Missteps V.2

Chapter 47 – Second Floor

Kerri wasn't the first one in the hall. Carric, Iados, and Ander were there, huddled around something.

"What's going on?"

The three of them whipped around at the sound of her voice. That's when she saw what had their attention.

Elaine. On the ground. Eyes closed.

Kerri didn't say anything as she barreled over.

Carric placed a hand on the young girl's shoulder. "She's alive." He informed her. To prove it, he guided her fingers to the cleric's neck so she could feel the pulse for herself. At the same time, he brought attention to the red welt that wrapped around her dark neck.

"We only just escaped ourselves." Iados said. "She was like this when we came out. We thought she was going to the kitchen with you?"

Kerri shook her head. "The door closed after I walked in, and didn't let her in." She looked fearfully up at Carric. "Did we leave her alone?"

"Not on purpose." Carric tried to shake Elaine awake. Didn't work. "Do you have any healing spells?"

Kerri nodded. As she reached out, Iados stopped her.

"Let me try something first." The akudaem reached into his pack and pulled out his waterskin. He unscrewed the top, and proceeded to pour the entire contents onto the unconscious cleric's face.

Elaine's eyes screwed up as she moved her face away from the watery onslaught. "Will you stop that?" She muttered wearily.

"You're alive!" Kerri wrapped her friend into a large hug as Carric and Iados got to their feet.

"How'd you know that would work?" Carric asked.

Iados pointed to his own neck. "I recognized the wound from my time as a pirate. Someone choked her out. Seeing as she was still alive and her lips weren't blue, I figured she'd just passed out."

Carric ran a hand through his hair. "That's proof that we're not alone in here. Anything to add Ander?" Carric turned to look at the halfling who had migrated to the central table.

"They're glowing." Ander pointed at the crystals. Two of them were indeed glowing. "The last one will probably glow once they come out." Ander pointed towards Jun and Lia's room.

"They need to hurry up." Carric grumbled. Nearby, Kerri helped Elaine to her feet. Carric turned his attention to them. "What happened?"

Elaine rubbed her neck. "Not sure. After all the doors closed, the fireplace extinguished itself. It was pitch dark and I couldn't see. Before I could cast a spell, something jumped onto me. I felt something wrap around my neck and start to squeeze. I tried to tear it off, but it didn't take much before I blacked out. Next thing I know Iados is trying to drown me." She sent a grateful grin to the akudaem, who returned it.

"Glad you're not dead." Carric turned his attention to the closed door. "When Jun comes out, make sure you tell him that it was the damn house that left you alone, not us."

It was another ten minutes before the door finally opened. As Lia and Jun walked out, the final crystal on the table began to glow. The solid wall opposite the fireplace shimmered, and a spiral staircase appeared.

Kerri gulped. "Who wants to go first?"

Iados pointed towards Elaine. "The cleric."

Carric smacked down Iados's hand. "Yes, let's send the person that almost died. Great plan." Iados pulled his hand back and gently rubbed it as he sent Carric a glare.

"I'll go." Elaine announced. "If whatever is here truly wants me dead, then maybe I can lure them out sooner rather than later." Before anyone could stop her, Elaine headed up the curved stairs.

Carric shook his head and he headed up after her. The rest of them all filed after.

The stairs themselves were uneven in both height and length. Everyone stumbled as they made their way in the dim light from the single sconce in the stairway. The shadows given off by Ander's circumluci were more of a hindrance as several muttered curses were 'd only gone a few steps before Jun wordlessly reached down, picked up the halfling, and set him on his shoulders. While everyone else carefully picked their way up the staircase, Ander was able to focus on the portraits.

Every few feet was a differently framed portrait. The first one was of a couple on their wedding day. In the second one they had a baby, and in the third one there was a second child. The portraits seemed innocuous enough, and the woman in them wasn't the same one who'd begged for their help in the entryway. However, there was something that unsettled him about each one. He didn't have time to examine them closer though as the group continued on.

The second floor also had a fireplace that sprang to life as M.A. entered the main hall. From here, there were three doors that exited the room. A wall blocked the way to the next floor. Instead of a table, this hall had four suits of armor. Each one held a sword and shield in front of them as they stood at attention. Two stood on the left wall on either side of the double doors, while the other two stood in the same position on either side of a second set of double doors.

