"Well, that's probably the home of Old Megus. She was quite a notorious witch around Sandpoint. I remember hearing a lot of rumors of her doing sinister experiments and she was rarely seen in Sandpoint. She would come into town every few months for alchemical supplies and shipments from Nex and Irrisen. However, she hasn't been into town for about...two years for now," Derric said.
"So, I wonder what became of her."
The kitsune looked at the shack again remembering all the times that he would run and hide as a child whenever she would could come around.
Daichi shakes his head. "I don't believe I ever crossed paths with her. Though that does beg the question. Was she actually performing some awful experiments or did people just not get what she was working on? And did she succumb to age or some beast in the swamp, or has she just not had reason to come to Sandpoint in a while?" He shrugs. "Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter unless she bursts out of her house and tries to kill us. We have other things to deal with."
"While I would like not to have a confrontation with her, we best make sure she's not to going come after us. At the very least we could ask her permission to use the raft," the furry samurai said.
"I've only been in town for a couple of months, and would not have met her. I can try to talking to her about borrowing or renting the raft. I agree just taking it isn't a good idea."
"I... cannot argue with that. Very well. Let's make this brief then. Hopefully, she'll be amenable. If not, perhaps she'll allow us to rent the raft for a few coins. Alchemical reagents are expensive after all."
Jayna casts Mage Armor on herself, just in case, and walks toward the hut. "Hello in the huts. We'd like to speak with you please. We find ourselves in need of the raft and would like to make use of it. We'd like to borrow it if we may."
Derric had taken out his katana and was keeping an eye out for trouble.
As you draw closer you get a better view. A sagging one-story shack sits in a clear, its wall dingy with age and encrusted with lichen and fungus. A partially collapsed shed sits just to the northeast, while small pouches, twisted knots of feathers, and dangling wind chimes made of bones from branches and roof edge alike.
Jayna looks closely at the bones to see if they have anything to do with the arcane magics.
"Perhaps she's not home. Or she might be hard of hearing. The elderly can suffer many ailments."
Derric begins to open the door.
Derric begins to open the door but finds it has swollen shut.
"Um a little help here. It's swollen shut."
Derric shoulders into the door and on the third try it swings open. Sheets of fungus grow along the walls and floor of this room, and on the numerous gourds, twigs, and bones hanging from the ceiling on sinew and string. There is a door to the right (north) and left (south). Directly in front is an open arch leading into the next room, through which you can see some broken furniture, though much of the room is hidden from view.
"This place is a mess. Are you certain someone lives here? It looks like it's abandoned. Unless she likes having her walls completely overgrown with moss."
"It smells terrible in here," Derric said as he walks through the arch.
He keeps an eye out for trouble.
"It looks like this place is about to fall down," says Leo. He prepares his sword and shield in case of danger. "Nobody's lived here for a while, I'm gonna guess."
"It looks like no one has been here for a while." Peeking into the room over the shoulder if Derric, she casts dancing lights in the room beyond the arch.
Through the arch lays the living room. Within more fungus and mold grows on the sagging benches, broken table, and narrow cupboards here. An old brick stove sits against the west wall. Two doors lay to your right and one to your left.
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Kiko is staying outside with Senga, "Those moulds and fungi are horrible to me. The smell alone almost makes me sick. I'll keep Senga company."
As she stands outside Kiko keeps an eye on her surroundings. If this witch was as bad as people thought she was maybe she was responsible for the undead?
"I believe I will remain here as well. I have no desire to walk into a home that looks like... that." Daichi wrinkles his nose in distaste and pulls a handkerchief from his bag, covering his nose to protect himself from the smell.
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Derric began to look around as he and Rishana checked the room to the right, although he checked the second door while she checked the first one.
"Seems that no one has lived here in ages. I wonder what became of the old woman."
Wondering if the door was like the front door he applied his strength to force it open.
The door stays solid for a moment before giving way before the kitsune's shoulder. Inside you find what was once an alchemical laboratory, the equipment now fallen into decay. Ancient chemical spills create weird stains and colorful crystalline growths amid the partially collapsed workbenches. A skeleton, still dressed in tattered clothes also lies in the decay. The skeleton seems disfigured but from this distance it is hard to tell how.
Daichi waits outside, absently leaning against a nearby tree. "So... I don't believe that we've ever really spoken before," he finally says to Kiko, not wanting to just stand there waiting. "You are Miss Ameiko's half-sister, correct?"
" it would seem so. Come on and let's see if we can find out what may have happened to her or if she left anything that might be useful. She surely left something like notes or a journal," Derric said as he entered the room searching about it.
As you search the room you can clearly see the exact nature of the skeleton's deformities. The skull seems half melted and weirdly elongated in the face, one arm ends in something resembling a bird's talon, and the ribs have grown long spurs of bone that protrude out from and into the rib cage. You also hear something skittering within the walls.
Those outside hear a odd combination of squeaks and growls coming from the nearby shed. Runt looks progressively more uncomfortable, pulling a long dagger from his boot.
"Those bones protruding into her chest must be what killed her. But why did she transform is beyond me. Maybe she wanted to change shape like a kitsune. Sigh, some people I guess are just jealous of us shapeshifters. I...Wait...listen."
The kitsune's ears begin to move as he hears a scurrying sound.
"You hear that? Sounds like something scurrying about. And didn't you say that those tracks were made by a rat with human like hands? Oh by the two goddesses I worship...this isn't good. Quick, help me look for whatever it is. I got bad feeling about this. We can't run for it as whatever this thing is has the advantage of terrain. But if we stand our ground we might be able to defeat it or drive it off at least."
"Runt. What do you think it is?"
Runt casts a sideways glance, dagger now held firm as he fishes in a pouch and produces a small phial filled with reddish liquid. "Swamp rats, big ones..."
"Wonderful..." Daichi says, falling in to a fighting stance. "First up to my waist in swamp water, then attacked by giant swamp rats. I hate this place already." He braces himself, ready to bombard the rats the instant they appear.
Jayna pulls out a Vial of Alchemist Fire and prepares to toss it at any swamp rats she sees. "I really don't like rats. They have beady little eyes and really big teeth."
Leo draws his sword and keeps his shield up. "I'm not sure whether I should be trying to block rats, or falling debris," he quips. "Speaking of which, fire? In here? I mean I guess we could leave and just burn it to the ground, Jayna, but that would destroy anything that might be useful."
"I don't know if we can get out of here fast enough before it attacks us whatever it is," he says.
"Just keep looking! We might be able to jam our weapons through a crack or hole and kill it!"
Jayna seriously considers the burn it to the ground suggestion. "We could try that, but it might not catch fire fast enough to do any good."