Editing Journal - A Search for Answers (section)

==Downstairs==

We went back to the entrance hall, and Falcor tried the door on the left of the stairs. Inside was a billiard table, so it was obviously once a games room, although it was poorly lit because the windows had been boarded up. It was dusty, but things had moved through the room, as we knew. There were no other doors visible. Then he noticed that there was another concealed door, right between the games room door and the stairs.

I went forward to check and open it as Falcor stood behind with sword ready. Meanwhile Arad was on the other side of the stairs, checking there to see if he could find anything. The door opened easily enough... but then two more undead legionnaires leapt at me, clawing! I may have screamed a little. Luckily I think they were expected someone taller, and I was able to dodge their attacks.

Falcor was ready, and stabbed one with the reach of his sword over my head, but despite being a solid connection it did no obvious damage to the creature! Falcor shouted a warning to Arad, who in turn shouted that we should fall back as he came around to join us. I wildly swung at the things before turning to run, but did not connect. I rolled and tumbled away as Falcor backed off, and Arad charged forward with his large hammer swinging. He hits one solidly in its lower body, doing clear damage, but it kept coming and clawing at him in return, thankfully just raking his armour.

I threw a dagger, which also connected but did no visible damage. It looked like this fight might be up to Arad to win! He swung again, and this time the first thing collapsed in silence, unmoving. The other one jumped forward, though, and got its claws into Arad - his strength seemed to ebb at the touch of the foul creature. Arad edged back towards the games room that we had now taken refuge in, trying to swing with his hammer as he did so, but not finding his mark. He grew in size suddenly, towering over the creature, but still trying to retreat without letting his guard down.

It was nerve-wracking watching him fight for his life, especially as he was fighting for ours as well! I was behind the door (ready to close it if Arad needed to disengage, of course), and Falcor was ready to (I think) physically shove the creature back to allow that to happen. Thankfully Arad managed to land two blows eventually; the first only caught the creature with a glancing blow, but the second just about knocked it down so that Arad could finish it. Neither of the corpses moved, thank Karmana, and we breathed a sigh of relief.

I peeked out from behind the door, just checking that there weren't any more on the way before relaxing slightly. All seemed clear, so I asked after Arad's health, knowing that he was not unscathed. He wasn't feeling great, but for some reason didn't feel the need to try the special potion I had "acquired" in Freeport. He went to retrieve his sword, which he had dropped earlier to use the hammer.

Falcor peered into the dark recess where the things had come from. Another doorway was just visible in the far corner of the narrow, plain room. Seeing that it was safe, I retrieved my dagger from the first creature. It seemed that only weapons of power could do any damage to these things. They were more skeletal than the others we had encountered, and carried less equipment.

Falcor started to light a faggot so that he could see, but also to provide me with light as I examined the door. It was very robust, with more iron work than doors elsewhere. Also, it was locked and barred... from our side. What could these things have been trying to keep in? Or were they trying to keep something in when they were human, but failed? Either way didn't bode well.

Again, we found a circle of blood drawn on the door, a mark of some kind - although whether marking a boundary or as a warning wasn't clear. This time the circle enclosed a six-pointed star, like on Falcor's armour or Arad's hammer. The mark was old, although almost certainly in blood. We took a moment for Arad to use some ointment on his wounds before pressing on.

Falcor unbarred the door, telling us that we should go this way despite the ominous portents. I put a little oil in the old lock, and then picked it with ease... which just worried me even more! Arad urged me to open it, and I quickly pulled the door back, keeping behind it as it swung open. A small set of strait, rough stairs were revealed, leading down. They were possibly older, and certainly crude compared with the ornate house above. They were still human sized, about seven feet tall and five wide.

I went first, checking the stairs for traps as we cautiously advanced, but finding none. There was a room at the end, nearly twenty feet square but slightly narrower across. We didn't get close enough to see more at this point, as two more of the skeletal legionnaires came screaming up at us, sprinting up the stairs towards us. I desperately dodged their first swings, trying to get out of the way so that Arad could engage them.

