Kaerin nods his silent agreement. He seems both shaken and quite sad facing the corpse of his late stepfather.
As you move to examine the body, Armand starts moving around the room, looking at the dust on the floor (there isn't much of it), looking for scrape marks around the table legs (was a table moved recently), checking the window sill and other "vulnerable" areas where an intruder might have entered the premises unknown. As he finishes his investigation you have gotten over about half the body and the two of you finish examining the rest as well as the clothing the man was wearing at the time of his death and even the clothing he was wearing the night before.
At several points Kaerin points out somethings you might otherwise have overlooked and seems to have gotten over his initial shock and sadness and starts doing some of his own investigation, curiosity having gotten the better of him.
At one point Armand casts a detect magic spell and paces around the room ending up at the body itself.
The search of the room and examination of the body take the two of you over an hour to complete.
Armand and Kaerin's thorough search of the room turns up absolutely nothing. No prints in the dust (which is just starting to gather on the table and floor since no one has disturbed the room since the body was prepared a day or two ago), no scrape marks along the floor or other signs of entry into the room. If an assassin did enter the room, any trace of him has been wiped away either intentionally or accidentally when the body was lain to rest. There is also no sign of struggle in the room.
Your search of the body and the table are just as fruitless. As far as you can tell, other than looking very old and thin, the body seems healthy. No needle marks, no cuts or scrapes, no discoloring of skin or other marks or mars on the body.
Your detect magic picks up many faint dewomers but nothing "dangerous". With a simple application of your knowledge of the arcane and your knowledge of spellcraft in general you can mostly separate out the various enchantments laying around the room (some minor enchantments to make the blankets more airtight and thus warmer, an enchantment on the window to harden the glass, a couple enchants to keep the room smelling fresh, etc.) and are pretty certain that none of them are at all harmful, nor of particular difficulty or power to cause harm.
All three of you show signs of surprise and even a bit of dismay that you can find no sign at all that the man laying on the table before you was murdered, by all examination that you can perform, the man died of old age in his sleep.
When finally finished, Kaerin guides you from the room and closes, and locks, the door to his Step Father's bedroom again. He then smiles at each of you and says:
"I should probably thank the two of you. Ever since the message you gave me this evening my mind has been awash with fear that my father was, in fact, murdered or mixed up in this dastardly business with this brotherhood. While I was obviously disconcerted at your request earlier, I am actually lighter of heart knowing that my father lived a good life and died peacefully. You have my gratitude for both your efforts and your compassion."
"It is late, and I must retire if I am to see your group off into my father's Laboratory tomorrow morning. I recommend you both do the same. Until tomorrow then..."
As Kaerin is talking he's led the two of you each to your suite and now bids the both of you good night as he turns and moves back down the hall to his own living quarters.
Each of you is awakened by a soft knock at your door and the voice of Alphred calling your name (addressing each of you as either Master or Mistress) and telling you that breakfast is served.
As you come fully awake and look out the windows in each of your rooms, you see the sun not quite over the horizon yet, somewhere around six in the morning by your estimations. Each of you dresses quickly and heads down to a large breakfast, after which Kaerin excuses himself and tells each of you to go prepare for the day's events. Back upstairs in your rooms after breakfast, each of you goes through your normal daily routine (praying for or studying spells, exercising, washing up, dressing, getting into armor, etc.) and each of you are ready to go around 9 in the morning.
At about half past nine, Alphred again makes his rounds to each of your doors, addressing you and asking you to come to the dining room again. From there, you are lead down into the wine cellar of the house and to a large wooden door which Kaerin stands beside.
"This leads down into the basement and to Kavorquian's Laboratory. Again I ask each of you to promise that you will do your best to retrieve the Tiara and Sword by tomorrow night and I remind you that an extra reward will be paid to you should you be able to complete this task. You have free run of my house and all the resources at my disposal from now until then."
