Running out of the basement almost feels like an out-of-body experience for Emma. She feels herself running but hardly feels any control over herself. Juniper transforming, chained men and giant spiders. Star captured, Star saved. A ghoul, which Emma barely even spots on the floor. The ceiling that's about to cave in, the echoing sound of the chanting cultists. Through it all, Emma runs without stopping, without slowing down. What is she even doing here?

When they finally arrive at the attic, Emma is panting hard. She's not used to extensive stress like this or prolonged physical activity. Standing and cooking a whole day straight doesn't tire her as much. It takes her a few more moments to catch her breath before realisation strikes. "Now what? We need to find a way out of here!"

(For clarification: Did we run through the house all the way to the attic, or did we somehow exit the basement and find ourselves straight in the attic?)

"Come on," Juniper says, to no one in particular. Driven by her exhaustion, she finds the other stairway, and leads the way back down to the bedroom floor. If there are any windows along the way, she shoots a glance at them to discern if the magical fog surrounding the house was still there.

Juniper attempts to look out through the windows as she descends the stairs only to find that all of the windows are now bricked up. Now standing on the balcony where the group fought a suit of armour, the way is clear to continue to down the stairs to the lower floors.

Juniper rushes down the stairs to the front door.  Can she see out through the side windows? Or have these too been bricked up?

When Juniper gets to the front door, the mahogany doors are still locked. Looking for a way to escape, she checks the side windows but they are also bricked up. Turning back to the doors, Juniper now sees that the bottom half of the doors have been replaced by brick. Peering closer reveals that the mahogany wood melds into the rows of mouldy brick.

Then when Juniper blinks, she sees that more of the doors have been replaced by brick. Every time she looks away, the wood is replaced by brick.

At first Juniper, internally, rages. ‘You son of a…!!,’ She thinks, for whatever spirit rules this house hears her threat to burn it down, and now responds.

 But she stops in place at the spot where the windows bordering the door was, and looks again.

‘It is not a god ruling this pathetic house. The windows are not changing into bricks. No. A clever illusion, to catch the frightened in a web of deceit.’

OOC: Juniper attempts to disbelieve the illusion. Rolled 16. If INT check, +2=18)

"Do you think we can break down the door?" Kal asks, looking at the others.  The warlock doesn't have ideal weapons or tools himself to do so.

Juniper attempts to disbelieve the illusion but to no avail. It seems that doors are in fact turning into brick in front of her very eyes.

Emma rushes down the stairs after the others, but is only met with despair once she finds the bricked door. "This must be divine punishment. It must be." 

She turns around, expecting to see the gigantic spider coming down to kill and eat them, any moment now. She can't imagine them breaking down a bricked wall, nor can she think of any other way to get out. 

Why did they come in anyway? Oh, right, to check on Walter, for Rose and Thorn. Or, well, whatever it was that called itself that. Rose, Thorn and Walter too are, as they discovered, long dead. Now, looking at the motionless bundle in Juniper's hands, what may or may not be Walter's corpse, she can only think of one last thing that might set them free.

She starts banging on the door, knocking as hard as she can on whatever little wood is left so that, if someone or something is outside, it might hear her. Then, at the top of her lungs, Emma calls: "We have found Walter! We have him with us! Let us out! Open the door!"

There is no response to Emma calls throughout the house.

As the group lingers near the main entrance a strong pungent smell begins to fill the air. And the sound of scurrying rats begins to be heard coming from within the walls.

Juniper’s expression is listless, her eyes moist. Overwhelmed and out of ideas, she waits without hope for whatever is coming.

Looking at the foyer’s walls again. Am I remembering correctly that there was a weapon hanging over a mantel? Also where is Lancelot at this moment?

Looking around Juniper sees that Lancelot is sitting at the bottom of the stairs confused about what is going on, and a longsword it sitting on the wall.

Juniper takes a deep breath. She sets her jaw and holds Emma’s eyes, wordlessly, for a long moment. Then she does the same with Kal, and then, Star. Acknowledging the fear and hopelessness of their situation, perhaps even acknowledging that none of them may ever see another thinking person again. The end of life for all of them could be in this place, removed from the past, from the outside world, and from any possible future.

She then looks to Lancelot and forms two words, spoken hoarsely through dried lips.

”Lancelot. Come.”

She looks again to the others to also follow. She then begins checking every door, every window on this floor  for a way out. If there is no exit, she goes up a floor and tries the same thing.

’There’s a balcony. Somewhere in this place. I know it,’ she thinks, her mind hard and focused. ‘A place where we can get out of this accursed house.’

"It was upstairs, leading out from one of the bedrooms I believe," Kal says, referring to the balcony.  "Assuming it's not suddenly bricked up like the door here..."  He waves a hand at the front door as he says it, then follows Juniper to search for exits.

As Kal leads the way back to the bedroom with the balcony, he sees that it is not bricked up. The doors open up with any issue and the cold air from outside soon meets everyone in the room.

(OOC: how high above the ground is the balcony? Is there a trellis or drain pipe one could climb down?)

Kal walks up to the open doors and glances out over the balcony and the outside world, wary of traps.

Looking down from the balcony it looks like there is a cliff that that extends thousands of feet below.

And how much higher from the balcony is the roof?

With only the attic and roof left to climb up to the top of the house, there is only twenty feet left to climb.