Part 5: Return to the Moathouse Ruins

Hrmph! "It would seem we may need some leverage, but I have not spied anything that would assist us here. Upon returning to town, we might invest in some sort of prying bar. But for now, Bors, let us rejoin the group. There is safety in numbers." Eltrezar begins moving back towards the group with Maloria and Gilly, a little annoyed that they have been overall unsuccessful in opening any doors.

At Eltrezar's comment, the thief smiles quietly to himself. "You mean one of these?" he asks, producing a small, dulled black steel crowbar from one of the loops in his pack.

Eltrezar sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. Eerngh. "Bors, try it with this, now."

Too many doors…

They were all getting scattered again. Gilly missed the cleric again, here in the dungeon. She’d have picked a path and followed it, even if it meant getting axes into the doors. She takes her ear from the secret door, sighs, and moves to the door the others are aiming to pry open instead.

Boris accepts the crowbar and shrugs. "Can't work worse than my foot." He slides in the crowbar and pushes with all his might.

Mal turns away from the secret door with Gilly and the others with a grumble.

"Oh sure, find a secret door but no, let's open the boring door."

Hrmph! "At last, a door that acts as a door should! Can the other even be called doors, when they act much more as walls?" Eltrezar leans his lantern through the open doorway, hoping to see a glitter of gold amongst the refuse. Turning towards his dwarven companion, "Don't worry, we'll return to that other door soon enough. Let us do our due diligence here, first."

Hrmph! "There are more doors through here, but let us return to them soon. For now, my friends, let us rejoin the group and see what lays in wait beyond the secreted portal." He moves back towards the pillar with the door, his lantern moving along with him.

Eltrezar holds the lantern over the shaft, allowing light to tumble down like a cascade. Hrmph! "I do not suggest we explore down here today. Instead, let us check the doors through the storeroom. They seem to be one of the few remaining directions. We should also consider heading back soon, it is hard to tell the time of day from down here." He gestures back the way he came, as several members of the group hadn't necessarily seen the doors of which he spoke.

Departing the torture chamber, the wizard leans towards his Halfling companion. He clears his throat and speaks with a hushed voice, Ahrm! "I do believe I read about rooms like this in an old tome, one that my teachers had tried to hide away. The Book of Erotic Fantasy, I believe it was called, though its proper, untranslated name escapes me. Not very well received among my peers."

"Eltrezar is right, we can't go any further down until we're fed and rested. Let us try the new set of double doors through the refuse room instead?"

Gilly looks up at the old wizard as he spins his yarn. A look of belief, disbelief and disgust are on her face.

"Is that what you read in them old books then?" she looks about at the others to see if they confirm his tale.

"Just figured it was old stories and wibby wobbly lines for the magic bits!"

At the sound of the words Erotic and Fantasy coming out of the grizzled old man, Norris admittedly shuddered a bit... then took a generous step away from the mage. Who knows what worrisome, dark, and twisted thoughts rolled around under that pointy hat? Whatever he's thinking of is almost assuredly a matter that Norris will want nothing to do with.

Finding Mal's suggestion wise (and a justifiable reason to walk at a distance from the troubled elder), Norris fell back in line and gazed at the formerly-secret doors. "I'd offer to search them for traps, but odds are I won't find any... and it's usually more exciting to watch someone else trip them..." he offered, an impish grin crawling across his face.