Party 11

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The pause could be count in breaths from the moment Aramil leaned in to listen at the kitchen door to when his hand quietly lit upon the handle of the door to ease it ajar. Peering inside, Aramil cautiously looked for any Beast wily enough to have remained silent this long...
 
The kitchen is tidy, with dishware, cookware, and utensils neatly placed on shelves. A worktable has a cutting board and rolling pin atop it. A stone, dome-shaped oven stands near the east wall, its bent iron stovepipe connecting to a hole in the ceiling. Behind the stove and to the left is a thin door, standing open, leading to a well-stocked pantry. Set into the south wall, at about chest height, is a smaller door that you would recognise as a dumbwaiter. Finally, there is a door that leads back out into the main hall.
 
Following Aramil from the hall into the dining room, Gimbel decides to stay quiet for once. He wouldn't be very good traveling company if he just went around ruining everything the elf did.

As Aramil is slowly, so bloody slowly, opening the door on the other side of the room, Gimbel examines the table. Big and fancy. That's about all he can tell. All this sneaking about was starting to cast a somber mood on him, and he takes of his fancy hat. Setting it on the table where the head of the family would sit, he walks back to the door they entered the dining room through.

Taking up a position to watch their backs, eyes on the hallway, ears listening for any sound from Aramils corner.
 
Content that there is little in this room hidden from sight, Aramil makes quick work of a search. He pauses at the ovens, the dumbwaiter, and the pantry, to give them a cursory once over ere heading back through the exit leading to the hallway. From there he moves towards the next door in the search for the Beast...
 
Must not have been anything interesting in there Gimbel thinks as he sees Aramil come out of the kitchen. As the elf walks past back into the hallway, Gimbel falls right back in line behind him.

Realizing that they had searched the entire first floor, Gimbel Shoots an evil glare at the stairs. Damned things. As if everyone else in the world wasn't already taller than him, add in another foot or two in stairs and it just became ridiculous. It was even worse when he had to stand on stairs just to look people in the eye. That always made him feel like a child.

Finally making a decision about the stairs, Gimbel lets out a short puff of air in an attempt to catch Aramils attention. When the elf turns to look at him, Gimbel motions to the bow that Aramil carries, then points to the ground, then points 2 fingers at his own eyes, then pats his own chest and points up the stairs. Trusting the elf to catch his meaning, Gimbel heads up the stairs without delaying anymore.
 
With a curt nod, Aramil readies an arrow and moves to cover Gimble's advance up the stairs. Aramil moves to make sure that he does not lose sight of his companion at any point during the ascent, and trusts that his other companions are following the pair of them to the upstairs.
 
The stairs lead upwards to a second hall, similar to the first. Unlit oil lamps are mounted on the walls of this elegant hall. Hanging above the mantelpiece is a wood-framed portrait of a family: a mother and father with their two smiling children, whom you recognise as Rose and Thorn. Cradled in the father's arms is a swaddled baby, which the mother regards with a hint of scorn. Standing suits of armor flank wooden doors in the east and west walls. Each suit of armor clutches a spear and has a visored helm shaped like a wolf's head. There are two large doors, one on either side of the hall, as well as a smaller door tucked away near the stairs. The doors are carved with dancing youths. The red marble staircase that started on the first floor continues its upward spiral, and a cold draft can be felt coming down the steps.
 
After reaching the top of the stairs, Gimbel shoots a quick glance back down the stairs and motions for his friends to follow. As Aramil slowly advances up the stairs, bow still drawn, Gimbel turns back to the second floor hall.

After a few moments, the entire group is at the top of the stairs, so Gimbel walks up to the door on the left. He picked the left door, because it's not the right one. Get it?? Like, right as in the direction, but also right as in the opposite of wrong. Which would make the left the wrong door. The wrong door for safety.

Or maybe the wrong door to find the monster he thinks to himself with a mental shrug. Just before he opens it, he glances at the elf watching his back one more time. Then with a nod he opens the door....
 
Gossamer drapes cover the windows of this elegantly appointed hall, which has a brass-plated chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Upholstered chairs line the walls, and stained-glass wall hangings depict beautiful men, women, and children singing and playing instruments. A harpsichord with a bench rests in the northwest corner. Near the fireplace is a large standing harp. Alabaster figurines of well-dressed dancers adorn the mantelpiece.
 
