Iclos gave Jaryn a nod before adressing the people upstairs. "Ahoy. We're checking the eastern side of the cellar. Figuring there are stairs thataway. If you scout east on the first floor, we'll meet up I guess."

He started looking around, but added: "Oh and if you hear us calling for help uh...come and help." With that, Iclos first looked at the nearest area for anything interesting other than webs, before moving east.

Perception 12.

"In an area we know to be dangerous, splitting up seems the most unwise decision we could make. Give us a minute to tie off a rope and we'll just you down there. We can work our way from bottom to top."

Naim let his hand drop, though it remained wreathed in flames and motioned the newcomer inward. "I am Naim," he said simply.

"Iclos, let's do as Saulucian suggests. We can come down on a rope with our newly arrived and separately hired companion Karangi. He can go down first to meet you in fact."

The fire on his hand guttered out and Naim reached to his pack and pulled out a rope and handed it to Saulucian to tie off.

"Well Karangi, I hope you don't mind spiders..."

"Aye." Iclos stood back while the other climbed down. He noticed the bites on Jaryn and grimaced. "That's nasty. You're lucky their poison didn't take hold. I seen people retching their guts out from bites like that, like fresh landlubbers' first ventures at sea."

He brought out his little flask of sea water. "Take a sip. It'll please the fickle lady." While Jaryn did that, Iclos put his hand on the monk and healed his wounds, at least partially.

Cast Cure Wounds on Jaryn for 6 hp.

A tentative peace struck with the new arrival, he did know the name of their new employer after all. Saulucian offered up a rope and the three remaining on the ground floor took the quick path down. Below the air was cooler and had a scent of mildew. There were further signs of water damage from the staining of the walls to the moss and fungus that had abundantly sprouted up.

The eastern side of the basement was obscured by cobwebs and it seemed a solid place to begin their explorations. Jaryn continued to lead the way (as no one said differently) and he pushed through the webs, they were dense enough that it took more than a casual swipe to dispel them. Pulling through them he could audibly hear the strands snapping and breaking and his hands were soon coated in the sticky substance. On the far side of the basement a number of crates were revealed. Several of them had holes gnawed in the sides, they'd likely contained food years ago, but vermin and time had done their work. Along with the crates, the group also uncovered the more conventional way down - namely a narrow set of stairs leading back to the main floor.


Overall it was quite a spacious basement and when it was cleaned up it would offer a large amount of room for storage of food, drink and other items that would benefit from the quiet cool darkness.

Possible Areas for Exploration

Basement - Fully Explored!

Main Floor
     Lounge
     Dining Hall
     ???

Upper Floor
     ???

"Hold on, fellas." Iclos stood watching one of the massive beer kegs, not least dreaming of a time when it would be full of that glorious golden substance. "There's a secret passage!"

He continued to explain how it was split, something that could be seen where the wood had splintered away over time and decay. A lower keg where the tap connected which would function and serve to hide the fact that the upper portion of the keg was actually a secret opening.

With that said, Iclos tried to open the secret passage. Was it a place to store something? A potential hiding space? Or possibly an actual passage to another room or an escape route outside?

Naim had once more ignited flames in his hand and comfortably held it aloft as a light source and ready as an attack should one be needed.

He burned away the trailing webs that Jaryn's hands didn't paw through as they went, making sure that the fire didn't spread with his other ability to control nearby fires.

He paused when Iclos called out to them and held ready to react should the passage be trapped in some way and harm the dwarf. "Careful there Iclos... new guy! You any good with traps and locks and the like?"

Saulucian pointed up toward one of the crates and he reached out with his mind and his will. A grey horned owl appeared, wings fluttering as it adjusted its balance from being pulled through to this dimension. "Aryviir, keep a watch for us. Alert me to any people or creatures you see that are not of this party."

Bonus action to summon my familiar from its pocket dimension

"If the door leads further down, it may be best for us to finish the house first, as there's no telling how far down it could lead after the ground below was destroyed. We could end up inside the chasm for days."

Jaryn paused when Iclos spoke up, turning back towards the dwarf. As the priest explained what he had found, Jaryn took time to try and clear the webbing from his hands. He was content to someone else open the secret door while he kept an ear out for any more trouble....or more spiders. He repressed a shudder.

With the revelation that the basement held a secret there was a pause, during which Jaryn scrapped the offending spider webs from his hands and onto a nearby wall while Naim cleared the remaining sticky residue hanging from the ceiling, Iclos had gone over to the secret door and finished what nature had started. the wood was soft beneath his hands and it tore away in pieces. Soon a dwarf sized hole was left and peering inside Iclos confirmed that this was indeed a passage. A roughly hewn stone hallway cut down and to the north in the direction of the river. It was a tight fit for a human, it could be done, but it would require them to hunch, and it was a little too narrow to be comfortable for a broad chested dwarf. But the passage could be navigated. You could vaguely hear the sound of running water echoing up from the revealed passage.


