Erevel was already heading up the remaining hallway to the closed northern door. She listened and heard no noises from the far side, so she tried pushing the door open but it appeared locked.
Gavril tried the keys and none of them worked to open this lock, so he attempted to pick the lock but alas it was beyond his abilities.
"Let me have a crack at this," Ciprian stated proudly as he walked forward taking his thief's tools out of his pack. As he approached the door his shaking hands dropped the tools on the floor.
"Sorry, I'm not really used to using these," Ciprian said, his voice shaking. He then failed to open the lock also.
Erevel moved up and taking her mace, she started pounding on the door until she could almost see through it. She then attempted to break the door with a crowbar. The door swung open as a rush of frigid air rushed out. The walls of the bitterly cold room were clad with raw wooden boards. Many blocks of hazy ice and wooden crates of various sizes were stacked near the walls. In the back of the room were two Kuru thugs, one standing by a ladder in the northeast corner.
Gavril rushed into the room and a Glyph exploded damaging both himself and Erevel. Gavril downed a potion of invisibility. Paullus fired arrows into the fray while Ursina cast bless. Ciprian seeing the Kuru began a Bardic Performance for inspired courage. Armania fired magic missiles.
The Kuru moved forward to attack but missed badly especially the one who ran into the invisible Gavril. Gavril then moved around to flank one of the enemy as Erevel dropped one of the creatures. The other fell soon after ending the battle almost before it started.
Ursina immediately moved forward to search for magic and he found something in the northwest corner behind the boxes or even behind the wood boards. There was a side of venison laying on the floor with parts of it having been gnawed on. The other boxes and crates were filled with root vegetables and meats. The room was very cold, even for a cellar, the ice was contributing to the cold.
Ciprian used his crowbar to break open the wood boards revealing a 1-foot space filled with hay and sawdust. The magic was hidden within the stuffing. Ursina used one of her wands to pry out what ended up being another wand, which she quickly pocketed.
Erevel stared up the ladder to the trap door in the ceiling and did not hear any noise or commotion on the far side. "How deep below the manor did we descend?" she pondered.
"We are certainly further down than the ceiling of this room," Paullus replied.
"Do we think we are below the manor, an outbuilding or just underground somewhere else?" Erevel added.
"I believe we have moved past the manor. I don't know if we are under a building or just below ground." Armania replied.
"Well here we go," Erevel said as he opened the trap door exposing a 5 foot wide shaft extending another twenty feet upward. An additional ladder was attached to the wall ending at another trap door. Erevel continued upward followed by Garvril and the rest of the crew.
Again Erevel heard no noise so she barely pushed the trap door open. There was a flickering dim light and a crackling, like a fire. She saw no creatures nor heard any movement or even breathing. Soon a rancid waft of air hit Erevel's nose. It smelled as something had gone bad long ago.
As the room appeared to be empty Erevel climbed up into the chamber followed by the others. Long tables covered with various utensils and food lined two of the walls. A small fire, not tended recently, crackled in the massive stone hearth. The room is actually a disaster, food ends strewn about, plates and glasses stacked on tables, others broken on the floor. A pile of spoiling butchered meat, covered with flies, sat on the southeastern worktable and the smell was emanating from that area.
There was a door leading south and another west. Two arrow slit windows showed the dying light from outside. In the southeast a stair led upwards. Erevel moved to the west door, Ciprian to the southern. Paullus peered out the north window spying the hedge, Armania looked out the other, breathing in the pure air, seeing another building a few feet away. Gavril moved against the south wall to look up the stairs.
Erevel opened the door in front of her exposing shelves holding all manner of dry goods and fresh vegetables lined the walls of this expansive pantry. Some of the foodstuffs here had obviously spoiled in recent days, and had not yet been cleaned up. A window also looked out at the expansive hedge.
Now Erevel led up the stairs to the second floor landing and listened at the door at the top. Again hearing nothing she flung open the door. The large room looked like a bunkhouse for Iris Hill’s servants. Eight beds lined the walls, a few chairs sat in a semicircle around the large fireplace, and a bookshelf stood along the eastern wall between two windows. A few trunks sat in the corners of the room. The trunks had been flung open and clothing scattered across the floor. A terrible smell of unwashed bodies, moldering food, and rotten flesh hung in the air.
As the party entered they noted the uniforms strewn across the floor and six human heads on the eastern shelf in a macabre display. Gavril noted that the heads were recent, certainly placed here within the last three weeks. Clearly the room was recently used but there was no one here at this time.
"I think we have killed most of the guards or staff in our recent battles. Should we rest here, explore the other outbuildings or go back to town?" she queried.
"We should find Winter to see if she could restore our ability damage and levels. We really need to regain those before we continue exploring." Gavril suggested.
Discussion followed resulting in a decision to return to town. They checked the last two outbuilding for lights as they left. Only the building closest to the gatehouse showed light as the sneaked past it.
The group headed to the temple and found the asylum survivors still being tended by the nurse Naysa. Elgrior was still there cleaning up the floors, helping with the linens and being generally helpful. Winter was there and greeted the heroes warmly.
"What have you found? We were worried since you have been gone for two days." Winter wondered.
The crew described their adventures, and told Winter they believe that had found Omari's corpse in the Lowl's family crypt. They described the Leng Denizen who was trying to attach a strange device to Omari.
"Could you return her body to me? I want to return her effects back to the family and order in Caliphas." Winter asked.
"When we finish with the manor we will bring her body out." Armania assured her. "We have not encountered Melisenn yet so we have to return again."