Despite the apparent emptiness of the room, Aramil tries to be thorough in a search for hidden dangers.

With a report that both the parents of those children may be dead, slain by a monster, Amaril expected a house in disarray - blood and bodies scattered in the wake of wanton destruction; much like when House Zulban rose against House Currashel... Aramil shuddered slightly at the memory of that day, but told himself it was just the cold draft wafting down from the upper level.

Like everything else Aramil had seen so far in this home, the furnishings of this room were both well crafted, and functional. The harpsichord in particular drew Aramil's attention, as if Aramil were to craft a piece of furniture with hidden compartments that would have been an ideal candidate. While his search for hidden secrets turns up no success, Aramil is distracted by several skulls and skeletal motifs hidden in the decorative carving in the wood.

The impatient tapping of a gnome's foot brings Aramil's thoughts back to the present. With a quick glance at Gimbel, Aramil looks up from the wood carvings and reports, "All this neatness... All this emptiness... I was expecting a ravenous Beast laying in wait... I expected clear signs of a struggle, and something hunting us as we passed from room to room. This quiet... This order... It is unsettling."

Gimbel nods and shares, "It's downright spooky even..."

Nodding in agreement, Aramil concludes his search of the room. "Shall we see what is across the hall? If things keep going like this we are going to run out of house to search... That would be best in terms of concern over the health of the parents to those children, but it would raise the question of where they have gone..."

With that, Aramil moves to listen at the other large door leading to the room opposite this room...

EDIT: Misunderstood the layout of the floor. Changed the descriptor for which door to be more exact.
 
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Gimbel opens the door, then stands aside as Aramils searches the room.

Getting impatient, Gimbel doesn't even realize he's tapping his foot until Aramil looks at him and says "All this neatness... All this emptiness... I was expecting a ravenous Beast laying in wait... I expected clear signs of a struggle, and something hunting us as we passed from room to room. This quiet... This order... It is unsettling."

Gimbel nods and responds "It's downright spooky even...".

Then Aramil is done searching the room and Gimbel follows him out across the hall to the other door.
 
Red velvet drapes cover the windows of this room. An exquisite mahogany desk and a matching high-back chair face the entrance and the fireplace, above which hangs a framed picture of a windmill perched atop a rocky crag. Situated in corners of the room are two overstuffed chairs. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves line the south wall. A rolling wooden ladder allows one to more easily reach the high shelves. The desk has several items resting atop it: an oil lamp, a jar of ink, a quill pen, a tinderbox, a red wax candle, several sheets of parchment, and a wooden seal bearing the windmill insignia.
 
Another well appointed room devoid of signs of struggle...

Fueled both by the impatience Gimble wears openly, and Aramil's own frustration at having been unable to turn up any sign, clues, or anything that would give them an inkling as to either the fate of the parents, or the Beast reported to have harmed them, Aramil tries to move more quickly through the room as he searches.

Curtains and paintings are peered behind. Desk drawers are rummaged through.

Standing in front of the desk, peering at the items atop it, Aramil shifts his attention to the framed picture of a windmill perched atop a rocky crag, and then back to the desktop. Again a long look at the painting; and then a brief rummage among the items on the desktop before Aramil turns his attentions to the bookshelves.

Coming near the end of his own patience, Aramil is about to abandon his search when an errant book catches his attention... Many are the books that line the shelves, and varied are their topics. Titles that indicate the family here delved into such topics as history, war, alchemy, poetry, and literature. But that was not what caught Aramil's eye. There is also has an unusual looking book with no title.

Reaching out for it carefully, Aramil gently attempts to pull it from the shelf - and fails! The book moves about half-way from its position when it gets stuck, and with a click, the shelf begins to pull away from the wall. However, when Aramil lets go of the book, the entire shelf swings back into place on its own.

A grin slowly begins to form on Aramil's face. A look which is a mix of both joy, and wonder, spreads until it fills his whole face, and with childish glee Aramil turns to make sure that Gimble saw what was discovered...

EDIT: Noticed some spelling errors... Probably not all of them, but at least some...
 
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Henjk looks at the others and gasps.

He had heard about and read about secret passages and doors, but never thought he would experience one up close and personal. He was very reluctant, but at the same time excited to see what was in the narrow passage.
 
