Wild Bunch #21

The Vendor of Paradise opened a doorway into the mansion of Lord Marquis Duke Baron King of Topside, a doorway that opened directly into the Vendor of Paradise's person room within the mansion, revealing the Basement's auctioneer was directly in the employ of Lord Marquis Duke Baron King.

The Vendor's room was filled with mirrors, which the group later learned were placed by the Lord Marquis Duke Baron King to remind the Vendor of his lack of corporeal form as a form of mental torture

The group left the room with Winnifred still disguised as the Vendor, and met a guest of Lord Marquis Duke Baron King napping in the hall. Upon waking her, Ven, as she called the Vendor, was met with derision and disdain

She lead Winnifred, disguised as Ven, down a hall where the group found a animated portrait of an old man labelled Callurus Woolridge. The portrait urged the group to leave it alone and not touch it, which the group obeyed

The woman lead Winnifred to Lord Marquis Duke Baron King's meeting room while Alexander and Tricks explored Lord Marquis Duke Baron King's gallery of rare and expensive artifacts, seeking limbs for Jemiah and the Vendor of Paradise's trapped soul

Winnifred overheard the following information through the cracked door of the Lord Marquis Duke Baron King's meeting room:

• Four individuals were present for the conversation, all named in the discussion

  • Lord Marquis Duke Baron King

  • Sharrok

  • Fabiola

  • Sabatini

• Fabiola was angry with Sharrok for "killing Enoch too early" and "making the dragon stones inert before we were ready"

• Sharrok was angry with Fabiola for "not getting the expedition to the Phantom Planes ready" and "dragging her feet on the death of Enoch"

• Lord Marquis Duke Baron King, whose real name was apparently Bernie, told them both to calm down and was far more interested in eating the treats Sabatini had brought from the Nectarous Woods

Meanwhile, Alexander and Tricks found their respective artifacts in the gallery and were able to bypass the magical security to secure them

Lord Marquis Duke Baron King and Sabatini emerged from their meeting and came to the gallery where Winnifred tried to stall them, still disguised.

• Lord Marquis Duke Baron King told Winnifred to get an assassin after someone named "Kit" since the last one they sent had apparently died. He seemed very angry that Kit was still alive.

The group ended up setting off an alarm when Tricks ended the tortured existence of a clockwork being trapped in a state of pain with his body splayed across a display case, after which Tricks took his limbs for Jemiah, along with the rest of the body, including the clockwork heart.

The group ran during the alarm, frightening all the guests of Lord Marquis Duke Baron King, and Winnifred jumped out of a window, landing in Barnacle Bay below.