"My theory," pipes up Hildigrim, taking Pascal's question as an invitation, "is that someone or something — individual or cooperatively — delved into the necromatic arts quite heavily in Criella's basement. The presence of sentient plant life, both above and below, and the animated undead hand reattached to this — pardon my assumption — innocent half-elf, paired with the room which was almost certainly used to feed the earth with the blood humanoids, would indicate nefarious and arcane activities. The state at which we found the remains of the blood, and the abandonment and neglect of the storage rooms imply that these activities ceased some time ago. But the magic clearly lingers. What has awakened or intensified the magic for it to begin harassing poor Criella, one is left to ponder. At any rate, I am sure we will ferret out the problem and find an appropriate solution." The halfling finishes, standing tall (well, as tall as a 2'10" being can stand), one fist on his hip, the other still holding aloft the skewered severed hand. He raises his chin and gives a little nod of confidence and pride.

Drusk: "Well summarized, Vanja.

"We also found two abandoned storerooms, where we found those unidentified scroll cases. One room had a form of green slime, which we burnt away with magical sunlight (radiant damage) to be on the safe side. The other room had an oily ooze that developed a mind splitting attack (psychic damage), which caused considerable trouble until it emerged from its hiding spot."

OoC - totally forgot o describe Jorin to Pascalm

Jorin is a 6 foot tall human, wearing chainmail.  He carries two, single-bladed battleaxes sitting in loops on either hip.  They are forged in the dwarven style with runic etchings worked into the blade heads.  The hafts are wrapped in ruddy brown leather and capped with granite pommels that serve to balance the weapons for one-handed use.

The tails of light blue tattoos curl out from under his armor and flow up his neck.  He has amber colored hair cut into a scalp lock running into a braid that falls to his mid back.  His face carries a healthy amount of stubble, but more out of inattention to shaving than purposeful beard grooming.  He has soft eyes and an easy smile that seems at odds with the brute physique and panoply of battle he carries.

In a fit of kindness (and NPCness) Mavis brings out the scrolls at their mention, and hands them to Pascal.

Pascal slowly blinks his second eyelids, digesting the information, “Well... that is a lot to take in. Well, come on, no thinking on an empty stomach.” Pascal will graciously accept the items, and then head inside.

"Speaking of empty stomachs," Hildigrim says, following behind, "I propose we take a respite. Drusk and Vanja would benefit from it. And surely, as much time has passed, that dungeon can wait a few more hours for us to discover all of its secrets."

OOC > Is that a Short Rest Hildigrim is suggesting? 

Quote from Mingofaust >>

OOC > Is that a Short Rest Hildigrim is suggesting? 

 (Maybe he is role-playing the insatiable hunger of halflings?

I'm fine if DirtyDogP wants Hildigrim at max health instead of down 3 hp. But given a choice, I'd like to push on a bit, and then return for a short or long rest. Although difficult, maybe we can get enough XP for 2nd level... Short rest does not help Drusk.)

OoC - Jorin would get his second wind back from a short rest but is otherwise fine with pressing on.

OOC: I’m fine pressing on. But we do need to decide what to do with the half-elf.

Quote from DirtyDogP >>

OOC: I’m fine pressing on. But we do need to decide what to do with the half-elf.

 OOC: He is tied down, so unlikely to be a threat while we are gone (post 402). Vanja could wake him up (post 403), but she decided to wait until we got back from another excursion (post 404). So I thought the decision was to leave him sleeping, for now.

OOC: Gotcha!

OOC > I'm going to assume the group will return to the dungeon, leaving the tied up half-elf and the two NPCs (Criella and Mavis) in the cottage. I know Drusk wanted to go north to return to where you left off, but given Pascal has not been down here before, I'm doing some description and mapping for his benefit, and in case you all want to change your mind.

After some discussion, and explaining to Pascal what you have been up to, the group decides to return to the dungeon for a little more exploration before perhaps taking a break for the night. It is the middle of the afternoon when you again descend. The half elf remains unconscious, though his wound (where his hand was severed) has been bandaged and treated. You leave him tied to the bed, with Mavis and Criella watching over him. Criella wants to throw the hand in the creek, but Mavis suggests you keep it in an earthenware crock with a lid, and put a rock on the top, which you do. (DM rolls for no reason: 1)

You open the hatch again (it was closed, the rope pulled out, while you were topside), and drop the rope down. Pascal, the rope drops to a platform about ten feet down, it is pitch black down there, but Drusk has cast Light on one of Jorin's two axes, which he holds aloft. The party also has a torch, now snuffed, but it is possible someone will light it.

In any case, the platform, as with everything down here, is wet and covered in a thin layer of slippery slime. With care, you descend another ten feet to a worked stone floor in a well built... well, dungeon is the best word. The walls are damp, carved in relief figures of skeletons and other undead rising from graves, and directly across from the entrance, there is a large grinning skull carved into the wall. Drusk informs Pascal that the skull is a secret door the group has yet to explore.

Everything is dank and gloomy, and even the bright magical light of Lliira does little to dispel the feeling of oppression.

This hallway extends north into darkness, and south into a room.

Here's a full map of what the party knows (open in a new window or click here to see full size). For Pascal's benefit, only Drusk has dark vision, but he informs the party if he sees anything out at the full extent of his vision.

(OOC: We were going to leave that secret door to the east for after the northern wing was cleared. Do we want to check it while the characters are standing in front of it?)

The carved, grinning skull leers at you, seeming almost alive in the shifting light of Jorin's axe. The place is dead silent. No pun intended.

Jorin notices Drusk eyeing the skull door and says, "Let us continue to the north.  This door will be here when we get back.  Besides, we might find something back that way that could tell us more about the half-elf."

OOC > Unless you say otherwise, since Hildi was carrying the torch when you exited, Hildi is carrying the unlit torch now, so one of his hands is full.

Drusk nods at Jorin's word and heads north, pausing at each of the trap points so Hildrigrim can explain (brag?) to Pascal how he disarmed each of the triggers.

Stopping in the blood room, just before the corridor north, to check if there is a trap at that threshold, or anything else crawling from the north area. (Another Perception roll, or 1 less for Investigation: 18 )

Pascal will follow along, looking over the various dangers that appear. He slowly nods along with the explainations. Overall, he seems pretty chill about the whole thing.

OOC > I'm going to move ahead and let DDP jump in with Hildi's responses as we go. There's not much decision-making at the moment, and I'm twiddling my thumbs at work.

The party moves northwards, leaving the light from above behind, and going deeper into the dark, dank mausoleum. Stone walls appear out of the darkness, glistening and carved into screaming mouths and tortured souls. As you proceed down the hallway, carefully not disturbing Hildigrim's trap-disarming work, you pass the one remaining torch in its sconce halfway down, stepping over humanoid bones and wet piles of dirt and filth.

The light expands into the room you've dubbed the "blood room," after Hildigrim's deduction that it was a slaughterhouse, used to drain people and other creatures of their fluids. The sloping floor guided the blood and liquids into the large drain in the middle, and from there into the soil below. You can make out the iron rings embedded in the walls, and the remains of chains used to shackle subjects.

After telling Pascal, in hushed tones, about the slimes and the ooze in the side halls, the party gathers at the north exit of the blood room. Drusk (and Hildigrim) examine the entry, finding no holes in the wall, pressure plates, or any other signs of traps.

Ahead, the magical light stretches 35 feet, dimming until it fails against the darkness. With Drusk's input, it is clear that the hallway branches to the left, and also continues north.

The quiet of the tomb greets you when you pause to listen, broken only by your shuffling and the creaking of your gear.

Map (full size):