Silas smiles at Velika, "Thank you kindly."
There is enough space at the corner of the southern door that the rat could squeeze through.
Injury Status
Velika (3 damage)
Holys (1 damage) (Filth Fever)
Silas
Tilver (1 damage) (Filth Fever)
Dain (2 damage)
Dain, still seated with his eyes closed, says out loud, "We see no enemies behind the curtain, just some dusty pillows. We are going to squeeze through another doorway now."
The spirit rat continues south.
Someone has scrawled diabolic symbols on the walls and painted them in blood on the floor and the door.
There is a spiral staircase in the corner, leading up, and by scurrying up the wall to the window, the spirit rat can see out onto a rooftop garden.
Once he has been tended to by Velika Silas will search the rats and look to see how valuable the rings are.
"Thank you, Velika."
"This room looks like a lair for the ratfolk. There's strange symbols scrawled on the walls - fiendish? Oh - there are more symbols on the floor and these look like they are drawn in blood. Did the rats do this for their Rat God? Or is it left over from the time of the chaos cult and their brothel? There's a rooftop garden outside the window, but we don't see how to get there." Dain's monologue pauses for minute, while his head continues to swivel around. "We don't see any other doors out of here, but there is another twisty stair going up."
Dain directs the spirit rat to ascend the spiral staircase.
The spirit rat ascends the stairs.
Injury Status
Velika (3 damage)
Holys (1 damage) (Filth Fever)
Silas (1 damage)
Tilver (1 damage) (Filth Fever)
Dain (2 damage)
Silas slips all the gear into his bag while he waits for Dain's scout to do his work. "We should clear these rooms and the last guard's room before we take stairs up. Assuming whatever is up doesn't come down to play"
Tilver takes one of the dragon pistols from Silas before he puts it into the bag. The ex-gladiator examines it, nods, and then tucks it into his belt.
"Good idea, though that voice makes me uneasy still. But let's expore this level first."
"This room was very nice once. Someone important's bedroom - maybe the madame or the house's top courtesan. There's even a bathtub. Still no sign of enemies. We'll look on the other side of that curtain."
The other end of the room, on the northern side of the curtain, has a wooden bureau, a dark wood writing desk, and a wooden chair. The bureau is empty, but the desk still holds a pair of dusty books as well as some parchment, writing pens, and ink. The spirit rat can easily squeeze under the doorway to the north.
"The important person's work area - chair desk, pens, papers, books. One door. Still no signs of enemies, so we are headed under the door."
Silas will search the rest of this room and then move to search the room on the other side of the curtain.
Silas finds nothing further of interest in the two rooms south of the battlefield. However, it just feels wrong to him here. Something unseen and just out of reach, watching, listening, lurking, waiting.
"We're walking down a wide hallway. The floor is soft and the color of violets. There is a sturdy door here that we can't squeeze under, and an archway leading out onto the battlements. No enemies. Let's investigate the battlements."
The crenellated top of the gatehouse and its turrets can be seen, along with the trap door atop one of them. To the south, about six feet below the level of the battlements, is a rooftop garden. Some of the plants in boxes and pots still thrive today, while many others have long since died.
The gatehouse was apparently built long after the rooftop garden, leaving a narrow space in between the two.
The ghostly male voice heard twice before speaks again, its voice rumbling from the very stones of Pythoness House. “Chaos is the
key….” it says. And in that instant, Dain's spirit rat squeals and the arcane eye is dispelled.
Silas moves onto the next room and searches there.
Velika will cast Detect Magic and move slowly through the rooms looking for anything magical.
Tilver shudders as the creepy voice speaks again. "Chaos is the key to what? Getting out of here? Eternal life? " He grips his longspear tightly and follows the others.
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Silas and Velika find nothing further, though everyone has a creepy feeling of being watched.
Put your tokens where you want to be and tell me what you're doing. Exploring upstairs or going back down to deal with the gatehouse?
"Hmm...no ratmen or other baddies on the rooftop either. Some of the plants in the garden seem to be doing well - oh!" Dain's eyes pop open as the ghostly voice fades away. "G'Bye." He says softly.
Dain stands and picks up his spear before moving to join the others. "Shall we head back to that ladder before we go poking around the top floor?"
Velika nods agreement and heads that way unless anyone raises an objection.
The team assembles at the door to the gatehouse and quickly finds that it is locked.
Silas steps to one side and waits for Tilver to open it.
Tilver nods and steps up, examining both the door and the lock.
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Tilver has the door open in seconds. Inside is a dusty turret room with a single ladder leading up to a trap door. It is otherwise empty.
Silas will climb the ladder to the next level.
Silas climbs up into another, very similar chamber at the top of the tower. There is a single door leading south into what must be the gallery over the gatehouse. For some reason, that door makes Silas nervous, the ordinary door pull seeming to loom large and ominous.
"Something is...wrong...here. Are there magical auras?"
Tilver inspects the door, trying to avoid touching it to see if there are any traps, magical or otherwise.
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The door looks ordinary and untrapped to Tilver.
At Silas' request, Velika moves up the ladder and will cast detect magic.
Nope. Completely magic-free.
Silas nods and opens the door to see what is on the other side.
The gatehouse floor is stone and stands directly over the entrance into the courtyard. A narrow wooden table in the middle of the gatehouse holds four decrepit crossbows (too old to function) and three quivers of
rotten quarrels, all covered with cobwebs and dust. An iron pot of fifty caltrops sits in the northwest corner of the room.
On the far side of the gatehouse, a ghostly man floats an inch or so above the floor. His greatsword looks all too real, however. He gestures and an ancient stoneware flagon flies across the room and shatters against the wall near Silas's head.
"Begone!" the voice sounds distant and echoing. "Leave or die!"
Silas sheathes his blade and holds his hands out to his side. "I think this calls for your touch Velika. Do you think he was one of the warriors who brought this place down?"
Tilver shifts and crouches defensively with his longspear out. "Whoa, that doesnt look good. I don't know if we can hurt a ghost."
"Who are you? Why do you guard this place?"
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Velika calls down the ladder, "Dain, there is a restless spririt here, but it has not attacked us directly ... yet."
Then she turns back to the doorway of the room.
"Who are you, warrior? I suspect we are not your enemy here."
Dain doesn't think the voice he hears is anything like the deep, resonant voice coming from Pythoness House itself, though the sound is still disturbing in its way.
"Get Out!" rages the ghost, infuriated. It shrieks, a horrid sound that fills you with fear!
Tilver is surprised by the ghost's outburst for a moment, crouching down even more deeply in his stance. "Who are you?! Have you trapped us here?"
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Responding to Velika's summons, Dain begins climbng the ladder just as the ghost lets out its fearsome shout. He spear slips from his hands and clatters to the ground as he drops off the ladder and runs as fast as his bad leg can handle in the direction of the stairs down.
The team scatters to the four winds. Only Tilver remains to face the angry spirit, and he continues trying to question it.
The ghost flies forward, screaming in anger. "Leave...this...house!"
Tilver tries to stab at it with his spear, but the weapon merely passes right through the ghost. The ghost's touch frightens Tilver so badly that he ages right on the spot!