The door opens onto a short hallway that leads to a small room. The air is cool and damp and the area seems totally deserted.
A wooden table stands in the center of the room. On the table are the remains of a dinner of horse meat and watered beer.
Three benches, two wood stools and a couple of cots also adorn the room. Beneath one of the cots is a 3’ × 2’ × 1½’ tall, brass bound chest.
In the southeast corner of the room is a stool with a pair of leather boots nearby

"Thorik," Ronan smiles, "you have redeemed. And lookie yonder: another chance of redemption. Oh, yeah, another chance of redemption."

Still smiling, the elf looks in the general direction of the brassy chest.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:59, Fri 14 Apr 2023.

"Looks like this place was cleared out in a hurry. It may be where those reinforcements came from."

Bernhard advances into the room to inspect the boots.

The chest is locked. "Someone's jammed the lock." A piece of wire is in the keyhole. You can hear something clinking inside as Thorik shakes the chest.

The boots are unremarkable, except that the soles are worn through and they are particularly small.

Considering the chest carefully, or at least as carefully as Ronan considers anything, Ronan points his wand at the lock and attempts to transform it into a lock of straw.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:53, Thu 20 Apr 2023.

Bernhard checks the cots for any hidden items before heading to the corridor to keep watch while the others try to open the chest.

The padlock's metal turns into straw, and the lock can easily be ripped apart before  the straws turn once again into fragments of metal. Inside the chest, there are three 5’ lengths of chain and two old padlocks.
Among the bedding, Bernhard finds a crude knife. There are no other items of value in the cots.

With reverence, Ronan says, "Well played chest of locks and chains, well played," before returning to the hallway and continuing down it.

"Well that was a waste of time," Bernhard mutters. "Unless those are magic locks and chains?"

"Come on, Thorik, let's keep moving."

When the party is ready, Bernhard will lead the way to the north.

"A waste? I think not! Locks and chains seem quite useful to me, at least."

Still, Falan followed on to the north. He wouldn't be taking a lock and chain--he preferred to remain light, if he could.

"Are they magic? why would they lock them up?"

"Why not take them and we'll find out?"

You go out of the room and follow the way north. Ahead in the corridor is a ghostly white shape hovering above the floor just beyond an archway. No noise comes from it and it seems to shift slowly. The corridor is dusty and looks seldom travelled. Cobwebs drape the ceiling in little feathery patches.
There are two doors in the eastern wall, spaced 20'. 60' to the north, the corridor turns east.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:16, Sat 29 Apr 2023.

"What is that?" Bernhard says in shock at the sight of the white shape. "A spirit?"

"I don't like the look of this place. Too unused to be where they're keeping any slaves. Maybe we missed something?"

OOC: Are the doors in the corridor past the white shape?

OOC: One is beyond, the other is closer.

Amiably, Ronan greets the apparition, "So what did you do to get damned to this godforsaken hallway?"

In reply to Ronan (msg # 302):

Angus just stood there staring at the apparition and listens to Ronan.

The shape floats there, not making a sound. It spins around very, very slowly. From the distance, you can only see that it is roughly the size of a person, roughly cilindrical.

Ronan advances as far as the closer of the two doors, satisfied that, unlike the apparition, it is not rotating.

"Is it a creature or a magical trap of some kind?" Bernhard asks Ronan. "Either way, it's not advancing on us so let's try this door first."

"Thorik? Check it first."

Falan leaned in toward Bernhard, and spoke quietly.

"Earlier, Private Joker mentioned 'the cloaker', some enigmatic servant of the slavers. Perhaps this is some similar being. I have no clue, personally, what that could possibly be."

Ronan stands a few feet away from the figure. It looks like it is the shrivelled husk of a man, wrapped in cobwebs, a strange grimace upon its face and its hand at its chin. Between its stiff jaws is a ring of infravision. Beneath the webbing, you can make out a pouch at its waist.

Taking a peek into the first room, you see that it is filled with chests, bundles and crates of various tradegoods. It appears to be deserted.

Angus retrieves the goods, using his dagger to cut away the webs. "A ring and pouch. Let's see if there is anything else! Check the chests."

"More mundane than I expected...Angus, be careful! Whatever hung up that poor devil may still be around. Watch the ceilings."

Bernhard looks into the storeroom, inspecting the ceiling before entering and watchful for more webs.

Ronan addresses the webbed man in an admonishing tone, "That's a bad show, old man, getting caught up in all of those webs. How could you have thought that biting a ring would save you from getting sucked dry?"

He then waits for the chests to be searched and for his spider overlords to arrive.