Erric runs down the rafter ahead of Maldorn after he sees that he's grabbed the casket. "Okay, totally fine, everything's totally fine, we're just grabbing magical caskets now. Maybe Dirk will want the haunted remains of whatever that is for the Inn to make the place a little weirder?"
He walks across the hall as he hears the commotion with the cabinet in the kitchen. "How do I always miss the obvious? Is that a trapdoor? HA! I knew there was a basement. There's always a creepy basement. Jambiya didn't you say there was a journal page that said Alistair resorted to putting the mirror in the basement, and locking Clarice upstairs? Well, it's entirely possible that our good friend Maldorn's bringing whatever's left of Clarice downstairs in that box and hey who knows, he might bring it to the basement!"
He tries to catch his breath but the halfling's starting to get nervous and begins speaking faster and faster.
"What's our plan? Are we just charging downstairs now to see what happens? I'd like to be able to leave the basement at some point, if we're going in. Are we grabbing the mirror if we see it? Can we agree not to stare at the mirror enough that we get Clariced? Anyone see a blanket to throw over it? I'm sorry when I get nervous I ask a lot of questions and talk too much, it's a habit of mine."
He stops talking, looks around, takes a deep breath, and sits down on the floor. He thinks back to the places with the creakiest floorboards on the first floor and tries to remember any place that might be thin enough that it'd be possible to break through the flooring to provide some light and another exit.
Jambiya smiles at Erric's wordiness. She puts a hand on his shoulder, "It's okay, Erric. I can see in the dark, and I'll be sure to not stare at any mirror. Up to now, neither Clarice nor her husband have tried to hurt us. It's just been these bird men, and the local flora and fauna. I'm sure it's safe enough for a quick look."
She will peer down the hole into the basement, and assuming she sees nothing leaping out at her, she will descend.
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ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he). Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
Part of the debris Anafrey had cleared away is broken tiles which had hidden the trapdoor. Underneath is the wooden lid, which is slightly damaged from the cabinet falling on it and the time spent being somewhat exposed to the elements. It takes a little effort, but the huntress is able to open the door and peer inside. It is indeed very dark. Jambiya will be the only one seeing anything down there unless some light is ... provided? Unfortunately, Erric, you can't think of any good place to try to knock a hole in the floor.
A sturdy ladder allows Jambiya to descend into a cool cellar below the kitchen. Rats scurry into hiding as she reaches the bottom of the ladder, clearly posing no threat in their limited numbers. Anafrey follows the tiny green girl down the ladder as "one with the shadows", but will be stumbling around in the dark once she leaves the circle of light which falls from the open trapdoor above.
Looking around, Jambiya estimates the room is 25x15, they are currently close to the southeast corner, a hallway leads west, and racks and shelves line the walls.
Jambiya reaches back to the ladder. "You'll need some light, it's a big space," she calls up. "Looks like a storage cellar, but it goes a way. Might be under the whole house." She will examine some of the shelves while the others secure some light.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he). Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
Jambiya looks around at what the cellar offers. It appears the rats have destroyed most of the supplies. However, her examination of a wine rack reveals eight bottles of wine. Due to her experience working at the Seldom Spring, she knows six would be worth 10 gold each, and two of them would cost 50 gold pieces each.
Maldorn carefully follows Erric down the beam and back to the ground floor, not answering the bard's question on why they need the casket in the first place. Being the last to re-enter the room with the kenku statue, the old man never sees the clearing or the opening of the trap door happening, but manages to catch Erric's question about torches. Maldorn stows his weapons and spends the next few seconds lighting one of his many torches with the help of some flint and fire-steel.
"Here you go, Master Heric. Mind holding on to the lit torch? I prefer to operate my bow with two hands..." He smiles in satisfaction at his little joke.
Maldorn gives the torch to Erric, catches his "final look" before the halfling disappears into the whole, and then begins to follow. Before completely moving into the basement, the ranger looks over his trap prepared for the kenku, just to make sure it is still set properly.
Once below ground, Maldorn whips out his longbow and a brand new arrow.
Erric descends and takes hold of the torch from Maldorn, asking if he could use another. If so, he lights the second so he's got two torches (if not, he fashions one from a chair leg and a rag). He pulls out a candle and lights it, using some melted wax to secure it to the wine rack. He offers one torch to Anafrey if she wants it. With the candle and two torches, he looks around, happy at the light in the room. "Light's better for us than whatever's down here."
