Jayla listens carefully "I'm fairly good at finding traps. I'll be happy to help. The coin sounds good, and this time I get to legally go through someone's things."
After introducing Lady Origena to your new recruits, you trudge with reluctance back to Hunclay manor. A few of the locals stop to gawp at the newcomers and whisper to each other about what must lay inside. The ruin of the venerable Witch Tower lays in silent testament to the will of the wizard Hunclay.
The door of Hunclay's manor still stands slightly ajar from when, only the night before, Liam fled through it, terrified and half dead.
Liam leads the way in, "OK, this ground floor we already checked out, like I said yesterday, the rooms, well, I'm sure you'll wan tto look at them yourself anyways to get your bearings and verify what I said... I know I would. Up the spiral stairs leads to a sort of great sitting or meeting room, we went to the door on the left, which looked to be Hunclay's personal room. That's where the bearskin rug came to life. Let's get up there and deal with that, I guess."
Liam patiently waits for his new companions to check out all the downstairs area to their satisfaction, and leads the way upstairs.
"Lead on, wee one. Point me in the direction, and we'll see if we can take care of this bear for you. I even got me a spell that can calm wild animals down a bit, so maybe we can avoid the fight."
"Well, err.. maybe you should be first then. Eli's bow seemed to be doing the most damage to the bear, so Jayla, I'd get that out and ready."
Liam motions for Brandor to take his place in lead position.
"#&$%! I'm pretty sure I left the door open..."
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Unimpressed with Lady Oregano, or whatever her name was, Edo does what he does in front of a paying client and lets other do the talking, his smart mouth having lost wages for both himself and others before.
On approach to the big house, Edo moves from the back of the group to the front and squarely takes point as the little Halfling points out various scenes of their first attempt. That Horny guy sounded like he was out of his depth, he thinks to himself. "Poor sod," he states flatly as Liam recounts the scene.
His weapons at the ready, Edo leads the approach to the entrance of the bear room.
Jayla takes her back down at the edge of the larger room, and takes her place second in line. Her kukris are in hand.
"All right lets take care of this bear and bring the dead back for burial."
As you enter the manor house, Liam remembers the pit in front of the door and warns you just in time. You are able to avoid it and step around it. Dried drops of blood leading toward the stairs give mute testament to Liam's flight through this area days before.
You stop on the stairs and listen, but there is no sign of the bear. Other than that, everything is the way Liam remembers it.
The room is a scene of carnage. Three bodies lie in horrific ruin, bones broken, terrible gashes in their sides and scalps. Glassy, opaque eyes stare into nothingness. The sickly-sweet smell of decay pervades the room and several expensive bookcases have been toppled, their priceless book scattered amid the butchery.
The bear itself is gone, though the bearskin run lies on the floor, matted with the blood of the big dead man.
Horrified, Liam takes a moment before warning the others, "It's the rug, like I said. The rug transformed into a bear. Everything was OK until Thorny kicked the bearskin rug."
Liam takes the opportunity to cast detect magic from the doorway.
Liam might detect magic from the dead, but with a little bit of triangulating, he learns that the bearskin is no longer magical.
Brandor takes care of the bodies, rearranging them to look more peaceful and closing their eyes.
He says a few words of morning for the dead, and then turns his attention to the rest of the room.
"Anyone handy with locked chests?" Without waiting for a reply, Brandor starts looking through the wardrobes.
"The place is clear of magic, or at least it appears so.. thin lead shielding can make a difference, I've heard. Thank you Brandor for the ministrations over my friends.
But I have to admonish... Locked chests should not be our focus here. The task is to clear the entire estate of traps and hazards, there will be time for documenting Hunclay's possessions later. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid for this second attempt; I believe it was a combination of wonder and complacency, getting wrapped up in the goodies Hunclay had instead of staying focused on making the place 100% safe that contributed to the deaths of Eli, Val and Thorny."
"Of course, of course. Let me kick this bear for good measure, to make sure it is safe."
Yes, Brandor pokes the bear.
If nothing else occurs, he will move on to the next room casting Guidance on himself before entering.
As Brandor looks through the wardrobes, he notes the tub. "That has to be worth a fair coin, don't you think?"
"Wait, Brandor. On second thought, I guess we actually should open and look at just about everything, even locked boxes and chests, in the effort to clear them of traps.
I think later, after the place is clean, we should actually go back through again with the mind to cataloging, but focus on threats on the first go-through. Locked box. Key. There should be a key for that box somewhere, we should search for it."
Liam sets to opening and searching any non-locked pieces of furniture, including lifting up the drawers to see or feeling under their bottoms for a hidden key, "Sooooo... Jayla... you mentioned having something of an eye for traps?"
As you look about the room, you find several things of interest.
Brandor looks in the wardrobes and finds a great deal of very expensive clothing - easily a fortune in your own terms. Sitting on the writing
desk is a gold ring set with a fat black pearl.
