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Deciding to let these rooms remain untouched for the time being everyone gathers in the hall as Eponine sets to work on the locked door. The lock finally turns with a loud clank and the door is open to reveal a stairs climbing up to an attic level. Ascending you find a narrow hallway with several doors opening of of it. The first contains a large number of wooden planks, rope, and other repair supplies. The ceiling above sags noticeably and in several areas patches of the sky above are visible. The hallway turns and there are doors on the north and south walls. Four of them are being used for storage. They are stacked with old furniture, sheets and linens, boxes and crates, and other bits. Nothing of value can be found inside them. The last door on the southern wall, where the hallway turns northward again, opens to reveal a slightly larger room. The ceiling of this room angles down steeply, leaving only four feet of headroom to the southeast. A low cot and a dresser are the room's only furnishings. Suddenly from down the hall comes the sound of an agonizing shriek which echos through the attic bringing everyone back out into the hall from examining the rooms. The sound wails again, obvious coming from behind the northern most door on the right wall.
Camlo scurries across the bathroom floor, scarf dragging behind him. The boards creek and some chunks of wood collapse and fall through. He leaps back and is okay, but you can tell the weight of someone large would send the floor crashing into the room below. The tub is empty of anything but dirt, grime, and what appears to be a fresh blood pooling around the drain. Before exploring the ransacked room, while Eponine is at the washroom door, Victor tries the only other door off the hall way but finds it is locked shut. Not wanting to stand around idle, Wren and Roakkad return to the gallery and pass through the cobweb covered paintings to the other double door. Beyond is a large bed room. The furniture is dusty and unkempt, but does not exhibit any major signs of water or mold damage. However there is one exception that stands out. There is thick dark stain on the desk near the northern window that catches your eye.
The group heads to the northern side of the house, bypassing the room beyond the gallery for the time being. Eponine heads to a door toward the east, inside she sees an entire bedroom caked with a thick, spongy layer of dark green, blue, and black mold. Nuri takes the next door and opens it to reveal a wash room. Inside sits an iron tub in the middle of this room, the floorboards around it sagging with the tub's weight. Victor opens another door. This once fine chamber has been destroyed. The bed is smashed, mattress torn apart, walls gouged as if by knives, chairs hacked apart, and paintings on the walls torn to pieces-with one exception. A portrait hanging on the northwest wall seems to be untouched, although it hangs backward, its unseen subject facing the wall.
This is kind of what I'm thinking too. Instead of room by room doing it area by area. Several rooms at once with some narrative liberties to make it work. Cherry picking what encounters the group actually has happen and leveling the PC's in line with the AP. I didn't get to read on the plane. I have a very busy two days and a funeral to preside at when I get back on Saturday. Please be patient and I will work it out so that the game stays fun.
I agree, I am about to board a plane but I hope to have some free time to read up and then suggest an alternative that will speed things up with out missing out on the clues and excitement of the story.
Nuri:
At this time you do not detect anything magical that you don't already know about Eponine:
Eponine:
Eponine opens the door cautiously to reveal a bedroom that features a child-sized bed, a chair next to a toy box, and a looming stone fireplace big enough for a child to get lost in. Eponine: A wave of emotion overwhelms you. You suddenly become convinced that your parents are trying to kill each other, and that whichever of them survives will be coming to kill you next. You see your mother, wielding a torch, and your father, festering with tumors and wielding a long knife, both struggling to kill each other. The vision passes as fast as it occurs.
Eponine: As you kneel at the door to inspect the lock you hear the soft sobbing of a child coming from inside the room.
Want to do anything else in the window room or move one?
Wow this week is hitting me hard with a bunch of extra stuff going on for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter right around the corner. I will update the game as soon as I have some spare minutes. Sorry for the delay.
Nuri and Eponine study the glass images, conversing in hushed tones. Nuri & Eponine: Together you puzzle out that these are not significantly religious but are defiantly connected to arcane magic. Specifically they represent components used in necromancy spells. The images symbolize scorpion venom, vampire's breath, the tongues of deathwing moths, belladonna, and the heart of a maiden slain by poison.
Eponine scans the floor, but it seems no one has been upstairs in several months. Victor opens the doors opposite where Eponine is investigating. This large room features two padded chairs and a long couch facing a wide alcove lined with stained glass windows. These windows depict a diverse array of animals and plants-from north to south are a large pale and ghostly scorpion, a gaunt man holding out his arms as a dozen bats hang from him, a moth with a strange skull-like pattern on its wings, a tangle of dull green plants with bell shaped flowers, and a young maiden sitting astride a well in a forest while a spindly spider the size of a dog descends along a string of webbing above her.
Back from vacation, should get a post up tomorrow. Just to busy with work to delve into it today.
