Olin peers around the house as he follows Meepo up the stairs. Noticing the dust and grime accumulated in the corners he'll look around for footprints or any other sign that the that the house is being lived in. The bat did call people predators and also said that it hadn't seen any predators coming and going from it, after all.

Perception, with guidance, 12

Meepo sees something sticking out from under one of the chairs.  He reaches down and pulls out a long thin stick with a wrapped leather handle. The end is springy and he notes small flecks of dried blood on parts of the end.  He supposes you could whip someone with it pretty good.   (It's a switch) 

He rushes to follow, calling Rat away from the two hallway doors which both had proper doorknobs and couldn't just be nudged open. (the house has a mix of swing doors and regular knob doors). 

Kane pulls a candle out of his backpack (there ain't none round here, just mounted oil lamps), and lights it, letting a spectral hand carry it up the stairway before him.  The red marble is hard beneath your shoes as you climb the sweeping curved stairway to the second floor. 

The 2nd floor is dark. Unlit oil lamps are mounted on the walls of this elegant upper hall which also spans the width of the house. The curving red marble stairs continue upwards to a third floor. The far end of this upper hall has an unlit fireplace of black marble, a twin to the one directly below it, the mouth charred with black soot. Hanging above the mantelpiece is a wood framed portrait of a family of five. The two children from the street are in the painting; both are smiling. Also are a woman and man who clearly bare a resemblance to them and are likely their parents.  The father holds a swaddled baby in his arms, and the mother seems to be regarding the swaddling baby with a hint of scorn. It's an odd, somewhat strange painting with the dad's serious face, the others hint of scorn, and the two smiling children.  Standing suits of armor flank double wooden swing doors towards both the front and back of the house.  (Four suits of armor total.)  Each suit of armor clutches a speaer, and has a visored helm shaped like a wolf's head. The swing doors are carved with dancing youths.  The candle light dancing, sending shadows bounding around the walls of the room as you all reach the landing.  You feel a cold draft flowing down the stairs from the third floor. 

There is one other single door, towards the back of the house which has a regular nob. 

Meepo comes up and waits a moment, clearly watching to see which ways these bigs he is with decide to go.  they won't surprise him this time, unless they split up...  He considers this, and decides he would have to send Rat with one group, and he go with the other.  If they split up even further... He decides not to over think it as he watches to see where they want to go.  "Tiny Big up..."  Meepo says in way of prompting, though he knows bigs are hard to figure out in the best of times.

Mordekai makes a beeline to the painting, recognising the children's faces, and will closely study the appearance of the 3 family members he's not yet met. For as long as the others are on this floor of the house, Mordekai will just stand and look, leaning in closely to see even the finest details of their clothing. If they go straight up again, Mordekai will be the last to follow, but right behind them. 

"I never understood the sense in having a home this large. There are cobwebs everywhere."  Aga sighs, a mix of astonishment and annoyance. Not seeing anything of interest, she will continue to the third floor.

Olin comes up to Mordekai as he inspects the painting. "The children you saw in the street, are these them? Do they look the same, or are they older now?"

Olin casts guidance on himself and inspects the painting for signs of age. Accumulated dust, discoloration, etc. Perception, 20

"Bigs..."  Meepo grumbles as he watches the group splitting up again.  Aga going up the stairs, two of the other bigs looking at a painting, which is not even lost.  he sends Rat on up the stairs with Aga, as he waits to see what kane does.  Meepo himself takes a step into the room, just glancing around to see if he sees anything lost with a quick look.

Perception:  2

Mordekai, this painting depicts the children quite accurately. They seem to be the same age as when this painting was made. 

Olin, you swipe off a layer of dust and grime off of the edge of the paintings frame. Paintings are hard to tell the age of, if they're kept well. The style can't be used because everything around here has it's own style. It doesn't have any water damage, or damage from long term moisture. However the frame has a pretty thick layer of dust on it, and the tiny cobwebs in the corner seem to indicate it hasn't been reframed recently.  You figure the paintings probably been sitting here for a year since it was dusted, at least. 

Olin and Mordekai hear Aga heading up the red marble stairs to the 3rd floor.  Kane stands next to Meepo, looking about, also trying to decide which way to go. 

Aga, alone for the moment, aside from the rotting walking corpse of a winged cat, heads up the stairs, reaching the top and looking around. At the full height of the red marble staircase is a dusty landing. A suit of black plate armor stands against the far wall, draped in cobwebs. Oil lamps (unlit) are mounted on the oak paneled walls, which are carve with woodland scenes of trees, falling leaves, and tiny critters. There is a door to the left, leading to the front of the house, a beside the armor leading to a room on the left side of the house, and a short hallway to the right leading to a double door and another single door.  

