The last of the Dusk Elf maidens is relieved that the tabaxi found the secret passage so quickly... "Very good" she smiles slightly, keeping her shield raised and her shortsword in hannd, ready to intervene in case the monster is just inside the door. "It will probably not be a pleasant affair, and not without risk either... but the sooner we resolve it, the sooner we can start looking for a more pleasant refuge".

'Not that pleasant refuges abound in Barovia...' the Voices in her head observe.
Svetlana nods: 'True, but I really don't like this place. Even just a cold forest on a humid night is preferable to a long shot'.

“After everything we saw I can easily think of the family basement as something they would want hidden. Add the fact that there should be a monster there, that we found no entrance there and that we found one passage through these walls…” His eyes scanned the door. Harly anyone would be able to force it open. Perfect to keep anyone from entering. Or leaving. “What if the monster is the family pet?”

Could it be the corpse disposal tool of the Dursts? One they have lost control of? Wolves, serpents, skulls, bats, the look of scorn in a mother’s eyes. Could the family have fed the baby to the creature? No, he needed to say. They wouldn’t have kept a portrait of the kid if that were the case, the shadar-kai tried to convince himself. Unless they were born to serve as sacrifice. The image of the deer came to mind.

“Anyone can open the door from a safe distance?”

Up to that point they found no traps and Lorin hoped it stayed like that but one could never be too careful. Not in a place with the mist hanging in the air could throw you only the gods know how far away and that if they were on a good mood.

🕯️🖤Hazel Harkness🖤🕯️

Hazel stands at the group's center, her eyes fixed on the newly uncovered secret door. As her companions gather around, she can't help but feel a surge of cautious optimism. "It's quite remarkable, isn't it?" she murmurs softly to those nearest to her, her gaze lingering on the hidden door before returning to the study. "Every book in this room tells a story, every shelf a chapter of this house's hidden narratives. And now, we stand before a passage that may finally lead us to the heart of its darkest secrets."

Mittens, with his usual blend of curiosity and bravado, seems eager to explore the discovery, while Svetlana’s words of caution are met with a nod of agreement from Hazel. "Yes, the path ahead is uncertain, but with knowledge and vigilance, we will forge ahead," she adds, her voice a steady hum of resolve.

As the debate about entering the basement grows more intense, Hazel moves closer to the door, her composed expression belying her heightened sense of alertness. She readies herself, her usual tools and senses sharp, ready to face whatever lies beyond.

The last of the Dusk Elf maidens admits: "The safest distance I can offer, is from behind my shield..." and she approaches "Stand behind me - and from this moment on let's all be ready to fight. All in all, we are effectively entering a monster's lair".

Ignoring the indignant protests of the Voices in her head who would like her to be in a much safer and more secluded position, Svetlana lowers the handle, keeping her shield raised to protect her.

[[ OOC: Does the door open? What's beyond? ]]

Using the iron key, the door unlocks and swings open, although it seems ready to swing back closed unless it is held open. On the other side of the door is a room. Inside the room there are no other doors, no windows, and no stairs. There are more bookshelves lining the walls. However, what immediately catches your eye is a large wooden chest in the center of the room. The lid is half-open and hanging half out of the chest is a skeleton in leather armor.

The last of the Dusk Elf maidens doesn't need the psychic cacophony of the Voices in her head to realize that the newly opened room must contain some danger - potentially deadly...

Svetlana lets the door close almost completely and uses it to take cover, keeping it barely open, just enough for her (and whoever looks out next to her) to see [[ OOC: let's say she takes 3/4 cover ]]: "You've also seen... No other doors... No windows... No stairs... A chest... and a skeleton! Lure and danger! But I'm in doubt whether the danger is the skeleton, perhaps an undead ready to attack anyone who approaches the chest... or the chest itself, which could contain the trap that killed the poor guy who approached - and who is now reduced to a mere skeleton".

The last of the Dusk Elf maidens is perplexed by the lack of reaction from her companions... Maybe they also don't know exactly what to do?

