Lussa turns to begin searching, then stops and turns back to Victoro, "just how close would he have to be to summon that imp?  It will give me some idea of where to begin looking."

Victoro tilts his chin at Lussa and Mabel. "You can summon imps in a few different ways. He'd have to be close to summon it. Still, none of the Villa staff has seen him, or else they would have told me. It's likely he used someone in the home to summon them. Perhaps someone in the house unknowingly summoned the imp by accident." 

Twitch, as you're in the library you notice a nice leather-bound book on the grand shelf that sticks out to you and you think Meep would like it. 

Meep and Demalis, you leave Victoro's office and move past the kitchen to the Pantry. In there you find 

• Casks of ale, fresh water, and cooking oil are stacked in the middle of the room.
• Shelves of foodstuffs and ingredients line the walls.
• The back wall of the pantry is one large wine rack that contains a variety of splendid bottled wines. (This wine rack conceals a secret door.)

You also see a spider moving along one of the shelves, almost as if it's watching you. 

Sybil, you find a pair of dwarves examining Aria. One wearing a holy symbol of Moradin, says she'll be fine. When you ask questions about the other dwarf, they look at each other. "We're the only ones here, but we did see someone at the City of the Dead. He mentioned something about delivering toys to children in Waterdeep and a story about a "Wooden Girl." 

Lussa will take the information she has and see where her senses lead her tracking the location of the dwarf:  Survival check:  24 (advantage for favored enemy).

Lussa, as you move and Mabel through the hall, you hear faint whispers coming from the children's room. Inside you find two four-poster beds, once for each child. A life-sized stuffed unicorn stands in one corner. In the middle of the room is a circular area rug with seven marbles and two hair barrettes. Upon closer inspection, one of the marbles appears as a stone and the voice is coming from it. 

Delmalis overreacts slightly to the sight of the spider, associating it with Lolth and his former slave masters, and smashes it, repeatedly. Assuming a thorough search reveals the hidden door, he'd open it and see where it goes.

Lussa whispers to Mabel, trying to discern what the voice is saying, "you likely know much more about magic than I, but I'm guessing its some sort of message stone?"

(Are the marbles/stone arranged in any pattern or seem to be haphazardly strewn?  i.e. summoning circle?)

Twitch snatched up the book and headed for the kitchen to find Meep.

Lussa, you can tell that it was once arranged in a summoning circle. Mable nods and moves up to the stone and picks it up and listens to it. "This is a magical stone of sorts." She taps it. Who is this ... Sunblight?"

The voice on the stone becomes frantic and says a high pitch voice. "By the nine hells, Mable?! What are you doing in the Cassalanters?"

Demalis, you try and smash the spider and it dodges. It fires back in a voice," Watch it! What do you think you're doing?"

The spider turns into an imp wearing a toy soldier's outfit. He doesn't appear hostile and he looks different than the one who attacked Aria. He actually looks friendly. 

When Sybil finds a moment alone, she goes and cast Message to Meep, "The guy wasn't at the party or at least seen. He may have snuck in under pretense of  a present giver. Watch out for the toys and a wooden girl,"

Lussa frowns, whispers to Mabel, "could he have cast the summoning through the stone?  And what is the range, how close does he need to be?"

Mabel glares at the stone. "How did you do it, Ableforth? How did you summon the imp?"

"Oh I didn't summon it," Sunblight replies through the stone. He then goes silent. 

Delmalis glares at the imp for a long moment, "I don't like spiders, and why shouldn't we kill you right now?"

Lussa looks to Mabel, "if he didn't, who did he con into doing it?"  Then, pausing as a new thought surfaces, "or do we have an even bigger problem?"

Meep whispers back to Sybil. "Okay, thanks for looking. Delmalis is currently arguing with an ex-spider, current imp. He looks friendlier than the last one."

Quote from Gorthmorg >>

Meep whispers back to Sybil. "Okay, thanks for looking. Delmalis is currently arguing with an ex-spider, current imp. He looks friendlier than the last one."

 Twitch shoves the book into Meeps hands then hisses at the imp.

Mabel turns to Lussa. "We might have a bigger problem. We should probably question the staff or someone in the house." 

The imp reels back as Twitch hisses at him. Turning to Demalis, he says "For starters, I'll tell you my name. My name is Chernok and I serve the Lady of the House to make sure that intruders go into places they shouldn't. You caught me on break, I was helping myself to some food during the Gala. I heard someone killed an imp who attacked Aria. It was probably that dolt Brimtoe who the Little Lady summoned a few days ago." 

He stops, realizing he said something he shouldn't.

Lussa frowns as Mabel confirms her suspicions, "let's get this stone to Victoro, maybe he knows more about it, and fill him in on our findings so far.  Hopefully the others have other pieces to this puzzle so we can start to see the bigger picture here."

" Little Lady......who is little lady?", Twitch grumbled.

Chernok turns to Twitch and says "Elzerina. She's about your size." You know he's talking about the Cassalanter's daughter. 

Mabel nods to you Lussa and you both bring the stone to Victoro, who raises an eyebrow. "What's that stone you have there?"

Meep asks "How many of the Cassalanters are summoning imps?" To Delmalis, he says "This is going to get complicated quickly."