Pru quickly checks the door for traps. If she doesn't find any, she opens the door and looks inside.

Perception: 18  

Upon checking for traps, Pru slowly opens the door. On the other side is a fairly large sitting room.  There is a fire place on the far wall opposite the door, tattered books line the broksen shelves on the right.

Pru looks simultaneously relieve that there aren't any creatures waiting to attack in this sitting room, but also frustrated that they still haven't found sign of anyone being here or where the kids might be.

She looks back over her shoulder and calls out "This one looks clear too."

Pru then moves into the room and begins searching through the bookshelves, rolls back the carpet between the chairs to look for trapdoors, and pokes around the fireplace for hidden compartments.

Perception: 19  

"There was someone here recently, to light that fire and clear off the dust in the other room." Beryl looks at what seems to be a closet door and opens it, expecting crumbling brooms, moth-eaten cloaks, and maybe another spider. 

Perception:  8

Upon inspection, Pru you notice something on the side of the fireplace that doesn't look like it belongs. The door that Beryl looks at in the room is empty except the dust and cobwebs.

Pru claps her hands together at the hint of something off on the side of the fireplace. She quickly brushes some hair out of her face and walks over to the fireplace for a closer look.

"well ill be here if you need anything"

Pru starts fiddling around the fireplace. She locates a small protrusion and pushed it. The northern wall shifts and a door opens, revealing a small opening.

"yep, seems like necromancer work, creepy and over complicated, also the dont seem to know how to clean"

"Over here," Pru calls to the others when the wall shifts and a door opens.

She moves the Dancing Light Orbs to cast as much light as possible on the opening and takes a look inside for anything obviously dangerous.

Perception: 20  

Beryl closes the closet door and joins Pru at the door in the wall. "Cool. Surely we'll find something more interesting in here, " she whispers. 

inside looks like it used to be a secret reading room. there's a few broken tables, chairs. shattered bookshelf. cobwebs and dust lay fairly thick over everything. There's a few books with half the pages missing. the remaining pages have been eating by bookworms. a few pieces of scroll left.

It doesn't look like anyone's seen this room in decades. There is a small cedar box, no bigger than Pru's fist. It has a thick layer of dust on it. There is a small ornate carving on the lid of works like a family crest. It lay partially open. Inside is a small brass key.

Aranor followed the halfling's call into the secret room. He stares around; this place is full of surprises. He approaches the cedar box and studies the ornate carving to see if he recognizes the crest. He also picks up the brass key.

History - 6

Pru frowns at the decaying room and taps her foot as Aranor checks out the key.

”This is feeling like a colossal dead end.” Pru says. 

She backs out of the secret room to let the others investigate and looks around the rest of the manor, checking behind doors and pulling up rugs, looking for any sign of missing kids.

Perception: 22  

The crest doesn't look familiar. It is possible that it belongs to the Bridgehall family or a relative of theirs. The key is roughly 3 inches long, not overly ornate. It's lost it's shine and has a deep red color to it.

Pru is looking behind and under everything she can move. Pru does discover some dust laden prints coming into and out of the room,

"Anyone have any ideas?" Pru says as she looks carefully at the prints.

She follows them the best she can, trying to see them through the prints the group has made and figure out where they've gone to next.

[Survival to track?: 18  ]

"I'm curious as to what this key unlocks. Perhaps we should search for a matching lock, something brass."

Aranor follows Pru as she attempts to follow the tracks. 

Beryl looks around the room. "Aranor, is there anything in the box?" Noticing Pru following dusty prints on the floor, she takes a look at them and tries to discern what the movements mean. And how old do they look? Just one person or more? 

"Everything except that one room looks so old."

Survival for tracking: 18

Aranor turns to Beryl and shows her the key. "All I found was this. It must unlock something. I wonder what we'll find?"

He looks around the room. "You're right. This place looks as if no one has been here in a long time. I doubt we will find the children here, but where else could they be?"

The tracks lead to and from the dinning room. The are faint and disappear as they cross the tattered rugs. The smell of burning wood fills the nostrils. One has to wonder who was here, or is here that started the fire on the other side of the manor.

The giant spider corpse lay silently still as a small breeze move the rotted curtains covering the glassless window. Pru makes her way through the dinning room and back in the main hall. It seems these tracks are all over the place, but she is unable to determine how old or new they are.