DM Shade's The Misty Manor [Solo] (Inactive)

Game Master Arrius

"Listen, we came here to help you, but you need to tell me what we need to do. None of this makes any sense. What happened here? What has Ailson Kindler have to do with any of this? Who is... who in the Nine Hells is the witch-boy?!"

The pale legs stopped swinging back and forth on the chandelier. A pause fell as Edric continued to struggle.

"Stop struggling, you idiot!" shouted Maddox at his twin. "We'll help you!"

"MHMPHP HME!" came the voice from the twisting figure. Thaddeus felt Shiraz's gaze on him.

"You're a tad late, dearies," came her cold, hard, voice. Her voice then returned to its previous playful tone, as she continued,
lifting her dagger (which looked like a letter-opener in the lantern-light) and resting it against the rope casually. "But you know what they say about games and stress."

Paths
1. Stand under Edric and hold him. Let's hope you don't all stumble into the knives!
2. Tie a lassoed rope around Edric and pull him to fall on non-hazardous ground. (Intelligence and Strength checks) Do you remember your knots, boy scouts?
3. Drag the piano over the blades to absorb his fall. Yes! I always hated that paino!

3. Drag the piano over the blades to absorb his fall. Yes! I always hated that paino!

Thaddeus rushes towards the piano, grabbing it from one side. "Maddox, help me!"

I suppose I should roll Strength?: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (15) - 1 = 14

"Careful you don't burst a capillary!" said Shiraz, as Maddox helped his cousin, grabbing and dragging the ancient piano. "Edric may just break the piano and then be impaled at the bottom, or you might be on to something!"

Maddox's face was red as he finally rolled the piano with rusty wheels over the spikes on the floor. He took a step back as Edric's rope--

"What if it doesn't...huff..." said Maddox, ignoring Shiraz's mockery. "..hold?"

Thaddeus circles the piano, huffing from the strain of moving the heavy instrument. "It will, just... try to catch him!"

The doctor scrambles onto the piano, reaching for his cousin in order avert him from danger, perhaps shoving him aside to Maddox's waiting arms. Even the hardwood floor would be better than the spikes and swords...

Thaddeus circles the piano, huffing from the strain of moving the heavy instrument. "It will, just... try to catch him!"

Just as Thaddeus was about to climb over the piano, the rope snapped, and--

Nothing. The piano was pulled over a perfectly harmless floor. There was no Shiraz on the chandelier, no Edric hanging from the rope--and no rope entirely.

The childish laugh rang again in the hall. The place was silent for a while--and the silence was deafening.

Shiraz is still a child--a bored child who is playing nerve-wrecking games.

The two were quiet upon seeing Thaddeus and Maddox. Edric was about to say something, but Agatha held him back.

She said, "Thaddeus? Maddox? What did father have us promise when Arline told him about the house?"

It takes Thaddeus a moment to realise what is going on. "What? I, uh... no wait, that is smart. Uncle Alistair made us swear that we would never return to this house, as long as he still lived. On this book..."

He produces the copy of Parables handed to him earlier by Agatha. "Now, how do we know you are really who you appear to be?"

"Well, I'm the one who gave you the book," replied Agatha.

Edric released a tense sigh, and the Dusek family knew they were among flesh and blood. Agatha embraced Maddox, who seemed like he just came back from the brink of a heart attack.

"Even Asmodeus cannot conjure a fiendish trap like this," said Edric to Thaddeus, pocketing the silver knife. "It's crazy, Thad. Agatha and I saw you two go in one direction, and when we reached there, there was nobody!"

Agatha nodded, and added, looking to her cousin, "I heard you scream, Thaddeus, and went out to find you. You were at the garden, at the brink of death!"

Edric nodded, and said, "Wolves were gnawing on your your separated arm, and you were crawling towards us, crying for help, and bleeding all over the place. You were cut to pieces!"

"Edric almost soiled himself."

"Shut up, Aggie."

