Still bothered by the undead woman upstairs, Rullis keeps quiet as he surveys the mold.
"Well? We are likely to need light. Who's first?"
The bard casts light on his shield.
"Well, logic dictates that it be either the one holding the light, or failing that, someone who posses vision that will be magnified by the light beyond what is common."
"Well, you and I will need light. Some of our friends probably won't. But I can lead if you wish."
Kithian mumbles under his breath and moves forward.
Camillo will lead, checking for traps, with Sayniek immediately behind. Basically, proceeding as with the upper floor.
The lower floor, in fact, reveals the kitchen first and foremost. A number of doors lead off the oddly shaped room (4 to be precise) while a large oaken table, its surface marred with moldy stains and rat droppings is the centerpiece of the space. The shelves along the southwest wall are in a great state of disarray and two one foot wide cracks in the wall lead south seemingly into the earth beyond the boundaries of the house. At the echoing clang of armored feet and shifting bodies shuffle into the kitchen space a great murmuring of rat like squeaks build and build in the space echoing from the cracks beyond the wall. Something is coming...
The sound builds quickly, the group had but a few seconds before it will meet the source of the sound....
Camillo pulls two flasks from his pack and readies to throw a flask of acid at what he expects to be a mass of rats.
"Oh spare me, if this noise should originate from a horde of rats infested with ghoul fever or any other sort of undeath...SOMEONE shall pay..."
At Vidar's comment, Rullis chants quickly while holding up his symbol of the leaf towards the opening in the wall.
Sayniek will move forward and draw her sword in preparation for the expected assault by something with lots of feet.
I don't like rats. Not as much by far as I dislike undead, but still they are something that should not be allowed near civilized folk.
Cristiel positions Manartyelo into a ready pose before becoming motionless. Her eyes roam across the walls as she quiets her breath.
The group is able to maneuver so that Cristiel, Kithian, Cam and Sayniek are facing the cracks with Rullis and Vidar a step behind them. Rullis is able to offer only the barest shaking of his head that he detects no undead here when two writhing masses of rats erupt from the wall. The chittering fills the room as it is clear the masses mean to envelop the group...
Kithian steps back and his oil flask. "Rats! Why did it have to be rats!"
"What else would a rodent hide behind but more rats?!?" Vidar snarls out in abject disgust at the display of pestilent vermin.
Yes, sorry. That is all he has that would be of use.
"Here we go!"
Seeing the swarm of non-undead come at them, Rullis quickly changes his chant and it suddenly gets rather windy in this chamber. Calling upon the God of Weather, he casts Wind Wall between the rats and the party members, effectively preventing the rats from advancing. At the very least, this gives those with vials of goodies useful against such swarms time to dig through their packs and find them, preparing for when I drop the wind wall.
Perhaps showing overconfidence, or a lack of experience fighting swarms, Sayniek draws her sword and stands a few feet from the wall prepared to strike at anything that might issue forth.
Ready Action-bastard sword:
Damage(slashing):
As the rats swarm out, Cristiel slips into a practiced downward sweeping motion with her blade, almost as if using the weapon as a broom to keep the tide of nipping rats at bay.
Range touch:
Same:
Despite the ugliness of the affair the combinations of acids, oils and the agressive angry hum of Cristiel's mystic sword create an ugly picture as one of the two swarms writhe and die in carnage.
The wind continues to push and the rats howl and chitter but cannot surge forward leaving them vulnerable...
Group 2 is up, then Group 1 can go...basically if there is enough acid and someone throws a fire through the wall its pretty much fish in a barrel with Rullis' very well applied wind wall...
Rullis will focus on his wall spell and ensure no rats make it through. He'll prepare to drop the wall if others in his party are ready to attack with more acid.
The next few seconds pass easily. With Rullis sustaining the wall the rest of the group are able to take swipes at the swarm and break it down into a bloody pulpy mess with wide swing through the wind. Even having to drop the wall to hack at the last small group of the swarm passes uneventfully and the group is left standing amidst a pile of rat corpses as the building occasionally creaks overhead...
