Leave the box for now. Lets finish this exploration. Ojore urges.
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You move towards the south east tower, over the parapet. An arrow pass next to you, together with an insult, but when you turn around you don't see the Grippli. After a minute not seeing it, you proceed to the tower.
Damiel finds the door safe, and opens it.
Commander’s Quarters
A bookshelf lies face down in the northwestern corner of this wooden room, partially concealing a trap door beneath. In the opposite corner is a large bed with a noticeable bump under its rumpled sheets. A small table with two chairs sits in the southwest corner. Doors exit to the north and west.
Whatever is on the bed and the open windows here attracted far more flies than anywhere else in the fort. And there is a lot of spiders also, preying on them.
"Look out! That's a HUGE spider!"
"Dang. That surely is!" and Damiel moves back out of the way and begins his oratory.
"By the gods! That thing is huge!"
He readies an attack with his reach weapon if it moves into range.
Flavius will whip at the lump on the bed hoping for a reaction (from 15' away)
Ojore also sees the spider leg but notes its not moving. That thing must be the size of a dog. he says as he hefts his shield and approaches slowly.
"Well, I'm pretty sure it's alive. I don't want that wandering around in here. "
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but there might be something important here. I'm going to use my axe to pull those bedsheets off. Everyone, prepare to kill anything that moves. Oh gods..."
With that, Godwyn shakily used his long axe to try and pull the bedsheets off to see what is beneath without getting too close to the bed itself.
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Godwyn enters the room, and the buzzing of flies is almost deafening. Looking at the darkness below the bed he uses his longaxe to move the sheets.
A cloud of flies emerges, almost blinding him. He turns and tries to protect his face, preventing them to enter his nose, or landing on his face.
The rest of the group, outside, sees how a huge mass of small spiders move out of the bed, into the floor... towards Godwyn.
There are some fights that cannot be won, and some deaths too unconscionable to think about. As quick as he could he turned, ran out of the room and slammed the door shut. With a look of sheer panic he said "Run!" Then looking at Ojore he said "No, Druid them! Druid them now!"
Once Flavius sees the swarm of bugs, he runs with the rest.
"Ugh, swarms. Lets leave it in peace." says Damiel
"Nothing up here. Lets go back around to the down ladder and finish investigating the first floor" suggest Damiel.
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Three beds lie along most of the northern wall of this wooden chamber. A large wooden trunk along the eastern wall is opened, exposing haphazardly tossed clothing. The odor of spoiled meat wafts out from under the clothing. A cabinet runs across the southeastern walls, and a ladder ascends fifteen feet to the only exit.
Even a cursory search of the room uncovers a large, fragrant package of dried and pressed jungle plants with a note saying, “Quinn, please drop these off with Heri. Make sure she pays you up front for them, and tell her I’ll have more red fern soon!”.
You also find a body inside the truck, "hidden" under the clothing. The body in the trunk has been maimed with claw marks and a chunk of its shoulder is missing.
"No spiders! Much better."
These people have been brutally murdered. Ojore says with distaste. They must be avenged. I guess these bundles of leaves are worth something to someone and might be a clue. We should take them.
Damiel looks carefully at the leaves trying to discern what they could be used for, "these do not look like anything I am familiar with. Good thought Ojore, hopefully we can find out from this Heri."
Looking around and not seeing another exit, "well, guess it is back up and around to the other corner so we can inspect the rest of the compound."
"Oh look, here is a hidden door" he claims excitedly, and he begins to inspect it for traps.
Damiel goes to the door next to the pen and listens, searches for traps, disables them if need be and says "Flavius, Godwyn. Lead on, please.
"Alright, but if there are more spiders, I'm running."
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The door seems safe and Damiel lets Godwyn enter.
Broken halves of a large table lie askew in the center of this room. Half a dozen four-foot-long spears protrude from one half of the table, and brown bloodstains mar the floor. A basic map of the region covers most of one wall, hanging next to a picture of an austere-looking man.
The large map depicts the coastline and rivers in great detail, but labels little else beyond the fort and Pridon’s Hearth.
"Get a load of this. Gold...lots of it. Huh. Why do people keep hiding things behind portraits? Might as well put a key under the dootmat while they're at it."
"Well, these spears are from the Song'o, and lookie here. There is some gold hidden behind the portrait." Damiel says. "Does anyone know who the subject of the portrait is?"
I suspect it is one of the local leaders. I am not from here and so do not know them. Ojore explains. He studies the map for a moment, committing much of it to memory before saying Lets take the map with us.
Gundar has been following the group silently. So much death. I wish I could have done something for them when they were alive. After we finish exploring this place and speaking with this Heri, I would like to give these souls a proper burial. They should not be spider food!
"Yeah, it's the decent thing to do. "
I will help with this as well friend Gundar.
Nodding with Gundar about burying the bodies after they have finished searching the fort, Damiel moves thru the mess hall and goes to the door in the north west corner of the room and listens for any noise in the next room, then checks it for traps and finding none, gestures to Godwyn and Flavius, "once again, lead the way friends."
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Damiel again checks the door, and after him you open it to find...
Shelves bedeck the walls of this square room. A solid stone slab sits atop a waist-high counter at the northern edge of the room, covered with spoiled vegetables and rotting hunks of meat.
The fort’s basic kitchen seems like it saw little violence. Food is spoiled. The westernmost pantry is closed.
Anyone go into the room?
"Anyone want to get this is crawling with more spiders? I'm not going in there."
Ojore will go in, his eyes darting back and forth, looking for traps or dangers.
After hesitating for a moment, Godwyn follows Ojore in, unwilling to let a comrade go alone where he dares not.