"Xavier! Quit screwing around in the tree and get down here! We're going into this house and I don't want the group to be split up again by its trickery."

Chiron barely glanced back over his shoulder as he admonished the very excitable and oft-noisy man, mistaking the ghost's scream for a cry of delight from Xavier, perhaps at finding a bird's nest up in the tree.

After calling out the warning, the paladin aided Tenacity in getting Diligence through the door and into the house. He was surprised at how relatively calm the animal was at being herded through such a relatively small opening and was glad they only had to do this once.

Prajna's very nature and connection to Chiron allowed her to return to the safety of her home plane to wait for her master's call. She watched as Chiron and Tenacity entered the house, followed closely by Seluumiel, before departing for home.

OoC:Your roll results:
18 Your total roll is 22 and a mod of +4.

Xavier nearly took a tumble as a ghost flew past him and passed through him, putting a chilling sensation through him. But his natural talent caught him, and he managed to perch carefully on the branch. Was it coincidental that this had just happened after the door had been opened to the house?

"I don't THINK SO!" Xavier said aloud.

Suddenly aware the Chiron had addressed him prior to that statement, Xavier decided to backtrack a bit.

"Sorry Chiron, that wasn't directed at you. I was simply assaulted by a ghost when that door opened, so it's no big deal, don't worry. I simply decided a vantage point was better." Xavier jumped down from the tree, tucking into a nice somersault and then popping up to land on his feet. "It was just something called 'reconnaissance' and I figured it would be useful."

-------------------------

OoC: Sorry about that, I'm in the same boat as Nimu here, thought it had fizzled.

Tenacity stepped out of the house once more after Diligence was safely inside. Sword at the ready, she was more than a little curious about the ruckus Xavier was raising.

"I think if there are specters and other such unknowns out here, it would be safest inside the house. So far, the number of walls and doors seems finite. Security in certainty. Let's all get inside and get to the bottom of this." She decided not to mention that the door hadn't even been latched, as no one was going to get anywhere if the paranoia ran rampant.

She gestured for everyone to follow her and returned to her horse's side.

The singularity of the ghost may have only been a warning or to test the resolve of what they considered the least of the group. They were wrong. The man the ghost attacked, pocessed a secret strength within, not out for all to see.

Tenacity motioned for the rest of her commrades to catch up and get inside. The door remained unlatched and open.

Inside the room were four walls and no windows. The back wall had what appeared to be four huge walk in rooms or closets and in the middle of this room, a large ornate, black, wooden table. In the corners of the room are sconces supporting torches. The table had nothing on it for it's previous contents were taken before.

(OOC: the room is pretty big at 30ft x 60ft with a 10ft ceiling.)

Seluumiel moved along with her companions as they each, one by one, entered again the phantom house. Raising a pale hand to the doorway she touched a hand to a wall as if to remember their narrow escape the last time they entered this place.

Once inside the moon elf faced her human companions with intense sapphire eyes before addressing them all, "I do not believe that there are specters out hunting us. When I cast my divination a cacophony of voices spoke a warning into my mind. 'Beware and take heed, you will be lost and afraid!' I believe whatever spoke to me and whatever rushed at Xavier is trying to warn us of this house."

No sooner did Seluumiel finish her sentence, the door slammed shut on its own.....then disappeared. With the exeption of the breathing of all present, the room fell deathly silent.
The only doors available are now those four along the back wall.

The paladin's head drooped when the door slammed shut behind them. He should have remembered Satya's plight last time they were here.

"Well. Four doors. I'm afraid I don't recall which of the doors the drow used to find her dragon, so I guess we just pick one? The evil emanating from this place came from all of the doors, equally. We could all open one of the doors at the same time, though I'm not sure that's the best idea. Any of you have a preference?"

As the last words left Seluumiel's lips the thud of a door slamming shut echoed through the room. The moon elf quickly spun around only to see the door disappear. Bowing her head the priestess laid a hand on the wall where the door had once been. They were trapped.

All her fears had been confirmed, they entered this place knowing far too little and now they were trapped. It was up to the house itself to keep them within its walls or to release them. And what of what lurked deeper with the building?

Seluumiel let out a soft calming breath, then closed her eyes and whispered a silent prayer to Sehanine Moonbow. Panic would do them little good and would surely tarnish the dignity of a full priestess of the lunar goddess of mysteries. They were here to do a job, and there was little for them to do but carry on.

At Chiron's question the moon elf turned to face her companions. She nodded in silence. It seemed at least one of them had the steel to see this through. Cocking her head the elf watched the paladin with a curious light in her eyes. The man was stubborn to the core, and it had been his stubbornness that had ultimately led to the departure of Ardulace. Perhaps that very stubbornness would serve them now. Seluumiel was not often one to follow where others led, but for a time she would the human be the foundation.

Seluumiel caught the paladin's eye and with calm returning to her voice addressed him, "True we must carry on, but perhaps before we open doors a little magic can shed light on what might lurk beyond them."

