NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carlo-One" data-source="post: 8206048" data-attributes="member: 7015827">Aerikoth quickly cast a light spell as they entered the manor halls. Dermot scanned in front and then waved his companions toward the open door to the right. Once through, they saw words scrawled in blood on the wall of the hallway: "The Manor is Mine." After a grunt of displeasure at the scene, Shanni backed into one of the corners, watchful of their surroundings. Darrow stuck his head through another doorway and reported nothing more concerning than a bunch of bunks and footlockers.Dermot held up a palm and gestured for others to follow, pointing down the corridor to signal an alert. The cautious ranger indicated that he could hear something moving. Aerikoth volunteered to cast an invisibility spell on Darrow, allowing the dwarf to sneak up on whatever it was, and also declared he was ready to summon a beast from another plane to assist in battle. Shanni muttered softly, asking which way was the noise, hugging the corridor wall. Dermot checked the corridor again, this time seeing several rats clawing at the door on the end of it. Dermot let out a small oath of disgust as the vermin scurried into the nearest fireplace. (An anxious mind conjures up fearsome opponents where there are only rodents. Yet it is wise to be cautious. --C)Approaching the next door, Shanni at first thought there was blood by the wall, but the smell of sour wine along with urine soon confirmed that it was a dark wine spill. Darrow wondered if it was left over from the Beast’s men occupying the place. As they contemplated the scene, Shanni looked around, frowning. The petite rogue declared that she might be paranoid, but she was sure there was someone else there, besides the party; it was like an itching on the back of her neck. Darrow, ever-practical, agreed that she was paranoid.The next set of rooms appeared to be untouched. As they came upon a set of stairs, Darrow asked if they should head down them. Shanni, still cautious, thought it would be best to be sure no one was on their current level first. Darrow agreed that made sense. Shanni then cocked her head slightly, declaring that she had heard the sound of a door opening and closing in the distance, probably back towards the main entrance, although it was difficult to tell. She then slipped around the door in front of them and started sneaking down the corridor.Dermot’s face betrayed his frustration as he shook his head at the others and then followed her, Darrow clanking in his armor as they moved to catch up with the rogue. Ahead, they saw Shanni open a door quietly, then gasp as the smell of rotting meat assailed her. She nevertheless poked her head in quickly, to confirm there was nothing of interest, before shutting the door again.At the end of the corridor, cool night air wafted in from under a doorway, which presumably led outside. Darrow pulled his helm off so as to hear better as Dermot surmised that their quarry had flown the coop already. Shanni agreed that they could have gone outside, as the storeroom was a dead end, telling the others that it had really sounded like a handle rattling to open a door and a clunk of it closing. Dermot checked out the remaining room on the floor, only finding rotten meat once again. That left two options: going outside, or down.As they pondered their choice, they returned to the barracks room, where Shanni went through the footlockers, declaring that someone had been in them recently. Given that Pahar’s soldiers had just fled from the manor, it was presumably them who had been using the room, since the Beast’s followers and Hallton’s men had not been there for some time, as Aerikoth pointed out. Shanni observed that whoever it was in the manor, they were either hiding where the party couldn’t see them, or had snuck past without being noticed, which she found worrying. The wizard agreed, noting if that the person was still there, they were watching the adventurers, and were quite skilled at stealth.</blockquote>

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