The Heist of an Era: Session Two - Explosive Subtlety
Missions/Quests Completed
13th Spriarjeń 269 5E
On a rainy evening in the Dystrykt Uniwersyta Imperatora Adama, Pud Fullstop arrives at the Gostinica Studentow, a student under-bar in the heart of the district. Across the bar he would see the Podstoli Artemi Krusz drinking alone in his own corner booth.
Pud would make his way to the bar and would ask them what the Podstoli tends to drink. The bartender would tell them that he enjoys a light spirit called "kursza". The bartender pours kursza into two steins which he serves to Pud. With alcohol in hand, Pud makes his way over to the table to join the Podstoli.
The Podstoli Artemi Krusz is insistent that he does not want company, but when Pud offers him alcohol he decides to relent and allow his presence. Pud bombards him with questions, wondering if perhaps he had a child that attended the Uniwersyta Imperatora Adama. the Podstoli largely refuses to answer his questions.
Eventually, after Pud has sufficiently irritated the Podstoli, he implies that a student has been looking at him with a look of disrespect and has been bad-mouthing him. The outraged Podstoli climbs from his chair and saunters over to confront the student and before long a fight breaks out between the two which prompts a bouncer lingering in the corner to drag the two from the under-bar.
Having achieved his goal, Pud makes to follow the Podstoli but the bartender, so elated to be rid of the Podstoli offers a free drink to Pud as gratitude for giving them the pretext to be rid of him. Considering his options, Pud decides to abandon his objectives to drink.
Elsewhere in the city, in the Dystrykt Kresza, Thalmun Burrowale breaks into a jewellery shop, stealing nothing except a small collection of platinum trinkets. The Patrok arrive too late to prevent his actions, but note the sound of clanking metal as the Dwarf made their escape.
14th Spriarjeń 269 5E
Thalmun spends the next day searching for a forge and workshop at which to work. His search takes him through the Dystrykt Admira and there he reunites with the Rakshasa Suran-Roa, who directs him to the shop-front that he had recently purchased. From here he and Thalmun speak together and consult on Thalmun's impending project.
Thalmun intends to use the stolen platinum and silver he acquired to reproduce the enchanted badges used to move around the Palaco Imperatora Milena.
15th Spriarjeń 269 5E
Pud would wake up in his bed almost two days later with no recollection of what occurred since accepting that free drink at the bar. With the morning sun rising, Pud opts to cross the city to the Dystrykt Admira and there seeks out the resident offices of the Imperial Mining Corporations. From these corporations, Pud manages to convince the workers to trade him some experimental Barrack Bombs that do not meet Imperial criteria for distribution.
Elsewhere, the ratcatcher Flanglesmith Chunglebum departs the Palaco Imperatora Milena in secret and delivers his own silver badge to Rhubarb. Rhubarb seeks out Thalmun's new workshop and though Thalmun is disappointed that Pud failed to recover a platinum badge from the Podstoli Artemi Krusz, he is able to produce a collection of silver badges for the party instead.
The work would take the better part of the morning, and when it was done Rhubarb would return the badge back to Flanglesmith who would return to the Palace as if nothing had happened.
Flanglesmith Chumblebum would spend the afternoon experimenting against the palace's defences, testing the limits of his Magic's potential. He sensed anti-magic defences that protect the Vaults below and he noted the fact that his cat could move independently of him without the need for a badge.
Thalmun Burrowale would spend the afternoon at the forge, refining his mimicked Imperial Guard armour and forging general thieves tools such as ball bearings and lock-picks.
Finally, Blubbard Jnr. would spend the afternoon baking a series of pastries in case her companions became pekish during the heist.
16th Spriarjeń 269 5E
On the morning of the heist, Blubbard Jnr. (Blubbard Snr.), Pud Fullstop (Sticky Hands), Thalmun Burrowale (the Captain), and the mysterious woman (Rhubarb) would gather at their safehouse in the Dystrykt Imperatora. They would exchange their badges and discuss the last details of their heist.