Falcor threw the faggot into the centre of room, with impressive accuracy considering how low and narrow the stairs were, backlighting the creatures (and somehow making them even more terrifying). Arad chanted a prayer to the Lord Creator, asking for the power to banish them from Karmana... but whilst it seemed the Creator was good at healing he wasn't so good at banishing undead monstrosities. I'm sure Arad would blame his own weakness, though.

I had dropped low after the initial charge, but sprang to my feet to defend myself. I needed have bothered, though, as Arad pushed past me to engage them. Rather him than me, as he got raked by their claws as he closed with them. Falcor moved me back behind him, which was absolutely fine from my point of view. Arad was at the front swinging his hammer now, and landing a good blow on one creature's chest, sending it reeling backwards into the room.

I decided that I would do the important job of covering the rear, just in case we get surprised. A job I think went well, as we were not attacked. Falcor charged forward, barrelling into one with his full body weight, forcing it to the ground with him on top. Arad engaged the other one, and this time its claws scratched ineffectually at his armour, although it did put him off his swing. Falcor stabbed the one he had wrestled down with the new dagger in its eye socket and it stopped moving.

Arad evaded his attacker well, but still could not land a hit. Falcor moved behind it, but couldn't get the dagger to strike true; he hit with his sword, but it made no physical contact and left no mark. Falcor grabbed at its head instead, ripping it clean off with brute force, leaving the body to collapse to the floor. Arad smashed the one with its head still attached, despite it not moving any more, just to be sure.

Looking around we could now see that they had been in a room made from simple stone - floor, walls, and ceiling. It had clearly been built, but in a much different style to the house. The ceiling was arched, about a dozen feet at the centre and half that at the walls. It was empty save for the bodies, dust, and detritus. A door was in the far left corner and, although older and cruder than the one at the top of the stairs, it was another solid wooden door with a heavy iron lock and bar. Arad then noticed a well concealed door that stood opposite the obvious one, which blended in well with the stones.

Falcor picked up his faggot again, and follows Arad's direction to highlight the join with the light it afforded. Arad took a moment to heal his wounds with more ointment as I inspected the door. There were no traps that I could find, but I struggled to locate the opening mechanism. Arad came to assist, and it turned out that you had to press on a rock that was a little higher than I had been looking. I pressed and it moved fairly easily, a sigh of air sounding as the door moved and the pressure equalised.

There was a small room behind the door, plain again, with three chests the only notable feature. I started checking the chests for any traps, and Arad followed behind, opening them after I had finished with each. Falcor warned that he could sense something in the centre one. Arad exclaimed as he discovered the first one contained hundreds of gold coins; none of us had seen that much money before! Falcor opened the second one and found a small velvet pouch, a wooden box inlaid with a picture of tree in mother of pearl, something wrapped loosely in silk, and an ivory scroll case.

I opened the last one once I had checked it, finding it to be full of silver. Our attention was first of all on the gold, and how we could carry it. Falcor reckoned that he was strong enough to carry it in sacks in his pack, although I swapped out any silver I had for gold coins, you know, just in case we got separated... that much gold can do strange things to people!

The pouch contained six diamonds, which we shared, and there was an amulet in the box. The amulet was a simple circle of gold with a gold chain, the circle was inlaid with white metal showing a tree and roots almost circular in it's design (the tree of life?) and Arad swapped his grave-robbed amulet for this one. In the silk wrapping was a hand mirror, ornately finished and embossed with organic designs, also in silver. The scrolls were of a type that Falcor could understand, although he still seemed uncomfortable doing so, with the titles "shield" and "fireball".

Finished with the loot, we moved to the other door and Falcor lifted the bar. I didn't find any traps, so I unlocked the door - again a bit worringly easy. Falcor swung it open to reveal a dark tunnel beyond, this time of old, packed earth about five feet wide and seven or so high - it was some kind of old excavation. There was evidence of timbers encrusted into the walls, and the tunnel sloped gently downwards. Arad was worried about being locked out of the house, so Arad ran back and collected the bars from beside the doors, throwing them into the new tunnel.