Map of the Castle

As you all file into the castle, Nag is clearly unsettled by Zalten while Nix pays him no mind. The Butler does not make any more comments to any of you as he leads you through the main hall (room 1) and into the Champion gallery. This room is lavishly furnished with fine couches and various statues of dragons. Along the walls are hundreds of portraits all portraying various champions handing a crown to a dragon, who you would assume to be Zoran. Once all of you are inside, the butler turns to you all and states in his flat voice, "Please be seated. Make yourselves comfortable. I will go inform his majesty of your presence." He is clearly addressing all of you when he says this. Not just Jack.

With that, he leaves you alone in this room.

Jumble cocked an eyebrow at their host's statement. "Did he see through our ruse," he asked in a low voice once the butler had left, "or is he just politely asking bound captives to be seated and to make ourselves comfortable?" He looked around toward the others, unsure of how to react.

Zalten is immediately highly concerned, and glances over at Kashika. Perhaps they were right and Zoran really does know that she is here already. If so, they might be in serious trouble. In either case, it seems pretty clear to him that thier ruse has been discovered, though at the very least it got them inside the castle. "Zoran may just like to toy with the champions he captures, but I would guess this is more than that. I'm afraid he must have been expecting us, or at the very least knew Kashika was here. I''m not sure if we should stay here and wait to find out"

Kashika passively eyed the area as they went, her mind racing.. though not out-of fear.. she was here, and one way or another, so was the crown. Their escort leading them to a room to be seated, which struck her as odd.. and her mind was much the same as Zorans.. but as their momentary host left, she whispered to the group... though started with jumble...

"K-keep the illusion up if you c-can...." then to the everyone "...But quickly... if you wish to leave this place ... whether to seek out the crown, or f-flee.. do so quickly.

But s-something in my gut is telling  me the crown might be in this room... a.. h-how do you call it... h-hidinng the goal under your nose... if you plan to stay here with me.. let's all count to sixty... and quickly check every nook and cranny... and return to the illusion as s-soon as you get to sixty... "

Before anyone can respond however, Kashika bolts from the illusion, but not from the room as she quickly checks anything and everything she can that isn't blatantly visible...

[roll]1d20+1[roll] investigation 

18

The bard listened as Kashika relayed her gut feeling. Then his eyes widened as she bolted and began searching. She was serious--and if her gut feeling, her hunch, whatever you'd call it, was that strong, then maybe there was something to it? Would it be much of a risk to spend sixty seconds finding out?

With a shrug toward the others, Jumble froze the illusion and also raced to quickly search the room.

(( Investigation Check: 19 or, since it's not ten minutes, Perception Check: 21 ))

Rethan isn't certain whether he agrees with kashika or not about the crown being in the room with them, but is willing to go along with the group, so he joins the others is darting out of the illusion and searching for a hidden crown.

Invesetigation: 5

Once the butler leaves Nygil turns to Jack, "How was that? Did I overdo it?" He laughs, "Oh well. Seems we will be getting an audience with his royal highness anyways... what's the plan here?" 

He frowns as Kashika begins searching the room, "I... somehow doubt its here but if you insist..."

Investigation: 16

Kashika looks around the room intently, the first thing that catches her eye is a single statue of a dragon (located in the upper right hand corner of the room.) Jumble, with his keen eyes also notices this statue. It is clearly one of, if not the, oldest object in the room. The bard inspects it farther and finds what look like rub marks on its shoulders and on the floor. Clearly, it's been moved around several times.

Rethan and Nygil do not notice the significance of this statue. To them, the only thing that stands out in this room, (aside from the terrible decorations) is the heavy, clearly locked door on the right side of the room.

"Hmm. Strange."

On a hunch, Jumble quickly placed both hands on the dragon statue's shoulders, and tried to push it in the direction of the floor scuffs.

(( Possibly needed checks - Athletics Check: 12, Straight STR Check: 6 ))

Jumble braces himself, thinking the statue would be difficult to pull. However, to his surprise, the statue slides easily towards him and away from the wall. A soft click sounds from somewhere in the floor and the wall behind the statue begins to slide downwards. The glint of gold shines through the doorway, once it's completely open you can all clearly see piles of gold strewn across the floor, along with jeweled armor, weapons, jewelry and hundred of crowns. In the center of the room, is a pedestal with a dark glass case on top of it. From where you are standing, you cannot make out what is inside.

In response to all the speculation of whether or not their ruse actually worked, Jack simply shrugs. "It got us in, for better... or worse." He walks around and peruses the room. "I don't think you overdid anything, Nygil. Top-notch snobbery in my opinion. If anything I was worried I overdid it by being too obvious! But it got us inside for sure." He isn't looking for anything in particular, just trying to act nonchalantly enough to keep his nerves down to a minimum.

But once Kashika tells them of her plan something comes over him. He snaps to attention and rushes around after her, looking around with purpose like a carpenter bee. Zipping this way and that while muttering, "One. Two. Three. Four..." He trails off counting as he realizes that Jumble found something.
Investigation: 24

"What'd'ja find?" He moves over to see if his fellow bard needs help with the statue but as it turns out it wasn't a problem. Chills race down his skin and the fur over his entire body becomes white in fright. "Oh." Ignoring his panic, he peers inside the hole in the floor, wishing he could shapeshift into a snail so he could look over the edge without getting his body any closer. But he looks anyways.
Perception: 25

Jumble's jaw dropped at the sight of the hidden room's contents. He reached into his backpack, ready to pull out his notes, and almost darted in before he practically skidded to a stop. Thankfully, prudence overcame excitement, and he turned toward the others, explaining "Guess I should check for anything before rushing in, eh?"