Rhubarb would instruct that the party should retrieve the Emerald Crown, extract it from the Palaco Imperatora Milena, and then bring it to a slaughterhouse in the Dystrykt Gryma.
Blubbard Jnr., Pud Fullstop, and Thalmun Burrowale would make their way to the gatehouse of the palace, an imposing structure wherein they pass a drawbridge over a bed of gnarled spikes with chutes for boiling oil lingering precariously over their heads.
They attempt to enter the palace as tourists but find a line of waiting tourists having their intentions checked by the Palace Guards and receiving full-body searches before being granted the right to carry a copper badge. Thalmun steps forward in the guise of an Imperial Guard and insists that Blubbard Jnr. and Pud Fullstop are with him. This seems to intimidate the Palace Guard who lets the three pass unobstructed.
Pud and Blubbard Jnr. attach themselves to a fledgling tour around the palace and its grounds whilst Thalmun disappears to blend in with patrols around the complex. Before long, the party of tourists are taken all around the grounds and witness a Prince of the Imperial Blood engaged in a practice fight with the resident castellan of the palace. Spotting the crowd, the castellan would intentionally throw the fight and the procession would continue on.
Meanwhile in the subterranean servant's quarters, the elderly ratcatcher Flanglesmith Chumblebum speaks with an elderly cook in the kitchens called Weronika and is able to persuade them to gift him a fine bottle of wine from their wine cellar. The two would speak farmiliarly and the woman would show clear affection for the old man.
From here, the old man would take his bottle across the servant's quarters and knock on the door of the Podstoli Artemi Krusz. The man would look down his nose at the ratcatcher and deem Flanglesmith beneath him. In spite of this, the old man persists and offers the man a cure for his hangover (an angle which only further outrages the Podstoli who is enraged that anyone would assume he had been drinking). Seeing little to no progress with the Podstoli, Flanglesmith would subtly cast a charm that would make the Podstoli deem him as a friend and would ensure that he would invite him into his room.
Once within the room, Flanglesmith would pour them both a glass of wine and after drinking, he would use his magic to put the Podstoli to sleep and to make him appear as if he were dead. Knowing that this effect would last only one hour, Flanglesmith would hastily steal the Podstoli's platinum badge and slip from the room in search of his co-conspirators.
Back on the tour, Blubbard Jnr. and Pud Fullstop would be shown the halls of the Palaco Imperatora Milena, the steps to the throne room, and would eventually be guided to a stairwell that would lead them into the palace library. The tour guide tells the story of Imperator Adam who built and inhabited this library, and in the course of their lecture, Blubbard Jnr. would ask them if the palace has a swimming pool. The tour guide would respond that it does not but it does have a bath-house, however this bath-house would not appear on the tour.
As their lecture drew to a close and preparations began for the tour to move on, they were interrupted by two palace guards and a hooded figure who asked to take Pud Fullstop with them. Reluctantly, Pud would see no choice but to go with them and would be escorted away. In the interest of the moment, Blubbard Jnr. would take the opportunity to sneak away from the crowd and would take a door to reach the Grand Staircase.
Pud Fullstop would be escorted through the palace and through a small hallway with a barred window that would guide them through a reinforced door and into what was described by the tour guide as "the Intelligence Tower". They would move through an elegant reception and common room and up through a spiral staircase that would eventually take them to a cramped interrogation room, its floors and walls laden with tools of torture.
Blubbard Jnr. would make their way up the Grand Staircase, reaching the Guest Quarters and slipping through the door just before a Scrying Orb could ascend to spy their position. From here they would see a number of individuals with towels moving across the floor towards a stone door. Blubbard Jnr. would follow them and would linger on the edge of the room as they would see the Prince of the Imperial Blood taking their place in a bathtub with his entourage.
Blubbard Jnr. would slip past the group and into the locker room where they would search the group's belongings and with some fortune would discover the Prince's adamant badge, a badge which would allow them to access all areas of the palace without immediately triggering alarms.
