”You can always count on an elf to understand the beasts of the world.” The Raven says approvingly, content with how the situation with the dogs had turned out. He had been chased by many a dog during his time as the Raven, but he held no ill will towards them. Unable to magically provide his own light, he accompanies the bard in their search for the hidden room.
The mastiff snatches the food and flees into the stalls with its packmates, watching the group warily from there, ready to threaten anyone that dares to approach its meal.
The two scouts walk deeper into the dimly lit building, their breath still steaming from their mouths. In the back of the Livery, they (and Nyxra) can dimly make out an old broken-down wagon, beyond a wall longer and taller than those of the stalls. The magical luminescence shows a few piles of old, dried straw inside the unmaintained cells, none of which are closed, and many of which do not even have doors any more.
To the northeast, there’s the ruins of two stalls, the wood scattered across the floor, though that is far from the only scattered pieces of wood in the old stables.
Jessibel scans through the Livery with her shining sword, she notices a glint from the corner of her eyes, above her head. Upon focusing on it, she sees it is a small but (very) noteworthy piece of metal on the rafters. She recognizes that glint of platinum from the few times she’s seen the metal. That could prove invaluable to the rebellion’s cause - or serve as a very stylish element to her own wardrobe, of course.
Still no sign of a hidden basement, though.
Abruptly, a piece of wood lifts itself off of the floor and hurls itself at Jessibel.
"Heeeeeey--what's that glinting up in the rafters?" Jessi asks the Raven, pointing to a small metallic item. "Finder's keepers!" she adds quickly, realizing that she has no easy way of reaching the prize. "I don't suppose you can fly?" she asks the Raven skeptically.
As if on cue, a piece of an old rotten board rises from the floor and shoots toward her face! Jessi ducks easily and the wood clatters into a corner where it remains motionless. Giving the others a wide-eyed Did-you-see-THAT??!! sort of look, the young bard mouths a single word to the others: GHOSTS!!??
"Anyone can understand animals if they bother taking the time to listen." Nyxra replies before a piece of wood launches itself at Jessibel.
"...well. Wasn't expecting that." She responds, drawing her bow.
"Maybe there's a ghost after all?"
Vantine concentrates, focusing on finding magical auras that might explain the flying log.
That was the cantrip mage hand. It doesn’t mean that it wasn’t from a haunting of some sort, but it was definitely that particular spell.
A high-pitched malevolent giggle comes from inside the walls, which sets the dogs barking again - though they still don’t seem aggressive towards the people present.
Nyxra draws her bow, but there are no immediately obvious targets, and the dogs’ barking is covering any sounds that might come from movement. Still, there doesn’t seem to be any other active haunts at the moment…
”Are you alright, Lady Jessibel?” The nobleman approaches her, ascertaining her health, before nodding slightly. ”Well, the Livery may be haunted after all…” He muses.
Rexus looks around with a frown as he moves (cautiously) deeper into the building. ”Hold on, there’re some bars back here…” He says, keeping a wary eye at the pieces of wood littered around him.
True to his words, he has found an iron gate with a small bend in its center in the southeast of the building. The bent bars provide an opening for a child or a halfling to pass through, were they careful enough, but are not large enough for adult humans or elves.
What lies behind the gate, however, is of more interest. There’s a hallway that leads to a broken door that hangs off of its hinges - though it doesn’t have any features one would normally expect a door to have, other than hinges.
Rexus looks excited. ”That’s probably a secret door! Maybe the Ravens used that to get downstairs!” He pushes on the gate, only to grunt in annoyance. ”Locked.”
"I think the wood was tossed with the use of minor magic. I'm no authority, but I don't think that's the way ghosts or haunts do things. Magic accompanied by giggling seems like fey hijinx to me."
Jessibel freezes at the sound of the giggling but quickly regains her courage. "I'm fine," she tells Rexus. The bard begins to try to figure out who or what might be making the strange laugh. She'd expected ghosts to be more sinister and less...giggly...unless, perhaps, the ghost were of a child.
A stableboy, perhaps? I used to insult dopey kids when I was younger by asking, 'Did you get kicked in the head by a horse when you were younger?' Maybe that happened to a stableboy here, and now his spirit haunts the place! Or maybe it's a gremlin or other fey creature...something more mischievous.
Though it's risky, the bard decides to make herself a target in the hopes of luring her attacker out into the open.
"Missed me! Missed me! Now you gotta kiss me!" she taunts the...whatever.
"That wall over there looks pretty weak." Nyxra points at the wall south of the gate. "We could bypass the lock by breaking it down--assuming, of course, you're comfortable with going out into that damned blizzard again."
There is no response to Jessibel's taunts, though the dogs finally have stopped barking.
Rexus looks at Nyxra dubiously. "Perhaps we could, ah, look for some other way to get in before we go outside again?" After a moment, he thinks and adds. "Plus, it's more likely to get attention once the snowstorm stops..."
