Telemachus nodded his head, "I said that you can leave and be on your way, the others won't stop you from doing so.  Besides like you said...you seem to have more worry that those that hired you realize you are alive and do unfortunate things to you.  So unless you have something that you think we need to know or should know," he looked over his shoulder at the window and then slipped slightly to the side where the wall kept his back covered, "then you might want to slip out of here quietly and not look back.  I'd suggest us not seeing you again if you happen to be part of a plot that injures us in the future; your well being wouldn't be guaranteed a second time.  If it's in passing though you have no fear of us.  I may even be curious when you've been up to and share a drink."  He tilted his head toward Ric letting him know that he was done talking and he should either speak up or hold his tongue and leave quietly.

In reply to Ric (msg # 145):

Storm listens to Ric's words and something about Ric seems unreal. He detects evil again.

Ric tilted his head, looking at Telemachus with considerable curiosity, and then silently belted on his sword and turned to walk down the hall, back to the stairway.  He gave the others a look as though to confirm that they were going to go along with what Telemachus had said, and then continued down the hallway, picking up speed as he reached the stairway and headed for the front door.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:48, Mon 11 Nov 2019.

Dak bent to pick up the leaf, wondering if it had been attached to something burned in the fireplace.  He stirred the ashes with the tip of the javelin, trying to ascertain when it had last been used.

Downstairs
Dak stirred the ashes in the fireplace, and the signs indicated that it had been a very long time since a fire had been lit here.  Also, he did not find anything of further interest beyond the curious gold leaf.

---

Upstairs

With Ric's departure, the companions found themselves with the room at the end of the hall, where Telemachus had been looking out through the window to try to piece together all the small pieces of evidence he had, while the other companions could see that there was one room on the wing where they were which had not been explored--a room nearest the stairway.  The room from which Ric had retrieved his belongings appeared empty other than the chest which he had collected things from.

"Let us explore the other room we havent checked. I have a feeling there must be something here for us. This is not catapult science but I feel we should,"Storm whispers before moving to the door.

Outside the door, he concentrates and tries to see if he senses any evil from inside the room.

Leaving the fireplace behind, Dak backtracked to the nearest closed door.  There were two and they were all the same to him so he opened the one on the right.

Westin hurries into the room. "Something's got Karel! There was blood all over the place and something moving in the weeds and I don't think it was Karel," Westin blurts out breathlessly.

Dak opened the door to the room toward the rear of the house, finding within what had once been a writing room, or perhaps a study.  Against the wall under the windows sat a large wooden writing desk, partially broken and riddled with dry rot.  There were three drawers on each side of the desk and a large central drawer.   The center door was closed, but the drawers on the side were all open, two of them bearing marks that told of having been forced open.

As Dak made his cursory inspection of the room from the doorway, he heard Westin approaching, breathlessly announcing that something bad had happened to Karel, with blood and movement in the weeds outside.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:49, Fri 19 Mar 2021.

Now that the Ric situation is resolved ..

"Go tell the others and I'll take a look," Dak said, leaving the most promising room yet to head back toward the kitchen.  He jogged toward the kitchen they'd entered and drew his sword left handed.  Javelin in his right, he opened the kitchen door to circle around the back in the direction Karel would have been coming from.

In reply to DM (msg # 156):

OOC:Hi GM have you resolved my action?

The door was, to Storm, a blank, with no unusual sensations detected.

((Sorry, I think I missed that.))

Storm opens the door and enters it to searc.

OOC: It is okie boss!

The last upstairs room along the wing where the majority of the group was opened easily for Storm as below they could hear Westin's voice talking about Karel and blood.

The room had no furniture, but rubbish was scattered everywhere in the room, with webs covering the walls and ceiling.  On the wall to the right, on the same wall as the stairs, there was a fireplace.  From the doorway, a glint of light could be seen in the fireplace, suggestive of a small, highly reflective object.

Storm approaches the fireplace.Hw will attempt to avoid the rubbish and movegracefully.
As he walk towards the fireplace, he will attempt to identify the garbage, hoping to see if there is anything worth of value.

OOC: I am assuming I cant hear the commotion below well.

Telemachus almost wished he could easily jump out the window to get to Karel's spot faster but instead he moved as quickly as he could around the weakened floor so he could bound down the stairs and head out the way Westin had said he'd seen the blood...

Lenelle was already downstairs, and moved swiftly once she heard the talk of the missing Karel and blood, to get outside and join with the others.

Westin quickly moves out of the way so that the other party members can get past him. He then follows up behind them. "Over by the well," he adds. "Be careful! There's something in the weeds out there."

Storm, now alone in the house, made his way over to the fireplace.  The glinting from the fireplace turns out to be what appeared to be a crystal -- what might be estimated as a third cut away to allow it to have a flat bottom, otherwise it would have been a small ball, easily held in one hand.

Storm searches the fireplace and area and uses defect evil while shouting," guys outside need help?"

Other than the crystal in the fireplace, Storm found nothing more of note, nor did he hear anything in response from the others in the group.

Storm takes th Crystal. He inspects it before putting it in his pack. He will then detect evil before looking for his companions

Storm noted nothing new about the crystal, nor did he feel any signs of evil in the vicinity.

Storm leaves the building to find his friends outside. He packs his items in his backpack before leaving.