As Maurie rolls onto the floor by what appears to be a hole the boards splinter and crack beneath her weight, but seem to just about hold.
Thanks to Zove's advice Grok's blow manages to pierce the spiders carapace biting deep and eliciting a chittering protest from the immense arachnid.
It looks like the floor has fallen away in the corner and the floor beside it looks to be unstable the fire damaged boards creaking and straining under even Maurie's weight...
"I am OK, just don't follow me out here." Maurie calls back.
"I guess being small and light has some advantages after all."
Brin delays his action and the wounded spider lunges clumsily for Cromwin, but finds itself thwarted by Anvil's dancing steps and comes nowhere near even touching the rider.
Cromwin's heart thuds in his chest as he faces down the skittering foe, adrenaline surging through his veins. We've got it surrounded. Just like practice, and...NOW!
"Hya! Anvil, take it down!" Anvil rears, smashing down with tooth and hoof. Caught between Maurie and Anvil, the spider has nowhere to run, and takes a crushing hoof blow to the body just before Cromwin's warhammer smashes through its jaw, dropping it to the floor to twitch in its death throes.
Cromwin is at AC 19 from Combat Expertise.
With the spider slain, its bludgeoned and skewered carcass falling limp and being pounded into a stinking paste by Anvil's hooves, the group are freed to examine the hopeknife finding the inscription, "For Rodrik, my Love."
As soon as Grok sees the spider's skull crushed, he relaxes, his legs straightening back up and his sword dropping. There is blood on the blade, and he wipes it clean on his right thigh, checking for notches. Then he sheathes it without a word and picks up his bow again, the same arrow still knocked.
That was unexpected, anyone got some fire, to burn the nest?
He reaches out with his left hand and grabs one of the legs, finding it not quite still, and pulls back on it, hard. He drags it a good distance away from Maurie, making sure that its weight will not cause anything to collapse.
He walks to the hopeknife and unsheathes it, looking at the inscription for a long time. His mouth moves slightly to form words, and then he speaks. Rodrik's, or rather, Brinya's. Whoever killed him is here, or was. I suggest we try to make it hard to leave quickly and quietly, then search the whole place, bottom to top. It may be that they've already left, we should move quickly.
Grok sees nothing of note he has not noticed before.
Pressing against the back of the bookcase Zove discovers a false back panel, and sliding it aside reveals a small cubby in which is a small gem encrusted coffer made from solid gold. It proves to be empty, but must be worth hundreds of gold pieces.
The rest of the group search the rest oif the room while Zove examines the bookcase and behind a rotten panel in the cabinet discover two full iron flasks, and a battered iron scroll case containing three scrolls. The contents oif the flask and the scrolls detect as magical.
Anvil loudly harrumphs and shakes his head, a shiver running through his body as he spits out a chunk of spider. Cromwin pats him on the back, eyes darting around the room warily before he exhales a sigh of relief and relaxes. "Good boy Anvil. I'm getting you a whole pail full of carrots when we get home." He grins over at Zove. "He would like that a lot, I think. He's never one to turn down extra carrots."
Cromwin will dismount and inspect the location where the spider bit Anvil, verifying that it didn't break through the skin before mounting back up. "Nicely fought, everyone! That was...unexpected. Before the fight, I saw...yes, there it is." Cromwin points to an 'R+B' carved into the bookcase. "Looks like Rodrik might possibly have left the knife here accidentally? He mentioned in his journal that he lost it, but I don't think he said it was stolen. He might have made this, then gotten distracted...possibly by that troll that was mentioned? Then forgot about it. I don't think the knife was necessarily put here by his killer."
"Either way, while whoever killed Rodrik might be here, I don't think it will be easy to sneak out past us if they are. We should be able to take a few minutes to search, and I don't want to miss anything."
Alright then, Grok says, seeing that Zove has found something worth taking, floor's creaky enough anyway.
Grok puts the hopeknife back into his pack, looking at the hole on the north end of the room. I suppose the killer may not be here...but it's likely enough, in any case. Maurie, maybe you can peer down that hole and see something? Maybe not, don't want you to fall.
Grok walks around a bit, trying to search thoroughly but having a hard time concentrating.
Zove is not able to identify any of the scrolls, but does discern that the flasks contain one oil of Magic Weapon, and one Potion of Shield of Faith.
Peering down Maurie can only make out a pile of rubble descending down some twenty five feet. It might be possible to climb down, but it would clearly be very difficult and the rubble looks far from stable.
Brin sees Maurie investigating the hole below her.
"Anything down there? Does it look like it's been used by anyone?"
He ponders the rest of the space around him.
"What is the point of keeping this structure here? With magical scrolls and oils hiding in the shelves?"
"There were temples in the north, where I am from. The only one I ever saw dedicated to Iomedae was nothing more than a hovel with an old paladin turned cleric tending to its needs. It had been there for quite a while. It's customary for there to be scrolls hidden away for the church's divine agents when they passed through remote areas."
Decipher the Writing: The writing on a scroll must be deciphered before a character can use it or know exactly what spell it contains. This requires a read magic spell or a successful Spellcraft check (DC 20 + spell level). Deciphering a scroll is a full-round action.
I am going to stick with my interpretation based on this text, which I think probably counts as a specific overriding general. I do not really want to have to keep track of whether a scroll is identified, but not deciphered, and poor old Read Magic would be prepared even less. If its any consolation they are all above 1st level anyway :)
The items placement does seem odd, but few people would think to search fire damaged furniture in an abandoned building for secret cubbies, and it seems likely they have lain hidden for many years.
A further inspection of the cubby behind the cupboard reveals two slender vials which have rolled to the side filled with Holy Water, the stopper of each marked with the sunburst and sword symbol of Iomedae.
"There seems to be a pile of rubble down there, not sure if it is important, but I am going to check it out anyway. Stay back though, none of this area looks stable enough to support much weight."
Carefully pulling out her climber's kit after putting away her weapon, she sets to work attempting the decent.
Maurie makes easy work of the descent and find herself in as once-grand flagstone hall, filled with statues of different celestial creatures in every corner. An old fire pit in the center of the room is bordered on all sides by moth-eaten bedrolls, while shovels, picks, and other digging equipment lie strewn about a shallow tunnel bored into the north eastern wall. The ceiling above the tunnel has collapsed, leaving a hole open to the sky above a pile of burnt rubble.
As Maurie examines the scene a movement catches her eye and she spins just in time to see two rats scurry out of the wall. The creatures are faintly translucent, and Maurie can see the solid wall they entered from through their bodies, their eyes are black voids, and their flesh a patchwork of pale skin and clumps of lank filth encrusted fur...
Cromwin stares at the box when Zove discovers it, eyes wide. "Whoa, Zove, is that gold all the way through?! That box must be worth a fortune!" I don't think I've seen that much gold in one spot in my life, except when da sells a warhorse. That money always goes to the bank though, its not usually kept around. We don't have anything this fancy, not even ma's fancy necklace. "I...wasn't really expecting to find hidden treasure in the old plague house. What are we going to do with it?"
-------------------
Cromwin helps with the search by examining the rock face and the walls. He stays well away from the edge as Maurie descends, keeping Anvil's heavy weight away from the broken floor. "Maurie, how far down is it, and is there anything interesting there?" Cromwin calls. "If its not too far, Anvil and I might be able to jump it, otherwise if we both want to get down there we'll probably need to work around the far side and see if there is a path he might be able to navigate"
Interesting, Brin, sounds like we might benefit from searching thoroughly.
Grok looks over and sees Maurie crawl down the hole. Hope she doesn't do anything stupid and hurt herself... Anyone have a rope? Maybe we should try to find another way down, see if they're blocked. Grok walks over to the doors, reaching out to try them, before turning back to the hole. You going to be able to get back up, Maurie?
"Great, rats."
Maurie quickly closes the distance between herself and the rat closest to her. She attempts to kick the creature, but the translucent flesh makes aiming at it more challenging than she anticipated.
"It isn't entirely safe down here! Let me clear the vermin before you guys attempt to come down!"
