Guaranteed safe!
The door is in poor shape, but opens easily enough. Sunlight filters through the filthy window to reveal a kitchen, which contains both a large oven and fireplace. Both show signs of recent use. A set of filthy pots and pans, dented cooking utensils, and a stack of simple, wooden plates rest on the brick hearth. The sagging wooden floor in the center of the room is stained by splashes of dried liquid, through which several bootprints track to the southeast door.
Drawing his great sword, Morgrom steps inside.
The floor creaks loudly under Morgrom's weight.
Haer Kul wrinkles his nose in distaste. Muttering to himself "It is bad enough they are evil and mad. But this. This is disgusting. They are pigs too."
He will go in behind Morgrom.
He will have a look around ,
examine the dried liquid on the floor or (in case it's blood)
He also examines the boot prints to see if they are recent .
Though he is considerably lighter than Morgrom, the floor also creaks beneath Haer Kul's tread. The investigator determines that there are bloodstains in the room, though they were probably mixed in with water. There are two sets of bootprints near the central stain: one much larger than the other, even larger than anybody in the group. Only the large set of prints go to the southeast door and back.
Quietly: "I suspect the larger footprints belong to Silam Oddle. If the bloodstains indicate an altercation, he may not be in league with the militia after all, and may be willing to help us. I believe we should follow the large tracks out of the southeast door."
"And when we are done here, we should pull up the floor and see what lies beneath."
Having learned his lesson from the bugbear, Morgrom moves cautiously to the door and if the door swings away from him, use the tip of his sword to push it open, prepared for anything on the other side. If the door opens towards him, he will use the door as cover, remaining behind it.
The cramped room behind the door was probably a pantry, though it seems to hold very little now.
Again, quietly, "Disappointing. Shall we try the next door on the east wall?"
Haer Kul will listen at the next door, and then move back to allow Morgrom and Thorthal unobstructed access.
Haer Kul hears nothing beyond the door.
The door opens into a small hall leading to a parlor. A well-worn path leads down the hall to a set of stairs rising to the second floor. The parlor is covered with grime, and a few hardy weeds grow between the floorboards. A mildewed sofa and three dusty rocking chairs are placed about the room, and a few peeling portraits hang on the walls.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"This feels like some kind of murder house, gentlemen. I feel the cold hand of death in this place."
Reaches back and pulls scuttles out from under his shirt.
"Ah my mistake."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Bardos puts on his goggles, adjusts them a bit, and takes them off and rests them back on his forehead again.
"Nope, not a nice place at all."
Morgrom gestures to the door next to The gnome, "Try that one."
The door beside Haer Kul seems to be stuck.
Haer Kul will inspect the door to see if it is locked instead of stuck.
The door is swollen shut, and has obviously not been used in some time.
"Perhaps we should leave it alone. It may be the only thing holding up this room from collapse. Shall we make our way further into the lions den?"
Morgrom steps into the hallway, moving up to the door, wary that anything might come out of the door or from the front room.
Haer Kul will quietly and carefully enter the hall leading to the parlor.
He'll take a quick look around to see if the coast is clear.
If it is clear, on the way back, he will also listen at the door in the north wall of the hallway .
Then, assuming he was not seen, he returns to the group, and quietly reports his findings.
Morgrom and Haer Kul move up to the next door. Haer Kul sneaks forward and looks around. He then returns to the hall beside Morgrom.
"I thought l heard some boards in the ceiling creak near this door, the one we are checking. We should, how do you say, peel an eye and leave it on the stairs, no?"
Haer Kul will take a close look at the ceiling (well as close as a gnome can get to a ceiling) to look for peep holes or arrow slits:
"What youz lookin at?"
Haer Kul sees nothing of the sort.
"Mebbe it's jist some o th' wee ones?"
"I don't see anything. But I do hear movement upstairs. Perhaps we should leave the door closed and investigate up there first?"
"Upon reflection, wait here. I wànt to sneak up and take a look. I will be right back. "
At the top of the stairs is a small room, with a narrow passage leading off to two doors. At the south end of the room are neat stacks of small wooden chairs, as well as a blackboard covered in drawings.
Haer Kul can hear creaking floorboards behind the nearer of the two doors, as if somebody just shifted their weight.
If Haer Kul does not see anyone in the room, he'll listen at the nearer door.
If that doesn't go south, he'll listen at the farther one too.
As Haer Kul approaches the doors, he realizes that the creaky floorboards make him less stealthy than he might wish. Nothing reacts to his presence, though he is fairly certain that somebody is laying in wait beyond the door to the side of the hall.
Whispering "I believe I should be able to mimic the sounds of the floorboards creaking toward that door. Perhaps we can test this ambush out from a short distance." (Once I know what is happening).
Haer Kul "stealthily" retreats down the stairs (Stealth: 20), and reports his findings to the rest of the party.
Haer Kul looks at Petronicus and has a feeling like he knows what the wizard will say before he says it.
After Petronicus speaks: "That, sir, is wonderfully devious. I suggest we place those with ranged weapons near the top of the stairs, and if anyone prefers the personal touch", looking at Morgrom, " they can wait against the wall beside the door."
Looking pleased with the plan, "When your ruse draws them out, we can fire, and then the melee can be joined. We will ambush the ambushers, no?"
Haer Kul gazes thoughtfully at Petronicus. "Me, I am not sure that will draw them out. I think they wait for someone to enter, no? I had the impression that they could hear me creaking on the floorboards up there, and still they did not come out."
"Perhaps if you made the creaking of the floor and then the opening and closing of the far door, they may think we entered went through it and may come out to follow us or wait for our return. Yes, and before the opening of the door, perhaps the sound of voices engaged in some kind of indiscernible discussion."
Haer Kul quickly sketches out a diagram: (link) "What do you think of positioning ourselves like so, while M. Petronicus makes the voices and the floorboards to cover us?"
"If they do not come out after a time, then perhaps we just go ahead and explore that far room and deal with them later."
Haer Kul will wait till he sees them, then cast Produce Flame.
"This sounds like an excellent and most devious plan. Let's do it."
The group goes upstairs, and carry out the plan, but nobody emerges from either door.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Morgrom walks to the end of the hall and kicks open the door, "Heeeerez Morgrom!"
Morgrom bursts through the door to discover a musty bedroom. Clouds of dust spring up at his entrance, getting in his eyes and nose. He has an instant to see a mummified corpse on a bed covered in flowers and herbs before the door behind him opens.
"No!! Leave Momma alone!!"
Behind Morgrom is an enormous, shaggy man wielding an axe. What is particularly unusual is that he grew to such a height in spite of the massive hunch in his back.
"Mr. Silam Oddle, I presume? We mean you no harm."
Petronicus waves his arms about and utters some at an words. Gloopy grease appears on the axe. "Just put your weapon down so we can talk."
Reflex save dc17
The woodsman maintains his grip on his slippery axe.
Thorthal steps into the hall, but stays back from the man in case he wishes to talk.
Haer Kul tries to calm the man down
"Unfortunately this spirit does not know the spell of Sleep!" Bardos exclaims as he continues to stall.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |