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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Seravin" data-source="post: 1958214" data-attributes="member: 6783">You've probably already read this chapter.  The new chapter is the previous one. After I wrote it I saw that it went better before this one as an explanation of what the party went up against.  My fault for posting this a chapter at a time instead of waiting until it was all perfect.  Though if I had waited for that I never would have posted.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />The First BasementWooden stairs creaked under the clanking weight of Kellron as the armored paladin of Sarath made his way down the hidden narrow stairs.  Four steps from the bottom he paused and turned his head to get a glimpse of those behind him.  “Looks clear.”  He called back in not quite a whisper.Unsaid was that Kellron in his armor was most likely the loudest person in the entire building.  Anyone who heard the warrior was undoubted hiding in the shadows went for a chance to strike.The stairway opened up not quite in the middle of the back left quadrant of a large, wide-open room; obviously a meeting hall of some sort.  The entire room was paneled in wood, even the ceiling, though they knew they were at least eight feet of earth between the ceiling and the floor of the building above.  The room itself had a ceiling height of about eight feet and it was lit by the flickering light of torches that produced no smoke.At the opposite end of the room from the stairwell was a simple dais, completely unadorned and probably used for giving speeches and directions.  Between the stairs and the dais were a number of simple, dark wooden benches worn smooth and glossy with use.  The back wall opposite the dais (behind the stairs) was lined with simple tapestries which held abstract patterns.As Kellron stepped into the room Ashimar quickly slipped past him.  Both warriors had their weapons out and they quickly spread out as Jallarzi and Kestral made their way down the stairs and into the hall at a calmer pace.  Panther had stayed above to provide an extra pair of eyes in case anything happened.Ashimar and Kestral caught each other eyes and after a slight gesture and a nod the young man went to explore the dais while Kestral went to look at the tapestries.  “Why don’t you two check out the benches?”  Suggested Ashimar.  The paladin and sorceress both nodded; content to at least be doing something.“What do you got?” Keststral called out to Ashimar.  “Just a concealed podium.”  Said the young man with disgust, standing up from behind the dais.“I got a concealed door.  There’s a room behind this tapestry and it has stairs.”“Too simple.  Let’s check the walls.”Kestral shrugged and she and Ashimar began to examine the paneled walls and Jallarzi and Kellron split up to help them.Ashimar and Jallarzi found the first secret door near the dais where the tell-tale scrapes on the floor gave evidence to a section of the wall that swung away.  Kestral and Kellron found the second door, also near the dais, opposite the first.  Opening both doors revealed narrow wooden corridors lined with doors.“Explore some more, go up, or go down?”  Asked Ashimar.  “I think down.”“The good stuff is always down.”“Down.”“Down.”“Down it is.”  The four friends quickly made their way past the tapestry and down their second flight of hidden stairs.And thus the first basement of The Blue Diamond was passed.  Most of the folk who used the bedrooms and offices were out ‘working’.  Those who had come back after the dayshift had ended were mostly in the offices finishing up the countings of the day take and passing along the tips they had found out.When the alarms were raised much evidence was destroyed and a few minor trinkets made their way out with several hundred coins.  For as the heroes had learned criminals did indeed make their lair near the Holtson Warehouse, it was just that the entrance to their lair was across the street under The Blue Diamond.</blockquote>

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