Luka looks around the office, finding yet more mundane bits of paperwork strewn about. Judging by the size of the room and the presence of a safe, this must have been the Warden's office.
Even taking his time, Aldous can't quite manage to get past the lock on the safe. It's far too complex, especially with his makeshift tools. Warden Hawkren invested in a quality lock.
Trevor looks at the dusty papers and doesn't feel any tingling in his stomach; no higher calling...
He walks around, trying not to look bored, while waiting for Aldous. After a bit, he offers: "Might be faster to look for the key..." and starts opening drawers or look behind objects...
"I'd suggest that, if the safe had anything of value or interest, it would've been opened long ago. I suppose that the professor's murderers, especially if they are agents of the Whispering Way, would have ransacked most things of supernatural value. If a place appears undisturbed, it likely is not related to our hauntings."
"And then they locked it again?" Aldous frowns then offers Arasmes a sly smile. "When I crack this safe I'll gladly remind you that it's contents have nothing to do with your investigation."
Trevor doesn't find a key of any sort in the drawers. It must be somewhere else.
"Let's backtrack to the main entrance hall," Luka suggests.
Trevor simply nods and heads back, if possible in front of the group.
For a moment, Trevor gets a weird feeling, as though he's stepped in another dimension and lost the others. It strangely feels like vertigo. He snaps back, clings a second. Ok, let's proceed...
"Our direction seems arbitrary to me." Arasmes will take a moment and cast detect magic in the direction of both doors. Assuming he doesn't discover anything, he says: "Since it's arbitrary, I suggest we go north. Though I have no strong reason for doing so."
"Makes sense..." Trevor takes a deep breath and opens the northern door.
The heavy wooden doors creak open at Trevor's insistence, revealing a long corridor with a set of double doors at the end. On the left, there is a door directly beside you and, you believe, another at the very end of the hall. On your right, in the middle of the hall, are two sets of double doors and one door at the very end of the hall.
Faintly, you can hear a flute playing- it echoes through the halls before fading out.
Pausing to listen to the flute, Trevor turns to the southern most door on the east wall (the one that remained still) before setting in the corridor: "Let's check that last door before moving on..."
He slowly and nervously opens the door.
"You're doing just fine, Trevor," Arasmes says, following closely behind the paladin, gripping his spear.
"That flute... could it be the Piper of Ilmarsh?" Aldous pulls back a bit, "Let's not hang out here to find out. Hurry up Trevor!"
Opening the door, you find that the flight of stairs that once led down toward the lower level is filled with a mess of large stone blocks and shattered timbers.
DC 15 Knowledge- Engineering or DC 20 Perception:
Finding the way blocked, you turn to the next set of doors on the east wall, finding another stairwell, this one to the next floor up. A brief snatch of flute music drifts from above, only to once more fall silent.
Trevor checks to see if they can make it downstair regardless of the obstacles.
"Looks like up..." The Piper!?! Makes sense... Isn't he dead? Doesn't sound good..."
To Aldous: "Do you recognize the tune? I'm not from around..."
Aldous stops and looks up at the shattered ceiling. "Hmmm. I would wager this collapse was deliberately triggered. Wonder if there is another explorer like us or the professor under all of that?"
Arasmes:
Trevor freezes a moment: "Wait... The professor was buried."
He approaches the collapse and smells for signs of decay.
If he doesn't think there is a body, he'll move up the stairs, slowly...
While the others consider the the collapse, Arasmes suddenly becomes still. "There's something . . . " he mutters and then quiets again. He shudders and then announces: "There's something different. To the west. Unlike the rest of this ruin, there's a different feeling . . . A sense of sorrow to the west."
Trevor tenses all of a sudden as Arasmes becomes still. He tightens the grip on his axe and waits: "What do you mean Arasmes? Is it coming this way?"
"No. It is more like an aura. An aura of profound sadness that is at odds with the malevolence of this place. It might be worth investigating."
"Show us the way." Trevor stands right behind Arasmes.
Luka tries to ignore the ghostly piping, and after a moments pause, falls in with the others again.
Arasmes walks to the first of the doors to the west, trying to reach out with his senses, both natural and unnatural, to locate the source of the sorrow that he is feeling. The feeling of sorrow seems to have left him a bit distracted and, heedless of the consequences, he opens the door and gazes through it.
Arasmes cracks open the door on the opposite side of the hall. It appears that a ten foot wide corridor stretches to the west, approximately 70 feet in length. On the right, about ten feet ahead, a twenty foot wide branch opens. You quickly realize that you're in a very large cul-de-sac of the prison. A wedge-shaped room sits on the west side, while a rectangular chamber extends from the wall on the east side- its door faces the opposite, wedge-shaped chamber's door. Around the western edge of the large space are three more doors- a fourth distantly to the north.
Walking through the chamber, you occasionally hear echoes that are not your footfalls.
"You got kids, guard?", one brutish voice threatens,"I'll drown 'em like kittens. You got a wife? I'll gut her like a pig when I'm outta here- maybe after I show her what a real man can do...."
Another pleads.
"Please! Thuh'there's been a mistake! It was an accident! Honest! You have to believe meee..."