The hooded figure would sit down across from Pud and insist that the two palace guards wait outside. When they were alone, the individual would identify themselves as a representative of the Shadow Council. He would explain that Pud had been flagged for purchasing experimental explosives from the Imperial Mining Corporations. He would explain that while this is not inherently illegal, it was deemed suspicious, and so when they were seen arriving at the palace it was deemed even more so.
Pud would be frustrated by all of this and would defend himself by explaining that it was his birthday and he only wanted these explosives to help him create celebratory fireworks. As Pud would further make his defence, the Shadow Councillor would be horrified in discovering not only that he had purchased the explosives but that he had them on his person.
The Shadow Councillor would attempt to use the magic of the chair on which Pud was sat to wrap manacles around his wrists, but Pud would prove to robust and would prevent them from locking in place. The Shadow Councillor would insist on searching Pud and he in turn would refuse to allow this.
When a second Shadow Councillor would move to enter the room, Pud would take his chance and spring for the door, shoving past the councillor and making a break for the window he saw as he passed through the hallway towards the tower.
Blubbard Jnr. would hastily slip away from the bathhouse and would sneak down the stairs before a Scrying Orb could observe their location. They would make their way back to the library and rejoin the tour as if nothing had happened. They would feel confident that they had succeeded in their scheme, right up until the moment that an Imperial Guard would appear demanding that Blubbard would go with them.
Nervously, Blubbard Jnr. would do so, and as soon as they would exit the library together, they would discover that this was not a typical Imperial Guard but instead Thalmun Burrowale in disguise. They would catch up on all that had transpired, and upon making their way downstairs into the hallway, they would bump into the ratcatcher Flanglesmith Chumblebum.
As the three identified one another and caught each other up on the actions they had been taking, Pud Fullstop would brave his daring escape. Emerging into the surveillance room, Pud would see a series of levitating orbs displaying images from Scrying Orbs across the Palaco Imperatora Milena. The two Palace Guards, the Shadow Councillor surveying the Scrying Orbs, and the two councillors behind him would all swarm towards Pud, and he would evade them by lobbing a Barrack Bomb that would shatter the scrying orbs and send the guards reeling.
Pud would throw themselves down the spiral staircase and would rush through the common room, through the reception, and across to hastily force the tower door open. The door was locked and heavily reinforced, making his efforts unsuccessful. All the while, Shadow Councillors would swarm the room and pepper Pud with poisoned bolts. He would withstand their onslaught at first, but eventually, overwhelmed by opposition, Pud would falter and collapse down to their death.
The member of the Shadow Council that brought him here would lunge down to drive his sword into the Dwarf's heart, but in his dying moment, Pud Fullstop would trigger his three remaining Barrack Bombs, causing an explosion that would devastate the Intelligence Tower.
The trio of thieves would hear the sudden ring of alarms and feel the shockwave of Pud's explosives. Before any had a time to react, a sudden phalanx of rushing palace guards would storm past them through the hall and towards the Intelligence Tower. The group would press themselves against the wall to let them pass, and seeing the opportunity of depleted guards they would make their way toward the Grand Staircase.
Flanglesmith would halt their progress and send their cat to disarm the Scrying Orb that covered the hallway before them, but would find it disabled. The three would make their way to the Grand Staircase and would hear the commotion of rushing palace guards above. They would make their way down to the lower levels of the palace towards the level where Flanglesmith knew the vaults to be.
They would reach one more obstacle when two Imperial Guards would emerge from a door below them, ensuring that all three would have to make hasty efforts to conceal themselves (save for Flanglesmith who as an employee of the palace had a pretext to be there). They would further use magic to render Blubbard Jnr. invisible, but Thalmun would be too slow to hide themselves.
In spite of their imperial armour, Thalmun's disguise would not fool the Imperial Guard and one would break away to investigate as he would dart aside and flee into the Servant's Quarters.
Meanwhile, as Thalmun Burrowale and the Imperial Guards would disappear, Flanglesmith Chumblebum and Blubbard Jnr. would sneak down the stairs and break the lock to enter into the vaults level. From within, they would discover a dark room at the heart of an expansive labrynth.
Report Date
08 Aug 2024
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Plots
Related Characters
