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Epperson nods at the request from Tribim.
”Smart move,” he replies, examining and handling the tarnished silver in question.
No curses manifest and no haunts reveal themselves as Epperson handles the silver.
Mahmoud nods with satisfaction and follows Tribim to the doorway.
Spying the room with all the sand and dust, Unatti looks at Tribim with a questioning gaze. "You don't need to relieve yourself, do you??" She asks, clearly teasing her friend.
Smiling as he nods at Eppesons comment, Tribim's eyes widen as Unatti asks if he wants to use the sandbox. Quickly looking around the group to see if anyone caught the reference, he coughs then points into the second room. "There's a door just beyond."
Again being cautious he moves into the smaller room, taking a moment to look to his right towards the center room in the house. Finally proceeding to the opposite doorframe, looking into the far room.
B15 - Inner Courtyard
A tiled walkway surrounds a square patch of earth and sand in this high atrium. A balcony on the second floor overlooks the courtyard, and a square hole in the ceiling opens to the sky . Four columns in the corners of the atrium support the roof above, and the walls are decorated with symbols and hieroglyphs depicting animals, celestial creatures, and the sun and moon.
B19 - Kitchen
Two stone tables sit against the western wall of this room, while a third occupies the southeastern corner. A small, square wooden butcher's block stands in the northeast corner, now almost collapsing under its own weight. A stone oven sits in the middle of the north wall. A humanoid skeleton lies beneath the northwestern table, surrounded by smashed crockery. A door to the east and an open doorway to the south exit the room.
Chuckling to himself Tribim quips, "Look a kitchen attached to the dining room, who'd of thunk it." Turning back to Epperson, he nods towards the kitchen, "We've got a skeleton in here under the table, any way to see if it's cursed?"
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”Yes,” Epperson states bluntly, striding forward with his flail and shield out.
A pitted and rusted dagger is wedged between the skeleton's ribs. Epperson's presence doesn't appear to trigger any curses - or haunts.
Potential Loot
Broken Dagger x1
Mahmoud follows into the room and looks around. "Upstairs?" he suggests, once they are sure there are no enemies here.
Epperson frowns at the dagger, reaches down, and pulls it free to peer closer at it.
Blinking, Tribim's eyes widen as he realizes that Epperson is going to determine if there is a curse by potential curse by walking into it. Breathing a sigh of relief when nothing happens, he watches Epperson gather the broken dagger. Cocking his head slightly, "Well, I guess that's one way to do it."
Turning towards the doorway to the south, Tribim nods in response to Maymoud's question. Pointing his spear to the unexplored eastern side of the villa he answers over his shoulder. "Sure, to the stairs. May as well go this way, it's just as close." He then proceeds through the doorway to the eastern side of the courtyard, keeping a keen eye out as he goes.
B16 - Chapel
Hieroglyphs and images of fantastic beings cover the walls of this small room. A small stone shrine, dusty and thoroughly defaced, stands against the eastern wall. Carvings on the altar indicate it's dedicated to Abadar, Pharasma, and Sarenrae.
Mahmoud raises an eyebrow as he notes the altar and surrounding area have been defaced. He looks around for any sign of the culprits, muttering "I would like to clean this place once we have finished."
The defacement appears to have occurred years ago, so any clues as to who's responsible has long since been erased by time.
Prior to heading upstairs, Unatti sighs in slight exasperation when their dwarven companion picks up the dagger. "While I admire your boldness Epperson, did you not learn from your encounter with the haunt that just touching things in this place is a bad idea? I appreciate your desire to make sure there are no curses, but can you do that without fondling everything?"
When they discover the chapel, she looks around the room, trying to learn anything she can about the shrine and defacement.
You notice that, of the three deities, Abadar is in the most prominent position. You also notice that the shrine can be easily cleaned. It'll be messy work, but the defacement is mainly in the form of smeared excrement. There's meaning behind the defacement, but you're unable to decipher what .
When Unatti reprimanded Epperson for Fondling everything, Tribim let out a little chuckle. Trying to keep a straight face, he turns to Mahmoud, "We should be able to do that."
Moving to the southern side of the room, Tribim peers into the next room.
"It would appear it was mainly excrement that was used in the defacement. Should be fairly easy to clean up. Also, I believe this is primarily a shine to Abadar, if that matters. "
You're unsure of the meaning of the writing. If you had a larger sample, you could perhaps manage to decipher a general idea, but this only appears to be a sentence or two.
"I appreciate your desire to make sure there are no curses, but can you do that without fondling everything?"