At the same time, Saulucian called forth a familiar. With a flicker of fey-light an owl materialized on the wrecked crates. It perched itself and peered back at them with its wide eyes, then swiveled its head, looking about it as Saulucian had requested. It would be hard for those great yellow eyes to miss anything.

Possible Areas for Exploration

Basement
     Secret Passage!

Main Floor
     Lounge
     Dining Hall
     ???

Upper Floor
     ???

"It's clear this is an addition, not original. Built for secrets, too, I'd say. Smuggling, perhaps."

"Smuggling holes would be a big benefit for an adventurer's guild..." Naim chuckled. "I suppose we should follow it and see where it goes?"

He looked with interest at the owl that Saulucian summoned and contemplated summoning his own, but declined for the time being, one fey spirit was enough for this basement.

"I can be in the back for light or middle with my flames. Whatever works for people."

Jaryn nodded. "Agreed. It could be important."

He thought for a moment as he eyed the hole. "It looks like it would be tight in there..." Then he glanced at the owl that Saulucian had just made appear. "But perhaps roomy for an owl to investigate? If you feel comfortable with that."

"I don't mind sending the owl in. He's incredibly slow when he can't fly, slower than a toddler, and there's not nearly enough room for his six-foot wingspan in there, so we may be sitting and waiting for quite a while. With the size of that tunnel and where it leads being an unknown while the building itself is definitive, I would still suggest we clear the building before we venture down. I'm willing to do it, though."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:34, Tue 20 Apr 2021.

Naim chimed in, "if we want to send a creature through there, I can call a rat or a spider to go explore it. That would be somewhat quicker than a poor owl hopping down a tunnel."

"Or we can brave it ourselves..." he added with a chuckle.

OOC: can use Wild Companion to summon a different kind of familiar that is more suitable to a tunnel passage.

Iclos was happy to have some wizardly familiar explore the tunnel before he crawled in. He wasn't as big as some dwarves, but wore bulky armor. Meanwhile, he stood back and expamined the stone and wood work as best he could, to see if it looked like a sturdy building (other than the floorboards come crashing down).

Jaryn, note that Iclos healed some of your wounds in a previous post.

Jaryn frowned and then nodded slowly. "Hmm. You're right. The owl would not fare well in there." He glanced at Naim and shrugged. "I guess it's up to you since it would be your creature entering? But a rat or spider would definitely feel at home in a tunnel I would imagine. And definitely fit more easily."

He gave another shrug. "Or we go in."

Naim nodded and concentrated for a second and extended his hand, still wreathed in flame, then drew in towards him as he spoke a binding. A slight flicker of wind and the small shadowy form of a spider appeared near the tunnel's entrance. It crawled up the side and started to enter.

"Keep an eye on me, while I look through its senses to see what we can see."

With that, he moved to the side and his eyes went glassy as his sent his senses into the spider's own and abandoned his.

OOC: using wild companion to spend a wild shape to cast find familiar with no components. Summoning a spider (Darkvision 30 ft, Speed 20ft, Climb 20ft; Spider Climb).

I can follow its senses out for 100 ft before losing contact, so will stop it before it goes too too far.

Decided, Naim held out his burning hand. An unfelt breeze rustled the flames and then by the wall a shadow congealed into a spider. At Naim's urging it crept down the revealed passageway and out of sight.

Naim spoke as his eyes formed back into their natural grey rather than the faded sightless grey of displaced senses. "It seems the tunnel goes maybe twenty or so feet through stone to a natural cave with stalagmites and stalagtites both. Also many other ruined boxes down there. It can sense or hear running water but not see it. The cave must be pretty large as the spider can't fully take it all in, and the water is farther away than the range of this ability allows the creature to relay its senses to me."

"So... shall we explore the rest of this building before we delve too deep? and get in trouble? or down down we go first and then explore the building after the fact?"

"Caves and dungeons can be just about any size. The upper floors are bound to the walls and roof. Let's clear them out first, before we go down." Iclos suggested.

Jaryn listened and gave a nod himself, "I agree. I would search the house first before exploring the cave." He gave a shrug. "Who knows how far that goes? That may be more than a day of searching. Or not."

He turned towards the stairs leading up. "Shall we?"

Naim nodded and concentrated. Soon enough the spider he'd called emerged from the tunnel and he motioned for it to climb up the rope and start exploring the first floor while the group found the stairs and went up those to a different part of the house.

"Sounds good," he replied verbally. he held up his hand and the flames lit the surrounding area for those with no ability to see in the dark to have some view of events.

"Since we know the flooring is weak near the front door, we might as well use the stairs here for their stability and leave the rope at the entrance for later in case we need it." Saulucian dismissed his familiar, sending it back to the pocket dimension that it called home when it was not actively in his service. He would bring the bird back later if necessary, but it would be next to useless inside a building.

Iclos was near the front of the party as they moved up the stairs to continue exploring on the first floor.