Red snaps shut the lid of the chest and walks out of the room. He glances down the hall the way they had come before deciding to check the exterior door first.
Blue happily stows the razor in his bag before checking the chest himself. He too seems disappointed by the contents. He follows Red out into the hall.
'Aw, brother, there's plenty ah more rooms to explore in here.' Blue takes a small bit of joy in seeing his brother's obvious annoyance with him.
"That's a nice looking brush too. I could use it on my flowing locks if no one objects?"
If no one does Drizzle will take the brush.
Robious eyes the tub and moves the wash basin with his toes.
"A suicide rather than accept the fate of the master of this place."
Robious takes the time to sprinkle holy water upon the skeleton and say a few prayers.
". . . May her soul find peaceful rest and be free of this place as is her body."
Red checks the door leading outside. It's locked from inside, and simple to open. There's a small staircase leading down to the grounds. From here, he can see a crumbling stone well and what appears to be a doghouse . From this angle you cannot see the door on it.
Red, disinterested in the dog house goes to check the well.
Blue spots the doghouse and his eyes brighten.
'Aw, brother, no one said we got a dog with the house! Here boy, Here!' The large man rushes over to the doghouse and peers inside.
Red looks down into the well and finds it appears as though it may well be bottomless, continuing down into utter darkness.
Blue checks out the doghouse, a simple, miniature house, with a slanted roof and an arched, 3’ tall opening at the front. It's occupied not by a dog, but by a boar. The boar looks up at Blue and snorts at him, then turns and ducks back into the house. As best as you can tell it's not particularly aggressive.
'A Pig? who gives a pig a 'lil house?' Blue slams a fist on the top of the house and moves back towards the intersection in the house.
'Selling this wreck will be hell if this well is dry' Red groans. He lights a torch and drops it into the well.
The torch falls unusually slowly into the darkness and disappears. As you watch, you hear a faint growling sound from somewhere in the abyss of the well, and it sounds ever so far away.
Red slowly backs away from the well as if he'd heard nothing and follows his brother to the intersection, hoping whatever he'd disturbed is unable to follow.
Robious leans out the door way.
"If you are done looking around the yard, the elf wants to check out the double doors to the west, but hopes you will check for traps Red."
'Nothing of interest out there anyway.' Red looks over his shoulder towards the exterior door and tries to keep his voice steady.
Red moves to the double doors on the Western side of the house and inspects them.
'There was a wee lil' piggy out there. May be handy come breakfas' time.' Blue says, a little dejectedly. 'I wanted a dog'
The group moves down the hall quickly to the double doors and slowly opens them after red checks for traps and finds none.
As you open the doors, you see floor to ceiling bookshelves line the walls of this large chamber.
A dark, female apparition floats silently along the far wall. She appears to be engaged in symmetrical book-stacking.
'You must be the librarian?' Red says hopefully. He tries to subtly move his hand to his sword pommel, trying not to alarm the woman.
The apparition turns to you, places one finger over her shadowy lips, and simply says, "Shhhhh!"
She then returns to stacking her books.
"Uh, we are ill equipped to fight a ghost."
The elf whispers.
"Umm, yes. Perhaps we should close the door and check elsewhere."
Red gulps and nods to Robious. 'Sorry' He whispers as quietly as possible.
Red closes the door softly, takes a deep, bracing breath and turns to examine the door they had passed to get to the double door.
"Wow, your uncle really knows how to raise ones spirits, get it?"
The cleric joked.
The elf elbows him in the ribs.
"That one was so bad it could kill the living. Let the thief concentrate."
As Red examines the door, he notices strange runes that appear magical have been burned into the lintel above the door.
The door not only appears locked, but outright refuses to open or budge.
Immediately after the room is a long narrow hallway leading deeper, followed by another door.
Red squints up at the runes above the door.
'Seems stuck. Maybe there's another way in.' Red slips past the group and moves up the hall to the far door.
Red finds no traps on the door, which is unlocked.
Opening the door, you see a huge, intricately carved wooden desk occupying nearly a third of this well-appointed study.
In the west wall, between two windows, is a small, dormant fireplace. Mounted above the mantel is a gnarled quarterstaff.
In the southwestern corner, a comfortable looking armchair stands empty.
