Dungeons and Dragons Day 16: Betrayal
The clock was running and the party needed to get into a council meeting to figure out the succession crisis. Needing 4 house approvals was becoming difficult. One of the allied houses was forcing the party to a day long trial that they could not afford to compete in. That left the enemy houses.
House Bronzebuckle:
The party debated at length for a long time, and decided against Runebrewer given how deadly they probably were. House Windmaul was still upset with the group so visiting them again seemed out of the question. That left only Bronzebuckle. The Death Knight wanted to confront the Blacksmith of House Runebrewer, but it was quickly discovered that that he was in the families estate.
Before the group was able to enter, they were told to wait at the main entrance to House Bronzebuckle. While standing there, the group heard yelling and the smashing of something inside. Soon after, the party was admitted inside. Asking about the commotion, they were told that it was simply the Master of the House expressing his anger.
Important Information:
Most of the group spoke to a chosen representative of the House, but the Rogue managed to sneak away from the group. He decided to make some mischief. This include stealing a ton of important looking documents. Sadly, he did not find anything of worth that was not nailed down.
The Dwarf escorting the group introduced himself as Herin. From what the party had learned about the different houses, they knew that this Dwarf was one of the best among House Bronzebuckle. The Dwarf shared some startling info. Notably he informed the group that all six houses were able to spy on the party through the Runeblade that the Death Knight carried. Second he warned that things were even more complicated than the group thought.
A final warning was offered to the group. The medallions that had been appearing on the Drow with House Runebrewer were probably being placed there. The Drow did not associate with House Runebrewer at all. Herin believed that it was not any of the Houses and that in fact a third party was pulling strings of its own. The Dwarf pointed his suspicions at the Vampire working with Prince Fodrin. The member of Bronzebuckle informed the party that if they could find proof of foul play, he would try to convince the House Heads to let the group into a council meeting. The party left soon after, and Herin warned that none of the Houses could really be trusted.
The Rogue finished his thievery by setting random things in the house on fire. Thanks to fantastic rolling, he escaped with not a single person spotting the trouble he caused. Content with his work, the Rogue returned to the party. The group was back together, except the Necromancer who had again gone missing.
Reveal in the Library:
Once the Rogue showed the rest of the party what he had stolen, everyone decided to head to the Noble Library to get the documents looked at. While the Head Librarian told them it would take time to restore the files, he was pleased they had been brought to him. The party also discovered that the Library was itself considered a noble house. This mean they had one more vote of support to appear at a council meeting.
The Cloaker:
Now that the group had a way forward, they went back into the tunnels to find more Drow activity. Along the way, they encountered multiple cloak like figures. When they got close, these creatures, revealed to be Cloakers tried to kill the party. The Rogue however, decided to reach out to the creatures, or rather creature since the others were simply illusions cast by the original.
Because the Cloaker did not speak any languages that the Rogue spoke, he begged the rest of the group to help. As it turned out, the Death Knight was able to communicate. Thanks to overcoming the language barrier, the Cloaker decided to help the party so long as they protected its eggs. The Rogue took advantage of this by becoming closer friends with the creature.
The Stone Giant:
The group found the location of the next Drow Camp and once again found it empty of their enemies. Instead, they encountered a Stone Giant! Seeing one of his kin, the Rogue talked to this individual to learn what he could. What the group learned was startling. He had been told to stay there and wait for a foolish group of adventurers to show up, then kill them. The Rogue made sure that his new giant friend did not realize he was looking at said adventurers. He failed to bribe the giant, but he decided to leave on his own out of boredom.
Ropers:
Now with an entire cave system to explore,the party looked for clues that would provide a link between the Drow and literally anything. Instead, they were ambushed by Ropers. After fighting a fairly good battle, the group found itself entangled. They now were trapped in a battle for their survival unlike any other.
They do not know how long they have been in the tunnels, but the clock is still ticking. At most, 11 days remain until the world drastically changes.