Rise of the Runelords by DM Doctor Evil (again)

Game Master DM DoctorEvil

Will Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

"I feel funny . . . let's try another room." Robin is ready to leave this room . . . unless something gets him first!

Will Save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

"I agree. I'd rather not tangle too closely with...whatever's in here," Marcellano says, clearly uneasy.

You both are able to resist what ever is trying to happen to you. You make your way to the door at the side of the room which leads to a hallway. The hallway leads to two other rooms. Assuming you check the first door it leads to a simple washroom. An ancient metal washtub stands to the north, a ring of mildew crusting its inner surface. A strange furtive scratching comes from inside the tub.

Updated Foxglove manor map, ground level

The small halfling stretches upward on his tiptoes, trying to see the cause of the strange scratching sound in the sink. Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

"Do I even want to know?" Marcellano mutters. "Robin! Don't get too close..."

Cadas stats back and nods at the fighter to check it out.

Robin you see what was probably once a rat but its hard to tell now as its covered in tumors and looks to be rabid. Its trying its hardest to climb out of the tub at you.

Qetsiyah returns Cadas' nod and moves in toward the tub beside Robin, sword in her hands. Her lip curls back reflexively at the sight of the wretched thing scrabbling to get at them. This was a creature desperate to be put out of it's misery if ever she had seen one. She steps closer and slashes down into the tub at the rat, but the angle is challenging with the two-handed sword...

Silversheen Falchion attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12
Doubting that hits...

AOO, if applicable: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22 Damage: 2d4 + 5 ⇒ (3, 4) + 5 = 12
If the rat is tiny and moves into Kizzy's square to attack her.

AOO to Bodyguard, Aid Another: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
+4 to Robin's AC if the Rat goes for him. If it still hits him, she will use an immediate action and take the hit.

Marcellano watches the proceedings nervously. "No need to take too great a risk for such a wretched creature..."

Perhaps it should be captured for study. Cadas offers, but does not move to try to catch it.

Kizzy you are able to give the rat a merciful end with your great sword, slicing into the creatures body and severing it in half.

Robin turns and protects his face from the splatter of tumorous rat guts. "Gross! Let's try the next room."

Robin heads on over to the next door, scanning for danger. Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18. If the party agrees it's safe, he'll open it.

Cadas continues to maintain Detet Magic as she moves through these lower rooms.

"Just one room left on this level," Marcellano mutters, also keeping his detect magic running. "Once we've cleared it, we had best start on the floor above."

Updated Map

Everyone moves into the final room. This oak-paneled chamber must have once been breathtaking, but it is a sad sight now. The floor boards and oak paneling is warped with moisture and coated with mold. A grand
piano, its surface splotchy and keys warped, leans tiredly in the southeast corner. There are more stained glass windows obscuring what was once a breath taking view of the cliff side and the Varisian Sea.

Cadas studies the room, her sharp eyes missing little.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25

"Darn it, I was hoping there were more clues! How are we supposed to figure out this murder?" Robin tags along with Cadas, searching the room.

Aid Another (Perception): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15 Giving Cadas a +2

"Don't lose heart yet, Robin," Marcellano says as he advances into the room. "There may yet be much of interest upstairs...and what we've found here is not without its clues. Some tragedy in the Foxglove family...the female relation of the last resident haunting the place...some violence in that library..." He stops in front of the stained glass windows, scrutinizing them intensely. "And someone, strangely, took the trouble to cover up all the windows that would have let in light and views. Strange, that..."

Aid Another (Perception): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

Are there any interesting designs on these windows, Mathpro?

Marcellano you recognize the large stuffed creature in the other room in one of the stain glassed windows. There is also a depiction of a man sitting at a piano and a woman dancing.

"Hmmmm. Nothing of arcane significance here, as far as I can see..." Marcellano says, poring over the windows. "A rendering of the creature we saw in the other entrance hall...perhaps the Foxglove family mascot? And a man playing the piano for a dancing woman...are the Foxgloves Varisian?"

He wanders over to the piano and inspects it thoroughly before (if it appears safe) tinkling a few of the keys to see if it still functions.

"I never thought of you as the musical type, Marcy," notes Robin, as the wizard tries out the piano.

Kizzy wipes her blade clean of blood before sheathing the falchion and bends to look over the dead rat again. "I guess there's not much left to study... sorry." She shrugged as they moved along into the next room.

The house had been puzzling her since they entered and she found herself thinking around in circles trying to put her finger on exactly what bothered her about it.

"Wasn't that dandy who called himself Foxglove supposed to be living here? How could that be with it in such a state? All this mold... doesn't seem natural. I know we are near the water here but I've never seen such mold as this. That rat seemed diseased too... should we be careful not to breathe in the spores?"

Knowledge(Local) re: condition of house: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Apologies if I've forgotten some details, it's been awhile!

Marcellano the piano still plays and is in tune as far as you can tell. As Marcellano begins to play Kizzy, Robin, and Cadas all hear the faint sounds of music off in the distance, echoing the notes Marcellano plays. I will need will saves from Kizzy, Robin, and Cadas.

See, I'm not the only one who stirs up trouble!

Will: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

As Qetsiyah remembers something the locals whisper about the place, a shudder runs through her as the strange music fills the air.

Will Save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5 Uh oh... +1 more if it is a fear effect, doubtful that matters though.

Kizzy you are filled with an overwhelming urge to dance like your ancestors. You grab Robin by the hands and start doing a very spirited and lively Varisian dance with him.

Cadas your pretty sure there is another haunt in effect. No will save needed from you as you see Kizzy break out into a dance with Robin.

