"I suppose the secret door was a means of quick escape.  From the master bedroom, down to the sitting room, which leads down into whatever lies underground.  Perhaps used once long ago by the Briarwoods and more recently by whoever received the crate."

Rel sighs, feeling as if they are going in circles, both literally and metaphorically.  "No way but down now, I suppose.  The way I see it, we are indeed the pursuit.  We have a sister who lost a brother to whoever these people are and others who helped transport the crate who have died.  We should not stop."

Zane has followed the others down. 

He says, "We are somewhat beaten up, though. And the sun is setting. How about we block this tunnel and head somewhere safe to rest and return at first light? Whatever shape the demolition takes, it will not start at sunrise."

“We could barricade a door of a small room on the upper floor and rest there. They’ve seen little use and if someone else enters, perhaps they won’t search there if we are silent,” suggests Tex.

"Well if you need rest Zane I suppose we can rest here, but we should be vigilant and keep watch. I agree we can use the guest room upstairs"  says Bellamy as he joins the others in the room.

Zane says, "You want to spend the night inside the house of vampires after ransacking it?! The night! Maybe we should throw all of their silverware down the tunnel, followed by the painting, and then set it on fire for good measure? Before we sleep, I mean. Just for good measure."

He's visibly taking a few deep breaths to try to calm down.

"Yes I do as leaving could mean we lose all traces of where that boy was taken. We are pressed for time and I rather know if someone comes back to this house" says Bellamy

(What time is it now, actually?)

"We are spent and rest would be useful," did not argue Lana. "But being close to a vampire after dark is not a good idea. I would rather finish what we started, despite the tiredness. If the goal is to catch up with those vampires, there can be no other opportunity. But if we are resting, truly can not say what would be worse - waiting for them to search the house and discover us, or resting outside and giving them a chance to escape."

She shook her head. "If they come back, they will see the place was trashed and they will run. If they do not come back - it means they are running already and this is our only chance to catch them."

(Ooc: it is around 6 in the evening at this point)

"It doesn't seem to me that the house is more than a glorified entry hall to whatever lies below. Sure, if they do come this night and do bother looking for our tracks, they will surely find us but I doubt that they care. I'm more worried that they are about to seal the entry from this place as they surely know that the house will be demolished soon and their hiding place is in danger to be discovered if the secret tunnel is detected in the process. That said, I could definitely do with a rest, and if we start to rest now then we could continue very early in the morning. Not that daylight would make any difference down there, but we might find them at the end of their period of activity."

Rel listens to the others, sensing that there is no perfect choice here.

"I do not think a vampire, should we be so unfortunate as to encounter one directly, will allow itself to be caught in sunlight whether or not it is daytime outside.  Therefore, my vote is to press on after a short rest of perhaps an hour here in the house.  I think time is too much of the essence in this situation to wait much longer than that.  However, I will bow to whatever the group's consensus is."

Her grey eyes turn suddenly inward.  Unbidden, unwanted, she hears her vile mother snort derisively in her head.

Never treat others as equals, foolish daughter.  There must be only one head for the body to follow.  One source of strength and direction.  Or do you think I should allow my slaves reach a consensus over my decisions?  Or half-slaves such as you are, Cin-

Rel visibly shakes her head violently, as if trying to clear it, looking like she has just swallowed something bitter.

Zane nods, "I am afraid, but can agree with a group decision. My vote for even a short rest goes for the room with the tunnel. There's a window and we will notice should anything come up the tunnel."

“I’m ok with the tunnel room for a short rest. A long rest would be more beneficial but I understand that we are pressed for time.” Tex says and sits comfortably on one of the sofas looking through his pack what he packed for dinner.

"Short rest it is!" For Lana any chair would do (or the dead carpet even). All she needed is to catch her breath.

"Alright lets catch our breath for a bit of rest." says Bellamy. He will sit down and a quill appears in his hand and he begins writing what has happened so far.

Zane opens the window to let some air into the stuffy room, then brings in the pillows from the main hallway and makes himself comfortable.

While resting for an hour, as time permits, Rel does two things:

First, she uses her Mage Hand to carefully extract the Black Stone that they had found (under the scary vampire-in-the-box) from her Handy Haversack.  Gingerly, she presents it to Bellamy (or whoever else wishes) for further study.

Second, trying to regain the balance in her head between the forces in her mind, her divine-souled father, her horrible mother, and the chaotic shadow always lurking in her soul, Rel converts one of her Warlock pact slots into a Sorcery Point.  (She regains the Warlock pact slots at the end of the short rest).

"I have to admit, I have never infiltrated a mansion before, let alone one that once belonged to some powerful undead creature.  I apologize if I made us rush headlong into unnecessary battles such as the one with the plant creature.  Some of you seem more experienced at this than me."

She turns to the tabaxi bard.  "Is this part of your past life, Zane?  No judgement from me, given my history.  You just seem... comfortable in this role."

Bellamy takes the stone and spends 10 minutes to cast detect magic to discern if there is anything magical about the stone.

For the short rest Bellamy will use arcane recovery to regain 2 1st level spell slots.

If someone has a pearl, Tex offers to identify the black stone, lamenting that he can’t do it without it, “Maybe we have to wait until we can buy a pearl.” Other than that he simply rests and cares for his wounds from the carpet at which he occasional glares.

"You keep mentioning this pearl... Is it some special magical pearl or any will do? How about this one?"

Lana pulled a thin silvery chain from her neck, showing at the end of it a ring, that was hidden under her shirt before. The ring itself was of an intricate design but right now the most important part was the perfectly round creamy white pearl nestled within a delicate setting of the frame.

"You do not need to destroy it, do you? Then try it out."

((OOC: with DMs permission, the ring is part of Lana's equipment. She would gladly share it with Tex.))

The party gathers together in the sitting room. Pondering the thoughts of what lies ahead or more so below... The crate that Lord Agustin hired them for, the powerful woman that knocked Thren on his back in a blink of an eye, the strange and haunting things found in this manor..... and what of Vrakath, the strange green skinned man who slaughtered Captain Flame on the Water... Much to ponder while you catch your breath.

(OOC: You are taking a short rest. Use hit dice as needed. Reset your short rest abilities . Converse amongst yourselves as you feel the need. Delve into backstories and character building if you so wish. When you are ready to continue on let me know. The bowels of the manor await.... oh that's gross. I shouldn't have called it that. The caverns underneath await)