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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 3662495" data-attributes="member: 11760">The room remains quiet.Emmerson points the beam of his bullseye lamp to the ceiling, where Emus said he saw a dark spot. His lantern illuminates an open trapdoor in the dorm ceiling. Two brass grooves look as though they held a ladder at some point."The undead went up a ladder?" Emmerson says. "I've heard of folks getting spry in their old age, but that's ridiculous.""Nimble enough to swing a sword, ain't they?" Hazel grins, shaking her head. "Before this year, I wouldn't have thought dead folk could do anything at all. Now if you told me they could grow wings and fly out the ceiling, I'd have to at least consider it."Chuckling, Emmerson crouches by the beds, shining his lantern beneath them, looking for the axe Hazel said she saw beneath one of them. Reaching down, he pulls out the dwarven waraxe dropped by one of the skeletons.The axe is unwieldy and clearly made for a dwarf's wider hands. Emmerson knows the axe would likely sprain his wrist if he used it to any great extent. The blade begins to glow, subtly at first, and then as brightly as a torch, albeit a soft blue light."Emus, I believe this should be wielded by you."Emus takes the axe. He holds it with a familiarity that implies he's used one before, but is visibly wary of its enchantment. He looks down at the greatclub he set down to carry the axe."I hate to leave it behind. It's just as good as a waraxe, and I can cast a spell on it. Do we have any idea what this glow actually does?""I don't see a need to put down your club now," Emmerson says. "Blunt weapons are needed now and you can use yours for the time being. We'll carry the axe with us.""That kobold skeleton dropped a weapon, too." Hazel waves her hand in the direction of the bone pile. "Short sword. Bufer or Flower maybe could use it.""Sure, I'll be happy to take the pigsticker," Bufer says. "Unless, of course Flower wants it for hi-- her-- I mean, unless Flower wants it."The kobold shakes his head and Bufer smiles and bobs his head in thanks as he scoops up the short sword dropped by the kobold skeleton.Hazel stoops and begins digging through her backpack, frowning."Y'all think we can tempt those things back down?" she asks. "I got a rope we could maybe climb up with and drop the ladder down, if there's even a working ladder up there, but I got to have something to tie the rope off with, and I ain't carrying a grappling hook."Tucker stares at the ceiling and then at the beds."How high would you say that hole is? Ten feet? Twelve?""Beats me," offers Emus, taking a few practice swings with his new axe, "Anything over four feet is wasted, I say.""Yeah, anyway. Ceiling's about twice as tall as we are. Even a basic bed's longer than a man, right? If we tip one of these bed frames up on end, I could probably stand on it and see what's upstairs. Of course, I'd have to borrow a lantern, or lift someone who can see in the dark up with me."Vonmora clears her throat and holds a finger in front of her lips, another finger pointing at her ear and then the ceiling: There's a soft scraping sound above them, like bone on wood floor.It's difficult to tell exactly where the sound is coming from: right above them or further away. The entire dormitory serves as an echo chamber for the soft sounds.Outside, the ravens have finally gone quiet.Sighing, Hazel crouches down next to Flower and points toward the trapdoor."You think you could hit something as it's coming down? Figure a skeleton can't really be dodging stones and still concentrating on not breaking a leg falling, can it?" She looks up, as though trying to stare a hole through the ceiling. "Let's hope they don't got a mess of bows up there, eh?"Bufer reaches up and grabs hold of Oktav's cloak. The acolyte lets out a small squawk as Bufer tugs him back with him away from the trapdoor."C'mon, dragonkin," Bufer says to Flower, "Let's the three of us get out of the way. You can ping them off from range as they drop down, and I can keep a proper eye on the professor, here."From above their heads, the party can hear Artos ordering the skeletons in whatever debased language he's speaking. There's a great deal of shuffling of bony feet in response.Bufer points up at Oktav sternly."Now you listen good, Redshirt: Anything untoward happens this time, you stay put! No screaming and running like a stuck pig; you stick with me and Flower, got it? Ain't nothing getting through the two of us. We might be small, but we're damned cagey.""My boyfriend's a Lothianite, too, Oktav," Flower reassures him as he loads his sling. "No harm can come to us, when we bathe ourselves in his luminous splendor.""'Your boy--?'" Bufer says, smiling brightly. "Ah ha, so you are a girl! I thought so, but I wasn't altogether sure. I ain't had a lot of experience with dragonkin females, excepting this one time that ended up with her slashing my throat, so I think it's fair to say I had other things on my mind at the time. Well, that's certainly a relief. Dancing around the pronouns was starting to chafe me something fierce!""No, silly!" Flower says. "I'm obviously a boy! I'd tell you why it's obvious, but that would be highly untoward!""A boy, eh?" Bufer says, scratching his head and reconsidering everything he thought he knew about Heath Leach. "Now I've seen everything."Something pale moves past the open trapdoor. Below, Tucker grips his mace and shield more tightly, running his tongue across his dry lips and Emmerson shifts the lantern he's set up on a nearby bed to better illuminate the trapdoor."ARTOS NACHTMANN, COME DOWN FROM YOUR HIDING HOLE," Emmerson bellows, "OR HAS UNDEATH ROBBED YOU OF YOUR COURAGE?"</blockquote>

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