'Give that pile of bones and that chest the same treatment you gave to armor, Svetalana!' the Voices in her head take the opportunity to give advice.
'Indeed! What are you waiting for!?'
'That way, if either thing poses a threat, it will be destroyed!'
'Whereas if nothing happens... maybe you could open the chest.'

"Mittens..." Svetlana seems convinced by the suggestion "how about hitting the skeleton first and then the chest with the same spell with which you destroyed the armor? This way, if the skeleton is a lurking creature, it should be forced to reveal itself... and if the chest contains some trap, perhaps we could set it off while we are far. Would you like to try? Just stay behind me and my shield, leaning out just a little, and you shouldn't be in any danger..."

Mittens tries to swallow at Svetlana's suggestion, his throat suddenly dry. Back in his first semester at the university, his Necromancy 101 professor spent a few weeks going over the various type of undead, and skeletons were some of the first she covered. While not incredibly powerful like some other undead, skeletons could be downright terrifying in close quarters. 

Mustering his courage, Mittens moves to stand behind Svetlana, unashamed to use the woman as a living shield. Peeking around the elven lady, Mittens points to the skeleton and mutters the proper arcane phrase under his breath. The ghostly hand crackling with black cords of lightning materializes and zips through the air and lashes out at the skeleton. 

Chill Touch Attack: 10 Damage: 1 necrotic damage, and it can't regain hit points until the start of your next turn. Until then, the hand clings to the target. If you hit an undead target, it also has disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn.

As the necrotic hand touches the skeleton and the chest, neither react except for the skeleton to crumble and the chest to grow older and more weathered. No scrap is sprung, but as the skeleton crumbles to dust a letter that was clutched in one bony hand falls to the floor.

🕯️🖤Hazel Harkness🖤🕯️

As Svetlana takes charge with her shield and Mittens acts with his spells, Hazel watches with a blend of admiration and tension. The lack of immediate danger after Mittens' spell takes some edge off the atmosphere, but Hazel's eyes are drawn to the skeleton and the chest. "It's always a bit unsettling to find no reaction," she murmurs, glancing at the letter that falls from the skeleton's hand. "But perhaps this letter might illuminate our grim surroundings."

She carefully approaches the chest, eyes flickering between it and the remnants of the skeleton. "Let's see what secrets this letter holds. It could be the key to understanding more about the Durst family's mysteries or whatever cursed fate befell this unfortunate soul," Hazel suggests, her tone a mix of curiosity and caution as she gently picks up the letter without reading it and hands it to the last of the Dusk Elf maidens, Svetalana. After handing it off, Hazel remains alert and ready for any unexpected threats lurking unseen.

"Thank you, Hazel!" the last of the Dusk Elf maidens smiles, while receiving the letter "But there was no need to delibera it to me... you could have read it yourself".

"She is so cute and respectfull...' Svetlana thinks.

But the Voices in her head are skeptical: 'She is just smarter than you, Svetlana!'

'She does what we always advice you to do - she lets the others take the risk!'

'If the letter were cursed, whom the curse will fall upon?'

'Hazel is not like that and you know it!' Svetlana hurries to open the letter, just to show that she trusts the other girl.

The savage wanderer reads the letter aloud. Maybe it explains why a person ended up with their skeleton half-closed in a chest?

(My apologies for the lateness of the response!)

Svetlana reads the letter aloud. This is what it says:

"My most pathetic servant,

The last of the Dusk Elf maidens shivers visibly when, having reached the end of the letter, she pronounces the much feared and much hated name of the sender.

'The Devil Stradh!' the Voices in her head unleash, stunning her with their sudden cacophony of 'He was here!'
'Flee Svetlana, flee!'
'He Might Still Be Here!'
'The monster! It must have been left by him after having wreaked havoc on the inhabitants of this house!'
'The recipient had time to become a skeleton...' Svetlana manages to retain enough clarity to reply 'The Devil Stradh certainly didn't stay here until today! But you might be right about the monster - he might have left it behind, perhaps after using it to massacre everyone'.