Victor opens the double doors on the left side of the hall. A stone fireplace sits in the northwestern portion of this chamber. Paintings hang on the walls to the north and south, each covered over with a thick sheet of dusty cobwebs that obscures its subject from view. Another double door leads out on the wall opposite of where Victor is standing.
The door is not locked or rigged in anyway, it is stuck in the frame but a good shove gets it to swing free. Beyond is a narrow hall with a stairwell descending back down to the first floor.
Once the scarf is reduced to ash Victor is eager to go upstairs and search for anyone who needs aid. Eponine follows him, but keeps him from rushing up the stairs so she can check for boobytraps. Once satisfied they are safe, they ascend up one flight. Upstairs you find a hallway with several closed doors.
Once the fire is built in the hearth, Victor takes and lays the scarf in the midst of the tinder. Striking a flame, in a few moments white smoke is flowing up the chimney and a little bit into the room. The smell of the burring wood is mixed with a foul oder like death as the scarf is quickly consumed in the blaze. In an instant the fire is burning hot, much hotter than a scarf and chair would or should burn, but half a moment later the blaze snuffs out, the smoke clears and a pile of ash is all that remains.
Victor takes the scarf back into the room it was discovered in. Smashing one of the fallen chairs he moves to build a small pyre in the fireplace. Inside the hearth remains a bookend carved to resemble and angel with butterfly wings. One wing is broken, and as Victor moves it to make his fire he notices it has a dried blood stain, a clot of hair, and possibly a chunk of bone stuck to it.
Nuri:
Nuri sits on the floor looking up at the others as she regains her composure. The odd windows behind the others head draw her attention for a moment. Wren's gaze returns to them along with the others as Nuri points towards them. The scarf continues to remain motionless on the floor. Wren:
The stained-glass windows obscure what could have been a breathtaking view of the Lost Coast. It occurs to you no right minded architect would install windows to block this view. Nuri: From your angle low to the floor you get a different perspective of the images in the windows. At first you thought each window depicts a monster rising out of smoke pouring from a seven-sided box. From north to south are depicted a gnarled tree with an enraged face, an immense hook-beaked bird with sky-blue and gold plumage, a winged centaurlike creature with a lion's lower body and a snarling woman's upper torso, and a deep blue squidlike creature with evil red eyes. Now you can tell that the creatures are actually being drawn into the box and it is covered with necromantic runes.
Sorry all today was worse then yesterday with a lot going on. I hope to have something posted Thursday.
I have had a very busy work day, I will try to get a post up tomorrow.
Nuri gasps once for air and the falls back to the floor unconscious.
Nuri sputters and gags as the potions pour into her gaping mouth. She sits up with a start, her neck rubbed raw where the scarf attacked her. It remains still at her side.
Roakkad:
A breath of fresh air is what you needed, this place feels wrong in your soul but you are ready to go and find the others again. You open the door to the main entryway and hear the sounds of commotion and struggle coming from the other side of the house. Sensing the others or in danger you rush to help them. To reach them you pass through a wide hall. A rather gruesome antique-what appears to be a mummified monkey head-hangs on the northern wall here, its tiny mouth gaping. A bellpull extends from the monkey's gaping mouth. A ratty throw rug partially obscures a foul stain of dark-colored mold on the floor. Nuri:
Your will power is strong fighting off what ever presence is trying to force itself into your brain. Alas, yelling at victor sapped the last of your reserve as your lungs strain to keep you going as darkness swallows your consciousness and you collapse to the ground.
Nuri struggles to tell Victor to get away then her eyes roll up and her body goes limp, crashing down to the floor. The scarf unwinds from her as she falls and drifts in the air to rest motionless on the floor beside her head.
I was just trying to add to the suspense of the scene by not just giving the answer to you under a static roll. This part of the AP is supposed to play up on the horror and I think it provides a lot of opportunity for role-play. Perhaps that won't translate well to the PBP format. I hope the HouseRule for haunts will make it more action based and more fun for everyone. I think I might cut some of the hunts out of it to streamline and move us along. Glad to see you back AK, I will roll an INT for you and add you back into the action this round.
Just waiting to see if Nuri wants to use her delayed action, and if she does if that makes Eponine choose to user hers.
Wren blasts the scarf again as it writes about Nuri's neck. Eponine hesitates trying to discern a better corse of action. The scarf pulls taught again forcing Nuri to gasp for breath. Wren:
You ponder the evil magic and wether or not it is linked to one spot. The scarf was not active in the first room, but suddenly attacked Nuri in front of the windows. You recall tales of a haunted ruins in which evil forces exist anchored to a a specific place in this world however how big of a space the evil manifestation might cling to is uncertain. Nuri:
In addition, as I said, the means to neutralize a haunt are not at all intuitive. Nuri is being attacked by an animated scarf and is seeing visions of Aldern strangling her: What about this situation would make her think that channeling positive energy will make it better? I see what you mean, but let me counter. She is a skilled cleric with +9 religion knowledge. I don't think it is a stretch to think clerics are aware of hauntings in old houses and crypts. I also think it would be a logical conclusion for a cleric to try positive energy in the presence of such a negative energy event. If you think it's necessary I could set a DC and you can make a knowledge roll to see if she recognizes the event as a haunt as compared to thinking it is some kind of animated creature or other type of magical phenomenon. But since I have used ghostly and unworldly in the descriptions I think is fair to say she could and possible would try positive energy at least.
