Darla moves out of the way so Shaserai can make his way into the cramped bedroom. "Why does a mild-mannered bookseller need such a dangerous trap?" he wonders as he unpacks his healing kit and begins to tend to Jonagher's wounded hands.
"Ah...much better." Jonagher says, flexing his fingers once Shaserai is finished tending them. "And a good question. That trap could have killed me. So, there'd better be something down there worth protecting..." He gets back to his feet and looks down the hole, trying to ascertain the whereabouts of their goblin friend. "Can someone lower me down?" he asks, "Maybe I can lend a hand before Highness gets himself buried alive..."
Ragnhild draws the rope from her climbing kit. "I can."
Trusting Ragna to secure his weight, Jonagher proceeds to lower himself down into the cellar to join Highness, his eyes adapting to the darker conditions. "Looks pretty bare down here..." he calls up once his feet touch the dirt. He notes Highness digging away at the partially collapsed and somewhat reinforced wall. "We'll see if we can figure out what this place was used for...seems kinda odd there'd be a lethal trap on that door to protect such an empty space. Maybe Voz stored something down here, but then moved it before we arrived?"
While Highness digs at the base of the collapsed wall, Jonagher examines the wall itself. Large fragments of plaster still adhere to the vertical surface, but where they are missing, what's underneath looks ... rusty. It looks as if a metal door was concealed behind the plaster of the wall. Perhaps the wall didn't collapse; perhaps a hidden door was opened ... and then someone used the lumber to keep it from opening again.
"What have we here...?" Jonagher announces as he takes out a dagger and scrapes away at more of the plaster. He taps the blade once against the rusty metal, confirming his suspicions. "It's a door...well hidden..." he calls up and then looks down at Highness still playing in the dirt. "Let's see if we can find a way to open it..."
Darla climbs down the ladder, bringing her glowing rapier with her. She holds the light near the hidden door for Jonagher, trying to keep herself as far as possible from the prankster goblin.
Highness paused his digging as Jonagher rapped on the door. "I of course knew that there was something there. I am trying to get the dirt out of the way so we can investigate whatever that is." Highness said haughtily, before resuming his furious digging, sending a spray of flung dirt across the room.
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Ragnhild affixes the rope to something and follows down. "I don't like the look of this." She says of the blockaded door. "What were they trying to keep out?"
"If Voz left this place...as it seems...maybe she was simply trying to hide the existence of this door and wherever it leads? Or because of whatever it hides? Jonagher suggests, but then pauses in his thoughts. "Even so, perhaps you're right? It could be keeping something out of her home or locked in. Maybe even Voz herself, if she's run afoul of Calmont or some other foul deed. If so, we should definitely ascertain what's behind it, I think." He moves as if to pull away the braced lumber. "Shall we?"
A modicum of elbow grease suffices to remove the props holding the door closed. As the lumber is moved away, more plaster cracks and sloughs off the surface; once both pieces are removed, the door sags slightly ajar on its own. Through the narrow gap, nothing can be seen but darkness.
His mercurial nature becoming professional once more, Highness wiggled up to the door and peered through the crack. Satisfied nothing would reach through the crack to bite him, he listened intently for a few moments, while making a shushing motion at the other adventurers.
Highness's red eyes have no problem seeing through the veil of darkness to perceive a long corridor or tunnel, just wide and tall enough for an adult human to walk without squeezing or ducking. Its surfaces are unfinished, but it is clearly engineered, with periodic arches of stonework reinforcing the walls and ceiling. There are no creatures visible, save the sort of diminutive vermin that routinely call the underside of the soil their home, and no sounds. The stale, earthy, musty odor smells like years of neglect and disuse.
"Well?" Jonagher asks in a low voice from the behind the goblin, "See or hear or...smell?...anything?" He puts his dagger away and draws his short sword in case they need to fend off anything.
"Its a tunnel...and looks like it is pretty well made too. Doesn't look to have been used for a while, maybe years." Highness said turning back to the group.
