Mirela and Twilight continue to search around looking for any sign of the Jester ready to attack at the first sign of her.
Nargun tries to fend off another zombie, and his axe gives a wild and powerful swing.
Probably a little too much wild,but nonetheless very powerful.
Twilight continued to watch the door in the dining room making sure that the nettlesome necromancer didn't circle around behind them. She was confident that the others could flush out and corner their quarry.
Although she held the wand at the ready, she reconsidered her options should the elf show herself again. Dazing her for a moment didn't seem quite fitting enough for what she had done to all these people.
"Since she enjoys playing with necromancy, perhaps its only fitting that I oblige her perverse infatuation with the darker arts."
She put away the wand and reached into her pouch of magical components, pulling out a small tattered and filthy strip of cloth. From whence it came was probably better left unsaid as its source may offend her companions.
She held her holy symbol and felt the arcane power stored withing, ready to draw upon it and give it form at a moment's notice.
The ghostly hand hovered eagerly in front of her, waiting to receive the magical energy and deliver it to Twilight's foe.
Seeing Nargun take a solid hit from the walking corpse, Devan looked for an opening and then danced around his dwarven companion, taking care to avoid getting too close to the zombie.
Once in position on the other side of the melee, the young man swung with his magicked weapon, wondering how many more guests the group might encounter before this was all done with. Idly, he studied the dead people around them, trying to see if they fit the description of the young musician they had been given by the man's sister.
Atticus delays hoping to get an idea where to find the elven necromancer.
While Mirela and her pet, Twilight and Atticus wait in the main hall for any signs of the elven woman Nargun and Devan work to put down the last of the undead. Sadly neither one of them are able to connect with the thing, too worried about getting an bolt in the back and the zombie turns its attention to Devan who just tumbled past to attack.
It slams its cold lifeless fists into Devan doing a bit of damage. As of yet there is still no signs of the woman.
Mirela moves close to the others and says softly
Go search the dining room, I'll be watching your backs.
Then she again knocks an arrow ready to shoot at the jester if she tries to attack the group from behind.
Meanwhile Whisper still attempts to sniff around but gets called back when she starts to nose the dead bodies.
The undead creature happened to lunge at the young man as he was preoccupied with scouting for their mad elven assailant, and it cost him a rather nasty blow to the chin from the creature. Scowling, the musician started inching to the right, slashing out at the zombie as he did so.
Nargun frowns, and strikes at the zombies legs, in a powerful arc, not worrying too much about the blood and gore sprayed
Get down, and stay down.
While Devan misses after the solid blow he just took Nargun does not and cuts the legs out from under the undead finishing the thing off as the eerie house returns to silence once more.
Mirela stays at the ready watching the dinning room with Whisper at her side.
Twilight carefully moved into the dining room, crouching a little and keeping the table between her and the door in an effort to gain a little cover should the elf reappear.
Holy symbol in one hand she remained ready to cast the ghoulish spell if her opponent should make an appearance.
Atticus moves forward in the room.
Devan rubbed at his jaw, moving towards the southern door of the room. Seeing that it connected via a short hallway to the original room, the musician moved to the bottom of the stairs, taking care to not get a crossbow bolt for his troubles.
The others move in carefully looking for the elven woman. Devan notes the hallway that connects from the kitchen to the dinning room and see's Twilight across the way waiting for any sign of the woman.
He heads down the stairs to take a look and finds that at the bottom of the stairs there is a closed door leading to the west. Still no one finds anything and as of now, there is no sign of where the woman is now.
Wizard 0: Acid splash, Mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic. 1:Mage armour, Vanish, Magic weapon, (S)Colour spray.2:Spectral hand, Spectral hand, (S)Blur | Subtle misdirection 5/6. Bonded item 1/1. Pearl Lv1 1/1, Lv2 1/1
Seeing Devan through the door to the kitchen, Twilight moved up behind him as he peered down into the basement. Noticing his wounds, she quietly undid a prepared spell and directed the raw divine energy into healing magic to mend his bruises.
Mirela calls Whisper to heel then slowly moves behind Twilight, keeping a close watch behind the party so she can shoot if anything tries to come up behind them.
When she meets with the others she stands with her bow still angled back into the dining room. Then she quickly turns her head to the others and mouths "GO" before snapping her attention back on the dining room.
Devan turned around with a smile as he felt a light touch and warmth flow through him, his eyes widening slightly in surprise to find Twilight and not Mirela there. Faltering for only the slightest moment, he whispered, "Thanks for that..." before motioning Nargun over, not seeing anything beyond the closed door at the end of the hall. The young man wasn't a coward, but he knew the dwarf was better built for an assault should one be waiting beyond the closed portal.
Nargub pushes the door, his axe ready, his eyes darting around the place
The group moves toward the stairs leading down Twilight and Mirela waiting near the top of the stairs with Devan following behind Nargun toward the door. Atticus waits in the hall watching for any threats from the one direction while Mirela keeps an eye out on the other side.