Ander squirmed to be let down and Jun obliged. The group split up and began to examine each of the suits of armor, hesitantly at first as they made sure the suits wouldn't move.

The most obvious thing about each suit of armor was their shields. Each shield was almost as tall as Ander, and in the center was a four-paneled crest. Only one shield had a complete crest. The other three were all missing one or two panels, for five total missing.

Iados tapped the empty spot on the nearest shield. "Wild guess, we have to complete the crests to move on." He eyed the currently closed doors warily. "Do we wanna draw lots on who gets trapped with whom this time?"

"I don't care, but we should avoid leaving anyone alone this time." Jun said as he flicked his eyes towards Elaine.

Kerri crossed her arms. "That was not on purpose."

Elaine laid a hand on Kerri's shoulder. "No one said it was. Now, which door do you want to explore?"

As the words left her mouth, the double doors on the left-hand wall silently opened inward. A melody began to spill out. Everyone leaned to look within. In a far corner, in front of a picturesque window of the dark sky, was a highly polished grand piano.

"Might I suggest you take this room, Kerri?" Lia said as she turned to look at the half-elf. "Oh, so just because there's a piano, you want to send the bard in to check it out?" Kerri's voice dripped in angry sarcasm. Lia's eyes widened in shock. She stammered under Kerri's piercing gaze as she tried to formulate an answer. Just as quickly, Kerri dissolved into giggles. She reached out and steadied herself on Lia's shoulder as she bent over in laughter. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. I will gladly take a piano over anything else."

Lia rolled her eyes. "Glad to see you're getting over your fear of this place."

Kerri reached up and wiped a tear off her cheek. "Oh I'm still terrified, but your face was priceless." Lia hooked her arm around Kerri's and pulled the younger girl into the room. With a shake of her head, Elaine followed.

The door stayed open.

The four males left turned their attention towards the two doors on the right-hand wall.

"Do we split up, or stick together?" Carric asked, his hands on his hips.

"Let's split up. We need to get through this fast." Ander quipped.

Iados's lip twitched. "Why? In a hurry to get into a fight with whatever evil is killing people?"

"No, but I'd like to get it over with." Ander headed towards the door closest to him. This one was a single door. Jun followed after.

This door stayed open as well.

Carric turned to the akudaem. "Well, I guess that leaves us."

Iados shrugged and gestured dramatically towards the double-doors. "After you." As the two of them approached the doors, they too swung open on their own, and stayed open.

Kerri immediately headed towards the piano. The ivory keys moved themselves as the melody continued. It was an upbeat and happy tune that was completely at odds with the dark surroundings. The rest of the room was relatively empty. The fireplace lit the room with its silent flame. There were two end tables stationed against walls, and then in the very center was a blue velvet chaise lounge. Laid upon the lounge, was a sunshine yellow dress, with white accents. Lia stepped closer to the dress.

The dress moved. It rose up, and began to encircle Lia. It held out its yellow sleeves towards her as it swayed and twirled to the melody from the piano.

"I think it wants you to dance with it." Kerri said with a smile as she leaned an elbow on the piano. The dress's movements were clumsy at best, not hostile.

Lia gently laid her staff and pack on the lounge. She grabbed the sleeves and tried to match the dress's dance. It did not go well. When the dress tried to go right, Lia went left, and if the dress had actually had feet no doubt Lia would have trodden all over them. After only a few minutes, the dress tugged itself out of the elf's hands and twirled away towards the cleric.

Elaine set down her items and prepared herself to step into the dance. She'd been dragged into plenty of impromptu dances by Kerri, so she was confident. Elaine slid in, and within moments had taken control of the dance. The almost erratic movements of the dress were smoothed out as Elaine led it around the lounge.

Unbeknownst to the girls, Ander had crept up to the doorway. He peered in and watched the dance recital with a raised eyebrow.

The dress seemed to be slowing down, and Elaine took that as a sign that the dance was done. She tried to dip her garmented partner, but the dress did not want to be dipped. It folded itself around Elaine's arm and headed towards its next partner.

All the girls burst out in laughter as the dress wrapped itself around Ander and dragged him into the room.

