Callie activates message again so they do not have to shout at one another--and draw attention, and answers through that spell: "You'll have to toss me a rope as I haven't one, but let's check the windows first." Callie checks the windows, for shenanigans and then for being open.
Then it's try to open the window.
Careful up there Callie...You are on your own and we may have unseen enemies that are just waiting for a hero to be all alone...
From her perch on the roof, Callie can see that there are windows, just none that look out over the roof itself.
Callie doesn't notice any traps up here. As a matter of fact, there is nothing on the slightly sloped roof.
Then it's try to open the window.
"I don't plan to be up here at length," she replies to Alistair via message, again not to alert anyone nearby. "Either you'll join me, I'll find a way to get in and open the door for you, or you'll find a way through the door--how's that coming along, by the way?"
Presuming the window is indeed open, if Garran tosses her a rope she will also lower the rope to help them get up there. If no one has a rope, she'll advise them to use the any-tool to create a piton or pole to help them get on the roof with her.
If the window is not open, she reports that and asks the party via message whether they risk the noise of breaking the window or going back to trying the door.
"Do you want me to come up there and help?" calls Alika from the ground.
Alistair takes the tool and walks to the front door. Looking it up and down as he tries to change it into something useful.
What the f%#~ do I know of locked doors.
ok...ok lets see here, a slight opening along the door handle side...maybe something to shimmy into that opening to pry it back and forth. Maybe a flat blade of some sort...like a crowbar. No that is too big and will not fit into that gap with out breaking the frame. Too much noise.
Cayden...I could use a drink right about now.
With those words spoken the handsome nobleman looks to the silver drinking cup that hangs off his belt. His hand lifts the dented tankard up slightly to read the words inside Here's to Cayden! May he show us wisdom in the bottom of a glass.
He smiles brightly as the tool turns into a dull blade of maybe nine or ten inches long and less than two inches wide.
A foam scraper...hmm. Just might do the trick
Taking the tool-blade in one hand, the wiry fighter walks to the door. Placing the blade into the gape between door and frame, he slowly shimmies it down the side. Rocking it back and forth as he gently turns the door knob and pulls slightly.
If the window is not open, she reports that and asks the party via message whether they risk the noise of breaking the window or going back to trying the door.
”Don’t break the glass, yet. Let’s try opening the door,” Garran whispers to Callie via message.
He walks up next to Alistair and says, ”You pry, I push.” He then puts his shoulder against the door and tries to force it open.
Alistair shoves against the door, but to no avail. Stepping up, Garran helped to pop the door open. as he swings wide, a chair clatters to the floor.
This front room is mostly empty save for a large Vudrani throwrug. A hallway heads to the left to what appears to be a sitting room. Several doors line the hallway.
Alika calls to Callie, "Door's open, c'mon in!"
She steps cautiously but stops before she reaches the throw rug, wondering...
"If Orsini knew he was in trouble, you think he might have left traps? Or hid in a cellar, say, hidden under a rug?"
Callie jumps back off the roof, rolling as she lands to avoid hurting herself and rejoins the party.
Garran looks at the chair that was propped against the door, indicating someone had tried to barricade it, then calls out, "Master Orsini? It's Garran Fain. We met a few weeks ago?"
Nodding his thanks, Alistair follows Garran inside and sees the chair.
A chair for a lock?
Anyone who is head of a school such as Master Orsini's would never use a chair as a lock. We may have some squatters here.
Returning the tool to Callie, the nobleman removes from his backpack a large felt cavalier hat. The brim is pinned to one side of the crown with three large over-sized, chic, and extravagant feathers sticking out the pinned side. The hat fits perfectly on his head as his clothes shift to a style the matches the feathers. Clean and dapper, the young man pulls forth his weapons and prepares for what is to come.
Callie takes the tool with a nod and a smile to Alistair and stashes it back in her haversack.
"Someone was trying to block the door in a hurry," Callie comments quietly via message. "Maybe you," she nods to Alistair, "and I should move ahead quietly to see what's here, then call in Alika and Garran if we see something."
