"Worth money?" Zefla's ears perk up at this and when Giles sets down the papers, she snatches them up and tries to make heads or tails of them.

Investigation  11

Once finished, she heads out behind Soren, wondering what treasures are awaiting inside the house.

" Guess its worthwhile looting the place before we head off.", said Burr as he followed the others.

Zefla, it’s a slog reading through all of this but you pick out a few details Giles missed.  

• Within the papers are a deed for a house.  You can’t be 100% sure (the parcel of land descriptions are meaningless to you, and the details of the house - how many ‘quarterstone’ the foundation is; how many ‘paces’ the lot lines are - don’t make sense either) but it sounds like it might be this house.  If so, the documents name it ‘Durst Manor’ and it is located in the barony of ‘Barov.’
• The oldest document in the desk is another deed - to a windmill of all things.  Again, the precise location is hard to parse out without more context.  But it seems to be a 3 story grain mill, located in the barony of ‘Vallakia.’

Soren reaches the final door on this floor.  It is unlocked, but there is something holding it closed from the other side.  There is only the tiniest amount of give when you apply your shoulder too it.

Burr heads over to lend his shoulder to Soren.

Athletics- 18

Giles says “The answer eludes me.  These places, are unknown to me, I’ve never heard of them.  He really did seem to have a thing for windmills though…”.

Giles activates his mage hand and uses it to shove the door, giving help to Burr and exerting more force on the door.  

Assuming Zefla or Giles have taken everything they found (including the deeds), Soren screws his face up, trying to make sense of it.

"Does that mean we now... own this man-den?  And the windmill too, wherever it is?"  (The word "own" does not come naturally to him).  "Then it is much like territory in the wild, except instead of just claiming and defending it, one must have this piece of paper... the deed.  Which we now have." 

Shaking his head at the strangeness of it all, Soren closes his eyes, stretches his fingers, mumbles to himself and...

Suddenly, a small snowy owl appears upon his shoulder, gazing around as owls do.  At first, when Soren opens his eyes, he looks startled, then beams as if in recognition and understanding.  "Everyone, this is my friend Nettle.  She may join our little pack at times if you do not mind."

Nettle's eyes close, then dawn once more as she gives a small "Hoo," as hello.  Soren turns back to the door.

 Burr shoves the door with magical assistance from Giles.

There is definitely something heavy on the other side.  The door moves only a little in the frame and there is a creaking and snapping sound from the other side when you push, but you’re not making progress.

The more you shove, the more dark, muddy water oozes under the door and out into the hall.

" Lets leave it....that doesn't look great.", Burr ventured.

As Soren mentions that they might now own the manor and the windmill, Zefla shrugs, tucks away the papers in her bag and says, "sure, why not?  And if we can't find another good location to head to once we've cleared this house, we can always go check out this windmill that we now own."

As the murky water comes out from behind the door, she jumps back and looks up the stairs, "I agree with Burr, let's continue on up.  We can always try it again on the way back down." and she starts up the soggy carpeted staircase.

“Right.  Up the stairs we go.”  Giles follows, the light on the tip of his dagger illuminating in front of him.  

Soren nods and ascends the stairs behind his companions, Nettle perched upon is shoulder.

He wonders why that room in particular is filled with mud and water and not the others.

Rounding the slick stairs, you come up toward the third floor landing.  The stairs end here at what must be the top of the house.

Before anyone gets a good look around, there is a wet tearing sound.  The old moldy carpet gives out, separating from third floor hall carpet and sliding back down the slimy wood stairs.  Suddenly it is though you are ice-skating on stairs as the carpet slides down from under your feat.

DEX saves DC 12, everyone.  On a success you manage to grab tight to the banister and keep your footing.  On a failure, you get swept back down to the second floor hall, tumbling down the steps along the way and taking 7 bludgeoning damage.

“What in the worllllll”  Giles reaches out and grabs for the banister, trying to get a hand hold.  He reaches out with his mage hand, telekinetically pulling himself closer to help, if possible.  

Giles Dex Save : 15 

Soren is too distracted thinking about what might be in the room to notice the carpet until it is too late.

DEX Save:  9

Nettle flies up into the air, and as Soren is deposited at the bottom, the owl lands fastidiously on part of Soren's back that hasn't been soiled by the carpet.

Soren grits his teeth and mentally resolves to carefully inspect every single room and hallway he approaches or enters for threats or hazards.  What did you think was going to happen, young pup nosing around in strange territory?

Dex Save- 4

Burr lurched for the bannister...

Dex save Zefla:  16

Her short little legs leaping for the bannister, hoping she can reach it before plummeting..

While Giles and Zefla are able to catch themselves, Soren and Burr take an embarrassing and painful tumble down the slick stairs.  

After recovering, and taking great pains not to repeat this, they all reach the third floor.  With the stair carpet gone, they notice that some of the boards underneath are severely rotten.  They must avoid these on the way up or risk a greater fall.

At the third floor balcony, the signs of weather damage grow more severe.  Everything up here is damp and cold, and there is a cool breeze moving through the house.  Thick patches of green and black mold grow on the ceilings and walls here, and the floor in the hall is damp and spongy.  In the center of the balcony, a set of black and bronze half plate armor is displayed on a stand.  It may once have been resplendent... but now it is rusted beyond salvage.

Two closed doors are to your left, another closed door ahead, and an open set of double doors to your right.

Through the open double doors lies what must have once been the master bedroom of this manorhouse.  Here also lies the answer to why the small door downstairs would not open.  In the back corner of the house, there is a massive hole and the roof and sections of this master bedroom have collapsed down into the floor below.  Looking down, you can make out the other side of the door you had been trying to force, blocked by splintered wood, furniture, and broken roof tiles.

The wind is in your face here and the bedroom is now open to the sky.  You can see out into a grey, overcast world of scraggly forest and misty meadows.  The interior of the bedroom is a mess, with birds' nests packed into the surviving pieces of furniture and the contents of the large four post bed stripped and salvaged by generations of birds and vermin.  The skin of some large carnivore lies on the floor, once a decorative rug, now rotted away by the elements.

" If we own this...renovations are going to send us broke...", Burr deadpanned.

Giles steps inside and looks at the furniture to the left of the door, pulling open any drawers to see if anything survived the rain and rot.  He stays away from the area of moldy rotten floor.  

Soren does not know what 'renovations' are but nods and smiles nervously as if he gets it.  Something about breaking one's own den?

Annoyed at himself and nursing heavy bruises and internal pains from his completely avoidable tumble down the stairs, Soren is determined to look for threats before blundering into them.  He takes a deep breath and calls for Silvanus' [spell[Guidance[/spell], staying away from the rotten areas underfoot.

He and Nettle first carefully eye the floors and ceilings for any threat that is not immediately obvious.  Further collapse, lurking pests, potentially falling objects.  Then both slowly circle the perimeter defined by the walls or the edges of the safely-walkable space.  Looking for irregularities, unseen entrances, rotten areas or again, lurking pests.  Ready to jump back should unexpected attackers such as a rat swarm jump out.  He does not open any of the doors yet, but inspects, listens and sniffs at them for clues.  Moving counterclockwise, starting to the right at the top of the stairs (northern part first).

Soren Perception plus Guidance:  20 + 2 = 22
Nettle Perception:  20