Aliseya looks concerned. "Yeah, Zel... that's like, totally not naturally occurring."
And then, she sees the jewelry. "Oooh!" She excitedly goes over to browse for a while, but ends up in regret. I so wish I thought to dance last night, so I could afford a few of these.
Her attention span, befuddlingly short as it is, then instantly switches back to the statue and Zelda. The signs of anger begin to rise in her complexion, "But that means, like, somebody removed it Zel and... and..."
The gypsy collects herself, looks to the shopkeepers, and thanks them with a smile. "Oh I so promise to come back for those earrings! And those bracelets!" She then says to Mirelinza, "Might want to have a look at this," motioning to the statue. Then, in a lower voice, "We should discuss this. Outside. On our way to help Cell and Naught."
Suddenly, Aliseya finally notices the woman is holding a crossbow. Like... what in the Hells is up her butt? Get invaded by armies often?
You move to the entrance of the main building, at which point Naught, who followed you, grabs you by the wrist, warning about that the structure is not stable at all. What her instinct does not account for is that you are an elf -- with your light feet, at least this time you glide through the creaking wood, and Naught follows counting her steps, until you are finally capable of peering into the main building.
You gently displace a large wooden board covering the door, just enough for your to enter. The place is dusty and cluttered with debris, boxes, crates. You wonder if any flea will be around and crawl onto your boots and into your pants, and at that thought your legs start to hint at itching. The meager light that enters the foyer through the dislocated wooden board and through the crevices where the boards covering the windows fit seems to be enough for both of you to see clearly.
You two are now in a semicircular foyer, the 30-feet long straight wall in front of you displays a pair of well-treated oaken doors; the unvarnished wood displays good craftsmanship in its design, and seems to have resisted the years better than the rest of this hall. They are half-open, revealing a square room ahead of you, with another fine oaken door across.
From the inside, you see that the wooden boards over the windows covered stained glass, some of which still remains. Your imagination briefly takes you to a time when the diagonal checker pattern on the floor were waxed and fresh, the benches along the circular wall were well-treated and the sun shed its light into the white room through the colorful patterns on the stained glass. Alas, now it is all abandoned; the floor and the windows day and night sleep in secrecy in this darkened room.
Cellawyn seems to have disregarded the precarious state of where you are, as the hole foyer does look like it will fall apart any second now.
You notice that the dim light does not seem to affect Naught's vision, as you still notice her looking around at the ceiling and over the walls of this room.
Cellawyn remarks to Naught, "You seem to be able to see in the darkness? No human I know has had that ability. I can cast a light spell if necessary."
Cellawyn will search the room (taking 20 on the perception check). If she finds nothing, she moves on to the next room.
"Oh I'm just a night person, always have been. You can set a light if you need it, but just warn me before you do, stumbling around in here because of flash blindness would suck."
While Cellawyn searches the room Naught will do her best to stay on guard against that might trespass, flexing her fingers in grabbing motions at set intervals.
Mirelinza is aware she's going to be holding the others up soon. Funny how the one that didn't want to go shopping is now the one engrossed in the jewellery.
Mirelinza nods in approval at what is on display. "I'll take the circlet of gold. Oh, and the white gold ring too. We'll pop back later to look at your gems."
AShe flashes a smile at Aliseya. "OK, outside."
You start searching the room, while Naught is clearly apprehensive about staying there.
Your intuition is so flared up by the structural instability of this foyer that you can even visualize the ceiling curving down and starting to crumble on your heads.
You head out with Zelda, while you start to craft an invasion plan to loot this place. It is not really your intention to do so, but the crossbow did get you wondering... Indeed, it would be easy for anyone to escape into the woods north of Ravengro, past Lake Lias, or (for those who had nothing to lose) to head south towards the dreaded Virlych, or west, to the Hold of Belkzen.
The saleswoman knows better than to judge customers by their looks, so she states to you with a smile "Your total is two-hundred and fifty sphinxes with six measures and two weights." As soon as she states the shocking price, you realize that you may have underestimated the price of the ring, as the other items would amount to a mere 116 gp and 2 sp.
Fortunately Mirelinza isn't the blushing type. "Clearly I should have checked the price of the ring before agreeing to make the purchase. If you could hold on to this for me I would appreciate it. If another customer comes along, I'll understand if you need to sell it to them."
She's hoping not too many locals have over 100gp lying around - and if they did they would already have bought it.
"But I'll take the others now, thank you."
"Can we move on to the next room now please? I don't think this place likes us very much, it's already tried to kill both of us once." The flexing motions of her hands begin to speed up in their intervals.
Cellawyn nods at Naught as she completes her search. "Yes, let's keep moving."
She heads into the next room, weapon ready.
And Naught happily follows after.
As Mirelinza completes her purchase inside, Aliseya's attention span shifts like the wind yet again.
"Aww! Look!" she says to Zelda. She walks up to some of the dogs, smiling, making kissing sounds, and bending to pet them.
You do not even have time to start your search; a few seconds after you start an overview of the room, Naught pulls you into the next room.