The rats skitter forward black void eyes boring into Maurie leaving an opening as they move under he feet. She attempts another kick, but the nimble creatures avoid her effort lunging forward with yellowed teeth, but Maurie is as agile as they and dances aside.
"Something is not right about these rodents..."
Pushing the thought aside, she strikes at the one she attempted to hit before, first with a left kick that goes wide, then with right punch that connects.
"I'm going to climb down and help the monk. Cromwin, you and Anvil may need to be ready to pull us back up."
Brin grabs the rope and braces his feet against the ground, ready to descend.
Maurie's punch passes straight through the incorporeal rodent, the rats bite at her again, one managing to sink its teeth into her heel as the lack of impact for her blow sends her momentarily off balance. She feels no physical impact from the fangs, but a pang of cold shoots from the spot where they connected sapping at her strength and weakening her!
As Brin steps forward the floor beneath him crumbles away in an instant sending him plunging down in a rain of debris to the basement below! He crashes to the ground prone pain flaring at the shocking impact.
"Alright, here w- YAaahhhh!"
The bard tumbles through the darkness and lands on his back, his whole body wracked with pain. His vision goes in and out of focus.
Uh oh, that's not good. He's going to be helpless down there!
"I've got rope, I'll get it down to you!" Cromwin drops his warhammer and pulls his shield off his arm. Both drop to the ground with a clatter. He reaches into his saddlebags, pulling out a 50 foot length of rope.
"I'm going to throw the rope down and tie it to Anvil! Hold on, we're coming!"
Cromwin throws the rope over the edge of the pit, holding on to one end. Cromwin begins to tie the rope to Anvil's saddle, wrapping it around the saddlehorn in a quick knot.
"Alright, here w- YAaahhhh!"
The bard tumbles through the darkness and lands on his back, his whole body wracked with pain. His vision goes in and out of focus.
Are you all right Maurie? Grok calls out, his bow up and at the ready. He advances slowly, watching Brin, and about to follow him. Then the floor breaks and Brin disappears, his voice tearing through the room.
Grok is moving quickly now, away from the hole and back to the door on the south end, trying the handle quickly and moving through the doorway as he runs. Are you all right, Brin?
Grok was expecting the door to open easily, and when it doesn't he crashes into it, bouncing slightly. He growls at it, takes a step back, and kicks hard near the handle.
After tying off the rope to Anvil's saddle in a quick knot, Cromwin dismounts, peering over the edge to see what is going on down below while keeping a hand on the rope in case the floor gives way.
Grok opens the charred door easily and sees that two iron doors connect this small stone extension to the Plague House’s main building. A large steel lockbox sits in front of a steep stone staircase that winds down into darkness.
Grok hears the creak of a stair from below and hears scurrying footsteps and a rodentine chitter, although it is clear to him than whatever is approaching is clearly much larger than a normal rodent, and there is more than one...
The floor creaks under Anvil and Cromwin's weight, but seems to be holding for the immediate future.
Something on the stairs! Grok shouts, his sword out again and his bow on the floor by the box. He walks down the stairs cautiously but quickly, ready to hit whatever may be down there.
Cromwin peers down into the hole, seeing Brin lying on the ground and Maurie being attacked by two strange looking rats. He looks over his shoulder as Grok calls from the stairs.
"Brin, Maurie, are you alright? Grok's fighting something on the stairs on the other side of the building and might need my help, can you stand to climb the rope?" Cromwin scoops up his warhammer and shield in preparation to go to Grok's aid.
Brin comes to his senses and see the translucent rodents biting for Maurie. He slowly turns and pushes himself back up.
Three rats the size of hounds, each covered in spiky bone protuberances, surge up the stairway towards Grok who is ready to strike at the first and gets an opening at a second that skitters up onto the wall and climbs past him.
Brin comes to his senses and see the translucent rodents biting for Maurie. He slowly turns and pushes himself back up.
Grok recognizes the creatures he faces as dire rats, voracious giant rats that are far tougher than thier smaller brethren. Meanwhile Brin's jolted brain can barely recall his name let alone what these bizarre rats might be.