"We should make certain that all the evil here has been dealt with. There might be things that can survive fire and emerge later to threaten us and others. There also might be clues to the identity of those who a directing these attacks."
Inikai takes a vial from his pouchbelt and drinks it in a gulp. Moments later the burned tone of his face and neck diminish noticibly and then fades to almost its normal appearance.
"I believe the note from downstairs points to this Magnimar place for those in charge." Muchorak pauses, "Though you are right there could be more agents of this corruption in the home."
The basement proves itself to be a treasure trove of flammables. It's drier than the rest of the house and has a stock of firewood obviously laid in a long time ago
Anything of interest in the basement rooms we had not entered? I gave a perception check above for searching them.
Romon finishes cleaning up the silver and amuses himself trying to sneak pieces into Marak's and Inikai's Haversacks without the cleric or binder noticing. He occasionally actually helps move combustibles about as cover for the other activity.
Stealth .. Sleight of Hand
Stealth .. Sleight of Hand
Stealth .. Sleight of Hand
Stealth .. Sleight of Hand
Stealth .. Sleight of Hand
Stealth .. Sleight of Hand
One of the Basement rooms turns out to be a wine cellar..the racks are empty but provide more fuel for the pyre..as you dismantle them you find a hidden compartment containing 8 bottles of fine vintage wine from Cheliax.
In a cupboard near the oven sits a very fine silver dinner set, with an exceptionally large silver salver and a dozen crystal decanters.
Esteriande will salt away the spoils of victory in her pack, and mention it to the others when she sees them.
Appraise:
|
Marak has had no luck attempting to discern the nationalities or cultures of the deceased, so he shrugs it off as a futile task, and instead gathers the wood being brought in by the others to form a nest-like bit of 'bedding' for the bodies, and then places the various corpses gently on the impromptu pyre.
Unable to divine what faiths they may have followed in life, he chooses to invoke his own patron, rather than attempt to name the many gods followed in these lands.
"All-Seeing Eye, cast your gaze to this dark place, beneath stone and tainted earth, where we seek to cleanse the foulness from this corrupted flesh, and bring comfort to the souls that once wore them. Their faiths in life, their names, their deeds, go unremembered and unremarked, by we so blessed as to survive them, but may their descendents sleep easier tonight, as the darkness that has lain so long on their ancestor's memories rises with the smoke of this offering."
When the bodies are finally in place, and it is decided that we are ready to light the pyre, he speaks to the dead, "Let the flames carry you from the darkness."
He then beats a hasty retreat, since he failed to find signs of decent airflow, and expects it will get pretty smokey down here, real fast...
Accompnaing Naria Ali adds her nose and eyes to the searches:
Perception:(+2 for smell & touch)
Perception:(+2 for smell & touch)
Perception:(+2 for smell & touch)
Perception:(+2 for smell & touch)
(+ Scent ability)
The ground floor reveals no more than a mouldering library..however there are signs of foul play here..a heavy wooden chair has bloodstains upon it.Also you find a womans scarf nearby..it is finely decorated with small gem stones and worth 100 GP.
Sorry, I was waiting to see if Mr Pett was going to reply but as he hasn't I'm going with my gut feeling that supressing the main evil supresses the entire house.More details later today.
You search the house from top to bottom but find no items of value anywhere except in a small private study on the attic floor..
The oddments include several dozen curious fetishes and masks, but the most impressive piece is an old painting of a bullfight. The painting bears a plaque that reads “Throwdown in Swynetown,” and in the painting, vast crowds leer and cheer the bullfighter on, the huge bull aurochs towering over him, its cruel forward-jutting horns each the length of a
spear.
Dozens of bodies lie in the streets—the aurochs has clearly rampaged through them already, and although a score of brightly colored spears jut from the creature’s flanks and back, it still rages on. This painting is, in fact, an original work by renowned Magnimarian artist Andosalu, worth 600 gp.
The books are mostly on tribal cultures and history (most of it local and relating to the Shoanti tribes), along with numerous maps of mysterious realms and ship charts. None of the books are particularly valuable . The scroll cases contain more maps, along with two arcane scrolls—lightning bolt and keen edge.
There are also 4 sets of the stained glass windows running from attic to basement which confirm that one of the foxgloves did indeed intend to become a lich.It would appear that the family has been cursed for a long time.
The pictures are listed below
AtticThe northern window depicts a dark-haired woman with pale skin, large green eyes, and a black-and-red gown; with both hands she wields a jagged iron staff. The southern window has been broken on its lower half and patched with canvas; what remains of its upper half depicts a handsome man dressed in regal finery and a crown of ivory and jade.
Upper Floor The windows themselves depict a diverse array of animals and plants—from north to south are a large pale and ghostly scorpion, 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 bell-shaped 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.
Ground FloorAlready Identified by Naria in an earlier post as a number of long lived cretures being absoebed by a box.
Basement The room which leads to the staircase to the caverns looks to have once been some sort of arcane workshop, although little remains but broken glassware, shattered jars of pottery that contain dust and mold, and several rusty instruments and tools.
