"Well, that would explain that then. And it's a shrewd business move, saving the cost of a separate warehouse." Abby continued to chat pleasantly with him as he gave them the tour of the house. Somehow, she felt comfortable with Beaujolias, at her own level rather than needing to impress people of noble birth and walk on pins and needles.
Callum tells Maurice about what had transpired earlier that evening with the rogue wizards, and asks if they can stay the night. Maurice is elated and shows then to a pair of adjacent bedrooms on the 2nd floor. "Callum, this one belonged to Prosper Merimee, please let me know if you find anything interesting left behind." He then gestures to the one next to it and says, "The actress Sarah Bernhardt stayed in this one, as you already have experience filling in for her it should suit just fine."
He then dismisses Mr. LaJoie to go locate fresh linens for both bedrooms. Continuing the tour back towards the more damaged sections of the building Maurice says, "I wanted to get rid of him before we see Miss Meren's handiwork. There is no point in her being on the receiving end of his criticism, and she will be more free to explain exactly what transpired."
They reach the long burnt out corridor stretching north-to-south between the main entrance on the south wall and rear entrance on the north wall and then head to the foyer by the rear entrance, which looks very much the mirror of the damaged main entrance. She says, "We arrived outside at the rear entrance. Manuel Gonzales had previously viewed it from a distance so was able to transport us directly to that spot. There were six guards on duty, but Mr. Hardin managed to shoot all of them before any could react. He shot to wound and used some magical rounds given to him by Gonzales that induced instant sleep. I stood lookout while Hardin hid the guards in the shrubbery by the inside north wall and Gonzales revovled the shrunken centaur Cetan and the Nubian Prince from his satchel and enlarged them to their normal height."
Gonzales then used a spell to deactivate the magic from the door and we entered, with the Nubian Prince knocking unconscious the two guards inside the room, who were then moved out to the northern shrubbery. We then went down the hallway to the south and performed the same procedure at the main entrance, rendering the night guards both inside and out unconscious and moving them away from the building.
We had inside information about the wizard's routine, and knew that a pair of the weekly wizards were in a sealed room in the central eastern section of the building with the artifact. We had to prevent the plethora of guards sleeping in the western barracks from heading that way, so Cetan and I used druidic spells to remove all of the humidity from both entrance ways and also the main central corridor here that connects to hallways west. We then moved east while Hardin laid down well placed shots with pyrotechnic rounds, setting off fireballs in those building sections, to keep out the potential enemy reinforcements."
As they continue eastward she says, "The Prince focused on rendering unconscious the next series of guards we encountered. We had a magic 'Bag of Holding' which Hardin would then stow the unconscious guards inside, as we couldn't leave them behind in a burning building. Cetan and I created wind spells to keep the smoke from the fires directed westward. Gonzales continued to locate and disarm magical traps and open magically sealed doorways. Finding the secret room was easy, as the route of the magical traps led us right there."
