Sheathing her sword and rolling her shoulders, Ariadne takes hold of the rope and does a decent job of climbing up the side, taking up a guard position as Vedika works on the damaged locks.
Brig waits until the others have gone, serving as a rear guard, then will start the slow and steady accent up.
Vedika just gets the lock working again.
Everyone but Ariadne can easily detect movement behind the bottom door, there is only silence behind the top door.
What now?
Vedika puts a finger to her lips, then tries to quietly open the door that has no sound behind it.
Kayleigh stands stock-still, afraid that any movement in her armor might give away the group's presence.
Brid grips her hammer shaft in anticipation of something breaking the silence with a rushing gnashing screaming thing.
.
An empty room, the sounds of movement are clearer in here. Along with a musty smell, as if there has been no cleaning for some time.
What now?
At the increased sounds of movement and musty smell, Arani's stomach drops as images of undead immediately come to mind. Looking to Jerrica to lead the way, she slowly draws her sword, to make as little sound as possible, a spell on the tip of her tongue should whoever lay just beyond line of sight attack.
Everyone up, Zahur takes back his grappling hook and holds it by its reddish rope. "If the door isn't locked or trapped, you step back, uh?"
"Zahur with me through the door first, Brig, right behind us the Vedika and Kayleigh. We move in and fan out." Ariadne says drawing upon her inner font of arcane power as sigils momentarily flare to life on her armor.
Kayleigh follows Ariadne's directions, fanning out to the left as she gets inside the room.
.
E2a. Gallery:
Finely framed works of art cover the walls of this gallery, looking down upon the hall below. Great windows look out to the west and south, and an alcove to the east is set with chairs for musicians.
In mockery of the room’s beauty, several costumed corpses are positioned about the hall, some posed like ghastly statues while others are rigged to look like contemplative critics.
Three zombies dressed in flashy metallic costumes wander aimlessly through the room, pantomiming appreciation and criticism of the paintings of Korvosan cityscapes and Carowyn portraits on the walls. Periodically,
a zombie stumbles over one of the dozen dead bodies on the floor here.
The moment the door opens the Zombies turn to attack you!
What is everyone doing?
Brig does not like the confined fighting conditions, imagining attempting to evade the gnashing teeth of the undead they were watching shamble toward them. "Only three..." she says before she pushes into the room, bringing her massive hammer down on the nearest of the zombies.
Vedika lets out a quiet hiss of frustration and draws her kukri.
Kayleigh moves to the northwest corner of the railed opening overlooking the floor below, both to protect the group in case something hostile emerges through either of the doors to the north and to peer below to see if any more threats are present. She relays any intel she might discover.
Sword in hand, Ariadne moves forward, falling in line with Brig as she brings her free hand up, sending a ray of positive energy streaming toward one of the approaching zombies. "Two now!"
"Get moving, girl, the zombies will not get here for sure." He says to Vedika.
With Brigita in the way, Zahur bolts forward, then grabs the rail and jumps over the gap in the stairs, landing by the next undead.
Hook in hand, he spins it to bring it down on the zombie in his face.
.
The group easily dispatches the 3 Zombies on this level.
Among the dead you find corpses of 3 musicians. Ruan is not among them.
.
E2b. Bedroom:
Olauren Carowyn, now a zombie, stands in the center of this room dressed as a Galtan queen, her sprawling pearl-studded gown flowing around her and her elaborate, powdered wig nearly brushing the ceiling. A second zombie—dressed as a Qadiran princess—attends her.
.
Kayleigh looks down to the floor below and sees another 6 Zombies, all wearing noble dress and dancing with each other in a grotesque mockery of a formal dance.
.
What now?
Kayleigh does a quick scan of the zombies' corpses, looking for any obvious signs of the blood veil on their faces or other exposed skin. She also casts a detect magic cantrip while in the bedroom and scans for any emanations as she slowly makes her way to the others to head downstairs.
"I guess we may as well engage those." Ariadne says, preparing to head down to the next level.
Brig, who mainly hits things with her hammer until it stops moving, stops herself. "We could..." being of few words, she doesn't finish and instead pulls out a leather strap with a small cup in the middle and a smoothed rock.
"Let's play safe. You block the stairs, I go fishing." Zahur says, using the full length of grappling hook to attack the zombies from the second floor.
With a nod of agreement to both Brig and Zahur, Ari sheathes her blade, drawing and loading her crossbow.
Brig eyes the crossbow and hook, then her own sling. She then shrugs, puts it up, and moves to guard the stairwell, ready to hammer anything that come up back down.
Kayleigh examines a corpse, while it looks to have Blood veil she soon picks up someone has used a Sculpt corpse spell to give it the signs of the disease. The spell was also used to disguise the wounds that killed the person?
As the rest of you prepare to go fishing the Zombies from above there is a creak from below as someone trying to be stealthy steps on a loose floorboard, followed by a foul curse in a female voice.
Looking in that direction you see a shadow dart back around the corner from you.
.
What now?
Kayleigh's about to report her findings to the others when she hears the creak and curse from below. Thinking quickly--for her at least--the cleric calls out, "Don't worry--we're here to save you!" She looks at the others, shrugs, and whispers, "Maybe she'll buy that; who knows? The zombies don't seem to be attacking whoever she is, though...."
"Enemy or not, I think we should first deal with these corpses." Zahur says, swinging his hook at another zombie.
The last Zombie is put to rest and silence falls over the manor. There has been no sound from the mystery female since she retreated.
.
What are you doing now?
Brig moves back to the others "We should find this person before going down"
"I'm pretty sure she's on the floor below us, likely hiding, though whether because she's a survivor or a perpetrator of whatever happened here remains to be seen." Ariadne say's, slinging her crossbow over her back and drawing her sword again before moving to lead the group down the stairs.
Kayleigh casts another detect magic cantrip in the off chance the mystery woman has an item or ongoing spell that might betray her location. She takes her familiar position as rearguard and follows the others downstairs.
.
Brig's hands tighten around the half of her hammer, the quiet creak of leather around metal, as she listens and looks for a shadow.
Ariadne moves forward, sword drawn, quickly enhancing her armor as she looks around.
Zahur comes down and moves forward to look around.
Despite straining their senses to the limit neither Zahur or Brigita can hear the mystery woman again.
The next few rounds are spent dealing with the shambling Zombies that lurch towards you. As if they were being sent to block you.
.
Map updated. What are you doing now?
Kayleigh continues to scan for any magical emanations--unless her comrades need her to brain an undead or two with her morningstar. She herds Vedika before her, if necessary, as she heads downstairs to join the others.
As zombies drop around them, Ariadne makes an effort to push toward the direction of the errant woman, noticing the seemingly deliberate obstruction.
"I think she'd trying to make a run for it! The zombies are a distraction.", she says, cutting down another while her shield spell rotates to block another attack.
"Could also be a trap." Zahur points out. "I'd rather not rush... and while it would be good to catch who did this, our actual mission is of rescue, uh?"
"In my experience, rescues rarely benefit from going slowly but..." Ariadne trails off with a shrug, moving along the left path all the same.