"So... the attic, then?", Neide commented, "Oh, for Goddess' sake.."

She knocked her fist against the wall in frustration.

"I guess we have try getting into that attic", she continued, looking at her friends, "Any suggestions how to do that? You saw what the stairs were like..."

"That's... not what I was thinking," said Kerran. This was going to be harder than he thought. "There really didn't seem to be stairs leading up," he said. "Unless that was an illusion or something, no stairs would be inconvenient for whomever lives here now. Now, maybe there's some other way up that we're missing, I admit we haven't carefully searched every room. But... Well, in Quayern, when winter comes... we go and live... underground." Kerran's holding back, waiting anxiously to see how Neide will take this line of thinking... For all he knows, she's claustrophobic or something...

As Kerran spoke, Neide's eyes widened in disbelief. Then, she cursed loudly.

"... the cellar!", she moaned, "You think that the witch is that cellar I didn't want to go into..?"

She clenched her fists in frustration.

"Of course, it makes sense. How could I've been so stupid..?"

She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"All right", she said, then, "Let's go down there and check. If she's not there, I'll be inclined to simply torch that whole house down..."

"A normal cellar, for a Sefonian, probably wouldn't have a chimney-- although a Quayern cellar certainly does-- and we saw smoke coming from one of the chimneys earlier, even though I haven't seen a recently-used fireplace above-ground yet," said Kerran. "So whoever built this place probably has a whole living space down below, is my guess, with a hearth that secretly lets out on the roof like all the others..."



The party heads back down to the previously-noted cellar stairs...

Kerran turns to Neide. "Would you like me to go first...?" he asks, still wondering if claustrophobia might be a problem...

"No", Neide shook her head, "I've made a fool of myself already by assuming that nobody could be down there... I won't be a coward now, at least. Let's go."

Having said that, she stepped onto the stairs leading to the cellar...

(Roll Wisdom!)

01:10, Today: Neide rolled 12 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,6.

As soon as Neide treads on the top step, hideous screams — as if of a soul in torment — rise from the darkness below for several seconds.

Ondreya is slightly shaken. "...Suspected that might be coming sooner or later, and yet I still wasn't quite ready," she says, her teeth chattering.

Neide, Aden, and Kerran are fine this time, though. "It suggests that we might be on the right track," says Kerran. "...Although it makes me wonder if there was something in that large room with the first spell that we didn't find..."

"No time to dwell on this now", Neide shook her head, "Let's move"

Remaining on guard, she continued down the stairs... Will there be more tricks or dangers before they reach the cellar..?
This message was last edited by the player at 00:16, Tue 08 Dec 2020.

The area Neide and the party descend to was obviously once a wine cellar. Wooden bottle racks —mostly broken — line the north and west walls to a height of 6’. There appear to be no intact bottles left in the racks, though there are several with broken necks. Broken bottles cover the floor beneath and near the racks.

Against the east wall, at the foot of the stairs, are two large metal storage bins which appear to be empty.

In the center of the room lies a human corpse clad in plate mail; a longsword lies by the corpse’s right hand, and a large shield lies across the legs.

As she spotted the corpse, she raised her palm, warning her friends to stop.

A dead body... why was this person dead, though? Was there a trap nearby? Also, where was the witch..?

Neide looked slowly around the cellar, trying to spot any threats - and to see if there was some doorway leading to any further chamber...

If there's a threat, a trap, or a secret or hidden door, it's not noticeable from just standing and looking...

As she couldn't discern anything just from looking around, Neide braced herself and moved slowly toward the corpse. When she was close enough, she tried prodding it with her sword...

OOC: In case you need a Wisdom roll:

01:19, Today: Neide rolled 8 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,2.

The corpse does nothing.

One of the many things it doesn't do is jump up and attack, like an undead monster would.

OOC: Hey, the previous corpse did jump on Neide, right? :)

As the corpse seemed to be what it appeared to be - just a dead body, nothing more - Neide kneeled and tried examining the dead warrior. Who could they be and what could've killed them..?

"By Veles!" hisses Aden. Neide looks up. Aden is over at the far wall looking down at something. He looks back at her. "Don't touch that body," he hisses (why are we whispering now?)...

Confused, Neide almost opened her mouth to speak... but then, she realized that Aden was quite probably whispering for a reason. So, in silence, she cautiously moved away from the body - then, she mouthed a wordless question to Aden: what was going on?

Ondreya and Kerran come over to listen, too.