"So," the savage wanderer summarizes with the others "the Dursts were really part of an evil cult. And in the basement we must expect both a 'hidden altar' and a 'dungeon'. And after everything they had done... had they addressed the Devil Stradh as a 'messiah'?" she shakes her head sadly "Nothing could be easier than that it was the Devil Stradh himself who unleashed the monster in their dungeon and killed them all. Poor Rose and Thorn... they would have deserved a better family".

"However, this also explains why the entrance to the basement is so well hidden" Svetlana concludes. “But we will find it”.

The last of the Dusk Elf maidens, with her azure eyes shining with determination, begins tapping the hilt of her shortsword against the walls and sections of the floor, searching for an eventual hollow sounding point...

[[ OOC: Just to clarify: Svetlana, with the behavior I described in the last sentence, intends to look for any secret passages in the room ]]

If a Perception or Investigation roll is needed:

d20 Roll: 14

If Perception => +3 = 17

If Investigation => +1 = 15

Mittens isn't very surprised when the letter was read aloud. So the Dursts were cultists. Figured as much...

Now that the skeleton was dead, well, extra dead, Mittens peers more confidently into the small hidden chamber. His eye is drawn to the handful of books tucked away in the chamber, and he finds himself moving cautiously towards them. "Someone good with traps should check out that chest," the tabaxi says distractedly as he starts rifling through the books, curious as to what he might find. 

Svetlana doesn't find any hidden doors. She does not notice, however, three darts sticking out of the skeleton's armor.

Mittens begins to leaf through the books. Most of the books are written in a script that Mittens doesn't recognize, but the symbols appear foreboding. There are some images scattered throughout the books, and they appear to depict necromantic rituals of some sort.

Unable to find an entrance to the basement, the last of the Dusk Elf maidens joins Mittens, consulting the books wirh him: "Dark rituals... maybe there is a picture of the Monster also? If it has been summoned..."

[[ OOC: @DM: There are creatures too in the pictures? Something that could be the Monster? Or just rituals? ]]

As soon as he saw the skeleton, Lorin prepared himself for battle. The shadar-kai didn’t see the possibility of the dead start to move, he was certain, after everything they had saw in that mansion, that it would attack them. Yet it didn’t. Svetlana found a letter on it and in her reading all but confirmed his worst thoughts.

“I don’t know if the adults were part of a cult, but they definitely did ritualistic killing venerating dark powers and in hopes of becoming immortals. Considering what the letter says about the man’s madness and his new woman and stillborn child… I’m starting to think Durst dad tortured and killed Durst mom before getting a new wife and having the baby on the portrait. Maybe the disdain of the woman there was because she couldn’t measure to Thorn and Rose’s mother.” The worst of all was that everything made sense. “And regarding the monster, there’s something we need to consider – the kids may be accomplices, if not intentionally then brainwashed into serving their father by luring people into the dungeon. The monster may just be part of an ambush waiting for us below the manor.”

The rogue turned to the wizard and nodded. The barbarian was searching the room. One thing remained to be looked.

“We are the trap checking duo. Let’s go.”

Notes: Lorin suggests Mittens investigates the chest. If Mittens agree, Lorin takes the help action to look for traps.

After browsing through the books filled with necromantic rituals, Mittens decides to tuck a few away into his pack. He didn't find anything wrong with the action, though the others might. To him, he viewed necromancy as a tool. It wasn't inherently evil like many others thought. It was simply a tool, and unfortunately, many practitioners of necromancy ended up using it for evil deeds.

At Lorin's suggestion, Mittens looks warily at the chest. "Ok," he finally concedes after a moment of thought. "But if I get killed by a trap, I'm going to come back as a ghost and haunt you forever."

Investigation (with advantage): 15

There are no pictures of any monsters in the book. Lorin and Mittens approach the chest, preparing for it to spring a trap. However, they can tell right away that the trap has already been sprung, killing the unfortunate adventurer who still hangs half out of the chest. There's a mechanism that shoots poison darts when the chest is opened, and they all struck true, still hanging from the skeleton's side.

What's more exciting is that the chest is not empty. There are three books with black leather covers, which feel heavy and expensive. Inside the pages are blank, as if they were meant to be used as journals. There are also three spell scrolls and three documents that have been sealed with the wax crest of the Durst family, the windmill sigil.