You go through the partially-open oak doors and reach another foyer, this one immersed in pitch-dark (which does not seem to be an issue for either of you). Streaks of mold stain the walls of this foyer, and the floor below is a thick, gray carpet of fungal growth. Closed, sturdy wooden doors beckon from every wall, displaying oak of the same quality of the doors you just used to enter this foyer.
Certainly, many dogs still linger outside. The three of you come out with your newly-acquired accessories from The Silk Purse, but perhaps the topic of the professor's murder is ready to surface amidst you. You see that at this time the Goods store is starting to open (they seem to be starting business earlier today), but the Laughing Demon remains closed.
Aliseya has a thought. Kneeling before one dog, hands on her cheeks, the dog seems to smile back with the gypsy's massage, "Like... who takes care of all these poopie heads?"
She has another thought, after rubbing another dog's neck, "So anyway. What do you think of the statue?"
|
Zelda looks on as Aliseya begins to make friends with one of the strays.
I am glad she is making a new friend but I hope she doesn't make to many friends. Fleas are something I can do without
Zelda thinks for a moment then says "I think that statue did not fall off of the wall on its own. It was carefully removed from the side of the building to the front where the professor was standing and then dropped on him. I wonder who disliked the professor and why?
I do hope Kendra is not in any kind of danger!"
Her thoughts seem to be pulling her in several directions at once. Her new friends may be in danger, Kendra the professors daughter is inocent and unable to protect herself and who killed the professor. So many questions and no answers, yet. She shakes her head thinking One thing at a time Zelda, one thing at a time.
"It may be time to rejoin the others at the prison. Just in case they are getting themselves into more than they can handle."
Aliseya looks longingly at the Laughing Demon. "Yeah. Guess we should. Let's check on Kendra before we head out." Aliseya's expression grows pensive as she rubs another dog's belly who decided to turn over on its back. "Do you think we should tell her?"
The paladin, as ever, looks thoughtful. Finally prompted into speech by Zelda, she offers. "I stand by what I said before. There is a lot going on here and at the moment, the townsfolk think we're the cause and not the cure. Until we change that mindset, getting to the bottom of mysteries like this will prove difficult. The locals will have a lot to tell us - even if they don't know how important what they know is."
"But for now I think we need to make our way to the prison."
Her voice remains calm and clear - with an undercurrent that suggests she's a lot more worried than she's letting on.
Eyes darting back and forth from each of the doors Naught finally turns to Cellawyn. "Do you want to pick the next room or should I?"
Cellawyn studies each door, "We need to be vigilant. Let's listen at each door and then open each door in turn."
"Ooh, that's clever. I woulda just played Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." With that she follows and listens along with Cellawyn.
Naught goes to the right of the room to inspect the single door across from the one you decide to investigate first. You carefully incline your ear to the wood, but from less than an inch away you hear a whisper into your ears "Help me..." The voice sounds oddly clear, unmuffled by the wood, and as you come closer to listen then again the manly voice pleads "Please don't leave me for dead in here!" yet at this point you feel lips gently touch the lobe of your ear as they speak!
You jump back in astonishment, and it takes only a fraction of second for your eyes to move away from the ordinary-looking door and to meet Naught's, and the two of you agree with a glance that you heard someone whisper into your ears. Within a split of a second, you look again at the door and again you see only flat wood, then you look behind you... You notice that the oaken doors start to move, and they violently slam shut with a loud thud that plunges the room into complete darkness and rules out any other noise.
Your eyes quickly adapt to the near-total lack of light, and you see a sightless Cellawyn staring blankly and moving about, as sounds from come from each of the doors, as though someone had pushed them against their portals.
The room falls silent again, and the thick, moldy air in suspension starts to climbs heavily into your nostrils.
It's okay, it's just the memories and ghosts of this building acting up. Nothing malevelonent yet...
After taking a moment to steady herself she manages to say while keeping her voice as calm as possible, "Hold on a second before you trip." Walking over to the elf Naught will gently put both her hands around the elf's left. "I doubt the front door will let us out easy, just tell me where you want to go and I'll lead us over there."
"Yeah. Let's go." Aliseya heads down the road towards the prison...
Cellawyn takes several deep breaths to calm herself in the darkness, "First we need to make sure we have an egress route. See if you can open the door we came in through."
"Okies." With that Naught will carefully lead Cellawyn over to the entrance and, removing one of her hands from Cellawyn's, attempt to open the door.
You try to open the door, but it is shut tight. Even if you try to push harder, under the current circumstances, you will realize that the door stands stronger than you.
The smell of smoke that stuck to the walls of the building starts to be more noticeable, now that the air you breathe comes almost exclusively from inside this foyer.
"Hmm, in that case which door do you think will lead to window, Cello?
Cellawyn casts a light spell on the tip of her rapier. "The door immediately to our left has the best chance of circling back. But, why don't you open all the doors and see if you feel a draft from any of them, which would indicate access to an open window."
Cellawyn will check the front door that Naught just tried to open and will attempt to discern whether it is mechanically or magically locked.
