Ganthanor backs down to the bottom of the stairs and says, "I think we might have company upstairs. There was a trap set for anyone attempting to climb the stairs and I ran into it. I believe there may be something upstairs."

Gregory says, "Let's take a look. If there is someone up there, you can get'em back for scratching your leg." Gregory walks over to Ganthanor and gives him a pat on the back. "Aan, did you find anything of any importance in the 'nest'?"

Adriena watches Aan's progress with apprehension, fingers crossed. She nearly jumps out of her skin when Ganthanor's stifled cry of pain comes suddenly and almost screams when the first body hits the floor. "Geez!! You guys are scaring me more than those creatures back there." She shakes her shoulders to get rid of the eeby-geebies and turns to Malis, "[sigh] If you will see to our careless knight over there, I'll look over these bodies and items." Adriena approaches the "loot" and bodies. She begins to examine the orcs attempting to determine a cause of death. It is quite obvious that the orcs were killed by some sort of fire and then were used as food for the winged creatures. Adriena then examines the human body, unfortunately it has been used as a food supply to the point that there are no recognizable features.

Aanparon continues searching through the rafters but doesn't find anything further so he lowers himself from the rafters and climbs down the side of the wall and walks over to inspect the bodies and daggers.

Adriena then looks over the weapons. She notes that each are of orcish design, but they are a better quality than the normal orcish weapons. More than likely these weapons were issued to a special force of orcs who were given the mission of taking the Mansion. She does not note any runes on any of the weapons. She finishes her examination of the weapons as Aanparon walks up to the bodies.

Everyone hears Garth's whiny voice from the NorthWest corner of the room, "I'll check out upstairs."

Adriena turns to Aan, "If you don't mind, Aan, I was feeling very useless back there with those beasts and quite vulnerable. May I have one or two of those daggers? I noticed you were checking them for good throwing balance and I happen to be quite practiced at throwing, myself." Adriena then reaches for the goblet and inspects it closely, "I would like to carry this, if no-one objects. If some of you didn't take any of the Lady's coins, now is a perfect chance to remedy that."

Aanparon examines the three daggers and then says to Adriena, "Milady, I would recommend this one." Aan gives her the best dagger of the three and keeps the other two for himself.

Adriena replies, "Thank you Aan, that is very kind of you. Perhaps you would like to take the rest of this stuff? Or you, Gregory. The others seem to be busy. Humm...what are these hoops? Can either of you tell?"

Meanwhile, Garth is at the top of the stairs, he was easily able to detect and avoid the trapped stairs. The room at the top of the stairs is another 40'x30' room. It has been torn apart and there is rubbish everywhere. It appears that this room used to be a combination of a bed chamber and a storage space. There are two windows in the Eastern wall, but they are both shuttered. After some quick searches, Garth does not find anything valuable. It would seem that everything had already been stripped.

Downstairs, Malis moves forward to Ganthanor to examine the wound he just received. Looking at it, she shakes her head and says, "It is only a scratch" With deft fingers she quickly removes the splinters of wood and bandages the wood.

As Malis is working Ganthanor grits his teeth and turns his head. He notices something on the Eastern wall. Once Malis has completed her ministrations he moves closer to investigate. Moving some rubble he finds two doors in the center of the Eastern wall about ten feet apart from each other. The doors seem to blend in with the wall, that and the rubble around them made it easy for them to be missed in the first inspection of the room.

Aanparon says, "I think we should check out upstairs real quick, then see if we can open these doors Ganthanor so deftly discovered. I hate having anything behind me. Even Garth's invisibility bothers me some, and despite myself I'm beginning to like him. Besides, we may yet get a look out at the surrounding area if we can find a window with no shudder, or one in bad enough shape we can remove it easily."

Ganthanor responds, "I suggest leaving at least 2 people here to watch those secret doors and the rest quickly check out the upstairs. We obviously have another individual in this place that may be hiding here in this place or has not yet returned. Those creatures that attacked us could possibly have been here acting as guard dogs for their master. That trap that was set off when I started up the stairs is another good indication that someone else lives here. We need to draw weapons, prepare spells and start a search of this place. Shall we start upstairs? Again, I'd like to leave 2 people here at the bottom of the stairs so that we do not get surprised or if someone is behind those doors, I don't want them to get away. By the way, let's try to take whatever is here alive if we think we can talk with it." Ganthanor turns and moves toward the stairs and pulls out his sword. He looks back at the others to see who will go and who is staying.

Adriena stands back and surveys the room. She does not want to be taken by surprise...again.. She pays close attention to the holes in the second floor walls and the doors/entry ways by turning a slow circle in the center of the room. She gives out a caution concerning the new doors, "Careful, they may be trapped as the stairs were." Thinking of traps reminds her of Garth, so she looks around to check his progress and then remembers that he is invisible. She thinks to herself, "I hope he knows what he is doing."

Gregory says to Aanparon and Ganthanor, "You two go check it out up stairs. I'll stay down here." Gregory then walks over to Adriena, "May I see one of those rings please." He takes it in his hands and gives it a good look. "I don't know what it could be. Do you think they could be worth keeping?"

Adriena replies to Ganthanor, "I do not have much to offer in the way of spells. Just a shield spell to protect myself, really. I will stay here with Gregory and figure out a way to carry this 'treasure'. You [indicating Ganthanor, Aan and Malis] all go ahead upstairs. Holler if you need us." She then turns to Gregory and takes the hoop back to look again.

The four hoops are made of iron. They are each about one inch thick and about six inches from one side to the other. They do not have any paint or designs on them. The only thing that mars the iron surface are claw and teeth marks.

As everyone is standing around, marveling at the find of the two other doors, a voice is heard, right next to Malis. At the start of the voice, Malis jumps a little and starts to bring her warhammer around, once she recognizes the whiny voice she has to fight to stop the warhammer from slamming into the invisible orc, the voice says, "I searched the room already and found nothing. It seems to have been already gone through."

Garth then heads for the two new doors. He stops at each door in turn and checks them for traps and then listens for noises. Neither door is locked, and he doesn't hear anything at either door. The cowardly thief then decides to let someone else open the doors, 'just in case.'

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