Durgan opens the door to find a well-stocked wine rack and several large casks line the walls of this stuffy cellar. A small wooden door squats in the southeastern corner.
Mirela whispers to Twiligh.
Get the professor and 'ead down. Whisper and I will be guarding your back.
As soon as the others start to move she continues after them watching behind the party as carefully as possible. Bow still at the ready.
Atticus waits for Twiligh and starts moving towards the southeastern corner to open the door, but not without checking for traps.
Atticus moves ahead to check the door. Not finding any traps he does find that this door is locked from within.
Twilight cautiously descends the stairs and waits for Aticus to take care of the locked door "I don't like this. She wouldn't just lock herself into the cellar, either there is a back way out, or this is some kind of trap."
Looking back at Mirela to make sure she had joined the group and was ok, the musician gave her a reassuring smile before turning his focus back to the door and the Professor as Atticus pushed ahead to the door. Devan agreed that there was likely another point of egress, but the other options were to split up or abandon this post. Or perhaps there was another way.
"Does anyone have a piton, a nail, or something like that? We could secure this door, then check for other exit points. If there's nothing else, we could just come back and take care of it then."
Mirela and Whisper descend last both watching carefully for any signs of the Jester or where she went.
She may be 'aving another way out of the area beyond the locked door.
She says keeping her bow up and ready to fire at anything dangerous she sees.
we could maybe push some furniture on the door to block it. Where now?
Atticus leans down and takes his thieves tools.
"Let me feel the lock"
"No, not this one, need another one!"
"Close!"
"Made it!"
Devan started looking about for furniture or other heavy items the group could place in front of the door, returning to find that the Professor had managed to pick the lock to the portal and what lay beyond. Arching a brow, he asked, "So through the door, or block it and look for other exit points?"
As the others discuss their options Atticus decides for the group and goes to work on the lock. After almost a minute of messing with the lock he finally manages to unlock the door with a satisfying click.
Opening the door, you find a small room. Within, among painting supplies, is a tawdry-looking divan, a small shrine to Shelyn, several scandalous portraits of Olauren Carowyn, and Ausio Carowyn himself.
The man is cowering in the corner, brandishing a dull paint knife at you, trying his best not to shake too obviously.
Devan, put your honeyed words at use. He needs some courage in his heart, and I'm only good to put fear in the heart of others.
Nargun keeps his axe ready, just in case the man, mad with fear, attacks them
Twilight had a look inside the room. Though the shrine was dedicated to Shelyn and the pursuit of art and beauty, it was not uncommon for artistic endeavours celebrating the physical form to lead to intimate encounters more befitting Calistria.
She edged her way into the room and addressed the man "Its ok, we are here to help. We were sent to check on the manner when a performer did not return from the party. I am Twilight and this is Devan, and these are Nargun, Mirela and Atticus." she said, introducing the group.
"We were accosted by an elven woman when we arrived. She has eluded us so far, but if you can tell us what happened and where she might be we will see about putting a stop to her madness."
The man looks relieved for a moment as Twilight introduces the group and explains why they are there, but when she mentions the elven woman and specifically that they have yet to stop her his eyes go wide "That mad elven jester is still on the loose? I heard the fighting above and it sounded like most of the shuffling about had stopped. I wasn't sure what was going on but... if that mad woman is still around up there..."
He looks down to the ground the hope he had started to show quickly fading, then looks back to the group "I'm Ausio Carowyn, lord of this house. As you seem to be aware of our party, that is when things started to go wrong... We were greeting the Westerkiers when the elven acrobat we hired as an entertainer went crazy. I saw her open fire on one of my guests with her crossbow, laughing all the while in the most frightful, shrill way. I’ve been locked in here for days, and every time I got up the courage to sneak out, I heard that horrible laughter above."
He starts shaking his head as he continues "I... I can't leave until she is dead. I'm not going to risk going up there..." He pauses suddenly as a grave look of concern comes over him. "Wait... have... have you seen my wife Olauren? We... we got separated I can only hope she managed to escape." He motions toward the scandalous portraits to indicate that is her.
Without turning her head Mirela softly says: 'Ave 'im draw a map, so we know 'ow she is getting around.
She says this while still keeping her bow up and watching for any movement as the rest of her companions talk to Lord Carowyn.
The young man waved at the Lord of the house as Twilight introduced them, looking around before focusing on him. Devan felt sympathy for the man cowering in the closet, but also disdain. Perhaps if Lord Carowyn had found some courage to begin with, some of the atrocities that had happened here would have been prevented. Still, the musician could understand to a degree...the jester woman was completely insane, and a person used to order and a small worldview would never compete with the chaos the woman brought.
