"We'll have to force the lock... though Kreed had to have keys somewhere. There might be some stored somewhere up here. Lets look about a bit first before we go smashing things. Lets try the other door first."
Rattling the knob upon the bedchamber's door confirms that it is locked, serving only to further agitate the hound on the other side.
The door upon the long wall of the hallway opens onto a spartan bathing room, empty save for a copper tub. A staircase leads down, towards the kitchen and servants' area. Another door upon the far wall reveals merely a garderobe.
Another door to the bedroom exists here in the bathroom. No lock exists upon it at all, but Inconnu suspects some manner of trap - in particular, one that would be triggered if this door were opened from this side. Thus, it seems that to enter the bedroom demands overcoming either a lock or a trap.
'Seems a lot of fuss for a hungry dog and a few empty rooms.' Dugan mutters.
"The lock seems safer to engage with. A trap could injure or kill us."
”Think Jurin has any keys that belonged to his father? It wouldn’t certainly make this easier. Someone else should probably ask him though. I’m probably not his favorite person.”
'I can ask the boy. Do you think we can handle the pup with a bit of food? I can see about getting a bit of meat if we'd like to try'
"That makes sense. Both asking for the keys and feeding the dog. I doubt we will be able to control the poor beast though. I certainly do not have the skill to nurse it back to sanity. Only to end its suffering."
It takes a bit of time searching downstairs, knocking on doors and calling for the boy, but you eventually find young Jurin in the kitchen, sitting on a chair beside the fire and engrossed in a book. Your reappearance catches him off guard, drawing him from the words on the page.
Before running off to his room to collect the key, he directs you to the middle of three doors along the wall - indicating that it leads to the pantry. If you need food for the dogs, he suggests you grab it from inside.
"Father's dogs were hardly pets," he admits, sadly. "They could be right mean with most people. However, they were only ever affectionate with me. Maybe they just thought I smelled like my father, but I like to think father trained them to protect me, in addition to himself."
When he returns from his room, Jurin holds out a brass ring of keys - five in all - and offers them to you.
'Thank you for your help. Do you have a dirty shirt we could borrow? I'd like to try everything we can before having to put the poor beasts down.' Dugan gathers some dried meats from the pantry.
"Oh?" he exclaims in muted, confused surprise. "One of fathers? Or one of mine?"
Once the matter is clarified, he scurries off and retrieves a shirt for you.
Dugan thinks for a moment, stroking his beard. 'One of each if you can muster it, yours will do fine if that's all you can find'
Dugan returns upstairs with his rations and laundry, hoping they have dealt with any locks or traps in his absence.
"Why do you have shirts, Dugan?", Micheo asks, not familiar with training dogs.
'Dogs have a very strong sense of smell. I reckon the dog may heel if we smell like it's masters and feed it. I'm willing to do the feeding.' Dugan holds up the strips of dried meat and shirts.
"Good thing you've got that thick mithral to protect you!"
"Ah! That makes sense. We will of course be ready to assist you, Dugan."
With the keyring in hand, you return before the locked door to Kreed's bedchambers. The dog continues its frantic assault upon the slab of oak, savaging the door with its claws. After trying a few of the keys, Dugan identifies the correct one, and with one of its late master's garments in his other hand, the armored dwarf opens the door.
As soon as the door is opened even a crack, the hound crashes through and leaps upon Dugan. Crazed with hunger and thirst, the dog's jaws clamp down upon Dugan's heavily armored arm - but as Inconnu predicts, its teeth cannot pierce his mithril shell.
Looking past the cur, you see that Kreed's once luxurious bedchambers have been torn apart. The bedding is torn to shreds, and the bed's posts are chewed almost entirely through. Tables and a washstand are overturned, and drawers are ripped from their chests.
Another guard dog of similar breed but slightly paler coat struggles to its paws, rising from a nest of blankets and clothes. Its limbs tremble, and it is clearly weaker than its frenzied counterpart.
Dugan lowers his face to nears the dog and stares into it's eyes. With his free arm he waves the shirts towards the dog. He speaks calmly, but with authority. 'Down boy, I just want to feed you!'
Inconnu tosses some food back into the room near the other dog... but it bounces off the doorframe...
Ulark moved everyone back, giving Ulark space to work without overwhelming the animal. Too much noise and commotion would make the task impossible.
If not the smell then the sound of the food landing upon the planks of the bedroom floor snatches the hound's attention away from Dugan's armored arm. He relents and dives for the food. However, he only gnaws upon it a moment before his ears perk up and his attention shifts again.
The hound carries the hunk of salted meat over to its companion, whose legs have repeatedly buckled beneath it. The healthier dog nudges the food over and waits for its friend to have its fill first. All the while, the first dog stands protectively over the other. His ears angle backward, and he shows the barest hint of yellowed teeth - ready to defend the food as much as its companion.
"Well done. Let us examine the room.", says Micheo, clearly impressed with his friends' skills.
Inconnu keeps his eye on the two dogs while the others examine the room, he periodically tosses a little more food towards the dogs.
In their desperate hunt for food while locked inside for as much as a week, the hounds have already ransacked the room. Rather than simplifying your search, this complicates matters by removing any semblance of reasoned order in how things are stored. At the very least, the dogs are kept at bay as Inconnu tosses them more food.