"When my father used to come down here, he always carried his own light with him, you will likely need to find some method of seeing down there. Feel free to take a torch or two from the stack over there if you need to."
With that Kaerin unlocks and opens the door to the basement.
A long spiral staircase descends into the darkness and you can only barely make out the floor about twenty feet below and a small portion of what looks to be a small room.
Fyird will automatically take a position near the middle of the party, where his spells, and bardic support can help in either direction. He will also cast Light on his light shield, and keep renewing it every 10 minutes.
Selena follows behind Fyird, where she can hopefully clearly see the rest of the party members in case of injury or a need for a hasty spell. With a wave of her hand, four dancing lights appear at her sides.
She waits until Kaerin has departed earshot. "It's a fairly strange request. I wonder what is so special about this jeweled sword and tiara?"
Lash takes the lead, rapier in one hand sunrod in the other. Her keen eyes comb the area ahead of her.
Perception:
Knowledge Dungeoneering:
"Sword's probably magic. And if the gems in the tiara are real, well it could solve any money problems he's having."
Dirk looks doubtful at Lash's decision to move first to the gaping darkness of the stairwell.
"Lash, I'm better equipped to take the initial brunt of anything we meet down there. I do not doubt your abilities, but perhaps I should move down the stairs first."
Not wanting to offend her, he makes eye contact with a nod to show his offer is sincere.
"If you agree, I'll go first, with you behind me, followed by Armand, Fyird and Selena, then Thantos and finally Mird watching the rear."
"Any objections to that order?"
"Lash and I will have our weapons drawn, so we'll need someone with free hands to carry the map and guide us through the basement..."
Dirk pauses and looks at the others for volunteers.
"The best way of dealing with a trap is to avoid it, not survive it. But hey,you're the boss." Lash replies stepping aside with a flourish.
"Dirk, I can carry the map and help guide the group."
The stone spiral staircase winds down into the darkness. Surprisingly, or not so much once you think about it, each of the steps "creeks" as if it were a wooden stairwell as your party approaches, making at least a minor amount of noise as the seven of you descend into the basement.
About 60' feet down, the stairwell comes to an end, leaving you in a small stone walled entry chamber about 20 feet on a side. The room is barren, with no objects or other items anywhere within the area of the room. Dust has settled on the floor of the room and a quick examination tells you no one has passed through the area in at least a couple days (at least none walking on the floor) since the dust remains undisturbed.
The ceiling in the room is about 15' high and seems to have been carved directly out of the rock of the hill the house overhead is built upon. Rough and somewhat unworked, the ceiling still looks strong and stable.
To your left and front a strong wooden iron bound door stands closed, blocking entrance into the further parts of the basement. You see no lock on the door, and, upon trying it, note that it swings open rather easily. As you open the door you note the iron holders mounted into the metal banding of the door and two iron holders mounted into the stone of the wall on either side of the door...a metal locking bar stands up against the left wall of the revealed hallway completing the picture. Obviously Kavorquian could lock himself in and others out if needed. You also notice that no such locking mechanism exists on the outside of the door.
The hallway continues to the extent of your light source (20') unbroken by doors or other side passages.
"Well, here goes nothing" Fyird says as they begin to enter past the doorway.
Selena follows Fyird quietly, reaching out a hand to stop him from moving too far ahead of Kirk and Lash. "Let us wait for the others." After a pause, she continues. "This place feels like a tomb. And I am more than worried that Kavorquian's 'Creatures' are of an unsavory and dreadful nature."
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Mird will take a good look at the door locks at the entrance of the basement (the one that has the inside lock mechanism) and check if there is any special mechanism that can lock the door automatically leaving us trapped inside.
"Let me take a look at this door so we can avoid an inconvenient long time stay down here."
Perception Check: 1d20+5=16
"I vote for us to go over every single room of this basement."
Besides that he will perform his "rear guard" task as described.
