinkles his nose at Cullix's words about sewers, even as he keeps his eyes mostly on Skyler washing his sword, at least until the cook with the broom shows up. "I just feel like we're talking to a bunch of brainless puppets right now."

"Not without hurtin' 'em." Carver says in agreement. The calls from the kitchen are a comfort, an acknowledgement that it is not danger that holds them but instead frustration with the local help and mummers incomprehensible passivity. She tilts her head for Reithak to follow, heading not toward the rest of her team but the little foyer off to the right where they first came in.

<OOC> Aelwyn says, "Ah yes, Carver, Reithak, please give me perception rolls. ._."

GAME: Reithak rolls perception: (7)+19: 26

GAME: Carver rolls perception+5: (15)+16+5: 36

The cook makes a twisting motion with the broom. It was as if to prove a point, as the tall figure stares down at Culix. It appears, despite all the very valid and factually correct pleading, this shan't be a drain grate the party shall pass without a fight. Probably. The broom is twisted and then pulled up, slowly working at the adhesive while the staring contest continues.

Meanwhile, Carver and Reithak head back around the entrance towards the side room. The butler has returned at his post by the staircase, and they stare at the passing adventurers, but makes no effort to stop them. Most of the servants have also returned to their duties - either cleaning, cleaning up the trays of cookies and coffee, or just simply staring.

"I can make a distraction?" Skyler suggests to the others, "And when they're distracted we can sneak past and wham-bam-thank you man we join the others?" He squints at the grate, and then up at the cook, "Unless you two want to see if we can try squeezing down the drain? Jarik's ass might be too fat, but we can always see if there's butter to lube it up."

Culix sighs, not sure why she bothered reasoning with the guy in the first place. There may be a vein throbbing on her temple. "It's either trying not to get shanked in some deep dark arsehole of the earth, or dumb shit like this. Every time." she complains as she stands back up. "So, these things are puppets or something. Mimic might have the deed. Might not, and these things are protecting it. I'm real tempted to start getting impatient with the help. There's some kind of mass of... something down there. Could be a fat berg, or a corpse pile, or just a load of literal shit- couldn't make it out. There was a side room back that way with someone reading. My money is on some kinda puppetmaster for these brainless mannequins." she thumb at the nearby chef.

Reithak followed Carver out of the parlor, heading back into the main foyer and taking a look around, looking on edge, but happy to be away from the strange music. "D'you see that? I know this place is a bit odd, but there's definitely something being covered up, over there." She pointed out. "Maybe leads to some sort of basement?"

Carver pauses to consider the strange(that word fits so much here) break in the wallpaper, ignoring the butler. At this point, an attack would almost be welcome just to vent frustration. No, instead, she wonders aloud. "Think this may have been another door here once, now sealed up some how? If they added the wall late then it would likely be not a very impressive barrier." She nods as Reithak comes to the same conclusion and adds on, maybe a basement! "Okay, here's the plan... one of plays the part of the screamin' ass and the other one tries to peek in and see if we're right."

"Which one you wanna be?"

Jarik eyes the hole, rolling his eyes a little at Skyler's commentary. "I can slither down there easy enough if it come to it, but I'm not sure cookie here is gonna let us without taking them out." He syas it flat, even looking at the cook as he does so. These puppets don't seem to react much unless they're going somewhere they shouldn't, who's to know if they'll even notice a threat of violence.

The broom works at the mimic adhesive. Unbeknowst to the puppet though - the broom was slowly disintegrating with every pull and twist, as the powerful sticky mimic power was doing its work on those poor fibers. The staring continues.

The butler continues to observe the pair staring at the wall. In the distance, a quiet scurrying sound can be heard - the short servant ran across the distant room underneath the stairs, apparently busy at the ever important work of dusting, cleaning and scrubbing everything until everything was spotless.

Culix considers options, "Weren't we supposed to not break these things?" she asks, genuinely not recalling if the client said anything about it. He was deliberately circumspect about a broad array of things, after all. She scratches her cheek. "And there was that creepy piano music too. I dunno what's up with this place, none of it is normal."

"To be fair, we knew it was going to be nothing like what was pitched to us." Skyler says with a sigh, finishing up with his sword... Or at least, enough of the handle he can hold it without his hand burning from mimic-slime. "I still think when we get back we need to lodge a complaint with the Adventurer's Guild and get the bastard black-listed."

