Mahb goes snooping around the dark 'blank spot' still on the map...
"Here's hoping. Now, silver is kind of soft for holding an edge of a blade (which is why my silver weapon of choice is this)." Lineera pats her hand on the head of her Aspergelium. "So beyond that and the normal problems of trying to knife fight the undead, it's probably only good to try using these if we really need them.
They're effective against vampires, that's a pretty well known one. There's also these nasty guys called Huecuvas, they're priests who've been turned into undead. Usually look like dried out zombies in clerical vestments, they're weak to silver too. There's these things called Manananggals, they're basically a woman's torso with bat wings, hard to miss 'em. ...And... ah, there's one other that comes to mind. Now this one's kind of hearsay, but if you ever see a really feral, beasty looking ghost. May be something called a Vilkacis, they're the ghosts of werewolves and their like. Now they still seem to have their aversion to silver that they are purported to have in life, but it's a bit trickier against them since they're not corporeal. You'll need an enchanted weapon or something that'll allow you to strike across the gauntlet to get the silver to reach them."
Lineera straightens up after her short lecture. "Those are the most common ones at least, and fortunately, usually the weakest. If I say something else is weak to it... well, it'll probably be followed by 'we should run.'"
"I think we should probably break to heal ourselves up a bit more before we continue, after that, let's check out the area behind the staircase, don't think we've looked back there yet."
Mahb totters down the small dark creepy hallway, and finds a sharp left turn leading to a set dark stairs that lead down deeper into the tower.
Riley attempts to quietly lead the group down the stairs.
Mahb re-enters the room where the discussion is taking place and helps herself to a silver dagger - just in case. She nods in the direction of what she found. "Got stairs down. Anyone up for a trip to the lovely basement with me?"
"Sure, I've always wanted to check out the creepy basement of a necromancer's tower." Finding levity as best she can in the situation, Lineera follows along behind Riley in their basic formation.
"Oh! I do!" Eva reached in a bag pulling it out having spaced about it earlier.
Once everyone is healed up, Eva heads down to the basement with the others. An Alchemist Fire in one hand, the sun rod in the other.
Lineera Cathran descends the stairs as well, bardiche at the ready.
The party eases down the stairs, with Riley checking for traps the entire way, looking for any evil vines or skeletons...
As they enter the room.. they are confronted with...
dust. Dust, about half an inch on the floor. No marks or footprints in it, it, except on the steps where the group is. Apparently nobody has disturbed this room in some time.
It's curved, with a door in the center that leads to the other parts of the basement.
It appears there were crates stacked up against the walls, but they've long since rotted and collapsed, spilling out an array of rust that was once nails, rust horse shoes, what might have been food at one century or another, and some other completely rotted and ruined flotsom and jetsom.
LineeraCathran descends the stairs as well, bardiche at the ready.
"Not sure if the idea that no one's been down here is a good or a bad sign." Brushing past Cathran, Lineera says another quick blessing for Riley. "You know the drill Riley, go get 'em."
Riley winks at Lineera as she touches him. Geez...I love my job! He carefully walks over and checks the door.
The door is... a door. The hinges are rusted over, but can probably be forced open. Riley thinks the door is locked at first, but it's not, he realizes when he pokes at the lock that the tumblers are rusted together inside. It's not locked, it's just seized up. The door will require some brute force to open.
The hag gives the door a baleful glare then rests a hand on the rogue's shoulder "Come away from there, boy. I'll handle this." She shoos all of 'the kids' (as she thinks of them - even the ones that are older than her) far back from the door. "Be ready in case there is somethin' nasty waiting."
Mahb takes a spot about 5' in front of the door and gives the hinges and lock another look... then without warning her ratty grey hair grows, lengthens, and snakes its way down her body and across the floor. Her tresses, like dozens of snakes, slither and attach themselves to the door - winding around the hinges, invading the rusted lock, and knotting around every exposed piece of timber and metal.
The old woman chuckles and coos to her hair, "Yes, my children, bind it... bind it." Then with an ogre's strength, the hair yanks at the worn door, trying to rip it from the wall.
The basement is filled with the scream of tortured metal, and then the hinges and locks give with loud snaps.
Riley stands in awe as the witch's hair attacks the hinges. He gives the others a shocked glance.
The witch's hair effortlessly holds the destroyed door above her for a moment before gently placing it down against one of the walls and releasing it. The serpentine hair coils protectively around its mistress. "Carry on."
Lineera looks at the spectacle with a slight murmur of awe. "That's a trick I wouldn't mind learning. Well, I think it's time you're back on point, Riley."
The small curved room looks like a store room. There are cabinets against the wall, each with either a small drawer, or with wooden bins to hold items. Most of the visible bins look like they once held food, but the black misshappen piles in them now appear to hold nothing but long rotted and decomposed remnants.
There is another door on the other end of the room that looks in about as good a shape as the door that led into this one.
Mahb again yanks on the door open using her disturbing hair.
This time the door heaves and moans, but doesn't break or tear loose. There are a few pops of metal.
Mahb glares at the door. "Looks like it's gonna take more'n just hair to beat this one."