"So as I am looking at the map we are at the bottom of the stair case. The door in front of us leads down a hallway, best I can tell. Any volunteers to open the door?"
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Dirk steps down from the stairs and onto the landing of the basement floor and immediately scans the shadows for signs of an attack. His eyes continue to move about the room as the others filter down into position.
Once satisfied that the room is secure, Dirk will move towards the unlocked door and swing it open. After letting his eyes adjust to the darkness of the hallway and ensuring that there is no immediate danger, Dirk will step aside and give Lash a full view of the dusty hallway.
"Lash, I'll lead down the hallway. But I'll step aside at any doors we happen upon to let you have a look. If you see anything out of place before then, let me know and I'll let you move forward. I'll do my best to intercept any monsters moving about the place."
Looking back over the group, Dirks say, "Stay alert. It was suggested that at least one of these beasts may move through solid stone... that apparently includes these walls. Attacks can come from any direction."
To Armand he says quietly, "Please stay near me if trouble starts. It wouldn't do to have you come all this way just to have you perish in a wizard's basement looking for his stepson's trinkets."
The locking mechanism on the door in this first room is a simple "bar and holder" lock. On the hallway side of the door two heavy iron holders are built into the stone of the wall and one is banded onto the door. The mechanism is easy: the iron bar leaning against the wall is maneuvered into place inside all 3 of the holders, at that point the only way to open the door from the outside would be to put enough force pulling on the door to "break" the metal bar (snap it in half). From the inside opening the door is easy, simply lift the metal bar out of the holding slots and the door will swing open easily. It's obvious that this particular door is built for keeping people OUT of the wizard's lab, not keeping them in. You see nothing that would concern you that this portal could be barred from your exit.
Dirk takes the first step across the threshold and into the darkened hallway and pauses to look into the darkness while listening for any unusual noises.
If he hears nothing he'll look back toward Thantos and ask, "Alright, where to first?"
The hallway stretches down into darkness in front of you. About twenty feet in front of you, just at the edge of your light, a somewhat rusted torch holder is attached to the right wall with, what you assume is, an unlit torch hanging in the bracket.
The hallway itself is unremarkable, running off into the distance beyond the light of your torches in a straight and uniform fashion. A thin layer of dust covers much of the floor and seems unbroken by footprints or other signs of life...it's been several days, at least, since anything traveled this way.
Dirk: Nothing out of the ordinary comes to your ears and you see nothing that would alert you to any danger within your line of vision.
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Mird is going Stealth: 1d20+6=21
And he is also going to look for tracks of the creatures that were said to be in the basement.
"I will try to track the creatures that were said to be in the basement, perhaps we can try to get rid of some of them first and avoid surprises"
Tracking at 1/2 speed: 1d20+6=18
Knowledge Dungeoneering: 1d20+5=24
I don't know if the tracking involves me going to the front of the party, if so I'll do that just if my tracking abilities allows me to find any track in the terrain we are in.
"Dirk, that door up ahead looks just as good as any to open. Let's check that room out. I'm almost afraid to ask, for fear that it will spring some trap, but should we light the torch there on the wall?"
Dirk nods at Thantos, "Good a place as any..."
Dirk will move down the hallways on constant alert for any signs of danger. His weapon will remain sheathed for now. If Lash moves ahead of him in the hallways he will keep a concerned eye in her direction.
Thantos whispers just loud enough for the whole group to hear, "Shall we knock or just kick it in?" He stores the map in his pocket and removes the crossbow from his belt, ready to fire.
Your footsteps echo eerily as the seven of you proceed down the hallway. As you near the end of the hall a small voice rings out from the east wall bringing you up short:
"Halt or Die! What is the password!"
Looking around you see no one from which the voice could have come.
Startled, you each rack your brains for anything you might have heard within your conversations with Kaerin or anyone else within the house to come up with an answer.
