The iron door only appears to be locked. The handle turns easily and the metal door opens smoothly.
Beyond, you see a stone stairwell descending into the darkness. A large steel lockbox sits in front of the landing.
You don't see any movement.
Varys moves forward towards the lockbox. Lacking a set of thieves' tools, he is not confident about his ability to do much with this lock at the moment.
But he tries, feeling himself fumble around horribly.
He looks back at the scrolls. "Well, we have a scroll that we could use for this. If I find the right tools for the job, I might be able to unlock it without magic. What do you all think?"
Grobradon says "Me? I wonder what Spider that big tastes like. Not like we got a lot of food options in town when trade stops trickling in."
The bard feels more confident for some reason, maybe it's they've survived this long?
He looks back at the scrolls. "Well, we have a scroll that we could use for this. If I find the right tools for the job, I might be able to unlock it without magic. What do you all think?"
"Where are you going to find the right tools? I'm not sure we have time to stop the hunt, get supplies, come back and hope it's all the same when we get back. But I could be wrong." He's not THAT confident
Roasted spider sounds interesting, especially if they could cook out the poison.
Varys shrugs. "Maybe there's a key somewhere. No, we shouldn't retreat now. But if someone in town happens to have a lockpicking kit, I would not be opposed to returning. There might be information inside."
Grobradon tries to think of who in town happens to have a lockpicking kit ,if anyone?
Clover knows the Ramblehouse has needed locksmith services before and tries to remember who did it.
The half-elf shrugs again and creeps forward and down the stairs.
"Keep the lights up here for a moment while I take a peak below," Varys whispers to Grobradon.
Grobradon tries to think of who in town happens to have a lockpicking kit ,if anyone?
Grobradon can't think of anyone like that.
Clover knows the Ramblehouse has needed locksmith services before and tries to remember who did it.
Nobody in town has that skill. But there are frequently merchants of all kinds outside the walls at the Barterstones. Vistani caravans or dwarven tinkers might be found there.
Remember, you can always try to break it open with attacks or strength. If there's anything delicate inside, oh well.
Returning from below, Varys reports that he found nothing immediately interesting or dangerous below. Hearing that no one probably has the needed tools, he then requests one of the scrolls of Knock and tries undoing the arcane lock on the lockbox.
Grobradon kept the lights up, of course.
Asher watches Varys as he utilizes the scroll. "How can you read that? It looks like...art, maybe. Beautiful but nonsensical. Like I should be able to read it if I held it up to the light or sommit."
Varys unrolled the papyrus scroll and read the scrolls arcane text aloud flawlessly. The arcane text glowed and burned away the scroll, and in response glowing lines of arcane symbols appear on the lockbox and evaporate. The locks rotate and unlock with a clock.
Inside you find a potion bottle with a "Darkvision" label.
You find two vellum scrolls, one titled "Barkskin" (Druid L2, CL3), and one titled "Ghostbane Dirge" (Inquisitor L2, CL3).
Also, a masterwork hand crossbow with a case containing 10 normal bolts, 10 cold iron bolts, and 10 silver bolts.
Varys' eyes widen somewhat uncharacteristically as the spell goes off. He had practiced this sort of thing with scrolls and spellbooks plenty of times back in Kaer Maga, but it had never worked.
"I--" he chokes, watching the scroll consumed in an eldritch reaction, "I practiced. But it never worked before. I never even cast a cantrip." His face stretches into a smile and he begins to spin around, jumping up and down, and generally doing an acrobatic routine. But it looks odd doing it so quietly, with no whooping or hollering, only the occasional punctuating grunt of effort. "If I can do that, I wonder what else I can do!"
The half-elf passes the scrolls, potion, crossbow, and bolts around for examination while he sits cross-legged on the floor and begins jotting down notes furiously in his journal. Understanding, concentration, and intention. Those must be part of it.
"Well done, Varys." Asher laughs, clapping the half-elf on his shoulder as he jigged around in front of the chest. "I'd love to learn to do that someday. It's fascinating. I always wanted to be like the wizard Llu Llw Gryff. I used to read stories about his adventures."
"Congratulations, Varyrs. It's always nice to learn a new song for me." at talk of Llu Llw Gryff he adds, "Someone tried to teach me a poem about him, it was a long one though and i never had time get it all down."
Varys smiles up at his companions. "I'd like to hear one of those stories or poems at some point. If tales of Llu Llw Gryff ever reached Kaer Maga, they did not make it to me."
Having finished his notes and secured the loot, Varys unsheathes his blade again and leads the way down the steps to the basement of the Plague House.