"But once firelight fell against the wolves, they disappeared--along with you," finished Edric. "We then heard Maddox in the attic, and a red-eyed monster in the dark was following him, and caught him, dragging him into the dark. Shiraz was laughing all the way. It was insane sadism!"

Maddox looked at Thaddeus meaningfully, and then said, "It was the same here. We saw Agatha in the bedroom that belonged to Shiraz's mother, surrounded by snakes. Edric was hanging over spiked floor inside a sack. Shiraz was also there with us."

Edric looked to his twin, sister, and cousin, and said, "We should leave before we go insane."

Agatha looked up and said, "She was amusing herself with our reactions. She's playing a game--but with a terrible sadistic streak."

Thaddeus falls silent, recalling the omens told to him by the girl at the dovecote. Something about being torn apart by wolves, and fire... mastering the fire.

"This was a mistake," he finally says with a deep sigh. "I had hoped that we could help Shiraz, but it appears that she does not want to be helped. Whatever she is now, she is thoroughly consumed by madness. We need to find Arline and escape this place... and then burn it to the ground. Stay together at all times. No more splitting up, for any reason. Got it?"

Where haven't we checked yet?

Thaddeus falls silent, recalling the omens told to him by the girl at the dovecote. Something about being torn apart by wolves, and fire... mastering the fire.

"This was a mistake," he finally says with a deep sigh. "I had hoped that we could help Shiraz, but it appears that she does not want to be helped. Whatever she is now, she is thoroughly consumed by madness. We need to find Arline and escape this place... and then burn it to the ground. Stay together at all times. No more splitting up, for any--

Thaddeus's words were interrupted by a shriek. The four looked between one another, and then to the second floor, at the top of the staircase.

"Seven Hells..." murmured Maddox.

Under the giant dusty stained glass window, rays of moonlight shone, revealing Arline, screaming and pleading, and retreating from a ogre-sized beast with two glowing red eyes.
She found herself stuck--the balcony between the stairs left her kneeling in fear from the approaching monster.

"Here's another game of my design," said Shiraz happily, standing next to the shadow-clad beast. Her white dress caught the moonlight, and showed a radiant smile. "The beast is close, and dear Arline must choose between his fangs or a fifteen-foot drop--possibly to fall on her treacherous head."

The last bit was said with a considerable amount of venomous spite.
With the impression of an arena announcer, Shiraz added, "Notice the stairs!"

She pointed at the stairs--black holes between the steps betrayed an unstable climb.

"So, you might as well try your hand in catching her, but she's fat," Shiraz said, smiling. "And that will crush you and her. Now, let me see what you will do. Surely the ghost-buster Thaddeus will come up with a solution."

Paths
1. Do nothing; Thaddeus realizes (as his cousins) that this just be another illusion.
2. Try to convince the others that this is not an illusion (or that it's worth the trouble to investigate, since it's Arline's life)
3. Try to see beyond the surface; roll a Sense Motive (vs. Arline and Shiraz) and an Investigation check (Intelligence + class level).

3. Try to see beyond the surface; roll a Sense Motive (vs. Arline and Shiraz) and an Investigation check (Intelligence + class level).

Doing his best to ignore all other distractions, Thaddeus breathes deeply and tries to take in the whole scene.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
Investigation: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

As he studied the situation calmly, Thaddeus looked no different from his cousins--all stone-faced and frankly unwilling to fall for another of Shiraz's torments.

Studying the scene, some things seemed off for Thaddeus.

Arline cried, covering her head, and pleaded, "Thaddeus--please, my children! Maddox--Agatha!!"

"My daughter's friends are my friends. Poor dear never finds children her age."

"You're all here for her! Nobody wants me!"

"See, Arline? None of your friends want to even try," said Shiraz with a dark smile.

Edric lit his pipe, as Maddox raised the lantern to shed its light further to the balcony, where Arline leaned from the beast, causing it to creak dangerously.