Marcellano glances over as Kizzy and Robin begin to dance. "Well, this hardly seems an appropriate time to--agh! Of course!" He immediately stops playing the piano and backs away, watching with bated breath to see whether the lack of music releases them from the grasp of the haunt.

As soon as you back up Marcellano the dance stops.

Robin begins to dance a Varisian jig with Kizzy! Perform (dance): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20

Even after the music stops, he keeps on dancing, though his dance becomes much sillier and is obviously not being compelled any longer. "Hey, that's pretty fun! But also kind of weird. When the music started, I couldn't resist the urge to dance!" Robin starts to shake his hips.

"Where did that music from the distance come from?" Robin tries to see if it sounds like it came from any specific location or direction, such as upstairs. Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11 Though perhaps he's too busy dancing.

"Some sort of apparition or illusion, I suspect," Marcellano says grimly. "Best not to toy with it...I can't imagine it would result in anything good. Shall we journey upstairs?"

Unlike Robin, Kizzy seems rather alarmed over the whole ordeal. As the music fades and the hold over her is broken, she presses her hands to her ears and shakes her head as she catches her breath. Overcome by a sudden surge of claustrophobia, she quickly heads for the double doors to the northwest of the room they now occupied and tries to open them, hoping to breathe some fresh air and alleviate her sudden fear that they were now trapped in this place.

The doors open easily under Kizzy's strength in fact she pulls one of them from their rusty hinges.

Cadas follows the fighter closely ready to lend aid.

"Hey, my dancing isn't that bad, is it? No need to run away!" Robin tries a joke to lighten the mood, worried about Kizzy.

"Let's go upstairs. I think we could use a straight fight right about now, and we know there was something howling up there."

Marcellano also follows Kizzy closely, putting a hand gently on her shoulder when he catches up to her (or is close enough to try, anyway). "Kizzy, I'm sorry for forcing that on you, however accidentally. Please, accept my apologies. I should know better than to fiddle with strange objects in such a house, magical or not. But rest assured that you're in no danger from that haunt--its power seems to have waned."

Although the wizard's still pale from his illness and his hand trembles slightly, he smiles warmly and earnestly as he reassures his friend.

Qetsiyah takes some deep breaths to soothe her nerves. Once it sinks in that she really is fine and probably over-reacting a bit she smiles sheepishly, blushing slightly. "No, no... I'm alright. I've just never had my will overthrown like that before. Made me feel like a puppet with Gods knows what pulling at my strings." She shudders, glaring back into the interior of the fell house.

She looks to Cadas and Marcellano, her brow furrowed in confused worry. "I'll happily battle whatever comes, but I don't know how to fight some willful presence with no form. What happens if it turns us against each other?" Her eye wandered to ever-cheerful Robin and her concern was clear in her eyes. She feared being used as a weapon against the very friends she sought to protect.

Gozreh has granted magics to help with such threats. Have faith.

Kizzy nods, takes one last steadying breath and marches determinedly back through the now broken door, out of the piano room and leads the way toward the stairs, drawing her blade.

Percpetion: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

I will get an updated map for you guys eventually but thought I would get a quick post up.

As everyone traverses this flight of stairs, your footsteps echo back at at you a couple of seconds later, as though an invisible person were following you. Already on edge from exploring the lower level you take a moment to check your surrounding and come to realize that the sound is simply the floorboards settling back after they have been stepped on.

Foxglove Manor, Second floor

Robin creeps up the stairs along with the rest of the party, though the sound of echoing footsteps threatens to overcome even his normal halfling fearlessness.

"Looks like we have a lot of choices - where should we go?" Robin tries to note any signs of the howling creature that they heard previously, or some other signs of use. Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11. Or... maybe I can use that as an Aid Another roll?

"So far the most fascinating parts of this house, aside from the personal effects, have been the windows...and lack thereof," Marcellano says. "Let me see...there's probably another set here, unless I miss my guess." He points at the large set of double doors to the east, and lets Robin and Kizzy check them over and open them.

Looking at the eastern-most room on the map.

As they do so, he glances up and down the hall, idly reaching up to stroke down some of Narcizia's ruffled feathers.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Narcizia's Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

Robin takes a look at the eastern-most room also, checking for traps or other items of concern.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

Qetsiyah waits for Robin's ok and then opens the door to the eastern-most room.

DM, should we add markers to the new map? I'm a little unclear which room we are referring to... the room furthest east on the map looks unreachable except by the room nearest the stairs.

I say we check the doors as we come to them. No reason I can think of to leave a door unopened.

Robin shrugs, not having strong feelings about which door to open. But maybe it would be easier to just open the nearest door. He gives that door a careful look. Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20. And if it's safe, opens it up!

Let's just open them sequentially from the stairs to avoid confusion or ambiguity.

The doors to that room are not locked. 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 scorpions, 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 bellshaped 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.

Anyone interested in identifying what is trying to be depicted in the stained glass can make me Knowledge Arcana check.

Will have an updated map up shortly

Cadas has no training in that knowledge skill...

Yup, me neither. Marcellano, save us!

I've been rolling incredibly poor on Knowledge checks all game... :P

Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (6) + 13 = 19

AND IT CONTINUES. Anyone want to try an Aid Another? One successful DC 10 and I'll make the first check...

Marcellano stares hard at the windows, chewing his lip. Something...I can almost remember...is it a story? No...

I'll leave it up to the DM whether Narcizia can help with this or not...she does have an INT score of 8 and uses my skill ranks. :P

Narcizia Aid Another: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

NOPE.