Day 20.1: When the Music Dies…

Concerned about Gregor’s description of us – a machine dreaming of boyhood, a soul split in twain, a shadow masquerading as light, and your charge [Diana]. – A shadow within our party who could only be Charles. Shadows can’t be trusted [I’ll deal with my sister possibly not really being my sister but me(?) later…]

Moved past the piano and find destroyed clockwork guards and doll creatures in the room beyond. Seems a battle happened that we didn’t know about. Moving into a private concert hall we find one of the musicians searching through the sheet music in the piano bench. Diana/Him enter the room. The musician tells her to leave. She is looking for what was promised (frustration evident, so assume she hadn’t found it yet and probably something WE need to find first!). Not willing to leave, the party enters the room and the musician dissolves into a swarm of crows. (Oh no…a murder mystery!!)

Charles came prepared and engulfs them in a fireball, which they really don’t like. (Fire good, Crows bad) The swarm of crown manages to deafen us all, attacking Mutu and Charles. Mutu protects both Charles and himself. The party rails against the creatures with various effects, while Charles burps out a gout of fire to hurt them once more. The crows steal Mutu teddy bear to which he took great offense. Mutu cleans up and strikes the creatures dead and in a spectacular performance, catches the locket around his neck as if falls from the swarm. (Look ma! No hands!) Either I am getting used to his level of performance, or he really is getting good! Only a black leaf is left behind.

The party discerns a pattern w/i the music, although can’t quite figure it out. I break the metronome off and feel a sharp pain on my arm with the tattoos. A new mark has appeared. A key, (Gods be damned!) 

Diana is insistent that the temple below be cleansed and sealed. Whatever. All the bigwig priests gather and start their ritual. I’m bored, until a lawyer appears for Gregor Pendergrast followed shortly by a lawyer for Greta Pendergrast. Now I just want to disappear. Obviously, Charles had the same thought and we escape into a side room to begin exploring while the kerfuffle continues.

Charle and Kiren find an office with a really good lock – but not good enough. As I turn a corner, darts fly out of gargoyle wallpaper. Thankfully I’m not effected by their coating and am able to disarm the trap. (Nasty but I appreciate the subtly.) We move to the desk and after disarming/dodging a few more traps, we find notes to Nylar’op (the Denizen of Nod we met?) and notes from scholarly correspondence about the Dreamlands. [Charles might have more knowledge about these subjects than I] We explored a bit more but decided we needed to collect the rest of the group.

The lawyers were STIIL at it. I’m surprised Mutu didn’t just go into shutdown mode to pass the time. The Captain finally shoos them out of the “crime scene” and the party begins to explore again.

We find little of note until reaching two adjoining side rooms. Another musician. Much like the first she seems to be looking for something and tells us to leave. We close the door but open it again to attack. She moved, but we followed her to the lower room. Fire worked before so I use that, much to the dismay and scolding of Diana. (What??) Charles begins to glow again. In deference to Diana, he uses holy light (vs. the more effective Fireball) but the creature resists it. (SEE!!!!) No crows this time. Instead multitudes of chattering headlike teeth creatures try to swarm us (Sink their teeth into us?). Charles and Kiren resist the noise (We’ve seen worse). The rest of the party join the fray but the creature seems resistant to everything we can throw at it. (Need to try bludgeoning). The creature/swarm moves to engulf Mutu and Him, but they too ignore the noise (wow we are all jaded) while Mutu’s protective urges shine through to protect Him. Everyone takes a step back to surround the creature yet not be IN the creature. The creature is not looking good, but until dead – the party continues.