As Sergei had been staring into the stairs, Rudick had been doing the same from over his shoulder. Even from the limited view of his expression, it was clear that fear had not held him in place. Yet, it was strange he hadn't immediately begun descending the stairs. Truthfully, the Orc almost seemed lost in thought, and had taken to absently rubbing the emblem of his shield.

Over the ensuing next few moments, various images began to flash past the Orc's vision. Some that would've startled most in their suddeness. Others are more somber and even tear jerking to the weak of heart. Yet, Rudick never visibly reacts to them beyond eventually and slowly turning to look at the shield.

'Return... Return what has been taken.... Bring back the Wonders of a skilled hand'

A voice... a thought came to mind, though not in any language he understood. And yet, the message within it had somehow been clear. He thought once again to the time before his betrayal. How much easier now it would be to seek out the old gods, endure their anger, but beg forgiveness in a place he subconsciously began to think might test him in ways a mere mortal blade wouldn't be enough to overcome. 

Then, he shook his head, dismissing the very notion, and burying it deep. "I am more than that." He murmured, before adding in though 'Destruction alone cannot fix this. Certainly not from a few or one alone. But if I can coax the flame.. find the other hands that might yet forge anew -- better tools to overcome...'

With a warm sensation in his heart, Rudick comes out of his thoughts in time to see others progress down the stairs. Wordlessly, he would follow, unaware of the new symbol etched into the side of his hammer, faintly glowing red for a few seconds before dying away.

As the party begins to leave, Rose calls out, "Wait, don't leave us too!"

 They both transform into misty shapes that rocket towards the party. Thorn attempts to possess Rudick and Rose attempts to possess Skip. You feel their presence patch into your mind and attempt to wrest control of your body. Make a Charisma Saving Throw.

Rudick Charisma Save(DC ???): 4.

Skip charisma saving throw 18

Rudick, you throw of Thorn and she appears a few feet away from you. Tears fill his eyes and he flies away.

Skip, you are now possessed by Rose. You keep control of your character, but you gain the following flaw: I like being in charge and get angry when other people tell me what to do.

((OOC: Did anyone else besides Skip and Rudick saw what just happened? If not, please just ignore this.))

Alev turns his head back when he hears Rose, but sees nothing. Thinking that they had just disappeared, he shrugs it off and turns to keep walking... Just to see the misty shapes surrounding both Skip and Rudick for a brief second and then disappearing. He just manages to see what looks like Thorn's ghost before he flies away.

"...Hey, what was that? Come back here!" He shouts, confused. What with what Rose just said, he thinks that the children might have thought they were abandoning them and left. Because of the little bonding time he had with them, but mostly because he is worried and fearful than they could turn hostile against them due to that possible little misunderstanding, he wails. "We are not leaving you, you sillyheads, we are going to help you! We are friends now, ok? I'm going to free you, I promise." 

After he says this, he will just keep walking and think that maybe what he saw was just ghosts doing ghost things, nothing big. He's unaware that one of the ghost children didn't actually leave...

Skip moves ahead of Sergei to take the lead down the stairs, and Sergei obliges. He sees the spirit kids rocket towards the group and disappear, but he notices Skip act strangely for a moment.

“Skip, are you okay, did that kid do something to you?”

Feel free to continue talking. I'm going to describe the "basement."

 Oh no spiral staircase made of creaky woodis contained within a 5' wide shaft of mortared stone that starts in the attic and descends 50' to the dungeon level, passing through the lower levels of the house as it makes it's descent. Thick cobwebs fill the shaft and reduce visibility in the staircase to 5'.

At the bottom of the staircase, you push open a decrepit wooden door to reveal a hallway extending to your left and right. The dungeon level Is carved out of earth, clay, and rock. The tunnels are 4' wide by 7' high with timber braces at 5' intervals.The ceiling is supported by stone pillars occasionally. Everything you see is coated in thick spider webs. You can see century old human footprints in the earthen floor leading every which way.

