“Who knows, we haven’t exactly let anyone get away, have we?  Hmmm, it’s possible, I guess.”  Virro picked a new robe to fit in and polished off his mask before continuing, loving to play the role of a cultist on patrol, or whatever cultists like to do when they are busy.  He bends formally in a bow, “My Lady Dukeness, your worshipship… Let me clear the way for your presence, your eminenceness, hmmm?”  He walks out and follows close behind Reed, staying in the shadows.  

Archie sniffs the air, touches the wall and inspects her fingers, gets low to the ground and looks along each corridor before coming to a grand conclusion, "all these corridors look the f*cking same!"

(Survival to see where we are and where to go, 7)

"We haven't drawn the attention of large numbers of cultists, and neither have we seen anyone flee. I expect we have been less noticeable than you think", Corlith replies.

He walks across to the door and listens, whispering back to the others, "I do not believe we have been here before".

Perception: 2+5=7 (Passive: 15)

Corlith turns back to the others and shrugs, "Hard to tell, there might be someone in there. I guess that means there can't be many at least".

Seeing many of the others now also in disguise, he decides there is not much reason to delay. He reaches out and tries the door handle.

"Hm, locked. Over to you Reed", Corlith whispers stepping back out the way. He reaches out and whispers in infernal, giving Reed focus.

"Perhaps this is the prison", he says looking to Reya. He has no great faith that Thavius is here against his will, but realises that Reya needs to see for herself before she will doubt the man.

Reed looks at the door ahead and then at the others.

He reaches for his tools but when Corlith touches his shoulder he calms a little and remembers something that might be even better. Reed pulls two keys from his pouch.

"The old lady duke had these," Reed says.

He tries those on the door.

Reed claps his hands together happily when one of the keys does click in the lock.

He then opens the door carefully, to take a peek inside.

Reed slowly opens the door to peek beyond, and the rest pile up above him to also get a good look at what is behind the locked door.

This room contains four well polished wooden tables with two small wooden coffers atop each table. These are all spaced evening around the room, which you notice has no exit out of it.  Hanging on the wall opposite of you is a beautiful golden shield, it gleams in the candlelight and you cannot help but notice it. Standing in front of the shield is an old, stocky man in plain dark brown garments, carrying a lit candlestick. He has stubble on his face and his gray hair forms a horseshoe around his head.  As he turns to face the door, you see that his shadow on the far wall doesn’t match his form, but appears to be the shadow of a pudgy, horned fiend with small wings.

"How, how did you get the key to this room?  And who might you all be?"  The man questions.  There is no malice in his tone, just curiosity.  

Reed thinks for a moment about where he did find the key. A pocket? In a dress? Right.

"The duke, of course," Reed says with a smile. He looks at the air above his head and gives a small shake. "Of course I did."

He looks around the room, his gaze lingering on the shadow and then up at the man.

"We're new recruits," Reed says. "So how about you? Who are you and what are you doing in here? And how on earth do you manage that?"

Reed says the last pointing at the shadow that looks like a little devil.

"And who locked you in?", Corlith adds to Reed's list of questions as he looks over the halfling's head into the room.

Virro stands there in silence, to the side.  He waits for Reya to look in and tries to consider if he’s seen this man before, if this indeed could be Thavius.  “That looks like a nice shield.  Looks like it would work a lot better than my old thing.”  He thumps his plain, nondescript shield, painted black on the exterior.  “Fancy.  Anyway.  You heard anyone down this way, anyone outside running about?”  He looks at his hand, holding the candle, examining his fingers, waiting for him to reply.

The man turns completely to face the party huddled at the door, his back to the large golden shield on the wall.  "New recruits?  Hmm.. I don't think so.  You have way to cheery a disposition to be part of the group that resides down here."

He adjusts his collar a bit then continues, "I am Thavius Kreeg, what am I doing down here?  Why your Duke has locked me in."  He looks to Corlith to acknowledge he answered one of the masked men.  He waves away the question of the shadow then looks at Virro, "It is a nice shield isn't it?" he turns and looks at it once again, pausing for a moment, then turns back, "no I haven't heard anyone as a matter of fact; that door there is quite thick.  So, since you are obviously not part of the Duke's crew, robes you might be wearing but that is easy enough to attain, who might you all be?"  

As soon as Reya hears his name, she bursts through past the others into the room, "High Overseer Kreeg, I am overjoyed to have found you." she exclaims as she kneels in front of him, her head bowed.  

"You are very astute, My Kreeg. We are not affiliated with Duke Vanthampur it is true", Colrith replies inclining his head to acknowledge that the man had seen through their ruse.

He then switches to infernal and says, "You will be glad to know that your captor the Duke and her sons, Thurstwell and Amrik are in fact dead".

He watches closely for his reaction.

Insight: 1+5=6 (Passive 15)

Reed continues smiling as he slips into the room, looking around to see what else is here.

While he does, he points out the devil shadow again.

”Are we really supposed to pretend your shadow doesn’t look like a little devil?”

Archie walks in, listens and takes in the info whilst moving around the room, "Hey Mister High Kreeg man, you got any food in here I'm starved..." 

As she approaches the wall that the devil shadow is being cast upon, she extends a finger to hesitantly poke at it.

Archie stops just short of the shadow as she passes the shield and seems to daydream a bit as the others continue with their questions.

“You’re locked in here studying a shield… right…”  Virro smiles, slightly off putting.  “Well, let’s give it a try, it looks so fancy.”  He quickly walks across the room and picks up the shield, holding it.  His curiousity gets the better of him, he must try out its weight and see if it fits him.  

Roo's head is cocking side to side as he scans the room, his neck extended out as far as it goes from his position in the saddle.  His eyes finally settle on the shield, and his head shifts as he tries to get a better understanding of what he's looking at, and he starts to say something just as Virro goes for the shield.

"Virro, wait!  There's something fiendish about the shield!"  

Archie standing in front of the shield and daydreaming is snapped out of her stupor as virro goes for the shiny wall decor, she throws an arm out and attempts to grab at Virro barking out suddenly, "WAIT! the thing is already talking to me, says it's a celestial by the name of the hidden lord, though I don't trust it, Its not making sense, neither is that shadow, this is wrong, everything is wrong." Archie cocks her head to the side listening, trying to work something out.

(15 athletics to stop virro, unless he heeds Archie's warning and backs down himself)

"It seems we can drop the pretence", Corlith says as he notices the scramble for the shield, then settles himself.

"Thavius, we know you were working with the Duke until her demise, we know that shield holds a devil called Gargauth that you are trying to release. Now is the time for you to confess to your sins in front of your follower, so she can stop dreaming of you as a good man who will help Elturel, and realise you are a vile person who aided in it's fall", he snaps as he takes the mask off his face.

"You can confess without pain, or with a lot of pain", he says flatly.

Intimidation (with Guidance): 4+7+3=14