Ganner slips up toward the person sized door, limping slightly from the dog bite on his leg.
Passing the gated hallway, and the rooms in the back, Bardigan and Ganner can see that they both don't contain much themselves. The hallway looking like storage, while the rooms have the appearance of once being offices. The back door is loose on its chain, much like the front doors, and Ganner is able to squeeze through. It opens to a small covered, but unwalled, patio on the back side of the building. There is a small forge, and a few scraps of rusted metal, maybe a shoe nail or two. This looks like where the horses were shod when needed.
Larenti walked up to the iron gate, nervously looking past the bars for signs of more dogs.
What's this doing here? It'd be one hell of a kennel, he thought.
Larenti let his eyes roam over the entire gate, how it fastened to the wall, and the quality of rust on its bars and hinges.
While he did so, he pulled out his trusty set of lock picks, letting his fingers rub on the custom case (which was embroidered with an elaborate red "S").
Bardigan watches Larenti work with an arched eyebrow as he tries to position himself out of the rain. "Couldn't have asked for a prettier day to go looking for ravens, eh?" He casts a chagrined glance up toward the sky before shaking the rain from his cloak.
Aula wanders a bit more from nook to nook, finally stopping at the cart near the back. She vaguely looks it over, brushes off a spot and sits, waiting, while Larenti finishes with the door.
Larenti manages to just hear the click of the lock as the mechanism unlatches its hold. Down the hallway a few paces, a old rotted door hangs from its hinges, but given the lack of framing and knob, it appears that at one point in time, the door was supposed to be a secret.
Larenti waved to make sure he had the attention of the others, motioning them over. Putting a finger to his lips to indicate that they should keep quiet, he tip-toed forward toward the rotted door.
Aula stands up and walks over to the gate and waits there. "Do be careful darlin', not all of my abilities are inexhaustible."
Bardigan slips inside behind Larenti, at the least happy to be out of the weather. He nods at the half-orc's cue to remain quiet and shuffles wordlessly along.
Thinking he may just get in the way, Rexus stays back with Aula, not wanting to disrupt the half-orc's stealth.
Ganner slips forward with Larenti, moving as quietly as he can.
Quite certain the only things worth being quiet for had already been dealt with, Bardigan isn't particularly careful as he follows along.
As Ganner and Bardigan clomp down the hallway behind him, Larenti turns and gives an exasperated look.
"Really? That's supposed to be sneaking? he whispered. He sighed, but couldn't help smiling as well.
He turned back to the formerly hidden door.
Ganner looks a little embarrassed. "Sorry. I'm trying, but that damn dog..."
"Oh? Are we doing that? Now? Even after those hounds made all that racket?" Bardigan shrugs and tries to be a bit more deliberate in where and how loudly he places his feet. In the end, he is almost twice as quiet as he had been moments before!
Aula giggles a little at Bardigan's quip.
The three men skulk down the hallway as Aula and Rexus look on. Jinx nervously paces, irritated at the whole trip thus far and the pace of revolution. Reaching the door, the thing nearly falls off its hinges the remainder of the way as Larenti nears.
The room beyond is an old workroom housing numerous old slaughterhouse tools, veterinary equipment, and woodworking tools, all of which are covered with a thick layer of dust through which strange tracks and patterns have been traced. Heavy mallets, crumbling ropes, and tools for restraining animals hang from pegs in the walls or rest atop leaning tables. To the southwest, a trap door sits ajar, propped open by a block of wood.
While they sneak (or fail to, at least), Jinx shifts up behind Bardigan and the group. "You guys have got to me more careful!" she says, chidingly. "If my family's involved, you be slow, you be careful, and you don't knock everything over."
Larenti took in Jinx's advice with a nod, but kept his eyes on the strange tracks and patterns.
He furrowed his brow as he tried to interpret them.
He turned to the others and pointed back at the dusty floor.
"What in the Hells are those?"
"Did y'all find something down there?" Aula asks, leaning into the stall past the bars, but not actually entering the hallway.
Ganner frowns. "What made those patterns in the dust, do you think?"
Bardigan waves Aula and any of the others in. To Ganner's question, he shrugs but nods to the block propping the concealed hatch open, "Whatever did it, it looks like it might have gone down through there."
No one can tell who or what made the tracks or patterns. The prints are very small, and could be misshapen animal tracks, or maybe even humanoid.
After a quick--but stylish--foot sweep and two claps, Aula's left glove glows, providing some extra light which she uses to pick her way carefully down the hallway. She is not keeping quiet, so much as trying not to step in something that would dirty her shoes. She wriggles between the others and attempts to open the door without letting it fall completely apart and collapse to the ground. Finally, she moves into the room and looks down into the open trapdoor, her glowing hand held several feet above the hole.
