Leaving the tempting trap door and staircase behind, the group tries to use their stipend to blend in with the upper class. None of them are very good at it, but their notoriety gives them minor celebrity status, and the helpful hints of the house butler help them avoid the most egregious blunders.
The group goes shopping and sees how the upper class lives. It’s very nice. It’s very nice. But it’s also quite expensive and salaries are dwindling surprisingly quickly. As the furniture is delivered and the barbarians begin to settle in to guard the villa, the group begins to receive their first invitations to parties and the like. Now the real test begins – one that is mostly one of patience.
Birthday parties, luncheons, and attention to detail follow. Kegdrain enrolls at the local music academy, learning to play an instrument and mingling with the higher class. Baij takes the barbarians to the local brothel, earning much praise and goodwill from all involved. Money is scattered, and before long they’re all invited to a Shard party hosted by the mysterious owner of “The Shard,” a purple floating fortress in Noble Quarter. Connections are made, and some investigations are begun.
Veiga and his companions go to the Oldtown Library in search of news about the villa’s owners, and find out something about the inhabitants of the ossuary under the dining room table. They find some information about the Everston family, but still have questions. Eventually, Diggin and Fingers go down the stairs to investigate further. They open the next door to find a sarcophagus with an inscription on it. Seeing it, the pair try to free the inhabitants, but as they enter the room, a trap is set off, and Fingers dies.
Diggin escapes and attempts to call for help from Lord Everston, who is lying on a stone slab in the ossuary opposite. Lord Everston awakens, tells Diggin not to wake the contents of the sarcophagus under any circumstances, and escapes up the stairs. The group attempts to stop him with violence, but the Lord disappears, escaping capture. While the group is momentarily shaken, Diggin barely manages to hang on to his life, but Kegdrain puts him to sleep and slits his throat.
Thus begins the tale of Fingers, Diggin and the search for a priest and temple who can bring back to life the hapless guard who tried to stop the late Lord Everston from leaving the grounds. Wild speculation abounds in Nobles’ Quarter as the party unsuccessfully negotiates with two high priests with very different agendas. The dead are still dead, and the longer they remain dead the harder it will be to bring them back to life.
As one of their previous investigations comes to fruition, the group is contacted by members of the Inverted Pyramid and given the task of investigating an apparent breach in the protective shield protecting something below ground.
The fallen regain their life and soon embark on a new adventure: they visit a mansion in Oldtown and descend into the basement, where they discover a newly dug tunnel leading into the darkness…
