The Heist of an Era: Session Three - Ulterior Motives
Missions/Quests Completed
16th Spriarjeń 269 5E
Two Imperial Guards ascend the Grand Staircase. One breaks off from the pair, inquisitively pursuing the disguised Thalmun Burrowale who retreats back up the stairs and into the servant's quarters. Thalmun moves in a hastened panic and as the Imperial Guard enters the space, they use an enchanted coin which they throw at their foe to conjure a cloud of smoke.
Concealed by the smoke, Thalmun dives to one side and darts through the hallway. He presses on and twists left and right through labrynthine subterannean hallways. Meanwhile, the Imperial Guard, now clear that Thalmun was not an Imperial Guard themselves but an imposter, would trigger an alarm that would send guards flocking to this level.
As the Imperial Guard coordinates the palace guards to scour the level, Thalmun is spotted by a number of residents who he is able to convince to return to their rooms. He makes his way around the corner and there slips into a room which turns out to be the Imperial artificer's workshop.
Down below, Blubbard Jnr. and Flanglesmith Chumblebum stand on the precipice of a square chamber centred with a purple circle of glowing runes. They approach it and test it with a ball bearing, discovering that it is some form of an anti-gravity rune that propels the ball bearing upwards to smash against the ceiling.
They further see doors all around the room and opt to take one on the room's north-western side. From here they find a confused web of dark and narrow hallways and realise that they have placed themselves at the heart of some kind of subterranean maze.
Flanglesmith Chumblebum considers the problem and how best to navigate the darkness, but Blubbard Jnr. being far more enthusiastic simply encases their hand within their ooze and drags them into the labrynth, turning this way and that without rhyme or reason and racing at a run to reach their goal.
In spite of their manic and ill-conceived course, the two would pass through the maze with seemingly no mistakes and somehow would reach a long narrow hallway at the end of which they would find a brighter marble chamber in which six crowns sat on plinths atop an elevated dais.
Meanwhile, excited at their locale but anxious to move before they might be found, Thalmun Burrowale hastily scours the room for resources he might use. He is quickly able to assemble some make-shift explosives contained within empty waterskins and further discovers an experimental metal grappling gun.
Taking the grappling gun, Thalmun returns to the hallway and is moving back through the halls when he comes across a set of locked double doors. Hearing a distant sound of guards closing in, Thalmun is able to break the lock and makes their way inside to where they find a pump room with valves elevating up towards the fountains in the palace grounds.
Thalmun uses a magical lock on the door behind them and sets to work. He works out a pressure cylinder designed to push water up out of the fountain and places his make-shift bomb within the cylinder. It shoots upwards and is caught in the nozzel of the fountain where it continues to be battered by the water.
Before long, the bomb explodes, sending the fountain degree toppling down onto Thalmun's head.
Within the depths of the palace, Blubbard Jnr. and Flangelsmith Chumblebum hear the faint crash of a distant explosion. They realise their pressing peril and move to quickly retrieve the crowns. They consider that perhaps the room might be trapped and so use a mage's hand in order to lift the crown.
Meanwhile, Flanglesmith turns his farmiliar Tibalt invisible and sends them into the chamber as well, their purpose being to retrieve the Crown of the Lost Princess.
As soon as the Emerald Crown is lifted from its plinth, a pressure trigger attends and the room is suddenly filled with a continuous spray of poisonous gas. Meanwhile, a metal portcullis and sheer metal sheet drops down to trap them inside (though both had the sense to stay outside the room and were thus safe).
It takes the two some time, but eventually they are able to return the Emerald Crown to its plinth, only to remove it again but this time to apply a selection of Blubbard Jnr's pastries as a counterweight. This allows them to open up the door, though the vented gas still floods the area.
They use magic to draw the crown from the room, but in so doing they are attacked by the crown which is revealed to be enchanted, snapping at them with metallic fangs. They throw the crown into the path of an anti-gravity spell and watch it shatter against the ceiling, first feeling horrified that their mission had ended in disaster, Flanglesmith soon surmises that the crown was in fact a fake.
Thalmun Burrowale survives the falling debris, and in turn uses the experimental grappling gun acquired from the artificer's workshop and makes his escape. It takes him some time to clamber up to freedom, and upon emerging he is met by a surrounding crowd of stunned palace employees and guards He explains to them that a criminal is loose in the palace, and without further explanation he departs to investigate.
Thalmun turns the corner of the palace grounds, and has barely reached the palace doors when the guards down below in the servant's quarters, break the pump room's door down and yell up to the palace guards on the surface that the Imperial Guard they all had seen was in fact an imposter.
Thalmun continues into the palace and races through the halls, with Palace Guards slowly beginning to close in on him. When he is cornered in one hallway, he throws a coin which emits a cloud of smoke with which he is able to escape, when on the stairs he tries the same trick again, this time combined with a series of grease stains which cause guards to slip and slide and throws their phalanx into chaos.
Thalmun runs desperately downwards, trying with all he has to reach the vaults and finally unravel the mysteries of his unexplained dream. Not knowing which door leads to the vault, only knowing that it lies on a level beneath the storage level, he opens the first door he sees and finds himself not in the vaults but instead within some kind of underground mausoleum.
