Narunith follows the others inside, relieved of the improvement of the smell. She smiles at one by one, trying to get an impression of everything, the condition of the building, recent changes, the number of children which live and the space they have, symbols and markings of faith and so forth.
As it becomes clear that whoever got lost did so in the basement, she almost automatically lifts a hand, makes a gesture as though she was wrapping herself in with a thread of wool and distantly mumbles in elven: "A web of magic be my armour."* The air flickers briefly up around her.
It is pretty evident that they would need to go down there, and that something threatening is there as well, but she still does not wish to interfere with the conversation, but rather use the time to let things make an impression on her, find what's out of place.
She casts another spell** and breathes the formula "Whispers in the void." A little piece of copper wire from the many pockets of her bandolier dissolves in her hands. Then she formulates subvocally, with her mouth covered by her hand, to Therie in elven: "What do you think about tiring effect the boy describes? A spell triggered then and there? Alchemy? A static effect or side effect? You don't have to speak out loud; I can hear your whispered answer." Fortunately as an elf, she cannot be compelled to sleep, but she has no idea how to shield her non-elven team mates from that.
Her steps guide her ever closer to the cellar door.
* Mage armor
** Message
As the group engages the mistress and the children, Maeron steps back, and calls forth Sarenrae's wisdom as he scans the room for signs of evil.
"Please let us know if you think of anything else. Would you mind if we take a look in the basement as well as the surrounding areas?"
"Yep looks like it's time to check out this basement. Say do you know if the house supports are wooden or brick by chance? No reason... Just curious." Therie asks the mistress.
Rockjaw seems mildly shocked when the door gives way to his knocking, and mildly upset at the look of fear in the eyes of the children.
S. Sorry bout tha door there. Will have ta get Ivan Ironmug ta look inta fixin a new one... Rockjaw stammers sheepishly, a little embarrased.
Regaining his composure he takes action once again
Right! Tha basement! We ought ta go check tha out about now. then heading into the kitchen...
Turning around, hand on the back of his head, Ummm. Which way to tha basement?
Roryx keeps mostly to himself, at the front next to the others and listening to the recounted tales of both Elissa and Michel, as well as Mistress Kodavi's concerns, but really not putting much of an opinion forward, as he is generally not the best one dealing with children and young ladies. His naturally suspicious nature has him paying careful attention to the mistress words, trying to finding any hint that she might be hiding anything from them - horror stories about orphanages, young children and their caretakers were too frequent to be ignored.
He does stifle a growl when he hears the children referring the disappeared ones, but no more. After the conversation is done with, he comments to the others - "I am no expert, but children simply do not fall asleep midst a game - the basement is definitely worth checking" - remembering something, he adds to Kodavi - "Exactly how big would this basement be? How many rooms?"
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She guides you to the back yard and shows you the basement entrance, upon descending the smell of mold and damp becomes greatly prominent and you can hear the scratching of what sounds like scores of mice.
you know the walls here are made of mostly lead... but that shouldn't be right. It should be pure stone.
perception checks please.
Before descending into the basement, Mikhail opened his belt pouch and took out a glowing rock. He slowly let it flow into the air where it started circling his head.
With one hand on his rapier, he turned to the others.
"Best to be prepared for anything."
Maeron reassures Mistress Kodavi they will look into the issue, before continuing with the group carefully down to the basement.
Had Rockjaw been paying attention he would have realized that there was something amiss with the walls, instead, Mikhails glowing rock starts playing havoc with his nightvision, making his rather honed vision spotty.
Regardless, Rockjaw forges ahead relentlessly, not bothering to let his eyes adjust first.
And reaches the bottom first with heavy footfalls.
Therie heads down into the basement, noting the smells and sounds as they descend. She lets the more melee focused members head down first, lagging near the back of the group.
Yay stone! Should be able to handle a bomb or two if necessary.
Once in the room, Maeron nods to himself as he sees the team competently go about searching the basement. The paladin calls on Sarenrae's sight and begins scanning the room for auras.
Roryx keeps mostly to himself, at the front next to the others and listening to the recounted tales of both Elissa and Michel, as well as Mistress Kodavi's concerns, but really not putting much of an opinion forward, as he is generally not the best one dealing with children and young ladies. His naturally suspicious nature has him paying careful attention to the mistress words, trying to finding any hint that she might be hiding anything from them - horror stories about orphanages, young children and their caretakers were too frequent to be ignored.
Sense Motive=19
He does stifle a growl when he hears the children referring the disappeared ones, but no more. After the conversation is done with, he comments to the others - "I am no expert, but children simply do not fall asleep midst a game - the basement is definitely worth checking" - remembering something, he adds to Kodavi - "Exactly how big would this basement be? How many rooms?"