As he gets his bearings at the base of the ladder, he helps Anafrey and Jambiya look around the rest of the room to see whether there are tracks of any kind down here, and if the fire touched this part of the house. Where are the rats heading? "The corner of that upstairs room, and the dining room on the first floor didn't burn," he mutters to himself. "Wonder why."
He also investigates the room to see if there's anything notable about this cellar under a burned-out house -- any items other than the wine, any decorations or writing, any journal pages, any sounds, anything fundamentally different from the rest of the house. (Investigation 6 / Perception 19)
If there's nothing, he'll suggest they look at the hallway and approach it. "Shall we explore a bit more? Quietly? Or I can try an illusion again of the sound of someone walking down the hall if we want, to flush out whatever might be waiting for us. I'm giving asking permission a try instead of just doing it on my own."
Anafrey looks at the wine longingly for a moment as the torchlight glinting off of the bottles brings it to her attention. Expending almost all of her willpower, she reluctantly turns from it to return to the task at hand. She draws her blades, "I'll go on ahead, just do your best to keep the way lit." She walks forward again, trying to remain stealthy while looking for traps, enemies, and mirrors.
If there's a wall sconce anywhere, or some place to secure a torch, Erric will do that on the way with the second torch. He's also looking at Anafrey with amazement as she walks past the bottles of wine.
Maldorn does have more than one torch, so we'll say he complies with Erric's wishes and hands the halfling a second torch, which can be lit by the first. Other than the wine Jambiya found, and many mouse-ruined supplies, there's nothing of note. No tracks, no pages, no decorations. This underground room is different from the rest of the house because it is not burned, and it is underground.
Erric sees there is one sconce in this room and looking down the hallway, which he estimates to be about 10 feet long before opening up into another "room" is another sconce.
OOC: re: "She walks forward again, trying to remain stealthy while looking for traps, enemies, and mirrors." In the future, go ahead and roll for stealth and investigation for this, Anafrey. In this instance, it isn't needed, so I won't make everyone wait or roll it for you.
Anafrey moves to the end of the short hallway and looks into the next room. With the aid of the torches being carried by Erric behind her, she can see that a few old crates and barrels stand around the edge of this room, but it's the large ornately-framed mirror in the far corner that immediately catches her eye.
"I uh... found the mirror. Were we meant to bring it back with us? I honestly don't remember, I may have been a bit more inebriated than I meant to be..."
Indeed, Maldorn gladly provides the party with a second torch.
Maldorn follows his companion a bit closer than usual this time, trying to make good use of the light being provided by the two torches being carried by Erric and Jambiya.
"I don't remember Dirk asking for the mirror back," he replies to Anafrey's question. "In fact, he said he sold the mirror. I'd assume this means that he must be satisfied with the exchange, even if he said he was a bit sad to let the piece go."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Upon seeing the mirror, Erric lets out the illusion spell he's been holding back for so long, and manifests the image of a slab, 5 feet tall and as wide as the mirror, positioned one foot in front of the mirror so that it blocks the view. "I think it'd be better if we can't see the mirror and it can't see us for now. Dirk assumed the Lord and Lady were still alive and happy with their mirror, so yes I don't think we want the mirror. Do we want to look around the room and in these crates?"
Erric's looking around the room for anything of note once again (Perception 8) and trying to spot anything magical/ethereal/dangerous.
He then inspires Maldorn, who's still carrying the casket as far as Erric knows, with a whispered, distracted song:
I don't want you to look at the mirror I'm asking you to avert your gaze And no message could have been any clearer If you want to get back home, away from this place, just tread carefully in a house so... strange
(Maldorn gets to add a d6 to any saving throw, ability check, or attack roll he wants in the next 10 minutes.)
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Anafrey pushes the cabinet aside, "Let's just move this over here so that the next time it falls over it doesn't trap us downstairs, shall we?"
Then she opens the trapdoor and peers inside.
~♡~
Erric runs down the rafter ahead of Maldorn after he sees that he's grabbed the casket. "Okay, totally fine, everything's totally fine, we're just grabbing magical caskets now. Maybe Dirk will want the haunted remains of whatever that is for the Inn to make the place a little weirder?"
