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Newton will help Telemachus search the tower, he is also particularly interested in checking for spider eggs.

Zellar

The dervish says a blessing to thank Mnencir, and consecrates the ground to make it ready for occupation by the good people of Kimrid once more. Then she waits for the rest of the party to finish their searching, interested to see where they take her next.

sulldawga wrote:Telemachus

The mage examines the structure, including what looked to be the stable. He's looking for trap doors or other evidence that there's a basement.

If he comes up empty, he pronounces himself ready to continue.

shaidar wrote:Newton will help Telemachus search the tower, he is also particularly interested in checking for spider eggs.

Newton finds something resembling the cast-off husk of a spider egg sack -- but enormous -- but it looks as though it is old and contains no eggs. Sifting through the debris and detritus littering the floor of the tower, Telemachus finds a trap door in the main section. It is of stout wood, with an iron pull that is pitted with rust. The wood is swollen and he is unable to open it.

Gardo

"What did you find there? A trap door? Let's be sensible here. Once everyone gets their stuff together, let me use those gauntlets and I'll pull that thing open and we can go see what is down there. Seems like a good plan. There's still enough daylight before we would normally settle down."

Zellar

Zellar sheathes her scimitar and readies her spear, standing behind Gardo to poke anything nasty that comes through.

Telemachus

The mage waits outside, with Casfrea, while the trap door is opened.

Gardo puts on the gauntlets and feels a preternatural strength swell through his body. He hitches up his pants, bends down, and strains, but the trapdoor remains good and stuck.

Newton barely stifles a laugh.

"We could use my axe to weaken it first if you like?"

shaidar wrote:Newton barely stifles a laugh.

"We could use my axe to weaken it first if you like?"

It's enchanted, so I'm assuming it'll survive such treatment

Newton

If nobody has any other ideas then Newton will hack it with his axe.

Zellar

Zellar picks up a brick, in case they want to cast light on it and throw it into the hole.

"Thine axe be true, Drakesbane!"

It takes about a minute to chop through the door; the wood is spongey and swollen, and as it splinters a foul, miasmic wave is emitted; the smell of mold and mildew and rot and death. A wood staircase descends into the darkness below; from the sunlight cast from above it looks as though the floor is about ten feet down. The adventurers can't really tell if the floor is stone or mud, or a combination of the two. It is also difficult to tell the dimensions of the cellar, itself. It *looks* to be roughly the size of the tower itself, with a vague suggestion of continued darkness on the side under the stables.

Newton gestures for silence and listens to see if he can hear anything moving below.

shaidar wrote:Newton gestures for silence and listens to see if he can hear anything moving below.

He hears nothing.

Telemachus

The mage enters to examine the open trap door.

"I would assume that stairway is rotten. Maybe we can tie a rope around a torch and lower it down, so it doesn't go out once we drop it in the mud?"

At the mage's suggestion, Zellar casts light on the brick she'd previously picked up and tosses it to the bottom of the stairwell.

Feargus

Feargus stumbles through the debris of the tower up to the group. He hisses a whisper "Didn't know we were doing this now, sorry. I heard Gardo couldn't pull open the trapdoor though. The mercs somehow heard already. We need a climb order going down? I can take point."

He then busies himself with tying off his rope on something heavy on the tower.

Telemachus

The mage turns to Casfrea and asks her to take command of the mercs.

"Have the lads form a perimeter and make sure nothing sneaks up on us while we're investigating the cellar, please."

Gardo

"I would have thought that the gauntlets would have helped and I did feel stronger. Maybe the mold down there caused the wood to be real sticky because that trap door was swollen bigger than the opening it was in. Like it was glued. Maybe."

He looks to his charges. "Notai, since you really don't like enclosed spaces, you help organize the watch. Don't want anyone to sneak up on us. Wulfka, you can come with me to see the less glamorous side of this life."

Notai nods gratefully and begins organizing the mercenaries into watches. Zellar endows a brick with the glowing light of Mnencir, as knowledge illuminates the darkness of ignorance, and tosses it to the bottom of the staircase. It lands with a thud; the mud and muck coating the floor is only a thin layer, and it sounds to be stone below. It's still a little too awkward to determine the overall shape and size of the cellar; it looks as though there are some objects -- crates, perhaps, or barrels -- around the perimeter of the room, and it definitely extends further to the north, under the stables.

Newton thinks he hears a scrabbling noise immediately after the rock lands, but the sound does not repeat itself, and all is silent.