"Good to know it's one of those jobs," Nezos notes when the assistant discourages looting and destruction. "I'd rather be told beforehand. And I think I'm up to putting some fiends down. Shall we be off?"
Upon getting closer to the house, he retrieves a large, rough-hewn shield from behind his back and readies his sword, unnecessarily long at nearly 4 feet.
"Yes, let's. Do you have items that are good against fiends?"
Good to meet you Nezos. I am Rowane, servant of Abadar. Do not worry, I will make sure we are paid what we are worth. The scales shall always be balanced when Abadar places the worth" Rowane says placing his hand upon his golden holy symbol.
"Oh,we are moving on to the cave then?" He ask Temperance.
"This blade is forged from cold iron," Nezos replies, hefting the massive thing again. "Hurts dev...no, demons. Difficult to recall sometimes. Sounds as if we're up against either/or? I'll still be able to hurt devils, if not as well."
"Nice to meet you, Rowane. Abadar and his followers are good for their word. Plenty likable enough, too, in my experience."
Nezos, the manor is of relatively new construction, with three above-ground stories (the top story appears to be an observatory dome, smaller in footprint than the two stories beneath it). There are scorch marks on the porch, and the incinerated remains of a kobold.
There are a pair of guards outside the door (and well off the porch); they assure you that they've seen no one go in or out since you left. Arien, you are pretty certain that the trap has not been reset.
"Nice place," Nezos notes, poking at the former kobold with a boot. "Was this one us or them? Either way...impressive."
"One of them. Nasty little buggers." Rowane says turning his nose up.
Nezos, it's clear that the wizard who lived here was quite well-off, and enjoyed his creature comforts. The furnishings all appear to be expensive.
"Of course he was. There must be some clause in each one's spellbook that has them swear to be as difficult as possible. Never found it in the fair few I've seen, though." Regardless of intention, Nezos doesn't seem to instantly like mages.
Temperance follows up behind the two elven types. "Books are sometimes their own subjects," he says, looking very serious.
Arien's caution proves unnecessary (as far as she can tell) when the stairway does not appear to be trapped. It ascends into a lushly furnished library; the room features three tall bookcases running north to south down the center of the chamber, and another bookcase of iron in the northeast corner. A stuffed grizzly bear towers in the northwest corner, posed with claws and fangs bared aggressively. The east wall features sixteen gilt-framed paintings showing exotic locations.
A ladder on the west wall leads up to a trap door in the ceiling. There are also doors in the east and west walls.
Nezos ambles around the room, coming close to poking the bear with his sword while the more academic study the maps. Should it not come to life and tear his throat out, he then joins them in the search. The maps, the books, each door in turn.
Rowane enters the room behind the others. With nothing really to take notice of he moves through to the other door.
The bulk of the books seem to be well-made, but nothing special to Nezos' relatively untrained eye. There's something about the iron bookcase that worries the half-elf, though.
Temperance draws his sword and moves near Nezos, looking at the fighter's face as he scans the bookcase. "Could it be a trap?" he asks quietly.
"Hard to say, but it has me on edge," Nezos replies, uneasily. He turns to Rowane, beckoning him over. "Could you scan it for magic? I know the theory, don't have the power."
The elf looks over the lock once Nezos has pointed it out, realizes that Nezos spotted the tiny opening where the poison needle would pass, and skillfully disarms it. The lock still does not open, but you recall the item recovered from the birdcage downstairs. It serves to open the arcane lock.
There are a total of sixteen books on the iron bookcase: thirteen are astronomy-related texts, while the other three detect as magical.
Temperance immediately begins skimming through the astronomy texts, looking for anything about caves. He affects an air of a seasoned astronomer, although of course, he is not.
There is unfortunately nothing about caves in the texts, at least the ones that Master Temperance can read.
"Hmmm...yes...and no," says Temperance, vaguely. "Why would our late wizard friend be so interested in the stars? The timing of something, perhaps?"
Nezos' hand hovers over the magical books. "Timing of magic always sounds important, a bit concerning," he says. "But are these okay to touch?"
Rowane hands the key over to our resident trap master...just in case.
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”I’ll be back for you“ Arien tells the arcane lock with a smirk. Checking the rugs and doors for more traps, and setting about the door locks with her picks. “I don’t know what’s worse - all the places he put traps, or all the places their are none; Hunclay’s paranoia haunts me, even in death.”
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Arien notes no traps on the rug and floor.
The western door is untrapped and unlocked.
The eastern door likewise appears untrapped, but is locked. When Arien attempts to open the door, however, a high-pitched scream fills the air.
Having been taken by surprise once, Arien carefully reexamines the door. This time, the elf spots the well-concealed magical trap, and is able to determine that it will not automatically reset. The door is sealed by magic, but the token you carry unlocks it.
Temperance takes a peek past the door that Arien gets open.
The gnome can see an apparent study/laboratory. Two long oak tables, heavily stained in spots, line the east wall. There are alchemical supplies cluttering the tables' surfaces. There's a desk in the wall you're looking through. On it are two neat stacks of vellum, a pen holder, three bottles of ink of different colors, and several scrolls. Just north of the desk, a large chest sits on the floor. The chest is secured with a prominently visible lock.
"Not my kind of magic. And that's our previous housekeeper?" Nezos says, certain the other half-elf is doing a better job. "Paranoia always tends to be a factor, but I suspect a double dose was involved here."