Though initially skeptical of the pair, Rudick knelt down to be closer to eye level with them, study them for a moment, and then finally spoke in a surprisingly tender tone for the Orc. "How did you become to be this way, children? And... where might you rest the easiest, younglings?" He asked simply, having laid the hammer on the ground next to them. 

Rose, still fuming, turns her head and ignores you.

Thorn says, "Mommy and Papa locked us up here to save us from a monster, but I think they forgot about us. We got really hungry, and then just fell asleep."

Sergei was impressed by Rudick's demeanor. He may sometimes be gruff, but he's not callous. Sergei feels a higher level of respect for the orc.

Sergei asks the kids,

"Do you know how we can get out of here?"

Thorn drifts over to the open doll house and points to the attic. He says, "There is a secret door right here," as he jabs his finger into the house. According to where he pointed, there is a secret door in the alcove with the two adjacent doors.

Rose says with a haughty sniff, "We know not where we will sleep, but it isn't here." For being 8, she sure is sassy.

Sergei says, "Thank you, Thorn. What other secrets can you tell us about this house?"

Sergei studies the doll house very closely. Is it actually a replica of the house? If so, he looks for other nooks, rooms, staircases, etc, that the party might have missed.

Rudick chuckles softly at Rose's last remark, and then looks to the bones. "Then, since you helped us out, it is only fitting that we return the favor." He then looks to the bedding, and if the covers were relatively intact, would go to work carefully putting the bones on preferably separate sheets for carrying out. "One other question, if you do not mind... There was a third child, I believe. A babe... What of them, that you recall last?"

Alev remains silent while Sergei and Rudick make their questions and the ghosts answer them, feeling conflicted. He isn't sure if they can trust them or anything coming from this house for that matter, but he always had sort of a soft spot for children... If these ghosts are telling the truth and they are as trapped here as they are, well... 

When Thorn tells them about how apparently they were abandoned to starve imprisioned on this room, he shudders with disgust and anger.

"...We're going to help you, I promise." He whispers.

Watching the exchange between the ghosts and Rudick, Skip can’t help but feel the hurt and loneliness they must be feeling, now or when they were alive. This was no way to die, he thinks to himself. 
“Don’t fear any more children, we will take you with us and find somewhere for you to rest, somewhere safe, somewhere nice. Rudick won’t let any more harm befall you, and we will all help him in that”

Yes, the doll house is an exact replica of the house you are in. Searching it, you discover no new sections of the house.

Rose says, "Father had an... affair with our maid. Mother didn't like that, so she fired the maid after the baby was born. His name was Walter. I don't know what happened with him."

 Thorn goes over to the toy chest and with immense difficulty, he manages to open it up. He takes out some ancient looking toys and brings them over to Alev. "Do you want to play with me?" Regardless of your answer, he takes a wooden horse and begins cooking it gently around on the floor while making horse noises.

"...Sure, why not?" Alev chuckles nervously.

As he watches the kid playing with the horse toy, he thinks on what Rose just said about a maid. He thinks back on the ghost they fought and the skeleton, and gives a meaninful glance to the others. The maid was killed because of an affair? That's petty. He thinks, tilting his head. But what could have happened to the baby? Where does that fits into this mess?

Can Sergei not see the basement in the model of the house?

He will go to the alcove and search out the hidden door.

Rudick started to shake his head at Skip's assertions, but just manages to resist the temptation. Instead, he grumbled softly until Rose answered, giving both pause and leaving him with at least one more question than answer. Yet, the Orc is resolved to finish bundling up the bones and putting them in his pack. Seeing that Alev chose to linger and play with the spirits, the Orc resolved to step out and help Sergei tracked down the alcove and its secret door.

Though before stepping out he says, "We go now to keep your promise, as well as end the nightmare that is this place. Follow if you wish, and if you do, be brave. This will all end soon."

"If you guys find anything, let me know!" Alev says back.

In the case that he really stays behind for now to "babysit" the ghost children and nothing happens right away, he will ask them awkwardly. "So... Do you kids know how to play cards?"