The trapdoor is only slightly ajar, propped up with a small block of wood no more than a few inches wide. Without opening the trapdoor, Aula's light only shines onto what appears to be a small shaft leading down.
As she peers into the space of the opening, one of the old barrel lids on the south side of the room begins to rattle, before suddenly whipping across the room to smack the wall behind Aula to the northwest. As this happens, a small collection of various old pieces of equipment begin to float up from the floor or the surfaces they lay upon.
"Uh..." Jinx awkwardly looks at the rising pieces of equipment and draws her sword and shield. "Should we just go down the trap-door or....?"
Ganner drops into a combat stance, fists up. "Floating things! What the devil!?!"
Larent, surprised, threw up his hands and waved them about his head and face, trying to ward off the objects. "Blaah!" he yelled, pushing through the others and towards the exit.
Aula quickly ducks down and opens the trapdoor. "We might be safer down below!" she calls out as she uses both hands to cover her head to ward off flying objects.
Bardigan rips the trapdoor open, waving the others down as the various bits of clutter begin to dance through the air. "Right, down it is! Watch your step! Watch your head!"
As Bardigan opens the trapdoor, the door rattles briefly, as the block holding it open floats away, before the trapdoor closes itself. Meanwhile, Aula's outfit becomes mildly colder, as Jinx's armor grows a touch warmer, both in the chest region. An odd glowing mark glows on the far wall.
Ganner looks around, a little rattled. "What IS this place? Is it haunted? Did we displease the spirits here?"
"Rexus darlin' there's something mighty odd going on in here, and Ah think you've got as good a chance as any to figure out what it is!" Aula yells, hoping to be heard over the clattering tools and the rain and thunder outside. She then looks down at her chest and starts trying to brush something off of the ample space there without uncovering the flesh contained therein.
Bardigan shrugs in ignorance at the effects, but holds the trap door open. "Maybe we should hurry down the ladder? Before whatever this is gets worse?"
Rexus looks concerned by the strange goings on as well, "No, Milady, this all looks strange to me as well. If we are going down the ladder to avoid this, let us get to it." Bardigan opens the trapdoor again, after it had just shut itself, this time holding it open. Beneath it is a five-foot shaft and ladder going down through it to extend another ten feet below the shaft.
Ganner frowns. "I'll go first. I'm agile enough if the ladder gives out."
Bardigan holds the trapdoor open and offers Ganner an encouraging yet earnest nod. "Hurry up! Before whatever's doing this gets worse!"
"Given that the weather in here is gettin' mighty cold, Ah'll go down next! Don't go looking up until Ah'm at the bottom!" Aula follows just after Ganner, stopping to brush at her chest occasionally as she descends the ladder.
Larenti followed after Aula, unnerved by the room, and worried about what was below.
Ganner makes it down, but pauses to call back up. "The ladder's a bit slick; be careful."
Bardigan ducks under a swooshing pail as he glances down the ladder, waiting for it to clear. He gives Rexus a nod, then offers one to his aunt, "You're after Larenti, Rexus. And Aunt Jinx after that. So long as that pail doesn't come back for a second pass, I think we'll slip through here just fine." He smiles as a broom goes sailing behind Rexus and shoots another nervous look down the ladder.
"Thank you Bardigan, you're a right doll for watchin' out for us all." Aula quickly slides down the ladder, mumbling at the bottom something about 'wonder what they use for this wonderful slick sheen.'
Ganner manages to glide nimbly down the ladder, only for Aula to nearly float down in her grace. Larenti however, even with the warning of the ladder being slick, can't maintain grip or balance. He tumbles down the most part of the ladder to land on the floor below with a heavy and awkward thud.
The eye-watering stench of urine and feces fills this large room. Nests made of chewed crates and barrels line the walls, while rusty knives and hooks cover the tabletops.
Ganner's eyes do indeed water and he grabs a rag from his pocket to cover his nose and mouth, moving into the room cautiously as he scans the area.
Bardigan flashes Aula a wink and a grin as she passes, then looks down the shaft and cringes as he hears the crunch of Larenti's body on the floor. He calls down after his friend, "Oooooo. You alright, Larenti? That sounded like you landed on something!"
"I fell on my self-respect. I think it's broken." The weak joke was made weaker by the obvious pain in Larenti's voice.
He stopped speaking, but his thoughts continued. Gods, I think I've actually hurt something important. Ugh. Damn it all.
He tried to sigh, but that hurt, too.
Get it together. You made it past the dogs, you'll make it past this.
Larenti got up, tried to wipe his hands on his clothes, but they weren't any cleaner, so he ignored them. Instead, he turned his attention to the room, especially the rusty knives and hooks.