"I'll do the touching then..." Drasven volunteers as he follows the rest up though his beard kept getting teased by someone..............
Ro gets off Jili, leaving her to Karmid. She gives Jili a sympathetic pat on the shoulder but doesn't say anything except "don't wander off by yourself Lia."
"Where's Lia?" Drasven asks having failed to see what she last did.
The group carefully ascends the stairs to the third floor and once again finds itself in a corridor with many doors.
Karmid listens at the first door they come across, but doesn't hear anything. In fact, the entire house seems very quiet except for the creaking of the floorboards caused by the passage of your feet.
Jili straightens herself, and readies to move forward. "We should go up. Take care of the crying. Maybe that will fix some of these haunts."
"Maybe it's the source of these haunts..." Drasven points out.
He too moves along his weapon in safe mode to avoid accidental firing.
Karmid opens the door after checking it and finds a large workroom inside. A large number of wooden planks, rope, and other repair supplies are stored here. The ceiling above sags noticeably; in several areas patches of the sky above are visible.
There are no other visible exits.
"If we are going upstairs, maybe we should reinforce this upper level first? I would hate to see what a 'haunt' will do to us if we fall through there because of one..."
Looking around, Karmid tries to see if the materials are here to build something to prevent the floor above from coming down too easily. Planks nailed and tied together with with rope...to build a small pillar or two to somehow reinforce the ceiling above?
You guess that the supplies were brought here to repair the sagging roof but obviously the job was never finished.
Tsking his tongue, the old dwarf taps Karmid on the back as he rolls his sleeves up. Using the materials thus gathered he begins to finish the job that was intended.
Ro isn't sure if Karmid and Drasven are under the influence of a haunt or not. But they've not being violent or super crazy, so she lets them do their thing.
She wishes she'd kept that cigarillo a while longer.
Jili looks confused, and takes a seat. She spends the time detecting magic on the room as she waits.
The job of repairing the roof is a large one and would require several hours of labor even to get started. Drasven is not even sure if you have all the materials necessary for the job without doing a complete inventory. It looks as if some materials were abandoned here.
Ro interjects quickly. "Ah, too bad about that!"
She tries to hustle people along.
"Nothing to do but keep on going now!"
Taking the lead she moves on to the closest door.
"Too Little materials. Too much work to be done." Drasven sighs as he finishes his evaluation.
"This house seems to be against itself on repairing as well. Nothing to do but to move along. Any other rooms we have not checked?" he rolls down his sleeves and follows along the group.........
The lenghty episodes with the upstairs room almost caused Lias patience to wear thin...but just as she decided to move on, her Invisibility wore off. Still not wanting to take any chances, she remains near the back of the group, using the ample sounds the group makes to stay out of view, but close to her companions.
The group checks the next four doors and finds small storerooms filled with old furniture, linens, and household goods. Nothing that seems particularly of note.
The fifth door reveals a spare bedroom. 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.
As you are about to enter the room, a sudden shriek of a woman echoes through the upper floor and quickly subsides. It seems to have come from somewhere to the north, most likely one of the two doors at the end of the northern hallway.
"Well things were getting abit too quiet and I suppose that..." he indicates with a finger in the direction he thinks the sound came from,
"requires some investigation."
Karmid will head for the closest door the sound might have come from and yanks it open.
Jili sighs and follows Karmid. "Another haunt or something else I wonder?"
"And our luck M'Lady Jilli? I would say its good odds that it is something similar to what we have already encountered so far in this wretched house."
Karmid listens at the door on the right side of the end of the hallway and hears the unmistakable sound of a woman crying in the room behind it. He then attempts to yank it open only to find that it will not open; it is either locked or barred.
Karmid steps aside raising his eyebrow at RO wondering if she wants him to open the door with his hammer, or if she wants to try and unlock it herself?
Still behind the group, Lia steps around the corner, making her presence known again:"Do you think that's her? I wanted to keep the scarf..."
Ro has lost of the optimism she'd had earlier about finding anyone who needed rescue in the house. It wasn't out of the question, but her gut sinks now they've found the door they'd been looking for.
She sees what she can do about the lock.
"Just be ready. This might not be good."
