(Gib, roll Persuasion at disadvantage -- he is, after all, naked, without a weapon.)

Persuasion (disadvantage): 7

((Yeesh, dice roller is really taking the piss out of our sails tonight.))

Dimma watches from the doorway, not sure what to make of this. As the half-elf spins his tale, Dimma particularly pays attention to his mention of the dwarf wizard and the head. As she listens, she's trying to discern if the elf is omitting any important details about the dwarf or the pirates' leader in Saltmarsh.

Insight: 20

Ned laughs. "Nah, I had enough adventure, me. It ain't worth a...." he does a quick count of everyone in the room and tries to figure out the math. "sixth of 200 gold to deal with the Princes again in this lifetime. I'll take my chances with that big Goliath boss of mine." He looks at Tul wordlessly as she follows him, but does not try to stop her from following, instead going down the grand staircase and pausing at the front door.

"Say, I uh, don't suppose any of you lot have any extra robes or something for yer old pal, Ned? A little thank you for all my help?"

You are all gathered in the downstairs foyer now. Dimma -- you sense the presence of illusion magic coming from the living room, in the approximate location of the other trap door Arvastan spotted.

Dimma only

Gibson pipes up, "There's probably some musty old clothes in one of these rooms if you'd care to help us look..."

A thought occurs to him and he leans over to Hugh and whispers, "Did he say a sixth of 200 gold? I thought we were getting 200 each..."

This one sounds like Gib, Tul thinks to herself. 

"If you can find something in here to wear, that will have to do. We did not plan for an extended stay in his manor," Tul says to Ned.

She looks at him more carefully, digesting what he has said and what he has said he will do.

"From you story it sounds as if you wished to find easy treasure and when that became difficult you have chosen to flee. One should not pray for an easy life but pray for the strength to endure a difficult one. You will have more occasion to deal with difficulty than ease."

Ned raises an incredulous eyebrow and looks at the group. He certainly appears to be uncomfortable around all of you. "Lady, with all due respect, clearly you don't know much about Saltmarsh."

Ned then swaggers out the door as cool as a man in soiled underwear possibly can be. You see him get 3 or 4 steps out the front door, before the first breeze comes off the sea. "Oh, Gods that's cold!" He starts to sprint  towards the path that leads back to town.

Arvastan watches him go, snorting in something like amusement. "Shark food," he says quietly, shaking his head. Then he shrugs and turns back to the others. "Shall we go raid the trapdoor down below?"

"Might want to be careful," Dimma says, "That second trapdoor is also cloaked in illusion magic. I could try to dispell that one too but... I must admit I don't know much about the arcane. I don't know if I'd be able to do it a second time."

She strokes her beard, deciding to keep her insight to herself for now. No need to waste time with theories when there was a job to do and nothing else to go on.

"I'd say we head down the one in the maid's closet, that seems to be the same one our gnome entered."

"It seems we have a few options," Gibson says after Ned leaves. "We can take our chances below in whatever obscured mess frightened our inebriated little friend previously or we can find a ladder or chair or rope or something to get into the attic. Ooooorrrrr we can head to the most likely place to find pirates and information on pirates in a non-(supposedly)-haunted location: the waterfront...?" His eyebrows bob up and down suggestively.

Tul looks straight at Gib, wondering how much of persona he presents is real and how much could be hiding something else. He clearly has magical power but still appears afraid. She might have more in common with Gib than she wanted to admit at first. She constantly works at controlling and calming the strong emotions bubbling under the surface.

"I agree with Dimma, the first trapdoor makes the most sense," Tul says and she begins heading back to the kitchen

Gibson rolls his eyes and sighs in resignation.

Hugh shrugs. “C’mon Gib. We will be outta here in no time if we work as a group,” he says before following Tul and Dimma down the stairs. 

"One wonders where you might find information on pirates on the waterfront," Arvastan muses as he wanders after Tul and Dimma. "Do you think the water will tell you?" Well, it could, probably, if you knew how to listen to it, but that was besides the point. Still, Arvastan wonders why Gib is campaigning so hard to venture there. Was it truly just some fear of what they would find in the house? Or did he have some ulterior motive? People usually did.

"The water, my blue-gilled buddy, will tell me where other sailors are. Sailors, in these parts, sometimes have experience with or, at the very least, hear rumors about current piratey goings-on. Working with people is where I'm most comfortable and productive. Poking around old ruins isn't something I have extensive experience with." Gibson indicates the current state of his greasy sleeve. "Come to think of it, I'm surprised an experienced seaman such as yourself wouldn't have firsthand knowledge of these scallywags what with them being so active and prevalent in these waters."

Arvastan grins a shark's grin at Gib. "Firsthand knowledge of pirates?" he asks, very obviously pretending to be shocked. He lifts one hand to his chest for effect before he drops the act and shrugs. "Never said I didn't know about them," he counters. "No one bothered asking, though if they had, they'd find out that I know about as much as anyone else who has sailed," he pauses for dramatic effect. "Avoid them." 

As you descend down the rickety wooden stairs that go from the maid's quarters, it is immensely dark, but those of you with darkvision are able to see and as the room comes into view, you are faced with a horrifying sight. Mounted on what appears to be a wine rack is a decaying corpse. Several rodents, who were crawling on the corpse see you approach and scurry away. From first glance, you are able to tell that the corpse is clad in plate mail and seems to have been placed on the wine rack to scare away those who ventured down the stairs. A shield and a longsword lay in a pile at the corpse's feet. It appears to be a larger humanoid figure -- maybe human or half-orc.

As you make the way down the stairs and fully into the room, you discover you are now in the wine cellar of the manor. Wine racks go from ceiling to floor on the northern and western walls of the room. At the east wall, right next to you as you came down the stairs are two large metal tanks that appear to be empty.  Apart from the gruesome discovery you make mounted on the wall in front of you, the room appears to be empty.

(Hugh, you are considered blind in this room unless you light a torch or one of the casters is able to help you.)

"Now this I like!" Gibson exclaims as he hefts the longsword awkwardly. He swings it back and forth and almost falls over from the weight. "Maybe I'll just stick with what I know." He gingerly leans it against the wine rack. As soon as he turns away it loudly clatters to the floor. "At least this wasn't a completely fruitless endeavor!" he says as he grabs two bottles of wine and turns to go back up the stairs.

Tul sidesteps Gib and ducks away from his wild swinging of the longsword.

"I would think, Gib, that perhaps there is more to this room than what first presents itself," she says. "I do not know wine, but I can't imagine setting this body up to scare people away was to make sure no one stole any of the bottles."

She starts going around the room to see if any of the wine racks might actually be doorways or if any of the bottles act as levers to open hidden passages. She even raps her knuckles on the metal tanks to see if they are what the seem to be.

(Perception: 9  )

Tul, while this wine cellar doesn't seem to be holding any secrets in the wine racks or the large brewing vats, you are eventually able to pick up a pair of footprints that lead further into the room, ending up at the southern wall of the room. At first glance, there doesn't appear to be anything unusual about this piece of masonry.

(Tul Investigation - 6)

As you examine the wall, you can't really find anything special about it other than the footprints ending very abruptly at this point.