Through the smudged second story window, Zed can see most of the large room... it appears to take up most of the floor. The walls are lined with shelves filled with jars, vials, and stacks of books.
Near the center of the room is a large iron brazier filled with unlit black clumps of likely coal.. three "arms" branch out from the brazier each ending an another, smaller brazier. On the floor around this piece, are summoning circle-style runes.
A hunched figure facing the back wall sits at a workbench, and is busy moving sparkling debris around the work-surface as if searching for a misplaced item.
Zed stays still, watching the figure.
Varian creates an earthbreaker as a swift action and casts lead blades on it. "I'm ready, I might be able to smash that door down with a couple of good solid hits."
Corum waits until the upper group is by the chimney to summon the air elemental.
"How about the window frame. Would it be easier?"
Corum examines the structure.
You also see the face of the figure in profile.. another hag, but older and more delicately-framed than the others.
Sunny and Zed take a moment to peer through the second story window. Corum takes that time to inspect the sturdiness of the door and frame, and then takes a peek at the nearby window.
At first glance, the window should obviously be easier to break through, but with the size of Varian's hammer the door will likely fall quickly.
The room beyond the window is narrow... maybe 12 feet wide, and nearly 30 feet back to the far wall and doorway. There is a corner desk at the far wall with a single candle burning low.
Sunny looks at Zed...shrugs, and continues up to the chimbly.
Corum summons first a creature of earth to smash the window and rush through into the ground floor followed by a speedy air elemental to back up Suny and Zed.
Zed takes another moment to carefully memorize details about the women; clothes. facial features, that little mole, making a detailed image of her in his head. Then he continues up to the roof. "Sunny, how quietly do you think we could take out that hag? I might be able to impersonate her."
Sunny chews her lip nervously. Uhm...
"I got's some things I can tangle her up in. An' then we can slug her, like?" Sunny offers, showing Zed a tangle-foot bag. "An' I gots some things whut make lil' puffs of smoke fer distractin' peoples with." She ads.
"Maybe drop a pellet or two down tha' chimbly first an' whup her one-two out'a tha' smoke?"
"I have no doubt we can do anything we want once we have her, but first we need to get her, quietly" He puts a hand on her shoulder. "Silence her, if you have to crush her throat to do it."
As Varian prepares to hammer down the door, Corum's summoned earthen minion smashes the front window, and clambers up the sill.
A few seconds later, you hear the click of a deadbolt... whether locking or unlocking.. you don't immediately know.
"Smoke pellet" Zed says. After one or two drops down he jumps in, sliding down the wall.
On the roof, there is nothing but the chimney, and a steel hatch about 10 feet in diameter... it seems it should line up with the spiral staircase you saw through the window.
Zed motions to the steel hatch. "Might be a bit less dangerous." He goes and sees if it's open.
Varian shrugs and tries the door to see if it's unlocked or not... if it is locked, he'll hit it with his hammer... If unlocked, he'll stupidly open it, since we have no rogue (right? to check for traps.
The hatch on the roof lifts easily when tested by Zed.
The front door opens easily when tested by Varian.... it is extremely dark inside... darker than it should be with the windows you've seen from outside.
Not sure what if any rolls the DM might want for that but it should give us a few bonuses for the beginning of the combat. I understand Zed wanting to try and take this target 'alive', the better to further sow confusion in the rest of the coming encounters.
Much cheers to all.
Corum follow his earthen bodyguard inside after casting invisibility, glad he can see in the dark with no problem. The shadow wizard is quite comfortable in the dark, more comfortable than in the light.
As the door opens in front of Varian, all he can see is darkness.
It looks completely empty within... just bare floor.
-- -- -- -- --
As Zed and Sunny pass through the hatch in the roof, they see the old hag down the spiral staircase... looking further down the steps. She then looks up at the hatch as you close it behind you. She looks curiously for a second, then starts to inch back into the room.
She stops again as she looks into her room... likely now seeing the smoke billowing from the chimney.
Zed waves his finger back and forth, then whispers "Thrysta" and points at her.
Sunny gets ready to 'pounce' on the lass.
She looks to Zed for 'The Signal'.
Zed nods to her to get on the move, regardless if the hag resists his magic.
