Continued Adventure

Borgo slowly edges back and move behind the corner, locking eyes with Marev as he does and the Ranger moves back as well with arrow ready. Elspaeth, lowers her crossbow and stalks back towards the door after the others and Berith brings the torch with her as you all gather around the chest.

As before, Borgo takes the lead. After listening a moment, he clambers into the chest and part way down before taking Berith's torch down with him. Berith follows after the Goblin is half way down. Then Elspeath and finally Marev who starts to pull the wooden lid down after himself. He stops briefly to listen and look into the black; as the dim light of the torch only illuminating a very small area he can barely even see the bookshelf. Then he catch the sound of metal scraping against stone. Maybe a buckle or clasp on Vennock's body scraping against something? Closing the lid so as not to pinch his fingers, he climbs the rest of the way down.

After the 50' climb, you find youselves arrayed at the bottom of the stair. Borgo and Berith stand just outside and on either side of the small alcove in which the ladder ends. Elspeath stands in front of the doorway with Marev behind her just stepping down.

The air is thick with an acrid tang and you can see the large black stains and the mismatched limbs strewn about black coagulated mounds where the creatures were slain. It appears tacky and dry now and you're sure you won't be carrying around on your boots this time. The earthy undertone from before is now replaced with the smell of turning meat.

The room itself remains much as you left it, a 50' x 30' rectangle littered with overturned desks, chairs, stools, and cupboards. Scattered amongst the furniture are papers, scrivener’s supplies, and the remains of at least one bed. The room contains two massive stone statues of dwarven religious or scholarly figures mounted on intricately carved columns. One is robed like a priest or monk and features a runic plaque at its base.

Other than the vertical tunnel the party used to enter from the room above, you know from before that there is a set of massive double doors on the wall opposite, but it is lost in darkness at the moment. Elspeath reminds you that one was previously ajar and you had seen that a staircase lead down. You also see the staircase on the right-hand wall (as you see from where you stand) that leads upwards, some 40 feet you know, to a room containing crossbow traps. And the door you closed to escape The Abomination.

Marev, it might be a trick of the wavering torchlight, but you swear can a change in you compatriot's eyes when they look at those stairs.

Level 3

After some brief discussion about which route to take, the torch light begins to gutters briefly and begins spit fitfully, but still provides adequate light.

Berith's torch: 10 mins remaining

The party walks over to the stairway leading upwards. The clutter about the place casts eerie shadows, but nothing moves or disturbs the silence but your footfalls. These two quieten as you step through the tacky black mess. You take care not to step on any lumps or remains as you move past and array yourselves on either side of the stairs, Borgo on one side and Marev on the other with Berith with Borgo's earlier proffered torch tucked in her belt, and Elspeath, crossbow ready, arrayed behind.

As you take your stations, you can see the double doors further along the room and one remains ajar as you saw it before, and through the gap you catch glimpses of bare stone wall and the first few steps. The stairwell illuminated before you, is likewise empty. It stretches up about 20' and you can see some of the stone ceiling of the room above.

As you stand so near the dead things, your noses prickle with their pungent reek and find the need to blink frequently to clear your eyes of the irritating vapors. Surely, the air must be fresher upstairs? Perhap crawling across the floor with be a pleasant reprieve from inhaling the stench down here?

Two steps before the top of the stairs, Borgo knelt and then laid down on the floor of the crossbow trap room. He observed left and right before starting to slide on his belly across the room. He tried to keep the lowest profile possible with respect to the crossbows: that strategy had worked before. Of course, Borgo feared that Lattremond, or what’s had been Lattremond might be in the adjacent room, preparing to launch itself in a frenzy of hate on anything living that crossed its sight. So Borgo attempted to move silently across the room.