"Someone has been here recently," Reverie mutters as she walks towards the shelves (Case 4) and pulls out one of the books to see the title and the contents.

Investigation - 5

Trimyrai: (to the party) "What makes you say that?"

Reverie looks at Trim before she points on the floor where a lot of footprints remain. "The Master bedroom we went in, or now a laboratory, also had a hint of someone visiting in to do their experiments. But here, there is a lot of footprints than the previous room." Then she frowns in her thought. "I don't know their purpose to come in this mansion, but I am guessing that this library might contain a lot of knowledge."

Trimyrai: (to the party) "This might be a crazy thought, but is it possible that the suit of armor that we took care of be the source of these footprints?"

At Trim's words, Reverie hums in thought. "... But the suit of armor could not experiment on... things?" Then she looks back at the others with a curiosity shows on her face.

Reverie pulls out the book. She has her helmet activated, so can read the book when she touches it. (It is "The Never Ending Sacrifice", an Elvish tale about 5 generations of a family, and their devotion to that family and elves in general... That is it. Just pages of the family members doing the same mundane things over and over and over again.) She coughs at the cloud of dust made by pulling the book out. The book sat there untouched, for years, maybe even centuries.

The discussion with Trimyrai has her look again at the dust on the books, and the stone floor worn by foot traffic. The Helmed Horror flew by magic, and would not make footprints. But the owner of the fancy shoes (probably the owner of the house, Adram Diamondbrook) and his other servants did not fly. The northern book shelves have been ignored for a long, long time. The wear on the floor is greatest from the door to case 2 (where the books on magic are) and case 3.

(Sidenote: A wealthy long-lived family would have the floor magically restored to prevent noticeable wear patterns. Adram is apparently too cheap or too lazy to have this maintenance done.)

Trimyrai: (to the party) "I did say it was a crazy thought, the only reason i mentioned it was, we haven't encountered anyone so far. even if there is some evil guy behind all of this, he hasn't sent more monsters at us, or triggered any traps. this is all very creepy and spooky."

"There's several magical texts here," Froskan tells the others.  "Mostly either for beginners or else rather outside of mainstream theory"

"Lazy bum." Jack says as he comes up to look at what the parties looking at. "Anything interesting? Never Ending sacrifice? sounds boring. why do something always if it has no use?" Jack then points out Reverie's words. "Well, it could. Ye see, from what the man said, they are constructs, meaning they cant be hurt, right? (Here Jack would mention the fire spell immunity, if he knows about that.) Therefore, ye could command it to do things you're scared to do. Stick your hand in a fire, for example."

Reverie looks at Froskan and then hums in thought. Iskandar found an acid that has been bubbling on the floor, all those experiments have been done in the master's bedroom, and now Froskan found the source about the books for magic. "Sounds very strange," she mumbles, "I found an elvish book about the family tale. Do you think the owner of the mansion... is probably still alive while people think he is dead?" Then her eyes gaze back at Jack. "All that I am interested about is that someone might have used this mansion. What about you, Jack?" 

(Checking what should be done next. I don't know if people are distracted with IRL activities, thinking about what to do next, or genuinely stumped and waiting for the DM to give more information.)

(Both. Notice I hadn't posted in a while. Im busy this week. So far am trying to catch up with everything that's happened in all my campaigns.)

Trimyrai is going to leave the library and check the door across the hall.

Jack goes over to the doors. “So this is locked, huh? Let’s see. Maybe...” (any chance Jack’s Explosion will blow the door open?)

Quote from BoboBoombang >>

Jack goes over to the doors. “So this is locked, huh? Let’s see. Maybe...” (any chance Jack’s Explosion will blow the door open?)

The door directly east from the library appears ordinary, and Trim finds that the door is unlocked. (He hasn't opened it yet, as the rest of the party is still in the library.)

(If Jack is referring to the double doors that are further south, boarded up and reinforced with iron bars, even maximum damage from Shatter wouldn't break it in one blow. You'd need to cast it at higher level.)

(I've been very busy recently: evening shifts and having a family reunion for almost a month. ;-;)

Reverie looks at Trim and Jack, walking out of the library. After a few moments, she taps Froskan's shoulders and Iskandar's, telling them that she is also leaving the library before she could stand behind of Trim and Jack. "What are you going to do? Going to blow up the doors and alerting the others who can be our enemy?"

Trimyrai: (to the party) "i don't think we have a easy way of opening those barred doors without making a noise. i don't think we should sneak around, but i wasn't about to alert anyone who might be in here to our presence. what are you about to try, jack?"

Reverie shrugs at Trim at his words. "I was only aware of the surrounding because of the animated armor. If someone cast it, then I would say that the owner might be staying here. However, it is up to Jack. We can fight more of enemies, right?"

"Wouldn't hurt to simply explore the rest of the house first, and leave that room for last," Froskan inputs.

The party opens the door and enters the kitchen. (In the DM Public Notes on the Campaign page, I will put a link to the post with the most recent map of the house.)

How it used to be: The kitchen is two stories high. There are folding ladders to reach the higher pantry shelves and cupboards. There is a 10' wide opening in the south wall, where a pair of dual swinging doors used to give passage to the dining room. There is a door in the NE corner leading outside.

What has changed now: The NE door (to the outside) is boarded up, banded with iron, and has a pile of tables and broken shelving blocking it.

The swinging doors leading to the dining room are gone. In that opening is a 4' high barricade of lumber and stone. Many of the higher cupboards were ripped down to make this pile of debris. (Passage through this 5' by 10' area is considered difficult terrain.)

To the north of the barricade are 2 statues. They are in a crouched position, facing south, with the left arms straight out as if holding onto the pile in front of them.

The stoves and counter tops along the north wall are intact, but dust covered. The room has more lighting compared to the rest of the house. While the windows are still covered, there a gashes in the wood to let in more sunlight. On a central table, you see an unlit lantern with a half-filled vial (of oil?) next to it.

Iskander's glaive of warning has alerted the party of danger, but you don't know if it is in the kitchen or the dining room. (Let me know if you want to examine anything in more detail, where you'd like to move... the usual.)