The rest of the livery is empty of obvious threats. After Impasha spends 10 minutes tending to Buttercup's wounds, the rest spread out and look around more closely.
The stall walls run to the ceilings, but the roof is heavily pitched, only about 10' at the ends rising to 30' or more in the center. Some broken equipment lies in the north center part of the stables. A locked iron gate stands on the south wall. You can see that the bars are spaced so that a small creature could possibly wriggle through, but it would be tight. Beyond the iron gate, a once-concealed door hangs slightly open on decayed hinges.
The two space at the rear of the livery on the north side are offices. Each contains an old desk, a chair, and some wooden cupboards.
Beyond the iron gate, a once-concealed door hangs slightly open on decayed hinges.
"That seems like a likely place where something hidden might be found. But the state of that door implies someone else may have found it first."
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"Wow, you are a physicker? Man, that feels better."
Impasha shakes her head. "Oh no, far from it. I did get a little training in treating battle wounds from my order. And I've picked up a few things over the years I suppose. But if you were to come down with some sort of illness, I wouldn't know how to diagnose it or treat it."
She finishes tying off the bandage and gives it a last pat. "Dog bites I can handle though. Here, can you stand all right?"
After helping the halfling to her feet, she looks around and sees Celas, also wounded. "I'm sorry I reacted so slowly. Is your wound bad? Would you like me to take a look at it?"
****
"That's more than one opening that only a small-sized person could squeeze through. It makes me wonder if perhaps this has been used as some sort of hiding place for runaway halflings? says Impasha.
"I think it's probably wise for someone to keep a watch for anyone who might come to investigate the noise, but Buttercup might be more useful to us if she can squeeze past those bars and have a look at things from the other side. I'll have a look in those offices along the north wall."
The champion makes her way to the doorway of the first office space, hopefully trailed by the red light from the sorcerer.
Elarion searches the once concealed door with Myron, providing illumination for the two of them.
"Before I head on through the gate, we should search the here first. I'd rather have your full attention on me as I enter, just in case."
Buttercup joins the search of the offices, checking under drawers and looking for secret compartments. That's what the pros do, from what she's heard. Oh! And if there are any pictures or curtains she DEFINITELY looks behind them.
"You would think they might put some windows in. This place is a bit depressing. Well, unless you are a dog or a dwarf."
Celas shrugs at Impasha's word, "Wounded yes, not that serious but I'm getting tired of be bashed and chopped for one day. Nevermind, I'd like any treatment you can do. Thanks,"
Without a light of his own, he'll join Impasha in her search, checking for places he'd hide stuff, or anything even a bit unusual, just a Buttercup does. He'll tap the floor as well, even under furniture, to see if it's more hollow than it should be.
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"Wounded yes, not that serious but I'm getting tired of be bashed and chopped for one day. Nevermind, I'd like any treatment you can do. Thanks,"
Impasha nods and looks over Celas' wounds. Seeing that Elarion has already done the appropriate treatment on the Handyman's wounds, she lays a hand over the area and closes her eyes and murmurs: "Inheritor, give strength and healing power to your servant, that I may fortify those who aid her, in service of your glory."
Moving over to the offices, Impasha welcomes the help of the others. She mostly pokes through the obvious places, opening cubbards and drawers.
Looking around, brushing some of the dust and slobber off his clothes, "It will be interesting to see what was worth protecting about this place, those dogs seemed too well fed to be strays. Ah Celas, if your wounds are bothering you, I can see about preforming more thorough first aid now that there aren't dogs trying to kill us,"
Pulling his holy symbol out, Elarion will offer a quick blessing, thanking Jaidz for the courage to continue fighting.
Feeling the divine power flow over his wound Celas relaxes, saying, "Thanks Impasha, that really helped." At Elarion's words he replies, "Oh, I'm good now. I really was that bad just too much for one day." As the strain on his face eases it becomes clear just how young Celas is and what toll the day is taking on him.
"You could tear the sleeves off and go for the 'stylish ruffian' look!"
Axton indicates the sleeves of his fine (non-brocaded!) robe. "I'd do the same myself, but there's no telling when the merchants will be selling again, so... you know."
