1) The Haunted House

[OGRE MAGE]

Keilif and Jervis investigate the desk and find the middle drawer locked tight. Keilif looks around for a way to smash it but realizes that his mallet won't be of much use as the drawer is closely protected by the thick desktop.

Doubtful finds a chunk of wood to brace the glass door that leads out to the patio. The patio is open to the sky but walled off with six foot concrete walls. That's why the door wasn't seen from the outside.

Danny, Alec, and Burly take to the rundown library. Alec can tell that the shelves were once of fine quality but are now rotted and ruined. He finds no secret compartments. Burly and Danny search the pile of damp, moldy books that are covered in vermin droppings. The top few layers of books are all in ruins but a few in the middle of the pile are still in fair shape and not too moldy.

There are a total of three books in all that are salvageable. The titles include:
The Magical Properties of Gemstones, by Mage Tenser
The Magical Properties of Herbs and Flowers, by Mage Tenser
The Metaphysics of Mathematics, by Mage Nystul

There is also a packet of papers that look to be of interest. The script is nothing but strange looking symbols and none of you can read a word of it. Their condition is great considering the surroundings for the last several decades.

There is another book that is quite ruined but between the pages you find a note scribbled on a piece of folded parchment. You can only make out two words in the middle of the page. It reads, "beyond skeletons.........."

[wolfpack]

I could probably chop the drawer out with my axe.

[Nordbo]

Danny Cruester

frowns, scratches his head but can unfortunately not properly appreciate the value or significance of the three salvageable titles - they seem too much like remainders from the Maths & Magic Book Club to him. The strangely encoded papers, however look the bomb. "Mind if I hold on to these ?"

Then, /provided he heard Keilif's request/ he heads over to Keilif and says: "Sure. Should be a doddle" and sticks the knife carefully in, twisting gently like when removing valuable eel skin that musn't get torn. Any roll needed for that ?

[Fulci]

Jónas Gillman

Jónas goes into the room with the patio (4), and while Doubtful secures the door, he goes through the heap of rubble in the southeast corner.

[OGRE MAGE]

Jonas kicks around in the pile of rubble and finds nothing of interest. He does notice something with the floor towards the center of the room and spends some time checking it out.

Keilif stays Jervis's ax hand and tells the knife master Danny to try his blade on the lock. After a little poking around, Danny is able to damage the rotted lock to point that it simply falls into the drawer.

[Fulci]

Jónas Gillman

Jónas calls Doubtful over and whispers to him, pointing at the floor: "There's a trapdoor here! But there is someone or something down there... Torturing a dolphin!"

The last remark sounds like a non sequitur, but if Doubtful listens, he might get the same impression.

"Where are the others? I don't want to open this without, you know, backup!"

[coil23]

Goddamn dolphin torturers!, Doubtful whispers then slowly moves to alert the others, nodding at Jonas' advice on backup.

He quietly alerts the study and library groups of the situation in room 4 and asks for them to come there.

[Nordbo]

Danny Cruester

"There you go!", then steps back, allowing Keilif to explore the drawer.

As nobody seemed to object to his question earlier, he is now holding the 'pristine magic papers' and turns to studying them. Any visual clues - are the squiggles pictorial ?

[Urson]

Alec
The dwarf gladly moves to join the others at the trapdoor. Using whatever knowledge he has, he'll examine the area for traps, and try to determine how the door opens.

[Fulci]

Alec
The dwarf gladly moves to join the others at the trapdoor. Using whatever knowledge he has, he'll examine the area for traps, and try to determine how the door opens.

Jónas Gillman
Jónas points at a fake knothole in the wood that must act as the pull ring to open it.

[hedgeknight]

Carrying three musty tomes, Burly huddles around the trapdoor too. "Who would torture a dolphin? They are such gentle creatures. When we catch whoever it is, I'm gonna stick my rolling pin where the sun don't shine!"

[coil23]

Doubtful

Doubtful nods with grim satisfaction at Burly's threat.

[OGRE MAGE]

Danny studies the strange writing on the packets of papers as the others gather around the newly discovered trap door. Jonas points out the outline of the door and the fake knothole that must act as the pull ring to open it.

A feint but odd noise is coming from the other side of the trap door. It is actually somewhat offensive to listen to after a while. Some wonder if it could be a terrible unknown monster that has never before been discovered.

Keilif joins the group with his wooden mallet at the ready. He drops something into his pocket as he enters the room. Burly threatens the perpetrators with great bodily rectal harm via granny's rolling pin. Doubtful nods.

The party stands in a circle around the door, staring at each other, then back to the door, repeatedly.

[wolfpack]

Jervis will join the group.

Whatever the monstrosity is we must kill it, or perhaps save it, or something.

With that he steps forward and throws the door open.

[coil23]

Doubtful

Squinting his eyes as he concentrates on the noise Doubtful begins to wonder if maybe the dolphins are safe after all.

Almost sounds like birthing difficulties for a doe. Goats are usually fine with kidding but those Anglo-Nubians...they drop triplets and quads fairly often and they can get tangled up. Goats, dolphins, horrific monsters- let's find out. Jonas, you want to pull the door up?

Doubtful stands to the side with club raised, not too close to the edge.

[Mant72]

Keilif:

Keilif stands at the ready as the door is thrown open. He is cautiously standing about five feet away from the edge, craning his neck to peer into the depths.

[hedgeknight]

Once the trapdoor is opened, Burly gets a good listen at the sounds...and recoils in horror. "Rats! Sounds like rutting rats to me! Gods, I hate the varmints!"

Burly edges up to the opening and peers inside...

[Nordbo]

Danny Cruester

(To noone in particular, referring to the bunch of immaculate, inscribed papers he took): "These sheets...they describe something, uhm, something about the sea, I think...or perhaps they're just making me seasick"

[OGRE MAGE]

Ermulf and Ben try to make the unconscious half-orc as comfortable as possible as the others continue to search the house. Ermulf goes as far as tearing the cushions from the armchairs in the other room for Vhing to lie on. They continue to tend to his nasty festering neck wounds. Too bad the party doesn’t have some way of helping the poor bastard out.

The rest of the group readies themselves as Jervis reaches down to pull the trap door open. The second he inserts his fingers into the pull ring, the room erupts in loud and insane laughter. The noise is coming from every corner of the room and it stops Jervis dead in his tracks before he can even get the thing open.

He jumps back from the door, as do most of his comrades. Only Burly and Keilif seem unaffected by the odd fit of unexplained laughter. Suddenly, a booming, evil voice comes out of nowhere.

Welcome Fools!!!
Welcome…………To your DEATHS!!!!!!!
Muhahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!

The eerie laughter continues as the room bursts into a flurry of action. Jervis is completely freaked out from the noises, so he takes off out of the room. He is immediately followed by Jonas and Doubtful. The three of them run out into the main entry hall (1) and run around in circles, not sure what to think about the creepy noises coming from the other room.

As if that weren’t bad enough, Danny and Alec also run out of the room, screaming bloody murder as they do so. They don’t even stop to do laps with the others. They both run straight down the hall, passing right by the inquisitive looks from Ben and Ermulf in the kitchen. They continue on right out the back door of the house, running at full speed away from the evil laughter.

Burly and Keilif notice that after a few moments, the noise subsides and the room is quiet again.

Actions!

[wolfpack]

Jervis runs in circles.