I agree. Lets just take a walk around the outside first, skirt the place and get a better sense of its size. There's also yonder building to consider. Is it a storage shed or some such?
"Well, that's actually right there. Maybe we should check it first." Janos steps inside the gate and looks around while waiting for the rest to cross inside.
Tibideau pulls out a scroll from his bag and reads out a jolly rhyme in some unintelligible old language. An explosion of lime green sparkles fire off the page and surround him.
Drosil follows Janos into the compound, drawing his blades and looking around nervously.
Janos has a sudden rush of claustrophobia and the split-second sensation that his skin is on fire as he enters the prison. He feels a momentary surge of panic in his gut, but pushes it stoically back down.
Drosil begins making his way to the small building nearby , being careful not to make any noise as he approaches.
Janos suddenly has a wild look in his eyes and they darts back and forth almost in panic. He tugs at the collar of his shirt, stretching it nearly to ripping and he begins to sweat. Just as suddenly as it came, however, it's gone, leaving him breathing hard.
What was that? Some after effect of the fire? My dream? Maybe just fear of being here? Calm down, Janos. Just follow the others and shake it off.
Janos stops momentarily, letting the others get ahead of him slightly and then he continues with the group.
As Drosil makes his way to the house, he can see an old stone tower, its wooden roof collapsed and its crumbling walls thick with ivy, extends a further ten feet above the twenty- foot-high wall to his left.
The small brick manor house is overgrown with thick sheets of gray-green ivy. The roof sags ominously, and the front door hangs askew.
To his right a two-story stone building looms in the center of the prison grounds. Ivy and moss cling tenaciously to the walls, while above the wooden shingles of the roof are often missing entirely, exposing the wooden rafters of the upper structure to the sky. Here and there, leering stone gargoyles perch on the eaves, once functioning as drainspouts and decorations but now seeming almost to serve a more ominous role of sentinels. Many of these stone decorations have crumbled away and lie in ruined piles on the soggy ground below. Windows in the building’s facade are narrow and blocked by grills of rusty iron bars. Stone columns support a slumping wooden balcony over the building’s wooden front doors, both of which hang askew and reveal dark glimpses of chambers within.
B'yelka gives a warning in a dramatic stage whisper, "We need to be very careful if we go into these buildings. More than our shoes are at stake here."
Seeing Janos stumble slightly, Tibideau frowns. What shenanigans are afoot now?
Pulling his coat tighter against some sudden chill, Anton moves into the grounds.
Where shall we start?
B'yelka says, "The side house most likely is a servants or guards quarters, at least that is what it would be in any normal place. The main house probably houses the secrets we need to know. Unless you are set on entering just to be sure it is empty." With the completely obvious stated, she waits for a decision. Hurry, or you will be following me into the main house!
Anton starts walking slowly around the building, somewhat disconnected by the size of the site. He makes his way toward East side first and then back around to the West. He is specifically looking for the place the professors body was found.
Janos nods at B'yelka's words. "That one could collapse any minute. He points at the smaller structure. "Still, if you do want to search it, it wouldn't take long. We just have to be careful inside."
With an exasperated, and maybe exagerated, sigh, B'yelka tells the ranger, "Fine. Hurry. Please."
As he strides past the bard Anton says;
Look at this place B'yelka. And remember what occurred here. Are you really that eager to kick down the front door? Let's just take things slowly, and safely.
No. I am not eaqer to kick down the door, but I am eager to be done here. This place feels as rotten as the rest of Ustalav. Maybe more." The smile she flashes to Anton is probably more sinister than she intends, Don't act like a novice, girl. You are a Prima Donna acting like you are fighting stage fright!
"I'd not leave any stone unturned. To that end, let's explore the manor house, then the towers and the grounds, and finally the large building." Drosil thinks back, "The professor was killed by a falling gargoyle, right? Since the only gargoyles I see are on the large building, and it is the prison proper, I think it's safe to say that's where we'll have the most problems."
"Alright then, let's see what the smaller building has." Janos moves over to the entrance of the smaller building. He looks up at the creaking timbers. "Ready? Let's try not to pull this down on top of us."
So Drosil and Janos go into the small manor house to give it a look. It's in horrible shape, crumbling to bits and full of rotten furniture and sagging walls. It will take them several minutes to explore the house thoroughly.
About three minutes in they are creeping along an upper story hallway when the floor suddenly gives way under them.
Janos ankle is twisted badly , it swells up huge and purple and is extremely painful. There's still about two thirds of the house left to explore.