Wren Spellcraft 1d20+13 (14)+13=27
Nuri: Victor looms in close, but your vision is blured as you see the ghostly image of Aldern superimposed as if the two are sharing the same space, both tightly grasping the scarf tightening about you throat. The scarf continues to constrict but it seems to be using less force than when it first enwrapped you.
I see what you mean about the RAW. So I think we will make a tweak that should allow it to be more fun for everyone. First, Channel Energy can hurt a haunt in any round not just the surprise round. IMO the line Joana quoted just means it is possible to destroy the haunt with positive energy before it manifest completely avoiding it altogether. Second, from this point on I am going to consider haunts to have a quasi-incorporeal status. For characters who recognize the hunts manifestation they can use magic spells and magic weapons against the haunt for half damage. Force spells and effects will do damage normally. For characters who are not seeing the full manifestation magic spells and weapons can still effect the haunt but only at 1/4 damage while the Force spells and effects only half damage. I think this will prevent the only Channel Energy character can do anything about it. This will make the haunts a more interesting encounter and still allow for them to be frightening role play encounters as well as action encounters. Honestly I assumed the positive energy used in any round wold effect them so thats why I have kept the round going. I will make some adjustments to reflect that everyone else is having some effect on it as well. Look for a post to reflect that soon.
Victor grabs at the scarf and gets a hold of it and of Nuri. Nuri tries to remain calm, considering carefully what she will do next. Nuri:
Victor looms in close, but your vision is blured as you see the ghostly image of Aldern superimposed as if the two are sharing the same space, both tightly grasping the scarf tightening about you throat.
Eponine deftly manuvers her small blade close to Nuri's neck attempting to slice away at the fabric choking the life out of her. Confident in her skills she knows she should be able to cut one of the ends, but her blade is unable to harm the scarf. It doesn't appear to be mystically toughened, more unworldly repelled like a magnet pushing away from another. Nuri:
Unnatural forces continue to rip at your mind, but you keep your wits. At least you think you have, yet you can not explain Aldern's presence, the hateful look in his eyes, nor the force he is yanking the scarf around your neck with.
Eponine: Oddly it seems like the scarf is being pulled by someone or some thing that is invisible, yet your acute vision notes not in the way you would expect if a tangible person or creature was there. It moves with an unworldly grace pulling away form her neck and tight there, but the tightly gathered ends of cloth you would expect are instead loose and flowing.
Wren's second arcane attack strikes the scarf, but it continues to write and tighten around Nuri's throat.
Victor joins Eponine in attempting to remove the strangling scarf from Nuri's throat. A moment after he gets a grip on it, Nuri, fighting for air, twits and turns and breaks free of both of them. However the scarf remains tight around her with an unearthly grip despite her yanking and pulling.
Victor moves deeper into the room, pushing past Eponine to get closer to Nuri. Nuri:
You shake a sense of fear and dread from your mind as a ghostly image of Aldern Foxglove appears before you. He has the scarf tight in his hands and is using it to choke you tighter and tighter.
Wren blasts the red fabric unerringly, yet the scarf remains tight on Nuri's throat. Apennine grabs hold of the scarf and feels it tugging in her grasp. Nuri:
The ghostly image of your former lover remains glaring in your face, you start to feel stiff with fear but once again shake your mind free of the unnatural presensece. It seems as if your mind is trying to be someone else. You struggle to breathe as the scarf continues to constrict at your throat.
DM SCREEN:
Wren enters the room and stands below the windows clasping the red scarf in her hands. Yuri and Eponine follow to study the images in the stained glass. Victor steps inside the room, notices the scarf start to moves as if on its own. Before he can say anything, it suddenly pulls itself free of Wren's hands and streaks through the air and wraps around Nuri's throat.
Wren collects the scarf noting its beauty and apparent value. Eponine checks then opens the northern door out of the library. In the next room a mahogany table surrounded by chairs sits in the center. Twin fireplaces loom to the west, while to the east, stained-glass windows obscure what could have been a breathtaking view of the Lost Coast. Each window depicts a monster rising out of smoke pouring from a seven-sided box. From north to south are depicted a gnarled tree with an enraged face, an immense hook-beaked bird with sky-blue and gold plumage, a winged centaurlike creature with a lion's lower body and a snarling woman's upper torso, and a deep blue squidlike creature with evil red eyes.
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