Corvus begins to move.
Rolf thrusts quickly, his haste to avoid a further petrification evident as his attack misses.
Arek  acts almost as fast, his swing likewise missing.
Corvus arrives, sword point first, but like Rolf and Arek before him is unable to score a hit.
The Cockatrice, following on in the developing tradition of wild misses, also fails to strike Arek (much to the eternal relief of the latter).
That is it's last action though as Sir Luthien and Ronalt team up to cut it to pieces.

Grinning with satisfaction Wonnilion sheaths his weapons and returns to check out the rest of the rooms.

Wooden beds, smashed crates, and other furniture lie pushed against the northern wall of the centre chamber. A handaxe and the picked over remains of the figure who wielded it, still partially clad in rusted plate armour, lie in the middle of the floor. The remains of several other humans, and a few bugbears also lie where they fell several months ago. All the bodies show signs of advanced preditation, most likely by the trio of cockatrices.

The area to the south is likewise filled with debris, mostly from broken crates and casks. There is evidence of several horses having been stabled here - an old saddle and lance remains, and stale rushes and horse droppings litter the floor.

The room to the north east was obviously once lavish in its appointment. Now, its once-fine wall hangings, soft chairs, thick rugs, and plush couch are all in tatters. A wooden table, a single chair, and a bed make up the rest of the room’s furnishings. Dust-covered, bedclothes lie in a heap next to the bed. A body clothed in tattered dark robes lies on the floor near the table.

"Lareth?" Rolf asked, poking his spear at the dark robed body in the bedroom.
"Wasn't Yew lookin' for him?"

"Right lets check this place again. See if we missed anything the first time."
When done we pile everything in one spot and torch it." Ronalt ordered as he cleaned his blade and sheathed it.

"If Yew was looking for this Lareth fellow, it looks like they both met their end in the same place. That's ironic, that is," Wonnilon says.

He looks at the dead bodies speculatively then turns to Arek.

"Is there any way to tell if corpses are really dead or undead if they aren't moving and trying to kill you?" he asks. "Should we chop off their heads to be sure?"

He decides to check the body that Rolf called Lareth first and will search it thoroughly before helping search the rest of these rooms thoroughly.

Glad to be rid of the cockatrices Corvus moved to inspect the corpses of the fallen for useful items. He rather suspected none of them to be undead, given how they were lying still and had been pecked to pieces by the feathery ones, but he kept his dagger to hand just in case.

"Ah!" Wonnilon exclaims in surprise as he stands back up from inspecting the robed corpse. "We've been away training and so forth for the last month, so it must be two or three months since you guys sacked this place, right? Well this corpse is less than a month old and died of disease, not combat. It don't think it could be that Lareth fellow you were expecting to find here. In fact, I think somebody has staged the body to mislead whoever comes looking."
This message was last updated by the GM at 03:30, Thu 04 Feb 2016.

"Lareth is alive? that fellow is not going to like us returning here at all." Ronalt muttered, "He was smart, pretty and vain. Used his resources well."
"it also explains the changes."

"Anyone 'member killin' 'im?" Arek asked around of those who'd been there.
Ronalt, Rolf, and himself were the only ones currently present, but Felicia and Vestan were still available for a chat back in Hommlett - the former in the temple, the latter locked up in the cells under the tower.

"Wazzn't me. I'd 'ave enjoyed taking that one down."

"I remember standing around like a statue after killing bugbears. His spell snared me for ages." Ronalt growled in rememberance, "I am struggling to remember if we managed to kill him. Lots perished in a short time then."
Lareth was an elf. Is the corpse human or and elf?"

[Private to GM: OOC: I thought we had killed him for some reason. Do you have the link for out of Darkness thread?
Is the corpse an elf?]

"Everything ok in there?" Bens muffled voice was heard yelling from the other side of the rockfall.
"You've been gone for a long time?"

Within each cockatrice nest (3 of) is found a mostly intact black cloak with a gold eye of fire embroidered on the back, along with numerous scraps of others.
Also located are a total of twelve gems, fallen between two loose stones on the floor along the west wall. There is a small spider medallion on the skeleton, as well as what appears to be a wand. Arek identifies the spider symbol as one of Lolth, the demon goddess of drow and spiders.