"Just go with it!" Kerri cheered as the bottom and sleeves of the dress rolled themselves up so that it was comparable in size to Ander. Elaine and Lia echoed the cheer.

In answer, Ander tossed his bag at Lia, and followed Elaine's example as he grasped the dress's sleeves. The halfling then began to lead the dress in a jaunty trot around the lounge. Kerri's mouth dropped open as she saw the halfling's footwork at play. He expertly moved the dress where it needed to go so as not to break the rhythm, mostly with well-timed spins and even one lift.

The cheers of his audience drew the attention of the others, and soon the doorway was once again occupied as Iados, Carric, and Jun all poked their heads in. They were able to view the final moments of Ander's dance that ended with a deep dip of the dress.

While the audience clapped for the performance, the dress unfurled itself, and a ghostly specter of a human woman with wavy hair appeared. She knelt before Ander with a soft smile on her face. From a pocket hidden within the folds of the dress, the woman brought out an ornate golden ring. She gestured for Ander to hold out his hand, and he did. She placed the ring in his hand, and curled his fingers around it. She clenched the fist tightly in her spectral hands, as she stared into Ander's eyes and mouthed something to him. Finally, she reached out and kissed Ander on the cheek before she vanished and the dress crumbled to the ground.

Carric whistled. "Wow, they sure went all out on these illusions." Several of the others nodded in agreement.

"No," Ander said as he opened his fist and looked at the ring. "I don't think that was part of the attraction."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Kerri walked over and picked up the dress. "What makes you think that?"

Ander looked up at her, and then at the others. "She said 'help me'."

"See, now that matches the tone of this song more than that dance did." Iados jerked a thumb over at the piano as it continued to play.

Kerri's eyebrows furrowed. "What's the song? I don't think I've heard it before."

"Really? They sang it to us all the time at the orphanage." Carric answered as he walked in and leaned against the wall.

"My grandparents made us sing it every day when my siblings and I were little." Elaine added. "I've only heard it in Marblebrooke, so that's probably why you've never heard it." Elaine reached behind her and picked up a book that had been laying on top of one of the end tables. It was already opened to a dog-eared page. She handed it to Kerri. "That book actually has the lyrics in it."

Kerri scanned the page. It was beginner's guide on how to play the tune on the piano. Included with the sheet music, was a diagram of the piano keys. She sat down on the piano seat as she sang out the lyrics.

"Walking down the lane with a basket full of bread,

Suzy hears a song in her head.

Skipping down the lane with her arms full of flowers,

Mandy makes her way towards the Towers.

Dancing up the steps as they're dressed in their best,

Suzy and Mandy are now the guests.

Lured in by a song and smell, then whisked away,

It's always best to just say 'nay'."

Kerri raised an eyebrow as she finished the tune. "It's not the best song I've ever heard." She turned her attention towards the piano keys.

Carric laughed. "Supposedly Suzy and Mandy were kidnapped by evil warlocks, who lured them away from their parents with a song and a path of flowers. Kids were taught it as an example of 'stranger danger'."

"My grandmother told us that the girl's mangled bodies had been found at the top of the tower." Elaine picked up her pack. "What were the other rooms like?"

Jun shrugged. "There are two beds, two trunks, and two creepy dolls. Ander thought he'd check in with you all before he messed with the dolls." Jun grinned. "I think they creeped him out."

"They did not, I just wanted to know what was so funny in here." Ander put the ring in his belt pouch.

"Where'd you learn to dance like that?" Lia passed his pack back over to him.

The halfling reached up and scratched the back of his head. "You've obviously never attended a halfling block party." Ander looked at Carric. "What about your room?"

"Books, a crap ton of them and a big desk. Iados figured you might have more fun with that room." Carric grinned as he saw Ander's eyes widen slightly.

Iados wandered over to Kerri, whose mouth had turned into a scowl as her eyes flickered back and forth from the page to the piano keys.

He sat down next to her. "What's up?"