Thaddeus shudders. As he had suspected, all the previous trickery was meant to lull them into a false sense of safety. He realises that he does not have the time to convince his siblings, so instead he grabs a few things from his bag and rushes up the stairs, trusting his fencer's instincts as he makes the the precarious climb. From halfway up, he tosses a tube of silver at Arline. "Circle yourself, quickly!"

Acrobatics (to traverse the stairs): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19
Ranged Attack (to hit Arline's square): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

To indulge the rules for a bit here, and to remain honest to the fiction: I'm leaving the bag behind so that it won't penalize Thaddeus' speed and Dexterity-based skills, as he would be encumbered otherwise.
The two items he takes with him are abjurant salt and a spiritbane spike, the former of which he tosses up at Arline.

As Thaddeus climbed the stairs quickly, he caused his cousins to jump.

Edric investigation: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Maddox investigation: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
Agatha investigation: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

Agatha took a step back, stammering, "But-"
"Help me carry her now!" Maddox moved below the balcony as Thaddeus headed upstairs, roaring, "Just do it!"

"Circle yourself, quickly!"

Thaddeus shouted, throwing the tube at a crouching Arline. She, infuriatingly, was too frightened to reach forward, and too clumsy to grab.

Thaddeus's Arcana check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

Shiraz looked at the salts with an inscrutable expression, as the slow nightmarish beast continued--crossing it, causing Arline to scream and lean back further, uselessly warding off the creature with her chubby arms.

Story Options (one round before Arline falls)
1. Use Alchemy to create a cushioning mixture (and spend a mixture or extract)
2. Bleed the spiritbane spike and attack the monster or Shiraz, pushing it back (make a DC 15 Reflex save to avoid falling into a shadowed pit in the stairs)
3. Use a move-equivalent action to perceive and deduce the true evil presence. Thaddeus's Investigation check; +4 from previous information: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

2. Bleed the spiritbane spike and attack the monster or Shiraz, pushing it back (make a DC 15 Reflex save to avoid falling into a shadowed pit in the stairs)

Thaddeus produces a small iron spike, slashing it across his palm. The alchemically treated metal reacts violently with his blood, rapidly expanding into a jagged crystalline blade. The doctor lunges at the monstrosity threatening Arline, doing his best to put himself in between it and her. Blood drips from the wound on his hand, pooling on the floor at his feet and splattering across the walls as he moves the blade.

Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Spiritbane Spike Self Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 4

The expression on Shiraz's faces darkened terribly once Thaddeus stood between her monster and Arline.

"You never changed, Thaddeus," she said coldly. The beast near her stood before Thaddeus, outline almost bear-like. A cold presence nearly choked Thaddeus.
The creature stood high, then gave a deep, terrible roar.

Fear aura; must pass DC 15 Will save or become panicked for 1 minute.

Thaddeus's Will save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Arline's Will save: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (11) - 2 = 9

Arline stood frozen for a moment, and her knees buckled, causing her to fall back over the weak railing, crushing it tumbling over the balcony.

The gods must have been smiling on the Duseks; for a loud ripping sound held up the unconscious Arline, dangling her closer to the ground (and to the terrified hands of the Duseks).

Story options
1. Use Alchemy to create a cushioning mixture (and spend a mixture or extract) to soften Arline's fall
2. Attack the nightmarish beast or Shiraz
3. Use a move-equivalent action to perceive and deduce the true evil presence previous investigation result was a 22
4. Use a move-equivalent action to reach to Arline and lower/hold her

2. Attack the nightmarish beast or Shiraz

Seeing the slightest of chances to drive back whatever it was that they were dealing with, Thaddeus lunges forwards and tries to stab at Shiraz. His form is far from impeccable—it had been years since he was in a real fight, not to mention one involving the supernatural. Most of his attention is occupied by trying to avoid the bear-like beast, causing his desperate strike to resolve less accurately than he might have hoped.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12
Damage: 1d6 - 1 ⇒ (5) - 1 = 4

The Spiritbane Spike stabbed Shiraz. For half a second, Thaddeus thought he hurt her--but it passed through the girl. Shiraz looked unperturbed.

