Pizazz's Ravenloft and Beyond

     Ketch is much the commoner trying to act like a noble.  He mimics the more reserved and polite demeanor he sees around him, but it's still obvious that he's a fish out of water.  But he doesn't touch the paintings or knock anything over, he can play the part well enough he just cannot make it seem natural.

     He does pay attention to the paintings to see if there is a common theme or repeated subjects.  Is their target often depicted or are the paintings more random?  He considers casting a Detect Magic to see what that shows but thinks better of it, deciding just playing the role of guest is probably best for now.

Mordekai is fascinated by the statue, given the context. Nobody has a statue in their house unless it's of someone meaningful. But given that this whole place is an Illusion created to imprison Quill, who could the statue be of? Quill himself is the only option Mordekai can really think of, but what kind of vanity does it take for a person to be content in a prison as long as they have a statue of themselves in their home? Not even Mordekai himself is on that level of vanity. But who else could it be?

(Just to cover all bases and avoid feeling really stupid in the highly unlikely event that this is actually the case, would Mordekai be able to tell the difference between an innocent statue and, say,  the petrified form of one of Quill's enemies?)

Petrified forms of creatures are pretty obvious. The statues are incredibly life-like. This statue is not so...and it probably isn't Quill, as it appears to be an older man. There is one painting that is a family portrait, and you see the same man depicted in the statue, along with a mom, and two kids.  The younger boy, who is perhaps 12, is likely Quill, based on how he's been described. You figure it's probably a statue of Quill's father. 

As the group makes their way into the ballroom you see a pretty much everyone from the village here, having made their way in from the entrance hall.  There are three people playing some lovely quiet background music. The room is dazzling and spacious. The polished walls gleam in the light of hanging lamps shaped like celestial bodies, and the ceiling is painted with constellations. On the wall to the right is a long stage with red velvet curtains closing off a backstage area. A portrait of who you assume is Quill, posing on a chaise lounge hangs on the north wall. The room has been decorated with garlands of wisteria, and small tables hold hors d’oeuvres and drinks.  

The room is two floors high, fifty feet to the ceiling, with a balcony on the 2nd floor that looks out over the stage.  Mingling with the guests in the middle of the room, are Quill himself, and a massive ugly floating beholder.  People smile and chat as if all of this is normal. 

     Ketch moves to the left, away from the rest of the party.  He doesn't know a lot about beholders but he knows enough that all bunching together may not be the best idea so he tries to put distance between him and the rest of the party. All casual like...

     If he gets a chance to do so when he thinks he'll be unseen, Ketch decides to try and see what Detect Magic will reveal after all.

 And just like this the worst suspicion came to be true - a beholder. The group in Sigil knew what they were doing sending an eager party down that rabbit hole. he new chapter of the play could end up quite entertaining if they fail.

Lionel went straight to Quill counting on other's perception and ability to assess the behavior of both - the man and the monster. "Greetings," he lowered his head for a moment, and looked again at Quill not addressing the monster as of yet. "It is a great celebration, truly glad to be here. I am Lionel Silverstone." (Another short head bow) "Traveled from afar to this parts, and very much pleased to meet the famous hero Arrant Quill. Heard a lot about your guest as well." Lionel finally looked at the monster. "Though nobody mentioned the name." He paused, allowing Quill to introduce (!) the beholder (!)  (an utter nonsense to even to think about but there it was!). Lionel did his best to keep a polite indifferent expression (like everyone else here) and to get the whole picture before attacking the monster. Though he had to admit, even after the battle with a vampire, he was not looking forward towards battling the beholder.

Ulthan will work his way towards a table to secure it, hopefully not a big one with lots of people. Once games start (at least Ulthan hopes there will be some games) he'll play a game he saw at a bar a while back. He's going to put his shield on the table or between two chairs and play the stabby game between fingers. He hopes there will be some interest and enough to get the house person to also give it a try. He'll be using copper to entice people with it, but he'll be happy to play it by himself when there's a lull in festivities or games begin.

Ulthan's other interest is determining who is master and who is sub, so he pays attention to interaction between beholder and dagger guy.

Mordekai nudges Meepo gently, and walks towards one of the small tables with drinks. (It seemed like there were several of these scattered around the ballroom? If so, Mordekai chooses whichever is furthest from the beholder or has less people at it.)

Assuming Meepo follows, Mordekai will find an opportunity to say quietly to Meepo without being overheard, "If everyone in the village is gathered here in this ballroom, perhaps there's a chance to explore more of the Manor discreetly. It seems Quill's guest is staying here, perhaps we could find some clue as to what it wants?"

Ketch wanders over to one side of the room, and casts detect magic as he looks around. Unsurprisingly, there are levels of illusion, transmutation, and other magic over almost everyone in the room...as well as the food, and furniture, and walls. However this is a low level of background magic. The only other thing that really sticks out for him is the painting of Quill on one wall.  Walking over to it, he sees that the painting is poorly done, as if someone had smeared the paint before it dried.

Ulthan meanwhile moves over to another table and looks for a place to stand that is out of the way, and anticipates playing some games. His hand touches his knife as he considers options. 

Mordekai and Meepo move over to a table with drinks, staying away from people as much as possible. The townsfolk seem to stand around chatting amongst themselves, though as you walk past a pair, one is saying, "bah bah boop bah la la" and the other replies with, "sweet lilacs and daffodils in the sun one might think?" 

