Tanya tries at the desk for about a minute but has no luck. Stepping aside to give Orym room Tanya watches as the firbolg steps up and picks up the end of a broken chair leg. With three successive strikes THWAP! THWAP! THWAP! the force is enough to break through the rotted wood leaving a hole just above the area where the drawer would slide out.
In the drawer, you see there are several loose sheets scattered about.
"It would be a good idea for someone more learned than myself to review these documents. Meanwhile, this room seems a good place to rest for a bit, and see if our comrade can recover a bit. I'll watch the hallway".
Tanya will carefully look the documents over, being wary of any that seem to be written in the language of magic.
Tanya looks at the documents and sees they are actually receipts purchases of various chemicals and laboratory equipment.
"We have things for those of you who can read to study and a companion we hope will wake. Lets make it to a safe place and gather ourselves."
How violent the elf comments.
"These appear depressingly mundane," Tanya notes with a hint of glumness in her voice. She offers up the papers for anyone wanting to examine them.
Althea continues to keep watch at the doorway of the room.
The elf will read the papers.
Althea calls for a rest at least until Duncan can regain consciousness. Orym
agrees as do the rest of the group and you settle in o make the old drafty room as hospitable as possible.
An hour goes by when Duncan finally stirs as his muscles unlock.
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As they rest, the elf will pull the cloak up over his head and with his eyes closed, ears till alert, will begin to think about things that grey elves think about :)
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One whole HD to roll...
The dreams haunting Duncan as the poison coursed through his veins disrupted his attempts to get a decent sleep. His muscles burned as he struggled to get up on his own. "How long was I out?"
Feeling as though his ability to heal has diminished Duncan looks towards the ground through his open hands and utters I was bested by vermin... Procan is not happy with me."
Looking at his surroundings Duncan said "So, you have managed to drag me to another room, did I miss anything?"
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"Nothing terribly exciting."
Duncan looks at the hallway and decides to look into the two doors to the north and south that have been left open. To the north he sees the open desk and papers strewn about. Duncan moves south and rummages through the library. He finds himself quite on edge fearing something else will jump out at him. "Bloody centipedes..." he mumbled.
"Well, since he's up and mobile again and there appears to be nothing of interest here, shall we move on?" Tanya prompts.
In the scheme of things you were not out that long, yet, it felt like a month or two, especially to an elf the faerie states.
Duncan heads into the library. Looking about he is drawn towards the pile of books stacked in the corner. Of the fourteen volumes three of the books bear clear titles on them.
The Magical Properties of Gemstones by the archmage Tenser
The Magical Properties of Herbs and Flowers by the archmage Tenser
The Metaphysics of Mathematics by the mage Nystul
Flipping through the books a piece of parchment torn from larger sheet falls from the third book. Unfolding the torn sheet Duncan sees that there are several lines of handwriting in Common. The damp air has made all the text unrecognizable except for two words: beyond skeletons.
Althea is glad to see that Duncan has rejoined them.
She points to the North Door. "I saw footprints in yonder room. They seemed to strangely end in the corner of the room. Perhaps we should explore there before moving onward".
Althea moves into the room and tries to determine if she can figure out where the footprints were leading.
Investigation?
Sadly, the works of the mage have been withered and decayed away says the elf, a small frown on his face.
Tanya looks disappointed at this news. "Eh? Footprints?"
“Right then. Let’s investigate the footprints. There are books for the scholar types here if anyone wants them.” Duncan leads the group t the room with the footprints.
Orym lets out a sigh stooping into a low crouch studying the prints.
Heading back to hall Orym does notice a set of footprints that do not belong to any in the group. They are faint which is likely why noone saw it before. They seem to come from the entrance foyer and head right into the room at the end of the hall finally stopping near the northwest corner of the room. Looking at the floor you see that there is a trapdoor in the floor.
"See here these are not our steps." He follows the steps, "And here a trapdoor."
Duncan kneeled down putting his ear on the trap door straining to listen for any noise.
"Anyone want to try anything before I open this?"
Moving towards the trap door as Duncan kneels down his ear is assaulted with a loud booming voice, A booming, fiendish laughter follows the voice echoing all throughout the room.
Wisdom Save
Wisdom save
The sound of the voice causes all of you to feel a sense of panic as the words of the voice continues to echo its hauntingly inside your head. For all of you except Rodaias the panic subsides.
You all watch as the look of fear on Rodaias' face does not pass. His eyes dart about as if suspecting something to jump out of every corner.
Seeing the panic in Rodalas’ eyes Duncan grabbed him by the shoulders. “Get a hold of yourself! Procan will protect us! If you are now to afraid I will open this door myself.”
Duncan knelt down and opened the trap door.
Tanya shakes herself to clear the panic from her mind. She swallowed hard and moved to help Duncan open the trapdoor.
Duncan can see Rodalas is still shaken but he leaves him and pulls open the trapdoor with Tanya's assistance.
Beneath the trapdoor a sturdy set of stairs leads down to a dimly lit chamber below. Nothing can be heard coming the chamber below and other than the light you are unable to make out anything else.
"W-who's going first?" Tanya asks trepidatiously.
Not I says the elf with trepidation in his voice.
Orym sniffs and looks on into the darkness. "I will go."
Althea looks down the hole, and shrugs as Orym walks past, then turns and follows him.
"Unless thine eyes can pierce the darkness, we should bring something to illuminate".
The Triton grabs one of the torches from her bundle, and takes out her kit to light it before following Orym down.
Orym nods and pulls a torch and readies it.
Tanya follows Althea.
Putting his hand on Rodalas' shoulder Duncan says "You should go next, I will cover our backs. Don't be afraid, Procan will protect us."
Once Rodalas is down the stairs Duncan will follow, closing the trap door above them.
The elf will descend with a bit of trepidation.
Heading down the stairs you see the room below is immense. This torchlit chamber was once a large cellar, but it has since been converted into living quarters. Ten crude beds stand along the south wall , each with a wooden locker at its foot .
A long wooden trestle table ringed by rickety stools dominates the center of the room. Metal cutlery, cups, and dirty plates sit atop the table.
A cook-stove is installed near the table, and evidence of recently cooked meals sits in pots atop it . A large ham hangs from a loop of twine near the stove. Two wooden doors can be seen on the eastern side of the room.
You haven't even reached the bottom of the steps when you Rodalas quickly notices three men in the southwest corner of the room, all armed with crossbows pointed right at the group!
We are being set up by crossbow men he says to apprise his companions of the possibly dire situation.
"If thy can hold thy hand for a brief interlude, I can bring forth a cloud of fog to confuse their aim... albeit it will limit our sight as well".