Rorn grabs a torch and gets ready to help smoke the critters out.

"Give them room to flee, don't corner them," he says.

Following Roland's lead, he stands beside Galendra and pushes the torch ahead of him.  In his other hand is a piece of destroyed furniture made a little wet with snow so that it burns smokily when touched to the torch tip from time to time.

Between the five of them - and the witch elf's ability to conjure anything from firegouts to loud noises - Rorn figures they should be able to drive the animals away.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:52, Thu 01 Mar 2018.

Gal gathers a piece of fabric from the debris of the common room, pours lamp oil on it, then quickly opens the kitchen door, throws it in the room and slams it shut again.
When you go in to clear the room, the animals are so panicky that you chase them out of the tower with no major issue.

The knight raises his brows in surprise at how efficiently the young maiden took care of the rats infestation. "We will make a fine soldier of you yet young woman..." He looks at Garl, then nods in approval at Galendra.

After clearing out the vermin, Sir Roland spends some time to search the kitchen. Especially the stone oven from whence the giant rats burst forth from.

Your search reveals a small barrel of brandy, still sealed and therefore most likely drinkable. Sir Gallaharn was always very good at choosing brandy.
In the rest of the kitchen apparently there is nothing else of interest.

“That was indeed highly efficient.  I tip my wizard’s cap to you, Galendra.” 

Garl tips an imaginary hat.

With his dagger the pommel of his sword, Sir Roland taps the top of the small barrel of brandy, opening it up. He takes a quick taste of the dark aromatic liquid, and immediately his eyes water and his cheeks turn pink as the fiery drink burns its way down his throat. The knight exhales loudly, shaking his head. "That's some brandy..."

Sir Roland takes a moment to recover, then looks around and see if anyone else wants to try the drink. After everyone who wishes has had his or her go with the brandy, he closes the top back on and shoves the barrel back into its original position. Patting it lightly, he pronounces. "We will grab it on our way out..."

The knight leads the way back to the main hall. Weapon out and ready, he carefully steps onto the stairway and slowly makes his way up to the 2nd floor.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:58, Fri 02 Mar 2018.

The knight exhales loudly, shaking his head. "That's some brandy..."

"Heck yes!" Rorn avers at the prospect of a quick tipple before more housecleaning.  Since the ruined stairs were otherwise safe, he is confident the next threat will not come from ornery masonry.

It seems like a tremendous battle took place on the first floor. The mess is indescribable: destroyed furnitures lie on the ground, the window panes are broken and frozen bloodstains daub the room’s walls.

In this wide room, that could cosily host up to four persons, there’s a poster bed, a bedside table and a beautifully carved maple wardrobe.
A creaky wooden ladder takes to the tower’s vantage point.

Garl watches carefully for anything that may be hiding amidst all of this wreckage.  Especially rats.  He’s still not convinced that all of the rats went outside, and he knows they must have gone somewhere.

there’s a poster bed, a bedside table and a beautifully carved maple wardrobe.

Unused to scenes of such luxury - even if the affect of the place was totally destroyed by the actions of a crazed knight run amok - Rorn nevertheless keeps a close eye and a safe distance.  A smashed bedframe could hide rats, aye .. or worse, and a cracked wardrobe any number of things.

Including fine clothes, something Rorn is very curious about but successfully resisting a peek, for now.

"Such sad loss," he says.  Was there a fireplace?  Getting a blaze going would help remove some chill.

Garl walks around the room for a while and can't see any critter moving on the floor.
The only parts that he can't explore are the drawer of the bedside table and the wardrobe, as they are closed. He hasn't checked underneath the bed or the wardrobe as well.

Rorn throws some bits of wood debris in the fireplace and starts a warm fire.

The knight walks in cautiously. Gesturing for his companions NOT to disturb anything yet, the trained eyes of the experienced warrior look over every part of the wrecked room, trying to find clues as to what had happened here. He walks up to the wall to look more closely at the frozen bloodstains. Strange...the blood is frozen while the rest of the room isn't...

Motioning the party forward, Sir Roland and his companions carefully search the room further for clues to the mystery of what happened. And for signs of where Sir Gallaharn might have gone.

---

14:53, Today: Sir Roland Halfstaff rolled 12 using 2d6+8+1.  Search the room.
14:53, Today: Sir Roland Halfstaff rolled 16 using 2d6+8+1.  Investigate the room.

Where do you search?

Motioning the party forward, Sir Roland and his companions carefully search the room

Bolstered by the fire's heat and crackling cacophony, Rorn gets to work.  If there were demon-undeads in here, they were quiet enough for now .. and hopefully they would remain quiescent until he was done.

The youngster checks out the wardrobe first.  Maybe there was a plush robe, moth-free and otherwise still intact, embroidered with griffons and emblazoned with golden stars, fit for any king (or knight).  Hey, a peasant can dream of such treasures!

Idle thoughts of fancy pants pushed aside, he also looks under the bed in case the Hellwinter bedpan was solid gold (one never knew with the rich after all) and finally pokes around inside the drawer of the bedside table in case there were keys, or diaries or other critical clues in there.

Actions
Search wardrobe
Die Roll 10, Awareness 2, Hawkeye.   Skill 7
Look under bed
Die Roll 8, Awareness 2, Hawkeye.   Skill 7
Poke around inside the drawer of the bedside table.
Die Roll 6, Awareness 2, Hawkeye.   Skill 7

09:35, Today: Rorn rolled 10,8,6 using 2d6,2d6,2d6.  Search: wardrobe, under bed, table drawer.