Aden points to the metal bin. "On the bottom of this, before I turned it over, was a very powerful sigil of death. Probably this fellow saw it-- which is exactly why it was placed here, I'm sure. The sigil's used up now-- although I turned the bin over, because why be reckless? --but sometimes it sticks to the body after it's killed, which is why I warned you not to touch 'im. This was serious witchcraft... which says to me we're getting close. I bet there's a hidden door around here somewhere-- I'm guessing built into this wall where the sigil was placed. Shall we search... quietly...?"

"... yes", Neide nodded, "Yes, of course. Let's search for it..."

From the tone of her voice it was clear that she was unnerved. A sigil that kills you when you see it? That witch really was starting to frighten her...

She turned to the wall to look for the hidden door.

"What if there are other sigils like that further on..?", she voiced her concern, as her eyes moved over the wall, "How do we protect ourselves from them?"

OOC: Here's a WIS roll to speed things up...

01:34, Today: Neide rolled 6 using 2d6 with rolls of 1,5.

"I have a thing I can do if that happens. Death isn't quite instantaneous," says Aden. "But she wouldn't leave them around where she could see them, and a witch can almost never have more than one of those active at a time anyway. But other than that? Cross your fingers. Seriously, that helps."





Neide is so distracted thinking about death magic and crossing her fingers, she finds nothing.

(Neide gets 1 new xp and takes -1 forward on her next roll.

GM rolls some dice...)


Fortunately, Aden and Kerran find a stone in the wall that makes something slide to the side... A new chamber awaits beyond. One can't tell much about it save that it is already lit by firelight.

Just as Aden and Kerran are about to slide the section wider, an annoyed woman's voice calls, from the other side, "--Come on in..."

Neide shot Aden and Kerran a surprised look. The witch sounded... just annoyed?

She shrugged and stepped closer to the opening, motioning for her friends to slide the false wall to the side.

"Be ready for anything", she whispered, as the opening was wide enough - then, she stepped inside...

The party enters a room which is so unlike anything else previously seen in the House that for a moment Neide pauses, somewhat taken aback. The illumination here is good since several lighted torches are held in shoulder-high brackets around the walls. This was obviously a cellar, but equally obviously, it is now used for an entirely different purpose; your first impression is that it is the living quarters for about ten people.

Ten single beds (crude affairs — little more than thin mattresses on boards) stand with heads to the south wall, each with a small wooden locker at its foot. In the center of the flagged floor is a long wooden trestle table on which there is a variety of cheap metal cutlery and earthenware crockery together with a large jug about half full of a light brown liquid. There are a dozen wooden stools round the table. Against the north wall are two casks, one larger than the other, but only one has been broached. A metal dipper hangs on the outside of the rim of the larger cask.

Next to the casks is a large wooden bin. Above it, hanging on hooks on the wall, are a large ham, a long string of sausages and a small side of meat. Next to the bin is what appears to
be a crude, metal wood-fired stove standing in a fireplace.

Above the stove, on a shelf, are some iron and earthenware cooking utensils, while next to it is a small pile of logs.

There's also a stairway, stone, in good repair! So there was some other way down here, too!

A woman of perhaps 40 years stirs a cauldron. "Well, well, a motley crew... Even an Easterner! I think you'll find there'll be no need for violence, good folk. If you've gotten this far, I'm in a mood to answer your questions..."

Aden glances at Neide, shrugs. He apparently doesn't think any witchcraft is being used so far...
This message was last updated by the player at 14:43, Tue 05 Jan 2021.

Neide gave a questioning look to Kerran and Ondreya. What did they think of what they were seeing?

Turning back to the witch, Neide pointed at her with her sword.

"You can start by explaining who you are, exactly", she said harshly, "And what exactly all of this is...."

She motioned in the general direction of the room with her blade.

(I changed the witch's portrait to one I liked better, but it didn't change at first. So, edited.)

"My name is Rowena, and this is my house. But I understand what you really mean by your question... Amongst the paid services I offer to the demi-monde is to sometimes allow my home to be used as a sort of refuge for those... who wish to avoid trouble with the authorities. It's a service that's fairly lucrative... but which I sometimes regret starting in the first place... which is why you and I are discussing things now. I think you're here because of certain colleagues of mine... colleagues toward whom, this week, I'm feeling a certain amount of annoyance."

"That sounds... interesting", Neide said, her eyes still keeping a close watch of the witch, "We *are* seeking a group of people who are up to no good. I assume these would be the... colleagues you speak of. So... what's the reason for your annoyance..?"