He then briskly adjusts his grip on his sword, and then begins to walk towards the exit. "Lets see what Carver and Reikhak are up to. I'm going to cause a distracted, you two get out while I do so." He beams at gobbo and half-oruch, an expression that fills at least Jarik with dread, before he's turning back to the kitchen and abruptly starts screaming, "LET US GO BEFORE I BURN THIS WHOLE HOUSE DOWN!" And he reaches into his jacket with his free hand, pulling out a vial of alchemist fire.

"Weird to cover over it like that. Might not need to destroy it, probably best if we don't it just looks loose. might be able to pull it open." *Reithak considered.* "What, need me to make an ass of myself? Sure, I can do that!" Reithak nods, rolling one of her shoulders. "Maybe best to just clear this spot out, as fun as screaming sounds."

The large egalrin wandered over to the staring guard, sneezing loudly. "Your hospitality has been most welcome here, but I believe that the upstairs have been sending a terrible draft of dust down this way, sir." The egalrin bemoaned. Would you not be able to take care of that before my companions return, and show me to one of the rooms where I might powder my beak with more agreeable compounds instead?"

Jarik lets out a heavy sigh as Skyler changes tactics, lowering his head and rubbing at his temple with one hand, crossbow hanging in the other. "Really? I guess the subtlety game is over, as much as we were not doing it anyway." He sighs and gets ready for the puppets to get riled up from the threats.

GAME: Reithak rolls bluff: (12)+9: 21

GAME: Aelwyn rolls 14: (12)+14: 26

Culix makes for the door, intending to exit the kitchen again, when Skyler makes his distraction. "I don't-" she begins, but it's too late and he's already brandishing alchemists fire. She shakes her head, then shrugs, "Alright, sod it." she says, and pulls out her own dagger to brandish at anyone that gets in her way as she intends to stomp back out into the drawing room. "We're gonna search this place up and down till we find that bloody deed, and if we don't find it, we're gonna find that mimic and gut it." she announces to the world. "And if anyone gets in the way I'll bloody well stick 'em, golem or not."

By the entrance:

The butler turns to look at Reithak as she approaches. The pleasantries are met with a tirelessly unimpressed gaze. There is a long pause when the request is made, but then finally butler makes a slow gesture towards the foyer. It seems the powder room lies in that direction. They wait for the egalrin to move first, as per usual.

Meanwhile, Carver is granted the exceptional opportunity to peer at the weird wallpaper in detail. It does not take the experienced ranger to figure out how to press at the hingest to cause the tall, but thin door to open. The room within is dark, but the light is enough to illuminate the cobweb covered skeleton lying against the wall, holding onto a rusty crossbow. The corridor continues to a turn towards the side room.

By the kitchen:

The very beliavable danger of the Sky-Pirate though, does provoke a response from these dead silent servants. The figure at the door turns and with brisk steps, leans down to pick up the bucket. The response is swift and cruel - instantly throwing the cold water at the pirate holding the vial.

The angry stomping of the goblin is looked upon by the silent servants, but whether they have an opinion on the matter - they remain as silent as a grave.

Carver only has a second. She can look behind her to see if the distraction worked. Or she can dive in. It's probably her death anyway, the brief glistening of bleached bone crossbowmen to be joined by her own's creaky bones in the next thirty years. Into the dark and the winding corridor.

She hopes the rest of the team is doing better than her as she kneels to light a torch.

"OIY!" Skyler protests as he's douses with cold water, staring with vial lifted from the butler to Jarik and then back to the butler. "Well, let us through and we won't have to burn this fucking place down." He says sulkily, emphasizing the word 'have' to make it clear that burning the place is still on the table.

Still scowling, he attempts to walk out of the kitchen, pausing to bow up at the butler and lightly tap him on the head threateningly with the vial of alchemist fire.

"So these things are basically just letting us do whatever. Except go down that sewer. Which makes me right away think that's the right way to go." Culix says, half to herself, as she makes her way back through the sitting room on her way to reconvene with Carver and Reithak. "But there was someone reading by candlelight Carver spotted. And if these things are puppets, seems likely they aren't much for reading." she adds as she heads out into the main hall. "Oh, secret door. And skeleton. Well that looks likely." she says, and starts heading for the recently opened entrance gesturing for the others to follow her and back Carver up.

"Yes, of course, thank you very much for pointing the way." Reithak nodded, moving the head in the direction pointed out, and making sure they were followed. "I hope that the facilities are as well stocked as your larders, of course, it takes a lot to keep looking as good as this, y'know?"

