Hearing Betty's warning shout as Morgan approaches the chest, Talin distances himself as quickly as possible and hopes for the best.

Morgan takes a look at things while the other await anxiously for her report.

Morgan hears Betty's warning, but too late. She has already used the chest as a prop to lean over and grab the sword. The top of the chest was open a crack before. Now it shifts and a few coins spill out, as she takes up the sword and examines it.

She draws the blade and gives it an inspection. "This is a well made blade, and someone named it Talon. I like it! Oh, and there are some coins in the box, too."

As the chest opens more fully, you see a couple of potions, a handful of green gems, and a scroll reside within it as well.

A quick taste will reveal the potions to be Potion of Healing (2d4+2). The scroll is one of the augury spell. The gems are 15g each, and the total value of just the coins works out to 136 GP.

"Woof!"

Maric approves.

I guess it's not trapped then! not hearing any explosions or screams of pain when the box is opened. Talin heads back to look at the contents

"Lucky human, I suppose." Betty says, scoffing teasingly. "Come back up here so we can keep going! Otherwise I'm going to have to take Maric outside for walkies, soon, I suppose!"

Morgan keeps the sword, but leaves the coin for now. "We can come back for this later. Let's go see if we can find the prisoners."

She'll climb back up out of the pit and join the others.

If anyone wants to take the potions or scroll, claim them in the OOC thread and then add them to your character sheet.

The group reformed and carried on toward the hidden door. They found it with little trouble, thanks to knowledge of where they should look for it. It lead to a short hallway that went fifteen feet to the south. Directly across from this secret door, only 5 feet away, was a broken door that had looked to have only recently been kicked in. Splinters of the wooden door and frame littered the floor.

Glancing inside the room, you can see that this was the Redbrands' armory. Several red cloaks hung from pegs along one wall while weapons sat in racks along the other walls: spears, shortswords, longswords, and light crossbows. There were some empty spots that looked like someone may have come and removed some of the crossbows and spears, and one of the longswords.

At the southern end of the hallway, you see another open door, this one intact. You don't hear any sounds, but you do see what looks like the sole of a boot lying a few feet into the room, on the eastern side.

Maric growls. He seems a bit annoyed.

ooc: LOL!

"We may be getting close to our uninvited guests." Betty warns, cautiously. She again checks her sword and shield, then climbs aboard her new perch atop wolf-Maric. "There's a good boy. Who wants a treato, I suppose?"

Morgan will cautiously move forward at an angle, trying to see if there's more than just a boot beyond the doorway.

Moving into the next room, you see that the boot belongs to a now-dead bugbear dressed in the Redbrand's garb. Around him are three dispatched skeletons in rusted chain armor and rusted swords nearby. Three large stone sarcophagi stand within this dusty crypt. False columns along
the walls are carved in the image of spreading oak trees. The double doors in the southeast corner are sheathed in tarnished copper plating. In the northeast corner you see another open door. On the far end of that room you see a pile of filthy straw and next to it there seems to be a pile of rags or clothing.

"Dibs on the throw rug." Betty calls from her mount. Not that she has anywhere to put it ... or anyway to get the dead beast back to town ...

Morgan is visibly confused. "Who did this? Who came in here and killed everyone before we could?" There may be a hint of disappointment in her voice, as well.

"The people we're about to kill, I suppose." Betty says with a confident shrug.

Obligatory 'Woof"

With no other signs of anything there in the crypt, the party pushed on to the next room. As you reach the doorway, the smell of recent death hits you once more.

Stepping inside, you see that this long room is partitioned into three areas, with iron bars
walling off the north and south. Filthy straw lines the floors of those cells, the hinged doors of which are secured by chains and padlocks. In the southern cell, you see the corpses of two disheveled human women impaled with 2-3 crossbow bolts and stab wounds likely from spears. In the north cell is a human boy with similar wounds. All are dressed in plain gray tunics, and have iron collars fitted around their necks. The pile of clothing seems likely to have been the clothing they were wearing when they were first captured.

There are no other doors, besides the those to the cells themselves.

Maric howls in frustration and hurt. The sound echoes through the chamber. Releasing Betty from his back, he transforms into his normal state. Picking the boy up, he said, "We need to take them home and put them to rest."

There's a genuine sadness to his demeanor as he added, "Put them on my back and don't let them fall."

Then he turns into a great bear and waits for the others to get the bodies situated.

PM

OOC: An addendum to my earlier post.

Before turning into the great bear, Maric added this somber thought, "The victims were slain sometime between the last 3-6 Hours. We dallied too long."

"Nothing to be done for it." Beatrice says, frowning. "Had we come yesterday, we would've likely ended up dead as well." She attempts to help with the bodies, but it is a struggle for her small form.

Maric growls, a deep resonant series of sounds that come from deep inside his chest that speaks to a certain level of sadness and aggravation. Still, he waits patiently for the others to put the bodies carefully on his back. Once his companions are done, he begins a slow walk back to the town.

Morgan gets the bodies on Maric's bearish back. She curses while she does it, a lot.

Once the remains are secured, she grimaces. "Someone will pay for this."

Having found their hopeful rescues dead on arrival, the group made their sad, angry, or determined way back toward the city with the bodies. Giving the other rooms a quick once-over, they found the wizard's rooms void of all the books and similar items of information or value completely removed.

At the door between the now-empty alchemy lap and the wizard's quarters, another dead bugbear body was found, and a large image of a spider had been painted onto the door.

The party assumed it was in reference to The Black Spider, the real brains behind the Redbrand operation.

The rest of the area was similarly cleaned out of both valuables and life. Some of the corpses here and there had been chewed on since your last visit, with bitemarks matching those of the dead one-eyed freak as well.

The bodies of a mother and her two children did not prove much of a physical burden to Bear-Maric, and the group made decent time back to the town itself.