”Ghosts or fey or dogs or whatever, there’s probably a reason this structure has sat abandoned in the middle of the city for so long.” The Raven removes his chain shirt and drops his shield to attempt the climb to the rafters.
Embarrassingly, the Raven barely gets a few inches off of the ground before he slips down once more, his fingers and boots gaining no purchase on the pillar he is attempting to use to get to the rafters. Fortunately, he doesn't get very high, or it might've ended not just with embarrassment but actual injury.
Perhaps oddly to those expecting more laughter, none comes. Indeed, there is now no sign that the Livery is inhabited by anything other than the dogs munching on their food in one of the stalls. At least, none that the Silver Ravens can see.
"There are a couple more rooms and another door farther back at the rear too."
Vantine points into the darkness at back corners of the structure before walking in that direction to take a look.
"Miss Roubanis?" Rexus looks at Vantine's retreating back with concern. "Er, where are you... shouldn't we stick together?" He does seem slightly out of his depth now, despite the confidence he's been projecting this whole time.
Thanks to her odd sight, Vantine has no need to remain in the radius of Jessibel's light spell, and ventures into the dark with little to fear. In the first room, closest to the entry, is mostly empty anything of note - there's an old, three-legged chair, an old desk, and some cupboards.
Going to the other room proves that this room is much the same as the other - its chair is in noticeably better condition, but other than that, it seems more or less identical to the previous room. Vantine is nothing if not thorough, though, and swiftly discovers a small key in one of the drawers.
Vantine is too occupied to answer Rexus right away, but when she does call back she has exciting news.
"Hey! I found a key! There's also a lot of weird tracks back here. Come have a look."
Vantine places a light on the cart thing, "tulkoon valo", and waves everyone back to where she is.
Despite Vantine's call to gather in the back room, Jessibel's unwilling to walk away from her prize. "I can't be sure from this distance," she whispers to the Raven, "but I think whatever's up there is made of platinum!"
These tracks are reminiscent of the ones that were written in Vitian's Guide to Fey Fair and Foul under the heading of "grimples." Grimples are a sort of gremlin - a group of small, malicious fey - that delight in tormenting humans in a variety of ways. Usually they lurk in urban squalor - much like the Fair Fortune Livery.
In addition to the usual fey resistance to weapons not made of cold iron, grimples are hosts to nasty itching parasites that can leap to those who touch them (though those rarely survive for more than a day on non-gremlins). They are capable of climbing across vertical surfaces with ease, and also capable of flight. Finally, they have the ability to vomit vile putrescence at threats from a surprising range. Not explicitly threatening, but utterly disgusting.
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Mine, Mine,
Laying down her buckler, Jessibel tries to climb the pillar and claim her elusive prize.
"Getting...closer...!"
Pouting time!!!!
I'm going to throw a fit pretty soon!
Nyxra decides to give the climbing thing a try.
"Hmph! Show-off!"
Jessibel picks up her buckler and silently fumes.
The platinum object turns out to be a signet ring with the symbol of a long-dead family. It is nailed to the rafters, but Nyxra manages to loosen it without much trouble. When she returns to the ground, Rexus glances at it with a slight frown. "Probably the Juliac crest. This place used to be theirs, back before they died out. I wonder how it got there?" He looks up at the rafters, curiously.
"But we should probably go investigate what Miss Roubanis has seen..." He does just that. "Sorry about our delay, Miss Roubanis. Lady Jessibel was quite insistent."
His gauntlets unable to find purchase on the icy wooden walls, the Raven retrieves his armor and lets someone who isn’t wearing a mask and heavy boots try to acquire the shiny objects. He watches with some amusement as lady Lassibel has no better luck. ”Well, they likely wouldn’t store valuable jewelry in the rafters if they were easy to access.” He consoles her before joining Vantine.
Aisling tries to remember what she can about the Juliac family, once she has finished laughing at Jessibels' efforts to climb the rafters. "Come on, let's join the others." She frowns when she sees the tracks. "I haven't seen anything like that before."
Jessibel continues to fume as Aisling laughs at her attempts to scale the livery's pillar, and then Nyxra does so easily and keeps Jessi's find for herself! The revelation that the object is a signet ring from a defunct noble house makes the scheming bard want it all the more.
Maybe I can claim it as my share of the treasure we find down here....
In the back office, she closely examines the strange tracks for quite a while before opening her mouth to give her opinion on them: "I believe we may be dealing with grimple gremlins here. Nasty little flying things that look like a cross between a goblin and a possum. It helps to have cold iron weapons to fight them--I have none, by the way--and they're allegedly riddled with parasites. One last thing: They're supposedly able to projectile vomit, so we might want to fight them from a safe distance."
