More animated objects? This place was strange. Hearing Mihaela's warning, Smaranda kicks at the manacles, attempting to fling them away from the group.
Delixia tries to strike the tiny manacles without hitting her companion, but this proves more difficult than she expects and misses.
"We have to beat the manacles down like any object! They're also vulnerable to cold if you have anything! Mihaela yells.
Mihaela shares with the group, hardness 10, vulnerable to cold
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Thistle falls back to the door. "You know we could always try retreating. Best I can figure based on what we have seen thus far is that we won't be followed by that pair of cuffs in there. I don't think we have the muscle for this task anyways unless Delixia is just going to rage on them for a while."
Kisasi looks over the situation and having heard what Mihaela has to say makes a decision. "Delixia, we don't have what we need to defeat that thing. I don't think you alone can stand toe to toe with it for the long haul. Best we fall back, regroup, and come back to it when we are better prepared."
Taking heed of Kisasi's advice, she backs out of the doorway to allow the party to retreat if needed. "Path's open! Shall we tactically retreat and hope it doesn't chase? Can it chase?" she looks in briefly at the creature.
Smaranda really wanted to hit it some more, but her initial attack hadn't seemed to have an effect on the manacles. The gnarf's suggestion made sense, however, so with one last glare at the whipping chains the girl retreats from the room, hoping the item they sought was not there.
She spends a few moments surveying their surroundings and mentally retracing their path so far. It seemed they had explored a large part of this level already, but all these spirits and haunted things were starting to wear on her. She wonders what they would encounter next and whether she would prefer to fight it or to run away from it.
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Delixia takes a final swing at the manacles as she backs out of the room. Unfortunately despite the blow landing true it does no damage to the spirit infused cuffs.
As soon as Delixia is clear of the door frame Kisasi slams the rotted door closed and you all can her the manacles clatter to the stone floor. Thistle marks the door frame with chalk to indicate that a threat still remains within.
Delixia kicks the wall in frustration once she's out of the room? "C'mon! Seriously? What was that?! We could have taken that? "
Looking over the group she folds her arms on her chest, visibly frustrated.
Pushing off the wall with her fist, she shakes her head and moves the group back to the east where there are still unexplored room. Pushing through the open door and towards the double doors north of the entranceway. . She puts her ear to the door and listens for sounds on the other side.
Once the party is behind her and if there are no signs of trouble, she opens the doors.
"That is a prime example of why you should not have the healer in the lead! Why, I could have been chained to the wall for the rest of my very long life. Why would you do that? It's almost as if you don't want me along, DAY-LIX-EE-AH, which can't be the case because I have been more than helpful in both knowledgeable advice and in divine magics. Next time you get a thought in that tiny little brain of yours to manhandle me, DON'T!" The last bit was practically shouted by the little dwarf, and his face was a deep red that clashed garishly with his orange hair.
For much of Thistle's ranting, Delixia kept her back to the gnarf. Towards the end of his monologue however, she slowly spun back to face him. Towering above him she slow-blinked her eyes once before pursing her lips. With moderated authority she speaks in a partially clipped tone "If you're quite done informing the whole building of your concerns now, I beleive we should press onward. As Kisasi explains, we are not here for fun and and knowledgeable advice."
Clearing her throat as she opens the door she speaks with as much poise as she can muster. "Please do your best to try and stay behind me in the future."
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This flight of stairs once led down toward what must be a lower level, but it’s now filled with a mess of large stone blocks and shattered timbers.
"Wowee. That sure looks bad. I'd have hated to be on those stairs when they fell. Probably due to the fire. I understand that fire can make even stone unstable, as the heat expansion flexes the joins and causes undue stress. I guess we need to find another way down."
Smaranda shakes her head at Thistle's words. "This was not the fire. Someone did it on purpose."
"Hmm. Looks unsafe, I agree, let's find another way."
Pushing on, Del leads the way to the next set of doors.
Mihaela peers at the wreckage as Thistle rambles on.
"That's fascinating Thisty, how do you know so much about fire? She backs away from the now arsonist dwarf. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" She follows Delixia to the next set of doors. "Don't worry Del, we'll come back and figure something out with those chain...things.."
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Moving past the blocked stairwell you come to another door. The shadows continue to shift and dance about as Thistle moves along the hallway constantly sweeping things in and out of view leaving you all just a bit on edge knowing that anything could hide a spirit or haunt.
Opening this set of doors you find a set of wide stone stairs that ascend up into darkness.
Thistle continued to bob along in the middle of the pack, occasionally thrusting he head into a doorway or bending to look under something. When they came to the stairs, he shook his head. "I think we were meant to go down, not up!"