Cathran makes way for Mahb in front of the door, curious to see what the old woman had up her sleeve. As Mahb's hair grows out and wrenches the wood from its rusted hinges, she smirks slightly. It's been a while since I've seen that. Catching Riley's shocked look, she shoots him an amused glance, joking, "You seem surprised. Would you have expected anything other than infinite resourcefulness from our Mahb?"
Cathran steps up to help Mahb with the next door as the ancient metal pops and creaks. Leaning her weapon against the nearby wall, she wraps her hands around a length of white hair and pulls along with the witch.
Mahb's hair yanks on the hinges yet again, this time with Cathran lending her strong back to the effort.
The pair strain, and the door slowly pulls free, eventually the hinges pop and then it comes lose in a sudden jerk. Nothing as spectacular as the first door, but it's free.
Inside is an old armoury, weapons racks, armor racks, wooden practice weapons, padding, and whet stones.
Most of the items in the room are long since rusted to near nothing by age, or rotted to tatters in the case of the leathers. However, the party does find the following still usable.
A shiny yellow metal shirt (chain shirt)
A dust covered, but pristine small hammer (light hammer)
A dust covered, but pristine light wooden shield
A single arrow, hanging on hooks on the wall, that gleams with a pale light
The shirt is made of Mithral.
The hammer is a +1 weapon
The shield is a +1 shield
The Arrow is an Arrow of Giant Slaying
Nodding satisfied at the door giving way, Lineera compliments the two pulling. "Nice work you two." Stepping into the armory, Lineera takes stock of what's what.
Giving most the items a cursory look over, Lineera latches onto the lone arrow. "Odd that they'd have just one arrow in here. I mean, you normally want more than one." Approaching it and examining more carefully, Lineera let's out an quiet exclamation. "Ah, that explains it. This is a magic arrow, one for taking down giants. Aurora will be happy to see this me thinks."
Mahb brushes a spot on the shirt, licks it, and spits. "Mithril. That'll fetch a pretty coin." She eyes the other items as well, "The hammer and shield are also magical."
Having no real interest in the weapons and armor, Mahb circles around the central pillar the other way. She listens at the door briefly before signalling to Riley to take a look.
"This might be a well room... but ya never know."
Like the other doors in this section of the tower, it's rusted over. Mahb hears nothing through the door.
Riley steps up carefully and checks the rusty door for traps. Let me check it before you hair goes all crazy and stuff!
Riley checks the door over, but doesn't find any traps.
The hag snorts at the young man's comment. Without a word, Mahb's hair lashes out and binds the door at every convenient point. Then it yanks on the door like a fiend.
The door groans, and then explodes out of the frame... literally...
The door is flung outward by the blast, and the fire fills the room.
The door being ripped out seems to have robbed the blast of most of it's power...
Busy holding the door, the hag is too slow to avoid the blast. It scours her with flame.
Lineera ends up being a bit more on her game this time, and manages to avoid the worst of the flames. In her native tongue, Lineera lets loose a bitter tirade of expletives. Then, sighing. "Is everyone alright?" No, but it's still the proper question. Rather odd that.
Ready to help Mahb with the door again, Cathran is standing quite close to the door as the explosion of fire bursts forth from it.
She dives aside, but the flames lick at her nonetheless. She pats out small bits of clothing caught on fire, then stands, groaning. "I do not suppose whoever put these traps here expected them to outlive their makers." With a wince, Cathran rotates her shoulder, mildly bruised in her dive, and peers inside the trapped room. "Shall we see what it was guarding?"
Eva is not so lucky as Cathran, and a section of the door clips the gnome on the side of the head as the fire ball washes over her, leaving her sitting on her butt in the floor, hair smoking, face covered with ash, and with blood dripping down her temple. "Well a fine thing that was." The gnome says with a small humph of disgust.
Within the room is a 3 ft high pedestal. On that pedestal is a 3 foot high iron cage that looks like a bird cage. In the center of the bird cage, standing on a perch, is a large bird skeleton about the same size and shape as Pyewacket. The ancient bleached bones and dried sinew of the dead bird perfectly preserved.
Just as you are wondering what kind of bird was so valuable they'd lock it up in a cage to starve to death, the bird's head moves, and one eye glows red. "CAAAAWWWW! CAAAAAAWWWW! Again! Again! Come on, you can do it, I bet you can all get blown up good if you try again! CAAAAWWW! CAAAAWWW CAAAAAWWWW!" The skeletal bird laughs, it's wings shaking with bony rattles.
Lineera steps into the room, and glowers at the bird. "Why are you in here you wretched thing? Speak quickly, or I'll make sure you suffer before you're sent on."
"CAAAAAWWWW!!!! Better than you have tried! CAAAAAWWWW!!!!" The bird laughs. The beak goes under one wing, as if it were digging out parasites from it's non existent feathers, something you've all seen Pyewacket do multiple times. "I'm fricken' valuable you dumb bunny drow. What were you, CAAAAAWWWWWW, the dregs of the litter? Why the frick else someone gonna store me in a vault? CAAAAAWWWWWW!!!"
Lineera sneers. "To someone maybe, but to me, you better prove it, and fast, otherwise... you'll be exposed to Pharasma's anger."
"CAAAWWWWW!!! Do your worst. CAAAAWWWW!" The bird laughs, clacking it's beak.