The group wake up after their first night in the Manor house. They all find a silver unholy symbol of Asmodeus as well as a wicked looking Iron Crown sitting in front of each of their doors. As well as all the other supplies they requested and notes to see the blacksmith to fit any armor they ordered.
While Quel gets his armor fitted, he notes the creator's rune on it... a well known armorsmith from Ghastenhall. How such special ordered equipment arrived at the manor house overnight, an odd thought for sure.
The group spends more time around the other knot over the next couple days. Elise the witch spends a bit too much time around Galen. Others note she appears to be sizing up their group & Galen unknowingly tells her all about his arcane ability, as well as some of the powers of the other group. He seems overwhelmed by Elise's "charm". Meanwhile, Trak notes the affection doted on Galen by Elise & does not seem too keen to it. A "murderous" look is how it is described later.
Others though have a more pleasant time. Yvaine hits it off with Trak's twin brother Trik. At first they meet over a mutual curiosity of Ben & his odd religious practice, but they eventually find common ground in their wicked faiths' similarities. Also, Yvaine & others learn more about the fateful tale of Ben & Lady Amilia. Her adulterous betrayal of him, his murderous rage against her, her eventual revival. They also learn that Chiliax has begun to notice it's erstwhile province, and that is somehow related to Vincent & Ben's discussions with the "good" Cardinal.
Despite much complaining by Emmerick, the group has to wait the full three days before they can speak with their benefactor again. It is in that meeting that Thorn lays out what their next task is, to prove their worth in a test. They are given the assignment to find a gold & sapphire jewel in the basement of the manor house. The group is lead by the ever demure & cold Tiadora and left at the entrance to the dark dungeon. Told they have from dusk 'til dusk the next day to retrieve the item in question they are quick to begin.
The first room they enter starts well, Quel finds a pit trap over the only obvious exit. He attempts to disable it, but fails & nearly falls in. After that, they search around again & find a secret treasure cache hidden away, including a wicked looking magical dagger. Still unable to find any other exit, the decide to cross over the pit trap & search the door. They run back up to the dining room, take the main table, much to the confused looks of Trik & Dostan who were eating dinner at the time & use the table as a makeshift bridge to get across the trap. In the end, for all their effort, they only find a bricked up wall beyond the door.
Thinking outside the box, the turn off all the lights in the room & look for any sliver of light coming through a secret door & eventually find the exit. The following room they easy follow the riddle & destroy the odd mold using the vile of alchemist's ice & continue on.
In the next room they begin a battle with a vampire mist. Brother Summit opens the darkened room and is able to see into the blackness beyond. With one deft critical strike from a loaner crossbow, he shatters the obsidian orb in the middle of the room & ends the darkness. The rest of the companions enter, but are quickly drained of blood as the mist rises from the floor.
The group decides on a tactical retreat & withdraws (in no way a fleeing motion...) north where they stumble upon a apparently empty room, save a newly constructed Rack & the phrase above the door about cruelty being a tool, not a past time. Yvaine seems quite delighted in the apparent torture chamber.
Quel again fails to find a secret door & lacking a suitable subject, Yvaine suggests one of them "step up" to the Rack & see if they can cause something to happen. Brother Summit offers himself as a subject & is strapped in. Yvaine, wishing to be a "team player" wraps her cruel barbed rosary around the hand crank of the Rack & begins to turn it, causing both herself & Brother Summit pain. Brother Summit eventually breaks & calls out in agony. That is when Quel notices a noise, like the squeak of a frightened mouse, coming from a corner of the room when Brother Summit lets out his scream. Quel searches there again, still, not finding anything. So they continue for another 10 minutes. Yvaine's hand bloody & Brother Summit being stretched to the limits of his ability.
Eventually, seeing nothing obvious happening, aside from increased anguish of Brother Summit & an odd pleasure/pain from Yvaine, they stop. Quel does a more thorough search of the room, starting with the area around the noise & finally they find someone worthy of Yvaine's skills, if only barely. They tortured Squire Timeon of House Balentyne. They question him & find some useful information about the prison & it's occupants including one Sir Balen of Kirkfield.
When it is revealed that the young Squire is Emmerick's replacement, the lad gets a mace blow to the neck-cap from the enraged former squire of the Knight. In the end, like their master, the group fails to see his future value. So they head back to the vampire mist room and "freeing" the young squire along the way they rush to the other door. And the limping squire is a feast for the hungry mist, never having a chance.
The group continues on & struggles through a savage fight with some Mithril Cobras, but they stand victorious over the valuable remains of their enemies. Feeling the poison of the automaton snakes still in them & also all the various wounds inflicted upon them, or in the case of Brother Summit on each other, they rest, though, they do NOT return through the mist & instead seal up the former abode of the Cobras & make a hard camp.
The next morning they set forth & find a room containing what appears to be a fake set of stairs & a fake gold & sapphire pendent. Deciding to avoid the likely trap, they follow the instructions of the late Squire Timeon & search for a secret door opposite the stairs & finding it continue on through the labyrinth...
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