"Thank you", Neide nodded at Kerran, as the priest healed her wounds, "And thank Veles..."

She sighed slightly, as Aden suggested going down to the first floor.

"I suppose that's the best idea we have", she agreed, "I'd rather not try jumping over that hole. Let's hope there *is* a second staircase in here..."

She led the way back to the first floor. As she did, she kept thinking on the house's layout and whether there really could be some staircase they missed.

OOC: And I'll be thinking, too :) I need to re-read these posts and draw a map or something. Who knows...

The party heads downstairs... "Might I suggest the kitchen?" says Aden. "We didn't get much of a look there... perhaps there's a servant's stairs to bring food on a tray up to the bedrooms...?"

"The kitchen..?", Neide mused. Which room was it - wasn't it the first one she checked..?

Then, it hit her.

"Of course!", she replied to Aden, "Yes, there was a small staircase in there. It didn't look stable, but... we can try it!"

She led her companions back to the kitchen to examine the stairs there...

"Oh," said Aden. "I didn't stick my head in the door as far as you did... Lucky guess on my part."

Back at the kitchen, nothing has changed. It's still dirty and damp, with patches of grey mold and a few cobwebs on the floor, walls and ceiling. In the corner to the left is some iron cooking equipment, with chimney above... Next to it, under the window, is the cracked and discolored stone sink.

To the right of the sink a small, closed wooden cupboard is fixed to the wall about 5’ above floor level.

And yes, against the far wall a flight of wooden stairs leads upwards from left to right; even from the door it is obvious that the woodwork is decayed and a few of the treads are missing... but then again, it seems in better shape than the room with the dummy...

"Hm", Neide frowned, as she inspected the stairs, "Still better than jumping across that hole upstairs, I guess..."

She moved away from the stairs and glanced toward the cupboard. Recalling all the various trinkets she and her friends found in this house so far, she walked over to the cupboard and peeked inside.

Gaaah! Five giant centipedes apparently lives in a nest under the floor below the sink, with access to the room via a hole at floor level! They crawl out and attack-- starting with Neide!

(GM rolls dice)

Owww! One manages to bite Neide! It stings... like, literally and figuratively! These things are poisonous!

Also, ewwwwwwwwww!

(Neide takes 1 point of damage... but she might KEEP taking it for a while...)

OOC: And there goes my freshly-healed HP pool...

With a shriek of disgust, Neide jumped back from the centipedes. Ignoring the stinging pain from the wound, she hacked at one of the creatures with her sword...

01:42, Today: Neide rolled 12 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 6,5.

BTW. How big are these things, actually?

Neide easily destroys one of the centipedes. They aren't hard to hurt, just hard to hit.

(They're each more than a foot long; each is shorter than 2 feet long

GM rolls many dice...)

Kerran kills a centipede with his staff. It's a little clumsy at first, just hitting some of the 'pede's legs (of which it has plenty, after all), allowing the 'pede to counter-attack, but the counter-attack fails, so Kerran is able to finish it off quickly.

Aden neatly slices the nearest 'pede into thirds with his sword.

Ondreya just jumps and stomps the 'pede nearest to her.

That leaves one remaining, which attacks Neide... but badly-- it doesn't even hit her armor, let alone her...

(Neide takes 1 poison damage.)

Irritated by the itching wound, Neide swinged her sword at the critter - not very successfully...

01:35, Today: Neide rolled 3 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 1,1.

(Neide gets 1 new xp, but takes -1 forward. (Wow, I imagine she may level up after this house exploration!)

10:28, Today: The GM rolled 3 using 2d6 ((2,1)).)

The final centipede attacks Neide again, but fails.

(Neide takes more damage from poison-- 1 new damage.)

Kerran manages to kill the final centipede.

"This poison of this type of crawler doesn't usually last long... should I try to heal you again anyway, to attempt to help speed up the process, or just let it burn itself out...?" Kerran asks Neide...

"How... long may this poison last?", Neide asked, stopping herself from scratching the itching wound, "I wouldn't want to strain your healing abilities for no reason..."

