Norasha rolled her eyes as she petted Milani as she heard Boram's warning.
"It's a bloody haunt! Get back here you chickens!"
The dwarf looked around the room again saying to Milani, "Come on Milani, let's explore this room some more before the haunt comes back."
As Rokar sheepishly returns, he peeks around the corner and into the room, seeing Milani staring blankly at Norasha as her tail swishes back and forth.
Entering the room, Rokar calls out to Milani, "Come on girl, gimme a hand. Follow me"
Rokar moves to the far end of the room and starts searching as Norasha asked. "Sorry about that...I don't know what came over me..."
"Bah think nothing of it," says the dwarven paladin waving her hand as if to shoo away the catfolk's embarrassment, It be a haunt. Those things are quite tricky anyhow. Ye and the others got nothing to be ashamed of. Now ye ran from a pack of weak goblins, then I might have to dye your fur pink."
The dwarf laughs a bit at this threat before adding, I'm joking, so yer fur be safe to retain its natural colors. Y'all did run mighty fast. Even the wind probably be jealous at y'all. But me and Milani here, although she doesn't seem to listen to me much, were trying to see what we could find here. Of course I'm be doing much of the work since I can't get yer darn cat to listen to me."
Norasha continued to look around.
"We best hurry before the haunt comes back. Seems that the haunt popped up was when we smelt burning flesh and stuff so if we start smelling that then we best hightail it out of here. Although I wonder if we could sneak past it. Although if we had any holy water we might be able to destroy the haunt as me ears have heard that you can get rid of one that way."
Aisha takes several deep breaths, trying to calm her still racing heart. Seeing Boram risking going back inside, she hesitantly follows him, stopping at the door and peeking inside. "The others still look okay..." She takes a nervous step inside, moving to rejoin the group.
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The haunt seems to have subsided now, and beneath the frame of one of the beds, you find a hidden trapdoor. It opens to a rusty ladder descending into a darkened space.
Embedded into the floor of this chamber is a ten-foot-diameter granite emblem of a faded gold and white longsword. Four passages lead out of the chamber in different directions. A portcullis blocks the southern exit, and a sturdy wooden door leads west. A ladder in the southern corner of the room leads upward, and a small chest and decrepit bookshelf face one
another from opposite walls.
"Well looks like we are going down now."
The dwarf climbed down the ladder, testing each step as she went.
"Seems sturdy enough," she said to her fellow adventurers.
When she reached the bottom, Norasha looked around.
"Hmm...Boram you might want to check that chest for traps. Probably should check everything just in case."
The dwarven paladin held her axe and shield just in case.
"Be careful Boram," Aisha says quietly, slipping into the room behind them, still looking jittery, her eyes darting around the room like she's expecting a second phantasm to appear.
Rokar peers over his shoulder as the last of his companions move down the ladder, ensuring they're not surprised while vulnerable. After Aisha clears the bottoms, he takes a look at the trap door and the available space, and looks to Milani questioningly, "What do you think, girl?"
He calls out to the others as well,
"So, exactly how much space is down there? And where does it lead?"
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Milani gives a meek mew, indicating her reluctance to jump into the cellar (the floor is about 12 feet down). Boram finds that the chest is not only untrapped, but also unlocked!
The chest is very carefully packed and separated. Inside are two small vials, 50 feet of silk rope, a disguise kit, a set of thieves' tools, a noble's outfit, a small jewel case, and three bags of coins.
Norasha looked at the items.
"Well, this is someting. This haunted place doesn't seem so haunted now actually."
The dwarf then turns to Rokar.
"So yer cat doesn't like heights it seems. Never thought I would ever see that happen. Might as well be up in a tree!"
Norasha then asked, "So, do we try to convince Milani to come down and try and catch her when she lands, or do we go back up and explore the upper parts a bit more before we try exploring down here? Whatever the rest of y'all decide is fine with me."
"I think the haunting is precisely why they would hide their less than legal equipment here," Aisha suggests. "But I'm not sure precisely where they might need such things off the top of my head."
"I wouldn't mind exploring the top-side here first, if you're offering, Norasha. Cats and ladders don't exactly mix, though we'll make it work if we have to," Rokar says in reply to Norasha.
Addressing Boram, Rokar continues, "I can tell you whether they're magical or not, but I'm no learned spellcaster. Maybe someone in town can help..."
With that, he casts Detect Magic in Boram's direction, and begins concentrating.
