Truly Evil?

"Well, if Ician would like to trap-check the kitchen, we could have a quick meal. I can check for poisons in the food, and it'll be a while until we get to eat again." And her food stock in the storage space was starting to get a bit low. She was just glad the food didn't age when stored, or she'd have quite a mess on her hooves.

"I'm not inclined to try any of the food there." Ician said slowly. "Given that poisons aren't the only things they could have slipped in, never mind how many billion types of poisons there are. Nonetheless, we ought to search the room." He trotted over to Dusk's position and pulled out another book from his saddlebags, throwing it into the room.

The book flew into the room, but nothing seemed to be triggered, or activated. This room also seemed to be trap free.

June raised an eyebrow. "Well, what could they slip into their food that would be deadly and entirely undetectable? If there's something in the food other than food, I will find it."

"It's probably just my paranoia talking. But I've never come to any harm listening to it." Ician stepped into the room and began telekinetically opening all the cupboards, cabinets and other compartments in a search for anything suspicious.

The cabinets would open to reveal dishes, cups, and glasses. The drawers would reveal silverware, more specific cooking utensils, and some additional plates. There were cleaning supplies and some other dishes to be found in some more cabinets, and even some pots and pans closer to the stove.

"Just average kitchenware." Ician stepped aside, allowing June and Dusk full access to the compartments. "If any of you can sense something amiss, I'd like to know. And I really should know, lest I do something I really shouldn't be. The last thing I want is to accidentally poison myself."

Dusk soon took Ician's place checking cabinets and compartments. He couldn't say he was hungry, but his training allowed him to endure with less food than the average pony. He hoped there was more than dishes and silverware in this kitchen though.

In this kitchen, there only appeared to be cooking implements, and although quite a lot of them, there didn't seem to be any food. The pantry door however off to the side might yield better results.

Having no luck with the cabinets, Dusk soon noticed the pantry door. If there was no food there, then they probably wouldn't find food anywhere else in the mansion. He still was cautious in opening the door, since it was possible something dangerous was inside instead of food. So, he opened the door with his sword drawn, expecting the worst.

Inside the pantry, there were numerous jars and other preserved foods lining shelves in the rather well stocked and lit room. There didn't appear to be any monsters, traps, or other malicious factors in the pantry other than possibly some rather feisty hot sauces or almost mean cheeses. Even dried spices and herbs were set up in the space to show more of the owners wealth.

"Well, I found the food," Dusk said so everypony could hear him. He figured Ician would want to check for traps first, so he stepped aside so he could do just that.

On cue, Ician stepped forward and pulled out one of the surgical instruments from the bottom of his bag. He had to rummage a little bit, but he eventually managed to retrieve it. "Thank you, Dusk. Now, let's see..." He levitated the instrument into the pantry, running it along the inside area to check if there were any touch-triggered traps.

Nothing, the surgical instrument simply slid around creating a little noise, but otherwise nothing happened.

"I guess it's safe then," Dusk said as he walked in. He started look at the jars that lined some of the shelves for anything that caught his eye. "Hmm. Pickles, green beans, beets, peaches, jams of many kinds, there's plenty to choose from, I'll say that much."

June started sniffing around the jars, checking if anything was out of place. Most poisons had a distinctive smell, and she had learned how to recognize the more popular ones. It... came up sometimes.

No poisons, nothing abnormal. All signs show this to be a normal pantry though well stocked and obviously belonging to a wealthy owner.

Ician peered further into the pantry. "So... an untrapped, well-stocked pantry..." He drew his head away. "This is evidence of very recent habitation if I've ever seen it. Sin Ester's definitely been around here not too long ago... even he even left to begin with." He shrugged. "So, anypony want anything from in there?"

"Hmm, I'm not much of a cook. But if there are some asparagus or brussel sprouts I'll gladly eat them. I'm not picky so long as it's not pickled," Dusk said as he continued looking at the jars on the shelves. "Oh, yes, asparagus," Dusk soon said as he pulled a jar full of asparagus off the shelf, promptly opening it and eating one straight out of the jar with a satisfied look on his face.

The canned asparagus was well enough if just a touch old, but the preservation had been done well it still maintained a respectable amount of freshness to the green stalks. That however probably wasn't quite as interesting as the slow and solid thumping coming from the hallway Ician had discovered just moments before. It'd started rather slow, and without any semblance of rhythm as a single occasional 'thud', but it was soon enough joined by a second one that was slightly lighter. Then a third, and soon it was hard to tell, but the thudding just continued coming from the hall. Actually looking into the space would show that it's source was the boarded up door.

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Sorry it took so long, I kind of lost sight of where I wanted to take this, but now the inspirations back so let's continue shall we?

Ician's ears pricked up as he heard the noise. His face darkened the moment it was doubled, the tripled. Something's trying to kill us again. Of course.

"Come on." He muttered to the others, drawing his sword out from his cloak and sneaking towards the door. He eyed the boarded door suspiciously. "Care to break it down, either of you? Anything to give us the element of surprise."

Though Dusk didn't want to break the door down, but he didn't want to let whatever was on the other side break out while they weren't around to notice it.

"I suppose breaking it down is my job. Any last minute objections before I do so?" he asked.

June took a few steps away from the door. "I'm not objecting." She was rather curious as to what was making the three sets of thumps. Three things, probably.

(Sorry this is so late.)

The banging, as insistent as ever, continued while the ponies still discussed. It even seemed to increase as they conversed, gradually building in tempo and frequency.

((It's fine, I actually lost a bit of motivation on this for a while))

Dusk figured Ician was on board with breaking the door down first, considering he was the one who suggested it. "Alright then, let's do this," he said. He figured going up to kick the door would be a dumb idea, so he used his sword to pry the boards off one by one, while standing back so he could respond to anything that came through.