Lionel walks up to Arrant Quill and the beholder, boldly, as is the Aasimars way. Arrant smiles grandly, "Welcome to my party. I see we have some out of towners."  Arrant does indeed make a grand figure, with a lovely face and bold confident movements. "Oh this, this is my trusted friend Renekor!" The beholder turns to regard Lionel with all his eyes stalks and his single large central eye. Some green slime drips from his sneering lip. He speaks in a strange language Lionel doesn't know...but..recognizes as undercommon. "Gipp bor sal mofny ball signor."  He then looks away, and continues scanning the room, though he doesn't look particularly aggressive or on guard...just....irritated perhaps?   (no one else is close enough to hear, given the 'conversation', music, and other noises in the room.) 

((School of magic on the painting?  Is the entire painting "smeared" or just portions or it?  Is it a consistent smear or...?))

The painting is emanating conjuration magic. It's a fairly consistent smear across it, so the whole thing seems smeared.

     "And what is the painting conjuring?" Ketch asks to himself. 

     Ketch will wrangle a townsperson or two over to the painting and ask them if they've been in the mansion before, if they've noted this painting before, what they know of it, and such like that.  A smeared painting full of magic seems odd so Ketch is interested to learn what he can of it.  At the same time, he suspects the townsfolk are clueless but has nobody else to inquire with...

"Meepo no think anything in book-place interesting." Meepo tells Mordekai. "Only things like be in book are things put in book." He sighs though. "Meepo go look if Mordekai wants, but Meepo no like leave Meepo friends with beholder near."

For a bard, Quill was not much of a conservationist and "the thing" apparently did not speak Common. But Lionel did his best to keep their attention on himself if only for a moment, distracting the pair from the rest of the party. He did his best to ignore the "beauty" of that irritated eye. "Pleased to meet you. I wish I could greet you properly, alas, Undercommon - if I am not mistaken - is not really known to me." His face got stuck in a polite smile by now. Lionel looked at Quill again. "Is there some special occasion for the party or the mood simply struck you?"

Ketch wrangles a random townfolk person over.  "M'name is Thorland, I raise chickens, though the fox's been a might aggressive these past weeks."  Ketch asks him about the painting, "Oh, well, this paintin, looks just lovely. Believe that's an image of our own Quill it is. He is quite fond of chicken, loves the tender the best. But the foxes 'ave been terrible of late."   Ketch asks if he's been in the mansion before, "Can't quite remember bein in 'ere before, but, it's like I always say. I raise chickens."  A few more questions get him nowhere. 

Quill nods, "Oh, indeed. Yes, he only speaks in undercommon."  He turns and speaks to the beholder. The beholder listens and, glances at Lionel but then away, looking both bored an annoyed. "Well, he is very pleased to meet you of course. I'm sure you must have all sorts of amazing tales from out of town. I have no reason for the party, simply to entertain the locals and ensure everyone continues to be wonderfully happy." He smiles a winning smile. You're correct though, he doesn't seem particularly chatty...or really interesting in fact...for a legendary bard. 

Of note, Ulthan's picked table is also one close to a window large enough to escape out of realizing that these people are no different than talkative zombies and he's had enough of being mobbed lately.

Lionel does not do such thing often but right now he was curious and looked at the bard and his friend a bit more intently (Divine Sense)

(No Celestials, Undead, or Fiends anywhere around here.) 

Mordekai nods his agreement at Meepo's preference not to split the group.  But he's bored of this "party".  It's one of the dullest, most uneventful parties he's ever been to - and he's been to a lot.  Far more than he's been invited to, and the ones he's had a legitimate invite for have usually turned out to be among the dullest.  A party hosted by a legendary bard should be up there with the most raucous and frivolous of occasions.  What's wrong with this guy?  Mordekai thinks it's time to move this along with a little flattery and prompting.

He approaches Quill with an even warmer, naturally charming smile than he's been putting on so far this evening, "Greetings, gracious host.  We were excited to hear of this party upon our arrival into town.  Your renown precedes you, and we had heard that you have many an entertaining tale to tell and song to sing.  I've been desperate to ask you to perform for us since the moment I entered this magnificent place, and I cannot bear it any longer..."  At this, Mordekai looks around and makes eye contact with several of the villagers, hoping they'll add their voices to his own in asking for a performance, "Would you be so kind as to deliver one of your famous performances for us?"

     Ketch looks over the painting one last time, curious to see if it's titled and/or if there is an artist listed.  Then he reaches out and very gently touches the canvas, curious about the smeared paints and unable to prevent himself...

     Ketch then walks over to stand next to Ulthan.  "He's shaking hands, doesn't seem cautious at all.  If all we truly need to end this is to scratch him with the blade, it doesn't seem that difficult...  Assuming that is him."

Quill looks to Mordekai, "Quite, yes, that is intriguing, however I'm afraid I am invested in hosting my party and having a grand time this evening, which doesn't leave much time for story telling. Perhaps in a short while? What was your name good sir? Very pleasing to have you come here."  

Both Lionel and Ulthan notice as Ketch who is standing over by the wall reaches up, touches the painting, and vanishes. Mordekai and Meepo don't notice however.

Renekor the Beholder also appears to notice, as his whole "body" swivels in that direction, and all his eyes stalks swing around.  Then its eye stalks begin swivelling about, and he seems to suddenly be paying closer attention to both Lionel and Mordekai before him.  "Blor vath nogastic salsdon marg taslon..." he says.  Quill looks a bit surprised, but then turns to the Lionel and Mordekai, "Where did you say you were from again?"