Tilliman inspects the hallway and the painting.   

He cannot find any traps in the hallway, and the painting is nothing more than a pedestrian oil-on-canvas rendition of a lighthouse, faded and discolored by exposure to the mildew inside this rotting house.  That isn't to say the hall is without danger.  Just to their left, where the balcony wraps around the back of the lower entry hall, Tilliman notices that the floor is dangerously rotten.  One wrong step could send the whole balcony crashing down under them, if they attempt to go in that direction.

[DC 14 DEX save to walk across the balcony.  Alternatively, characters can easily jump over the bad section... but in that case, any stealth checks will be at disadvantage.]

Eron keeps within arms reach of Tillman just in case as they near he will peek into each room, both swords drawn and on high alert.

With the others close behind, Eron creeps up to each door, opens it, and looks inside.

The first door opens up into what may have once been a guest bedroom.  This bedroom has no furniture, but rubbish is scattered everywhere, and webs cover the walls and ceiling.  From the doorway, you can see a glint of light in the fireplace from a small, highly reflective object.  Otherwise, there is no one here.

Opening the second door, they see that this room appears to be another dirty, decaying bedroom without furniture.  Even viewed from the doorway, it’s evident that the floor in here does not look safe; some of the floorboards are missing, and others are partially dislodged.

[Another DC 14 DEX save if you want to explore this room... no option to jump over the bad spots here, however.]

The last door, at the end of the hall, is locked.  However, a key has been left tied to a red string hanging from a nail in the door jam.  Carefully inserting the key, Eron opens the door. 

In the back corner of this room is a young woman.  She is alive and conscious, though gagged and bound to a wooden chair.  She appears to be half-elven.  Other than her leather armor and common clothes, she appears to have no weapons or equipment.

[Welcome, Arlynn Brenaerys!]

Fane votes we jump the rotted section of the floor. “If we triggered a glyph, they probably already know were in the house.”

The dark azure eyes of the blue-haired half-elf gagged and bound in the wooden chair goes wide with relief as she doesn't recognize the persons peeking inside the room, giving them all a pleading look, moving a  bit impatiently in her chair to make it very clear she needs some assistance getting out of it. 

Fane looks over at Tilliman, "Is she another illusion?"

Investigation on the half-elf or room for any illusion: 19

Looking carefully about the room, Fane can't see any additional Glyphs like the one downstairs.  Picking up a small piece of broken ceiling plaster, she is able to toss it lightly towards the imprisoned half-elf.  It bounces off her knee before cracking into pieces on the floor, seeming to confirm the figure in the chair is, in fact, real.

Eron goes directly to the bound half-elven and cuts her bindings he then sheathes his blades and steps back non-threateningly, “Are you hurt?”

The blue-haired half-elf frowns and gives the white-haired elf a slightly annoyed glance as she throws broken ceiling plaster at her rather than freeing her. As the human with the two blades finally frees her she quickly removes her gag too . "Only my pride..." She says with a tired smile as she stands up and fixes her clothes. "...I'm Arlynn, tried my luck as an adventurer, not unlike you I guess, and look where that got me." She says, shaking her head, then giving her rescuers a scrutinizing look. "First of all, thank you for rescuing me." She says with a grateful smile. "I hope to repay you somehow. I'm happy to come with you and find out what is really going on in this place. I would be of much better use to you if we found my gear first though. And I guess you already figured out this place isn't haunted at all. I got careless and was caught by the people setting this spooky show up but I figure they are still hiding somewhere around. So, enough about me, who are you and how did you end up here?" She asks with a curious smile.

Eron gives an awkward slight bow, “Well met Arlynn.  I’m Eron that’s Tillman and Fane.  We are here to dispel the rumors of evil spirits and now we know there’s more to the story.  I am a ranger and a marine, glad I could help.  Can you describe your captors?”

 Image of Eron

Tilliman stumbles into the room late, adjusts his spectacles to see the elven woman and simply mutters under his breath, "Oh, goodness gracious me..." otherwise holding his tongue, allowing Arlynn to answer the question.

"Good to meet you all." Arlynn says with a friendly and grateful smile to her rescuers. "Honestly, they looked like simple pirates, but I can't see that any of them were responsible for the magical illusions I assume you have encountered on your way up here. It seems they have some sinister reason to keep people away from here and I suspect we will find out if we simply delve deeper into this mystery. Also, I might add, I am in the business of salvaging some pride by facing those who captured me and put me here and show them the wrongs of their doings." The blue-haired half-elf says with a grim tone at the end. "Considering you found me in this state you might not think I can take care of myself in aplace like this but I hope to prove you otherwise." She adds with a sly smile, ready to follow her rescuers as they scour the rest of this haunted house for her gear and the people who took it from her.

Eron gives Arlynn a nod, in a blink redraws both swords, turns back to the hall and begins making his way towards the stairs.  He waits to see which way his companions wish to proceed ahead to the right or back down…

"Sorry about that, seemed like a quick, and safe, way to determine if you were real or some sort of trap" she offers to the women, Arlynn. "My name is Fane, recently arrived from Celene. My friends are I have been hired to clear out this house as it's messing with local commerce. Be happy for you to join us, right some wrongs with us" she adds with a smile. "I don't have much to offer to you, but I do have a Light Crossbow you can use for now if you like, and are familiar with?"

After which, she will follow Eron and say to him "We may as well clear this floor while we're up here? It may not of been Arlynn that made that noise?"

"I understand Fane, I guess I just was eager to get out of that chair, started to get quite tedious." The blue-haired half-elf says with a friendly smile and a wink. "And thanks for offering your crossbow but fortunately I'm not a completely helpless girl now that I'm not bound and gagged, have some tricks of my own to play on these pirates." She adds with a sly smile.

When Eron gets to the section of bad floor he will rush 10’ and jump across the indicated bad section…

 Then if anyone else would like he’ll toss a rope to help as a precaution.

With Eron's help, the party is able to jump across the rotted section of balcony as pointed out by Tilliman.  Even the 'good' sections of balcony creak and groan loudly in protest at your combined weight, but they hold.

Picking their way carefully through the upstairs halls, the party finds no sign of any other inhabitants.  At the end of the back hall, there are stairs leading back down into the kitchen.  Another set of stairs once led to the attic, but they have collapsed.  It may be possible to climb up, if one were so inclined.

Otherwise, there are six empty bedrooms up here, not including the one where Arlynn had been held prisoner.   

[Anyone wishing to search these rooms can make an Investigation check.  Otherwise, the party can return downstairs or attempt to climb up into the attic. ]

Tilliman bows to Arlynn and steps forward, introducing himself. "Professor Tilliman Treewick Toadswaddler the First, a scholar in residence at the---" at which point he'll catch a faceful of cobweb and curse, "Oh, blast it all..." As the others file out of the room, he'll spend the whole time distractedly picking remnats of the web out of his hair.

He will absolutely investigate every one of those rooms with a fine toothed comb. Each time saying some variation of, "I'm so sorry. May I-em... give a little looksie while we're here if that isn't too much trouble.... 

If he isn't killed by a trap or caught up in some kind of fracas, he'll use his grappling hook and rope to climb up to the attic. "Just to have a look."

The blue-haired half-elf is less than enthused over the diligent examination of every last room upstairs, merely giving each one a quick look to see if her gear is conveniently stowed away somewhere close, otherwise more than ready to proceed downstairs to find the pirates responsible for her recent humiliating captivitiy.

Perception: 9
Investigation if needed: 17

Fane will help with the Investigation but is a bit distracted by the creaking boards: 9

She will check in on Leo and see what's going on in the kitchen.