Phoenix and Doctor Caldwell had made their own preparations to enter. Avrion looked to both of them, giving each a confirming nod. The professor wanted to personally take the front. He moved up to the busted door and drew the multi-barreled flintlock he'd brought with him for the venture. "I don't expect anything in the house but the tunnels below are another story. Move in single file line. These floorboards are old. We might as well walk on parchment. Deep below is a cellar so watch your step." With that he pushed the busted door open and walked slowly, choosing each step carefully. The floorboards creaked consistently with each step.

Ray Conover drew close behind Avrion, crossbow leveled and scanning the corners. Avrion spoke with a subtler voice. "We're meeting someone at the end of that tunnel. I will go first as she is quite uncomfortable with strangers and has her own process of doing things." The front hall here was wide and was connected to several of the major rooms in the mansion.

There was a creaking sound from the boards overhead. "That's not right. There shouldn't be any furniture above us." Unsettled dust drifted from the ceiling eerily.

"Uh -" Is all Ray manages before the boards beneath his feet splinter apart, cascading the hall from the hellish amount of disturbed dust. Ray was gone. Swift footfalls hammer the floor above and creaking comes from the side rooms. From the stairs up and some of the rooms around charge brigands with hoods and masks hiding their faces. They brandish their blades and rush forward.

Coughing, Avrion shouts as he reaches the door down to the cellar. "Move!" Taking aim at the bandit on the staircase he fires, planting deadly lead in his rib cage.