"Doesn't look to be any guards or creatures here either. Its interesting, but I don't know if it has anything to do with the long shanks who lived here. It was barricaded from her side, and I am guessing recently, but the tunnel doesn't look used at all. Its odd."
"Maybe it leads somewhere dangerous and she didn't want anything coming through? Or following her back, assuming she explored it already?"
"Do you think anyone in Breachill knows about this passage? It's got to be older than Voz's bookstore, right? Did she just stumble upon this when digging a cellar or something?"
"It's possible," Ren muses from above, taking a turn peering down into the cellar. "It would appear that the Hellknights stumbled upon an ancient structure when building Citadel Altaerein, from what we've learned. On the other hand, Breachill isn't that old a town but is obsessed with recording and memorializing every moment of its history, judging by the amateur theatricals at the Call for Heroes; there ought to be records of the construction of all or most of its extant buildings in the Archives. Voz hasn't been here long, but if we could find out who originally built this structure and for what purpose, it could prove enlightening."
"I think we should check this out. It looks like it runs toward the Citadel, and it could be a problem if creatures are coming from wherever and then popping up into the middle of town." Highness said, motioning towards the door.
"Besides...don't you want to know where it goes?"
Darla votes to explore the tunnel. To hedge the bet a bit, she also suggests that someone already topside take news of the discovery to the town council.
"Ren? Think you can report back to the councilors?" Jonagher asks, "I'm in agreement with Highness and Darla here. I most definitely would like to see where this leads..."
Ren sighs. "I suppose if you're not back by morning, sending a rescue mission could be a task for the next Call for Heroes," he quips. "Is everyone else going?"
"If there's trouble, they'll need healing," Shaserai replies. "I'm in." He climbs down into the cellar to join the other three. "Ragna? Alak?"
"It wouldn't be a party without you guys!" Jonagher calls up some encouragement.
"Come on come on, lets go!" Highness says excitedly, then pulls on the door to get it open the rest of the way.
Ragnhild is eager to discover whatever it is that might have attempted to sneak into town through this tunnel. Onward.
"I suppose if it leads to the Citadel...," Alak hedges reluctantly. "I hope we don't all end up in some townsperson's basement and being taken for thieves." He climbs down the ladder.
"If we come up in someone's basement, hopefully they'll just take us for rats rather than an invasion. Of course, if Highness is leading the way, I'm not sure which they'll fear first..." Jonagher moves out ahead of the group with Highness to make sure the way is safe.
Darla takes a middle position so her light will be well-distributed.
Highness is scouting, and hiding whenever he can.
Ragnhild is ready to lead the way with her lighted shield.
Loath to let the adorable goblin-king run headlong into danger, Ragna leads the way with him as Highness keeps an eye out for an ambush. Jonagher moves with them, watching the floors and walls for hazards or concealed entrances.
Darla, Alak, and Shaserai try to keep out of the way of the others, Darla concentrating on awareness of magical auras, while Alak and Shaserai look around with more superficial eyes.
"This tunnel doesn't appear to have been engineered," Shaserai remarks after a while. "I've spent a great deal of time in dwarven corridors and subterranean structures hewed with the greatest skill, but I believe this tunnel was crafted by magic."
"That may be the case," Darla whispers, "but I'm picking up no recent magical emanations yet."
"Looks like they used brute force on the door we passed thru, though..." Jonagher comments as they move along, "Magic might have dug the passageway, but there's a broken latch on this side of the door, so someone forced their way thru when they accessed this tunnel. Either they broke in...or they were in a big hurry and had no time to waste." He tries to keep his bearings as they proceed, mentally guessing what part of Breachill they might be passing under.
The tunnel keeps going, and before long it becomes obvious that they must have passed beyond the boundaries of Breachill, continuing in a generally northerly direction. It is hard for most to imagine that it could lead anywhere but to Citadel Altaerein, though Darla can't help but wonder about the circle on the map in the vicinity of Guardian's Way. After a while, however, the tunnel begins to curve gently towards the east rather than the west, as well as to ascend slightly. At last, the party's arcane light reveals a wooden door ahead, at which the tunnel dead-ends.