Drosil helps Janos out of the building and hands him off to the others. "If you think it's worthwhile, I'm willing to go back in. I think I'm probably the best equipped to search, considering the state of the building. I don't really want to leave it unexplored, but if nobody else thinks it's worth the risk, I'll do without."
B'yelka does her best to conceal an 'I-told-you-so' smirk, and instead offers to help Janos with his injury. "Do you need some care for your ankle, Janos?"
Don't risk it, Dros. That whole place was creaking when you were in there and Janos' injury could have been a lot worse. Come on then, we can't put it off forever. Let's try the door. Janos, Dantrian - would you care to do the honors?
Nocking an arrow to his bow he says;
I have you covered.
"Damn it!" Janos comes hobbling out of the building, leaning on Drosil. The ranger grimaces and nods at B'yelka.
He flinches when the singer touches his ankle, but soon he feels warmth and the purples bruises fade. "Much better. Thank you, my Lady."
He looks at the Fletchling. "I think you'd better continue without me. You're much lighter on your feet. Evidently, those timbers won't hold my weight. Just be careful and get back here if you ru into any trouble."
Drosil looks to Anton. "Thanks, Anton, but if there are clues in there, I'm going to find them."
Confirming that Janos is safe with the rest of the group, Drosil ventures back into the house, being a bit more careful this time.
Less than a minute after he reenters the house, A chunk of the ceiling falls and bashes Drosil on the head.
Ow! Of all the... Drosil calls out to the rest of the party, "I'm okay, don't worry...hardly any blood, even..."
Several more cave-ins occur with increasing regularity the longer Drosil spends in the house.
Drosil, get out of there! The whole thing is going to come down on you!
Dantrian visibly flinches as the sounds of collapse echo from within the structure.
Of all the hare-brained ideas I've had, this has got to be the worst...
"Oh, for the love of...This is ridiculous!" "Who stole the FLOOR?!?" "Remember, if you guys have to come in here - do NOT jump over the missing steps. It does NOT work out well in the end."
"Okay, I admit it - this was a bad idea. Fortunately, I'm too stupid to stop!"
Eventually, nose bloodied and skin scraped, with several colors of dust covering his dark skin, he emerges from the house.
Janos moves around the bottom of the fragile building, trying to spot Drosil through any of the windows. But the Fetchling just keeps darting throughthe building, seemingly bringing more and more of it down. "He's going to kill himself in there!" Janos warns the others, but just then Drosil emerges, covered in dust.
Janos laughs. "Is there anything left in there? I thought the whole things was coming down on your head!"
B'yelka finds herself worried for Drosil, hand at her throat she stifles a gasp. Once he emerges she calls him over, "And now you silly man, how bad are you hurt?" She reaches into her sash and pulls out a horn tube, and from that a scroll. She reads the incantation, melodious and steady. The bruises and abrasions on Drosil's limbs fade with preternatural speed. When she is done, she claps the ash of the burned scroll from her gloves and asks Drosil, "Is anything other than your pride still hurt?"
"I see them too, Anton." The Diva leans in to examine them, thinking to the lessons on magical writings and wards that Dantrian taught her. She offers up ideas to Dantrian as he examines the runes. "A warding spell? That would make sense, to prevent travel and clarivoyance in or out of the prison. Can you imagine anything worse than one of these madmen getting help from a Devil?" With a practiced exagerration she shudders as if from revulsion.
Janos helps Drosil dust himself off and then comes over to where Anton and B'yelka are studying the runes.
He squints at the carved runes on the stones and tries to remember back to his lessons. He tries to remember the intricate symbols on the musty pages in Alicia's books.
The runes themselves are written in Varisian, and among numerous magical incantations, repeat the name Lyvar Hawkran dozens of times. Although the runes no longer radiate magic, Janos determines that they seem to have been part of a larger ritual that involved both abjuration and necromantic magic.
Looking into the window east of the door Anton can see part of a long room containing several rows of wooden benches, all spotted with mold and sagging with neglect. They face a stage walled off from the rest of the room by a wall of iron bars. The window he's looking through is at the rear of the stage.
Tibideau frowns even more as the building collapses around Drosil. Seeing that B'yelka has offered to heal the party members, he holds back for now.
The others have to point out the runes to Tibideau, who seems a bit distracted. When Janos tells them some complicated ritual was performed here, he shivers and giggles. "Hmm... perhaps there is more evidence of necromancy to be found elsewhere on the grounds!"