- On the balcony, Steve and Graxen notice a groove in the wall - which appears to have been gouged into the wall. - Graxen catches sight of someone disappearing over the top of the roof, having apparently made this mark while climbing. - Steve and Graxen return to the drawing room, where the couple have locked the door - Steve suggests they may be involved with Big Tony - Graxen closes the door to the ballroom, while Steve attempts to break the lock into the drawing room - Steve's first attempt does not break the door and is rather loud - Frustrated, she then kicks the door off its hinges - Inside, the couple stand in shock - watching Steve and Graxen enter. - A number of staff members burst into the room, having heard the sound of the door smashing - They demand a fine for the broken door of 10 Platinum - Steve pays with 120 GP (paying for a "conversion rate") - Steve and Graxen are then escorted to the prisoners cell - Meanwhile, Ellette continues her discussion with the House Sunfire Eladrin - The woman is offended that Ellette does not recognise her - as she studied with Nissa, who Ellette is claiming to be. - She introduces herself as Talyas Sunfire - There is a rumour in the Unsealie Court that Ellette is dead - Her betrothed was apparently troubled by this rumour - She references a secret boyfriend Nissa had from house Bloodmoon, but Ellette is unable to recall this man's name - The woman takes her leave, making mention of having a job to do at the party - Ellette then follows Steve and Graxen down to the cellars, finding them in the prison cell - Ellette speaks with one of the guards, attempting to shorten the time Steve and Graxen must spend incarcerated - Ellette offers the guard a bribe of 150 GP - The guard waves a hand, which disables the arcane eyes overhead, he then accepts the bribe - He agrees to allow Steve and Graxen out after 30 minutes instead of 2 hours - There seems to be a commotion behind the guard, in an area he refers to as "VIP" - Pressing him on this causes the man to appear to sweat - Ellette continues to ask, learning of a mini party in the cellar - which is privately attended and involves more than simple diplomacy - There are roughly eight guests who attend, bringing in one extra at a time. The extra does not return - The gurad claims there are, in fact, two masks at the party. Word had reached Lady Revelle in advance that a robbery would be attempted and so there is a decoy. Not even the gurads know which one is the real one - The mask has been swapped three times so far - The guard brings Ellette into a nearby vault, showing her a large safe. He claims if she closes her eyes and listens, she can hear the mask calling - She closes her eyes, but the guard instead attempts to kiss her - She feigns a fall to escape the man's embrace. He cradles her on the ground - Ellette uses Command to put the guard to sleep - Ellette takes the keys from the guard and frees Steve and Graxen - We stash the unconscious guard in the nearby wine cellar - The private party next door appears to sound like a feast - The man has a small pouch of coins, which are not currency. They are stamped with various amounts of time - 1 month, 2 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years - These are sobriety coins - We make it appear as if the man has drank himself into a stupor - There is the sound of a woman whimpering coming from the private party - At the vault, Ellette can sense a heavy aura of magic - evocation and conjuration - There is a layer of cast iron in the safe to prevent fae from entering it magically - Graxen enters a nearby guard post, finding a sleeping guard - On a desk, he finds a number of logs - the gurads change every twenty minutes - He signals for Ellette, sensing something magical from the desk. - The entire desk is radianting magic, appearing to be connected to the entire building via conjuration magic - The desk seems to be controlling all of the arcane eyes. Ellette stabs the sleeping guard in the neck, killing him - Ellette uses Greater Invisibility, also concealing Steve - while Graxen uses Invisibility. Noticing that the sound from the private party has died down, we sneak back into the hallway - We return to the vault, hearing footsteps outside - followed by faint hissing and the sound of something being dragged - Out in the hall, there are two large trails of blood heading back towards the private party area - Two guards are coming down the stairs, Steve stumbles - but manages to keep a hold of Ellette, remaining invisible - Steve accidentally steps in one of the trails of blood, leaving a bloody footprint behind her - Steve uses Minor Illusion to create more blood, hiding her tracks - The guards seem panicked, claiming the private guests have gotten out of control and they will need to alert Lady Revelle - Someone emerges from the private party - decapitating both guards. He loots keys and a note from the bodies, before speaking into a Sending Stone. Big Tony replies, urging him to begin cracking the safe - This man enters the vault, casting Detect Magic - Ellette counters by casting Command - but this fails. The man casts Dispell Magic, rendering us visible. - Steve charges him, tackling him to the ground and beginning to choke him out - Graxen steals one of his swords, stabbing him through the stomach - In his pocket, the note he took from the guards reads "R 3.2" - The man also has a spider-like device - Ellette uses Dispell Magic on the Sending Stone - From upstairs, we hear the sound of a ringing bell - Back in the Guard Post, Ellette uses Dispell Magic on the desk - before placing the spider-device (a safe cracker) onto the safe - A bellowing voice demands that all guests attend the ballroom - The safe cracker opens the safe - revealing the Mask of Shadows inside. - Graxen reaches inside, picking up the mask - This causes voices to scream within his head as he places the mask on his face - Despite straining against it, he is unable to remove the mask - Steve and Ellette rush upstairs, feigning hysteria - acting as if they have escaped from the private party downstairs. Graxen rushes in behind, having used the mask to assume the face of one of the guards - urging the others to control the guests downstairs while he escorts Steve and Ellette outside - On the way out through the foyer, Qwimby snatches the guest book - The entire mansion is suddenly frozen in time, Graxen along with it - A car arrives, Big Tony emerging from it - using the Hand of Vecna - Big Tony rips the mask from Graxen's face, before placing it on his own - Unfreezing the building, a commotion lets loose - alarms loudly ringing as guards scream and shout - Back in Kalteo, wanted posters litter the streets - a bounty of 3,00,000 GP (500,000 a piece) now placed on Sordia Vignti, wanted dead at Big Tony's behest