Peri spots wood for the fireplace. The kitchen is well-stocked with cooking equipment, spices, and wood.

Thwack easily opens the door (locked from the inside) with his tools (no Psi needed.) Inside is a sizable larder. Its walls were once covered with row upon row of wooden shelving holding boxes of foodstuffs, but most of those supplies have been strewn across the floor. A few sausages still hang from hooks in the ceiling rafters, and an undisturbed bin of potatoes is scooted up against the rear face of the kitchen’s brick hearth. The room has neither exits nor windows, but there is a fair amount of reasonably fresh food here – enough to last your group a couple of weeks, at least.

Once Boko hears that the door was locked from the inside, or sees it, she raises her hand and decides to listen and look around, moving to wave her arms silently in the space of the room, feeling for something invisible. She also looks for any false walls or trapdoors.

Perception: 27

Peri:

Peri opens his mouth to argue with Qivys but realizes the dwarf has a point. He resentfully drops the wood back on the pile and eyes the soup. His face brightens. "Hey! Can't you heat up this pot with magic?"

It's then that he sees Boko wandering around flapping her arms. "Is she all right?" he quietly asks Qivys. "It's been a really traumatic day -- she knows she's still in her humanoid form, right?"

Qivys nods his head in answer to Peri's question.
"Aye, I can heat it up and make it taste better if needs be." he says.

He turns his head to watch what Boko's doing. A puzzled look crosses his face. 

"I'm not sure what she's doin'" he quietly tells Peri. "Might be some sort of druid thin'" 

Boko feels nothing invisible in the room. She finds a single piece of damp, crumpled parchment showing barely legible lines and writing, which looks like it was dropped here accidentally. She also notices that the back slats of the potato bin are built into the brick of the hearth’s rear face, but that the slats can be removed. There seems to be a hollow space behind the kitchen fireplace. 

Gerrard:

With everything quiet in the main hall, Gerrard moves over and joins the others in the kitchen.  Smiling at the extra food available, he asks, “Have you found anything?”

Thwack 

The door swings open at his nimble touch. "See!" he says proudly. He strides into the larder. The smell of the hanging sausages immediately catch his nose. He jumps up and snatches one from the hook. As he stuffs his face full of meat he watches as Boko flails around in some interpretive dance, moving to join her as he swallows. "What we doing?" he asks as he flings his short arms around.

Boko first looks at the hollow space behind the fireplace and feels for anything hidden. Then she moves to the potato bin and removes a salt and hands it to Gerrard and looks behind it. 

Thwack finds the sausages quite tasty.

Boko removes a slat and looks behind - it reveals a hollow behind the kitchen fireplace. Within it, a ladder leads down into the darkness.

Boko points to the ladder and once the party is ready she says, “Is anyone still alive in this place?”

Gerrard:

"Oh, interesting," says Gerrard. "This looks like a place the Hermits of Firewatch may have retreated when their keep was attacked.  Would you like me to go down and see if there is someone we can talk with?" he asks.

Peri:

"That druid magic is pretty useful," Peri says to Qivys, impressed at Boko's discovery. 

"Are you nuts?" he asks Gerrard. "You have no idea who or what is down there. No, if anyone's interested in talkin' they can come up here. Otherwise I say we block this hole up til we're rested and ready to deal with it. If we barricade the kitchen door we'll have the kitchen and this pantry to rest in, and if worse comes to worst we'll have a bolt hole out to the beach. Add in the rations, and the need to watch this hidey hole, and this is just about the ideal place to rest."

He surveys what they have to work with. "We can put that carvin' block here to block up this hole. Might not completely stop 'em from comin' up, but it'll slow 'em down and make a racket so they can't sneak up on us. Then we push the table in front of the door to the big entry room and use Thwack's magic stick to hold it in place. Then every entrance is protected, with two routes out if we need 'em -- Arvoreen Hisself would approve."

Qivys nods in agreement with Peri.
"Yea, very useful." he says. 

Gerrard:

”I am just thinking of the remaining hermits, down below hiding from whatever or whoever attacked, not knowing if we are here to help or finish the job their attackers started,” says Gerrard sympathetically, “but you have a point, Master Fenwader.  We don’t KNOW what is down there.  Letting us rest and letting them rest if they really are the hermits is not a bad choice.”

Helping to block the exits as Peri suggests, Gerrard prepares to rest, though he offers to take the first watch and nibble a bit on some of the better rations…

Qivys finds his spot and sits down, leaning against one wall. 

Thwack 

"We stay this room?" Thwack seems confused as to why this room is better than the other. "Why not go in hole? Hole always safe on rocky island." He shrugs as the group seems to have decided on their accommodation. He takes up a similar position to the previous room and sits staring at the door. "I watch. You sleep."

"Hello?" calls up a hesitant female voice from the hidden cellar hole. "Who's there? Do you have healing? Medicine? We need some help."

Gerrard:

"Are you the remnant of the hermits who live here?  We saw evidence of the attack on this level," says Gerrard.

Turning to Boko, he asks quietly, "Can we spare any healing?  While this could be a trick, some timely healing may make the difference for the survivors if that's who is really below."

Insight on the voice from below:  17

"Fer tha love of  all!" Qivys exclaims as he gets back up.
With a heavy sigh he moves closer to listen to the conversation. 

Peri:

"I've still got some of that magic ointment that's supposed to cure diseases, but they're gonna have to come up here to get it. Or at least send someone up to speak for 'em. Otherwise they can wait til morning."