"The keys aren't right." Kerri muttered. "They're not lining up with the diagram. In fact, they're not even right with the melody." Kerri settled the book on the stand above the keys. She placed her hands on the keys, waited for the already playing melody to start anew, and then began to play. She hummed the melody to herself as she played the correct notes. She was tripped up a bit in the beginning, as she'd go to press a key only to find it already pressed. By the end of the third verse, only the keys that she wanted to be pressed moved. On the final verse, everything lined up. At the end of the song, instead of repeating itself, the piano stayed quiet.

The others all turned to look.

"Now what?" Iados whispered. Kerri shrugged. She reached up and removed the book. Behind it, sitting on the stand, was a rectangular tile with part of a crest on it.

Carric led the way into the single doored room. On his heels were Lia and Kerri. The others had followed Ander as he'd dashed into the study room.

Just as Jun had said, this room had two neatly made beds, each with a padlocked trunk at their foot. On top of the beds, were two dolls with painted porcelain heads and knitted dresses. To the left of the door, was a large wooden cupboard.

"At least there's not much to search here." Kerri headed over to one of the beds. She cast a wary eye on the doll.

"It's not going to bite you." Lia teased as grasped the handles of the cupboard.

"You don't know that." Kerri argued. She pulled her dagger and used it to tip the doll over. The doll didn't do anything.

Lia gave a small laugh as she tugged at the cupboard doors. They were stuck. She tugged harder and harder, until finally they gave like a cork bottle. Mounds and mounds of clothing cascaded down onto Lia. Within seconds the druid had disappeared from view. Carric hurried over and began to dig through the clothes piles. Kerri didn't even try to hide her satisfied smirk.

"I'm alright." Lia grumbled as Carric helped her to her feet. She kicked the pile. The clothes were of various sizes, mostly in muted browns and greens. "At least they appear to clean."

"Well, that will make going through the pockets less unsavory." Carric commented as he sat down on one of the beds.

"Why would we go through the pockets?" Lia asked.

Carric shrugged. "It's where I would hide something if I wanted to mess with someone."

"He's got a point." Kerri had picked up the doll. She turned it over to check under its dress, and when she did they all heard the resounding 'clink'.

"What was that?" Lia knelt back down in the pile.

Kerri shook the doll again, and the sound came again. "I think it came from the head." She tried to twist off the head, but it wouldn't budge.

Carric held out his hand, and Kerri reluctantly handed it over. He got a good grip on the dolls leg, before he back-handed it into the wall. The head shattered into dozens of pieces.

"What the hell!" Kerri yelled, eyes wide, as Carric reached over and grabbed something off the bed. He held up a small silver key, which was snatched by the bard. "You didn't have to smash its head."

Carric shrugged. "Easiest way." He picked up the second doll, and did the same to it. Another key, this time bronze, fell out.

Lia didn't say anything, only shook her head, as she focused on checking the pockets of every garment. It seemed that the house's mastermind had the same thoughts as Carric, as not only did every article have several pockets, but some of them had small random items. So far she'd found a lot of buttons, pebbles, and wood chips.

Kerri knelt in front of the left trunk, and she didn't even have to try the key in the lock to see that it was much too small.

At the right trunk, Carric had popped the lock with ease. The inside of the trunk was filled with small boxes, nearly a dozen of them just thrown in haphazardly. He started to open the boxes. Like Lia, he found that a lot of the boxes had random items, mostly pebbles, tossed inside of them. Finally, he found a shield piece. He still opened all of the boxes just to be thorough.

Kerri left the two of them to their search, and went to go see what was in the study.

Ten minutes in, Lia finally found another bronze key. She crawled to the left trunk, and gave a small cheer when the padlock popped open. Like Carric's trunk, this one was also filled with small boxes. Together, the two of them made quick work, and found a second shield piece, as well as a folded piece of parchment with strange symbols on it.

Treasure in tow, they left to see how the other members of their party had fared.

"Remind me to request a magic storage bag from the recovery department." Ander said as he took a moment to just gape at the enormous five-rowed built-in bookcase that spanned an entire wall. Every inch was filled with books. All the books were of similar size and thickness, with burgundy bindings and gold lettering.

Iados pulled a book off the shelf. "Oh yes, because you need a copy of Beezil's Guide to Bedmaking." He quickly flipped through it. "This is literally a step-by-step guide on how to make a bed."