Looking back towards Thistle, Delixia responds to his statement. "You saw the mess the last stairway was in. Would you prefer we started clearing debris for next few days instead? This seems like a faster path to exploration."
"Well, I suppose that it is too much to ask that we pursue alternative means of decent, even unto exploring the ground floor fully before we move to another elevation. Fine, if we are going up, then up let's go. It's not as if we are exploring a decades-old ruin whose structural integrity may have been compromised by a fire or anything."
Muttering to himself, Thistle followed the others up the stairs.
Smaranda doesn't need Thistle's bobbing light as she makes her way up the stairs, prodding each step with her toes.
With no obvious threat, Delixia moves aside Kisasi and listens at the rotten wooden doors for any sounds or traps. Once she feels there is no obvious threat on opening the door, she'll relay the all clear and open the door for him.
Mihaela positions herself next to the door, unwilling to move up without a light source. "Does... this stairway even seem safe?" She watches Kisasi enter the stair and move nearly ought of site as she sees his dim image position himself at the top of the stairway.
"No, it doesn't. But then my objections have obviously been overridden, so I suppose we should carry on." Thistle motioned for the others to open the door.
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Thistle wanders up the stairs along with Mihaela. The stairs are surprisingly sound however dirty with cobwebs dotting along the edges. Delixia listens at the door and does not hear anything moving on the other side. opening the door you get some squeaking from rusty hinges.
This set of doors opens into a thirty foot long hallway. To the north you can see a long wooden table with a couple of benches. The table and benches are sitting askew. The area with the table looks like it may open into a larger room but from your current vantage point you can't tell for sure.
To the south you see a guard area that is blocked from the cellblock by an arc of iron bars. Within sits an old wooden table and a few chairs.
Holding her arm out to stop Kisasi from entering just yet, she leans into the room and slowly takes her time scanning for signs of danger. As she leans in she groans and grinds her teeth, the bloody gaping hole on the left side of her back finally catching up with her. If nothing catches her fancy she asks Thistle, "Do you mind applying some divine healing to this wound on my back before I enter?".
She removes her arm and lets Kisasi enter and follows directly behind him.
"Of course! Wait, you don't have any dhampir in your background do you?"
Not waiting for the answer, Thistle chanted a bit and sent a burst of healing energy into DAY-LIX-EE-AH, closing the wound completely.
Smaranda jumps as the gnarf heals Delixia, but the burning energy is not directed at her, so she relaxes a bit. The little talkative man was more dangerous to her than any spider or possessed clothing they might encounter here! Still a little nervous, she attempts to put some distance between herself and him, padding down the corridor and peeking around the corner.
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Thistle quickly and efficiently heals the gaping wound in Dexlixia's side. Freshly healed she now unbars the way into the second floor of Harrowstone. Scrambling away from Thistle as quickly as possible and moving to the north Smaranda takes a look around.
To the east Smaranda can see wooden benches once lined this large hall, but several are now stacked in a jumble and others are overturned in disarray. Weakened by fire, the entire east wall has collapsed away, creating an unintended entryway to a wooden deck beyond. The view of the lake beyond would be beautiful if the silence were not so eerie.
To the west Smaranda can see several doors and what appear to be possible hallways leading into the cell block.
While Smaranda moves ahead, Delixia bristles at the insinuation of being called a dhampir and stops dead in her tracks. Spinning back towards back on the gnarf she raises her voice a little beyond what one would typically use when sneaking about and talking in a close whisper. She stares down intently at Thistle and asks "Is that a joke? You find it funny to get me riled up, do you now? The mere accusation of insinuation that I am an abomination is just-"
She cuts herself off as recollection of her surroundings come back to her. She snorts and spins and stomps ahead once more.
"Oh, I dunno Dee, you are pretty dark sometimes. I think Smaranda smiles more than you." Mihaela quips, smiling at Smaranda, trying to lighten the mood.
Mihaela whispers to Kisasi, "What do you see?
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"It appears to be several cell doors and a guard post behind a half moon of iron bars. The guard post has a wooden table and chairs within. I suppose this was a cell to protect the guards while the prisoners had some space to congregate? Anyway, plenty to look through."
Then he heads back to join Smaranda. "Best we stick together."
Mihaela creeps forward toward the northwest and listens carefully at the door.
She beckons for the group to follow.
Delixia follows with the same routine of taking time to perceive the new areas before entering them, weapon at the ready for more undead trouble.
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Mihaela places her ear close to the rotted wooden door and hears nothing moving or making any noise within. Opening the door you are confronted with an old privy. Searching the room turns up nothing of interest or value.
The torch like light from atop Thistle's head has illuminated the hallway to his south and shows numerous cell doors.