Wonnilon heads back out across the cave-in in the tunnel to tell Ben and Kalador what has happened.

"Don't yell, Ben. You don't know what might hear you down here. We ran into three cockatrices in there. Brother Yew is dead; turned to stone by one of the nasty little critters. Just wait here a bit longer. I think Ronalt wants to pile up the furniture and corpses in there and burn it all. I'm not sure why, but don't be too worried if you start smelling smoke! I'll fetch Yew's gear."

With that he turns around and scrambles back across the rubble. He will return soon after with Yew's backpack, belt and beltpouch. He carefully placed Yew's magical dagger back in its scabbard on the belt, wrapping its handle in cloth first to avoid touching the weapon as he remembered previous discussions about the dagger hurting someone else who had picked it up before it ended up in the monk's hands.

Sir Luthien sighed again.

"We shall bring his statue to the temple later. They don't have anyone who can restore him there, but he should at least be placed where those who can help have ready access."

But for now, there was nothing more to say.

Back with Ben and Kalador Wonnilon rummaged through Yew's backpack briefly before pulling out a 2ft long crowbar.

"This'll do the trick," he commented then crawled back over the rubble again into the set of underground rooms.

When he got back to the statue of Yew he swiftly set to work with the crowbar to break off the fingers of Yew's left hand to release the magical crossbow from Yew's petrified grip. Once the weapon was free he picked up the broken stone fingers and placed them inside a pocket of the brown robe the petrified monk was still wearing. Without any further comment he crawled back out over the rubble in the tunnel to join Kalador and Ben once more. He returned the crowbar to Yew's backpack then stacked the backpack, belt, beltpouch, dagger and crossbow in a pile on the end of the rubble.

"Wouldn't want that lot to fall into our enemies' hands," he explained. "We can decide who should look after each of Yew's things when the rest of that bunch come out again."

"Do not break his hand. It is not worth maiming him in the future for a crossbow today."

Sir Luthien puts an end to that idea.

The deed is already done. When Sir Luthien objects Wonnilon replies, "Better that crossbow is in our hands than being shot at us! You can bet our enemies wouldn't hesitate to break it loose. If Yew ever gets un-stoned again I'll apologise in person for his busted hand and help get it healed. Until then, he won't be feeling any pain."

"We all don' 'ere?" Arek asked, keen to crawl back out and take out his grief on the new crop of bandits. It was their fault Yew was a statue. If they hadn't moved back in and recommenced their raids, Yew would still be flesh and blood.

Ronalt nods, "We are done here, Arek. Lets torch this rubbish as we leave."
Ronalt torches the piles of rubbish and heads for the exit.

By the time the last person was back out into daylight, the air was filled with acrid smoke and it was very difficult to breath. Coughing and spluttering the party cleared their lungs and gulped down water before discussing the next move.

"We will need to scout around the other side of the moathouse. There was a canal and boards across the moat to the ruined gatehouse entrance from memory. The courtyard is a carnal house, if the guards are alert."
"Archers behind cover and barricades."
"If this is what was done to the exit then the entrance to the moat house will have been changed too, no doubt." Ronalt gave a basic run down of what he remembered.

"Alright, I'll be part of the scouting party. Who else is coming?" Wonnilon asked.

"I will come," volunteers Corvus. "I cannot creep about in this banded armor, but I have my bow and spells that will cover us if danger is lying in wait."

The grey elf asks to try Yew's 'Heartseeker' dagger, as it may come in very useful - even now.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:07, Thu 11 Feb 2016.

"Just me, huh? Alright, everyone come with me until we can see the moathouse. Then you lot stay out of sight and watch the place. I will see if I can sneak in across that heap of rubble across the stream at the northeast corner of the moathouse. If all is clear I will wave for you to all come across the same way, otherwise I will come back and report ... I hope!"

Wonnilon leads the way back towards the moathouse, which is about 300 yards away to the northwest. The party's planned vantage point will probably be one of the small groves of trees overlooking the moathouse's eastern side, or wherever we can get to before being visible from the moathouse.

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