Ro works for a few moments and finally feels the lock pop open under her fingers. She steps aside to let Karmid open the door, revealing a darkened chamber barely illuminated by the light you are carrying.
The room is cold and damp; an old armoire stands near the east wall. The ceiling slopes down to only four feet high to the northeast, leaving little room for a small window. A full-size mirror in a dark wooden frame of coiling roses leans against these bricks, angled toward the tiny window. A female figure stands in front of the figure with her back toward you. She has a bed sheet wrapped around her and is holding on to the mirror and quietly crying.
Grimacing, Karmid tosses his voice over his shoulder at the others as he enters.
"Prop the door open and bring me more light!"
He then turns to the lady, hammer and klar ready for almost anything but a crying woman...
"I can understand you're in a bad place ma'am. Please...we can help you out of here..."
Jili peeks around the corner holding open the door, and casts light on Kharmid's Earthbreaker. "Here you go."
Yeah, I'm not liking this at all.
Back-turned is Ro's least favorite way of meeting someone new she decides. She keeps her hand near her weapon but doesn't pull it from her belt.
Still, might as well hope for the best.
"Yeah, we've come to get you out of here" Ro offers up.
Drasven adds onto the light by casting a simple prayer for light on the door, reasoning that a little more light on something permanent might be better.
Remembering his companions discovery earlier, he tries to remember some lessons on identifying the type of lich they may have just encountered and of course while doing that, he might as well attempt to study the figure and appraise her mood as genuiune.
Yes. The house was getting to him.
Lia remains in the corridor outside, but peeks in through the door frame.
Edgar, still towards the back, is heavily uncertain about this new friend. In fact, he is repeating nope to himself inaudibly while preparing his weapon and shield. They aren't brandished per se, but they are held.
At first the female figure does not acknowledge your presence and continues staring into the mirror in front of her. As you bring up more light, you can see that the image of her face in the mirror no longer is that of a human being, but something transformed by grief.
Hearing your voices she slowly turns to face you, revealing a pale face with sunken eyes that hold an unexpressed rage. Her hands end in bony claws she keeps clutched close to her side, and her breath is ragged and gurgling.
As she opens her mouth to speak, her eye is drawn to the scarf around Lia's neck, and she focuses her attention completely on the item. Her face crumples in shock and horror and she begins to wail.
"No, no, no!" she screams in a voice that reverberates throughout the house. "You mock my lost life!". She then collapses on the floor, wailing in sorrow and despair.
"My apologies for opening old wounds Lady Foxglove but we come in search of one Aldern Foxglove to put an end to this cycle of sadness. Could you aid us in this?"
Drasven queries not sure what the undead woman in front of him might do.
Karmid maintains vigilance between the 'woman' and the rest of the group.
Lia takes off the scarf and hides it in her bag before entering the room: "Not Lady Foxglove. A shadow of a memory that used to be her. A revenant. All that stops her from passing on is Aldern. Her one purpose is to end him.", she turns to the undead creature, then speaks up: "We do not mock your loss. We are here for the same goal...to end this nightmare. Did he trap you here?"
Jili gives the creature a sad look. "We would like to help you finish your task. Do you know where we might fight Aldern? Is he in the house somewhere? We've looked, but been unable to find him."
Thanks Lia, that's not all bad news, I hope...
Ro seconds Jili's attempt at a parlay.
"Do you know the way to Aldern? All of us here have a score to settle with him."
Iesha snarls like a feral creature. "Yes, I know where he is."
She suddenly dashes towards you, arms outstretched.
"Karmid?" as Drasven takes some time to register her words.
As Understanding dawns upon him, he hastens to stop his companions from lashing out at what likely seems to be an attack.
"Keep away from her path! She's going towards the door not Karmid!"
Rojava immediately realizes Drasven is correct. She also suspects Karmid won't. Ro grabs Karmid's arm and yanks at arm, trying to move him and create an open path for Iesha.
"Move Karmid! Let her pass!"
Lia steps away from the mirror she hugged a moment ago:"She is going to Aldern. Try and keep up - if you can."
"NO! She's attacking!"
Thunder and Fang!
+
Iesha's revenant rushes toward Karmid and the door, clawed hands outstretched.