And another schemes.
"Listen. Hey! They can't pay you too good here, eh? I know where the rest o' the boys hid the score- you get me outta here, it's yours... whattya say?"
Arasmes:
The hair on the back of his neck rise as he crosses the hallways, eyes wide with fear. He mutters: "W-what is th-this... madness... Aren't they all dead? What does it mean? What happens if we die here..?"
Still, with a thought to Rafan, he wills himself forward and keeps covering Arasmes, javelin and axe in hand, pushing is too-big-helmet back from his eyes from time to time.
Arasmes, seemingly oblivious of the the echoes of the past, continues to head west through the room. Unless something stops him along the way he will begin inspecting the doors on the western wall, seeing if he can discern a difference between the four.
Trevor will build up his will during the crossing to offer Arasmes: "Mind if I open it for you?"
DM Screen:
Arasmes has a difficult time getting an exact location; he knows he's close, though.
Aldous:
Luka moves along with the others, keeping an eye behind them. He shakes his head to try and rid it of the whispering voices, and regrips his sword, taking courage in the weight of the steel in his hand.
Sensing nothing to aid him in make a choice between the doors, Arasmes points to the first door to the west. "Might as well open that one, Trevor. I can still feel the sorrow, but it's too diffuse to locate any more specifically."
Trevor takes a deep breath and opens the door.
Trevor pushes open the door to reveal a stark room containing a low stone bench against the north wall and a ruined desk to the west that sits under three narrow, barred windows. An old brass brazier lies on its side to the south, surrounded by several rusty branding irons.
DM Screen:
Aldous, Luka, Trevor:
"Ugh," Luka says, as he moves to look over the desk. "That's not good . . . seems harmless enough, though it sure does stink."
"Aldous, you want to have a look at that desk?"
If he does, Trevor will push away the thoughts of having his head axed by the Lopper and cover the others' advance.
Aldous doesn't seem to hear Trevor. He hesitates in the central corridor listening with his head cocked to the side and brows furrowed. He mutters to himself while digging in his bag, "Surely this prison only held men?" After a moment he comes up with a small leather pouch. The scholar dips one finger in, traces a line of grave dirt under each eye, and begins slowly walking toward up the hall from where the others are gathered.
In the branding room...
Trevor turns to find Aldous gone. Luka looks over the ruined desk, finding only a few stray bits of paperwork- a log of prisoners, each name set next to a set of numbers and a letter.
Suddenly, the four branding irons on the floor begin to shudder. They scrape back and forth along the floor until their tips are blazing red with heat! They rise into the air...
Initiative
Arasmes-
Luka-
Trevor-
Branding Irons- 10
Meanwhile, in the hallway...
Aldous:
Approaching the rotted door in the northwest, Aldous finds it locked securely, though the door itself is in terrible shape. A solid push should be able to break it down.
Aldous walks on almost in a trance until he is standing outside the door. This doesn't make any sense... Why would a woman's spirit linger here? An explorer killed on site? A sacrifice by the cultists?
"Guys... stop playing around in there. I'm pretty sure you are going to want to see this."
Aldous knocks on the door, "Miss, are you okay?"
Trevor steps in front of Arasmes to protect him from harm and swings at one of the irons, yelling:
Luka points at the irons and mutters an arcane phrase and a ray of glistening frost shoots from his fingertip.
Arasmes' Knowledge Religion-
"I'm afraid so! Best we leave quickly!", Arasmes says, running for the door.
Trevor's axe sends a brand spinning, before two of them lance out at him and Luka.
Brand vs. Trevor:
Brand vs. Luka:
While Luka dodges aside, Trevor feels a searing, unspeakable pain on his right arm as the brand catches him while the young warrior attempts to fend it off. His skin smokes as a welt rises, the letter "Y" branded into his forearm. The brands clatter to the floor in unison, the heat leaving them rapidly.
Aldous walks on almost in a trance until he is standing outside the door. This doesn't make any sense... Why would a woman's spirit linger here? An explorer killed on site? A sacrifice by the cultists?
"Guys... stop playing around in there. I'm pretty sure you are going to want to see this."
Aldous knocks on the door, "Miss, are you okay?"
Your entreaties yield no response, but you do manage to fit a point where the wood has split enough to allow viewing.
With your arcane sight, you can see tangled mounds of decaying fabric sitting on wooden workbenches. Sewing needles, awls, boxes of chalk, scissors and other tools lie scattered on the floor.
In a corner is a small mound of blue fabric... you think you can see a bone of some sort sticking out.
As the irons clatter to the ground, Luka's spell goes wide. Surprised, he looks at Trevor, and says, "Are you okay?" before walking over and prodding one with the toe of his boot.
The full collection of sharp and pointy things scattered around the room give Aldous pause. "Ahh. Hmm. Well now..." He looks back over his shoulder to see if the others are near by.
Trevor bellows and tries to control his breathing. Hissing, he spits: He swings at the guilty brand as it falls to the ground.
As he very slowly clams down his breathing, he looks for a place to sit and looks up, holding his burned arm, tears welling up, clearly in pain.
What IS this place? This is madness! Iomedae, help me!!!