Chapter: King Lenny Part 2

We open on the courtyard of the Lord's Palace in Tivoli. A riotous crowd, somewhat calmed by Carnelian's magic, is chanting "King Lenny," a call that Scourpax had goaded them into. Lenny, for her part, was mortified. We see an enormous silver T-Rex, Gurney, under the effect of a potion and a spell cast by Castelis.

The Chase
Aware that Carnelian's calming spell would wear off shortly, Scourpax called upon the crowd to bow to their new king. As the spell wore off, Castelis gestured to T-Rex Gurney to roar. Coco added to the effect by summoning Pinchy, her fire crab elemental. After some coaxing the crowd ran off.

The T-Rex, not able to speak any language, but with both his beastly hunting instincts and Gurney's fighting spirit, indicated the secret door through which one of Lord Argyle's counselors had fled. Castelis ceased the spell so Gurney could fit, and the party chased them.

Through the secret door they found a stairwell leading to another secret passage. Listening through another secret door, they overheard the fleeing counselor (Gordus) and another unknown speaker (Saran) discussing plans. Gordus said he would get "the weapons" and instructed Saran to get the message out. Once the hallway was clear they followed one of them, who turned out to be Saran. She searched in an office for something, found a paper, and continued outside.

They pursued her as she fled, but she noticed them. An invisible Lenny caught up to Saran and saw that the paper she was carrying showed an address. The party chose to take a different route to the address, and let Saran think she had lost them. The address led to a pawn shop.

The Stake-out
At the pawn shop, Saran entered with a key like the keys used by the Keyholders. More of them trickled in until there were 10 of them. Gordus arrived last, bringing a wooden case. One of them called The Grand Prefect called Gordus "Sargeant at Arms" and asked him to distribute the weapons. The weapons turned out to be a strange maraca-like object with engravings and enlaid gems. The group discussed plans for regaining control of the city by force, including listing a great many people to assassinate, including community leaders and members of organized crime.

Before the conspirators could complete their mission, the party ambushed them. Almost immediately they killed 5, incapacitated 4 more, and captured one awake. They learned that The Grand Prefect was named Mortimer, that the conspirators were The Order of Keyholders, and that they were made up of powerful members of society who see themselves as maintaining order in the city.

Carnelian identified the maracas, discovering that they were weapons that could be easily concealed but could do a great deal of damage at a considerable range.

At this point, the party split up.

The Parade
Lenny, Scourpax, and Carnelian, accompanied by spectral dire wolves Castelis had conjured, frog marched their prisoners (including Mortimer, the Grand Prefect) back toward their palace. Along the way they encountered a guard and told him they were taking over. After offering him a raise, he joined their cause. Scourpax offered him considerable bonus for recruiting more guards to their coup (1 gp for the first 10, 5 sp for the next ten, and 1 sp per guard after that). He quickly ran off and came back with a dozen others.

When the group got to the palace gates, they sent off their newly appropriated guards to find more recruits with the offer of the same bonus.

The Mystic Ram's guidance
Meanwhile, Castelis asked the mystic ram to lead them to what The Ram God had meant by sending them back to Tivoli. Coco, Castelis, and Gurney followed it as it led them back to The Commander's Option, the casino, whose subbasement housed The Wizard's secret laboratory. They found it busted open by the demon they had released. The ram led them all the way down to the subbasement, and went directly to the large brass mechanism in the back. Coco identified it as resembling an astrolabe.

While investigating, someone came down. They surrounded her. It was quickly revealed that she was Terra-Lee, a very low ranking member of the Horizon Walkers.