Karth follows Zeldin, holding a hand out as they approach and listening intently to the sounds.
Know (Nature) to identify the sounds
"We might wish to do a little extermination before we sleep here."
Errigal looks over Zeldin's shoulder and reads the note with him, "It looks like some knife was locked or hidden in the north tower of a place called Chordille Keep, though I'm not sure why a knife would be important."
Errigal then moves up the next set of stairs with Karth and Zeldin and stands ready near the door to support Karth should he need it. "What do you hear?"
"Bats, probably. Several." He takes a step back, looks around, and tries to judge how far underground they are. "Surely there's another exit to the surface through there."
"Perhaps the bats themselves are not a threat," he muses. "Come nightfall they might remove themselves."
We may be less safe if we disturb them as they are likely what blocks this entrance from the surface, and as they have no way of entry, I think we should let them remain. Let us see what else there is to be seen in this place.
Zeldin begins to head back the way they came after carefully putting the note he found into his back pack.
Kathrine listens as Zeldin reads the letter found in the room, her eyes turning inquisitive as she considers the best course of action. "I agree, let us finish with this room, it is too bad that this butler did not deign to write down the location of his hiding place. Though I suppose that is best if this knife is as dangerous as he makes it out to be."
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Moving back down the stairs and down towards the opening hallway, you check and listen to the door. Hearing nothing, it is pulled open, revealing what looks like an old storeroom. The room is dank and smells strongly of rot. Crates and barrels are stacked around.
On the western wall, two small doors are set in the wall.
Survival, Knowledge(Nature) or Knowledge(Dugeoneering) DC 15
Survival
"Hold!" Karth bursts out suddenly. "That mold isn't something you want to kick up. We need to tread cautiously and avoid breathing it in."
He falls silent a moment, considering their predicament. "Or perhaps we could return later."
In a hushed voice Zeldin asks, What is it Karth? What preparations could we take to make it safe to enter, if we came back later?
As he waits for Karth to reply, he suddenly says, I guess this is one more place that the Bestial Horde has not been.
Know (Nature)
If Karth knows it, he tells Zeldin the name. He takes another moment and adds, "I would usually just avoid it." If he knows of a means of neutralizing it he'll mention it, otherwise he shrugs and says "Hold your breath, cover your face, take your chances."
"Any of the horde that have been through here are certainly unlikely to be giving us trouble," he remarks.
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The fungus is known as green mold, its a distance cousin of yellow mold, not as potent but still very dangerous.
If breathed, the same sort of magics that would limit poisoning should help against it. Being little more than light dust, meant to be easily kicked up, the same sort of things that could prevent or move a dust could could eliminate it as a problem(wind could move it, water could prevent it from being kicked up, ect).
Kend glances again at the storage room and speaks up, "If the mold is dangerous than it's likely not much will happen here, we can always return another day more prepared to deal with it. There is still plenty we haven't explored"
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Leaving behind the fungus covered storage room, at least for the time being, the party moves across the hall and back into the large chamber with the throne at the far end.
Inspecting the door reveals nothing, so it is pushed open. Within is what looks to be a very large bedchamber, though there are actually four disheveled beds scattered around the place, as well as a table, chairs and a number of large barrels. While certainly higher quality than the piles of straw with skins laid across them found in the other rooms, these beds would not be welcomed in an inn with even the lowest of standards.
Kathrine sighs a bit as she looks over the room, almost disinterested if the mood of this place did not set her hairs on end. Giving a disgusted look towards the ragtag beds, Kathrine voices her opinion after a moment, "It seems this entire area was taken by the Bestial Host as a barracks of sorts. These beds are so filthy I would rather burn them than sleep in them. Is there any area unexplored so far? I would hate to miss the chance to assault my nose with more of this wonderful scent."
Kathrine gives a small smile at her jest and steps out from the room, knowing she is no good at searching a place, and decides to leave that to others who would wish to brave the room.
Zeldin follows Kathrine into the room. Completely missing her sarcasm he remarks in a low voice, I do not think this is a wonderful scent at all. It makes me feel a little sick actually And then it hits him, and he smiles sheepishly.
Once in the room he makes a search of it and as he has done before he makes sure to ruin the beds.
Perception
Apparently ignoring the back-and-forth, Karth sets about investigating the room, seeing if the previous occupants left anything of worth behind.
"The western stairs are still unexplored," he answers Kathrine as they go. "I do not know if the mountain lions there would let us pass again, though."
Kathrine sighs softly as she considers Karth's words, "You may be right Karth, I would not want to deal with them violently. Could we perhaps drive them out? Or would that only end in blood anyway?"
"They have young. I doubt we would drive them from their nest," Karth remarks. He hands the box to Errigal before leaving the room for the adjoining chamber again. "Perhaps they remember us. And if we rush past they would likely not feel threatened enough to give chase."
