Chapter 1: Into The Mists

Skip, the room in the upper right corner is the kitchen. It's tidy, with dishware, cookware, and utensils neatly placed on shelves. A worktable has a cutting board and rolling pin atop it. A stone, dome-shaped oven stands near the east wall, its bent iron stovepipe connecting to a hole in the ceiling. Behind the stove and to the left is a thin door leading to a well-stocked pantry. All the food in the pantry appears fresh.

The large room to the left appears to be a dining room. The centerpiece of this wood-paneled room is a carved mahogany table surrounded by eight high-backed chairs with sculpted armrests and cushioned seats. A crystal chandelier hangs above the table, which is covered with resplendent silverware and crystal-ware polished to a dazzling shine. Mounted above the marble fireplace is a mahogany-framed painting of an alpine vale.

The wall paneling is carved with elegant images of deer among the trees. However as you investigate it closer you can see twisted faces carved into the tree trunks and wolves lurking amid the carved foliage.

Red silk drapes cover the windows, and a tapestry depicting hunting dogs and horse-mounted aristocrats chasing after a wolf hangs from an iron rod bolted to the south wall.

Next to the dining room is a small cloak room that has several black cloaks hanging from hooks on the walls. A top hat sits on a high shelf.

is there a way down? Skallagrim thinks to himself, a trapdoor in the pantry maybe, or the cloak room.

Skallagrimm also inspects the small door in the bottom right corner of the kitchen

Skip, the iron rod doesn't move.

Skallagrimm, the small hatch opens a small dumbwaiter. It only appears to lead up and not further down though.

You search the downstairs rooms quite thoroughly but none of you find any way of getting down to the basement.

Morticia and Balian move upstairs. Unlit oil lamps are mounted on the walls of this elegant hall. Hanging above the mantelpiece is a wood-framed portrait of what you presume to be the family of the house: Gustav and Elisabeth with their two smiling children, Rose and Thorn. Cradled in the father's arms is a swaddled baby, which the mother regards with a hint of scorn.

Standing suits of armor flank wooden doors in the east and west walls. Each suit of armor clutches a spear and has a visored helm shaped like a wolf's head. The doors are carved with dancing youths. The red marble staircase that started on the first floor continues its upward spiral to the next floor and you feel a cold draft coming down the steps.

Sakallagrimm eyes the gith in his top hat, and says to the gnome "aw look, he thinks he's people"
then he goes back about looking for something to smoke in his new pipe

"it's important to know who one can trust gnome, surely even your little eyes can see that" Skallagrimm mutters as he searches