Secure the Architect

Type: Main Quest
Region/Scope: Onadbyr → Royal Palace Infiltration

Overview

The curse afflicting the Crown cannot be addressed unless the party gains access to the Royal Quarters. Only one man knows the hidden passage that bypasses the palace defenses: Nardier Tyk, the Royal Architect.
Queen’s agents are actively hunting him, and if he is taken or killed, the only safe method of entry into the palace will be lost.

If the party wants to reach the cursed Crown, they must complete these steps:

1. Retrieve the Key That Opens Any Lock
2. Obtain the Containment Chest
3. Secure the Royal Architect

Objectives

1. Locate and secure Nardier Tyk before the Queen’s Hounds reach him. ✅
2. Learn the location of the secret tunnel that leads directly into the Royal Quarters. ✅
3. Retain this knowledge for the later palace infiltration after acquiring the key and cleansing the Containment Chest. ✅

Role in the Story

• This quest is the next phase of the main storyline, following the revelation that the Crown is cursed and the palace is sealed.
• The Architect is essential to penetrating the castle’s defenses and reaching the Royal Quarters.
• The knights cannot act due to having lost their magical items, leaving the responsibility to the party.

Source

• Lord Signmonder provided a lead pointing to the Architect’s last known location.
• Ricio joined the group as a guide and informant familiar with the area.
• Voss’s Mother’s coded letter referenced gardens and contained her personal mark (“M”), suggesting potential contact or knowledge of the Architect’s route.
• Evidence within the Architect’s former apartment indicated a link to the Monster Menagerie, hinting that his escape may have taken him through the sealed facility.

Notable Moments

Session 8 - Acquired

• The party learns of a hidden passage built long ago that reaches the Royal Quarters, with its entrance known only to Nader Tryk.
• It is revealed that the Queen’s agents may already be seeking the Architect, creating urgency.
• The party outlines the three-step plan: retrieve the master key, cleanse the nullification chest, and secure the Architect for guidance into the palace.
• Consensus is reached that locating the Architect should occur as soon as possible, given the threat against him.

Session 9 - Ongoing

• Lord Signmonder tasks the party with following new intelligence on the Architect’s whereabouts and assigns Ricio Tane as their local guide.
• The group investigates door 221 in Onadbyr’s northern district, believed to be the Architect’s apartment.
• The apartment shows signs of sudden departure and the presence of a large beast, as well as odor-neutralizing powder used by royal beast-handlers.
• Hidden documents reference tunnels beneath the city and the Monster Menagerie Feeding House, implying the Architect may have fled underground.
• The party follows this lead, entering the sealed Monster Menagerie, where they encounter Crown troops’ remains and hostile overgrowth.
• No sign of the Architect yet, but all evidence points to his last route leading deeper through the menagerie’s tunnels.

Session 10 - Ongoing

• While exploring the lower levels of the Monster Menagerie, the party discovered a hidden access passage and descended into the ancient mechanical underworks beneath Onadbyr.
• After navigating deadly steam vents and defeating a massive furnace-born construct, the only way out collapsed behind them, forcing them deeper into the tunnels.
• They uncovered signs of prior passage, strange mechanical remnants, and a pulsing crystal power core—evidence that someone (likely the Architect) had moved through recently.
• The session ends with the party entering a long-forgotten tunnel system believed to lead toward the Architect’s escape route.
• The group has not yet located Nardier Tyk, but they are now on the correct subterranean path and closing in on him.

Session 11 - Complete

• The group was stalked deep underground by monstrous insectile constructs—creations of the Architect. After a running battle and a desperate escape from a swarm, the party reached a hidden laboratory.
• There they met Nardier Tyk, now half-machine and calling himself the Builder. He explained that his “children” were meant to protect him but inherited his flaws after the Tower’s fall.
• After confirming their connection to Lord Signmonder, the party earned his trust.
• Tyk revealed the Architect’s secret entrance into the tunnels—a disguised elevator accessible from the surface through a churro stand. This is the route he used to flee the palace district.
• Nardier Tyk provided:
  • a recall crystal to Harlekk
  • a crystal eye map to Voss
• Tyk confirmed he knows the hidden passageway that ultimately reaches the Royal Quarters, but that route must still be followed separately during the infiltration phase.
• With his cooperation secured, the party now has the knowledge needed to return to these tunnels and, eventually, reach the palace through the Architect’s hidden path.

Current Status

• Quest Complete
• The party located and secured Nardier Tyk’s cooperation.
• They now possess the means to access the Royal Quarters when the time comes to pursue the Cursed Crown.