Jarik gives one last look at the cook then follows the others out of the kitchen. "Or they want us to think its the right way." He points out with a last glance behind him into the kitchen. Though as he follows out into the hall, he arches a brow at the discovered secret door. "Someone got forgotten in there.."

By the entrance:

The vial tap on the servant's head causes the figure to turn their head. Can someone glare through a sheet of impenetrable white fabric? Apparently they can, since the hate is quite palpable.

None of the servants make effort to stop the adventurers from leaving the kitchen though, nor the Parlor. When the music fades, their spirits are also lifted. The quiet of the mansion felt like a breeze of fresh air. The entrance hall was otherwise empty, as the butler has been taken away, except for the three armors.

And the one spot that was curiously missing one.

By the secret hallway:

While Carver is attempting to light up the torch, she realizes there is light coming up ahead around the corner. Not a whole lot, but enough to spot the similar door she and Reithak found by the entrance. It was quite the desolate looking corridor otherwise.

She can hear quiet riffling sound.

By the foyer:

Reithak is politely led towards the foyer. The windows out to the garden are _massive_, letting in plenty of the gloomy light, reflected off the snow. Few plants and seating arrangments were set up for that casual lounging; and a messy station with vials, shriveled plants and plant cutters was setup in the corner.

At the distance, she can see what looks like snow covered statues and... a hedge maze? A small wooden building was also visible.

The short statured cleaner was still running around, wiping and dusting, when Reithak is shown a door. The room to powder her beak, no doubt.

Culix slips into the secret passageway, gives the skeleton and its crossbow a brief, cursory glance. Is that crossbow better than hers? Probably not, it looks pretty old. And it's too big anyway. And then she carries on, following up behind Carver. She pats the woman on the back and in a low voice says, "Kitchen was a bust for now. There's something down there but we'd probably have to do the cook in to get a better look at it." she says. "Let me take the lead here. Might be traps or something." she suggests, and pulls her cloak up to begin heading stealthily towards the source of that light.

"I'm just *waiting* for that damn cook to make a wrong move." Skyler mutters as he trails after Culix, scowling as he neatly tucks the vial of alchemist fire away. "I still think we should have dropped the alchemist fire." Beat. "Or my Ioun torch!" And he pulls out the little stone, and lets it float around his head like a little glowing moon.

Carver pauses as she looks back up, the sliver of light to guide the way. She slowly tucks the torch under her left arm as Culix appears next to her, nodding thoughtfully. "I, admit, don't know what to make of this home. It's value. Why it demands so much upkeep and why the masked weirdo hired us to make sure it stays in his possession."

She rises to her feet, "Lately, so many jobs with outsiders, wot tryin' to take advantage of our work for their little weird schemes. Smelling like another one of those, innit?" She takes a deep breath. That's enough stalling. She breaks the rules of fearing death.

She strides toward the light. "Whassit yous said about alchemist fire?"

Jarik moves up to the entryway of the secret hallway, peering ahead as other decide to explore deeper. Though his eyes finally settle on the skeleton, frowning slightly. "I do not think our employer wants the deed to a burned husk of a mansion. I think the point is for it to be intact."

<OOC> Reithak would like to cast invisibility on themselves

GAME: Reithak casts Invisibility. Caster Level: 5 DC: 14

Reithak had gone to the powder room in question, taking a step inside. "Got a lot still need to be done, so help me out a lil bit? Shame to hide but I got business needs doing." The inquistor prayed within, suddenly and abruptly vanishing from sight, before doing her best to sneak back down to the main entrance.

The party - including the now invisible Reithak - all have reconvened by the strange secret corridor. It is not a long trip to the other end of the corridor, and after a brief examination for traps, the hidden door opens quietly.

A sense of warmth assaults the party. Rejuvenating scents linger in the air - fresh flowers, expensive perfume - and naturally the more stale scents of refined excess, such as old smoke and dried up alcohol.

The sight of the room matches the first assault onto the senses - this obviously was the lounge. It was brightly lit, with several comfortable looking chairs, tables and even a small bar in the corner, though it was now empty.

Yet, perhaps most prominent sight was the card table at the other end of the room - and a lady in a refined dress seated on it, shuffling black playing cards. A masquarade mask hid half of her features, but not her red lipstick.

"Ah, the lovely guests." She smiles, a charming smile. "I hope you did not do such a number on the poor waiting staff as it sounded like, now did you?" She asks, with a light tut.

A red queen of hearts is neatly flipped out with her fingers, then quietly shuffled back into the deck.