Taking a moment to adjust to the sudden increase in brightness she'll quickly nod and move to the first door on the left and open it a crack, checking for any drafts or coolness before making her way around to each of the doors and doing the same until she notices anything.
You swiftly move towards the door your heard the voice from, and as soon as you realize it is also stuck, you notice Cellawyn's hand motion for you to give up, a signal that attempting to open that door, in fact, any door, would be futile.
Shortly after you signal to Naught to spare her energies, you notice that from each of door a faint light-blue aura emanates like a thin fog and dissipates into the dim-lit air of the foyer. That is the aura of what humans call Abjuration.
Her shoulders slumping she lets out a hrumph of disdain. "So what do we do now?"
Cellawyn walks the perimeter of the room scanning for anything of interest, "Perhaps the spirit that spoke to us can assist with the doors."
Cellawyn returns to the door where she heard the voice, "We are here to help you. What is your name? Where are you? What happened to you? Can you open the doors?"
Naught says nothing but her eyes dance about the room as Cellawyn inquires the darkness.
You wait for an answer from the doors, and none comes.
After walking around the room in an attempt to find a way out, both of you again decide to push doors, and you realize that they start to gently give in as though they are not locked, but then you feel hands come from the wood to interlace with your fingertips. As soon as you feel these very warm hands grab you, and you pull them back, startled, you turn your attention to the doors and see people's faces emerge from the wood, as if under a thin veil. The distorted visages all speak at the same time, with a variety of tones and accents, some whispering, some in low voice "Let us flee, please!", "The smoke is burning my throat and my heart!", "Don't let me die here!", "Me don't wanna to die!" while the others sob or cry in hopeless distress.
Then silence ensues, and you remain trapped in the foyer.
[Overridden due to board re-posting/re-rolling issue; original result: (6) + 2]
[Overridden due to board re-posting/re-rolling issue; original result: (12) + 3]
[Overridden due to board re-posting/re-rolling issue; original result: (3)]
[Overridden due to board re-posting/re-rolling issue; original result: (5) + 1]
Cellawyn wipes the sweat from her brow and turns to Naught, "We must be brave and press on. Try to ignore the voices and hallucinations."
She once again checks the door that they came in through. If it opens, she draws a dagger and uses the short blade to wedge the door open.
She then proceeds to open the left most door.
All doors remain shut tight. You may try to resort to more brute force, or you can simply give up and hope that someone will come to your rescue...
"We may have no choice but to force the door open. Naught, you are stronger than me, I will try to aid you.""
At Cellawyn's words Naught pushes through her malaise and attempts to force the door open.
But collapses in a heap of cold sweat right afterward. "Stupid plant..."
As the young ladies begin to walk down the road, Aliseya stops suddenly. Turning back to them, "Say. Maybe we should, like, rent a couple of horses. I think the inn over there has some horses," as she points down the road to the Outward Inn. "I'm thinking, Naught and Cell probably took Kendra's guys to the prison? And it's a bit of a trek to get to the prison on foot..."
Mirelinza nods in agreement. "I have coin if we need it - and something makes me think that time is a commodity we can't take for granted."
Cellawyn stares at the stuck door with frustration. "Let's also try to pull open the other doors."
Panting and nodding along Naught will go along with Cellawyn to the other doors and attempt to force them open.
Aliseya smiles, "Don't worry, Zel. We only need two anyway, you could ride with me. Or maybe we can rent a horse and cart? After tonight's show, maybe I can buy a horse. And a new skirt. Or, maybe just a new skirt. Or two. In red. With laced trim..."
You go around the room, unsuccessfully trying to push and pull the doors open. After great physical effort, you manage to open the door next to where you entered this foyer, however, the door you pushed yielded immediately, as though it had not been stuck at all.
You enter a small hallway and soon realize that the door to your right leads back to the foyer. The modest light that enters the room through the cracks between the wooden planks covering the barred windows reveals that this area had four offices, perhaps more round the corner. The first office, to your right, may have been a clerks office with a counter separating it from the foyer. The counter no longer exists. You see pieces of parchment and paper lying around as though they had been searched through in old days, as a carpet of dust is evenly lain over the whole floor. The doors to the offices have also disappeared, chairs and desks are broken, overturned or missing. Stacks and heaps of paper are around and about -- folders, binders, piles of documents, loose sheets...
It looks like the place was looted decades ago, most likely shortly after the fire sealed Harrowstone's fate of abandonment.
You arrive at the Harrowstone grounds, to find Jod and Thunderbolt, as Aliseya had predicted. Neither them, nor Kendra were at the Lorrimor place when you passed buy, but you decided to push on to the prison.
You leave your two horses near the entrance, close to Petros's and Kendra's mounts, and walk the rest of the way, perhaps to look for Cellawyn and Naught. After some thirty feet of walk towards the areas of interest of the prison, Zelda points out to the two of you two things that catch the eye:
- destroyed vines where the Xtabay is, and the corpse of a small person;
- a glint of light coming and going from inside the prison main building, through the cracks between the planks covering the barred windows of the left hand-side of the south façade.