"Well...that was quite the hike," Jonagher whispers in the quiet tunnel. "Shall we see what's on the other side?" Before anyone answers, he moves forward and squats down to check for traps or pressure plates or any clues as to what might have passed thru before them.
Highness moved along with Jonagher as he checked the door. As soon as he appears to have cleared the door safely, he moved forward to listen and try and peer under the door or through any cracks.
The marks of the mostly-healed wounds on Jonagher's hands serve as a physical reminder that opening doors can be dangerous; the rest of the party waits while he checks the opening for hazards. Satisfied that he can find no traps on this door, he looks for any signs of the last being(s) to pass through the portal, but he discovers no clues.
When Jonagher has finished, Highness creeps up and places his long ears and red eyes to the bottom edge of the door, but he can discern neither sound nor movement. In addition, the only light appears to be the one accompanying them on the tunnel side of the door; the other side lies in darkness.
Jonagher steps back and waits for Highness to finish his investigation. When the goblin seems to have no further information to provide, he looks to Ragna, Shaserai, and Alak. "After you guys..." he nods with his chin as he sheathes his blade and draws his bow with a readied arrow.
Highness attempted to open the door.
Darla drops into a defensive crouch, rapier at the ready.
The door easily swings open onto an irregularly-shaped storage room, ten feet square near the door before narrowing into a five-foot wide extension at the far end. It is cluttered with storage racks and cabinets, all of which are heavily furred with dust and garlanded with tattered cobwebs. In the thick dust on the stone floor are clear footprints, leading between the tunnel and the only other door in the room, in the left-hand wall.
"Anything look familiar?" Jonagher asks from behind. "Are we under Citadel Altaerin? Same construction maybe?" He slips past Ragna's broad shoulders to join Highness inside the storage room. "Footprints in the dust," he notes aloud, "Doesn't seem like anyone or anything else has disturbed this place." His eyes follow the path towards the opposite door where the footprints lead, surmising it must be safe enough if whoever proceeded them made it through without triggering a trap. But, that doesn't mean that whoever set the earlier trap back at Voz's shop couldn't have put a new one here. So, he moves forward, cautiously continuing to search for dangers.
Darla sticks her head into the small room, scanning for magical emanations. She appears a bit more apprehensive than she did back at the other end of the tunnel.
"Anything look familiar?" Jonagher asks from behind. "Are we under Citadel Altaerin? Same construction maybe?"
Alak lifts a heavy bolt of fabric off a shelf and is surrounded by a cloud of long-undisturbed dust. "So it would appear," he remarks, unfolding some of the drapery and revealing the now-familiar sunburst symbol of the order embroidered on the banner, as well as several dessicated moths that tumble to the floor.
Neither Jonagher nor Darla discover anything untoward in their investigations.
"Hmmm...so, that would mean Voz Lirayne had a means of visiting the citadel...secretly...anytime she wanted. And Calmont...who worked for her...said he came here looking for a ring. Is this how he got in?" Jonagher moves to the unexplored door and listens to see if he can discern the sounds of goblins or frogmen or monkeymen. If he's satisfied there's nothing obvious on the other side, he'll open it.
Highness took a moment to check the footprints, attempting to discern their origin, before moving up with Jonagher next to the door. He quickly checks the door for traps or latches before letting Jonagher open it.
By the time Highness turns his attention to the tracks, they have been much disturbed by the rest of the party crowding into the room. He finds no more danger in opening the door than Jonagher did.
The door opens onto a much larger space, its walls lined with metal-and-stone lockboxes, shelves, and cabinets. A set of obvious tracks on the dusty floor trace a rough triangle between the door Jonagher just opened, a table in the middle of the room, and the nearer of two doors in the western wall .
"Well, that's suspicious. The tracks only go to the table and the closer of the two doors. Makes me wonder if there are tracks...or perhaps this room is well known and picked clean. But why stop in the middle of the room?" Highness whispered quietly to Jonagher next to him.
Highness skulked into the room, carefully following the dusty path lain out by his unknown predecessors on the floor of the room.