(Neide takes 1 damage.)

"Not long enough to kill you," said Kerran, "but long enough to weaken you badly, if we're unlucky..."

Again, there was this itch Neide felt she needed scratching...

"All right", she said, "Try healing me, please..."

It even hurts a little while Neide and Kerran are talking about it.

(The GM rolls dice...)

Kerran heals Neide... then her bite burns a little more... but it stops after another minute or so.

(Neide gets back all of her health save 2 points.)

"I can heal again today, but I think it will be more difficult..." says Kerran...

"Let's hope we won't be needing it, then...", Neide nodded. Then, she turned toward the small staircase.

"All right", she said, "We go up. Mind your step... and keep your eyes open for any new witchery"

She readied her sword and started climbing the stairs...

"Just a second..." says Aden quietly. "There's this other door..." He gestures. There is indeed a door in the east wall, which was hard to see from the quick peek Neide first took into the room. "It's probably a pantry, but should we check first?"

Neide eyed the door with suspicion.

"... yes, let's check what's inside", she said, "Just... let's be on watch for more centipedes..."

She walked over to the door and motioned with her head for Aden to open it. After her experience with the centipedes, she wasn't going to peek in there first...

Aden opens the door to the new room.

This room has suffered the effects of damp and decay more than many in the house. Mold grows in patches on the floor, walls and ceiling; there are many cobwebs, though even these appear to be decaying. A large copper boiler, dented, split, discolored, and empty, stands under the
window; a small heap of crockery shards is on the floor beside it. Stairs lead down into the darkness of what is presumably a cellar.

Neide gave the dark passage leading down a long look.

"... no, I'm not going down there", she protested, "I know, we can expect everything in this house - but I'll wager that there's nothing down there aside from filth, rats and other vermin. And I've had enough of vermin and bugs."

She pointed toward the staircase leading up.

"I say we go up there and find that witch..."

Kerran gives Neide a look, but says nothing.

The party ascends the narrow staircase to the second floor of the house. The treads appear to be insecure-- three are missing, here and there-- but on the whole, things are not rotted enough to be quite dangerous. (One wouldn't really prefer to have to go back down to the ground floor in a hurry, though.)

Once one is at the top landing, another staircase, along the east wall, climbs to an upper level-- an attic space, apparently. These new stairs have mostly collapsed — only the lowest six steps are still intact, and there is no easy access to the hole in the ceiling to where the staircase used to lead. A heap of rotten timber lies in the northeast corner.

To the southeast, the start of a hallway leads south...

Neide gave a wary look to the damaged staircase leading up. She hoped they wouldn't have to climb up there...

Turning to her friends, she motioned with her head toward the hallway leading south. Then, she started moving along the hallway, looking for any doors... or traps.

Neide moves so that she can see straight down the hallway...

...Yes, all right-- this makes sense-- this hallway is on the west side of this part of the house, so its windows look down upon the same bit of back yard as the exit from the room where the spoooky magic voice sounded, the part with the cracked and weedy patio area...

..So, this hallway goes straight south, past two closed doors, until it gets to an intersection...

Taking that intersection to the left should lead to the other edge of the hole where Neide fell through the floor... no need to go that way...

Going straight leads to more balcony over the entry hall, but otherwise a dead end...

Taking the intersection to the right should lead to more doors that were seen earlier from a distance, and then the party will have explored all of this floor...

"All right, then...", Neide thought.

Remaining on guard, she started walking down the hallway. On her way, she checked the first of the closed doors before the intersection.

OOC: I understand that both of the doors are on the same side of the hallway. If so, Neide will check out the first door she passes. If they are opposite each other on two side of the hallway, Neide will be choose the door to the right.

(No no, you understood correctly.)

This room appears to have been used for storage. A large oak chest stands under the window, its lid closed. Elsewhere in the room are three wooden chairs, all broken, two splintered wooden buckets, and a mildewed sack.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:54, Thu 22 Oct 2020.

Carefully - *very* carefully - Neide approached the chest and tried opening it..