He walks across the hall as he hears the commotion with the cabinet in the kitchen. "How do I always miss the obvious? Is that a trapdoor? HA! I knew there was a basement. There's always a creepy basement. Jambiya didn't you say there was a journal page that said Alistair resorted to putting the mirror in the basement, and locking Clarice upstairs? Well, it's entirely possible that our good friend Maldorn's bringing whatever's left of Clarice downstairs in that box and hey who knows, he might bring it to the basement!"
He tries to catch his breath but the halfling's starting to get nervous and begins speaking faster and faster.
"What's our plan? Are we just charging downstairs now to see what happens? I'd like to be able to leave the basement at some point, if we're going in. Are we grabbing the mirror if we see it? Can we agree not to stare at the mirror enough that we get Clariced? Anyone see a blanket to throw over it? I'm sorry when I get nervous I ask a lot of questions and talk too much, it's a habit of mine."
He stops talking, looks around, takes a deep breath, and sits down on the floor. He thinks back to the places with the creakiest floorboards on the first floor and tries to remember any place that might be thin enough that it'd be possible to break through the flooring to provide some light and another exit.
Jambiya smiles at Erric's wordiness. She puts a hand on his shoulder, "It's okay, Erric. I can see in the dark, and I'll be sure to not stare at any mirror. Up to now, neither Clarice nor her husband have tried to hurt us. It's just been these bird men, and the local flora and fauna. I'm sure it's safe enough for a quick look."
She will peer down the hole into the basement, and assuming she sees nothing leaping out at her, she will descend.
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
Anafrey will listen impatiently while Erric speaks, trying to get a word in edgewise, "H... Bu.. If... Wh..."
Finally, she gets frustrated and holds her finger to her lips, and hisses, "Shhh..." before sneakily following Jambiya downstairs.
stealth : 14 [ooc : I am one with the shadows apparently.]
~♡~
Part of the debris Anafrey had cleared away is broken tiles which had hidden the trapdoor. Underneath is the wooden lid, which is slightly damaged from the cabinet falling on it and the time spent being somewhat exposed to the elements. It takes a little effort, but the huntress is able to open the door and peer inside. It is indeed very dark. Jambiya will be the only one seeing anything down there unless some light is ... provided? Unfortunately, Erric, you can't think of any good place to try to knock a hole in the floor.
A sturdy ladder allows Jambiya to descend into a cool cellar below the kitchen. Rats scurry into hiding as she reaches the bottom of the ladder, clearly posing no threat in their limited numbers. Anafrey follows the tiny green girl down the ladder as "one with the shadows", but will be stumbling around in the dark once she leaves the circle of light which falls from the open trapdoor above.
Looking around, Jambiya estimates the room is 25x15, they are currently close to the southeast corner, a hallway leads west, and racks and shelves line the walls.
Jambiya reaches back to the ladder. "You'll need some light, it's a big space," she calls up. "Looks like a storage cellar, but it goes a way. Might be under the whole house." She will examine some of the shelves while the others secure some light.
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
Erric says down to his friends in the darkness: "I have one candle but that's it. Anyone have some torches?"
Once there's a few light sources, he'll descend after one final look at the kenku, and at Maldorn (and his cargo).
OOC > FWIW, Jambiya has no torches.
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
OOC: I'm guessing that the two outdoors-oriented folks have some torches...
OOC > Or maybe they can Survival a torch out of a table leg and an old curtain? ;)
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
Jambiya looks around at what the cellar offers. It appears the rats have destroyed most of the supplies. However, her examination of a wine rack reveals eight bottles of wine. Due to her experience working at the Seldom Spring, she knows six would be worth 10 gold each, and two of them would cost 50 gold pieces each.
Maldorn carefully follows Erric down the beam and back to the ground floor, not answering the bard's question on why they need the casket in the first place. Being the last to re-enter the room with the kenku statue, the old man never sees the clearing or the opening of the trap door happening, but manages to catch Erric's question about torches. Maldorn stows his weapons and spends the next few seconds lighting one of his many torches with the help of some flint and fire-steel.
"Here you go, Master Heric. Mind holding on to the lit torch? I prefer to operate my bow with two hands..." He smiles in satisfaction at his little joke.
Maldorn gives the torch to Erric, catches his "final look" before the halfling disappears into the whole, and then begins to follow. Before completely moving into the basement, the ranger looks over his trap prepared for the kenku, just to make sure it is still set properly.
