Go upstairs.

Your crew proceeds up the steps to explore the haunted house's second floor. There are a number of rooms, from old bed chambers to smaller storage rooms filled with broken crates and other debris. As you walk, you find yourself batting away cobwebs and sniffling through the dusty air. It's an all around unpleasant experience. Though after a few minutes, you all conclude that there's nothing of value on the second floor--no Stax, no Mipa, no ghost. There has to be someplace else that you've yet to discover.

"Up there," Amara says.

You peer down the hallway and glance upwards. There's a hatch on the ceiling with a drawstring cord dangling down from the handle. "The attic," you respond. "This might be the last place to look, so we better be on guard."

Eva hops like a rabbit up to grab it, though she can't quite reach. She tries a few more times, and you're amazed she doesn't bust right out of her top. Her massive melons bounce around behind the soft fabric of her blouse, and her skirt flutters up and down. She finally gives up, flustered from frustration.

"Please allow me," Sen-nu says. One steps forward to stand beneath the hatch, and the other grabs her shoulders, and vaults herself up like an Olympics high jumper to wrap her legs around her neck. They're in perfect sync, and they should be. Both are the same person after all. The wolf on top reaches up with her claws and grabs the cord with ease, and gives it a tug. As it opens and the slanted ladder swings down, they leap out of the way, maintaining balance even with one still sitting on the other's shoulders.

Koblix points his orb up the steps. "I don't like this," he mutters.

Sen-nu hops down from herself and both walk over to glance towards the darkness above. "You shouldn't be so afraid. We greatly outnumber this spirit, and I refuse to be captured a second time."

"You're right!" Niki shouts. She stomps her foot down onto the first rung and the entire thing creaks and shakes. "I won't be pushed around by some pushy undead, especially with Amara here. Isn't that right?"

The elf looks a little embarrassed by the praise, but she smiles and nods.

Niki makes her way forward with Koblix cowering close to her legs. You follow behind with Eva and Amara next. Sen-nu takes up the rear.

You thought a place couldn't get more dusty. The attic feels as if hardly a person has touched it in a long time. You tug up your blue tunic over your nose and follow the beacon of light being shone around the area like a flashlight. That's when you start hearing noises in the darkness. Koblix points the light to the right corner, and two figures are bound and gagged staring desperately back at you.

"Stax! Mipa!" Your goblin companion looks thrilled to see his friends. He hurries over to help and the rest of you follow. With his knife, he cuts their bindings and frees their mouths. And when he does, Stax begins to talk.

"Oh man. This place is not worth robbing," she says. "We were caught completely off guard. I don't even know what happened. There was a scream, and then I just blacked out. Next thing I knew I was up here."

"I suffered a similar fate," Sen-nu adds.

"It cannot be," Amara mutters behind you.

"What is it?" you turn and ask. "Something wrong?"

She looks lost in thought. "I admit that my knowledge is not so vast, but there is a special kind of spirit that is much more dangerous than the norm. I had hoped it was not true. I knew it would be incredibly unlikely for one to exist here, but after hearing about what happened, I fear it may be."

"You're really creeping me out, girlie," says Stax. "What are you talking about?"

"The elf on the portrait... yes. We must flee as soon as possible. I believe this ghost may be a banshee."

Suddenly, the latch pulls itself closed behind you with a reverberating slam.