"I have been studying the mystic energies surrounding curses and envisage that I will have the ability to sense curses and possibly deactivate them in the near future, but I am a living weapon designed to withhold and withstand curses," Epperson says with little inflection. "Until such time that I have that future knowledge, this is the only way that I can ensure that the curses fall upon me."
Epperson's gaze passes over Tribim and Mahmoud. Is there a hint of a glint to his eye?
"Besides, it shouldn't matter if I become cursed or not, as I'm sure you'd agree, Unatti."
As the conversation goes on between the two very different people with two very different gods and two very different approachs to life, Tribim smiles to himself wondering if should pose Aerith's earlier question to them. Deciding he wants to keep his hide in place, his smiles widens and he keeps his mouth shut.
Twirling his spear, as he moves across the room pointing to the south, "Probably not too many rooms left before we've explored the open areas of the villa. We should come back and open all the doors after we explore upstairs." As he speaks he moves south into the next room, keeping a keen eye out as he goes.
”It is very selfless of you, Epperson. Though please remember that while curses may be your specialty, there may be traps both arcane and mundane. If anything appears to be either please tell me so that I might trigger it from a safe distance.”
B14 - Privy
A stone privy is built into one wall of this tiny room, and a stone table with a basin stands against the other wall. A large mirror once hung above the table, but it was shattered ages ago. The floor is covered in broken glass and dead scarab beetles. A headless corpse sits upright on one of the privies.
B13 - Bath
A large tiled pool sits in the center of this chamber, surrounded by sloping tiled floors. A few steps descend into the basin, which has accumulated a deep layer of sand on its bottom. Faded murals on the walls depict scenes of life along a river, with recurring themes of running water and aquatic life running through the artwork. In the northeast corner, a tarnished bronze spigot juts from the wall just above head level. Archways lead north and west, and a stone door stands in the eastern wall.
Curious that Aerith would rather trigger traps than let him disable them, Tribim makes a mental note to ask her later. Moving carefully through the Privy and pausing for a moment to admire the bath, he heads towards the foyer.
Pointing his spear tip towards the steps from the Foyer, he turns to Mahmoud, "See almost there."
Tribim cautiously makes his way back to the foyer.
Turning back to the others, Tribim excitedly waves a paw, "Come on, let's check upstairs." Twirling his spear as he crosses the foyer again, he head toward the wide stairs headed to the second floor. Once he arrives he begins to carefully inspect the stairs, even every now and then running the tip of his spear across a step.
This balcony wraps around a twenty-foot-square opening in the floor, overlooking the inner courtyard below and connecting the rooms of the second floor. Above, a square skylight in the ceiling provides natural light to the ground floor and ventilation for the entire building. To the southwest, two small staircases ascend from a landing on the grand staircase between floors. Six different sets of doors lead off of this balcony.
Pointing his spear tip towards the steps from the Foyer, he turns to Mahmoud, "See almost there."
Mahmoud nods cautiously and follows immediately behind Tribim. He seems a little jumpy after the floating heads attack, and keeps tensing each time they enter a new room.
Epperson follows along quietly. At the appearance of the scarab beetles, the dwarf raises his eyebrows and makes a step towards the privy then stops, shakes his head, and resumes following Tribim.
"I must come back later to examine that room more closely," he murmurs to himself.
Upstairs, Epperson stands still with the group and looks around the spacious landing.
"The sheer space of this place speaks to the wealth of the Pentheru clan," he grunts.
"We might as well check the room right in front of us." Unatti offers, from the middle of the stairs, waiting for the group to move forward.
Chuckling at Epperson's observations, Tribim answers Unatti. "Good idea Unatti" Moving up the rest of the stairs, he takes a moment and carefully inspects the double doors at the top. Then, carefully opens the doors.
B25 - Master Bedroom
This spacious room has entrances in the southern and eastern walls. The aged remains of dressers, a large bed, and a divan lie in ruins. The husk of large hornet's nest, gray, papery, and devoid of life, occupies one corner of the ceiling. The spaces in the northeast and northwest corners appear to be closets. Their wooden doors have all but fallen off their hinges, and heaps of disintegrated fabric mingle on the floor. Between the closets stands a single lacquered dresser covered in dust.
The dwarf moves up next to the amurrun, staring intently at the lacquered dresser.
"That's a point of interest," Epperson says out of the corner of his mouth to Tribim, his eyes fixed on the focal piece of furniture. "Do you want to see if there's anything that the masters of the house trapped for would-be intruders, or do you want me to investigate for curses while you all stay at a safe distance?"
