"Seems perhaps we found the parents," Janek says. "While these are again monsters, I imagine there must be more.  I'm just not in shape to do much right now."

He looks to his companion. "Do we leave and take our rest outside? Or rest here and hope nothing comes upon us?"

The areas you have explored down here look quiet and undisturbed - at least now that you cleared out the Ghasts and Ghouls. The outside may or may not be safe, as you had to take shelter in the house from the strange fog that chased you here. But many of the rooms upstairs in the main house looked like they could be easily locked or barricaded to provide a safe resting place. (I.e. you are confident that you can safely lock yourselves into a bedroom if you want to long-rest)

"Perhaps a rest in one of the rooms upstairs? I think I'd prefer that to staying down here. By morning, well, if indeed it is now night, I should be much better," Janek says. 

If no objections, he will head back to go up the stairs. It's fine to take the first relatively decent run they come to. Well, perhaps not the one with the skeletal remains. 

(( Sorry for delay ))

Alcazar recalls the fog and the ghostly children. "Let's rest here, at least we know it's empty now."

Once back to the attic, Janek picks whichever room seems the least dusty and cobweb infested (except for the one with the children's bones) and takes a rest from the night.

Before his rest, he slowly removes his chainmail, laying it out just beside his bedroll. He then takes each longsword in its scabbard and places them side by side next to the armor. From a pocket he takes out a thin silver necklace, which looks a bit worn.  Holding it, he moves to kneels on the bedroll. And in hardly a whisper he softly says the following poem.

 Only when finished does he lay down to sleep. 

Quote from Culuril >>

Once back to the attic, Janek picks whichever room seems the least dusty and cobweb infested (except for the one with the children's bones) and takes a rest from the night.

 You check the deserted attic and select one of the spare bedrooms. Having brushed off some dust, the room offers a modicum of comfort. With the door barred, you feel quite safe and are able to pass a night undisturbed by any visitors - although you do hear the noise of footsteps and voices from the bedroom of the two children who's ghosts clearly cannot find peace. You sleep well but with some strange and disturbing dreams. You wake in the morning, refreshed and full of energy once more, but one dream in particular sticks in your mind: In this nightmare, the two of you are are children and locked in the bedroom, starving to death while no one hears you knocking on the door. 

(You have long rested)

After his rest, Janek is up early, again knealing on his bedroll and reciting some words softly. 

 When done, he slowly slips the worn necklace he has been clutching back into a pocket.  He then starts to don his armor, picking up each scabbard and attaching the longswords to his belt. Only then does he step away from his resting spot to eat a bit of his rations then packs up, ready to move on. He waits in silence until his companion is ready, then moves back to the stair, to descend into the dungeon once again.  "Well, any thoughts on which way should we go? Time to start heading to the west now I think." 

You make your way back down into the basement and then to the west areas of the basement. As you enter the basement you once again begin to hear the constant background sound that reminds you of repetitive chanting - but are not able to make out the words.

To the north-west there is a sort of dining area or perhaps a common room. A wooden table and four chairs stand in the room. To the south, there is a small area with alcoves around the outside that look like were once probably used for storage in the past but now contain nothing more than moldy straw.

Moving further west, you enter a second larger area. In the centre, there is a small well with a stone lip around and a typical bucket-and-pulley arrangement to obtain water from the well. Around the outside of the room, 5 smaller rooms open up which each contain beds and a footlocker by the end of each bed. The beds are moldy and rotten, and do not look inviting - you are pleased that you slept upstairs. The footlockers are all locked with a padlock each. The locks looks simple and look weakened by rust.

There is a corridor connecting this area to the eastern areas you were in earlier, and which also leads to a staircase that leads further down into deeper darkness.

"A path yet further down," Janek mutters. "I suppose we should follow it.  But first, I guess we check these footlockers." He sets down his pack and rummages through it for a crowbar. "This is all I got to open them."

Setting the crowbar against the lock, he tries to pry open the one in the top right room. (Athletics w/Adv: 21)

Quote from Culuril >>

"A path yet further down," Janek mutters. "I suppose we should follow it.  But first, I guess we check these footlockers." He sets down his pack and rummages through it for a crowbar. "This is all I got to open them."

Setting the crowbar against the lock, he tries to pry open the one in the top right room. (Athletics w/Adv: 21)  

 You break open the first footlocker, and find inside some moldy old clothes, and a pouch which appears to be made from human skin. In the pouch you find 11gp and 60sp, which you pocket. (I am going to assume that you leave behind the human-skin pouch unless you tell me otherwise)

(feel free to roll for the other 4 all in one post to speed it up)

Janek does leave behind the pouch as he pockets what is found.  He continues on to the other rooms, trying to pretty keen the footlockers with his crowbar. 