"No, I was wrong," said Shiraz. "You have changed. Fear finally got to you."
The nightmare monster moved forward to tower over the unconscious Arline, causing Thaddeus's cousins to see it over the ledge.

"Ardis?" From behind Dr. Dusek, he heard Konrad say, "You're in luck. I was there just a fortnight ago. You have no fear from the dead there--only the living."

"--Or it might have been nothing at all! Indeed, we cannot rule out the possibility of a visual hallucination."

"A passing traveler a fortnight ago came by and told her 'horror is a black sun. Under it awaken forgotten dreams and sleeping memories'.

Thaddeus's cousins screamed, as Arline's dress tore further, bringing her a second away from collapsing onto them. The creature roared again, causing supernatural fear to rise in the Duseks.
Maddox Will: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Edric's Will: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Agatha's Will: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13
Agatha was paralyzed in fear, shaking, as Edric and Maddox took slow steps back. Nobody was there to catch Arline should she fall.

4. Use a move-equivalent action to reach to Arline and lower/hold her

Thaddeus looks Shiraz in the eye for just a moment, grimacing as he turns towards Arline. He leaps forwards onto the edge and reaches for her, jamming his makeshift sword into the floorboards for leverage. Even if he was not strong enough to hold her, he hoped he would be able to slow her fall enough for the others to do something.

"Catch her!" he calls to his cousins, hoping to stir them to action.

As Thaddeus leaped to catch Arline, he managed to catch her by the leg. Her weight strained Thaddeus's old muscles, causing them to ache and groan.
At first, Thaddeus's cousins didn't react, still captured by the paralyzing fear spell. Upon a more desperate call, they shook to their senses slowly. They dropped their light sources, reached, inadvertently closing their eyes for impact.

A long rip echoed, and Arline's dress tore, dragging Thaddeus with her, leaving him to hang by the sword, holding to one of Arline's shoes, as her unconscious body fell like a meteor on the three cousins, causing them to cry out and fall to the ground, groaning and cursing. Thaddeus realized they were all alive. Arline began groaning, too, apparently being roused to waking up.

Another groan sounded from above. The floorboards Thaddeus's cane sword was jabbed into. The old wood creaked.
Climb check to hold on: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (7) - 1 = 6
Thaddeus's hand slipped, muscles still weak from the strain, and he fell the distance, slamming painfully against the floor, bloodied, sprawled on the floor.
fall: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Thaddeus HP 6/15
Maddox struggled with the rest, all prone, before waving his fist at Shiraz, shouting, "You little demon! Just wait until I get my hands on you!"
Shiraz and the bear-like beast withdrew slowly into the shadows.

"Edric, lift your foot from my neck!" Maddox shouted, trying to move back.
"I cgh brgh!" gasped Edric.
"Whose hand is this?" Agatha gasped, lifting a hairy arm wrapped on her foot.

It took a while for the cousins to disentangle themselves from the mess on the floor.
In the wounded silence after saving Arline, no one spoke. Arline looked hurt and dazed, still on her back where she fell. Tears gathered in her eyes.

"She really loved us, didn't she?" she croaked from her place on the floor, looking to the empty balcony.
Edric looked to Thaddeus for an explanation. "How did you know this wasn't an illusion?"

Thaddeus lifts himself from the floor, groaning in pain. He takes a moment to feel around, taking a stock of his injuries. Several fractured ribs, possible internal bleeding, and something less obviously identifiable but undoubtedly painful having to do with his hip. The doctor digs out a vial of a reddish liquid, downing it in one gulp. He stands there for a moment, closing his eyes as he feels the alchemical putting his body into overdrive, the rush of blood in his ears drowning out all other sounds. There is a grimace of pain as his wounds knit themselves together. Thaddeus did not like to rely too much on his own tinctures, not only because of the discomfort, but professional pride. This was one of those rare situations where his sense of practicality had to override his principles, however. He had to remain operational.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Once he feels the potion has run its course, he turns to look haggardly at Edric. "Do you not see? Of course it was real! She is toying with us, and the perfect way to do that is to make us think its all false. The only reason she has not killed us is because we have proved entertaining. But enough is enough! Pick up Arline. We need to get out of here, now..."