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Mahmoud looks between his two companions, his expression impassive. It is clear from his body language that he would prefer to follow whoever enters the room, for moral support if nothing else. "Why don't the three of us go together?" he suggests in his raspy voice, after a few moments have passed.
"I've got another idea," Epperson offers. The dwarf whistles.
A flutter of dark feathers appears from the front of the dwarf's breastplate. "Fanny, check out that bureau," Epperson orders. The piwakawaka flutters into the room and alights on the chest of drawers.
Looking into the 'master bedroom' Tribim is relieved that the hornet's nest seems to be empty. Nodding in agreement with Epperson, "Yes interesting indeed."
When Mahmoud offers they all three go at the same time, Tribim is about to agree when Epperson sends his pet bird. Pausing for a moment as the bird alights on the chest, he frowns, "That is one way to find out if it is trapped."
Gesturing towards the room, he asks, "Shall we." Spinning his spear, he begins to move into the room, assuming Epperson and Mahmoud is right behind him.
Upon closer examination, it appears that the dresser is a fake! There are no actual drawers, only handles on the front face, which is carved to look like drawers. Pulling it away from the wall, you find a bronze chest.
You spot something inside the husk of the hornet's nest - a black headband clipped with a black metal skull.
Potential Loot
Black Headband
"Epperson, that headband seems awfully suspicious. Put it on!" Unatti suggests from the doorway as the guys enter the bedroom.
Rolling his eyes at his friends comment to Epperson, Tribim realizes he's going to need to let the magic users sort things out themselves. Leaving the headband to them, he turns to Mahmoud, "I'll check the chest."
Leaning his spear against the wall Tribim kneels beside the chest. He checks it for traps and then takes a good look at the lock. Drawing out his lockpicks he sets to work on it.
Tribim's caution serves him well, as he discovers a cocked crossbow mechanism built into the chest. If not disarmed, opening the chest will reveal only pain. Fortunately, he's able to disable it. Unfortunately, the lock proves to be more complicated.
Mahmoud peers around the room cautiously while Tribim works on the chest. Maybe that event at the door and the floating skulls were the only things haunted in this house? he thinks as he begins to relax.
”No skeletons. No ghosts.” Aerith observed as she walked around the room, hands behind her back. ”But not much in the way of wealth either.”
Relieved that he was able to disarm the crossbow trap, he rushed with the lock and wasn't able to open it. Turning he smiles at Aerith, "No ghosts is fine with me. Before we decide no wealth, let's find out what's in this 'hidden' chest." As far as he was concerned a hidden, trapped chest almost always had to have something of value. If nothing else they could sell the chest.
Taking a deep breath, he wipes the sweat off of his paw pads and picking up his tools tries the lock again. Frowning he tries again and again. The third try, he hears a click. Looking up to Aerith, "I think we're going to find out if it was worth it."
The headband is, in fact, a magical dead man's headband.
Tribim eventually opens the chest to find it full of small gold ingots, each bearing an ancient Keleshite seal.
Potential Loot
Gold Ingot x20
"That looks very interesting," Epperson says out-of-the-blue to Aerith, completely ignoring the gold ingots.
He gives a short, sharp whistle. "Fanny," he commands. The fluttery black thing disappears back down his breastplate.
"Oh, it is!" Aerith said happily, thrusting the headband towards Epperson. "This, my friend, is a Dead Man's Headband." She grinned. It can be worn around your head, as...so..."[/b] She slipped the headband onto Epperson, a genuine smile on her face. "Look at how much more fearsome he is!" She exclaimed. "It is enchanted to make any who wear it much more intimidating, and it increases the effectiveness of any charms that cause fear. But..." She slipped it off. "It is also enchanted to be worn with a hat. And if it is put on as such, then it will ensure that it will never be blown off by the wind, or any other such mundane environmental effects. It sells very well with travelers. And, members of both organized, and unorganized crime, or so I've heard. Anyways, selling this will get us...oh...I think about one thousand...eight hundred gold? Yes, that sounds about right." She finished, as she handed the headband back to Epperson for safe keeping.
Not catching everything Aerith had said, Tribim made a mental note to ask Unatti later. Seeing her hand the 'headband' to Epperson to hold on to, he began to take the gold bars out of the chest, "Here, everyone take five or so."
Once the bars are passed out, he requires his ancient spear and heads back out into the hall. heading to the nearest set of double doors, he quickly inspects them, if he feels the doors are safe he'll attempt to open them.
Seeing Aerith slip the headband onto to Epperson', the witch can't help but tease the elf. "Aeirth the mage, and Epperson the, uh, grim. Now that is a smart match, if I may be so bold!"