Throwing caution to the wind, Aberus simply opens the door and steps inside. You can see three people: two human men and one human woman.
One of the men is rubbing his arm.
"Whoa, whoa," says the woman. "We're just trying to get by, like everyone else here. We don't want a fight." She raises a hand peacefully, but her other hand stays near her belt, where she has a sword in a worn leather scabbard.
Aberus smiles and says, loud enough to be heard outside but not suspiciously so, "Believe me, madam, I understand. We don't want a fight, either. But, we need to do something about that door before it hurts someone. Which of you three is the owner? You with the sword? The wimpy gentleman? The other guy?"
Uriel walks in behind Aberus, carefully keeping his glowing golden sword pointed at the ground. He gives the inhabitants an inquisitive look.
The woman says, "Uh, I don't know where the owner is - we're just trying to find food and survive this whole mess, y'know?"
Uriel studies the woman, trying to discern the truth or falsity of her claim. His eyes begin to glow.
Aberus nods solemnly. "Aren't we all? This was a good idea, looking in an apothecary. Lots of food in here, I bet." He glances at the man rubbing his arm and returns his gaze to the woman with the sword. "C'mon. Let's get that door placed back properly. You put it on the wrong side." He pulls out his morningstar nonchalantly. With a grin he says, "I know I'm not supposed to, but this thing can drive nails like nobody's business."
Kelly peeks around the door frame. "Did someone say 'food'?"
Aberus beams, "We did! These three were just looking for some food here. Or, I guess, they already found some, since they are settling in." He outstretches his arm, pointing his morningstar at the woman. "I'm sure they are willing to share. Or maybe you can help her find some more? I mean, this place must be teeming with food stores. All these tiny vials and flasks ..."
Entering the room and listening to the humans already in there, she raises an eyebrow in query.
Merlin stays outside keeping a weathered eye out for trouble.
Arloric follows Aberus into the building.
"Given we haven't started fighting, I assume we've found more friends?" he says.
"A merry meeting!" he says as he enters and waves to the people.
"I am Arloric, of the line of Dziergas, of the Clan Highbough. Could you tell us your names?"
"I'm Serin," says the woman. "Look, if you're... well, heck, I don't know what you all are doing here or what you want, but we can just leave, if that would make it easier." She spreads her hands in a conciliatory gesture. "Things are bad enough all around right now anyway."
Arloric nods.
"We've got a kind of stronghold here in the city, if you want to seek shelter there."
Serin looks to her comrades, one of whom nervously says, "Are you guys with the Watch, or crusaders, or... something else?" After a pause he says, "I'm Pol, by the way."
You aren't sure if he's nervous about the possibility of you being crusaders or something else.
"Isn't it obvious? We have a paladin among us," Arloric replies, jerking his head towards Uriel.
"So the Eagle Watch is retaking the city? The worst is over?" says Sarin. "Or are you bunkered down in a fortification like the barracks?"
"Aye. We met up with Dame Tirabade and the Eagle Watch at Defender's Heart. They're the ones who've sent us to retake the Gray Garrison."
Relaxing a bit, Uriel sheathes his blade and steps back to the door, splitting his attention to ensure no one takes the group unawares.
"We only stopped here because what you were doing seemed suspicious at first. Truth be told, we aren't here to put a stop to ... Well, let's just say a little appropriation is understandable and expected, given the circumstances. Just ... resist the urge to take more than you need."
Merlin begins to do a parameter check. Walking around the property.
"It's bloody frustrating how much the demons have made us scared of each other, always wondering if your neighbor's a cultist or demon in disguise. If there was ever a time we needed to band together, it's now," Arloric comments.
Serin says, "Yeah, everything's turned upside-down." She gives a nervous laugh and runs a hand through her disheveled brown hair. "We were kinda hoping to find something - anything - that might be useful for keeping demons at bay here, but... not really much luck. I'm no alchemist, I'm not really sure how to use any of this stuff."
Her companion Pol stops rubbing his arm and rattles his sword-scabbard. "Truth be known, I'm barely a fair hand with this," he says. "I mean, I can hold my own in a scuffle, but a demon? No way."
Serin gestures around the room with one hand while she rests the other on her leather baldric and says, "If you want to check the place out, be my guest. We'll be happy to get out of your way."
Both of the men nod in agreement. The third one (whose name you haven't gotten yet) says, "Defender's Heart, you say? I know where that is. We could go there, I guess, but we have a lot of stuff stored away - we have a place pretty well barricaded. But we could meet you later."
Aberus points at the bowls outside and says, "I can create some fresh drinking water for you, too, before you go. What you catch out there will likely be contaminated with soot and ash."
