The Plume Family House

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
http://www.personal.psu.edu/mcg5093/002/project/mausoleum.html

"They have three homes and many rooms, but no home of their own. What family is this?" the Family Riddle goes. The answer of course is the Plume family. This family has a special role: they guard Emperor Horizon Emerald, the Great King's Palace, the Emerald family home, and the Council House. They have no home at all, other than where the Emperor and his family lives, presides, and travels. They are born, live and die, and have and rear their children, in the three homes they can never call their own.

But in spite of all this, the Plumes really do have a home of their own: they have an enormous family crypt which stands behind the Great King's Palace. The crypt goes down a long way. It is said to reach under and beyond both the Great King's Palace and the Emerald family house. The Plumes have many dead - often at younger ages than the other families. A surprising number died of poison or implausible accidents. So many that the Plumes maintain their own investigative service, the Quetzals.

The Quetzals have their offices just inside the crypts. They must always be guarded, and not only to honor the service of those Plumes who have passed. What better way to assassinate the King or another member of the royal family than to reanimate one of the long-dead Plumes from the crypt?  After all, do the Emeralds ever look at the faces of their faithful guardians? Would they even notice the walking dead?

Periodically, the Plumes hire adventurers - usually, expendable Strangers - to explore the tunnels beyond their crypt-demesnes. Inquiries should be directed to the Quetzals at the crypt.