(I/C)
“Kitchen,” Brendon offered, “Let’s swing into the kitchen to grab some bowels. I can use the frayed rope and the bowls to make a few censers for the middle and rear to carry.”
Abraxas grit his teeth. “We are not getting any bowels.”
“Bowls, Abraxas.” Brendon snapped, “Slip of the tongue. With all the wrong things…”
He started to raise his finger accusingly when Wyn stepped in front of him and placed his hand over the Scout’s, shaking it slowly. “Non.”
Lannis filled the silence. "We should check the Scriptorum next, look for candles or sealing wax. After that when we continue on. We should fill our flasks soon, we should fill the lantern out of a flask then refill the flask, much safer than trying to fill it from the bucket.” He snapped his fingers. “Now to the real treasure, the books!"
"Good idea large-headed man!" Kovid beamed, looking at his battered map. “After magic-man gets his paper and wax, let's explore the halls west of there. I've marked points of interest on the map, but keep an eye and ear open to our east."
Untying the rope from the bucket, Brendon glanced at the Fighter before handing the bucket to Lannis, “Mind carrying this, I’m a bit over loaded? Besides flasks let’s grab a few bowls from other the kitchen or dining hall on the way back.”
Eyes flashing, Abraxas whirled back around and shoved the bucket back to Brendon and out of Lannis’ hands, “Brindoan... you must carry your own burdens. Cumbersome as they may be. As must I!”
The group got quiet and Wyn observed the interaction between Brendon and Abraxas with weary exhaustion. “Sigh. I take de bucket for now Monsieur du Lac. I push us out ‘ere, so I cen carry it.”
“Well,” Kovid looked around and bristled his beard. “Ok, We have a bucket, there are 2 discarded oil flasks in the Barracks Room. We can detour there, grab them, head off to the Classroom, get the oil, and then fill the lantern and replace the backboard again and then go to the…”
“Scriptorium!” Lannis burst. “Got it! Let’s go! Go! Go! Go people.”
As the group was heading back to the castle, Brendon working on unraveling the rope, Lyra said, “Once there, if we have a few minutes I would like to take a quick look at the books if there’s any good ones left. Looking for religious texts.”
“Oh ho!” Lannis grinned, “If I have my way, we’ll be there for quite a bit.”
“Manling,” Kovid admonished, “we’ll be there as long as we need to be and no longer.”
“Sure, sure, sure.”
The party reentered the Ispan’s Castle, shutting the door behind them, and worked their way with lantern lit to the East Corridor and eventually the passage down near the Barracks (WMC: Red/Black 3). Once there they listened, opened the door, and Kovid went to the back of the room and then up to the Upper Barracks where he grabbed the two empty flasks and covers and returned to the party.
“Seals are shot, but if we get some wax, it should be easy to reseal them.”
“Scriptorium!” Lannis hissed.
“Senor Dwarvid,” Abraxas offered, holding his hand out to take one of the flasks. “I can carve my soap into a stopper if need be and then jam it in.”
“Hmm. Not a bad idea in a pinch. Will have to use a dagger to open it later, but let’s do that.”
The party shut the doors behind them and then took the passage north to the main central hall. From there they went west, listening with care until they arrived at the Classroom door again. Brendon gave it a once over while Kovid walked a bit further ahead to look west. “What you doing dwarf?” Lyra asked.
“Getting out of the light.” He squinted and then grunted satisfied. “Door at the end of the hall with the statues that lead to where Grilljax was is shut.”
“No more kobolds,” Brendon muttered under his breath, only Wyn was close enough to head, the elf smiling sadly.
The door open again, the party entered the classroom and shut it. Once again the blackboard was removed and Brendon went back to unraveling the rope. Wyn, using his own rope tied it to the bucket handle and turned to the scout to say, “Monsieur du Lac, I tink we be needed to retrieve de oil first. We ‘ave de Dex-tare-ity required to ‘andle de bucketin’. En de fumes from de oil might be too much for just one of us to do it reliably multiple times.”
“Sounds good, Wyn.”
