"I think that unwise in the extreme."  Lavena says as she steps back out of the dining area.  "If some creature is here, I would not wish to alert it to our presence before we have to."  She moves to the next door.  "You would be surprised at how many monsters prefer stealth to noise..."  She opens the next door.

Nebin looks at Elias.

Elias:

Guenhyvar will continue to follow, helping to check each door before they open it.

The next door opens into a small cloakroom that has several black cloaks hanging from hooks on the walls. A top hat sits on a high shelf.

((does the next door in the hallway correspond to the second door in the dining room like it should? Anything from the detect magic?))

(It does, still nothing from detect magic. Also, there's a 5th door directly across the hall from this one that I neglected to mention.)

Lavena will open the door across the hall.

Looking slightly annoyed "I know we need to be quiet but something is just weird about all of this. Shouldn't we hear the parents, the monster or be able to open the front door?"

Elias whispers: "I agree with  Saxis. Something is wrong here. And what happens if the parents come out of one of the rooms looking for their children and find a group of armed strangers going through their house?"

"Obviously something is wrong here."  Lavena says turning on them.  "A door you can't even harm with your big hammer there?  Lights that suddenly come on?  Either this is a trap and we are in it, or it is something being controlled by the monster the kids were talking about." She moves to open the door.  "We have only one real option, find a way out of this house, or deal with this monster, if it exists." She glances back to the others.  "Neither of which is made easier by announcing our presence.  Which would you prefer to do?  Look for a way out or continue on in the hopes that we can find whatever monster the children were talking about."

Elias flushes red at Lavena's comment as his knuckles turn white as his grip tightens even harder on his sword he says: "Listen lady I did not come here to be berated by the likes of you. It is no wonder this land is cursed if all the people have the same attitude you seem to posses. I would prefer to be looking for Helm's Hold instead of being stuck in this forsaken place. Since we are stuck here lead on since this is your homeland but, I warn you there is only so much berating I am willing to take."

Easy friends. Standing in the corridor musing about what counts as strange or wrong gets us nowhere. Looking for a way out and exploring for monsters and/or victims is the same - check everything room by room, first for danger then for clues, and move on. That ain't berating, s'just planning.

Guenhyvar will glance at the others, "I think if whatever is here sealed us in, it already knows we're here. Perhaps the whole house is what we're searching for and the children merely bait. In any case, I agree that our best bet is to quickly search the place for anything that seems significant. If we have conflicting personalities, perhaps it would be better to split into two groups, though I advise against it." And he'll continue to move and check doors.

Perception: 12
Stealth: 13
Investigation: 5

Elias says: "There may well be a personality conflict but splitting the group is unwise. If I took Lavena's comments wrong and she has took offense I do apologize. Lets just find and kill this so called monster."

"I am sorry." Lavena says with a sigh.  "I have a bit of a temper, and say things without thinking." She gives a shrug.  "I will try to keep it in check as we move along."

Elias will say with a smile: "No need to say sorry. I myself have been on edge as of late so, I may have over reacted. Just know I will have your back. Lead on Red!"

With a slight glare and a head shake Saxis will walk through the next door "Let's just figure this place out, kill this Strahd person and get home."

OOC: Have we seen any windows?

 (A couple of windows, but they might as well be walls for all you can see. The mist seems to be pressed up against them, completely obscuring the outside world.)

The door across the hall that Lavena opened leads to an oak-paneled room that looks like a hunter’s den. Mounted above the fireplace is a stag’s head, and positioned around the outskirts of the room are three stuffed wolves.

Two padded chairs draped in animal furs face the hearth, with an oak table between them supporting a cask of wine, two carved wooden goblets, a pipe rack, and a candelabrum. A chandelier hangs above a cloth-covered table surrounded by four chairs.

Two cabinets stand against the walls.

lavena makes a walk through the room, casually looking around for now. (Her passive perception is 18 and her passive investigation is 22.)

Lavena, you see that one cabinet is locked, the other one is not.