As you pick through shredded clothes and chewed furniture, however, you soon discover that the dogs may have accidentally done you a favor. A chest of drawers has been pushed ever so slightly aside; thus, in your examination, you discover the barest hint of a hidden compartment beneath the heavy furnishing. Had the dogs not dislodged it, you might never have noticed it was there.
What's more, they triggered a trap concealed within the bottom of the dresser. Investigating closer, Inconnu finds a needle upon a swinging lever - clearly designed to prick anyone attempting to pilfer the compartment. Such traps usually carry potent poisons, and this would also serve to explain the second dog's significantly more weakened state.
"Did anyone think to bring a crowbar? We'll have to be warry of his traps, he was not messing around with this needle trap."
Micheo removes a heavy pick from his collection of weapons on his back.
"Would this suffice, Inconnu?"
Dugan chuckles to himself as he squats near the dogs, keeping a comfortable distance. 'I should hope so.'
Micheo takes the pick in both hands and strikes at what he thinks is a weak point and then tries leveraging that open!
Ulark stood by as Micheo went to work, keeping a wary eye out to see if there were any other hidden traps.
...though he really didn’t know what said traps would look like.
Micheo buries the sharp head of his pick in the crevice between the hatch and the rest of the floorboards, and with one good twist, he easily pries it open. Ulark and Dugan recognize that the hinges have been well cared for, and Kreed likely visited this hiding spot regularly.
Within the shallow compartment you discover a small, leather-bound book, sealed with a leather strap bound that ends in a simple iron clasp.
Inconnu picks up some of the damaged wood from the destroyed furniture and hacks out a few crude wedges. "Lets leave a bit more food and back out of this room. We can wedge the door shut so they can't wander out while we check the rest of the level. Careful in case that clasp is trapped."
”Good thinking. Times like this wish I was a wizard-type. Bet you they could just say some thing in a weird language and pop it open.” Ulark said, thoughtfully. ”But let’s explore a bit more up here. Don’t know if we will get another shot.”
With the discovered book in hand, you withdraw from Kreed's bedroom, leaving the two dogs to feast upon the food you toss in parting. Back out in the hall, you recall Jurin's directions - that his father's office is on the opposite side from his bedroom.
Inconnu checks the office door and the floorboards around it for triggers and traps.
Micheo draws his rapier and shield once again.
"Aye, let us try the office."
He does his best to peer at the door and floor.
Dugan follows and readies his own ax and shield. 'Do we think someone is in there?'
"I doubt it. Kreed did not seem to sort to trust human guards in close proximity to his affairs."
Inconnu recognizes that the lock mechanism built into the door appears bulkier and more complex than necessary for a mere lock. What's more, there is unusual fluting in the woodwork around the door jamb. Furthermore, the wooden flooring at the foot of the door feels thicker than the boards of the surrounding floor. This leads the bard to suspect that multiple mechanisms may be tied to the office door.
What's more, Micheo's attempt to aid the investigation is hampered by distracting sounds coming from the next door down. Another room sits to the left of the office, and something is clearly moving inside. Persistent scratching sounds are occasionally overshadowed by a noise that Ulark likens to a woodcutter's axe biting into wood.
"There is something alive in that room.", Micheo notes, pointing to the door on the left.
"We should investigate this. It may lead to easier ingress through the locked door."
”It’s like an axe biting wood. What could it be?” He said with evident unease and confusion. He held his axe at the ready, though he had no idea what dangers awaited.
"This ones lock is overly complicated, I suspect that theirs a few traps of one kind or another connected to it..."
Your discussion seems to elicit a brief pause in the "axe-against-wood" sound from the adjacent room. However, it soon returns with renewed enthusiasm - this time sounding upon the door to the hallway itself.
”Could be a prisoner. We have to check. Everyone ready to go in?”
"Yes. Let us do this."
Micheo faces the door to the hallway and speaks loudly but with an even tone of voice:
"We are entering with the intent to speak. I urge you not to seek a fight. Please, back away from the door until we have entered!"
Inconnu keeps his shield raised and nods to the others.
After Micheo speaks, no cognizant response is forthcoming.
The sharp, chopping-like sound continues, now joined by a scratching at the foot of the door.
"Better we open the door while it's still there... we can't shut it if it's turned to splinters."
"Agreed."
Micheo steps forward to open the door.
Dugan readies his weapon to defend the hallway.
No sooner does Micheo turn the handle upon the door but a strong force from within kicks it open, knocking him and Dugan off kilter and allowing the culprit to burst forth from the room. A towering mass of feathers stampedes out, onto the balcony.
This stout flightless bird stands upon two long, taloned legs, but it is its axe-shaped beak that looks the most ferocious. It squeezes its bulk upon the narrow walkway, flapping its vestigial wings in a show of frustration and dominance. It glares at you from a distance, offering an occasional, croaking squawk as though daring you to confine it again.
Within the room, you discover the torn apart remnants of a kennel. Molted feathers carpet the otherwise-bare wooden floor. Wooden cages lie broken apart, and even the bars of iron cages have been rent and distorted. Small, bloody bits of other animals litter the scene, proof that this large bird showed no mercy in its bid for survival in its master's absence.
'This thing may be a problem. We can't just shoo it out into town and I don't know where we can keep it.' Dugan tries his best to keep his voice calm and steady to avoid angering the bird.