The room hidden behind the bookcase looks like an extension of the library, with floor-to-ceiling shelves, filled with books, most of which have no titles on the spine, and are bound in what appear to be a dark leather. However, what draws your attention most is not the sides of the room, but the centre. On the floor is a large chest, lid hanging open. More distressingly, however, are two humanoid skeletons dressed in tattered leather armour. The first is slung over the edge of the chest, several needle-like darts sticking out of the leather breastplate. The second is lying on the ground, right inside the doorway. While there are no obvious indications as to cause of death, the scratches on the bottom of the wooden backing to the bookshelf give you a pretty good idea.
 
Gimbel saw. He saw the Aramil searching the room (slowly yet again), he saw him reach for the book, and he most definitely saw the secret passage!!

A secret passage!! How awesome!! How many people get to do stuff like this?? Finally REAL adventure!! He couldn't believe it, all that sneaking and looking really paid off. After the passage way closed again, Gimbel ran forward. "Do it again!!" He hurriedly said. With no hesitation, as soon as the passage opens again, he runs inside, scimitar still in hand.

Seeing the grizzly scene and quickly figuring out what the scratches meant, Gimbel hollers back to Aramil "whatever you do, don't let go of that book. Somebody else did, and he didn't get back out of here. There's a chest in here, and 2 dead bodies. One has darts sticking out of it, the other looks like he died of.... Something else. Heart attack, starvation, boredom. Who knows."

After examaning the direction that it looks like the darts came from, Gimbel says "Theres some kind of trap in here. Don't come in without warning. And if you either hear me scream in pain, or don't hear anything from me for 20 seconds, come running and help me".
 
With a quiet nod, Aramil maintains a hold on both the bookshelf, and the specific book that seems to be the trigger for opening the secret door. "Is there any chance that those are the parents of the children outside? It seems unlikely, but they are the only two others we have seen so far..."
 
Gimbel studies the bodies for a second, then says "it looks like a man and a woman..... But they've been here a long time from the look of things." slightly quieter he says " Mil, they've been here too long. Something is wrong here. If these are the owners of the house, those kids couldn't possibly be their kids."

After waiting a moment he also adds "I'm going to open the chest." walking forward he grabs the body on the chest, and pulls it off. Taking a peek inside he sees.... A bunch of paper. It looks like a deed to a windmill, 3 rolled up scrolls, and a letter. Reading the letter, Gimbel gets the heebee jeebies and quickly grabs everything and leaves the hidden room. Passing Aramil, the small gnome hands him an arm full of stuff and says "see what you can make of all this. Including the creepy letter."

Then he goes anstands by the door,keeping a lookout into the hall, the knuckles of his hand white with how tight he grips his scimitar.
 
Aramil waits until he is certain that none of the party are in the small, hidden room, before removing himself as the barricade that prevented the secret door from closing. Then, arms laden with miscellaneous books and papers, Aramil makes his way to the large desk. After setting down his armload of items which Gimbel had retrieved from the chest, Aramil takes a seat at the desk, and begins to peruse the papers and books.

After the briefest glance at the arcane scrolls, Aramil sets those aside to focus on the other items. "One of you who have the Talent should take a look at these while I look over everything else. They seem to be arcane in origin... Spell scrolls I am certain, but not of a form of magic that I have yet mastered."

Eventually, Aramil sets down the other papers, and addresses the rest of the group. "The books appear empty, and the letters seem to be largely of legal matters... There is a deed here to a property located just outside the town of Barovia, wherever that is. There is also a will detailing that all the lands, holdings, accounts, and possessions of the parents are to be given to their children, Rosavalda and Thornbaldt Durst. The names of the parents are Gustav and Elizabeth Durst... Let us hope that we find the parents before the children inherit, hrmm?" Aramil goes about bundling the legal documents together, but sets aside the letter from Strahd van Zarovich. Once the papers are organized, Aramil moves back to the secret room, and asks Gimbel to hold the door for him. "I want to have just one more look in here, though I know you probably found everything of interest already...." Then Aramil raises his voice just enough to carry to those in the outer room and states "Unless any of you have cause otherwise, I intend to deliver the deeds, and will, either to the children upon our departure, or their parents if they still live. Can one of you think of a reason I should do otherwise?" Disappointed that his search did not turn up anything new, Aramil motions to Gimbel that he can let the door close.