The doctor straightens up, looking around to assess the situation.

It took a while to negotiate carrying Arline without causing her existing wounds more harm, eliciting a wince, groan, and a curse in that order as her childhood friends pulled, pushed, and carried her to the entry hall. Her glazed expression didn't change, but her unfocused gaze always returned to the stairs to the second floor.
Thaddeus followed, noticing that Shiraz was no longer up there. The heavy stale air was poisonous, and the shadows stretching behind the terrible Gothic artifacts seemed like demons ready to pounce. A marble bust had its profile lit, the other half shrouded in darkness, but it seemed the eyes of the dark old man followed them. A heavy chandelier seemed to be creaking lightly, as a meowing sounded from the upper floors. Two cat's lights appeared in the upper floor, reflecting the light eerily.

Maddox and Edric reached the door first.
"All right. Simple door. This will be easy--" Maddox said, sounding uncertain. He twisted the door's handle. "Well...it's locked."

"Demons ride on my back, of course it's locked! Kick it in, man," said Edric impatiently. Agatha seemed lost in thought, holding up her sunrod in one hand, and shouldering Arline's body on her thin frame. She looked back on the balcony, narrowing her eyes, and then looking at Thaddeus, frowning in thought.

Maddox kicked the square of the door. It didn't budge.
"Demons ride on my ass! Kick it in the hinge, Maddox!" Edric practically screamed. "Center of mass is spread if you kick it in the middle! Move over!"

Maddox murmured something about academics and ivory towers, but the twins began raining heavy, meaty kicks on the door. One strike gave a particular air of strength--and the door shifted. A ragged exhale from the two caused the rest to freeze.
The main door didn't open, but bulged outwards as if bruised, before slowly returning to a door-like form. Before the horrified eyes of the Duseks, the door looked like a nightmare made flesh.

"We'll stay until we starve," said Agatha in a tiny voice.

"Shut up, Agatha," growled Edric nervously. "Come morning, they'll come looking for us."
A pregnant silence followed.

Thaddeus shakes his head slowly, as frustrated as he is mortified. With such an obvious sign of the supernatural in plain sight, his arsenal seemed distinctly lacking in caliber. At this point it seemed clear that this was a task fit for an inquisitor or a wizard, not a hematopathologist. He sighs heavily, taking stock of the rooms they had already explored. "There must be another way out of here..."

...but where? Is there a cellar or an attic?

Both, in fact. There is also a roof.

"There's something off," Agatha started.
In the midst of absolute nightmarish conditions, her statement seemed bizarrely dated. Maddox didn't pay his sister any mind.
"We can head to the roof," suggested Maddox. "We can signal passers-by."
"If I saw people calling for help from this house, I'd run home and hide under the covers," replied Edric dryly.
Besides that, Thaddeus remembered the broken staircase. There is no way Maddox's bad leg will help him there, or carry Arline's weight (or that of either of the twins).
"We can head to the window in the kitchen," suggested Edric. "We can go for help, and come back with Arline's husband!"
A faint meowing echoed from the upper floors. It was the cat from before.
"If he even saw a glimpse of Shiraz--" began Maddox, before he heard the girl's gentle laugh.

"The house is more secure than you expect," came her voice from the balcony. Shiraz sat with her legs hanging over the drop caused by Arline's fall. She was coldly amused. She looked down on the adults, shaken and desperate. "You'll run around like mice in a maze. Go then. You'll be frightened, hopeless, without hope of relief or respite from terror. Perhaps, once you are taken by heart attacks, viper bites, or madness, you'll follow Arline."

Thaddeus shakes head defiantly and starts walking towards the cellar.

I was trying to come up with something witty, but there isn't much left to say in this situation.

Just as Thaddeus took steps away from the door, Agatha spoke up shakily.

