...The chest is empty.

"Well", Neide thought, "At least there were no centipedes inside..."

She closed the chest and left the room. Then, she checked the next door in the hallway...

The next room is a large bedroom, now decaying and dirty. Damp mold covers portions of the walls and ceiling and rubbish is strewn liberally round the floor. In the center is a single mattress which has been badly torn and from which the stuffing protrudes. Under the window is a large wooden chest, the timbers split, its lid closed.

Mindful of her encounters with centipedes, Neide tried peeking into the chest through the gaps between split timber. Was anything moving inside..?

It's dark in there. Neide detects no movement. Doesn't hear anything, either.

Slowly - very slowly - Neide tried opening the chest...

Nothing attacks! Yay!

The chest is not locked, and opens easily. Inside is a pile of moldy, ragged clothing-- nothing of value there-- and a bundle of papers, mostly moldy and stained...

"Yuck", Neide thought.

Nevertheless, her curiosity was stronger than her disgust - so, she tried examining the papers...

Most of the documents are old letters which appear to relate to the original purchase of the house; details are unclear, though their general tenor can be deduced-- sale, financial arrangements, payments...

One sheet, towards the bottom of the bundle, gets Kerran's attention.

"Say, may I see that please?"

Neide hands it over-- it seems to her to be in some other language she doesn't know, or perhaps in code.

Kerran studies it with pleasure. "This is-- it's like a clerical scroll! This is the prayer asking Veles to stiffen the limbs of the enemy, making their joints and sinews temporarily like stone-- this can paralyze an enemy, stop them in their tracks! The mage who used to live here must have come across this but didn't know what it was! Probably meant to study it later, and never got around to it. This is very useful! I haven't mastered this invocation yet-- but this'll let me ask Veles for it once, for sure!"

"Keep it, then", Neide grinned briefly, "This definitely may come handy. It seems that there are useful things to be found in this rotting place..."

She headed back to the corridor.

"Let's move", she hastened her comrades. When they were all ready, she walked to the intersection and took the turn to the right...

There are only two more doors remaining on this floor that haven't been examined, and they're here, on this west wing of the house...the doors open to the south, just like all the rooms over in the east wing...

Neide took a deep breath and tried opening the nearest of the two doors.

Would the witch be inside..?

What was once a fine master bedroom now stands dirty and decayed. Some of the floorboards are missing and there is rubbish scattered around. A tall wooden wardrobe stands against the wall opposite the fireplace, its door closed.

Neide's first instinct was to leave the room be, but the wardrobe got her attention. Recalling the useful scroll she found earlier, she decided to try looking inside...

Watching her step for any faulty floor parts, she approached the wardrobe and tried opening it... slowly. She didn't want to get any further centipede bites...

The wardrobe contains two things: a pair of old, cracked leather boots, and a stained and dirty cloak hanging on a peg.

"The boots look worthless..." said Ondreya, "but... I don't know... something about the cloak... You don't suppose it's a magic item or anything, do you...?"

Neide gave Ondreya a puzzled look.

"Well, you do know magic is not something I've been educated in..."

She picked up the cloak and started examining it. Would there be anything that could confirm Ondreya's suspicions..?

(Roll 2d6 plz)

23:30, Today: Neide rolled 5 using 2d6 with rolls of 2,3.

(Neide gets 1 new xp, and trouble!

13:13, Today: The GM rolled 5 using 1d5, unique dice ((5)).)

Neide takes 5 damage (armor doesn't count).)


The cloak suddenly starts moving, wrapping itself around Neide's head and neck, and choking her...!

(Anything that Neide has to do involving seeing or speaking will come with a -1 penalty, but I can see how her most immediate needs might not require speaking nor seeing...

Tearing this damn thing off Neide's head and getting it the heck off 'er in general will be an STR roll, which by itself won't invoke the penalty...)

Completely surprised by the cloak attacking her, Neide let out a short cry. Then, she desperately started trying to free herself!

13:42, Today: Neide rolled 8 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 3,4.

With great strength, Neide focuses on loosing the horrible thing's grip around her throat.

She succeeds... but it's still wrapped around most of her head, fighting her.

She hears a sword leave its sheath... And then nothing. "I can't cut it," says Aden, "it's too-- I'll cut her!"

Other hands reach out and try to tug at the thing-- it's pulled up some, and Neide's mouth is uncovered...

"Let me try now--" says Ondreya, and there's a small bit of ripping-- now Neide's left eye is uncovered, too, and her right eye can see a bit of the floor... but the cloak still fights her...

(Neide is almost free of the hated thing. One more roll might be enough...

...Unless she flat-out fails the roll...!)

Neide pulled on the cloak even stronger...

04:52, Today: Neide rolled 11 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,6.

Neide finally pulls the cloak entirely off her head, throws it over on the floor away from her, and Aden pins it there with his sword.

Kerran and Ondreya jump over and stomp on the thing, and then Ondreya starts ripping and slashing at it with a dagger.

Finally, the cloak really appears to be dead.

"Not witchcraft, I think," says Aden. "Something else the previous homeowner left behind..."

Neide leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

"Damn it", she uttered in a rasp voice, "That was... scary."

She took a few breaths more, then straightened.

"All right", she said, "No more poking around. I've had enough of suprises. Let's just find that witch..."

She walked out of the room and tried the next door.

Once perhaps a fine guest bedroom, the final room on this hallway is now decayed, like the rest of the house. Rubbish is scattered around; there is some evidence of rodent infestation, and some webs hang torpid in the corners. A four-poster bed, once a grand piece of furniture, is against the wall opposite the fireplace. Its woodwork is worm-ridden, and the curtains which once screened the bed are torn and stained. There is no bed linen, but the frame of the bed is otherwise relatively intact.

"...Nothing," says Kerran, and he gives Neide a look. It's a look that suggests he's thinking If the first and second floors don't have a witch, Neide's not going to like what that leaves...