He looks around the shop before addressing Serin. "I think your biggest problem now is not the demons but the people who helped them. That," he says, gesturing at the sword, "will do well enough. There are plenty of arms and armor at the Heart, too."
She will cast detect magic and try to identify what the items are
After Aberus fills a few waterskins, the two groups part ways, the survivors (citizens? looters? who knows, everything is topsy-turvy) heading back out to the northwest into parts of the city that you still haven't explored well.
Telerin slowly checks the various contents of the large room. Most of the place is a wreck: Bottles and jars broken on the floor during fighting or hasty searching. Scattered bits of crushed, dried leaves form a brown powder over several shelves, and several shelves are completely devoid of vials or containers.
Arloric wrinkles his nose at the smells of the various chemicals here.
"Can't smell if someone's been here with all this s*** spread around!" he says in annoyed tone.
Aberus nods, surveying the mess. "They probably weren't the first looters, and I am sure they won't be the last. I'm just relieved that is all that they were doing."
He idly watches Telerin as she sweeps the shop. "Anything interesting? Or are we done here?"
Uriel watches them go, taking note of the direction they depart, before turning back to the others. "I still don't trust them, but I suppose it's no secret survivors are gathering at Defender's Heart."
Kelly searches through the shelves, finding little more of use to her than some herbs. "I'm a cook, not an alchemist. I don't know what most of this stuff even is."
She begins looking around for secret doors
Aberus tenses up, giving his full attention to Telerin when she stops sifting through rubble and starts feeling out the walls and shelving. "Hey gang, I think Telerin might be on to something. Can someone grab Merlin?"
As on cue, the soldier enters the shop.
Nothing going on out there...at the moment. Find anything?
Merlin notices Telerin searching the place. Muttering a simple prayer, Guidance, please, the youth begins his own search.
Uriel tries to aid the search, to no avail.
Aberus nods, surveying the mess. "They probably weren't the first looters, and I am sure they won't be the last. I'm just relieved that is all that they were doing."
Arloric shrugs.
"We all do what we must to survive on the edge of the Worldwound. I know many Kellid-blooded who have been forced into similar circumstances, by demon and crusader alike."
Though Telerin doesn't explain her actions, they seem clear enough. The team spreads out to check the walls and shelves. In the northwest corner, Merlin finds that he is able to slide aside a tall, heavy shelf - laden with various supplies - and behind it is a stack wooden cases, which he is likewise able to push out of the way to reveal a low opening with a staircase descending down into darkness.
Merlin picks up a sturdy bit of something off the shelf.
Light please.
The object begins to glow immediately. Merlin drops it down the stairs, peering down after it.
She nods.
Uriel draws his magical sword, whose blade begins to glow like a golden torch. "Shall I lead the way?" he asks.
Light suffuses the room from multiple directions, and Uriel steps to the edge of the staircase and looks down.
The air in this basement is damp and musty-smelling. The walls and floor are packed earth, while dozens of gourds hang from the ceiling beams. A sludge of rotting plant matter covers the floor.
From the landing where Uriel stands he can't see the eastern side of the room yet.
Arloric follows them down into the cellar, and seems a bit more at ease with the smell there.
"From death comes new life, the cycle continues, even here."
Arloric takes off his eyepatch again so he can see in the dark, the gold iris reflecting Merlin's light creating an eery contrast with the blackness surrounding it.
Arloric moves down from the landing.
Arloric pushes past Uriel and descends to the bottom of the steps. He half-expects something awful to happen, but he wisely pauses as soon as he reaches the bottom, and so far, so good...
A sludge of rotting plant matter covers the floor. Against one wall, a wooden table holds a strange apparatus that looks like a clockwork toy of a snake-bodied, six-armed woman holding a sword in each hand. A tightly corked bottle, filled with what looks like water, sits before the statue.
A wooden chest covered with engraved runes stands under the table, and a sinister image of a star surrounding a goat’s face is painted on the wall above the table.
(The table is the rectangular shape along the south wall. The chest is technically under the table.)
Uriel comes up behind Arloric, sword held high. "I don't know what that is, but it looks awfully suspicious. Give me a minute." the aasimar says, his eyes beginning to glow.
"I don't know what god that is, but it can't be anything but corrupt," Arloric replies. He edges back towards the landing making the sign against evil as he does so. He didn't want to be anywhere near that image.
Aberus creeps down the stairs after Arloric and Uriel and stops just behind them as the paladin concentrates and begins sweeping the room with his gaze. He looks out across the musty basement, noting the unholy symbol on the wall and the rotting plants piled on the floor.
"Huh," he says. "Come for demon worship, stay for the compost." He extends his arm, using his morning star to point out the sigil. "More Baphoment."