"Joke's on you, Ned, no one's paid me anything! Well, you two have fun, I'm going to make sure this place is clear."

Reynnar goes to search the rest of the house to make sure they're alone (and maybe snatch some valuables).

Night, Godsday, Goodmonth 10th, 591 CY

Doing a quick circle of the first floor there appears to be nobody else in the house. Nor are there any objects laying about in the open, apart from the two healing potions or bottles of wine, that one might classify as a valuable. A door in the northwest corner is unlocked leading to stars heading upwards. Along the southern side of the house are two sets of doors, both locked.

 Just FYI Tiffany and I will be out of town until Sunday morning. I will update again then. Let's get a move on to the next big adventure!

Reynnar begins working on the locked doors.

Door 1:

Check for Traps: 6

Pick the lock: 25

Look for valuables in the room: 14

Door 2:

Check for Traps: 6

Pick the lock: 22

Look for valuables in the room: 7

Night, Godsday, Goodmonth 10th, 591 CY

Verified room order with Erich. Also, "Starday" is just the name of a day of the week in Greyhawk.

Reynnar proceeds to check the leftmost door for traps. He is confident that the door is untrapped, just locked. The lock itself is rudimentary and no match for the thief's expert skills. Within moments the door is opened. Inside is a small office room with no windows. Against the sidewall is a large map of the nearby coast of the Azure Sea. In the center of the room is a small desk made from rich wood and an equally lavish chair. Checking the desk Reynnar finds a calendar in the top draw. Every other Starday within the calendar is marked with the words "Sea Ghost," including the Starday four days from now. Within the desk's left lower drawer is a small money pouch containing 1 platinum, 47 gold, 15 silver, and 32 copper.

Reynnar then proceeds to check the rightmost door. This door similarly does not appear to be trapped. However, the construction of this lock is slightly more solid. Reynnar spends the next few minutes attempting to open the lock, but is unable to find the right combination of leverage and length of tools to open it. The door remains closed.

Angus Intimidation Check: 1

Angus tries to gather information from Ned, even resorting to utilizing his martial arts against the captured man, but Angus' attempts over the next few minutes are unsuccessful. Ned's face is bruised, but a toothy grin continues to smile back. The man has not revealed any additional information.

Angus turns to Gulin and Caspia, who has recently entered the room, "There has to be a bigger picture here, but I'm not seeing how it all fits together. Here is what I do know. Reynnar and I learned that the rowboat we stole from underneath the mansion belongs to a ship named Sea Ghost. With that clue we began asking around on the docks. There we gathered some additional clues, such as the fact that Sea Ghost is commanded by Captain Sigurd "Snake Eyes," and that a local merchant, Debrun Rinewall, had been seen by the dockmaster embarking on the ship in the past. This led Reynnar and myself here earlier in the day. We were pretty surprised to see Ned, but he did mention a few times to us that he had a local merchant friend.

The monk pauses before continuing, "Obviously Debrun Rinewall is somehow involved in this smuggling operation, however, I was hoping our friend Ned here could illuminate what his role might be. The operation at the mansion also seemed somewhat well armed. Seems odd that they would just be moving stolen wine and linens. There must be something that we are missing, but I think we are going to have to rely on what we found at the mansion and any other clues Reynnar may have located."

Angus then draws his shortsword, "Only one thing left to figure out, what do we do with Ned here. I could escort him to the local jail. I think his usefulness to us right now is concluded."

Caspia approached Ned.

"Are you sure you will not share your information with us? You can assuage your own conscious and perhaps we can persuade the council to go easy on you for your assistance."

Persuasion roll: 10

Night, Godsday, Goodmonth 10th, 591 CY

Ned looks back at Caspia, without saying anything. His eyes dig deep into her soul. Gulin and Caspia get the feeling that whatever chance there was that the man would bear his thoughts have passed.

Sorry, all. Been working all "holiday" except Christmas itself.

"Angus, help me make sure ol' Ned here isn't hiding anything on his person." With his help, Gulin spends a moment looking through Ned's pockets and person for keys, documents, or anything else of interest. He also gives a look around the storeroom for anything of interest.

Investigation 24

"Caspia, might want to see to Angus's wounds too. He took a decent walloping. Once we've checked out the rest of the house here, and Reynnar reports back, we'll all take Ned to the jail. Think you're right, Angus, but don't want you to get a second ambush in two days!"

Gulin will also take a moment to examine the animated armor, seeing if he can salvage a workable set of Half-Plate from it. If so, he'll drop the pieces into his Bag of Holding.

Smith Tool's (Int) 10

Night, Godsday, Goodmonth 10th, 591 CY

Gulin finds the following items on Ned's body: a shortsword, a hand crossbow, 20 bolts, a vial of basic poison, and a note.

The note reads, "Send word when your clean up your mess. You have four days."

The southeastern storeroom is filled with foodstuffs. One could raid this pantry to assemble additional rations for a journey, however, there are no items of extraordinary worth in this room.