((On the map, find the little spiral staircase near the top middle area. That is where you are))

Quote from Dimir_MTG >>

Thick cobwebs fill the shaft and reduce visibility in the staircase to 5'.

 

 So is Skip totally covered in cobwebs now??

Sergei is trying his best to keep his composure. At the basement level, he suggests to all the other party members that we all STAY ALERT, our goal is to GET OUT, and we should NOT TOUCH OR DISTURB ANYTHING if we can help it! 

Quote from T0dd0 >>

Quote from Dimir_MTG >>

Thick cobwebs fill the shaft and reduce visibility in the staircase to 5'.

 

 So is Skip totally covered in cobwebs now??

Sergei is trying his best to keep his composure. At the basement level, he suggests to all the other party members that we all STAY ALERT, our goal is to GET OUT, and we should NOT TOUCH OR DISTURB ANYTHING if we can help it! 

 Yes, but he's really short, so the next person in line is also coated in them.

"...That's going to be a little difficult if we can't even see what is front of us, what with all of these spiderwebs!" Alev retorts, as he shakes any webs off his wings and robes. Then he stops to check if any spider had crawled onto him before he proceeds.

Not fully understanding the kid's action, but taking it as child's play, Rudick merely snorted and kept descending down the far too cramped stairway. By the bottom of which, his mood hardly improved, but at least he could stand tall again. Which is why at Sergei's reassertion, the Orc just looks down at the man with a dry look for a long moment. Only the last tid bit spares the man a word from the Orc, and instead look to Alev and say, "Bear with it. If it can be helped, we shant be here long."

With that said, he then peers over the others, trying to find skip. "Which way, little one? Or might it be time I take point?" He stated more than ask that last part, and yet awaited however long might be appropriate for an answer.

After hearing Rudicks question, and disbelieving at the sheer rudeness of his address, Skip, stomping a foot, whirls on the big half orc

i SAID I was going first. That MEANS, I am going first, stop calling me little, I HATE being called little. I am NOT a little girl!

with another indignant stomp of the foot, Skip huffily twirls away again - you can almost imagine the angry swish of hair if he had hair long enough to do that - and, with a huff, leaning slightly forward, arms swinging angrily, begins to move off, swatting ineffectually at the cod webs 

Alev tilts his head, put off by Skip's uncharacteristic behavior, before just laughing. "You okay there, buddy? No one was even calling you a "a little girl", is there something you wanna talk about?" He says, his body shaking with laughter. "You sounded just like Rose just now!"

Not giving it much thought and thinking that Skip just had a hissy fit at being called "little one" too many times, Alev just laughs at it, his laughter sounding remarkably birdsong-like as he just keeps walking.

Rudick lofted a brow at the response. Yet to his credit, by the end of the little tantrum, he only let out a throaty growl in annoyance and followed after the halfling, if only to assure the fool's safety. He would also quietly observe their surroundings, peeking into any off shoot path or alcove along their course, searching for signs of either a threat or something of note within the basement.

Skip is heading down the corridor and will turn right at the junction. Towards the table and bench in that room

”And why would I not sound like Rose? I’m just very frustrated that none of you are listening. You’re all as bad as Thorn. He doesn’t listen either.”

Sergei follows the group, feeling subdued, not willing to speak much more at the moment, still getting used to his new magic-detecting vision

As you move away from the spiral staircase, the webs thin and die out. Following Skip's lead, you turn into a junction and come across two stone doors set apart along a wall. The one on then left says "Gustav Durst" and the right has "Elizabeth Durst" etched into the stone. Looking across the tunnel into the other small and similar chamber, you can faintly see two more doors.

At Skip's weird answer, Alev's laughter dies down. "...Okay. Moving up!"  He chirps, weirded up. He has a growing suspicion of what might be happening, but says nothing more.

He sighs in relief when they get out of the webs. He looks around and sees the doors. "Alright, which one should be go into first?" He asks to Skip and the rest of the party.

Sergei: “Do we need to check any of these rooms, though? We should be looking for a way out, not the private chambers of the sadistic residents of this place.”