February 28, 118
With Malecar incapacitated, the group decide to leave Dark Star upstairs to cover for them in case any guards or other servants arrive, while Calanon and Elvish head down to interrogate him. Before untying him and healing him just enough to restore consciousness, Elvish casts a Charm Person spell on him, hoping to get him to tell everything he knows.
Once Malecar is awake, it's clear the spell didn't work, as he is non-cooperative. He refuses to tell them anything about Therian, believing that they will simply kill him once they learn everything they want to know. Furthermore, he thinks that even if they assure him that they'll let him go, he has no way to know if they'll keep their word. He's right to be concerned - Calanon and Elvish are wary of letting him go, worried that he'll warn Gorith of what they're doing.
Elvish tries again with a Suggestion spell, but Malecar shakes this off as well. Finally, Calanon offers to swear in Vorn's name that he will protect Malecar from harm, if the mage tells them what he knows, then never mentions what has happened to Gorith. He convinces Malecar of his sincerity and faith by impressing him with his religious knowledge, and Malecar agrees to the deal.
Now that he's agreed to talk, Malecar explains that the magical icosahedron that they found is actually the entrance to a small, magically-created reality called a demiplane. By touching the runes on the device in a specific order, the portal can be opened and closed. Therian is indeed inside the demiplane, but Malecar doesn't know exactly what he's guarded by. He created the demiplane with four rooms inside, but then handed it over to Gorith for him to stock it with guardians.
Malecar demonstrates his words by opening the portal and taking Elvish inside. It's very dark on the other side, but he can vaguely make out that he's in a small room made of dark stone bricks.
Calanon and Elvish decide that they're best off removing the device, regrouping, and entering the demiplane from a safer location, so they start discussing how they're going to get it and Malecar out of the manor safely. They want Malecar to wait inside the demiplane so they can sneak him out, but he doesn't want to do this, since there's no way to open the portal from the inside. They could easily betray and trap him. He proposes that Calanon go in with him. Calanon agrees.
With Calanon and Malecar inside the portal, Elvish and Dark Star simply hide the icosahedron in a bag and walk out of the manor. At the front gate, they tell the guards that their games are finished and they're leaving for the night. One of the guards asks why only two of them are leaving when three entered, but they claim that Calanon is staying behind to help clean up, and the guard believes them.
Safely out of the mansion, Elvish and Dark Star regroup with Ash-Daughter and Ellyanna, who were both waiting for their opportunities to sneak in. That, of course, is no longer necessary. The reunited party decide to head to Severn's offices at the Eminent Cathedral, where the prelate's men can watch over them while they rest for the night. Since Ellyanna already slept earlier, she heads back to their inn rooms in order to retrieve everyone's gear, intending to rejoin them at the cathedral slightly later.
Severn agrees to provide a watch and the party, along with Malecar, rest for the night. Ellyanna arrives a few hours later with their gear and joins them.
March 1, 118
After all the activities of the last night, the party sleep in and get a late start in the morning. After preparing themselves, they open up the portal and step through into the demiplane, leaving Malecar behind, watched over by Severn's men.
Coming in with a proper light source this time, they see that the first room of the demiplane is small and contains only a single door, directly across from the portal back out. It is quiet and they cannot hear anything coming from beyond the door, so they open it and step through.
The door leads to a passageway, which turns to the left after a short distance and opens into a room after another short distance. This room is larger, with pillars along the walls and a vaulted ceiling. Along the left and right walls, mounted between the pillars, are ceremonial swords, five on each wall. There is a door on the opposite end of the room, and sitting in an alcove above the door is a stone gargoyle.
The party splits up and investigates the room. Concerned that it could be a guardian, Ellyanna shoots a firebolt at the gargoyle. Apparently she is correct, as the impact of the spell causes it to begin moving, preparing to jump down and attack the party. As they get ready to fight the gargoyle, the ten swords lift into the air and swing upwards, moving in to attack as well.
Suddenly under attack by eleven enemies, the party are badly out of position and completely surrounded. Calanon is unable to protect all of the weaker party members, and escape is cut off. The fight turns into a chaotic scramble, and though the party manage to inflict some damage on their magical attackers, they start taking many wounds themselves.
Eventually, with several party members badly wounded, Elvish makes a run for it, heading back through the portal to get help. The rest of the group manage to hold on until he returns with several of Severn's guardsmen, who help them turn the tide of the battle. The manage to destroy and gargoyle and all ten swords with no casualties. However, they are badly hurt and have expended much of their magical power, so they retreat out of the demiplace to recover.
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