"You changed, Shiraz. A lot."
Shiraz shrugged bemusedly in a 'and-who-hasn't' tone.

"We really did love being with you," added Agatha.

Thaddeus headed to the door to the kitchen. The door to the cellar in the opposite side of the room.

"Yet it ends like this," she returned coldly from back at the foyer. "Me, suffering the lonely existence of ghosts. Forgotten and hated and feared."

Maddox replied sullenly, "We were forced to! We were children. It wasn't our decision!"

The opening to the cellar was a thin door made of brass wire. The handle was frozen to the touch. It was locked. As Thaddeus negotiated the lock, he caught a glimpse from the window they came from. The angelic statue was there, kneeling in prayer.
Once the idea of leaving through the window drifted in, it shut itself.
It was as if the house read his mind.

"It's rude to leave while people are talking."
The voice came from nowhere. The voice sounded young and male. It had a dark air of confidence and amusement.

"Thaddeus?" called Agatha.

Story Paths
1. Use your crowbar to open the cellar's lock
2. Try to smash the kitchen window
3. Confront Shiraz--she never wanted friendship, just to trick us--and now to abuse us
4. Confront the voice

Thaddeus produces his crowbar and gets to work on the cellar door, calling out for his cousins to join him. He is single-minded, focusing his inner turmoil into strength.

That is, until he hears the voice.

"It's rude to leave while people are talking."

"Rude?" he growls incredulously, still not entirely sure if he is simply imagining the whole thing. "People will die, and I am supposed to care about manners?"

"Lies! She had a decision," came Shiraz's bitter voice from the landing, undoubtedly pointing at Arline. "She chose poison. She chose evil and fear to reign."

"Rude? People will die, and I am supposed to care about manners?"

The voice merely chuckled before fading away. Thaddeus jammed his crowbar's pronged end between the iron, which began to give way slowly under pressure. In a split second, Thaddeus remembered something from way before.

Thaddeus heard the exchange between his cousins and Shiraz continue on, becoming steadily more heated.

"It was childish jealousy!" replied Edric bitterly. "Arline was--"

"--a wicked girl that never changed!" Shiraz spat. "Evil suffused me. You haven't seen what I have become yet, but you shall! You all chose to save her from her fate--you will follow her!

Arline's voice came, shaky and frail. She must have waken. "Shiraz--we...can be your friends again...put all this behind us. Please."
A terrible bitter laugh answered her.
Thaddeus managed to pry one side of the cellar door open. All the books in the library were empty, except Shiraz's mother's notebook. That was everything of her that remained.

"Yesterday, you didn't fear me. You had the innocence of children. Today you fear consequences of betraying me. You have the rotten baggage of adulthood. Today, you are filled with fears, disappointments, and dozens of shattered dreams. No, Arline. It's too late for you. It's too late for any of you."

Edric said, "Our families know about us being here. Come morning, and they will break the doors down!"

As the cellar door finally gave away, Thaddeus noticed two emerald lights approach from below. Four more slowly came up from the darkness. They blinked, and narrowed.

"Thaddeus?!" shouted Agatha, before Maddox bellowed in fear. "Help!"

"Come morning? What makes you think you have that long?" asked Shiraz sweetly. "We still have enough time for some games."

Thaddeus backs away from whatever horror lurks in the darkness of the cellar, slamming the door shut behind him. He takes a few shaky steps back towards the others, before stumbling and falling to his knees. The crowbard clatters to the floor, forgotten. For a moment, all he can hear is the rush of blood in his ears. Through his sudden lethargy, he feels a sharp pain in his hand, as it instinctively clutches around the ankh in his pocket. Why was that there again? He had... taken it. Yes, from his inn room on a whim, amused by the by the coincidental nature of finding such a thing on his journey. He had been thinking about that fop, Keldoff, and the ritual pipe he had received from him as a gift—a trap in disguise, truly, leading to more manufactured scandal. Curious, how many things had to have occurred for him to have it now...

