"Fascinating.  Magic never ceases to amaze.  Well, if you believe that there is a way out of here, we'd be happy to help."  Ysabell responded, unilaterally volunteering the group for the assignment.  "Any idea where to start?"   

Raastin stops his frantic Seinfeld pacing and arm-waving, turns to the wizard, and smiles. "A mystery, huh? Sure, let's find this clue. What are we looking?"

"Told ya I wasn't gonna be able to follow rule number one."  He says to her.  "He best have some ale in this dump."  He states, his tone sullen. 

You're doing just fine.

Matreous takes on a thoughtful expression and pauses for an instant, tapping his chin in thought. "This mansion must be a treasure trove of information, and there’s no telling what wonders it holds!" As an example, he shows you all an intricately carved figurine of an imp that he has found and is taking back to Candlekeep for study.

"I would dearly like to continue to explore the mansion’s mysteries myself, but we will need to find a way back to Candlekeep!"

Matreous heads to AREA M5, and as he does so, the imp in his hand comes to life, growing in size! He lets out a startled shriek, the imp drags him into AREA M5, and the doors magically shut! You can't get it! He's trapped in the room. Then, it's once again quiet.

Eralynn looks at you all, with a face that clearly says, What the **** just happened?

"Well... that was unexpected."  Ysabell began as she drew her Scythe into her hands, noticeably smaller than it had been previously.  "Well we should probably save him before that Imp does who knows what to him.  Probably probably painful if I had to guess."  Seeing that M5 was locked, she went to M4 to see if there was an interior doorway to M5.

M4 - EXERCISE ROOM

This room contains a battered wooden mannequin and a weapon rack holding staffs and daggers, all lit by indigo-tinted light streaming through a window. The floor is stained and scorched. At the far end of the room, a broom hovers in the air, sweeping the floor by itself!

Eralynn taps the nearest person to her, and points to the broom, mimicking it's movements with her hips.

Raastin watches Eralynn sway, chuckling, "You might have a future in dance, my friend." He turns to check out the broom, but is more intrigued by the scorch marks, which he goes to inspect.

Investigation: 12

Garmus pulls his shield off his back, securing it to his arm.  His expression is wary as he follows the group.  He scans the room, looking for threats.  "Looks like a combat training room of some sort."  He says as he steps over to examine the daggers and staffs.

Eralynn turns a shade of red. She waves her hand, and a glittery heart appears for a moment towards you, before vanishing. She appreciated the comment. The scorch marks look like someone has definitely been target practicing with those wooden mannequins - as in, a spellcaster.

A permanent Mordenkainen's Mansion? Ecko babbles some general magical nonsense and terminology in a mixture of languages, focused more on the magical twist to this adventure than the task at hand. A code word to escape. That made sense. 

And then the imp rears up and drags their mysterious friend into some room beyond. Ecko blinks, letting out a harsh grating sound in surprise. His darkly feathered hands instantly become a blur of motion as he retrieves a small sonar from his bag. He strides into Area 4 and if nothing fun pops up he rapidly shuffles into Area 6 through Area 1, shuffling around with keen eyes. He was familiar with how mages stored their stuff. His head rapidly jerks between anything interesting or probable on his current train of thought, much like a sparrow searching for a seed on the ground. Investigation: 18

Ritual casting Detect Magic. If the situation asks for urgency, he will forgo the ritual and instead cast it normally. 

"Looks like a combat training room of some sort."  He says as he steps over to examine the daggers and staffs.

Eralynn snapped her finger and pointed to Garmus. Bingo.

The weapons in the rack are mundane but finely made. There are four daggers, four quarterstaffs, and twenty darts in a bandolier hanging from one of the pegs. One wall holds diagrams of attack and parry positions for wielders of staffs and daggers.

Ecko: He strides into Area 4 and if nothing fun pops up he rapidly shuffles into Area 6 through Area 1, shuffling around with keen eyes. 

AREA M6 - KITCHEN

The aromas of cooking permeate this kitchen. A large iron stove takes up one wall, and the rest of the room is filled with large tables and racks lined with hanging pots, pans, and cooking utensils. Everything is sparkling clean.