Once below ground, Maldorn whips out his longbow and a brand new arrow.
Erric descends and takes hold of the torch from Maldorn, asking if he could use another. If so, he lights the second so he's got two torches (if not, he fashions one from a chair leg and a rag). He pulls out a candle and lights it, using some melted wax to secure it to the wine rack. He offers one torch to Anafrey if she wants it. With the candle and two torches, he looks around, happy at the light in the room. "Light's better for us than whatever's down here."
As he gets his bearings at the base of the ladder, he helps Anafrey and Jambiya look around the rest of the room to see whether there are tracks of any kind down here, and if the fire touched this part of the house. Where are the rats heading? "The corner of that upstairs room, and the dining room on the first floor didn't burn," he mutters to himself. "Wonder why."
He also investigates the room to see if there's anything notable about this cellar under a burned-out house -- any items other than the wine, any decorations or writing, any journal pages, any sounds, anything fundamentally different from the rest of the house. (Investigation 6 / Perception 19)
If there's nothing, he'll suggest they look at the hallway and approach it. "Shall we explore a bit more? Quietly? Or I can try an illusion again of the sound of someone walking down the hall if we want, to flush out whatever might be waiting for us. I'm giving asking permission a try instead of just doing it on my own."
Anafrey looks at the wine longingly for a moment as the torchlight glinting off of the bottles brings it to her attention. Expending almost all of her willpower, she reluctantly turns from it to return to the task at hand. She draws her blades, "I'll go on ahead, just do your best to keep the way lit." She walks forward again, trying to remain stealthy while looking for traps, enemies, and mirrors.
~♡~
If there's a wall sconce anywhere, or some place to secure a torch, Erric will do that on the way with the second torch. He's also looking at Anafrey with amazement as she walks past the bottles of wine.
“I can hold it, Erric,” Jambiya says, taking the second torch.
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
Maldorn does have more than one torch, so we'll say he complies with Erric's wishes and hands the halfling a second torch, which can be lit by the first. Other than the wine Jambiya found, and many mouse-ruined supplies, there's nothing of note. No tracks, no pages, no decorations. This underground room is different from the rest of the house because it is not burned, and it is underground.
Erric sees there is one sconce in this room and looking down the hallway, which he estimates to be about 10 feet long before opening up into another "room" is another sconce.
OOC: re: "She walks forward again, trying to remain stealthy while looking for traps, enemies, and mirrors." In the future, go ahead and roll for stealth and investigation for this, Anafrey. In this instance, it isn't needed, so I won't make everyone wait or roll it for you.
Anafrey moves to the end of the short hallway and looks into the next room. With the aid of the torches being carried by Erric behind her, she can see that a few old crates and barrels stand around the edge of this room, but it's the large ornately-framed mirror in the far corner that immediately catches her eye.
"I uh... found the mirror. Were we meant to bring it back with us? I honestly don't remember, I may have been a bit more inebriated than I meant to be..."
~♡~
Indeed, Maldorn gladly provides the party with a second torch.
Maldorn follows his companion a bit closer than usual this time, trying to make good use of the light being provided by the two torches being carried by Erric and Jambiya.
"I don't remember Dirk asking for the mirror back," he replies to Anafrey's question. "In fact, he said he sold the mirror. I'd assume this means that he must be satisfied with the exchange, even if he said he was a bit sad to let the piece go."
Upon seeing the mirror, Erric lets out the illusion spell he's been holding back for so long, and manifests the image of a slab, 5 feet tall and as wide as the mirror, positioned one foot in front of the mirror so that it blocks the view. "I think it'd be better if we can't see the mirror and it can't see us for now. Dirk assumed the Lord and Lady were still alive and happy with their mirror, so yes I don't think we want the mirror. Do we want to look around the room and in these crates?"
Erric's looking around the room for anything of note once again (Perception 8) and trying to spot anything magical/ethereal/dangerous.
He then inspires Maldorn, who's still carrying the casket as far as Erric knows, with a whispered, distracted song:
I don't want you to look at the mirror
I'm asking you to avert your gaze
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to get back home, away from this place, just tread carefully in a house so... strange
(Maldorn gets to add a d6 to any saving throw, ability check, or attack roll he wants in the next 10 minutes.)