The steel lockbox does indeed have an aura of magic about it to Vashta's arcane sight. The pale blue-white hues of an abjuration spell leak out from the seam where the box's lid meets the sides.
The box has been sealed with an arcane lock spell.
"Magic!" Vashta exults. "Some sort of abjuration ... which tends to be protective magics.
" ... but I'm not sure what spell it is," she ruefully admits, face falling. "Damn!"
So much more to learn, and so little time.
Hearing that, Mariana casts her own detect magic and gazes at the box for a bit.
"Huh, it's sealed with an Arcane Lock spell. Odd..."
Mariana gives it her all, hoping to disable the lock, despite the spell.
Mariana threw a glare at Storn to tell him to back off, then set to work with a few small tools. After a minute or so, she felt the resistance give. The lid popped open to reveal a small collection of potions, scrolls, and a small hand crossbow. Several of the potion vials were shattered, likely from previous attempts to open the chest with brute force, and had ruined a couple of scrolls in turn.
Mariana
Molly
Quill
Storn
Vashta
Yelena
rats
While Mariana was still pulling items out of the chest, a hard scrabble could be heard from around the corner. A quartet of rats came running around the corner, swarming over the startled people there and nipping at their heels and ankles. fortunately, armor and clothing dissuaded the worst of the damage, leaving only a few scratches and some lingering disgust.
"I LOVE this place!" exults Storn before he swings out at the nearest rat in an attempt to skewer it and use it to beat the other rats.
Molly mutters arcane phrases and makes a pass in the air which takes in the charging rats -- then finishes with a single Word of Power: "Somnus!" An unnatural lassitude assaults the rats' minds...
Molly focuses her weird eyes on one of the rats and fills its rodent brain with fear and doubt...!
Mariana turns to the see the rats and curses quietly to herself. Then she stands and pulls her bow out again, shaking her head. "Well isn't this just lovely..."
"Let loose the dogs of war," Vashta quotes, smiling at the obvious glee Storn and Yelena have at the rats.
She backs up, back into the room of fiery death, to avoid getting splattered with the carnage.
The rats were easy kills, with Quill and Yelena taking out one, and Storn painting the walls red with the remains of a second. The two remaining rats ineffectually bit at Mariana and Storn before they too were dispatched. Peeking around the corner where the rats had come from, Mariana saw a stairway leading down.
"You know, I once saw a terrier corner a rat in a wagon back home. It finally caught the little vermin, and just shook and shook it. That little dog had so much fun with that rat. Not sure why this reminded me of that, but it probably had something to do with the rats..." Vashta observes distractedly as she looks at the scrolls and potion to see if she can make heads or tails of them.
"Shall we see what's downstairs? I don't know how Rodrik or anyone would have maneuvered around all these ... things ... but there might be something else important down there."
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Quill gingerly steps over dead and splattered rats to move to X21, keeping an eye on the downbelow while other look at magics and scrolls.
"Yeah, we should definitely go down here...I think," Quill says.
While he waits, he examines the stairs going up and down for signs of recent use.
Survival - tracking
"I saw ratting pits back home," Molly says in response to Vashta's words. "Ugly sight; pits of terrified rats and the betting men would put in a terrier and see which one could kill most in a set period."
Then the Kellid girl grins nastily.
"One big, red rat bit one of those terriers on the nadgers instead of running around and squeaking, then ran up its back when the mutt tried to get out of the pit. Rest of the rats followed it right out."
Mariana led the way down the stairs, with Storn and Yelena close behind. The stairs had a switchback halfway down, and opened into a dark subterranean chamber. Doorways at the northeast and western corners of the room offer exits. A niche in the southern wall held a statue of sorts. The basement area is dark, except for the minimal amount of light spilling down the stairway.
Mariana reaches into her pouch and pulls out a small stone, releasing it, the small stone erupts with light and begins floating around her head, creating a fullness in the light.
Taking time, Mariana studies each item that remains intact, using her magic to study it all.
Then she casts read magic to look at each of the scrolls.
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Quill adds what little magic he knows to enlighten the others. He casts a quick prayer and a little ball of light appears where he touches. In this case, the top of his head.
He moves to M8 and examines his surroundings.
Perception
He also looks for tracks, wondering if others have been through recently.
Survival
Vashta and Mariana both agree that the scroll contain the spells barkvision and ghostbane dirge, respectively. Neither, however, could determine what the potion was for.
