Let us take them all. Perhaps they will have barter value on the road. Let us take a moment to search the rest of the tower. Stanslav makes sure the wizard is dead before conducting a quick search of the level they are on.
"Oh, how lovely! " Nadine exclaims when she is shown the beautiful robes. " See, Robbie, when you behave and do good work, you get nice things!" She claps her hands together and smiles.
Looking at the dead Warden, she casts a spell to chat for any magical items in him or in the room.
"Was that addressed to me, Ms. Nadine? If so, quite."
Robert dons one of the nice robes, substituting it for the blood stained guard's uniform he had been wearing.
"Good" Vank says matter-of-factly then he bends down to remove the warden's shirt and carve clenched fist into the skin of the warden's chest using his dagger.
Then he joins the others searching the warden's rooms.
Nadine seems to notice Robert in the room for the first time. "What dear? Oh, no, I was speaking to my son, Robbie. He's a good boy, but I want him to see why we be good." Nadine looks off toward a blank wall and smiles.
Thomas makes his way to the Wardens door, stands beside it, and listens.
Stanislav's first impression was right, the poor man is dead as dead can be. He has passed on to meet Mitra. Nadine's magic pulses out like ripples in a pond, not much stops them but a few scrolls, a flask and a purse begins to glow under her sight. As Vank pulls the warden's cloths a side he notices a ring on the wardens left ring finger, a beautiful wrought golden ring embedded with small diamonds.
Leaving the rest behind Thomas makes his way to the door across the hall. No sounds escape from the other side as he presses his ear to the hardened wood.
"He has a ring if anyone wants it, probably worth a fair bit if you could sell it." Vank says with little interest. "I'm going to go kill those guards circling the walls while you finish up in here. Grumblejack, do you want to come?"
He goes looking for windows to see the progress of the guards circling the walls and even if he can't find windows head back down the stairs to find out how the guards enter or go around the warden's tower so he can find a good place to ambush them.
I will wear the ring for now, if no one else claims it. Stanislav says. It might help get us past the gate.
He finishes his search of the level. I had hoped to find more coin. he comments. [b]We might need coin once we are on the road.
Nadine pulls out the scrolls, flask, and pouch to examine them further. "Ah excellent. We can see what the good Warden has left us." She frowns as second later. "This is all? The Warden was a studious wizard. Where are his arcane tomes?"
She furrows her brow before realization comes. "Ah, perhaps the previous room, though it would seem odd for a wizard to leave his spellbook out of sight."
The young Rogue came back from the door and informed the group, "Not a soul coming up the steps." Then asked, "So what is our next move?"
Help us loot. Stanislav recommends. Lets not be greedy here, but lets not leave behind essential equipment or life saving loot either. And I'd like to be clear of the walls of this place in minutes if possible.
After Nadine finishes examining the scroll, flask, and pouch, she backtracks to the other room to search it for more arcane writings. "Blasted wizard. Where doe she hide the good stuff?"
At first the magic refuse to yield its secrets but under Nadine's intense scrutiny, the bag and flask give in. Actually the bag isn't magic but contains a ioun stone that shines like a torch. The scrolls still guard their secrets.
Thomas looks around for chest the Warden might have.
"Let us be away as soon as possible, eh?"
Rifling through the warden's possessions both in his bed chamber and office produces no chest or other valuables for Thomas. He is down to a locked drawer in the great desk in the office when he strikes gold, not literally, but it contains a rather large book bound with fine cerulean leather, it corners are protected by finely hammered brass, while strange symbols guard the leather. Both the runic R on the centre of the cover and the symbols are fitted with a thin gold layer. Pulling out his treasure Nadine enters the room.
Nadine laughs lightly and claps her hands together as she takes the tome from Thomas. "Ah, this is what I was looking for. The Warden's secrets will make for some fun studying!"
She rushes back to the Warden's room as if suddenly remembering something. Looking at the body, she considers for a bit. "Hmm, what parts of the Warden, do you want, Robbie? Ah, a spellcaster is nothing without his voice and fingers! She proceeds to cut out the man's tongue and slice out parts of his throat. A couple fingers from his right hand go next, and all the bits go into her pouch. [b]"I think we might be done, don't you Robbie? Mommy has a good bit to help you. Bit of power from these bad men."
