IC II

[thirdkingdom]

Harald instructs the mercenaries to draw the wagon up to the porch and instructs them to being loading it with valuables. Looting is a staple of mercenary life, and they go about it with a gusto. Meanwhile, Pesha opens door after door. The first several open into rooms furnished simply yet expensively. One, however, opens onto a staircase descending down into darkness. The sweet smell of freshly dug loam rises to meet him as the door swings wide.

[Fearghus]

Pesha the Wanderer

Pesha pulls a torch from his pack and lights it before descending the stairs.

[sulldawga]

Harald

Harald will follow Pesha closely, ready to step in if trouble awaits.

[Hrafn]

Kaa, shaman


"It looks like it is you and me, Styr. We should move up to their down, see what we can find, eh?"

[Rodriguez]

Confused now... Kaa wants to split up and search the upper part of the house?

[thirdkingdom]

Confused now... Kaa wants to split up and search the upper part of the house?

Yeah, I'd like a clarification on whether or not the group is splitting up or not.

[Rodriguez]

I would vote against splitting

[thirdkingdom]

I would vote against splitting

As one of the two splitees is against it, I will assume the whole party will go down.

The companions descend the stairs, finding a cellar much the same as the one in the manor house, though on a much smaller scale and well plundered, to judge by the state of the remaining victuals. It seems as the buried root cellar is a feature of Mellasian construction.

On the far wall, twenty feet away from the stairs, a vertical gash barely tall and wide enough to allow an armored man to pass looms dark in the torchlight, cutting a hole in the adobe wall of the cellar like an ink-stain.

[sulldawga]

Harald

"Can we get some light on that hole in the wall? "

Is there any evidence that the hole is what smells like freshly dug loam?

[Fearghus]

Pesha the Wanderer

Pesha moves to Harald, holding the torch high all the while. "It is reminiscent of the gash in the wall of the city manor, no?"

[Hrafn]

Kaa, shaman


Following Styr's subtle suggestion of scowling and shaking his head before walking away, Kaa instead follows the crowd and sensibly leaves the upper building to the looting mercenaries.

"There's a chance Pesha is right. The old city was built on a lizard man site. Their irrigation may extend this far. We need to decide if this is our problem. If we follow them to their nest or just shake Melas' dust from our heels somewhere more hospitable."

[thirdkingdom]

The opening in the cellar wall leads into a short -- perhaps five feet or so -- tunnel carved out of the surrounding limestone. From what the adventurers can tell, without entering the tunnel, after that point the floor drops off precipitously as the tunnel opens up into a larger space, the edges of which are not visible with the companions' light.

[NJWilliam]

Tychon the Blue, Mage

Peering into the cellar opening, Tychon says, "Well, are there any other exits from this cellar other than where we came from?"

[sulldawga]

Harald

"Let's do a good sweep of this room. Then we'll sweep everything upstairs. Then, we'll go in the hole."

[thirdkingdom]

The cellar has no other discernible exits. Tychon peers into the hole and feels a wet, damp breeze blowing in from below. The sound of the sea can be heard, faintly, as can a buzzing susurrus that seems to emanate from a number of points.

The cellar is devoid of any outstanding features.

[sulldawga]

Harald

Harald will head up to the 2nd floor and begin searching the rooms up there.

[thirdkingdom]

The adventurers return to the first floor and, after several minutes poking about, find a set of stairs leading up to the second story. The stairs lead up to a small, enclosed landing, at the end of which is a door. Pesha moves forward to investigate it, and finds it is neither locked nor trapped. He puts his ear up to the door and hears no noise. He does, however, notice that the door is extremely warm to the touch.

[Fearghus]

Pesha the Wanderer

"The door is warm". Pesha sniffs the air for smoke and gets out of the way for someone else to enter the room first.

[drpete]

Babu the Monkey

Babu steps forward, touches the door handle, and if he finds it only warm, not "hot", will open the door after suggesting the others back up a bit.

[Hrafn]

Kaa, shaman


"Warm? Bust a hole in the door first, Styr has an axe. Otherwise let's throw it open."
Kaa does however get out of the way.