(Roll 1: 10)

(Roll 2: 22)

(Roll 3: 15)

(Roll 4: 22)

Quote from Culuril >>

Janek does leave behind the pouch as he pockets what is found.  He continues on to the other rooms, trying to pretty keen the footlockers with his crowbar. 

(Roll 1: 10)

(Roll 2: 22)

(Roll 3: 15)

(Roll 4: 22)

 You manage to make short work of the rusty old padlocks.

Inside the footlockers you find:

1. Three moss agates (worth 10 gp each) in a folded piece of black cloth
2. A black leather eyepatch with a carnelian (worth 50 gp) sewn into it.
3. An ivory hairbrush with silver bristles (worth 25 gp).
4. A silvered shortsword. You examine it, but find it has no magic or special properties, but you realise that the fact that this weapon is made from silver will be useful if or when you encounter a lycantrope - or a merchant to sell it to. (worth 110 gp).

"Well, valuables," Janek says. "Let's hope they're worth something to us eventually. I guess the real work is still further below though."  Without any further comment he heads down the hall and starts cautiously down the stair.  

You descend the stairs slowly and carefully. The air feels colder here, and a chill runs down your spine as you reach the bottom of the stairs. The all-pervasive background noise of chanting becomes clearer as you descend to the bottom. Down in this lower basement, you can now distinctly hear the words of the chant, made up of dozens of overlapping voices that seem to come from everywhere at once: "He is Ancient, He is the Land" - repeated over and over.

From the stairs, you emerge in a large room that appears to be some sort of reliquary. In small niches along the walls you see all sorts of assorted 'relics'. From your adventures in the wider world, you can tell that these are probably mostly useless and would be of little use in a real dark ceremony. It's the sort of things you would find on the scrap heaps of any major city as only a fool would pay good coin for these. Amongst the 'relics' you find: a small mummified goblin's claw, a knife made from bone that looks suspiciously like a human leg bone, an ugly dagger with a rat's skull engraved in the pommel, a folded cloak made from stitched ghoul skin, a halfling's shrivelled head, and similar items. 

Leading out from this room are two passages:

1. A gently downward sloping tunnel to the south that seems to end in rusty portcullis with dirty water covering the floor to a few inches high.
2. A level stone corridor that leads off to the south-west (it has some corners, so you are not able to see from here where it leads)

"The heart of the spooky chanting," Janek muses. "Take the dry path to start."  He moves off down the second path to the southwest, cautiously peering around the corners as he goes. 

You follow the corridor to a prison or sorts, with individual cells for prisoners, metal shackles hanging on chains from the walls. Most cells are empty. One has a skeleton, held together by the remnants of its black clothing, still hanging from the shackles on the wall. 

Roll perception please.

(Janek Perception: 17)

While the ever-continuous chanting of "He is Ancient; He is the Land" continues, you search the prison area. You first examine out the hanging skeleton and find a gold ring worth about 15gp on it. Looking through each cell, one at a time, you find that in one cell the shackles appear only decorative and never used. The wall also looks slightly more damp. Upon examination, you find that this is in fact a hidden door into a larger area beyond. You push open the door, which opens into a large area ahead of you.

As you peer into the room ahead, the chanting suddenly stops. The change to complete and utter silence startles you as much as a thunderbolt on a quiet day. The room ahead is dimly lit from glowing mushrooms spouting from the walls and corners. The smooth masonry walls provide excellent acoustics, letting every drip of water each eerily around the room. Featureless stone pillars support the ceiling. To your left you see the portcullis you spotted earlier - but are now on the other side. Next to it, set on the wall, is a large wooden wheel with hand-grips that looks like a gate-raising mechanism. To your right, there is a breach in the wall opening into a small cave heaped high with refuse. Around the outside of the room is a stone ledge that is slightly elevated above the rest of the floor. The area in the centre of the room is mostly covered in murky water which covers most of the floor. In some places it looks a little deeper than others, but does not appear to more than a foot or two anywhere.

In the centre of the room, stairs rise to form an octagonal dais that rises above the water. Rusty chains with shackles dangle from the ceiling directly above a stone altar mounted on the dais. 

Janek pauses as he looks into the chamber and hears the sudden silence. He feels he must whisper back to Alcazar. "Seems we've reached the end of this trail. Guess we should see what's in here."  He cautiously walks along the outside ledge, over to the opening to the small cave and the refuse. Before disturbing anything, he tries making a visual inspection of what might be there, fearing the worst in what seems a chamber for sacrifice. 

(Investigation: 5)