Thaddeus had never believed in any higher purpose: gods were real, undoubtedly, but none save Pharasma could claim any true dominion over the fates of mortals. Nor did he believe so now. Whether or not the ankh was a genuine artefact did not matter—it could not save him now. Yet, there was a legacy behind it—a legacy now lost to time, with only a scarce scattering of people to remember the old ways. Yes, it came from somewhere, and now resided with him. There was no reason for it, save for the cause. But it was real, and whatever surrounded him now was not a part of that arrangement. It was wrong. Moreover, it was false.

Thaddeus drags himself up, supporting himself against the wall and focusing on his cousins' voices. He stumbles once more, exhausted both in body and mind, but trudges forth with purpose.

"Listen to me," he says to the others with renewed confidence. "None of this is real. You have all seen it: she—it—cannot hurt us if do not allow it. We must not give in to desperation. Come with me!"

The doctor grabs Arline by the hand and rushes towards the study. Perhaps, he thinks to himself, whatever memory was left of Shiraz's mother would give the apparition pause...

The shadows in the cellar shifted as Thaddeus left the front of the door. The alien presence was silent once Thaddeus strode out, too driven to be able to listen.

Thaddeus drags himself up, supporting himself against the wall and focusing on his cousins' voices. He stumbles once more, exhausted both in body and mind, but trudges forth with purpose.

"Listen to me," he says to the others with renewed confidence. "None of this is real. You have all seen it: she—it—cannot hurt us if do not allow it. We must not give in to desperation. Come with me!"

"It's an illusion?!" asked Edric in disbelief.

"W-wait for me!" exclaimed Edric, following. Nobody faced Shiraz, and nobody heard her speak.
Running from the foyer kicked in the cousins' flight response, and adrenaline pumped through them as Maddox hobbled quickly on his wounded leg. He stumbled, dropping his lantern, extinguishing his own flame.
Agatha supported him to go on, holding out her sunrod like a beacon to the group as she accompanied Thaddeus.

Entering the study, he shut the door behind them in the face of extending shadows and gruesome howls of what wounded like warped hunting dogs. The door shook, dropping dust from its frame.

"N-now what?" said Agatha. Maddox was unsure whether to keep standing at the door or focusing on denying the illusion, and took a cautious step in-between.
The study's dark gothic style was nightmarish in the flickering single light, casting alien shadows behind furniture, a world globe with faded colors, and a bust half-hidden in shade. The diary of Shiraz's mother sat nearby, the strange picture of young Shiraz, the Witch Boy, and Alison Kindler within its folds.

The shadow's reach stopped just before the huddled Duseks and Arline, as a silence fell over the house. It was a tense silence, as like children playing hide-and-seek.

The golden brilliance of the sunrod in Agatha's hand began to flicker. Her eyes widened in panick, as she held it tightly, as if subconsciously trying to squeeze it for more light.
"Does anyone have another light!?" whispered Edric in a most unman-like squeak, as it slowly began to fade. Maddox checked his pockets--no tindertwigs.

If the evil in this house extinguishes the light, keeping the party both sane and together will be an impossible task..

Story Paths
1. Crack open Konrad Tarkowski's gift, and use his metal lighter to provide firelight, and make improvised torches out of book-paper.
2. Draw out Uncle Alistair's Parables of Erastil, and gather the cousins to swear to never to acknowledge or recognize Shiraz.
3. Chant the Ankh's prayer, substituting any two deities of good (or 'The Lord and Lady') for the one whose name was forgotten.

First of all, I choose option 4... that is, 4 more sunrods. Not as dramatic, but I'd rather keep the other options in my back pocket for now.

Thaddeus plops down his bag and digs out more sunrods, distributing them amongst his cousins. His hands still tremble slightly as he does, but he has managed to regain his senses—for the moment, at least.

"Light them one at a time," he instructs them. "But make sure that at least one is lit at all times."

2. Draw out Uncle Alistair's Parables of Erastil, and gather the cousins to swear to never to acknowledge or recognize Shiraz.