With one last look about the room Aramil finds himself put off by how neat the home is for both the squalor that surrounds it, and the Beast reputed to roam its halls... After a moment, Aramil brings his attention back to the present and comments, "There is one room left on this floor. We should check it ere we go upstairs... Perhaps it is the torture chamber this Strahd van Zarovich mentioned in the letter..."

And with that, Aramil moved quietly back into the hallways to listen at the door to the third, and final room on this floor. After a few moments of hearing nothing, Aramil motions to let the others know that he intends to open it....
 
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The door opens easily revealing a plain bedroom. The walls are painted a pale beige, and the floors are uncovered floorboards. Two well-made, single beds lie against the right hand wall, an empty footlocker sitting open at the foot of each. At the far end of the room, a closet hangs open, revealing a handful of what appear to be servants' uniforms hanging within. On the left wall, a small dumbwaiter door is positioned, as best as you can tell, directly above the door you found on the floor below.
 
Slinking into the servant's room, Aramil conducts a quick but thorough search. Upon finding nothing of note he returns to the hall way and addresses the others.

"This is a servant's chambers, but there is no indication as to who the servants had been, or where they are now... It strikes me as odd that the children, Rosavalda and Thornbaldt, made no mention of them either. While I have no eagerness to encounter the Beast reputed to roam these halls, something... many things, are very wrong here. The only places we have not yet looked would be on the floor above us. Keep an eye out for what might function as an Altar, or a Dungeon, as mentioned in Lord Strahd van Zarovich's letter..."

With that, Aramil turned his attention to the set of stairs that would lead them to the third floor of the home..............
 
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Henjk is in deep thought. The dumbwaiter. Gimbel.
"Aramil, WAIT!"

He grabs Aramil's arm before he climbs the stairs.

"The third floor is the only place that we have not checked. I have a sneaking suspicion that whatever is in this house, is up there. I have an idea that might allow us to observe what is on the third floor with minimal danger."

Henjk looks back at Gimbel and smiles.

"We can send Gimbel up in the dumbwaiter. I can pull the ropes to get him up there."

Henjk's experience living on ships gave him the knowledge and understanding of pulleys and ropes to see that this dumbwaiter was in good working order and that he could get Gimbel up to the third floor without any issues.

"Once he is up there he can open the doors ever so slightly and peer into the room. We can then lower him back down then he can tell us what he saw. Might give us an advantage over whatever is up there, if there is something up there."

Henjk looks at Gimbel.

"You ok with this? If so we need a signal to know when to bring you down"
 
Gimbel smiles at the way Henjk thinks. Absolutely. Let's do this."

After crawling in, wiggling a bit, he says "no signals. If something is up here it'll hear any noise or motion. Just raise me up, give me a 50 count, then lower me back down. Or if I scream really loud. Whichever comes first."

After Henjk nods and closes the door, Gimbel feels it moving upwards. Slowly. As he's being raised he starts to think about all the times he's gotten stuck in small spaces. That wolverine den, the giant knothole in the tree, countless caves that ended in dead ends. It's a good thing I'm not scared of the dark.

The dumbwaiter finally stops. With a little work, Gimbel cracks the door as quietly as possible. Leaving only the slimmist crack to press his eye to.
 
Peeking through the door, you see what appears to be a bedroom. However, unlike the rest of the house, this room appears to be abandoned. Peeling paint covers the walls, the bed and side-table covered in dust. From this vantage point, you are unable to see any windows or doors leading out of the room.
 
Gimbel studies the room, but not seeing any other doors or windows to enter it, he gets confused. There's no way the only way in is a tiny elevator, right?? It seems to weird, and creepy. Knowing he only has a fifty count he decides not to get out of the elevator yet.

He studies the empty, unmoving room for a few moments more before he feels the dumwaiter begin it's descent back downstairs. When it gets all the way down, he steps out.

"That was weird. The room up there was empty. But... Not like the rest of the house." He scratches his head trying to find the right words. "Ya know how the house looks like the owners just stepped out to go shopping or something??" Seeing the other two nodding their heads, he continues "well, this room looked like it was empty for a long long time. Like forgotten. And one other thing. . there were no windows or doors. Like none. It looked like the only way in was this." And he motions towards the dumwaiter. "But that can't be right, right??"
 
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