Quill's light seemed extraordinarily bright in the darkened rooms of the basement. He pushed past the others on the stairs, intent on checking out the rooms. Looking into the niche on the south wall, he saw another statue of Iomedae, holding her sword in a pose of peace, with both hands wrapped around the hilt. But then he stopped and looked again. The sword wasn't part of the statue. Instead, it seemed to be a real sword just slotted into the statue's grip, and inexpertly at that, sitting at an awkward angle.
Molly casts two spells of her own, one of which causes floating orbs of light to appear, and the other which causes her eyes to glow slightly.
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Quill gingerly picks up the sword from the statue. He takes a few swings with it to make sure it's solid and not made of stone.
"Look what I found!" Quill says, happy to hand the sword off to anyone who wants it...if not, he will tuck it in his belt.
Quill looks down the hallways from M7, using his light and elven eyes to see what he can see.
Perception
With his greatsword lit, Storn stomps along happily with the group. He takes a brief moment to inspect the potion.
"Nice sword, plus that may annoy Iomedaeans, which I can only support."
Storn holds up his sword, peering out after Quill.
Shaking her head, "How long have you been in this town, Storn? A disdain towards Iomedae seems like something that would not be looked kindly upon in these parts..." she trails of to silence as she continues to look about.
"That's probably why he acts this way," Molly says to Mariana. "Looking for a fight..."
Looking at the blade, Yelena can immediately see that it is extremely well made. The masterwork quality is evident, even to her apprentice eyes.
Looking down the northern corridor, Quill sees a portcullis blocking entry in to a good-sized room. On the floor of the room is a mosaic of a large white longsword.
"When you kill as many orcs as I do, people will put up with a lot," grins Storn, showing his jagged yellow teeth.
Storn stomps over to the portcullis, sheathes his sword, and lets out a roar as he tries to lift it.
"Gah! I must do penance and pray harder. Or use the winch if we can find it."
The Varisian woman continues to follow the others, looking around for any signs of what could have happened to Rodrik and what this place has to do with it.
"Perhaps you and Yelena together could lift it?"
Vashta and Mariana both agree that the scroll contain the spells barkvision and ghostbane dirge, respectively. Neither, however, could determine what the potion was for.
Wishing for luck to not fail them all, she follows the heavy hitters of the group as she fiddles with her wrist sheath nervously. "Does anyone else..." she trails off when she sees what is beyond Quinn and Storn. The white sword there. "We might not have all our answers...but I think we are on the right trail now... Yelena...Perhaps if you and Storn worked together...or," she begins to look around for a lever or release for the portcullis.
"A competition! Come on Yelena, let's see if we can lift this thing before Mariana finds the mechanism."
Storn grins over at Yelena and tries to waggle the portcullis enticingly.
"This will be as exciting as watching field rats scatter when the boys go try to get dinner," Vashta notes, looking around to see if she can find the mechanism.
Looking around, Mariana and Vashta scoured the stones of the hallway's walls looking for the release for the portcullis. They had no luck. Either the portcullis controls were extremely well hidden or, more likely, they were in the room on the other side.
"Well, I guess it's up to Quill and Storn, then. Lady? Gentleman?"
"None of the above," Molly mutters under her breath, smirking a bit.
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"I guess it's up to Quill and Storn, then. Lady? Gentleman?"
Quill eyes narrow briefly at Vashta. Sexist much?
He looks at his own puny arms, then at Yelena's forge-carved beauts and the huge weapon she carries.
"Maybe Yelena might be the better choice...either for opening it up or smashing it down. I'm pretty sure a few smashes will open that gate too."
"Or fire. Fire might work as well."
"Huh? Oh, yes, Yelena. Sorry, what did I say?"
Storn shrugs and turns to the others.
"Frankly, these things aren't built to be lifted up, even by mighty warriors such as Quill and myself. It's just fun to try. Let's explore the rest. I can wreck my sword on this thing later."
Yelena smirked as she yanked upwards with all her prodigious strength. It felt as if she was trying to lift the South Tower all by herself. As Storn commented, portcullises were intended to prevent exactly the actions she was trying to take.
Storn stomps over to the west door, looks it over, and yanks it open.
"You know I've never actually seen a trap? I'm pretty sure they're make-believe."
Storn carefully squints at the door before deciding that it was indeed a door, and slammed the door inwards, much to Mariana's disgust. Peering inside the room, Storn saw that the wall were covered with small niches, each containing a burial urn of brass, clay, or fired ceramic. Some of these were cracked and broken, but some looked intact.