Rexus looks concerned at Jessibel's revelation. "That sounds... unpleasant. It would explain why this place hasn't been torn down or been used as shelter by the homeless..." His expression darkens slightly. "But not good for us at all. If they're here, they probably won't be terribly welcoming of us."
After a moment's thought, he adds. "Do you think they might have thrown the wood at you, Lady Jessibel?"
Vantine is very proud of herself for finding the key. She's happy to hand it over to someone else though. She offers to the the Raven guy first.
"Have we found any keyholes needing a key?"
After shrugging at Vantine, Jessi answers Rexus's question...sort of.
"Possibly--yes. Grimples tend to be more mischievous and cruel than deadly in their hijinks. But they're not above inflicting some damage...."
Her eyes widen. "The dogs! I'll bet all those scars on the dogs are from wounds inflicted on them by grimples!"
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And they're why people say this place is haunted."
Rexus nods at Vantine's question. "The barred gate was locked. It seems unlikely, but perhaps fortune favors us yet." He gestures vaguely to the south. "We'd best keep an eye out for the grimples, though."
”Let us proceed to the mysterious gate, then! While I am sure you ladies can take care of yourselves in a Pygmy...whatever ambush, I do have a shield.” The Raven takes place at the head of the expedition.
"Should we take a look at what's beyond the door at the end of the building first? Just to be thorough you know."
Vantine goes over and tries the door.
How's this sound for a marching order?
1st Rank: Aisling and the Raven.
2nd Rank: Vantine and Rexus
Rearguard: Jessibel and Nyxra
Vantine feels a chill from the door that indicates it is likely an exit. Upon her attempt to open it, it resists firmly. She can't see any signs of a lock or other bar, but the door seems vexingly stuck. Someone (probably not her) could push it open or break it down, but... she's pretty sure it leads back into the snow.
Vantine comes back and sighs. "It's stuck or something. Won't open, and there's no keyhole."
Aisling does not look happy at the revlation of grimples. "They sound unpleasant. I have no cold iron, only this steel. Let's try and avoid them." She tries not to think about projectile vomit.
When they encounter the door, she shakes her head. "If it's an exit, it can wait for now, I think. We want to explore this place, not leave it."
After Vantine and Aisling rejoin the group, the Raven puts the key into the lock on the gate, twists…
Click. The iron bars swing open, allowing the would-be rebels to push onwards into the short thirty-foot corridor. The corridor is filled with corroded old boxes and barrels - even a chest or two - that clearly haven’t seen use for decades - a fair sight more recent than most of the building, it has to be said.
Aisling and the Raven approach the broken secret door. Inside the room, they see a variety of old mallets, cleavers, and buckets - tools for a slaughterhouse, though again, they have not been maintained. More storage, it seems, covered in dust and rotting away - especially given the chill winds passing through the wall to the south. There are a few bloodstains on the walls, and a whole lot of grimple tracks in the dust.
Suddenly, on the wall opposite the secret door, blood begins to flow from the wood, forming the screaming face of a tiefling child that slowly begins dripping down the vertical surface.
Directly beneath the face, a smear of blood points downward, and as the Ravens look at it, their eyes follow it down to a small trapdoor.
"...ugh." Nyxra winces as she readies her bow. "Those bloodstains look to be quite recent."
Rexus goes pale(r). "Er... well, that's unpleasant." He seems truly at a loss for words.
"What's going on? Oh! Ah...eww!"
”I wonder if it would be best to ignore our tiny, mischievous friends, hope they go away?” The Raven suggests quietly.
Aisling shakes her head. "I don't think they're going away. Although we might want to, and come back with weapons that can actually hurt these things."
Rexus nods in agreement with Aisling. "If they've been fighting with the dogs, as Lady Jessibel suggested, then it seems likely that they are unwilling to leave. We should be cautious in our descent. Lady Jessibel, could you shine your light down into the trapdoor?"
Aisling shakes her head. "I'll take the lead." She mutters a brief prayer and her sword starts to glow with a steady light. "That should be good enough. Let's ssee what's down there."
Vantine avoids the bloody wall on the way down, moving as far to the opposite side of the corridor as possible without actually touching the wall there.
"This is certainly the weirdest morning I've ever had. No doubt about it."
Being farther back in line, she is dependent on those ahead to decide what comes next, so she waits.
As Aisling approaches the trapdoor, a powerful stench of feces and urine swells up from the opened portal and strikes her square in the nostrils. Something has definitely been living down there for quite some time, and is clearly less careful than the dogs have been to not foul the room overmuch.
Beneath the trapdoor lies a narrow pit with a rickety ladder descending about fifteen feet to the floor below. Aisling’s longsword, blessed with light by the power of the Inheritor, reveals a skittering movement as something flees into the darker corners of the room below.
Rexus keeps back, near one of the walls opposite the trapdoor. ”I confess, Miss Roubanis, that I must agree. I did not expect this when I woke up this morning.”