The Skalawags

2. Entrances

The door opens after a hard tug. The child, gentry, must just have been too small and weak to unjam it. Doug takes a quick look inside. "Empty. It is pretty, come take look."

Cautiously at first, they all make their way up the steps and into the wagon. The interior is just as luxurious as the outside had been. The are long cushioned benches with red velvet and throw cushions of many different sizes and colours. A large wardrobe stands along one wall its door slightly ajar. Taking up the entirety of one end of the wagon is a theatrical make up table. The mole moves in to investigate.

On the table top is an array of different makeups and applicators, The mole quickly pieces together three bags of these, "Should be able to use this stuff to make simple disguises, I have plenty already, any of you want some?" He passes the bags around the others and continues to search the draws, tapping on the back panels and drawer bases for hidden compartments. He discovers a pouch with 50 gold coins and a red satin dress taped to the bottom of the table. "Here you go Aehorn, you will look good in this if we ever need to dress formally for a lords party."

The tiefling holds the dress up against her as she poses infront of the large mirror. "The red matches your eyes perfectly." Chester says peering over her shoulder and seeing what she sees in the reflection.

"There is a bowl of fruit and bread here. Everything looks like it was fresh today, yet there has been no one here for at least a day. Intriguing." Verigar settles onto the bench sinking back into the cushions as he starts to puff on his pipe once again.

"What do you think, old man? Poison?" Chester picks up a juicy red apple.

"Give me. Not had snack since morning." Doug deftly catches the apple as Chester throws it to him. He crunches into the fruit, munching loudly. "Is good."

"Curious, I wonder what other delights abound in here?" Verigar begins to search the seats for clues. He finds a few coppers down the back and shifts his attention to the scatter cushions. One of them seems to be weighted strangely so he unpicks the seam with his knife and pulls the stuffing out. He finds a small glass vial labelled 'potion of climbing.' "Could come in handy. What's in the wardrobe?"

Chester peers curiously inside. "Nothing. Just a big black hole with stairs going down."

"Hmmm, shift over Chester let me get a look." Verigar budges past to peer into the wardrobe. It stands around six feet tall and just as long though only a few feet deep. The walls of the interior are made from beautifully polished oak panelling. There is no floor to the wardrobe just a set of stairs leading down into blackness. Verigar glances back at the floor of the waggon, then into the hole once again. "I would say from all the scuff marks on the floor of the waggon that many people walked this way and then headed down the stairs. From what I remember, the underside of this waggon stands above the ground, you could see under it. This staircase appears to go down further than the ground outside. I deduce that this must be some form of portal into another dimension. Fascinating. Follow me and tread carefully." The dwarf begins to descend the stairs, pausing frequently to run his hands over the wooden walls or to tap at the steps.

Even with excellent night vision it becomes hard to see detail in the dark so Chester lights a candle. He tries hard not to imagine that this must be what it would be like to be in a coffin, surrounded by wooden walls, deep in the earth.

The stairs descend about 60 feet before levelling out into a corridor. "The walls seem thin, just like those of the wardrobe above. I wonder what might be on the other side?" Verigar says, always questioning.

"I find out." Doug smashes his fist through the left-hand wall then pulls his arm back out. "Looks dark through there."

Chester stands on tip toes and pokes his head through the hole, he squirms about to look up and down and then drops back to the floor. "Can't see nothing. Black is all."