This message was last edited by the player at 17:41, Sun 04 Mar 2018.

The wardrobe bears an elegant pyrography of hunting scenes and the delicate scent of lavender. Inside you can find a Silver Mace and a pair of warm Wolf Fur Boots.

Under the bed there are just debris.

The bedside table contains an embroidered Silken Handkerchief and a crude Sketch of the surroundings, where a location has been frantically outlined.


This message was last edited by the GM at 17:54, Sun 04 Mar 2018.

After congratulating Rorn on finding those items, Garl wants to take a close look at the sketch.  In addition to carefully noting the location it references, he also looks all over it for any subtle markings or other clues.

When he’s finished doing that, he’ll take another look around the room.  Does he have any sense of magic at work?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:30, Sun 04 Mar 2018.

Garl senses that there was a terrible fight in the room, involving heavy use of magic (probably black magic), but not he can't sense magic at work right now, however it may be pretty close.

Examining the sketched map, he can't find anything hidden: it seems to point at a cave not too far, approximately north of the Tower, but there is no other clue about what might be in the cave.

Since Rorn has searched everywhere "normal", Sir Roland will attempt to look under - the bed, wardrobe, bedside table. He pushes the furniture aside if necessary.

When done, Sir Roland goes below the ladder and glances up. If it looks safe, he attempts to climb up to the top...

OOC - Also, based on the knight's experience, how many combatants were there? Were they all human?

Garl snickers quietly as he watches Sir Roland search.  This approach to exploration might be perfectly suitable for a human, but for an elf it would be considered highly undignified.  He wonders if brave sir knight in reenacting a scene from childhood in which he’d lost his favorite poppet.  Did he end up having to beg for a new one?
This message was last edited by the player at 15:31, Mon 05 Mar 2018.

Halfway through his search, Sir Roland hears a very strange very weird noise sound from behind him. He turns around to find out it's the sound of his good Elf comrade Garl snickering. Brows furrow in confusion and irritation, he motions for his comrades to come help with the search too...

---

OOC - Heh...full-armored knight crawling on all fours looking under furniture for shinies erm...clues...:D:D

you can find a Silver Mace and a pair of warm Wolf Fur Boots. 

Lacking the proper monster-hunting knowledge/occult lore to understand the need for silver weapons, Rorn instead assumes a silvered club was simply ornamental.  Perhaps it was used in Hell-knight ceremonies and rituals and whatever such fraternal orders did with such things.

In any case, it looked quite valuable and definitely worth, er, taking for, uhm, safe-keeping.  As for the boots, well, warm boots were a winter staple and his own boots were just fine.  He doesn't give them a second glance nor search for any cunningly hidden caches in false heels and so on.

The bedside table contains an embroidered Silken Handkerchief and a crude Sketch of the surroundings, where a location has been frantically outlined.

Why a snot-rag needed to be silk was beyond the young hunter.  Still, a luxury nose-wiper was better than none at all.  Then there was the map, which, since it lacked letters, was something Rorn could actually help interpret.

"Whatever is in that cave was important to Sir G," Rorn says, stating the obvious more to help him feel that the true evil they faced was not in the tower .. or no longer in the tower.

Assuming the ladder is sturdy enough to hold a heavy knight, it should be no problem for Rorn to go up it, too.  But he certainly does not go first.

By searching underneath the wardrobe, Sir Roland find Gallaharn’s large shield: a masterfully crafted item that he had seen many times before.
[OOC: the large shields armour rolls are: 0001122]


Sir Roland is completely confused by the signs of the fight: he's not sure of how many combatants were involved, but he's sure that not all of them were Humans... and perhaps some of them were not even mortals...


The ladder is very creaky, but still able to stand the weight of a knight with weapons and armor.
Sir Roland is not 100% sure if it would be wiser to climb one by one or all together.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:27, Tue 06 Mar 2018.

The knight picks up the shield and dusts it off, marveling at its craftsmanship. "Gallaharn's shield..." He hefts it alittle, before fitting it onto his shield arm. The metallic armament is well balanced, fitting snugly and securely.

"What have you found there?" Sir Roland glances over at Rorn and Garl as the 2 men pore over the sketch...

---

OOC - Ok technically the party isn't here on a lootrun. The stuff here, some of them left behind by Sir Gallaharn, and are to be brought back to the Baron and returned to Gallaharn's family. But having said that, go ahead pick up stuff to use.

On a related note, Garl you might want to examine each item found, for magical properties. Sir Roland isn't too comfy about magic and hence isn't going to ask you to do it.

Garl carefully examines each item for magical properties, symbols, etc.  (I'll go ahead and post a roll.)

Afterwards, Garl says, "I strongly suggest we go up the ladder one at a time.  The less strain we put on that ancient relic, the better."

12:30, Today: Garl Ligoosh rolled 4 using 2d6.  Examine items.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:30, Tue 06 Mar 2018.

Was it odd to find a shield tucked away under a wardrobe?  Perhaps, but Rorn doesn't want to speculate on the niceties of demonic possessions.  Instead, the practicalities of that massive chunk of steel hanging on Sir Roland's arm can only be helpful.

"What have you found there?" Sir Roland glances over at Rorn and Garl as the 2 men pore over the sketch...

Watching the witch-elf perform some magical mumbo jumbo on the mace, boots and shield, Rorn absently directs Sir Roland's gaze towards the map.  "Our next destination, I guess.  Or maybe it means nothing at all .. there's no way to know until we go."