Malak watches as Emral staggers to the doorway.

The light from his lantern falls through into the small 10 x20 ft room beyond.  15 ft high ceiling is intact, a welcome relief from the stinging sleet.
A long, burned wooden table centers the room.
Inside the stone fireplace on the west wall a cooking pot hangs from a chain.
A door in the right wall far corner of the right wall.
Two small open windows high on the left wall at about 12 ft.
 

Last edited by Iron Ranger (1/22/2019 9:25 am)

Are there any places where something could hide in ambush, like under the table win the fireplace?

And is the room 20’ long or wide?

Also: I have illustrated the battle on my Instagram, fireinthedust
I have taken liberties, but I’m confident it expresses the inner truth of the moment. I regret nothing but my wrist pain!!!!

Emral waits for Malak before moving along the right-hand wall toward the door, keeping an eye on the room as he does so: expecting more skeletons to attack or other haunted house issues.

Is there noise from the doorway, like it leads outside to the rain?

Which wall points to the outside of the building?

fireinthedust wrote:

Emral waits for Malak before moving along the right-hand wall toward the door, keeping an eye on the room as he does so: expecting more skeletons to attack or other haunted house issues.

Is there noise from the doorway, like it leads outside to the rain?

Which wall points to the outside of the building?

Emral slinks along the right hand wall, knowing it to be an outside wall, toward the far door. The heavy sleeting can be heard out the high windows. And an occasional heavy Plink into the cooking pot. He makes it to the door as Malak stands in the other doorway.

The door is closed. The heavy wood is charred as is most everything.

"First we check the fireplace.  If the treasure was stashed up there, we may be able to leave when the rain lets up. Do you have firewood?  Once we warm up, we can keep the light from my lantern and then just kindle the embers for heat."

Emral hobbles over and checks the chimney, the area around the fireplace, etc.  

"There are drops from the chimney, so it's not blocked entirely. Hopefully it will go into the cauldron instead of putting out our fire. But when I was younger, hiding things up inside chimneys or under bricks was good fun. Maybe there's a loose stone on the floor or walls, or up around the rim. But unless there's a secret door or hidden nook..."

The Warlock pauses to think.

"Temples have coffers. The raiders blocked off the doors and set the building ablaze. This looks like the after-services room for meals, maybe where the clerics rested or prepared for their services. But where are the closets for robes? The hidden vaults for valuables?  Heck, a chest of drawers or something!  The other buildings in the village are tumbled down, gone, so if one of them is where the priests lived - like a farmer who takes time for religion, say - then this room or the main hall would be it for the building.  But what about funeral services? Where is the graveyard or the pit for the village paupers?  I didn't see a well, either.
"So what I'm getting at is that we have a lot of reasons to believe there's more here than we've seen. I'm thinking the fireplace is the key to this: it's on the far end of the room, and this isn't the kitchen of an Inn. No signs of a bed or living area for the clerics, no robes, etc.  I'm guessing there's a basement."

((Emral is thinking there's a basement, and he's looking around the fireplace.  It's bare in here, and there were only children's skeletons in the first room. No sign of the witch or the rest of the cult, for example.))

Any dry timbers to light in the fire?

Let's light a cheery fire

There are no chairs, but the table seems rickety enough....

I break the table!