Your surprise and hesitation costs you as the floor in front of you springs open, swallowing Dirk, Lash and Armand, and almost Fyird (standing on the edge), and then snapping closed in the blink of an eye with a loud clang, trapping the three below the stone floor. You hear a dull thud as the three fall into the pit. A grinding sound followed by a stone on stone crunch ring through the hallway as thick slabs of stone slide closed from either end of the room you just left, banging together and leaving no path through them back to the stairs.
Somewhere in the distance a bell rings loudly, the echoes of it rebounding off the stone walls down the far corridors. Across the hall way ahead of you the door to the room you are facing (the room you were about to enter) is wrenched open and a creature steps out the door. Humanoid in form, of the same height and size of a normal man, it is immediately obvious that this is not a person but a magical construct. It's gait is odd (as if it's slightly off balanced) and it's arms hang very low to the ground (longer than a normal man's). At the request for the password, however, the four of you were already sensing trouble and had prepared for this encounter.
Your surprise and hesitation costs you as the floor at your feet immediately snaps open, throwing each of you to the ground as you are tripped off your feet by the sliding stone. However, the fall to the ground seems to be a longer time in coming than you would have expected as you fall well below where the floor should be and down into a pit. Your crash to the ground is preceded by a loud clang from above.
As you each start to pick yourselves up from your fall and reorient yourselves you realize that only three of you got caught by the pit, the other four of you must still be above.
As you begin to reorient yourselves, your instincts provide you several pieces of information. First and foremost, the "floor" above you (now the ceiling to the room) has closed shut again, trapping you down in the pit. The room you are currently standing in is only about 10' x 10' with the ceiling about 10' above you. The room seems to have been dug out from the bedrock below the tunnel above and, like the tunnel above, the walls and floor have been paved and stone blocked. You notice no doors or other exits from the small room...it is obviously meant to hold those trapped.
Only seconds after landing, a low vibration passes through the room before a muffled crunch of stone on stone reaches your ears, moments after that the sounds of a ringing bell can be heard as more muffled sounds, those of your companions above drawing weapons, calling out to each other, and obviously preparing for an attack reaches your ears.
A soft ping is the only warning you get as what looks like a small brass ball finishes passing through the wall of the room and flies straight at Armand: a small brass spike needle extended from the sphere of it's body. The ball has no recognizable features (i.e. No eyes, no hands, etc.) and seems to be supported by nothing.
Before anyone can even raise weapon or shield in their defense the ball flies forward and the small needle/spike pierces Armand through the armor and the shoulder as the ball flies up and away. Armand's facial features seem locked in place and he stands stiffly, unmoving after the attack.
Initiative
With the sudden stone movements, Selena cries out in shock. "Oh no! Lash!"
Selena draws the longsword that Kirk had given her, focusing her attention on the shambling creature before them. "Be gone! Your master is dead now."
Dirk grunts as he hits bottom but is up on his feet in short order. Drawing his sword he pales as he sees his friend and King become immobilized from the strange object.
Initiative
Lasciel grunts at the hard landing. "I'm ok Lena! Stay back from that thing unless you have to."
Lash whips her hand up holing her rapier ready to strike.
Initiative
Thantos raises his crossbow from the ready position to the firing position. With the humanoid figure in his sights he squeezes the trigger.
Hit roll with 'if hit' damage:
Combat Up Top:
Initiative:
-----------------
Mird: 25
Thantos: 22
Fyird: 20
Selena: 19
Magen: 7
Combat Below:
Initiative:
------------------
Phase Stinger: 17
Lash: 16 (16 Dex)
Dirk: 8
As Dirks warrior instincts move to the fore-front of his consciousness, concern for his friends melts into the greyness of pure focus.
Lifting his wicked, curved sword over his head, Dirk charges for the small metal ball with his now instinctual battle shout, "Blades of Hell!"
Charge, Over-hand Chop Attack
Damage
Regaining his balance, Fyird begins to chant a battle hymn, while striking out at the strange construct.