In the top desk drawer Liam finds a set of keys.
Laying on the floor where Eli dropped it is a crumpled piece of paper.
The chest remains locked.
"That's my area of expertise." Jalya moves in careful not to touch the bear rug. She leans close and examines the box from all angles careful not to touch it until she's determined the status of traps.
Brandor picks up the paper and looks it over. Then he starts casting Detect Magic, slowly circling the room looking for any dweomers.
Jayla doesn't find any traps, just a solid lock. She has trouble picking the lock.
Brandor sees that the scrap of paper is merely a couple of dirty limericks.
He detects magic... it's the limerick paper.
Jayla sighs shakes out her hands, and tries again. She sighs. All right I'm going to take my time on this. Don't run too far please." She plops down on the floor in front of the box.
It takes about ten minutes, but Jayla does manage to open the heavy padlock. The interior of the chest is filled with coins from all over the Inner Sea as well as some rather nice pieces of jewelry - Katapeshi or possibly Vudran in origin. Clearly a tidy fortune there and likely most of Hunclay's movable wealth.
"Difficult lock, eh, Jayla?" Liam lets out a low whistle when he sees the contents of the chest, "And no wonder..."
"OK, then. Seems this room is clear of hazards. What say we move across the library or sitting area, whatever, and check the next unexplored area."
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Edo doesn't do much in the way of assisting the search in the first room, instead taking a role of... overwatch? He paces around his new teammates as they engage in their examinations, the flat of his sword resting on his shoulder.
He walks over and stands next to Brandor as the bearskin rug is kicked, then moves deeper into the bed chambers giving the room a fair once over.
He yawns so large his jaw looks to almost unhinge as he presses down on the bed with his hand, testing its comfort.
Brandor chuckles slightly, and hands the magic limerick paper to Liam. "This seems like it might be your kinda thing."
Singing the chest, he whistles low. "Now that's a find. No wonder he had that bear guarding it."
He rifles through the desk and notes anything else of value. He also checks the backs of the wardrobes for any secret compartments. "Seems like a tricky wizard could be hiding even more from us."
Liam absentmindedly takes the offered paper, then examines it for clues as to its nature.
Brandor and Edo look around the room, but find nothing hidden.
Proceeding across the hall, Liam sees that the far door is shut and has an impressive-looking lock.
Liam will encourage the new group to assist in moving the bodies to the outside of the estate, Lady Devy had promised earlier the previous day to have the remains, "seen after," he will go to the Lady's manorhouse and arrange with her or the servants to accomplish that.
So the team takes the bodies of Eliastra, Valena and Thorny and lays them out respectfully on the lawn. They then return to the manor house and go up to the upper parlor.
At the upper parlor, and being more cautious, Liam casts detect magic from 10ft away from the locked unopened door to the right, seeing if it has any revealing aura.
"Whadya find there?"
Brandor doesn't seem anxious to touch anything, but he will stop whoever might move next in order to cast both Guidance (+1 to skill) and Resistance (+1 to save) on whomever is brave enough. "Might as well give you your best chances of success here..."
"Hmmmm... the lock itself has a spell upon it. Not a powerful one, but it is the type of magic most associated with bringing harmful effects; fire, acid, lightning, ice or force. I have not the skill to disarm or nullify the magic itself. I would bet that it is actually a magic trap. Discharging if the lock fails to open."
"Odds are very good that picking it correctly the first attempt or using the right key will probably nullify the trap. It won't go off just by touch or else it would go off when Hunclay tries to get in the door, so I am pretty sure it is triggered by the locking mechanism itself."
Liam thinks back to when the party found Hunclay's body. Wait... he had keys on him... Who...? "Hold on, everyone, I think I have the solution, be right back." Liam rushes outside to his friends bodies and respectfully searches each of them for Hunclay's keys.
Liam steps forward, peers into the lock and checking the arrangement of the key teeth to see if he can determine which key is for this particular lock.
”Keys? Well, those should help!”
"Liam if you don't mind. I'll try to open the lock. I wouldn't want you to be, well, crispy." She takes the keys from Liam and studies the keys and the lock carefully.
"This one. Everyone step back just in case." She tries the key she thinks will work.
Jayla is able to find the right key. She inserts it and turns it. The lock opens with a satisfying snikt.
Inside, two long tables of stained oak line the east wall of this room, each cluttered with alchemical supplies. Atop the desk on the west wall are writing implements, ink, sheets of vellum, and several scrolls. A large chest secured by a prominent lock sits just north of the desk.
Guiding the dancing lights into the room and taking a clue from Hunclay's private chambers, Liam stands in the doorway and casts detect magic.
The various wizardly supplies are all very tempting and interesting, but Liam feels he has learned his lesson and is putting his curiosity of those out of his mind -- focused far more on the chest and wonders what kind of traps it may have in store for the party.