"Let's shine a little light back into those holes."
The group is able to easily comply. The cracks and holes reveal that indeed the foundation is impaired though not to any degree that threatens the building outright. However it does occur that were the building above to suffer substantial damage there would be little opportunity to rebuild absent recasting the stonework below. It is also clear that a substantial shelf of rock seems to support the casted stone which might explain that even with the damage the house is still in solid shape. Considering the composition of the cliffs around here that seems to make sense.
"Hnnnh, let us move on, quite aside from the eerie atmosphere down here we can now comfort ourselves with the fact that the structural integrity is less than sound.
Rats, undeads, necromancers and who can tell what else hides in the darkness?"
"Hmmmm. I bet a fire would have killed all the rats....
"Uh-huh. Some of these doors should be storage, right? Let's eliminate those first."
Moving to the first door to the left from the door they entered through, he listens for a moment and scans it for mischief before trying to open it.
The mobile tin can moves along behind Cam ready to be first into any room which the rogue determines is not trapped.
Thr group systematically checks the floor starting with the closes doors and working their way around.
The first door reveals quarters for kitchen staff which is spartan but actually relatively clean compared to much of the house. Another door reveals the pantry, undoubtedly the heart of the rat problem this storage area reeks of rats and their various activities fur and droppings permeating every surface. It is only a quick closure of the heavy door that grants the barest reprieve from the unlocked stench therein.
A wine cellar filled mostly with broken glass and empty shelves seems empty enough until a last minute glance catches that one of the racks is on hinges. Prepared to perhaps find further avenues to the foes they seeks the group finds, instead, 6 bottles of an exceptionally rare vintage kept "safe" in its hidden location.
The final door on the floor shows sure signs of being where the group needs to go but the sturdy iron and stout lock provide to be a challenge. Despite being marred with occasional marks of rust the door is still well and truly secured presenting a situation where the group must either find a key in some place they missed (most likely a room above the group chose not to explore, basic wisdom dictates most likely the study, observatory or the master bedroom were the bearer of the key content to be "normal") or the group would need to attempt to break through the door somehow. Otherwise the house has been well and truly searched through and only this mysterious corner remains.
Camillo studies the lock with a critical eye. "I might be able to unlock it. If you want to wait while I take my time, we will know in a minute or so. If you don't want to wait, we can return to search for the key upstairs or look for a sledgehammer."
Cam works on the lock for a considerable amount of time, gingerly picking at the tumblers of a lock that is clearly of good make. Just when the bard is ready to throw up his hands and declare the task undoable the tumblers gently "klack" into place.
Sayniek is able to keen her head into the room and get a look of things...
This room looks to have once been some sort of arcane workshop, although it now lies in ruin. A row of soggy books sits on the northern end of
a workbench along the western wall. At the other end of the workbench, what looks like three iron birdcages sit, each containing a dead diseased rat.
To the east, two stained-glass windows loom. The northern window depicts a thin man with gaunt features drinking a foul-looking brew of green fluid, while the southern one shows the same man but in an advanced state of decay, as if he had been dead for several weeks. His arms raised and head thrown back in triumph, his rotting body turns to smoke and spirals into a seven-sided box.
There is another, simpler wooden door that leads out of this workshop space back into the heart of the house...
Sayniek scratches her head as she examines the room:
Strange looks like some wizard was attempting strange and unholy rites. Perhaps the necromancer we are seeking. Except, these windows make it appear as though he has already undergone some type of an undead transformation through the use of a weird green potion.
Then she adds:
Oh, and there appears to be another door out of hear. Suppose we should see where it leads.
"Given time I should...no I WILL be able to comprehend what went on here, but we do NOT have the time as of right now.
Let us proceed."
Camillo points at the windows, "I don't know what that means, but it gives me the willies. Do you think that means there's a weird box like that around here somewhere? With a walking dead guy in it?" He thinks about that for a moment, shakes his head at the thought, and moves toward the next door.