Behind the kitchen sits a small room with two sets of stairs. One leading up. The other leading down. You and your friends decide to explore the latter, and descend into the dank depths of the basement.

RESULTS:

The windowless basement felt more like a cavern to you and your friends. The air stale. The atmosphere uninviting. You all decide to get the searching done quickly and choose a room.

Lady Fortune is fickle. Who will she favor? And who will she abandon?

The large, vault-like doors leading to the basement's secret rooms once kept intruders out. But a century of disuse has caused them to fall off their hinges and lay to the side. The Laboratory looks like something straight out of an old, b-movie. Vials and jars filled with putrid liquids and odd machinery. On a nearby gurney, a disturbing looking shape rests beneath a yellowed sheet. One of you bravely steps forward and pulls off the sheet, only to find gold!
Enough for 900g :gold: each!

The Basement Storage offers a variety of items. Unfortunately, most of it is of little value to you. Old heavy furniture. Moth eaten clothing. A suit of armor you swear is staring at you. You come upon a tightly sealed box reading 'Amelia and Sedrick'. Inside you discover a perfectly preserved pair of plush rabbits. They're obviously antiques and may be worth something... though you do feel like a bit of heel taking the stuffed animals of dead children. :ninja:


I hope you didn't come to the Pantry hungry, cause there is certainly nothing edible left. Though everything perishable has long since... perished, the pong of decaying food still hangs thick. There isn't too much to search, but in a tarnished canister of flour you make a curious find. A finely made pair of chokers. Was someone trying to hide them?


Many wouldn't expect to find anything salvageable in a Maintenance Room, but you have decided to roll the dice. And your gambles pays off, though not in the way you imagined. The maintenance room is a small space with tools, a work bench and not much else. But in the middle of the floor you find an expensive pair of headphones, and they're not too old. Was someone here recently? And if that someone left them behind, where are they now?

---

You entered the Wine Cellar seeking libation and found instead a gruesome pair of drinking buddies.


~The Story Cordelia Hunt and BFF Becky~
Tired of being dismissed by her peers as a "spoiled rich girl," Cordelia Hunt called on her best friend Becky (who was always up for anything) and set out to prove them wrong by spending the night in the haunted Manor. After an uneventful exploration of the first floor, the two made their way down to the Wine Cellar and sat on a bench to rest their feet.

Cordelia sighed, bored. Stretching her arms and yawning, Becky leaned back against a cask and heard the liquid splosh inside. "Ooh!!" she squealed, "Do you think it's still good?" Noticing two wooden cups conveniently placed on a table beside the cask, Cordelia shrugged to her friend. "Let's find out!"

Somewhere around the fourth or seventh cup, Cordelia turned to her BFF and said, "Omigosh Becky, this wine is nasty! It tastes like salt, and -- and copper pennies!"

The coroner's report would list "alcohol poisoning" as the cause of death, but Cordelia and Becky's antics have become something of an urban legend. The word among the youth is that the official report is a cover-up, and that the girls had actually died from drinking gallons of human blood.

(Note: Everyone in the Wine Cellar receives 2 ghost points. ;D)

---

You really should have known better. For history tells us, those who enter a Dungeon often never come out.

~The Story of Spencer Whitehill~
There were few, if any, who could claim to the know the inner-workings of Alexander Marcheford's mind. One wonders if even his most beloved, Eloise, knew. He kept most people at arm's length and allowed near no one into his world. One exception was Spencer Whitehill, Marcheford's footman. He was the servant with whom Alexander interacted the most and even assisted inside the basement laboratory, which was off limits to everyone else.

Various dealings with his employer aside, Spencer was a loner. He was regarded as a snob by the rest of the staff, considering himself above them. In the months following Eloise's death, Whitehill found himself spending more and more time with Marcheford in the hidden basement rooms. But soon his demeanor began to change. He was troubled and seemed to be losing his usual confidence. ... Whitehill's last day came abruptly. Marcheford claimed he found the man dead, having accidentally ingested some chemicals being used on the experimental rats. This occurred in the 'Subject Room', as Alexander referred to it. Others would call it.. the dungeon.

---

Marcheford's maintenance man waits in the Boiler Room, and he has a burning desire to meet you.

~The Story of Jacob Balliwick~
Calling Jacob Balliwick the maintenance man slow-witted would be a kindness. Truth was he didn't have the mental faculties that god gave a rabid woodchuck. But what he lacked in smarts he made up with an almost savant-like ability to repair anything that needed fixing.

In the weeks following Eloise's death, the weather on the island was chillier than usual. On one particularly nippy night, the boiler, for some odd reason, suddenly gave out. Mr. Marcheford summoned his maintenance man and demanded that it be fixed immediately. Usually not easy for someone without two thoughts to rub together, but for Jacob a simple task. No one can be too sure what happened next. The other servants heard a blood-curdling shout and rushed down to the basement. Throwing open the boiler room door, they found Jacob, flailing about, engulfed in flames. He was promptly put out, but did not live long after. In the aftermath, Alexander Marcheford lamented he would need to buy a new boiler.

---

In some ways it's lucky you find the maid in the Laundry Room. She can wash the blood out when she's through with you.

~The Story of Henriette Garvin~
When Eloise became the lady of Marcheford Manor, she brought along her most trusted maid, Henriette Garvin. The relationship between the two women surpassed that of servant and employer. Eloise considered Henriette to be her best friend and most trusted confidante.

When Eloise died, it was a devastating blow to Henriette. But as a strong and self-assured woman, she resolved to stay on at Marcheford and serve the family her departed friend loved so much. The only downside, it seemed, was having to deal with Boris, the Chef.

Boris was madly infatuated with the pretty, blonde maid. But his boorish nature and wild temper repelled her. On the day of her unfortunate demise, Cara Ellison, the serving girl, overheard Boris rambling to himself about Henriette finally confessing her love. Cara confronted her about this, which Henriette strongly denied. "I'll have to set him straight, once and for all." She was remarked to say.

It would be the last thing she'd ever do. That nights, the household was awoken by screams coming from the basement. Searching the laundry room, they found poor Henriette dead, a stab wound through her heart.

---

Even when trying to warm herself, poor Julia O'Dowd ends up in the Freezer, the coldest room of the house. She invites you to find a meat hook and hang around.