On a small, circular table by the armchair is an ornate glass bottle and a pewter chalice.
Without warning, a small humanoid creature with bat wings drops down from above the doorway and attacks Red!
The creature bites Red on the shoulder, and after the initial shot of pain, Red begins to feel strange.
Red succumbs to the magical effect of the bite and slumps to the ground, asleep.
Combat order: Homunculus, Blue Petes, Drizzle, Robious.
The Homunculus next sets his sights on Robious and flies at him to bite.
The cleric's armor easily protects him from the creature's attack.
Red slumps to the floor, blood seeping from the wound on his shoulder. The scene appears ghastly until the lithe man begins to snore in a weak imitation of his larger brother.
Blue roars in fury, seeing his brother fall after the strange creature's attack. He steps over his brother's body protectively, putting himself between the creature and his kin, and swings Loretta at the winged form.
Blue Petes just narrowly misses the Homunculus with Loretta.
Drizzle sees the demon like nature of the assailant and deems him worthy of a spell.
"Skizzot!"
"Take that fiend!"
Seeing Red fall with a bleeding wound, Robious moves to heal him.
"Gods of Law, restore the balance that evil has upset, but countering the harm done this man."
Drizzle's Magic Missile hits the Homunculus and knocks it for a loop, but then the creature flutters on.
Robious heals Red's wound, though his magical slumber remains.
Combat Order: Blue Petes, Robious, Drizzle, Homunculus.
Seeing what the creature did to Red gets everyone riled up.
Seeing his brother's wound improve, Blue's impish grin burns through the plain rage on his face. He gives Red a sharp kick in the side.
'Get up ya bum, thar ain't a thing wrong with ya now!' He shouts, laughing. He brings Loretta to bear on the winged creature once more.
Robious whips out his sling!
But gets totally tangled up in it spoiling the shot.
"What?! Don't look at me like that! Slings aren't my thing yet, I just got it the other day."
Drizzle makes an overhand chop at the winged assailant with a flourish out of his scabbard.
"Tiger coming down the mountain meets the kissing crane at sunset. Perfectly executed I might add, and I do."
While the others miss, Drizzle lands a critical strike on the Homunculus! The creature's body melts into a pool of ichor, the magic that animated it dissipating into the ether!
Red still lays on the ground in a magically induced slumber.
The room appears safe enough now to search and to take a rest while you wait for Red to finish his long nap.
Drizzle checks for secret passages and hidden doors.
Blue scoops up his brother and lay him across the desk. He attempts to wake Red by alternating between gently slapping him in the face, yelling into his ear, and shaking him rigourously.
'He's not this heavy a sleeper most uh tha time.' He shrugs to the elf and cleric.
Red continues to sleep, still under the magical enchantment.
Drizzle doesn't find any passages or doors within the room.
As you search around the room, you find in the desk a single item, a cut and polished onyx gemstone with the letter "R" inlaid in gold.
By the armchair on a small, circular table is a bottle of what smells like a very fine absinthe and also a pewter chalice.
The only other item still of possible interest in the room is the quarterstaff mounted above the fireplace.
Losing interest in his sleeping brother Blue scoops up the polished onyx. He turns it over a few times in his hand, struggling to read the inscription. Eventually, the big man deciphers the text.
'I think ya dropped this when I shook ya.' Blue tucks the onyx into his brother's pocket and moves to inspect the bottle.
After giving it a test sniff, Blue takes a healthy pull off the bottle.
The absinthe has a strong kick to it, but Blue's had stronger rotgut in his day.
Blue admires the bottle before he offers the bottle to his conscious companions. He nods towards the staff above the fireplace.
'Anyone need a new walkin' stick?' Blue begins to grow impatient waiting on his sleeping brother to come to. He moves to stand near the door.
"I may indeed be able to use that, depending, too bad our original wizard chose to abandon our fellowship."
The elf inspects the staff before he touches it.
Drawing upon knowledge from his Elven heritage, Drizzle ascertains that the staff is likely magical in nature.
'More walkin' stick fer tha rest ah us!' Blue smiles at Drizzle and settles into the armchair, waiting for his brother to stir.
Hours pass quietly as the group waits out Red's magical slumber.
Finally, Red awakens, the magical sleep at last having worn off.