"At least yours has words." Elaine had pulled down another book and scanned through the empty pages.

Jun walked over to the large desk, as Ander clambered up the ladder that was attached to the shelf. The berserker opened the top-most desk drawer. "Found something." He pulled out a piece of paper and showed it off. The paper had the Common alphabet on it, under which each letter had a different symbol. "Ideas?"

Elaine walked over and took the page. "Obviously it's a decryption key, but what are we supposed to be decrypting?"

Jun took a long look at the bookcase. "I think it's the books." He walked over, pulled down a book, and brought it over to Elaine. He showed her the spine, where a circular symbol had been inscribed. He then pointed to the same symbol on the key. "We should pull down all the books that have these symbols."

"Or," Ander climbed off the ladder. "We could leave them on the shelves as no doubt order is important." Ander climbed on to the desk, then dug out a notebook and pencil from his pack. "Lets start in the corner, and take it book-by-book."

"Ugh," Iados groaned as he leaned heavily on the ladder. "Do you realize how long that will take?"

"Then perhaps you should just shut it and get up the ladder then." Jun chastised with a grin as he walked over to the ladder.

"How come I have to go up it?" Iados whined.

"Aren't you always talking about how you were the king of the crow's nest on your ship? Think of this ladder as its uglier cousin."

Iados narrowed his eyes. "I think you're just scared of heights." Jun playfully raised his fist, and Iados scurried up the ladder.

The four of them set up a system. Iados would scan the spines for symbols as Jun slid the ladder back and forth along the bookcase. When they found one, it would be passed to Elaine who would check the symbol against their key. Elaine would then relay the corresponding letter to Ander. It didn't take the crew long to realize that not all of the symbols that were on the books, were on the key. Also, roughly about a third of the books had symbols, so it was very tedious work.

They'd just finished the first row when Kerri walked in.

"You guys done already?" Elaine asked.

Kerri settled down in the straight-backed chair behind the desk. "I am. Carric broke some doll's heads and found a couple of keys." She held up the silver key. "I came to see if anything in here needed a key."

"Not that we've seen, but we haven't really looked around." Ander held up his book.

Kerri glanced over. The letters C-H-E-C-K-I-N-T were scrawled down. "Wow, such progress." She stood up, and started her search of the room. She checked the desk for locked or hidden drawers. She went over to the fireplace, but it didn't have any small chests. The room was pretty bare save for the bookcase.

After some time, Lia and Carric walked into the room. Carric held up the two shield pieces.

"Three down, two to go!" Iados cheered from the ladder. They were halfway through the fourth row.

Lia unfurled the paper they'd found and brought it over to Ander. "We also found this. Do you recognize these symbols?"

"Oh yeah, it's only been our life for the past fifteen minutes." He pointed with his pencil over at Elaine. Elaine held up the key over her shoulder so that Lia could see it.

"How far are you guys into this?" Carric asked.

"'Check in the hollow part of this place that makes secrets di-'." Ander read. "Any ideas? I'm thinking that the last word is 'disappear'."

"Makes sense." Lia tapped her chin and looked around the room. Her eyes settled on the fireplace. "What about a hollowed out brick?" She pointed towards the fireplace. Everyone turned to look.

"I've definitely seen a few secrets burn up in a fireplace." Iados jumped off the ladder, and made a beeline for the fireplace. He started to tap every brick. Carric went over and helped him.

Ander tore out the page out his book, crumpled it, and threw it over his shoulder. He looked at Lia. "Let's decode your page now."

Kerri beckoned for Jun and Elaine to follow her out of the room. Elaine left the decryption key with Lia. Kerri led them back into the room across the hall.

"What are we doing?" Jun asked.

Kerri held up her silver key. "We didn't really search this room before." She started to go over every inch of the piano.

Elaine checked out the nearest end table, but it didn't have any drawers. Jun crossed the room and looked around the fireplace.

Elaine went to the second end table. This one did have a small drawer. "Kerri, bring me that key." The other two gathered around, and Kerri passed the key over. With a small click, the drawer opened.

Inside was a shield tile and a letter. Elaine passed the tile to Jun. She pulled out the letter, and quickly scanned the contents. Her brow furrowed and her mouth twisted into a scowl.