Elarion searches the once concealed door with Myron, providing illumination for the two of them.
The search of the two offices reveals no curtains or pictures on the walls, but the desk in the first office does hold a tarnished brass key wedged in the back of the drawer of the desk. Disappointingly, it looks as if it were lost or forgotten there as opposed to surreptitiously planted.
In the second office, Celas spies tracks in the dust of the floor and furniture. The tracks are small, almost like clawed baby footprints crisscrossing the room. From the amount of tracks, its hard to tell a number of different creatures who might have left them. Some look more recent (based on in-fill of dust)than others, and the most recent look quite fresh indeed.
"Good idea."
Buttercup follows after Impasha, head on a swivel and looking a little nervous. She keeps back in case something is trapped.
Bellara drifted toward the clatter Impasha was making as she sifted through the old harness and rusted buckles. As she closed the distance, she spokein a low, warm undertone meant only for Impasha to hear.
"You were remarkable in the fight." A small smile curved at her lips. "You held three mastiffs at bay and never once faltered. I knew you were brave, Impasha... but that was impressive."
"You kept your shield on me more than once. Thank you. And the way you pulled Celas and Buttercup back together afterward... if the Inheritor teaches compassion in battle, you’ve mastered the lesson."
"I meant what I said earlier. Kintargo is stronger for you. And I..."
She exhales, amused at herself, "Well, I am grateful to have you at my back. Truly."
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"You were remarkable in the fight." A small smile curved at her lips. "You held three mastiffs at bay and never once faltered. I knew you were brave, Impasha... but that was impressive… …Well, I am grateful to have you at my back. Truly."
The stable is as dim as a candlelit vestry, and the small orb of light near Impasha is a soft red, but in spite of this, Impasha visibly blushes at these words. She looks down at the ground, her lips pursed into a cross between a smile and an expression of exertion, and when Bellara finishes, she seems genuinely at a loss for words. She shrugs a little, eliciting a soft clank from her breastplate, and starts to speak but then has to clear her throat first.
”Oh, they were just a bunch of stray dogs. You could have handled them.” she answers quietly. She pauses, then hastens to add—”But thank you. Anyway, we have to look good or our patron will want his money back.” And at this, for the first time, Impasha raises her eyes to Bellara’s and smiles a little.
With a little manipulation, the brass key fits in the lock of the barred door, and though the mechanism is old and weary, it unlocks with soft click, opening the way to the concealed door which stands partly open, and easy enough to find.
The narrow area here seems to once have been the killing floor of the slaughterhouse that preceded the Fair Fortune Livery. The butchers would get the animals head between the bars of the gate, and then proceed to make the kill.
Buttercup will bring up the rear, 50% of her attention behind the group :)
Celas pushes away his melancholy for now, and, staying outside the bars, looks over to see if anything sticks out, especially signs of a trap. He them waits, saying, "Perhaps its best if a warrior leads the way." When one or more of the warriors go forth, he'll carefully follow continuing his checking for hazards.
Leaving the pile of junk behind, Impasha pushes to the fore and enters the slaughter floor, she can see there is a small room behind the opened concealed door, and heads that direction. Without any hesitation Bellara enters after.
The area behind the open concealed door appears to be an abandoned workroom of some sort which houses numerous old slaughterhouse tools, veterinary equipment, and woodworking tools, all of which are covered with a thick layer of dust through which strange tracks and patterns have been traced. Heavy mallets, crumbling rope and tack, and tools for restraining animals hang from pegs in the walls or rest atop leaning tables. To the southwest, a trap door in the floor stands ajar, propped open by a block of wood.
Looking around the room, "Appears to be a pretty standard affair of a Livery, that trap door though, be wary of an actual trap, its almost too obvious,"
Once Bellara and Impasha are through, the iron barred gate/door slams shut with a loud clang, seemingly of its own volition, and the lock re-engages. A loud whistling sound of sudden gust of wind outside the barn is heard, which is odd based on the previously calm evening. The building shudders alarmingly for a moment with the wind, but just as quickly things return to normal. Just now, the gate is locked again with two members on the other side.