--upstairs
The old hag turns as she hears Zed's voice casting. Just as she catches sight of him reappearing, Sunny's smoke pellet bursts at her feet. As the smoke expands and fills the area, The hag's face contorts, and a low growl from deep in her throat rises in sound and pitch.
Sunny lurches forward.
--downstairs
Varian and Gromsch stand at the doorway. Varian can hear quiet voices ahead, but cannot make them out.
Corum moves forward.. listens and looks. He hears the voices as well. There are more than two... and the two he can barely make out, sound like they are chanting.
Sunny slams into the old woman, and struggles to pin her flailing arms as the smoke envelopes them both.
Corum moves to see who is chanting.
The old crone's flailing limbs prove difficult for Sunny to corral.
As her dark nails extend from mildew splotched hands... drips of clear fluid seep out her cuticles, and glisten on her talons.
The wild-eyed hag breathes shallows breaths of forced air through her clamped teeth.. somewhere between birthing pain and ominous snickering.
Very little light makes it through the open door in front of Varian and Gromsch... the darkness seems "resistant".
You very clearly - however, out the windows to your right and on the wall south of you. Far more clearly than looking through any of the windows from the outside.
The hushed voices stop, and you see a dark shape pass in front of the window to the south.
You catch the tail end of one of the castings... though you don't see the gestures.. the arcane words seem familiar.
Zed moves fleetly over, bringing his morningstar around and enhancing it with the bane quality before swinging for her head.
You hear the tail end of a spell being cast... too late to identify it, but it seemed close enough you should be able to see the caster with your darkvision.
Your quick thinking and knowledge of spellcraft allows you to deduce...
If the caster is invisible, a directly hostile spell should make them visible... Either summon, a self or ally-bolstering spell, or... it is a caster powerful enough to remain invisible no matter their actions..
The hag's head rocks back with the force of Zed's blow.
The flailing of her arms slows with her bell rung.
She is slow to recover, and a trickle of blood starts to flow from a hairy nostril of her bulbous nose.
Varian peers into the room, but lacks any form of darkvision. He casts light on the end of his weapon to try to see at least a short ways into the room.
Ten feet ahead of Varian there is no floor... it appears to crumble away into a cavernous pit.
Gromsch sees this too, and Corum catches enough of the light to see the same in front of him.
It had appeared solid to the two when relying on their enhanced vision in dark.
Varian moves forward around the door, ending at E11, and mentally prepares himself for some kind of incoming attack.
Gromsch enters the house and makes himself ready to throw a bag of flour if the voice rises again to make the caster visible.
As Varian strafes over, he disappears from Gromsch's sight.
Varian sees a wall appear blocking his view of from where he had just come. He is now in the room with Corum, and his summoned elemental.
Corum sees Varian phase through the wall, and join him in the room.
This is just after you notice, that the flame of the candle is not affected by the draft of the broken window... or your movement as a candle flame should.
The voice comes again, and is joined by one or two others.
Gromsch releases his sack of flour toward the center of the sound.
The powder spreads, and reveals where two holes in the floor actually are.
After you release the flour, you realize they are just under the floor ahead.
"Gromsch, pure genius!"
Corum moves his hand quickly and chants. He grasps his rod and gestures into the room. An explosive burst of fire detonates in the room.
The elemental charges to grab the leftmost creature.
The elemental provokes as he tries to grab on to the hider. The creature of earth has a general idea of where he is grabbing.
Some things creeping from the holes in the floor has a faint coating of flour upon them. They are otherwise invisible, but just from what you can see of their movements and shape they are some mutated spider-creature.
The room erupts in flame... a fiery explosion with dazzling spits of sparks within. You hear bestial screeching.
Corum's earthen creature charges forward, and you hear a female voice.
"Ahh-loom Entari."
The entire room illuminates...
The two invisible but "floured" creatures remain still for a moment.
Two other creatures crawl out from or behind the stone staircase.
They have the body of a large spider, a serpentine neck, and the face of an unfriendly female human. They both continually whisper
" windows watching always from windows watching always from..."
It appears that there is a huge swath of floor missing, yet there are creatures upon it.
It is not all solid however - shown by the holes in Gromsch's coverage....