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Moving back down the western stairs from the entrance, and into the room that is covered with the frescos of horses, the party turns south before where the lions were seen before.
Checking the southern door, there aren't any obvious sounds on the other side of it, and it does not appear the be locked but it is swollen into the door frame and would likely require a good shoulder put against it to open.
The hallway on the eastern wall does curve south in a winding path, coming out on the western wall of a very large room. This chamber displays beautiful marble architecture in the twin balconies on the east and west sides of the room, each surrounded by a colonnade above and below and connected to the main floor via a narrow staircase. The floor shows a checkerboard pattern of cracked black and white marble stabs. The ceiling is vaulted.
Three corpses, blackened and desiccated by time, lie in the middle of the room.
The eastern balcony has a double-door set on it. Three other doors line the southern wall, spaced evenly. To the north is what looks like a small room though the hallway extends a bit behind it to another room.
Does this space appear to be used or is it dusty etc?
Zeldin enters the space, keeping to the trod spots. His goal is first to look for danger and then to see if there is anything hidden in the room. Once that is done, he takes a closer look at the bodies.
Kathrine steps into the room with Zeldin and looks over the bodies with him, her face showing disgust at the smell of the rotting corpses. Taking one of the holy vials into her gloved hand she drops it into her belt pouch and looks about the rest of the room.
"What a strange room. I wonder what this place was used for it. It seems very elaborate either way."
Stepping away from the bodies she heads towards the wester balcony and begins to ascend the staircase, her Fauchard raised in front of her ready for any dangers that present themselves.
Holding his breath, Zeldin takes the other vial and offers it to Buckwell.
As Kathrine ascends the stairs Zeldin's curiosity is drawn to rooms to the north. Warily he tries to see if there is anything of interest in that direction.
Karth moves slowly across the room, examining it as he goes. "Indeed," he murmurs as Katherine remarks on its function.
Perception
He stops at the south end, inspecting the doors and listening at them.
Perception
Perception
Perception
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Kathrine moves up the western stairs, the stairwell is a bit of a squeeze as if it were made to be defensible rather than what you would expect for normal use. The balcony itself seems to back this idea as bloodstains and broken arrows are spread out over the stone floor of the balcony, signs of a battle.
Zeldin makes his way to the north to try and take in a view of the open rooms there. The first room has four old beds in it. They look quite ancient and are partially rotted at the moment, though they once were of fairly fine quality. The northern wall is lined with shelves that contain various mostly empty jars.
Further to the east six more old wooden beds, a pair of divans, three wooden trunks, and a tall wardrobe (now fallen over) furnish this oddly shaped room. The trunks and wardrobe contain rotten clothing now little more than tattered rags.
Karth moves along the southern wall, listening to the various doors. The first two are silent, but there is definitely something moving behind the third one. Its a very odd sound, hard to place, almost like something like several picks softly tapping against stone in sync.
When Zeldin sees that there is no danger, he makes a more thorough search of those places.
Zeldin pockets the new vial, unless Kathrine takes it. (I assume she found it.) He returns to the central area. [b]Shall we try this one?[b] He asks softly, of the door at AF60?
Karth moves to rejoin the group, treading softly. "There's something beyond one of the southern doors. Sounds like... Picks."
Catching up with Zeldin, he presses one ear to the door he indicates.
Perception
Do you think we should investigate the picks first? Zeldin asks softly.
"It would be wise to investigate in case whoever it is finishes its business and comes up on us from behind," Karth remarks. "If it is a who. The rest of these doors don't seem to have occupants behind them."
Agreed, whichever one you want to open first is alright by me. Zeldin feels excitement building in him.
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Gathering near the door where the sound of something striking stone echoes from within, the entrance is pulled open.
A large kiln rests against the western wall within the room. An empty coal bin sits next to it. A few rusty iron tools lay about the floor.
A door to the east is made of wood, but covered in iron plates. The heavy lock was long ago broken, however, so it hangs ever so slightly open. A hallway extends south from the room, ending into a double doorway, but splitting into two other hallways first.
The cause of the sound within the room becomes immediately obvious, rather than miners of some sort a massive scorpion the size of a horse clatters about within, rearing around as the door opens, its pointed legs tapping hard at the stone with each step.
Zeldin
Karth
Kathrine
Kend
Errigal
Buckwell
Scorpion
Karth
Kend
Kathrine
Scorpion
Zeldin
Errigal
Buckwell
"That's a big bug," Karth remarks as he draws his bow. He takes the best look he can at the creature over Kend's shoulder, trying to discern if it's poisonous or otherwise especially dangerous.
Know (Nature)
"Waiting on you to get out of the way, Kend," he says as he nocks an arrow.
Readied Attack (apply whatever penalties are relevant at the time; Point Blank Shot is included)
Attack
Damage