With a flapping of wings, two small forms land on the nearest table, nearly tripping over themselves because they're so happy to see you. They bow low before you and ask, “How can we be of help to our honored guest? Cooking? Cleaning? Mending your clothes, perhaps?”

Raastin teases, “Maybe you could tell us how to get out of here...”

The two imps laugh hysterically, and Eralynn runs into to room as well. Seeing who is laughing, she joins in the laughter as well, silently, of course, but going through the motions. Suddenly, the imps immediately stop their laughing fit, and as like nothing happened, they say, "We don't know how."

(Record needle scratching sound effect here)

Eralynn startles and frowns. Darn it.

Raastin sighs, "Well, it was worth a shot." While the rest of the group engages with the imps, Raastin makes his way back to the weapons room, grabbing the bandolier of darts. "Too tempting to leave behind." He puts it on and putting his overcoat back over them and returns with the rest. "We doing omelettes or what?"

Upon hearing the noise in the other room Garmus heads that way wondering what the ruckus is.  He sees the two imps, points his axe at them and asks..."You two goose-brained buzzards know where yer friend hauled that wizard off to?"  Then, smelling the food cooking he starts to wander around the kitchen looking for a bite to eat.

"Oh there are more of you." Ysabell replied as two more imps appeared.  "It'd be great if you could open the door (to M5) for us.  It'd be a bit of a bother if we had to search this entire place first."   

"We doing omelettes or what?"

Coriander, one of the imps, gasps like he just met a movie star, and stumbles in excitement to the stove, beginning to whip you up some food.

"Coming right up!" he barks. "Allowed to cook! No touchie books!"

"You two goose-brained buzzards know where yer friend hauled that wizard off to?"
"It'd be great if you could open the door (to M5) for us.  It'd be a bit of a bother if we had to search this entire place first."   

"No no!" Cumin said. "No key! No Magic! Just cleaning! Cooking!" he says. "Need something stitched?" he asks, eager to assist.

Eralynn pointed at some food with Garmus. She sniffed it a few times. It was freshly baked bread with cinnamon butter and cheeses. She looked at it hungrily and smacked her lips. She slowly started reaching for it.

"AhDaDeePDoOP!!" Coriander stutters in a scold, smacking Eralynn's hand away from the food. She jerks back in surprise, like she did something wrong. "Look at those hands! Go wash up before you touch food! Manners!"

Quote from CrispyDM >>

 

"You two goose-brained buzzards know where yer friend hauled that wizard off to?"
"It'd be great if you could open the door (to M5) for us.  It'd be a bit of a bother if we had to search this entire place first."   

"No no!" Cumin said. "No key! No Magic! Just cleaning! Cooking!" he says. "Need something stitched?" he asks, eager to assist.

 

 "I see.. Well thank you then." she replied before turning around and walking out of the room towards M8.  

Ecko pauses to process the quite adorable implings for sometime, making sure to jot down their behavior and what they could or couldn't do. Were they fiends? Or magical creations? Who knew. Both? He makes a fist and gestures as if he's clearing his throat, but a low, rumbling sound of machinery is the sound created instead. "Do you know where your mistress placed her books for safekeeping, or any area of the house, really? What is up the staircase? Are you magical beings? Ecko then turns his eyes towards the tantalizing pieces of food. Nope. He wasn't going to touch something created by magical fiends. Even if he was the most curious thing in the world. 

M8 - DINING ROOM

Large windows form the entirety of one wall, looking out on three planted beds filled with vegetation. Within this room, a crystal chandelier hangs above a table made of dark wood. Six matching wooden chairs with scarlet cushions surround the table. A seventh chair sits alone in the far northwest corner. (see the map)

This room is adorned with unremarkable tapestries that depict grapevines and the process of making wine.

"Do you know where your mistress placed her books for safekeeping, or any area of the house, really? What is up the staircase? Are you magical beings? 

Probably in Library! 

What is up the staircase?

Planetarium! Laboratory!

Are you magical beings? 

Yes! We cook and clean!