"Wierd!" Buttercup says nervously. "Do we just open it again and rush through? Glad you weren't caught in the gate. That would have been painful. maybe we could jam it open."
As the uncanny wind does the unlikely deed of slamming the gate shut, Celas jumps back a bit in startlement. "What the-? How did that happen?", he starts to shout then drops his voice. He inquires, "That was weird. Can anyone tell if this is because of magic?"
Celas studies the lock to see if he can pick it and disassemble it. If not he'll try to take apart the hinges if he can reach them, since it's a gate.
As he set to work, he reassures the trapped, "One way or another I'll get this open again."
Scan secret roll
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At the sound of the iron gate clanging shut, Impasha's sword whips free of its sheath and she steps back out into the narrow room for a look around. She waits a moment, then relaxes.
"Rexus *did* mention this place might be haunted." she says with a sardonic smirk as she puts her sword away again. "If you believe in that sort of thing."
"Try the key again, and let's stay together. There's a trap door in here, propped open with a piece of wood. And there's a lot of what might be tracks in here, but I'm not sure. It sure looks like someone's in here, but I'm betting it's not Silver Ravens. And I don't think the feral dogs are using trap doors."
"Mmmh hmmm. Not the friendly welcome I was hoping for, to say the least."
Buttercup tries squirming through the bars to join the others on the other side.
Elarion watches Buttercup try and squeeze between the bars, "I believe I will require the key if one of you can pass it to me, please"
Celas looks for ways to get the door open again if the use of the key doesn't work, but when applied, the brass key opens the door once again. No one is quite sure what happened, and its slightly disturbing but does not impede your progress overmuch.
As Impasha returns to look into the storeroom, she sees something that was not there before. Written in the thick dust covering the floor are the words, "Go Home!" complete with exclamation point.
After a few moments of looking at the iron gate, everyone passes inside without further incident.
As Celas studies the gate Elarion just reopens it with a key. Sheepishly Celas says, "I thought it a trap and the key wouldn't work twice." He see the writing in the dust and then just shudders. In a low tense voice he says, "That's worse. I know how to undo traps, but a ghost, nothing. I've no idea, you have training in this Seneschal Elarion, right?", finishing his words in a hopeful tone.
"Rexus *did* mention this place might be haunted." she says with a sardonic smirk as she puts her sword away again. "If you believe in that sort of thing."
Myron raises his hand to say something, but then thinks better of it. He looks at Rexus apologetically and shrugs.
To everyone, he says, "Legitimate ghost or not, someone is obviously here, and we just killed their dogs. They are not going to be welcoming."
That sets Buttercup off on a whole new train of thought. Those dogs did not seem the type to have a master. Then again, druids are just plain weird and befriend all kinds of unfriendly animals. What did the dogs eat? Halflings? Sure seemed like they wanted a taste. Was someone breeding them for the bounty? But no, that was too recent. But not a bad idea, unless you are worried about getting on the bad side of a druid....
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Upon reading the scrawled message, Impasha’s eyes narrow and she frowns.
”Someone is trying to scare us off. With parlor tricks.” she says.
She steps forward and boldly wipes away the warning in the dust with a sweep of her foot, then confidently makes her way to the trap door and looks down.
”Can we direct one of these light spheres down through the trap door for a better look?”
Impasha erases the ghostly message in the dust, and then moves to the trapdoor. Opening it wide, she is at first hit with a foul stench of long-standing feces and urine wafting up from below. In the opening, an iron ladder is bolted to the wall leading down into darkness. For a moment, Impasha hears, or think she hears, the faint sound of pan pipes, but then its gone.
As light is shone down into the opening, you can see the ladder leads to a stone floor about 15' below. There is a rapid shuffling sound below as something moves out of the light when it shines down, but what that something is cannot be ascertained.
“A ghost?” Elarion murmurs, answering Celas. “Perhaps. But this feels more like a warning from the living than the dead. Spirits rarely bother with punctuation.” He says with a slight chuckle.