He sticks close to Rockjaw if he plods ahead, and attentive to the searches being carried out, in case any danger presents itself.
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Oh my, I do believe I was working on that post before you added your post and I missed it. Sorry,
No no underlying motives, far as you can tell she speaks from the heart.
the basement is one large room the size of the house.
Mikail and roryx both find what seems to be a hairbow near the corner of the far well, near to where therie noticed the lines.
Narunith follows the others down the stairs into darkness. As soon as she is out of sight of the children she draws her sword - an elegant long and slender elven longsword with a bright silver blade rather than steel. It looks a bit ceremonial, bit it seems weighed and stable enough to be used in actual combat, and the blade show signs that it has been used before.
She hushes a few words and the silver blade becomes ablaze with light.*
Even though her attention is primarily focused on the room she says with addresses her comrades: "If you smell anything out of place or feel dizzy or nauseated, don't ignore it, tell me at once. There has got to be another way in and out of here, and the scratching must have something to do with it." She pauses briefly. "Found anything yet?"
Taking one slow step after the other, she examines the floor.
* Light
Therie gazes closer at the outline on the wall. Looks like something is there.
She slowly pulls an arrow from her quiver, and concentrates a moment, the arrowhead beginning to glow with a pale light. . She slowly walks towards the outline. "There is a door here." She states to her companions, motioning towards the wall.
Narunith steps by Therie's side: "Looks like you found what we're looking for... That must be the way the missing children... and our daring and dashing companions must have been brought out." She added the 'daring and dashing companions' with a somewhat frustrated grumble.
She watches the floor and the walls closely for scratches that would indicate how the door usually opens, holding the sword with the light spell on it steadily in her hand. "An opening mechanism is more likely on the other side..."
Roryx could not deny that he was curious about the whole situation, but above that he felt the tinge of concern for the fate of the children - he knew too well what it meant to suffer when you could not defend yourself, and he dreaded to find the missing ones in the same situation - already his blood was beginning to boil at the very thought.
"Let me take a look - maybe there are some tracks or markings around that particular area that can provide additional clues regarding what has happened" - he adds to Therie and Narunith, stepping closer to examine the are around the door indicated by the younger elven woman.
Narunith takes a step back to give Roryx space and holds her sword out as a light for him. She actually enjoys seeing how their little team of knights works hand in hand, though she doesn't dare to let this thought distract her. Enemies might very well be already upon them, the same enemies who abducted the children.
Maeron gives Therie an approving look. "Excellent work!" And, as Narunith makes way for Roryx, the paladin moves a few steps behind the human and keeps his eyes on the unattended walls with his bow drawn.
Right.
Heading over to the "door" and standing just to the side Rockjaw continues.
Good eyes. Roryx, go ahead an try ta fiangle tha door open if'n ya like. If ya cant, then i gots me old charm ta have a go at it.
He says with a wink.
Well, good try. Now I show ya how its done...
Then Rockjaw straightens his back, arching to his full height, head held back and...
Drives his head forward with worriesome force and power... His head exploding into the door...
Reeling from the force of the blow, Rockjaw stumbles a step and stammers...
R.. Right. Thas h... How ya open a door!
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As rockjaw Hammers his face into the spot of the door, it swings open, just as dwarf sways backward. It reveals a short passageway underground connecting the two buildings, however there should be no connection whatsoever. Any who enter the passage are blasted with a revolting smell, twice as strong as it was just outside the buildings. It leads into the other room, then spirals downwards.
As the dwarf sways backwards, Maeron steps ahead of the dwarf to shield him from possible danger that may pour forth. Satisfied the only danger is the assault of the smell for now, Maeron carefully moves forward into the other room.
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Maeron sees a grissly sight, it seems as if this other basement had been used as a burail site for animals, cats, dogs, rats, birds, even the larger animals, a horse corpse, all are just laying about in varying degrees of decay, many bones and other organs seem to be missing from the corpses,
will save please.
"I..." she tried to control herself but coughed at the obnoxious smell. She didn't enter but her elven eyes were keen enough that the light of her blade gave her an impression of death and decay in the next room. "I'll tell Mistress Kodavi about the secret door and that we're going to explore... the last thing we need is her being worried that another dispatch from the guard gets lost in her basement. I'll be back as soon as possible."
Rockjaw one hand to help him up while the covered her nose with the other and then left for the stairs, putting her sword back in his sheath as she opened the door.
Back up in the lounge are of the orphanage she motioned Mrs. Kodavi to have a private word with her, so the children would not be overly alarmed. "Mistress Kodavi, we found something in the basement which will need to investigate. If we're not back within the next hour* take the children and go to the nearest temple, of Sarendae if possible. I'll write you a note to pass on."
