- At the behest of Krystal and Marita, we are tasked with infiltrating House Vanthelion's Midnight Masquerade - held once every ten years - to procure the Mask of Shadows, a legendary artifact being displayed during the ball - Lady Ravelle is the host of this event, and is known to personally invite all who attend. Most people, outsider her inner circle, don't know what she looks like - The clown-masked gelatinous cube (leader of the Clown Town Crew) in the factory district is known to have received an invitation - Ellette, Kyo and Orlan pay him a visit to inquire about this invitation. He has received an invite every year since he arrived in Kalteo (three in total) but has not attended once - Each of the invitations are discarded on the ground, he seems deeply uninterested in them - offering them up in exchange for food. Kyo pockets all three - The invitations give off Conjuration magic, which is identical between all three - but the script on each are slightly different - Qwimby suggests Master Dolivar, an art dealer who works for Big Tony - This man formerly lived on an opulent yacht, which Qwimby believes may still be located at the docks - We head to the docks but are unable to find his boat - Qwimby tracks down Father Ren - a priest he knew during his time in Kalteo, who aided in his efforts to escape - Father Ren appears to recall Qwimby - He seems pleased that Qwimby has turned his life around, rubbing ash across his forehead as they speak - Qwimby broaches the subject of the Mask of Shadows - Father Ren is familiar with it and its presence at the party - Qwimby recalls the priest's previous attendance of a Midnight Masquerade. Ren offers up his invitation, which bears his name and instructions to wear a marble mask - Using this invitation would require Qwimby to impersonate the priest - Father Ren offers a robe to aid in this ruse - Qwimby forges a backup invitation which doesn't perfectly match, which Orlan imbues with Arcane's Magic Aura - to replicate the magic of the legitimate invitations - He then updates the two previous years' invitations sent to the clown-masked cube so all appear to be in reference to this year's event - Krystal and Marita supply disguises. - Steve and Graxen assume the aliases of Xavier Paris and Breffni Von Stricten, a married couple - wearing a pair of racoon masks - Kyo presents himself as the representative of the Mossveil - downplaying her death, and asserting that he is there on her behalf, wearing a cat shaped eye mask with a feather - Ellette uses the name of Freyalise Caelthas, wearing a beholder mask - Orlan takes the guise of our butler, wearing a Ying Yang mask - Qwimby will be portraying Father Ren, wearing a marble mask - With our invitations and aliases, we set out for House Vanthelion - using a teleportation spell inset on the invitation - Qwimby approaches first - noticing a visible Arcane Eye above the door. A guard takes his invitation, seeming to accept it - Steve and Graxen approach as a bickering married couple, but initially struggle to be waved through. Ellette approaches, convincing the guard to permit her - with Steve and Graxen shortly following - Kyo approaches as The Veiled Reaper, with Orlan as his servant. They are allowed inside - Inside, the corners of the foyer's ceiling shimmer - appearing to be magical scrying orbs, more arcane eyes endowed with evocation magic - A butler sits near a guest book, watching as the guests enter - A floating quill registers each guest's arrival - The butler stops Ellette - questioning her alias. In the book, all of our actual names have been scribed. The pen lingers on Ellette - which bemuses the butler. - Ellette claims this to be her sister's name, which the butler believes - As Ellette passes the next doorway, her hair transitions from its diguised black into her natural autumnal red - Qwimby approaches Steve and Graxen, posing as if attempting to consel their troubled marriage. Meanwhile, Ellette mingles with Kyo and Orlan - Kyo very briefly spies a woman dancing alone, wearing a red dress and a spider silk mask - but quickly loses her in the crowd - Qwimby, Graxen and Steve case for exits while Orlan heads to the bar for drinks. Orlan spots hounds, while also noticing two people in black masks who appear to be eyeing everyone in the room - One of the men in black masks approaches Graxen, ushering him into the kitchen - Inspector Virel grills Graxen, finding his behaviour suspicious - but agrees to allow him back to the party, handing him a silver coin stamped with Strahd's profile - As Graxen returns to the ballroom, another figure approaches him - wearing a purple suit and a spined infernal mask - The man cradles Graxen, seeming to be attempting to bite him on the neck. Graxen struggles to escape - Steve attempts to step between them, pulling the man from Graxen - jossling them apart - Steve leads Graxen towards Kyo, Ellette and Orlan - Qwimby goes to the bar and orders a red wine - He overhears a conversation - "the gallery glass can be bypassed by pressing a hidden catch under the plinth" - A glass is clinked, ushering the guests to gather in the main area of the ballroom - A woman stands on a balcony, wearing a phoenix mask. She appears to be the one calling for the guests. Everyone looking at her appears to be quite tense. A man in a lion mask stands behind her - She introduces herself as Lady Reavelle. She gives a lengthy speech - She mentions a guest of honour and a prize to show the room - the legendary Mask of Shadows - This will be displayed within the next hour - She urges people to enjoy full access to the grounds and enjoy the evening - There is an Eladrin in the room with a striking resemblance to Ellette, her mask is a black mask with a hollow red dot. - She appears to be heavily intoxicated - Qwimby heads into the gallery, where a number of paintings line the walls. A glass covering in the centre of the room houses a dark black mask. Two guards stand either side - Qwimby overhears "the vault's lock was changed after last time's incident" - The man in the lion mask - Lord Grell - seems to think little of the mask - Kyo attempts to use Divine Sense but this triggers the corner orbs to shimmer and glow - obviously triggering them. Kyo relents - Steve and Graxen head towards an adjoining dining hall while Ellette seeks out the Eladrin - The woman, clearly inebriated, asks after Ellette's house. Ellette echoes the question, refusing to answer until she does first - She claims to be from House Sunfire - sent for diplomacy, and stranded in Kalteo for some time - She was sent by her father to inquire about the crystals powering Kalteo's flight - The woman believes Ellette to be from a highborn house, but Ellette remains cagey - The woman's mother is Aeloria Sunfire - a famous Elven diplomat - She guesses that Ellette must be from House Celestriare, and Ellette is unable to hide the truth in this - Ellette claims to be Nissa, which appears to work. They get a drink together - In the dining hall, Steve and Graxen see people in a peacock mask and stag mask - coverting together. They burst passed us into the drawing room, giggling as they claim the room to be taken - Orlan and Kyo descend a set of stairs into the basement - A number of dogs can be heard sniffing, one in particular seeming agitated - Guards stop them, urging them to return upstairs - Kyo and Orlan oblige - with Kyo asking the guards to join him for a drink when their shifts end. Kyo draws attention to the arcane orbs in each ceiling's corners - which the guard claims to simply be safety measures - Kyo spots a large vault behind the guards, while Orlan is permitted to enter the servant quarters - Qwimby heads towards the library. A masked poet near the window speaks a quiet verse - rambling rhyming words. - Qwimby attempts to speak with the man, who continues to ramble - before passing him a book titled "Double Debts Weigh Most" - The man speaks of a search for the "secret door" - Qwimby notices a book written in Thieve's Cant titled "Stone Work" - Pulling on this book triggers a secret door, sliding open the bookshelf - The newly revealed passageway appears to secretly stretch behind the gallery hall where the mask is being displayed - The poet is extremely eager to enter this hallway, but Qwimby attempts to dissuade him - The poet disregards Qwimby and enters the hallway. He pulls a torch on the wall, causing the doorway to close behind them - He seems to be oblivious that this would happen - Steve and Graxen enter the kitchen, spotting a halfling in a mouse mask who seems to be the head chef - They next head upstairs, arriving on an outside balcony before entering the guest suite - where they spot the man who earlier harrassed Graxenassed Graxen