1.9 KiB
Distract Timon
When the PCs return to the courthouse to find the real Rennick, they are met again at the reception desk by Timon Pherenikos, who hands them Form LUV-788 — Request to Enter into Matrimonial Union with Mr. Timon Pherenikos. Timon remarks, with mild puzzlement, "Huh — I don't think this form is a figment of Rennick's imagination. Oh, well, I guess this is the form I'm supposed to give you." It is not. Timon, the form, and everything in the immediate vicinity of his desk are figments of the seducer-PC's imagination — lingering residue from the party's previous visit, when that PC tried to charm him. The chamber latched onto the unfinished business and conjured the whole bureaucratic romance.
The form is the trap. While the seducer-PC is being walked through deeply uncomfortable questions ("Open Marriage?", "Mr. Pherenikos's Eye Color?", "Prior Interactions With Mr. Pherenikos?"), Timon's attention is fully occupied — and the other PCs may attempt to slip past the reception and into Rennick's office down the hall. The longer the form takes, the more time they have. Let the player squirm.
One question on the form is special: "Does your foot fit in the glass slipper?" A glass slipper sits on Timon's desk. The seducer-PC is a satyr, so his hoof does not fit, and if he is not careful he will break the slipper. When that happens, Timon politely summons an imp, who fetches a replacement from a closet down the hall. There are many replacements. The closet has clearly been stocked for this exact recurring fantasy.
The closet is the lever. Clever PCs may sneak away to tamper with it — pre-shape a slipper for a hoof, substitute one sized for a different party member, swap in a cursed one, or simply smash the whole inventory. Emptying the closet is the cleanest win: when the imp returns empty-handed, Timon has to leave his desk to investigate, and the path to Rennick's office is wide open. Which was the goal all along.