Having secured at least a temporary light source, Thaddeus produces the Parables of Erastil and holds it out to the others. He has a somewhat sheepish look on his face, harkening back to his childhood awkwardness.

"I still cannot believe I am doing this," he sighs. "But this is not about faith, but recognising the truth. Swear to Erastil, swear to your father, swear to your families—whatever you hold closest to your heart. Renounce the Khadrev House, renounce Shiraz, and renounce any memory of this place and its inhabitants. Swear that you will never again give life to the horrors you have witnessed here tonight."

First of all, I choose option 4... that is, 4 more sunrods. Not as dramatic, but I'd rather keep the other options in my back pocket for now.

Thaddeus plops down his bag and digs out more sunrods, distributing them amongst his cousins. His hands still tremble slightly as he does, but he has managed to regain his senses—for the moment, at least.

"Light them one at a time," he instructs them. "But make sure that at least one is lit at all times."

As Edric lit his sunrod, he held it up. Its light was pale and cold and dim, just as Agatha's.

"I still cannot believe I am doing this," he sighs. "But this is not about faith, but recognising the truth. Swear to Erastil, swear to your father, swear to your families—whatever you hold closest to your heart. Renounce the Khadrev House, renounce Shiraz, and renounce any memory of this place and its inhabitants. Swear that you will never again give life to the horrors you have witnessed here tonight."

Play: 'Bunmei's Memories'

Maddox gulped, fade half hidden in shadow. He reached his meaty hand over Thaddeus's own, which held up the Parables, and said, closing his eyes, "I renounce her. Everyone, remember your families--they're what's real, not this. They're who need you."

Agatha put her thin hand over her brother's, and said with a strained voice, closing her own, "This part of our life is over. It was over for years. None of this is real."

Edric scurried to stand opposite to Thaddeus. He nodded with a gulp, and placed his hand over his sister's, and said shakily, closing his eyes, "It's all over. Remember your homes--this is...not a home."

A whisper sounded from behind the door.
Arline's face was taut and pale as a sheet, but she reached out--aided by Edric's own hand which guided hers to stop atop Edric's. Her face was teary-eyed, as she said, ""I'll never again give life to this memory. I swear, Mr. Dusek."
It was as if she was talking to uncle Alistair. The Duseks' faces likewise tightened.
She then closed her eyes, and tears rolled down her cheeks, as she whispered, voice thick with guilt and sadness, "Though I wish it ended differently."

For a moment, in the shadows and fear and desperation, it was as if the old gang was truly back together again. The dim light, fatigue, stress, and what he recognized as some psychic resonance may have played with Thaddeus's eyes, but they all seemed like children once more.

Last words?

Thaddeus nods to his cousins, tears stinging his eyes. The doctor could not remember the last time he had cried, but the sheer exhaustion of the past few days had been too much for him—too much for anyone. He imagined himself away from this place. He pictured himself in some quiet place, helping people in need. That is what he had promised to do, before he had become so enamoured with delving into the unknowable. Perhaps he had finally found what he had been looking for all those years: the part of himself that he had left behind in Ardis, screaming to be liberated. Now, he would be free to look to the future.

"I swear," he says without hesitance. "I swear I will longer meddle in the affairs best left buried. Some things are not meant to be known by mortal minds..."

Heavy minutes passed once everyone made their pledge.
It was as if everyone was entranced in the darkness--until the atmosphere lifted. The sunrods' lights brightened once more, as if they never dimmed.
There was no whisper anymore.
Maddox let his hand withdraw, and looked to the door outside, face as emotionless as stone. He swung the door open.
There was nothing there under the sunrod's light. He let out a sigh.

Out of the open kitchen's door, the faint light of dawn streamed into the empty Khadrev estate. The main door opened easily, as did the wire gate.

[Which of the following story paths takes priority for Thaddeus?]
1. Take Arline to a hospital (hospitalize her stressful breakdown)
2. Purge the estate with fire