Narunith got her ink, pen and parchment out on a table and started to write. And she wrote accurately and took her time; even though she did not want to keep the others waiting, hastily scribbling anything was just beneath her:
Honoured ladies and gentlemen of the faith,
this woman and the children in her company our victims of foul play and require your temporary shelter. It seems that Sarenae's scorned enemies may have taken advantage of the vulnerability of the orphans. On behalf of the order I ask you to provide them with what they need until the matter is resolved and relay the following information to the order.
Gratefully,
Narunith Silvertree. . .
Status Report:It occurs there is a secret entrance in the basement to the orphanage we were sent to investigate. A group of children was sedated by unknown means and at least three of them abducted through that secret entrance. Two of our own knights have disappeared in the basement, whether by there own will to run their own investigation or by force is unknown. The strong sensation of decay comes from the next room to which the secret door is connected, it is cramped with decaying animal parts. We're going to investigate. I recommend a sweep and a cleaning crew to remove the rotting bodies, both armed and under magical protection from the decay. It occurs that whatever happens there, necromancy may be involved, though there is no evidence to warrant that impression.
Narunith of House Silvertree of the Kyonin Forest,
Knight of the Order
Even though it should be quite obvious now she added a sketch with the location of the now not-so-secret door. "Here, take this with you. I suggest you don't read it, but that is up to you." Then she hastened back down to the basement.
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* Within the next hour means after the bell tower struck twice and thus the next hour has ended. I assume people don't have clocks, but but there is a clock or some other means to tell the time in a nearby bell tower.
"That's one awful smell, what did they do in there?"
"Let me take a look - maybe there are some tracks or markings around that particular area that can provide additional clues regarding what has happened" - he adds to Therie and Narunith, stepping closer to examine the are around the door indicated by the younger elven woman.
As Rockjaw hits the door like a skyrocket, Roryx takes a step back, barely able to contain a smile, which quickly vanishes, once they are assaulted by the dreaded smell.
He had felt worse though, long ago, running through the sewers after his parents were murdered - the thought steeled his resolve, and he shook the stench away, peering into the gloom ahead.
As Narunith moves momentarily back up top, he urges the others to wait - "We should all be here for this, whatever this is"
"ummm, one second." Therie states, rushing to a corner, her breakfast promptly exiting onto the ground.
"What would do such a thing?" She asks herself in horror.
Rockjaw reeled from the force of the blow, he didnt fall over but crashing into objects with that much force usually resulted in... Backlash. Quickly regaining his balance and readjusting his helm, he peered inside...
Urrug! It smells like a dead elf in here! OIE! Put tha light away, i cant see nuttin wit you swinging tha thing around! Lets get on wit it. Tha elf is fast, she will catch up.
"Still master Rockjaw, I would rather we waited for Narunith" - Roryx adds simply, waiting for the elf to return.
"What would do such a thing?" She asks herself in horror.
"I have no idea" - he retorts - "It is simply amazing this was never noticed before. Are you well?"
Fine. We wait fer tha slow as molasses elf. Grumble. Grumble.
Maeron looks to the young elf sympathetically. "I don't know, Therie. We will find out, and make it right. Somehow."
"You hear that? How far away do you think that sound is coming from?" Maeron considers how everyone is faring from the gruesome scene. "Roryx, Mikhail, any chance you can take a peek and see what we're up against down there? If there's no more than one or two, perhaps we can charge and subdue them before they know what happened." Maeron looks to Mikhail, wondering if he would be up to assisting Roryx in his condition. Perhaps if they wait for Narunith, there'll be time for Mikhail to recover...
"I can do that" - Roryx nods - "I will take a look. If I come back running, be prepared" - he adds, without a hint of a joke, then moves slowly into the darkness.
"I could try and make a guess, but I think I better not be sneaking around when I'm feeling like this."
Mikhail tried to listen how far away the faint noise was they were hearing, trying not to focus on the gruesome scene in front of them.
Therie uses all of her willpower to not throw up again. "I agree with Mikahil, let's get out of this room quickly please. I'd prefer to not wait around while you play stealthy." She pleads with the group.
Right. Ill stand sentenial. I stay here an watch fer Roryx ta come back as he scouts ahead an i can shout ta ya lot if'n he does while ya waitback a bit an recover ya senses.
He says, unwilling to back down and unwilling to show his own weakness to the stench.
"Hatchoo!" came from Narunith as she walked down the stairs. Without any comment she unsheathed her sword again, thus lightening up the room as the light spell at its blade broke free again. She almost immediately regretted it, she didn't really want to see what was down here in all too much detail, but they were still knights.
"Alright, shall we move on?" asked Narunith, wondering what that debate she heard through the closed door from upstairs had been about.