Returning to the cellar and inspecting the armor, Gulin deduces that the armor is in good enough shape that it could be salvaged and molded into a set of half-plate. The metal will likely need to be slightly reshaped through magic or extreme heat. Either the dwarf could attempt the task himself, or a local blacksmith with access to a forge could do it for him.

Gulin disarms Ned, taking his weapons and the poison. Looking at the note, he chuckles. "Guess your mess came to you, huh? Sounds like whomever you were supposed to deal with won't take kindly to your failure. Last chance to come clean, Ned. We could help you."

As he waits for the response, Gulin loads up the Bag of Holding with 10 days worth of travel rations for four travelers.

(Assuming this happened before Gulin left to investigate the armor - he will also put the armor into his Bag of Holding)

Night, Godsday, Goodmonth 10th, 591 CY

Ned looks up towards the dwarf with contempt in his eyes, "Keep sticking your nose where it doesn't belong and it won't matter because you will be dead anyways."

Gulin successfully loads everything into the bag of holding. Angus makes a round of the house, signalling all of the adventures to gather in the main room with the tables and bar. "So what now? We good to move on or is there anything else we should check in here before leaving?"

"Whatever, Ned." Gulin looks dismissively at him, making a "blah blah talking hand" gesture, then takes a napkin from the dining table and gags the man.

"Oy, Reynnar, found anything? Lets get a move on."

"Working on it, one second! Found some goods in here!"

Before leaving the room, he grabs the money and the calendar and puts it in his pack.

Taking a second try on the door he couldn't open: 

Pick the lock: 18

Search the room: 6

Following this, Reynnar goes up the stairs to search about.

Gulin follows Reynnar upstairs, planning to help him with any searches, or muscle/blast through any doors.

(Steve, for brevity, take the wheel as Gulin helps so we can clean up the house quickly with advantage and such) 

Night, Godsday, Goodmonth 10th, 591 CY

Reynnar regains his composure and attempts to pick the lock again. This time the rogue's efforts are more successful and the door swings open. Inside is a second storage room, crates filled to the ceiling. Dust is everywhere. Against the wall is a ledger letting you know which boxes will be loaded onto which ships. The Sea Ghost is not listed in the ledger.

Reynnar First Investigation Roll Adjusted (+2 for Investigation): 5

Reynnar Second Investigation Roll due to Gulin Helping: 18

There are just too many boxes in the room for Gulin and Reynnar to make it through. They open a few. Some are empty. Others are filled with local trade goods. About ten minutes pass, and the pair give up their search frustrated.

As the party makes it way upstairs, Reynnar's foot catches on a trip-wire hidden across one of the stairs. A loud noisemaker is set off. Angus shouts from the back of the party. "WE BETTER MAKE THIS QUICK. THAT THING IS WAKING EVEN THE DEAD. WE MAY ONLY HAVE A MINUTE OR TWO BEFORE THE GUARDS SHOW UP AND WE HAVE AN AWKWARD CONVERSATION."

Gulin takes his Warhammer and smashes the noisemaker. 

"We are here investigating the smuggling ring. Ned is a valid suspect and we have found information. We'll be fine."

5

Night, Godsday, Goodmonth 10th, 591 CY

The noisemaker is easily destroyed. Angus responds to Gulin, "Yeah, you may be right. Though a town guard may confiscate any ill-gotten gains as evidence. Personally, I'd rather be out of here."

You continue to ascend the stairs. At the top of the stairs is a single room, an ornately decorated bedroom. On the eastern side of the bedroom, across from you, is a door that has been left slightly ajar with a window flanking on each side. From this angle everyone notices the comical pail wedged above the door. Beyond the door and windows on the eastern wall is a small landing, Reynnar recognizes this as the landing where he encountered Ned. Angus laughs and points to the pail above the door. "Either Ned is an idiot, or there must be something wrong with the door. That has got to be the worst security I have ever seen."

Along the nothern wall is a fireplace with a sitting chair in front of it. The embers in this fireplace are long since cold. In the center of the southern wall is ornately carved four post bed. The sheets are tossed to the side, but the bed is cold. You gather someone may have left in a hurry hours ago. They did not bother to tidy up. Next to the stairwell is a large armoire carved from fine wood. The bottom drawers are mostly empty, but a few fine garments remain. The top enclosure is locked.

Caspia, at some point in this search, performs Lay on Hands and heals him for 10 HP despite the fact that he keeps moving around and yelling in an annoying fashion.

"How much more of this house is left? Can we return with our prisoner now?"

She keeps an otoliths (fish ear) out for sounds of approaching guards or other commotion, but the noisemaker and yelling makes it hard to tell if anyone is coming.

"If we continue yelling and tripping traps, we will definitely bring attention to ourselves," she notes.

Night, Godsday, Goodmonth 10th, 591 CY

Angus looks over at Caspia, "It looks like we have now been to every room. I think the attention is already on the way. Just a matter of if the other two have any remaining matters they want to address."