"Can you cast Restoration, we have taken some damage that can only be restored?" Paullus asked expectantly.
"I am so sorry, I cannot cast that spell. I am sure that Omari could but alas ..." replied Winter.
Before turning in for the evening the group spent some time trying to identify the magical items that they had found. The longsword was +1 and the pale light it shed was equivalent to a light spell. The bars of soap were soul soap. The metal object used on Omari was a set of Confabulation Plates which allow the user to communicate with things not typically able to speak. Approximately 10 inches on each side, these two square, brass-colored metal plates have squishy edges and screws at each corner used to tighten the plates like a clamp. In the center of the top plate is a fleshy tube that ended in a suction cup ringed with tiny teeth. Next to the base of the tube was a small winding key that powers the device and a toggle switch that selects the device’s function (dead or plants).
To use the confabulation plates on a dead entity, the user must clamp the plates around part of the subject’s body and attach the tube to the subject’s bare skin. Then the user has to crank the winding key for 1 minute. Once this is complete, the user can ask the corpse two questions, and the response emits from the device in a metallic, buzzing tone. This effect is identical to speak with dead.
If the device is selected to be able to communicate with plants and clamped onto a plant, the user can communicate freely with the subject for 5 minutes as the spell speak with plants.
The Confabulation plates can be used once a day.
The wand turned out to be a Wand of Restoration with 45 charges. With this new find the group restored the lost damage abilities of Gavril and Erevel and the lost levels for several party members. After this the group had a restful nights sleep.
In the morning the group headed to the Sleepless Detective Agency to talk with Cesadia. The group explained their exploits thus far. Cesadia was interested in having them return Omari and any evidence of Magistrate Padgett. She also asked if they had found evidence of another stela on the property. It was long rumored that one was there but no conformation had ever been received. Lowls was certainly silent on the subject.
With Cesadia's concerns fresh in mind the group headed back to the Iris Hill Estate. The main doors to the gatehouse were shut and locked. Before anyone could grab the keys, Gavril attached the Confabulation Plates to the hedge and asked if the group could go through the hedge into the manor.
"Why certainly, just go right here to my left." the plant answered.
"Will you make sure and not harm us as we move through?" Gavril queried.
"I have long needles as you can see, you will just have to try and miss them." the hedge replied.
"Why can't you let us through?" asked Gavril.
"My orders are to repel all living intruders!" the plant answered.
"Just forget it then," Gavril said walking back to the doors. "Give me the damned keys, I'll open this lock."
The gatehouse was empty, the far doors were closed but not locked. Erevel stepped up and pushed the doors open. The courtyard was empty but a small light was coming from the first building to the north. The same building where lights had been seen last night. Erevel headed the door and listened. She heard voice inside speaking in Common. There seemed to be human, one male, one female.
"I wonder where the servants were last night? No dinner, quite rude." the male stated.
"Yes, Melisenn should sharply rebuke them." answered the other voice.
"I am quite interested to see what the Accuser will find here at Lowl's estate. The scandal could be delicious." the other voice said.
"We will have stories for the ages, I image," the female replied.
In his red cape, Ciprian knocked on the door, while the others hid out of sight.
"Come in," the man said in reply to the knock.
Ciprian opened the door and saw a well-appointed lounge which included a brick fireplace, a mahogany table with three matching chairs, and an antique sideboard near the foot of the stairs. In two chairs sat a man and a woman.
"Come in, where were you last night? Did you bring us some news or food?" asked the woman.
"No I don't think so," said Ciprian. "Would you like to come to the manor house?"
“We were just about to open a new bottle. Take some glasses from the liquor cabinet and relax. Let us pour you all a drink or two. We rarely have visitors to Iris Hill these days.” said the woman.
Ciprian left the doorway hoping the two would follow.
"How rude!" echoed a voice from inside.
Armania made her way to the door and started a conversation.
"Who are you and how long have you been here?" she asked.
"I am Asa Lalith and this is Daelene Spence. We are from Caliphas and we came to Thrushmoor after hearing that a royal accuser was sent to investigate the erratic behavior of Count Lowls. The scandal could be great, especially if occult forces are to blame as we heard," Asa replied.
"We have been here 3 weeks. Melisenn let us use this Guesthouse, though we haven't seen her recently. Are you staying here also? Did you get dinner last evening?" asked Daelene.
Asa leaned over to Daelene and whispered aloud "She would be quite nice in our bedroom chambers. Should we ask her up?"
"Yes please," Daelene responded.
Playing along, trying to get the pair out of the room, Armania asked "Would you like to go to the bathhouse?"
"Oh yes, of course," Asa replied. "How many companions do you have?"
The couple followed Armania outside toward the bathhouse but soon the rest of the party took positions surrounding the them. They were very suspicious even though the two had not done any action that was aggressive.
"Oh that scruffy looking one will satisfy my needs," exclaimed Daelene looking at Gavril.
"Yes, and I have the bondage toys also," he replied.
"Oh, handcuffs and whips?" asked Asa. "I could use those on that pleasingly plump blonde. I'll bet she would squeal with delight."
"I have some special phallic devices I could use on that ruffian," Daelene added.
Armania, still trying to distract the couple, asked about Count Lowls.
“The count left the estate days ago, before all these troubles began. Quite a rude thing to do when you have guests, if you ask me.” said Asa.
DM's Notes: The party earned 200 XP for the night and face an interesting situation in the courtyard.
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