I am fine taking point but we should not split up...never a good idea.
He looks to the chair
Someone may be here and that chair might have tipped them off to our presence. Let us get this over with...that way I would presume.
”This feels more and more like an ambush.”
Garran pulls out his shield and says, "We shouldn't separate. Let's go room by room, door by door, and try to find if anyone is here."
Garran lifts up the carpet in the entryway to see if there's a trap door underneath it. If not, he points to the door directly across from the entry way and says, "Let's start there."
"I didn't mean 'split up,' I meant 'go ahead' by like, 20 feet tops. Charging distance at most. If we stay clustered together in a small room that's just asking for us to have a fireball lobbed our way." She shrugs, nonetheless outvoted.
If there is nothing under the carpet, she moves toward the door Garran points out. "Don't worry, staying in arm's reach. You can call off the nanny." She gives a cheeky grin.
She checks the door to see if it is locked.
If the door is not locked, she opens it.
If the door opens and nothing immediately kills her, she casts sift to see if she picks up on any interesting features of the room while remaining standing in the doorframe.
Callie is distracted by a squirrel running past the window.
Alistair moves to the door that Garran indicates.
The door is not locked. Inside you find a workshop for detailing and repairing bladed weapons. There is no one inside.
Moving down the hallway, there are two doors to the north and south. You can also see that a fire burns in the hearth.
Callie points toward the fire. She whispers via message, "Good thing I didn't try going down the chimney. But someone's here, and they're either keeping warm or burning something. Shall we go see?" She gestures toward the chamber with the fireplace.
Garran frowned. He didn't like leaving unsecured rooms at their back - there could be ambushers in them. Replying via message, "Indeed. Alistair, Callie, you two approach. Alika and I will wait here in case anyone comes out of the rooms we haven't checked yet."
Callie nods. "I'll head straight for the fire--and take precautions." With a grin, she snaps her fingers and vanishes, before walking carefully and quietly toward the fire.
There is no response to your approach, and there is no one in the room near the fire. You can see a set of stairs to the north of the room.
Callie fades from sight and sound as well.
Curious about a cozy fire burning so close to a burned out school, Callie peers into the flames to see if anything is burning among the wood. Anything there?
Callie whispers through message, "I'm next to the fireplace. Don't see anyone. Stairway's here."
Alika stays next to Garran, quiet, waiting for the signal to move again.
Alistair sniffs the air and looks around the room.
No signs of squatters and no aromas of food. Callie sees no signs of anyone near the fire so why is there a fire burning inside a house that has no one here. Orsini would not start a fire in his own house if his school was just burnt down and he was on the run. Nor would he put a chair behind the door as a lock.
Keeping his voice low, he speaks to the others via the spell...
We saw no signs of anyone fleeing the house....someone is here. The battlefield is staged and ready...to our disadvantage. Take another scan of the room. I am coming your way. Everyone..on me and be ready to react and watch your backsides.
Alistair walks down the hallway very slowly with his senses trained outwards to his surroundings. His eyes, covered by blood red crystal lenses, roam from shadow to shadow.
Garran quietly replies to Alistair via the spell, "I'll wait here until you've finished traversing the hall. That way if someone comes out of one of the three doors, they don't catch all of us."
Callie crouches by one of the couches in the room, waiting to see what Alistair finds.
"Maybe open the doors? If no one's there, then they're upstairs..." she whispers via her spell.
Alika quietly draws her scimitar with one hand while keeping the other on her golden holy symbol.
By the fireplace, you smells what one would should expect from a fire: Smoke, burning wood, and ash, but you also smell something you can't quite place yet. It's very faint, but it's definitely there.
Nodding to Garran, Alistair walks down the hallway. He stops about half way down and again sniffs the air.
What the f$!! is that...
Via message spell
Anyone else smell that? There is the smoke from the fireplace but there is something underneath that...I can not figure it out. Something about the fireplace is making me uneasy...
"Well, let's put it out," Callie says through message. She retrieves her waterskin and empties it over the fire.
The fire dies down to embers, and the room is plunged into darkness.
There are still no sounds in the house.