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L'Mont moves - carefully, quietly, slowly - into the hallway, and looks into the first smashed doorways on either side.
"Stay at the back," wasn't that what the Old Bastard always told us? "Stay at the back, behind a big wall of meat. Let everyone else go first, then you clean up the mess and pick up the goodies." Fine for him to say, but some of us, our talents mean we gotta do things differently.
It would be nice not to get punctured so quick, though. Dang, but that bear had bite.
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The wayang moves gingerly down the passage, stopping at the first two ruined doorways. The general state of ruin of most of the areas make discerning the original purpose of the rooms difficult, but the smaller rooms appear to have once been small bedrooms. The larger room appears to have been a place where food was prepared, but nothing remains intact of the structures within, perhaps belying the bear's desperate search for food spurred by residual smells.
Nothing stirs in the dark structure. The remainder of the party huddles in the ruined dining room, peering timidly down the hall at the rogue.
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"Nothing yet." L'Mont whispers, trusting that Luwei is listening and will report to the others.
He stops at the next smashed doorway and does another quick scan.
L'Mont moves to the closed door, listens, scans it for traps, and - if he notices nothing - attempts to open it.
If the door opens to the same large room as the previous doorway on this side of the hall , L'Mont does another quick scan of the room beyond the door:
If there is nothing obviously interesting or dangerous there, he will move next to doorway to the first room at the end of the hall.
To Luwei, he whispers, "You guys could toss the rooms behind me, see if I missed anything from the doorway. Just be quiet about it."
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Ushi mills about outside in the courtyard, hesitant to enter. The party moves forward without him.
...He check out the rooms as he walks past, noting the art work and everything else...
There is little remaining of humanity in these rooms, and certainly no art. The bear's residential stay was brutal on furnishings, interior walls, and especially, it would seem, doors. L'Mont moves up to the only intact door noted to date.
Opening the door gently, L'Mont peers inside, confirming the second door leading onto the room-formerly-known-as-the-kitchen. The rest of the band apart from the nagaji sorts through the rubble and ruin, finding little of interest.
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L'Mont opens up the last door on the right cautiously without specifically checking for traps, his confidence boosted by the utter state of destruction.
........
The storeroom lies mainly undisturbed, wooden buckets, moldy rags, and an old broom having escaped the ursine ravages suffered by the rest of the estate.
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L'Mont continues through the ruined doorway at the end of the passage into a larger passageway.
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"Aaaaaaah!"
L'Mont realizes he is screaming, and that he is on fire, in that order.
Shut it, Penumberton! You want to wake up everything in the place? And you're probably probably deafening Luwei, so knock it off!
With an an effort, L'Mont snaps his jaws shut. Looking himself over, he assures himself that whatever caused the flames, they have gone out.
In something approaching his normal whisper, albeit more hoarse than usual, he says, "Fire trap. Burned badly, but still up and moving. Safe to come in, but do NOT touch the door behind me."
Based on where he hurts the most, L'Mont guesses that the flames came from behind him and to his left while he was facing the south door.
And maybe a little above me?
He looks up in that direction, and sees the statue of the Tien warrior pointing his sword directly at him.
I am pretty sure it wasn't doing that when I came in. Not good.
"Luwei? Tell Glastor. Gonna need him to use that wand of mine."
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The wayang twists his body as the first of the flames licks his left arm, missing the brunt of the gout.
...[he] sees the statue of the Tien warrior pointing his sword directly at him. I am pretty sure it wasn't doing that when I came in. Not good.
The room is still, apart from smoke arising from the rogue's form.
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From his viewpoint, the half-orc can see L'Mont patting at his smoking clothing, looking scornfully to his left. The smell of roast wayang smells just like other forms of roast flesh.
Nothing else moves.
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Luwei rushes to the doorway of the room at the end of the hall, taking in the smoking but alive form of L'Mont, the skulking brute checking the perimeter of the room, and the somewhat-marred statue of a Tian-Shu warrior pointing his sword at the space occupied by the wayang.
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Embarrassed by the fuss, L'Mont brushes off their concern.
"I'm fine. Sorry for the yellin'. Just surprised. That thing -" pointing at the statue - "torched me. Woulda been worse if I'd been facin' the other way."
"That statue looks familiar. Is it the ghost that was possessing the bear? He must be protecting this place."
L'Mont looks up at the statue. "Spooky security ain't really my area. Maybe Glastor and Ushi can get the dead guy back where he belongs."
He gives the group a grim smile and turns back to the door. "Booby traps, them I know something about. And good news is, I think we found what we're lookin' for. Anyone goes to this much trouble to keep us outta this room, must have somethin' pretty good inside it."
"Now we just gotta figure out how to get inside without getting cooked."
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Mongo peers into what appears to have once been a great hall, a cold hearth and multiple ruined pieces of large furniture the only main clues leading to this assumption.
Mongo sees neither anything moving, nor anything of interest in his brief glance in the room.
The wayang takes a fresh and systematic look at the door, attempting to determine what, if anything, triggered the flame trap.
The party awaits the other members' input, systematically trying to make sense of the abandoned estate.
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"Sorry to see you got hurt again, L'Mont. Desna will provide healing, however." Glastor channels to heal all within 30' of him.
"We won't need your wand for now. Hope that feels better."
He then moves up the rest of the way, and casts guidance on the wayang. He then looks at the door, in case he notices anything.
"I think it is safe now... right?"
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L'Mont holds his breath and tries the handle.
...
...
...
Nothing happens. The handle doesn't even turn. It appears to be locked.
He pulls out his tools and tries to pick the lock, taking 10.
Time and neglect have weakened the door and its lock, and the wayang finds his careful ministrations on the door mechanism rewarded with a satisfying click.
......
...
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Does it really take a gnome priest saying it to your face to get you to realize you're taking stupid risks?
"Thanks. Not gonna need it. Maybe one of the big guys."
L'Mont steps back from the door and puts away his lockpicks.
"It'll open now. Who wants the first look inside? Mongo? Bolty?" L'Mont quickly puts an arm on the gnome's shoulder. "Not you, Glastor."
He loads his crossbow and points it at the door.
"Whoever goes first, the rest of us gotcha covered."
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The door opens easily.
Inside, in stark contrast to the decaying ruin of the rest of the manor, this combination of bedroom and office is almost pristine, save for a thick layer of dust. One wall (the northern wall) contains shelves bearing books and scrolls, and another wall (the southern wall) is covered with an enormous map of central Tian Xia. On the desk (to the east in front of the cold hearth) lay several sheets of thick paper, their script indecipherable under ages of dust.
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Nothing registers as magical here, though the calligraphy set resting next to the papers on the desk appears to be of very fine make. A small console table up against the northern wall is delicately painted with birds and flowers, integrating the handle of the single central drawer in its face in the decorations. Lastly, a masterfully-crafted pole-axe of Tien origin rests against the wall in the northwestern corner of the room.