Kal joins in on the search by the bookshelf. However, like Juniper, he fails to find anything that would give a hint that the bookshelf moves.

Stories about how the world works, thinks Star. He wonders how much of it is true. Or whether it is still true? He can't quite figure out how long ago it was written, or when it was written about.

There's a bit of commotion going on by the bookcase. "What is happening? Are you all looking for something?"

“It’s Lancelot…,” Juniper replies to Star as she stands back from the hound, arms akimbo, disappointment in her voice. “I really thought… it’s like he wanted me to notice something in this spot. But… maybe it’s nothing…,” she trails off as Kal also comes up empty. 

"Perhaps you have been thinking too much like an elf. Or a human. What if we think like a dog?"

Star close his eyes, and sniffs the air, breathing deeply and examining every scent. His ears move back and forth on top of his head, searching for any unexpected sound.

Perception: 10

"Or perhaps the dog is simple," he shrugs. "It happens. A dog is not a cat."

"Yeah, you're thinking too much like a cat." Vice says. He scans through the bookshelf, crossing his arms in front of his chest in thought. "What would a dog think?"

Perception: 23 

Star starts to explore the bookcase trying to think like a dog but perhaps could only think like a cat. Either way, he is unable to discover anything of interest.

However, as Vice stands there thinking about what a dog would think, his eyes scan the books. This is when he notices that one of the books is fake.

Following Lancelot’s gaze, Vice notices something off about one of the books. “Wait, this book is…” He trails off as he pulls the book off from the shelf.

When Vice pulls the book, there is an audible click. Then the bookcase swings open, revealing a room on the other side. Dusty shelves line the walls of a cramped room, packed with tomes decorated only in eldritch runes and ominous symbols. You spot a heavy chest at the end of the hall, squatting as if it harbours some coveted secret—a secret worth dying for, apparently, if the skeleton in rotting leathers is any clue to what lies within.

“Oh, wonderment…,” Juniper trails off as the bookcase swings open. The elf locks eyes briefly with Vice, smiling warmly, impressed with his having thought of something she hadn’t. “You are good at breaking and entering, aren’t you?,” she teases. She considers signaling Emma, but given the guild woman’s skittishness, thinks better of it. ‘That skeleton might send her over the brink.’

“Still no harpsichord-player,” she whispers to the others instead. Shield raised, she pokes her head into the newly revealed room to assess whether there are other exits from it through which the unseen amateur may have passed.

"Guilty as charged." Vice jokes, though the smile on his lips somewhat faint as he stares at the skeletons in the secret room. He sees Juniper look towards the rotting skeletons as well and visibly relaxes, some color returning to his cheeks, maybe a little too much. Good, I'm not imagining those. He puts a hand on the hilt of his shortsword and peers into the room for any movement. 

Vice peers into the room, but there is no movement. The skeleton lies motionless and still. There are also no other signs of movement in the secret room. However, from this position, Vice can see that clutched in the skeleton's hand is a letter bearing a seal with a crest. The crest feature's a bird facing to the left.

Certain that there is no movement inside the room, Vice carefully steps in and stops in front of the skeleton. His brows furrow as he tries to remember if he knows of the crest. He looks around to see if there's anything of dog's interest in the room, and finally his eyes stop on the chest that the skeleton is - was - guarding. He turns to the others and says quietly, "Do you think Lancelot is trying to tell us something?"

Lancelot tries to push past Vice to enter the room, but when he fails, he sits down on the floor behind Vice's legs.

Juniper squats down to Lancelot and wraps an arm around him, cooing gently and enthusiastically, “Is this what you wanted us to see? Good boy!! Is there more in there?,” and stands aside, nudging Vice to make room for the pooch. 

Being nudged aside, Vice notices Lancelot squatting behind him. He moves to make room to see what the dog would do.

Emma was standing at the doorstep of the study for a while, waiting as the others followed the advice of a dog... and despite what she thought, not for nothing! And yet, it did not seem like they were going to be done any time soon. Worse, Emma feared that the room they found might be a secret entrance to the basement where the monster is... or something. Even if not, she couldn't understand how they were allowing themselves to search someone else's house like that. Going in to check on a baby was strange as is, but if those monster-capturing parents find them snooping around.

'Oh no! The baby!' Emma thinks. It's probably alone up there while they're here dallying in secret rooms behind books. Perhaps impulsively, Emma turns back to the stairs and hurries to ascend to the third floor. Not running, but momentarily, she forgets to consider the missing instrument-player or any other things that should dissuade her from going alone. If she can just check on the baby, she can be back before everyone else is done, right? While she doesn't sneak away or anything, Emma doesn't say anything either.

Lancelot enters the secret room and slowly approaches the skeleton. He begins sniffing the skeleton out of curiosity. Then he takes hold of the skeleton's arm with his teeth and tugs on the bone.

Meanwhile, Emma rushes up the red marble staircase to the third floor. Up here, the air is thick with dust. The walls - carved with autumn woodland scenes—are mounted by unlit oil lamps. An infant's cries cut the silence into tattered chunks while a cobwebbed suit of armour stands in eternal vigilance, facing the balcony railing. Facing Emma.

Juniper takes the letter with the seal upon it before it falls.

(OOC: Has the hound taken hold of the same arm that was holding the letter as a signal, and does he relent after Juniper takes the envelope? Or is it more, er, feral?)

So much dust! Who keeps a baby in such a place?! He'll end up choking! Especially crying like that. Emma wants to hurry and... at least calm the baby down, if she can, then try to think of what to do next. But for some reason, she cannot explain, she doesn't want to get close to that suit of armour. 'It's empty.' Emma tries to calm herself. 'And cobwebbed. There's no way someone's inside.' 

If she can get to the baby without passing by the armour, Emma will. Otherwise, she might stand there for a few more moments, until she finally realises: How is an empty suit of armour standing on its own? No, that's impossible... there must be something holding it up. Either right behind it, or maybe from inside... Emma will walk a little closer to the suit of armour - still keeping some distance though - trying to see if anything is holding it in this standing position.