The party watched as the elf lowered the bucket to the oil, allowing it to swing a few times before letting the rope go slack (Dex >12, no roll) and the bucket fell into the oil on its side, the handle and rope still out of the sludge. “Nice!” He waited a moment and then proceeded to pull it up slowly hand over hand, backing away often to get fresh breaths until finally the bucket came out.
“Hmm,” Kovid looked in. “Refined. Some impurities on top. Should be easy enough to skim away. You have enough here to fill both flask and refill the lantern.” He proceeded to pour some of the oil back into the hole where it dripped down into the darkness and then placed the first and then the second flask under the stream to fill them to the top.
Then, he transferred one of them to the lantern until it was full, and had Wyn pour the oil again so he can fill the flask another time. Abraxas used his soap to make 2 stoppers (Remove Elven soap) which he pressed into the mouths and rubbed it a bit to smooth out the rough ends of the soap and fill the gaps. “Perfecto!” (Kovid, add 2 flasks of oil [2] to inventory, Lantern back to 6 hours full).
Looking at the bucket, Wyn handed it to Abraxas and asked, “Monsieur Salazar, do you tink you cen carry dis bucket for de time being? I tink ‘avin’ too much load will affect Wyn’s normal speediness... We could leave eet in de room, too, but I don’t want to give any hints to what we found. Com-pren-dey, mon ami?”
Shaking his head, the Fighter answered, “Señor Wyndel, while I appreciate your trust in mis manos, I do not think carrying an open bucket of oil around the Castle is our best course of action. Usamos el bucket to gather oil, fill up our flasks and lantern. Either we hide the bucket here, behind the chalkboard or bring it with us empty. I do not dare walk around with it sloshing all over as we walk."
Wyn frowned at first, “Oil in de... Oh... no dat would be a very bad idea, Monsieur,” he chuckled. “ I just meant carry de bucket. Dat it after we use it, we cen wipe it off wit one of de towels we have and you cen carry de bucket. Dat is what I meant, Monsieur.”
He paused and added “Dough... soaking an towel in de oil might be good way to make a torch... hm I tink about did more... meanwhile hold de empty bucket or we cen leave it here somewheres... smart.”
Kovid pointed to the hole. “Scaffolding peg. Right there. Hang it on the peg by the handle.” He reached over and placed the bucket inside the hole in place. “There! As long as no one slams into the wall again and again, bucket should be fine.” He pointed to the blackboard. “Ok everyone, let’s hang this bad boy one more time.”
The party once again hung the blackboard in place and smoothed out the room to hide the presence again. Once ready, they amassed at the door where a listen in the hall again (WMC: Red/Black 3) showed we were still alone. So the party crept out, shut the door behind them, and proceeded westward to the first northern turnoff.
They approached the door on the right that lead to the Scriptorium, Lannis almost bouncing with glee. Giving it one more look over, Brendon opened the door and we had a chance to look in. There are SHELVES covering most of the EAST WALL, filled with BOOKS and SCROLLS from about 4’ up to the top of the shelves, the bottom has been emptied. An OVAL WOODEN TABLE sits along the north wall with a variety of books and papers scattered across it, two battered chairs near it. A pair of candelabras flank the door, only 3 candles though are present. The CANDLES are old and are not of the same quality as the slowburn candle that had been in the Hobgoblin Barracks. There is a large FIREPLACE along the SOUTH WALL.
Brendon entered with care and searched along the east wall (>Find Traps +25 bonus, Red 75) and Kovid entered and did the same (<Find Secret Stone Doors +1 bonus, Yellow 1). After a few minutes the Scout said, “I know there is a opening behind this wall, and I can see a seam in the floor here about 10’ out from the wall where it would drop away, but if there is a trigger for it, I can’t find it.”
“I agree, Manling,” Kovid said. “The wall opens here and here,” He pointed to the middle 10’ section of the east wall, “Can make out the faint cracks in the stone. And close to the wall, I can smell the oil.”
“Ok, ok! Can we come in now?!” Lannis asked excitedly.
“Who’s going to look at what?” Brendon asked.
Time now is 12:54
(OOC)
What’s the plan?
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