"What is it?" Kerri tried to read over Elaine's shoulder.

"It's been a while since I've read something so full of hate." Elaine handed the letter over to Kerri. "Whoever wrote, really hated the recipient. They said that they were 'unfit' to be parents, and that the kids would be better off dead."

"So, it's a prop for the house story." Jun clarified as Kerri read the letter.

"Looks like it, but for all the hate that's written there, there's also some sad." Kerri pointed at the small patches of smudged ink. "Someone cried over this letter."

Jun stuffed the letter back in the drawer and slammed it closed. "Sad, yes. Relevant, no. We're not here to solve the pretend mystery, but the actual mystery. Let's rejoin the others."

Everyone else was in the hall.

Carric was the first to notice them. "Find anything?" Iados was knelt in front of one of the suits of armor. He tried to put two his tiles into the empty spaces. He thought he had it, but then it fell out. Ander and Lia had similar luck. Jun held the tile they'd found. He handed it to Ander.

Kerri crouched down next to Lia. "What did the paper say?"

"It was a spell." Lia pumped her fist as she got her piece to stay in place.

"What kind of spell?" Kerri asked.

"The title said it was a banishment spell." Ander answered. "For the record, it was the most fake spell I'd ever seen. It was nothing more than a glorified poem."

"Sounds like another prop." Jun added.

Iados groaned in defeat. "Someone trade me tiles, these aren't working for me."

Ander held up his tiles, and Kerri popped to her feet. She made the trade for two of them. Within minutes, both Ander and Iados yelled in victory. They scrambled to their feet and looked towards the wall that blocked the stairway.

It didn't change.

They all turned around to look at the shields.

"Did we do it wrong?" Kerri asked.

Ander rolled his eyes. "Considering this was the only way we could put the shield pieces in, no, we did not do it wrong."

Kerri rounded on the halfling. "Then what are we missing?"

Ander threw his arms up. "How am I supposed to know?"

"Maybe the person who built this place just didn't get to enchanting the exit?" Carric suggested.

"Well, only one thing left to do." Jun took out his warhammer and approached the wall. The weapon hit with a resounding thud, but there was no damage to the wall. Suddenly, he heard the warhammer begin to hum. He felt it jerk him ever so silently to the left.

Jun took several steps to the left, and narrowly missed the shield that suddenly jutted out towards him.

"Woah!" Iados yelled. They watched as a suit of armor, the one that hadn't had any pieces removed from their shield, walk jerkily towards Jun.

Jun readjusted his grip and swung towards the armor. He landed a solid hit on the torso, but the armor didn't even react. The armor swung its sword and sliced deeply into his arm. Jun hissed and reached out to attack again, but only managed to nick the suit's shoulder. The armor shoved Jun out with its shield, before it brought down its sword again and slashed Jun's left shoulder.

"Move!" Iados dashed forward, jammed the quarterstaff on the ground and used it to launch himself towards the suit of armor. He rammed his heel into the suit's sternum. The suit tried to attack Iados, but the akudaem easily ducked under the swing. Iados used the end of the staff to smack the armor's helm off. He followed it up with a kick to the suit's torso.

The suit clattered to the floor in pieces.

The wall shimmered, and revealed the stairs.

Jun sat down heavily on the bottom step. The wound to his shoulder bled heavily. Elaine came forward, her hand already glowing. The light from her hand seeped into his wound, and the bleeding stopped. She pulled a bandage out of her pack and wrapped it around the wound.

Jun nodded towards Iados. "Thanks for the assist."

Iados leaned on his staff. "Couldn't let you have all the fun."

Jun winced as Elaine moved on to the wound on his arm. This one had already stopped bleeding. "You're pretty good with that staff."

"Yeah, but I still miss my sword." Iados looked up the stairs behind Jun. "I dare say the real mission has just started."

Carric cracked his neck. "Yeah, and they've drawn the first blood, not a good sign for us."

Ander put on the suit's helm, which was just a tad too big for his head. "That's not really fair considering this thing didn't have blood."

Kerri stepped behind the halfling and lifted the helm off of him. "Let's just hope that all of our opponents were are as easy as that suit."

Jun raised an eyebrow at the statement, but didn't say anything.