VIII. The Witch Towner - Second Trip

[thirdkingdom]

Ingroc the Impavid

"Poachers, eh?" He shakes his head. "They're almost as bad as necromancers, stealing from him that earned his due through hard work and a belief in the gods. Likely to be foreignese, too. We let them free, no doubt they'll start ogling our womenfolk, living off the dole and trying to establish some sort of godless, anarcho-communist republic. I say we let them rot in here, as a lesson to all those who would challenge the glorious righteousness of the free market."

[Alethan]

"'e's not THERE, man! One minute he was praising bein' found and when I tried to give him food he up and disappeared out of thin air!" Ciar replies with the frantic voice of one who has just seen a ghost...

[onlyme]

Fulp quietly and quickly heads back toward Kassal.
We need to get outa here... Ciar done gone crazy. Must be the air.

[thirdkingdom]

Ingroc the Impavid

Ingroc just shrugs. "Probably a ghost. As I see it, we have two options at this point. We can continue on with our original plan, of exploring the main hallway, and leave this mystery for another day. Or, we can eschew our original plan and focus on this area. Keep in mind that in both instances we should spend less than two hours total with our task in order to revisit the slime. My vote is to finish what we started, exploring the main hall, then returning on the morrow to deal with this secret corridor as part of the day's activities."

[Storm11]

"Perhaps," says the wizard raising his hand,"but I know a little something about illusions and tricks if the mind myself, let us not be hasty. Besides, didn't we all hear that voice? If it was only Ciar's crazed delusion, we would have heard nothing. Perhaps there is my kind of magic at the root of all this..."

[Alethan]

Ciar just shakes his head at the others and their perplexing non-reactions. "Or it was a bleedin' ghost what we can all hear..." he mumbles to nobody in particular.

Then he stands up, takes a deep breath, draws his sword, and attempts to retrieve his trail rations from the slot under the door.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sparrow follows and looks around carefully in the area of the mystery.

Bad juju. Bad Juju!!! he says continuously.

[onlyme]

Fulp feels somewhat temporarily relieved by the others' calmness.
Oh yeah, yeah, ok, just a ghost uh. whew what a rel... and then the shock hits him.

a ghost? are you sure it wasnt a friend of that devil y'all killed coming for revenge?

[Storm11]

"Come heroes" sighs Kassel with a roll of his eyes. He looks Ciar over closely, to see if he appears to have aged or is behaving differently.

"You don't appear to be any different. How many of these people were in that cell? Can you open it so we can check it out? Phantasmagoria is a marvellous craft, capable of creating many things. Pull yourselves together for the love of Garl!"

[Alethan]

If he is able to retrieve his rations, he examines them thorouly before putting them back in his pack.

Then he examines the lock on the cell to see if it might be opened...

[dmw71]

As his companions cautiously approach, Ciar composes himself after jumping back in shock from his vision... or whatever the experience was. The halfling nervously approaches the cell and retrieves the rations he attempted to share and his waterskin, examining them closely. After determining them to be safe, he turns his focus towards the door which has a simple-looking keyhole lock and lever, both of which he deems to be safe.

Beyond the door, the inside of this central cell now appears empty. It is oddly-shaped cell in comparison to those previously encountered, both wider and deeper in area.

[Storm11]

Kassel will hold up the light and see if he can discern if there are any unsafe walls or ceiling or flooring.

[AleBelly]

"Baron Sarvo..." ponders Sylvan. "My family's not guarded any of his caravans, as far as I know. Do any of you with a knowledge of history have any information on a Baron Salvo? Might clue us in to how old that apparition was."

[Alethan]

Ciar shakes his head, "Not familiar with this area, really. I figured we could ask about it back at the town."

Ciar eyes the door's latching mechanism more closely and begins working on it...

[onlyme]

Fulp simply says,

Let's just make sure we dont fall for the ol' 'check out the open cell' gag, and get locked in there. we might be ghosts by the time someone is dumb brave enough to come down here to find us.

[AleBelly]

"Well said, Fulp. I'll stand outside the cell" replies Sylvan.

Once the cell door is opened, he will take his backpack off and place it between the door and opening to prevent it from slamming shut. He stands with scimitar and shield ready I previously said spear but just remembered it's braced in the door handle down the secret passage the group visited already.

[dmw71]

As he stands watch, Ingroc estimates that the group has been exploring for approximately 40-50 minutes as Ciar begins to tinker with the lock. The halfling makes quick work, discovering that they key he acquired during their first visit to the tower will work to open it. Turning the key and opening the door, Sylvan hurries forward and places his backpack in the opening, hoping to prevent the cell door from slamming completely shut if that is its design.

The cell is approximately 30-feet long and angles out, making the back of the cell about 15-feet deep in its center, while only 10-feet deep in its corners.

Aside from two dusty, broken cots and some rotting beddings, nothing else seems to be in the room. Most noticeably, there is an absence of any signs of a recent occupant having been there.

[thirdkingdom]

Ingroc the Impavid

"If someone will lend me a torch, I intend to check the status of the ooze."

[Alethan]

Ciar uses his small piton to make sure the door is wedged open before entering the cell. Then he makes a check of the room, examining the walls for graffiti or writing, prodding the beds with his sword to make sure they don't contain centipedes before checking them for anything of interest, and then finally examining the back wall more thoroughly...

[OGRE MAGE]

Sparrow answers Sylvan.

I've never heard of this Salvo, but I am not from these parts either.

He searches around on the floor outside of the cells. He checks the entire area of this new cell block, looking for any signs of recent passage through this area.