"Okay, people. I think it is time to say goodbye to this particular prison. We have some decent equipment now, even if it is marked with the oppressor's seal, and have pretty much no opposition to our exit. Any other suggestions?"
Let us loot the levels below and collect what food we can, and then make our departure with haste.
"We should ambush the guards on the walls then approach the gate house from the walls so they think we are the wall guards."
"Oh, I like that plan, Vank. That seems smart. They won't be expecting prisoners on the wall."
The fighter nods his agreement. Good plan.
"Sure, sounds good to me."
Leaving the bloody marked corpse Vank looks around. Strangely the warden had no window in his bedroom, a few quick steps across the hall confirms the there where non in the study either - puzzling. Heading down a floor He finds it is the same in the library. No doors leading to the battlements. That means the guards must cross somewhere else or use external stairs.
Moving the pillaging down a floor you return to the library. A quick glance reveals only books. A thorough search including under the tables behind the bookcases and behind the books yield nothing of particular value. A closer look on the books might reveal something.
A treat for the aspiring astrologer, the "Astra Mysterii" by the mad monk Clivarius is worth 75gp in many illicit circles around the country.
To some an enjoyable tale to others an instruction manual "The travels of Titus the Mendicant" by Artus Vellor is well known and the is one of the rare first editions to those with money and those inclinations 120gp might not be out of reach.
This large book dominates most of its neighbours in size and age. Flipping through its pages most of Talingarde's flora is drawn and described. "The Floralegium" by Branthus Hart is the heavy weight in the collection both by size and value. It could fetch as much as 250gp among collectors.
Stanislav quickly looks over the books for anything of obvious value.
He is unable to discern if any book is more valuable than the next and so leaves them all.
Nadine flips through the many books, but nothing seems worth much. She glances over as Stanislav tosses a book down and one of the illustrations catches her eye. She stoops down to pick it up and finds a book of astrology. "Ah, written by the mad monk! Oh, Warden what a naughty thing to have! This might actually be worth a more than a few gold to the right person." She walks over and tucks it into Stanislav's coat.
Vank will climb down the rest fo the stairs and listen at the door before opening it. Right now he is just trying to gauge where the guards are. Only if the other take too long he'll go deal with them.
Standing by the door nothing peak Vank senses at first. Drawing in a deep breath he carefully opens the door just slightly and listens again. Still no sound save perhaps a barking? It is to faint away to tell, certainly no sound of boots on gravel or metal clanking. It doesn't help him place any guards at the moment.
"Books and finery, spells and a couple of potions. He must have been a decent wizard to have all this and survive this long."
Looking at a couple of the books, the rogue shook his head at not finding anything of value. What a waste.
Suddenly feeling trapped Stanislav urges the group to action. What if the remaining guards have heard us and have departed for reinforcements?
"Then we best not be here when they arrive."
We step outside and close the door behind him so that any light from the rest upstairs won't escape and waits listening.
The heavy oaken door shuts fairly silently behind the hobgoblin. The night is fairly beautiful and would under different circumstances be something to admire - but not tonight. Listening and looking intensely for signs of the guards Vank stands still for what seems like an eternity
For a moment it seems like Vank is alone in the world neither man nor animal, then he thinks he sees a light to his right, upon looking closer he realises it was nothing.
Nadine looks around the bottom floor as the others tromp down the stairs. She sees the Hobgoblin close the door behind him and hisses to the others, "Let's go! Vank is checking out the way, but we need to go quickly. Let's go get Irena and find a way up to the walls."
Vank quietly opens the door as he hears the other coming, and says quietly "I haven't heard or seen the wall guards, I suggest we find a way up onto walls and lay an ambush at one of the towers."
A closer inspection of the ground floor reveals nothing new. The tapestries you hastily passed on your way in reveals the history of the prison and how before it was once the home the Branding family. As above no hidden treasure is found. The largest tapestry might be worth 150 gp if you could find the right buyer.
Hmm. These tapestries could serve as blankets in a pinch I think. He will roll up one of appropriate size and stow it tied beneath the back pack.
Thomas looked at Stanislav, "You can't be serious? Do you have any idea how much un-needed weight that is? We need to keep moving." And he moved to the door to follow the hobgoblin.