No traps or other dangers are found by William or Melufiuos on the way down the iron rungs. The elf also tosses a sunrod into the water, but the illuminated depths reveal nothing underneath the surface. With the all clear, Halkale then lowers Frostfur via the harness the wolf wears. The rest of the group follows, including Tilly who still seems quite eager to find her family while staying as close to William and/or Quiella as possible.
Melufiuos discovers one of the robes is magical, radiating a moderate necromancy aura.
There does not seem to be any sort of drainage system, although no one has explored underwater yet in detail. The way the room is set up, it would appear that the water is supposed to be there. The robes are on the eastern dais, hanging from hooks.
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Mel goes over and studies the robe , puts it on, and reveals to the party what it is. "I assume none of us can control undead, eh? Too bad, we could have sent one of these suckers to check out the culvert... they don't need to breath or anything.."
At Valik's question, Mel goes over to his porter and checks the gear... "I've got a porter. Why in the heck don't I have a 10 foot pole?" After pausing a second, "Maybe some furniture from upstairs? Curtain rod or something?"
William attempts a controlled dog paddle, but finds himself just splashing around in place.
William and Melufiuos both head under the surface of the water and look at the culvert. It appears to open to a 5' X 5' water-filled tunnel that heads 40' to the south and ends in wall.
Meanwhile, Halkale and Frostfur swim to the dais and onto dry stone.
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"That's an interesting object," Ophelia muses, peering at William's Numerian device. "In all my studies, I've not seen its like."
When Mel identifies the robe and announces it for what it is, her eyes darken in the shadows from her wayfinder. "Do not joke of using the undead in such a way," she says stiffly. "That robe is unnatural and should be destroyed, just like the abominations it creates."
As the others begin to scout ahead, the priestess waits with Quiella, also uncertain about how to approach the problem in her armour.
William stays submerged for sometime as he explores the underwater culvert passage. At the end of the tunnel, he finds an obscured entrance which leads to what appears to be a large circular pool. Whatever else is above the surface of the pool is difficult to tell while still submerged.
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William catches his breath and then returns to the party. "There is another opening up ahead, 40 ft out. I have not explored further since it would be tactical folly to make additional offensive movements without support, so with that I have a proposal. I believe Melufios and I would have no trouble making our way to the far side, so if the two of us bring across one end of a rope, we should be able to pull the more heavily armored of our contingent through the tunnel without any significant risks of drowning. It is a short enough swim that with enough coaxing Halkale's puppy should be able to join us as well."
William attempts to give Frostfur a little scratch on the head.
Frostfur doesn't seem particularly happy with the idea of more swimming, let alone becoming submerged.
After a few minutes and the help of some rope, the entire group manages to make it through the underwater tunnel into the next room. Emerging from the water, with the only light provided being from Melufious' sunrod or whatever magical sources of illumination the group brings, the pool appears to be a large cistern. The water rises up to the height of the floor and directly above it there is a hole in the ceiling with a bucket hanging from it. Twenty feet to the northwest is a pair of double doors.
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"Well... Lets get everyone up and dry and we can move forward."
William walks up to the double doors and takes a peek for traps and a listen for guards.
He then motions for someone else to verify his findings as he retrieves his musket from his pack and carefully dries out the barrel. He checks to make sure his powder horn has sprung no leaks, and then reloads the weapon. Once everyone is up and at least one other person has confirmed that it is safe to move forward, William will take point and open the door, musket at the ready.
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While trying to catch his breath and dry off, Mel complains to himself"OK, why did I think this was a good idea?"
He tries to get a view through the hole in the ceiling. He assumes it is one of the rooms in the house and wonders if we've seen it yet. Is it the kitchen?
He then takes a look around and checks for traps by the door.
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"Why because it was a tactically sound idea. The fiendish incursion in this wretched abode certainly has endeavored to protect and reinforce any obvious entrances to their entrenched positions. When one possesses a limited number of troops, a safe wager would be to place smaller contingents guarding secret entrances. Worst case, we face our foes no differently than we would have before. Best case, we face our foes with the element of surprise. Most definitely a course of action worth taking."
He watches Melufiuos as he thoroughly inspects the door for traps with a degree of sincere appreciation for his work. "Have you perchance considered the way of the Arcane Trickster? I have heard of mages who specialize in chicanery by deftness of palm in addition to arcane incantation... and you seem as though you already have a degree of expertise in the matter."
Melufiuos is confident that the hole in the ceiling does indeed to lead to the kitchen area where you saw a well earlier.
Neither William nor Melufious find any traps on the door nor hear any guards, so the techslinging human leads the way into the next room.
Inside the cold stone room, you find empty 21 cots sitting in rows. There is no sign of current occupants. A stairwell leads up a wooden door. Moving up the stairs and past the door, you realize they connect to the first floor sitting room.
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Frostfur surfaces and swims to the dry ground, shaking herself vigorously. She eyes Halkale as he steps from the water. A soft growl rumbles from her as she stares at him, almost like she is disappointed with him making her do that.
Halkale gazes back at her and nods his head and then makes a hand gesture, which seems to make her less agitated.
"F-F-Frostfur is not happy about t-t-this, she m-m-might have figured she'd g-g-get to chew on s-s-something if we were going through all t-t-this."
He restrings his bow and readies himself to follow the lead of the group.
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Quiella wrings the water out of her hair and then ties it back. "I can't say I ever want to do that again."
She looks uneasily at the doorway that leads to rooms they've already passed through. "I won't have to do it again, right?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"Twenty-one cots... I fear we shall expect to face twenty-one foes."
William will carefully and methodically go through cot by cot, looking for any personal effects left behind that could give a clue as to who inhabits this place.
"Well Quiella, if that staircase leads up above as expected then we should not need to swim through again, however we may wish to secure the secret exit to ensure none of our foes can escape through it."
William will look around for something to bar the secret door with, then swim down and secure that exit before heading back upstairs to continue the search.
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Hearing the distress in Quellia's words, the young elf goes down on one knee to be at eye level with the paladin, "No. It appears that we found two alternate paths to the same secret area. Both of them unpleasant," he frowns. A thought strikes him and he laughs, "and I guess you got the worst of it both times. Ops, sorry." he blushes and apologizes. "We should go back through the closet, but this time, we make sure we don't get hit with any more arrows."
To the soldier, "I've thought about it a lot. But there are so many things I want to do, even an elf's lifetime isn't long enough. In fact I only recently decided to stay focused on my current course. "
-Posted with Wayfinder
The cot room contains only the barest of comforts. These include thin blankets, hard pillows, and cheap framing.
With a little divine guidance, Melufiuos swims to the secret door in the cistern and manages to bar it closed.
* * *
Returning to the second floor bedroom and then climbing down the iron rungs again, the party finds itself back where it started from in the robe room. A search of the eastern double doors yields no traps or sounds, so the group progresses beyond them. A set of steep stairs lead down to a hallway that continues to the east while also forming a 'T' with a passage to the south. The way further east is blocked by a metal portcullis. The way to the south leads to another steep staircase which takes you to a 50 foot long hallway with a horrifying mural of the Nine Hells covering the entirety of the 50-foot-by-20-foot west wall.
Also over the the southern passage is a balcony 10 feet up. You can see a desk and a chair standing facing the mural and some arcane writing on the floor, although to decipher the latter you would need to get a closer look.