Elarion stepped to the edge of the opened trapdoor, the reek of filth rising like a physical blow. His expression tightened.
"Not a place to rush into blades-first. This stench… this scrawl in the dust… someone wants us uneasy."
Elarion casts Light, detaching the light from himself, holding it in his hand, "Shall I send this down there? Will give us a better idea before we jump into the darkness"
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”Smells like the sewers.” says Impasha as the light descends into the hidden sub-level. She peers downward, then stiffens a little. ”Wait… did you see that? Something moving.”
She thinks a moment, then turns back to the others. ”Well, I suppose if they had a serious trap or ambush prepared, they wouldn’t try so hard to scare us away. They may try to attack as we go down, but I think it’s more likely they’ll try and hide now. I’ll go first.”
The champion seems a little downcast. Instead of the headquarters of the resistance, her first mission was to roust squatters from a midden. But a deal was a deal. She tests the first few rungs with her foot, then begins to lower herself down the ladder. About halfway down, she stops to glance around, then slides the rest of the way to the floor, draws out her sword and shield and has a proper look about while guarding the base of the ladder on behalf of the others.
Buttercup, who is more incline to be superstitious than logical, is not easily swayed by the arguments.
"Maybe, maybe not. Could be a haunt."
"Say, I can help out with this."
Getting her mojo on, she produces a set of circular stairs that descend in a more defensible way, though not before Impasha has made her way down.
"If you ever need a flight of stairs, I'm your girl." She chuckles softly to herself, considering how many of her friends would find SOME way to turn that into an innuendo. Geniuses in their own way. Idiots in others. Philosophically she mentally appends, Though isn't that the case for everyone.
Impasha descends the iron ladder without feeling an attack from behind that she can't quite get out of her mind. When her feet are firmly on the floor, she can see that the storeroom below is filled with partially chewed crates and barrels which line the southern wall of the room. A table is covered with rusty knives and hooks, but the most overpowering sensation is the eye-watering stench of rodent urine and feces that fill the room.
As Impasha gathers herself below, the residents of this midden move out of hiding, their bright red eyes filled with hungry malice. The room below is the home of a half-dozen giant rats! The rodents move to attack!
Looking down warily, "When I'd said I'd lower a light down, I didn't mean you with the light, Impasha,"
Impasha descends the iron ladder without feeling an attack from behind that she can't quite get out of her mind. When her feet are firmly on the floor, she can see that the storeroom below is filled with partially chewed crates and barrels which line the southern wall of the room. A table is covered with rusty knives and hooks, but the most overpowering sensation is the eye-watering stench of rodent urine and feces that fill the room.
As Impasha gathers herself below, the residents of this midden move out of hiding, their bright red eyes filled with hungry malice. The room below is the home of a half-dozen giant rats! The rodents move to attack!
Was Buttercup able to get off her stair spell before the attack?
Rat's Nest - Round 1
24 Blue Rat
24 Red Rat
24 Impasha
21 Orange Rat
19 Elarion
19 Bellara
17 Myron
14 Celas
13 Purple Rat
10 Green Rat
10 Yellow Rat
8 Buttercup
Blue Rat and Red Rat, which both appear to be hunger-mad and starving, launch themselves at Impasha as she alights at the bottom of the iron ladder. Impasha is able to fend off Red Rat with a couple swings of her shield and a well timed kick, but she unwittingly exposes herself to Blue which does get a nick of bite in on her exposed flesh for a minor wound.
hit
Was Buttercup able to get off her stair spell before the attack?
Rat's Nest - Round 1 - continued
24 Red Rat (6hp dmg)
24 Impasha (18/20hp remain)
21 Orange Rat
19 Elarion
19 Bellara
17 Myron
14 Celas
13 Purple Rat
10 Green Rat
10 Yellow Rat
8 Buttercup
Impasha's counter attacks are deadly, cutting up one rat and seriously hurting a second. She raises her shield in case the rest come at her.
Sure enough, Orange moves to attack, its hunger overcoming its good sense. The Orange Rat does score one more hit against the champion for a minor wound, but its again exposure to vermin's pathogens.