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-----Raven waits only long enough for Sarah and Seth to fire before leaping over the flaming oil. Sol follows dashing in around the flames to attack the rats. Raven lands in front of the small group of vermin while other rats that are on fire race for a door on the back wall. Yelling, Raven thrusts the torch in front of the remaining ones sending them to scurry away. By the time everyone enters the room, all the rats are either dead, dying or have made a run for it.
-----Examining the room, it is about twenty feet wide and about twice that lengthwise. On the back wall are three doors evenly spaced apart. The rats that remain alive run through a hole eaten through the bottom of the center door. The door on the left remains slightly ajar. Way over by the door on the right are two sacks laying on the floor.
-----"I suppose there’s some purpose for rats in nature," grumbles Raven, "but that don’t mean I have to like ‘em." With a backslash of his sword, he reaches down and kills a flaming rat that staggered too close to the ranger.
-----Sol looks around the room, smiling pleasantly, "That's that then. Hullo? Rats with sacks?" Sol walks over to the two objects, stopping just above them. He then asks, "Hey Raven, will ye still be able t'find out which door our friends went through?" Having asked that, Sol bends down to have a look at the sacks, obviously curious as to why they’re here.
-----Seth moves over to the sacks and helps Sol check them. "Maybe the rats came in the sacks."
-----Rinda takes the torch from Raven and inspects where he was bit. "Never mind that now," Raven tells her, "I hope that’s the only wound I get down here."
-----With Rinda’s torch and the flames from the burning oily rats, Raven looks over the floor. "Damn, I was afraid of this," he answers Sol, "It looks like the rats have been too busy here. I can’t tell where the tracks lead." Grimacing, he looks at the center door. "Well, at least we know where the rats are. You finding anything in those sacks?" Raven looks over to where Seth and Sol are checking over the sacks.
-----The Dread Pirate nudges one of the well-charred rats with his boot, commenting, "If ye cook 'em right, they taste just like chicken." He then wanders over to see what is in the sacks, keeping a paranoid eye on the doors leading into the chambers, just in case the rats regain their bravery.
-----Sarah looks worried about the contents of the sacks. Walking quickly over to them she stands behind Seth and peers over his shoulders, trying to see what it is that is causing so much interest.
-----The musician shows them that the small sacks are filled with coins. Seth scoops out a handful and holds them in the flickering light. It looks like the coins are of silver and copper.
-----Raven shrugs still looking at the three doors. "Okay, it’s up for grabs. Which door you want to try out?"
-----Sol dismisses the sacks of money with a wave of his hand. "We can divide that up later. Seth, do ye want t'handle them fer now?" Without waiting for an answer from the musician, Sol turns to the doors and points to the left door with his sword. "That one," Sol decides. A decision obviously based on no thought.
-----"Hey, noble champion, how about we take this money and give it to the families of the kidnapped children?" Sarah says teasingly to Sol.
-----Rinda gets another torch from her pack. Lighting it, she hands it to Kazel. Raven and Sol then approach the door. Opening it reveals a corridor that leads back to the left at an odd angle. The party then walks out into the corridor and, after following it for thirty feet, comes once again to a door at the end.
-----Now everything here in the dark seems very silent and the air seems to hang with musty stale smells. Sol opens the door and on the other side is a large room much like the one the party found at the bottom of the stairs. Thick dust covers the floor and cobwebs extend from the walls up toward the high ceiling. The center of the room features a large stone table and doors are set into the four walls of the room. The door on the left wall is closed although the ones to the right and on the opposite wall are slightly ajar.
-----"No doubt about it," Raven whispers, "they’ve all been through here." The ranger points at the hodgepodge of prints on the dusty floor.
-----Just then, whether by a trick of the torchlight or not, the door in the opposite wall appears to close slightly.
-----Figuring that the embarrassment of being wrong is far better than letting the enemy get away, without a word, Sol runs hell bent towards the far door.
-----Almost anticipating the young warrior’s move, Raven runs after him with Rinda following with a torch. Sol wrenches the door open and stops short just inside the next room. The next room appears to be wider although beyond the space of twenty feet in front of the door, the room is filled with webs.
-----Something lies at Sol’s feet which brings a gasp from Rinda. There on the floor lies the body the size of a half-elf. Just beyond small bones are scattered about.
-----Frowning and sword at ready, Sol reaches down to check the half-elf's body for a pulse.
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