Norasha awaited to see the results of the catfolk's magic, so she could try her hand at figuring out what the stuff was.
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Rokar looks over the objects as Aisha muses aloud. "I can think of a few places a noble's garb might pass in Trunau," she says offhandedly. Rokar concentrates for a few moments and then visibly relaxes.
"One of the vials radiates a strong aura of transmutation, the other, a faint aura of the same," Rokar announces.
"Hmmm, transmutation... I wonder..." She looks at the vials herself, calling up her ability to sense auras herself. "Could they be some kind of disguise potions?"
"Your guess is as good as mine; I guess it could be," Rokar says, shrugging. "I say pocket them Boram, they'll do nobody any good down here."
Rokar throws a quick glance towards the symbol on the floor, before meeing the other's eyes, "Shall we get on then? Upward?"
"Let's quickly leave this room before the haunt starts back up," Norasha says as soon as the group reenters the haunted room.
Aisha nods, still absently turning the vial over in her hand. "Right. I'd rather not be here with the screaming, flaming skeletons."
You don't have to tell me twice," Rokar says moving towards the door.
Come on, girl, he says, gesturing to Milani to follow closely.
Rokar falls into place behind Boram as he moves down the hall, keeping his head of a swivel and smelling the air every few steps.
Norasha also aids the others in searching the place, her axe and shield at ready just in case of course.
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The portal does not prove trapped or locked. Boram opens it to reveal a corridor beyond. It goes about 20 feet and then turns left.
To the east, the support walls and pillars that once connected the Plague House to the huge boulder behind it have burnt and crumbled in this ruined chamber, revealing nearly the entire face of the monolithic stone as well as much of the sky above. Jagged red runes have been painted onto the rock in long, broad strokes that reach from top to bottom.
To the northeast, the wooden staircase here that once led to the upper story has all but crumbled to ashes. The northern wall has collapsed, and the floor underneath has sunk entirely, leaving a dark, gaping hole in the ground surrounded by rubble. A single door exits the room to the northeast.
The dwarven paladin looked around for anything be it treasure, traps, or enemies. She also would take a quick look at the damaged floor and wall but staying as far away so in case it gives she'll have enough time and space to move out of the way.
Aisha's eyes light up a fiery orange as she looks around the room, keeping a bit behind Boram, as he's better at finding traps, and Norasha, as she can take more hits than the half-orc.
Rokar and Milani, at his side per usual, take a few steps forward and look around the mostly-collapsed room. Rokar's eyes linger on the runes, as he wonders what to make of them.
"Over there," Aisha says, pointing toward the southeast corner. "There's a magical signature in this room. Be careful though, I haven't identified it yet."
"What in the world?" Aisha pauses at the strange combination of auras. Not likely a trap, unless it was a particularly strange combination of spells. Perhaps another cache of potions. She carefully crosses the room and examines the corner, looking for the exact source of the auras.
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As Aisha nears the corner of the room, she is startled by a loud hiss. A giant spider, easily the size of a small dog, emerges from a darkened spot.
"Spider!" Boram shouts as soon as he spots it, and heads in that direction. He swings at the spider, only barely managing to cut into it.
The spider returns the attack against the noble halfling, managing to connect with a vicious bite. The rogue winces and staggers visibly under the weight of the poison.
INITIATIVE
Boram
Spider
Rokar
Norasha
Aisha
Seeing Boram dart around the corner, and hearing the sound of battle, Rokar follows, calling to Milani to follow, and slides down around Aisha, swiping at the spider with a claw.
Milani! Let's go girl!
The dwarven paladin quickly charged the vermin hoping to take it out before it got to anyone.
Aisha steps back away from the spider and takes a deep breath. Her eyes flare bloody red and she shrieks. Though the party only feels the ripples in the air, the spider is bombarded with the sound of a dozen tormented slaves in agony, the force of the shout tearing at it's hide.
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The force of the scream tears at the spider's hairy body, but it remains standing, stubbornly refusing to give up it's potential meal.
Boram slashes at the beast again, but the spider dodges sideways and his attack is off the mark. The spider darts in for another taste of halfling flesh. Again, the fangs sink deeply into Boram and again he staggers under the weight of the venom.
Swinging her axe at the large blotted spider, Norasha yelled out to Boram, "Move your arse away from this thing before it kills you!"
"She's right Boram! Back up!"
Rokar darts into the corner alongside Norasha, opening more space for Milani to follow, and swipes at the spider.