Not recognizing the woman in the paintings, Devan could only hope that Ausio's wife also lived. Hearing Mirela's excellent suggestion, the bard asked Ausio, "Could you draw us a rough map of the house, complete with any secret hidey holes you can think of? We're trying to box the jester in and more info could help immensely."
The man quirks his brow for a moment but then realizes your intent "Uh... yes sure. So you are going to hunt that crazed elf down and dispatch of her then?" He puts down the knife and grabs some of the various drawing supplies to get to work.
After he finishes he explains the area, noting there aren't any secret passages or the like. Upstairs there is the large gallary, the master bedroom, a bathroom, and a small office. Downstairs in addition to the entry hall, dinning room and kitchen you already found, there is a smaller dining room, a living room, another office, a few closets and a recital hall. He notes the building to the south is the servants quarters.
That will be very helpful. Thanks. Do you want to stay hidden here until we kill the elf and destroy the zombies, or do you want to go outside the house? The path should be clear now.
The man stifles a chuckle "Um... yes I think I will stay here until that crazy elf is dead. Would prefer to not get an arrow in the back..."
Or in the knee. No purpose in saying she uses bolts and not arrows.
Narguns nods
She seems to like to strike from a safe distance, and if possible in the back, like the cakling coward she is. You should stay here, it will be safer for you, and for us, if we don't have to keep an eye on you every time we meet some rotting corpses.
"Lets go get our murderous jester then, shall we?"
Armed with the new knowledge about the layout of the house, Twilight carefully ascended the stairs back up to the main floor.
"We were keeping an eye on the dining room and didn't see anything, and we swept though the kitchen. I suppose she could have gone through that North door and circled around behind us. But by now she could be pretty much anywhere in the house."
She can't just 'ave disappeared. Unless....
Mirela glances back away from the stairs and glances around the basement they are in and the locked door. Her mind running quickly before her attention snaps back down the arrow to the door of the stairs.
She do probably be a spell caster. After all the professor heard spell casting and the zombies are only raised through powerful evil magics. So... maybe she is using magic to 'ide 'erself. Like Invisible or.... Disguised as a survivor.
Maybe... Mirela takes her attention away from the stairs for a moment to pray to her god to give her the gift of sensing Magic Auras.
"Well, even if she is invisible, there is gore and filth littering the floor. She must have stepped in some of it. Maybe an experienced hunter, one favoured by the god of hunts himself might be able to track down our adversary?" Twilight said as she watched Mirela search for magical auras.
"Perhaps even a little inspirational ditty to help her focus?" she said, glancing at Devan.
"I think we should start at the stairs up to the next floor, see if there are any fresh signs that someone might have recently headed up there. It might help us limit our search to one floor or the other."
Searching downstairs and specifically Lord Carowyn, does not turn up any magical auras. As you depart to head back up the stairs Lord Carowyn promptly closes and locks the door behind you.
Mirela heads upstairs to join the others scanning for magic the whole time.
I like that idea Twilight. There do be less places to hide upstairs.
Let's find her and kill her. Bloodily.
Wizard 0: Acid splash, Mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic. 1:Mage armour, Vanish, Magic weapon, (S)Colour spray.2:Spectral hand, Spectral hand, (S)Blur | Subtle misdirection 5/6. Bonded item 1/1. Pearl Lv1 1/1, Lv2 1/1
It was always difficult to tell how hurt Nargun was, even the most serious wounds never seemed to phase him much so it was not surprising that Twilight just now noticed how badly wounded the dwarf was.
With Devan also still wounded even after she cast her spell, Twilight held her symbol and channeled a bit of healing energy to try and take the edge off any pain they were suffering.
Devan shrugged at the notion of going upstairs...it seemed to be no better or worse than any other option they had at the moment. Hopefully they hadn't consigned Lord Carowyn to a messy death after he had somehow managed to live through the disastrous party. The young man sighed as the Calistrian's healing flowed through him, giving Mirela a mischievous grin before remembering himself and letting the smile fade. It wasn't quite the time for such thoughts.
Perhaps they should have asked the survivor about the musician they were looking for, but he doubted the man could give them any useful information, as he had mainly been worrying about saving his own skin. The bard got into position behind the sturdy dwarf and prepared to follow him to the stairs and what surprises might lay up there.
With things decided the group leaves Lord Carowyn heading back up stairs. Deciding to check the upper level Nargun leads the way up the stairs. As soon as he gets up there he sees finely framed works of art cover the walls of this gallery, looking down upon the hall below. Great windows look out to the west and south, and an alcove to the east is set with chairs for musicians. In mockery of the room’s beauty, several costumed corpses are positioned about the hall, some posed like ghastly statues while others are rigged to look like contemplative critics. Three zombies dressed in flashy metallic costumes wander aimlessly through the room, pantomiming appreciation and criticism of the paintings of Korvosan cityscapes and Carowyn portraits on the walls. There are three doors on the northern wall, two are closed, but the one in the middle is partially open.