Easing down the stairway, you come around the corner to the bottom thirty feet below. Dancing Lights drifted forward into the open space, and you see this bare chamber has a couple of exits to the NE and SW. The flagstones are otherwise bare.
Coming around the corner, you see a lone statue has been relegated to a dusty corner behind the stairs. The upright figure stands with both hands wrapped loosely around the hilt of a sheathed sword. Covered with dust and cobwebs, it's hard to distinguish what it was representing.
"Looks like the sword isn't really part of the statue."
Asher joins Grobradon looking up at the statue. "Another statue of Iomedae. She looks...peaceful." He glances around the dark basement. "This is a nice space. I love what they've done with it."
Clover makes sure to keep herself well ringed by tall folk, staying right in the middle. She agrees the statue is Imomedae.
Varys nods along with the others' conclusions. "I wonder if it could be magical," Varys wonders aloud. After a beat, he clarifies. "I may have just cast a spell, but I don't know how to detect the presence of magical auras yet. Grobradon, Clover, would either of you be willing to do the honors?"
As an afterthought, the half-elf wonders if the sword could be part of a trap. But he awaits the results first.
"Alright."
Clover obliges and checks for magical auras.
"I have good night vision, and I don't see any foes beyond the light"
"There's nothing magical close by."
Varys looks askance at the sword. "Well, if it isn't magical, it could still be useful. Grobradon, you use a similar blade. Is it any better than yours?"
Sufficiently satisfied, Varys moves ahead to the northeast.
Looking closer at the hands of the statue, you see that the sword is not part of the statue, but an actual sword socketed by the hilt.
Asher quickly and quietly moves back to the group, moving his hands in a downward pushing motion. "Shhhh," he whispers, pointing behind him towards the hallway at the end of the corridor. "I saw some candlelight and heard voices behind a portcullis. Someone else might be here."
When Asher delivers his warning, Clover's immediate instinct is to duck. It is of course a useless thing to do, but she stays semi-crouched while she points at the statue's sword.
"That's a really nice sword. We should take it with us."
Varys continues to push forward, moving carefully and looking for either traps or enemies--potentially the source of the voices.
Varys holds up his hand to signal to the others to stay back, as he had just found what he suspects is a trap. Should he use the other scroll, or save that for another locked door? He lacked the proper tools to deal with this, but how much different could this be than some of the lessons back in the Arcanist's Circle? A trap was a trap, when you came down to it, whether it was a sepia snake sigil that one of his old bullies had conjured to mess with him, or a pressure plate like this. You just had to figure out how to bypass it without triggering it, and you would be safe.
He reaches into his pack and pulls out things that he think might be able to help with this: the hammer, the pitons, the twine, and even a candle. As carefully as possible, he examines the pressure plate and starts to mess with it. Maybe thread the twine around and lift the plate up a bit, then jam the piton in and seal it in place with some wax? That might do the trick, at least for now. Especially if he could do it without alerting the voices further down the hall.
Carefully poking around the mechanism, Varys realizes the pressure plates that fill the corridor are all connected by cables and chains to the nasty devices in the walls and ceiling. Logically tracing them out, he uncovers a concealed wall panel. Opening it reveals the master switch that can turn the whole thing on or off.
"Varys. Varys!" Asher quietly hisses as his friend holds up a hand, poking around at something on the ground. He moves a little closer to the half-elf, whispering to Clover and Grobradon, "Lights tells me whatever might be here is likely intelligent. Hopefully its someone friendly. Let's get prepared fast, just in case." He looks at the half-orc and halfling as if searching for a word. "Spiders are one thing, but I don't want to throw you in a situation where you could get deadly injured without precautions. Fighting another person is a lot harder than fighting a scary beast. We second guess ourselves, no matter how hard we try."
Having disabled the trap, Varys creeps back to Asher. "If we're going to make a habit of sneaking around, we should learn a quieter means of communication than hushed whispers. Many Varisians have a gestural cant, whether or not they're Deaf. But yes, it's good to prepare."
Grobradon just nods, as he shuffles the lights about a little. And gets closer to do so
The preparedness idea seems good to Clover. She casts Bless on the party.
Asher nods at everyone, then squints a little. "Did you...what did you just do, Clover?"
"It's a blessing, Asher. Light enchantment magic to bolster our prowess. Keep up."
Varys leads the way down the de-trapped hallway towards the sounds of voices, rapier drawn and ready to tangle.
Clover points at Varys. "What he said."
Asher again looks impressed. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Clover seems pleased to have been able to help.
Clover moves stealthily.
With a finger to his lips, Varys leads the way forward.