Thalmun drifts into the room with hopes that he might find somewhere to hide, but therewithin he watches with horror as from the crypts emerge multiple Imperial Guards.
Seeing greater peril still within the crypts, Thalmun retreats back to the stairs and continues downwards, until here at last he opens the door that guides him into the labrynth of the Imperial Vaults, with Imperial Guards pursuing him and not too far behind at that.
Once more, Blubbard Jnr. and Flanglesmith Chumblebum run recklessly through the halls. Flanglesmith tries desperately to suggest a more structured and cautious approach, but he is ultimately unable to break free of Blubbard Jnr's strong and sticky grip. The two move without rhyme or reason and press in one direction and then another, and yet again through blind luck the two reach yet another chamber, this one secured by a huge and heavy vault door.
Within the door, the pair note a small slot with which they are able to place their one Adamant Badge, and also a lever with which to retrieve it. They place the badge in the slot and in turn they are able to twist the dial and open the door.
Blubbard Jnr. uses Mages Hand to retrieve the Emerald Crown and replace it once again with pastries, meanwhile Flanglesmith does something similar to secretly retrieve the Crown of the Lost Princess, having his farmiliar Tibalt replace it. They both feel the rush of their victory, but it is ultimately short-lived as alarms suddenly ring throughout the labrynth. The two turn and flee from the vault, forgetting to retrieve their adamant badge as they go.
At the centre of the labrynth, Thalmun sprays a puddle of grease by the door and uses his magic to stun his foes who stumble blindly through the door and directly into the path of the anti-gravity runes. They fight against the pressure to try and free themselves, and seeing a third Imperial Guard enter the room, Thalmun turns and flees into the darkness.
The Imperial Guard pursues him, and he is cornered as he realises that he is going the wrong way. He attempts to turn and dart around the emproaching guard, but is severely harmed as they breathe a torrent of flames. They manage to avoid much of the blast but not enough to avoid serious burns regardless.
In spite of this, and in spite of receiving a slash from their blade, Thalmun is able to break past them back to the centre of the labrynth just as one of the two Imperial Guards frees themselves from the anti-gravity runes and engulfs Thalmun in flames. He faces such blinding pain and force that he is forced to the ground. As the third Imperial Guard frees themselves, the three surround the Dwarf.
With his last breaths, Thalmun gasps that he only sought knowledge, and an Imperial Guard lunges forth and drives a sword into his heart.
Flanglesmith Chumblebum and Blubbard Jnr. retreat back through the crypts and realising their peril, Flanglesmith once more expresses the need for caution whilst Blubbard seems keen to ignore them. The two argue and Flanglesmith breaks free of their grip, darting in one direction whilst Blubbard takes the other.
Blubbard Jnr. finds their way to a dead end, and from here a chute opens in the ceiling, from which emerges a steaming black tar which seeps down onto the stone. Blubbard sees an opportunity in place of peril, and instead of turning to flee, they dive straight into the tar's path and attempts to move past it to climb through the chute.
They are singed and burned by the substance, but ultimately they force their way through and seep back through the chute just before it is able to seal itself.
It would take some time and difficulty for Flanglesmith to retrace his steps and make his way back through the labrynth, more than once he would take a wrong turn and be forced to backtrack, but knowing the space at a basic level he would at least know to turn back before reaching any dead ends that might incur the wrath of the black tar.
Upon returning to the centre of the labrynth, Flanglesmith would see the Imperial Guards sawing free the head of his co-conspirator Thalmun Burrowale. Flanglesmith would turn himself invisible, and would stealthily sneak around the Imperial Guards, they would glance suspiciously in his direction but he would successfully subvert them and would make his way back up to the servant's quarters.
18th Spriarjeń 269 5E
In the days that followed the heist, the Palace Guards would do their absolute best to contain the secret of their devastating blunder, and in turn to quietly track down the remaining thieves, but try as they might they were unable to find the culprits.
A few days following the heist, Blubbard Jnr. would squeeze themselves free of the Palace sewage system and would depart the city with the Emerald Crown in their possession. Enthralled by their achievement, and with no grounds to place trust in their employer, they betray them and make their way towards the Mastorian coast to gather a crew and restore their career as a pirate.
Meanwhile, across the city, security would tighten around the city gates, but with the crowds growing to attend the Designation of the Heir festival, increased security was bordering on impossible. It would be enforced that no employees of the Imperial Palace would be allowed to leave the city of Istanbrakt until further notice.
In spite of these increased security measures, Flanglesmith Chumblebum would not need to escape the city, as Flanglesmith Chumblebum never existed in the first place. Instead, a woman named Mina Vanariv would pass the city gates without issue and would begin their journey east.
Finally, in spite of his decapitation, Thalmun Burrowale would meet Dobrogost Rostow and his partner Romulus and shortly thereafter would be reunited with his travelling companions last departed in Waldabrakt.
31st Kararjeń 269 5E
Some time after the heist, Mina Vanariv would arrive at a vast city embedded on the outskirts of a volcano. They move through this city into a temple where they ascend the steps towards a central monument. Here they see Russell Tideborn, a small Mastorian Human, and a tall Elven priestess on either side of a great black dragon. They hand them the crown and there is a tumult among the cultists below as they move into the next phase of a greater plan.
Report Date
15 Aug 2024
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