The elf did not wait for a response. With graceful gestures and esoteric words she summoned the magics that flowed through her elven veins and cast her spell opening her mind to what might lay beyond.

((OOC: casts Detect Thoughts 2 MP))

Seluumiel opened her mind to the divination and in a few short breathes the awareness of other minds came to her. Myriad minds danced along the surface of her awareness and Seluumiel paid heed to each. The familiar draconic malevolence was no longer hidden within the house, in its place an older more benevolent being lay somewhere within the phantom edifice. Her mind raced at this. Some spectral presence had tried to warn them of this place. Could it be the very presence her spell now revealed? It was a thought to ponder later, the violent thoughts of orcs and ogres lay just beyond the doors.

Though violent and prevalent Seluumiel could not fully grasp the barbaric thoughts, each mind was muffled. Just as she could concretely feel the minds they would shift their location leaving her with the need to begin prying all over again. The moon priestess narrowed her eyes and heightened her focus on the bestial minds that lay behind one of the doors. Soon a pattern began to emerge and the moon priestess found herself able to predict where the presences would be.

Seluumiel closed her eyes and cocked her head to the side studying the pattern for a moment. She then faced her companions and mouthed "orcs and ogres." In a fluid motion she moved to the door closest to the left wall, counted to twelve, and opened the door.

Seluumiel opened the door, and to her relief there appeared to be no danger.

This room was brightly lit and white. She could see an old man sitting in a chair in a corner on the far end of the room on the right hand side. He sat silently in a rocking chair, patiently waiting for one in the party to address him. He seemed to be an old wizard, though none present has seen anything of his likeness before. At the end of the room very close to where he sits, there is a glowing keystone archway, apparently a portal of some sort, next to his rocker. Upon closer examination, the party finds him to be an elf, old even by Elven standards of age.

He looks in the group's direction and merely smiles, nothing more, just smiles, as if he's been expecting them
......always has been expecting THEM.....

Her divination had led her true, beyond the door lay not the orcs and ogres but an ancient elven wizard. Seluumiel studied him for a time. The man was far older than any she had seen, the signs of age marked him in a way that even non-elven eyes could see. Even the most ancient women of her order were not as old as he.

The moon elf took a step toward the ancient elf and spread her arms open, palms facing upward in the elven sign of greeting. She bowed her head slightly in respect before meeting his eyes.

"Vedui," Seluumiel addressed the man, "Amin na'aya Seluumiel Ithil'Luume, ithil'amandil en' Sehanine Moonbow. Amin na'aya yanwe ed'amin mellonim, Chiron Po, Xavier von Richter, ar' Tenacity Valence."

The old man looked at her with knowing eyes, as if he had known them already and had been expecting them. Strangely this did not seem out of place, she simply nodded and continued.

"Lye nelde caelaya tule sina yamen' ma'aya kwar n'alaquel rim'ksh ar' sii'utuaya lye oblete yassene. Amin leneemaya lle o'iant, nyaraya lye mani lle sintaya."

He bows back to her from his rocker and responds in common,"I appreciate the honor you do me by speaking in your native tongue, however there are those among us that do not speak in elvish and I have almost all but forgotten the language as much as I have forgotten my own name and how long I've been guarding this gate. Therefore you may call me Guardian. Besides, there is a slight linguistic difference between Moon elves and High elves," he pauses then adds,"Not that big of a difference though."

He pauses again and begins to tell his story.

"Long, long, long ago when I was mere adolesent, I was trained in the art of Guardianship. My Order studied and Guarded portals that had just started popping up in our world in a 100 year period. The Order of Transposition has had to post five guardians including myself, and I have been here ever since, Guarding this one portal. Speaking of which, as for a way out, this portal is it."

"Just this one, you say?" Tenacity said as she stepped forward. "Do you know anything of what lies beyond the other doors in this trap? Why this portal, and what else do you want to tell us about it?"

She had been about to open the same door as Seluumiel, but with far less preparation. The ominous foreboding shrouding every aspect of this place felt even stranger in light of this discovery. With a shake of her head, she returned her gaze to the old elf.

"What other doors? The one you entered the house with and the one that leads to this room should be the only doors here. This is my solitary confinement, my burden to bare, keeping the evil that rules the other side of this portal from leaking into this world."

He paused a moment then a panicked look came over his face.

"These other doors you speak of....Do they lead to other portals as well?"

The door Seluumiel opened revealed not the orcs and ogres Chiron was expecting, but a solitary aged elf. The priestess spoke with him at first in elven, then the common tongue, as he explained who he was and why he was in this forsaken house.

The paladin remained in the main room while two spoke, moving into the doorway as Tenacity stepped into the smaller room to join the conversation.

The Guardian suddenly looked panicked and asked about the other doors.

"We do not know for sure what lies beyond the other doors. A former associate claimed that one of the doors led to a room with a black dragon. That claim has yet to be verified. We have detected what we assume to be teleportation magics at work jumbling whatever lies beyond the other doors.

"Have you never left this room to explore the rest of house?"