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-----They descend a few feet and then at the bottom of the stairs, Raven’s torch reveals an opening that leads off to their left. Stepping through, the adventurers see that they are in a large room at least thirty feet wide and the length is not known by the dim torchlight. For the most part, the room appears to empty, although there appears to be a bundle of things toward the center of the room.
-----The huntress lights up another torch and the adventurers very carefully begin to walk around the room. They can now tell the room extends about fifty feet and a large closed door is in the wall opposite the side they entered from. Somehow the room seems to swallow up the majority of the light, leaving flickering shadows to dance here and there.
-----"Careful," Raven’s voice warns almost at a whisper, "I may need to look around for more tracks." He then approaches the bundle of things in the middle of the floor with Sol. As the two men examine the things, the others hear a strange moaning coming from the stairs leading to the ground level. It appears to be only the light wind from outside although the effect seems to send chills through some of the party or at least cause some startled glances.
-----"The children were here," Raven quietly announces. Sol holds up some candles and a fluffy blanket. The hunter hands Sarah a small doll; its patchwork form once cared for and loved.
-----Looking to his left, Raven continues to examine the floor all the way over to the door. He carefully eyes the door. The wolf silently pads over to him somehow sensing his master’s unease. "The adults went through here also and . . . something else," the hunter says pointing to the floor. There in the dustiness of the floor, he shows everyone three sets of footprints. One set is of man-sized footprints. The second set are a bit smaller, obvious a halfling. The last set of prints beside the first two is huge. "I’m guessin’ this creature’d be at least nine feet tall." Raven then looks over at Sol and asks, "That sound familiar, Sol?"
-----Sol replies with a snort, "Yeah. Ah well. It's only one of them. Let's move on." Having seen the evidence, Sol pulls his longsword out of its leather sheath. He then walks over to the door and says to Raven, "Ye still want to keep following the tracks?"
-----"Aye, that I do," says Raven. Raven glances at the wolf to see its reaction so near the door. Although the animal remains alert, it does not growl. Turning back to Sol, he says, "I don’t see any tracks that are coming back from that door, so whatever’s in there is still in there. ‘Course there could be another way out. I hate to think of those children and their parents in there with an ogre or two."
-----Raven hands Sol his torch. He then draws out his other short sword. Turning to the others, he says, still keeping his voice low, "Anybody want to check that door or give a listen to it ‘fore we open it?"
-----Seth quietly from the back asks, "One of them what?" and carefully makes sure everyone else is between him and the 'whatever it is'.
-----Sarah stares at the closed door. "Well, I guess it’s fairly obvious where we're going." Then looking down at the doll she says, "You'll be returned to your mother, don't worry." She kisses the doll’s cheek and puts it in her backpack.
-----Sol gives Raven an odd look, before turning to regard the door. After some careful scrutiny, he advises, "Yup. Still a door. Still, if yer worried..."
-----Sol hands the torch to Seth, seeing that the bard is in the position to view everything. He then heads towards the door.
-----Seth hands the torch back to Sol. "I think I might have better ears, and better eyes, just in case there are some tricks on that door!" He puts away his sling and carefully approaches the door and listens carefully, at the same time examining the door to see if any tricks or traps have been laid.
-----"Oh...ok." Sol acknowledges. Then promptly hands the torch to Kazel, whispering so as not to disturb Seth, "I can't fight with that bloody thing blaring in my face."
-----After listening for a while and carefully running his hands all around the door, Seth steps back and pulls out his sling again. "Well, I could not hear anything, and it appears that there are no traps on the door."
-----Seth motions for Sol to move forward towards the door. "After you, my Champion."
-----Briefly showing Seth a mock glare, Sol looks at Raven and nods towards the door. He then moves up to the door, making sure Raven and himself are positioned, then reaches to open the door.
-----Sol grabs the metal ring mounted in the large wooden door with his left hand. Raven stands to his right with both of his swords ready. As everyone stands behind them, Raven gives Sol a nod. With a strong tug, Sol pulls on the door and it swings open.
-----As everyone tenses, they see that beyond the opening is a stone corridor about ten feet wide leading straight ahead into the darkness. With Rinda and Kazel following Sol and Raven with the torches, the party carefully advances forward. A silence falls over everyone as even the noise from the outside wind in the stairs fades. The corridor proves to be fairly short as fifteen feet inside the corridor, the torch light shines on the opposite end where another closed door greets them.
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