Looking just outside, you can see the faint outline of a hidden door. You're pretty sure that wasn't there before. You push it open to reveal a narrow staircase spiraling downwards into the darkness.

Thorn excitedly exclaims, "Cards?! Are you a fortune teller?" He drops his horse and turns his full attention to you.

Even Rose becomes interested. She says, "You don't look Vistani."

 Everyone is now level 2.

Sergei gazes morosely down the spiral staircase into the darkness. He distinctly feels that there are more obstacles ahead before they can escape from this house of horrors.

A voice in his head: Why the long face, little pup? Have my powers not served you well?

Sergei's response: Yes, but we're still trapped in here. I fear this house is still going to have its way with us. Many secrets are hidden here, and I feel inadequate in trying to ferret them out. My failures will probably cost me my life.

Little pup, you'd better not die yet. What a waste of my time, to have you gobbled by a haunted house. Take more of my power, and find your way out.

Sergei feels a dark warmth growing inside him. Those around him would be able to see a dark glow in his eyes, and the irises and sclera of his eyes turn jet black as he instinctively casts detect magic. He looks around with this new form of vision, seeking magical auras.

"Gosh, I wish! Maybe I could have foretold this whole disaster before it even happened if I was!" Alev responds, laughing. "I don't know what a Vistani is, but the cards I'm talking about are not future-telling cards... Well, I don't think they are, at least. Those would have to be Tarot cards, I think. Really pretty cards, but not the ones I have..."

He takes his backpack and after a bit of searching, he takes out his card deck. He will just show them off, since the kids have already show they don't seem to know how to play and he's not trusting them enough yet to let them hold them anyway.

"Every card has a suit. A category, a symbol... Oh, wait, I got it! Every card here belongs to a kingdom." He explains. 

He's just chattering now, bobbing his head as he goes through every card of the deck. "See? There's four kingdoms: The Diamonds, the Hearts, the Clubs and the Spades. And every kingdom has a Queen, a King, Knights and peasants. The only one here not loyal to any of the Kingdoms is the Joker..." He exclaims, showing one of the card. It depicts a court jester juggling around the four symbols. "He's a wildcard! He travels around without fully taking a side, but he always shows up to help if things get too dire. It doesn't matter which Kingdom you belong to, he will help you out... Whenever he feels like it, that's it!"

He will keep talking like this, improvising a story about these "Kingdoms", the figures and symbols on the cards and giving each card a personality. This is his first time talking to ghosts, for sure, but it's not the first time he has spoken like this to children.

You see a fading trace of transmutation around the secret door. Necromancy is everywhere. It seeps into everything you see and corrupts everything it touches. The house itself is veiled in powerful illusion magic. The air rising from the stairway smells rotten and corrupted  by more Necromancy.

The kids are wholly absorbed in what you are teaching them. They pick it up rather quickly.

Sergei is probably going to keep detect magic up indefinitely for the rest of the campaign, although it does require concentration and will fall off if he has to cast a different spell.

For now he waits impatiently for the others to wrap up what they need to. Once an appropriate (to him) amount of time has passed, Sergei says,

”We shouldn’t linger here. There is evil magic everywhere. We might as well get this over with.”

Then he will descend the stairs.

Looking up at Sergei as he speaks, Skip agrees we should not tarry here longer, you’re right. I will take point 

Skip will take the lead heading down the stairs, hood up, rapier and dagger out

stralth 21

After he hears Sergei, Alev nods and turns to the kids with a sigh. "...And everyone in the four kingdoms lived happily ever after." He wraps up the story and starts to collect the cards. "Sorry kids, duty is calling! I have to go to fight whatever monstruosity is keeping us all trapped on this house!"

He turns to leave. "You can follow us if you can, but if this is the part where we say goodbye, then... Goodbye, Thorn. Goodbye to you too, Rose. It's been really fun to play with you two, I hope you two can rest well after all this is over..."

With that said, he will turn and leave down the stairs after Skip and Sergei.