Aga will investigate the room to the left.

Olin scowls, "Judging by the dust on this frame it appears this painting has been here at least a year. These children are much too young to look exactly the same a year later." Olin removes the wooden buckler, large oak leaf painted on its face, that had been secured to the outside of his pack and straps it onto his arm. Then hefts his staff in the other hand, testing its weight, "I do not like this house. It feels strange and unnatural, just like everything in this place. I think we should stick together. Please, let us all go join Aga upstairs." Olin heads up the stairs toward Aga, casting guidance on himself as he goes.

Aga pulls the iron wrought door handle, the metal sticking for a moment before it clunks open, the door swings open freely. The smelly undead creature pads along behind her casually. Dust and cobwebs shroud an elegantly appointed bedroom that occupies the front of the house on the 3rd floor. The bedroom contains a large bed, two end tables, and a wardrobe. Mounted on the wall next to the wardrobe is a full length mirror with an ornate wooden frame carved to look like ivy and berries.  There is a door immediately to the right in this bedroom. Just past it a ways are double doors set with panes of stained glass also on the right wall.  A black marble fireplace is mounted in the left outer wall. 

Olin, reaches the top of the stairs, seeing numerous doors, but seeing the undead cat standing behind Aga on the left where she stands just inside a room. His eye catches on a detail and his subconscious pulls his attention. To the left of the door that Aga went through, the wooden wall panel as a slightly wider dark gap on one side.  It's subtle, but the line follows through all the way to the floor.  Looking closer he notices the baseboards for that section also have a sliver of a gap underneath them in the same section. 

He steps forward, examining the wall for a moment before simply pushing on one section. The wall section clicks inwards and then swings outwards.  Behind, you see a cobweb-filled wooden staircase that leads upstairs into the attic. 

Olin whistles softly, like a bird greeting the morning, and whispers loud enough for Aga to hear, "Aga, I've found something."

Mordekai is brought out of his focus on the painting by Olin saying to stick together and go join Aga. He follows Olin up the stairs, and joins Aga in the room, moving past Olin as he stops by the attic door. Seeing the mirror, Mordekai chuckles to himself as a thought occurs to him. He casts Minor Illusion to create a still image of the children's mother sitting looking at herself in the mirror. Then he examines his illusion, proud of himself for the detail he's managed to recreate. As Olin announces he's found something, he turns back, his attention once again brought back to his new friends' investigations. 

Aga makes her way to the staircase. "My goodness. So many secrets." Without another word, she heads up the stairs.

seeing most of the bigs go upstairs, Meepo follows them.  He would send Rat back down to stand with Kane if necissary.  "Little Big say tiny Big up..."  Meepo reminds them as he looks at the hidden stairs.

(I don’t have many opportunities to post. I hope I’m not holding the story up.)

Kane will walk over to Olin, the candle held by the mage hand casting an eerie light on the lower steps of the staircase. He walks up a few steps and listens intently for any sound coming from the attic.

Perception: 15

(OOC: We'll manage.  I may take liberties and assume your character is going along with whatever's happening at the moment.) 

Kane listens intently. The quiet scuffles and rub of fabric on fabric as the group shifts around him are the only sounds. 

Aga heads up the creaking wooden stairways past him, brushing aside cobwebs and leaving footprints in the thick dust. The stairs take a left at a small landing and come to an attic door at the top.  Aga pushes it open.  This bare hall is choked with dust and cobwebs. Meepo bends over, picking up a small teacup from a child's tea set. Dark stains of blood splatters are dried onto its surface. 

There is a door to the left leading towards the front of the house, two doors on the right, leading to the back of the house, and one door down a short hall and on it's left, that leads to a room in left side of the house. A foggy window just on the right looks out to the back of the house and the dark night outside. The door closest on the right has a padlock binding it shut. The other doors here all have doorknobs but no keyholes or locks that are visible. 

Mordekai will them follow up, and head towards the room on the left to the front of the house.  He casts Thaumaturgy when he's still a few feet away, to fling the door open (assuming it's unlocked), and assuming that nothing bad happens, he'll wander cautiously into the room and take a look around.

Perception: 18

"Anyone open lock?"  Meepo asks, nodding to the item on the door nearest at hand.  "Meepo know how, but Meepo no have tools..." He shrugs as he moves on to the next door and checks it for traps.

Investigation:  21

he will have rat continue down to the end of the short hall, watching for anything out of the ordinary.

Rat perception:  24

Kane treads softly down the short hall to the room on the left of the house. 

Stealth: 7