The bard chanted a ditty while waving a hand to cast a spell, one to sense anything magical; his rope illusion vanished as he did.

(gonna wait for a few more responses.)

"Hmm," Nygil says in response to Jack. With a smug smile, he adjusts his collar and adds, "Heh...Father would be proud... or perhaps angry. He'd say he doesn't act like that but...he does." He laughs, then watches Jumble and Kashika as they push the statue. "Hmm, didn't think of that."

When the door opens he looks down at the treasure, "Woah, jackpot! Father would be jealous..." He glances around at all of the crowns and such, "How are we supposed to tell which one it is? Did anyone give us a description of this thing?" He takes note of the pedistal, "Welllllll, huh...that seems like the most obvious place to put it... but doesn't this seem a bit off to any of you? Why would this be hidden in the waiting room of all places? Its almost like they wanted us to find it..." He shrugs, "That or I'm thinking to hard."

While others explore the room, Zalten remains within the illusion, thinking for a moment about their current situation. Everything has seemed too easy, and between what Kashika told him earlier and the strange behavior of the butler now, he's pretty much entirely convinced that Zoran expect Kashika to be coming, if not all of them. He remains mostly oblivious to the events going on in the room, too deeply focused on trying to pinpoint what exactly Zoran might want with them, but when Jumble's spell suddenly disspears, he jolts to attention and walks next to Nygil, staring at the treasure that has just been revealed. What he sees only makes him even more paranoid - no dragon would leave their wealth lying around like this if it wasn't for a purpose

After Nygil finishes talking, he chimes in: "I doubt Zoran would simply hide it in plane sight like this. And with how the butler was acting... this has to be some sort of trap. I've known dragons to place magic on their hordes, perhaps that is what is going on here? Or maybe if we go in there any ways out will be blocked. Besides, with all those crowns in there, I'm not sure how we would even tell which one is real.

When the bard casts his spell in the newly revealed treasure room, he can immediately tell that this room is filled with magic most of which comes from the various items strewn around the room, however, there he can also sense and abjuration spell around the doorway.

Jack first looks around the Champions Gallery, taking note of the various portraits around the room and, more importantly, noting the crown that is shown in each one of them. The crown portrayed in the paintings looks to be made of Iron. It has a few gems on the front of it, which look like an off white color in the pictures. When looking into the room, the changeling can quickly tell that none of these crowns mach the one in the paintings.

Nygil does not notice anything off about anything in the newfound room, or anything about his surroundings in general.

Zalten ponders the situation while his comrades google eye the gold. (Roll perception please!)

Perception: 13

Kashikas heart was beating in her ears like a war drum. She had been right... whether truly right or atleast correct in her guess that *something* was here. She had to resist the urge to charge in... she hadn't had her powers as long as some but her street wisdom told her that whether mundane or magical.. a trap of some sort was likely about.

It seemed that jumble had similar thoughts though she wasn't quite sure what he was doing, but knowing the clock was ticking, she wasted no time, and as jumble cast his spell.. she too had began repeat casting one spell... Mage hand. She did this five times, creating 5 hands, before approaching Jumble and asking

"What do you see or know? I c-can use these hands to set off any traps or test the tiles.. or touch any objects from a safe d-distance. But they will not last f-forever either... Whatever we are going to do, we must d do it fast, unless we plan to let t them walk in on this... in f fact... zalten.. watch our backs, s so that we don't find ourselves caught off guard... at the very least, we can't pretend anymore that we're prisoners.. so everyone.. be prepared. You did a good job Jack" she says sincerely.

Kashika waits to hear jumble response before proceeding, though she does look to Zalten if only to let him know she was still in control of her senses.

Quote from Aroc_of_Eaf >>

"doesn't this seem a bit off to any of you? Why would this be hidden in the waiting room of all places? Its almost like they wanted us to find it..."

Jumble nodded, only barely hearing Nygil as he finished his spell. As the magical auras faded into his vision, the noble's words suddenly repeated themselves loudly in his memory.

"Careful, everyone!" announced Jumble, perhaps a tad too loudly. Clearing his voice, he was about to continue when Kashika spoke.

Quote from Raiketsu >>

"What do you see or know? I c-can use these hands to set off any traps or test the tiles.. or touch any objects from a safe d-distance. But they will not last f-forever either... Whatever we are going to do, we must d do it fast, unless we plan to let t them walk in on this... in f fact... zalten.. watch our backs, s so that we don't find ourselves caught off guard... at the very least, we can't pretend anymore that we're prisoners.. so everyone.. be prepared. You did a good job Jack"

The bard frowned; he didn't like being rushed, but they really didn't have much time. "Well, It looks as if the doorway has an abjuration spell of some sort on it. Also, a number of the items in the room are magical, but I don't know that that means they're necessarily dangerous. I'd guess the doorway itself is the main trap; well, really, it feels like the entire room is a trap. There are crowns in there, but this just seems too obvious... especially that glass case on the pedestal. Hmm. Still..."

Jumble looked down intently and tapped his foot a few times. He then quickly turned towards Kashika, as an idea came to him. "Go ahead and test what you can in the room. Maybe even try to get at that case. I'll try to make sure we've got more time." With that, he ran over toward where the butler had left, and strained to listen for their host.

(( Did the butler just go out through a doorway, or did he close a door behind him (or leave one open?) If it's a closed door, he'll press his ear to it. Otherwise, he'll lean as close to it as possible without being visible. Should he hear approaching footsteps, he intends to rush out to meet the butler before he actually makes it to their room. ))