A row of soggy books sits on the northern end of a workbench along the western wall. At the other end of the workbench, what looks like three iron birdcages sit, each containing a dead diseased rat.
To the east, two stained-glass windows loom. The northern window depicts a thin man with gaunt features drinking a foul-looking brew of green fluid, while the southern one shows the same man but in an advanced state of decay, as if he had been dead for several weeks. His arms raised and head thrown back in triumph, his rotting body turns to smoke and spirals into a seven-sided box( the same box that you found broken in the caves.)
Knowledge (arcana):
Naria examins all the glass windows racking her brains as to what this all means.
Perception
Knowledge Arcana
Knowledge history
Esteriande will consider the subject matter of the windows, and also their artistic value. Most of the paintings she will move in order to save them, but is clearly undecided about the the stained glass: they are wonderful artwork, but they are an instruction manual on how to become fathomless evil ...
Curious about the tribal information on the Shoanti tribes, Muchorak will read through it even more curious as to what these civilized men have written about his people.
Much of the work on the SHoanti is speculation and fanciful imaginings..but there is a core of solid work that reflects the tribes properly...
The windows are indeed a guide to the methodology of creating a phylactery.
Knowledge (religion):
Now that the house seems to have been cleared of threats Inikai studies the picture windows. At first, he is simply taken with them as works of art. But then he begins to examine them for any details that might prove useful in understanding this place and its former occupants.
You realise in a combination of Narias Historical knowledge and Esteriande and Inakai's Religious studies that the woman is Azrani...once a demi goddess in the Service of Aroden now the Harlot Queen of Geb and a Lich herself.
That's it for the House of Ush...errrr Foxglove..you've found everything of Value.
"If you are still intent of firing ze 'ouse, Monsieur Muchorak, zen we should place ze works of art in ze basement where zey will not be damaged before we can return for zem." Esteriande still seems torn regarding the stained glass windows.
"Well after a careful and complete examination of the place I have come to the conclusion that burning it to the ground may be the best option."
The rogue creeps up behind Esteriande as she studies the stained glass. "Beautiful work that. Probably worth a pretty penny in Magnimar. Look at the colors."
Stealth
Appraise, stained glass
Muchorak nods, "Then let us burn it."
"We 'ad better move zese windows zen. Such artwork is too valuable to be destroyed, zough I am not sure I would weesh to sell eet. Zere ees a priestess of Shelyn in Sandpoint, I will take 'er advice."
Not sure what checks you would want us to make to pop the window frames out and transport the heavy windows downstairs.
The frames are part of the fabric of the building.., the windows must have been built on site you can see no way of safely removing them without destroying the fragile artworks.
Romon..value to a collector for the windows..maybe 1000GP..the plate is worth perhaps 200 as a set.
Esteriande looks mournfully at them.
"Zere is no way of removing zese, and ze 'ouse must be destroyed. Yet zey are also ze signposts on a path to evil ... zere loss will not lessen ze world, let zem be destroyed, zen," she turns away with a heavy heart.
She will transport the books and paintings that can be saved to the cellar where they should be safe until we can return for them.
Romon eyes the heavy frames. Getting the windows out of the wall is beginning to look too much like work. He muses. Besides there's other game afoot and her wind is changing if I'm not mistaken.
The half-elf wraps a comforting arm around Esteriande's shoulders. "You're right of course. It's a terrible shame, but sometimes one must choose the lesser of two evils. -- Besides, we still have the silver."
Estariande does not appear to mind Romon's arm around her, but does embrace him in turn either, she seems to view it as merely a companiable gesture.
"Silver, mon ami, is ze very poor substitute for zis ... wasted ... talent," Esteriande smiles sadly. "As for ze choosing of evils, zere is none - merely some 'ard decisions zat remind us zat we are all 'uman and fallible. My regret, you see, is not so much zat ze windows must be destroyed, but zat zey were made zis way at all. Ze artiste was able to make much beauty, yet 'e was given zis as 'is subject matterr."
She shakes herself and with the others prepares the mansion for it's demise in flames. As they start to flicker and curl, she nods sadly.
"Come, eet ees a long walk to Sandpoint, but per'aps zere your silver can purchase a new 'orse at least."
It seems somehow wrong to destroy knowledged, even if it is evil in nature Inikai thinks. Nethys commands all magic, both light and dark. Surely, there is something to be learned from these windows. If nothing else, it could enable us to know when others are putting their efforts toward malignant ends. But, I understand my companions' desire to put this beyond the use of evil men.
IN any event, Muchorak, Ali and Esteriende are surely set against it. Romon is a brave lad for his forwardness toward the paladin. Certainly, a challenging conquest is all the sweeter. But, gods, if things go wrong with her I don't want him to knock on my door and tell me she is chasing him with that meat cleaver of hers.
I wonder how Marak and Naria feel about the loss of the knowledge that these windows contain. This is outside Naria's field of study, as far as I know. But Marak is likely to understand the value of preserving magical knowledge, even dangerous knowledge like this.
Although she is still very nervous of burning the house and thus creating such a huge fire, at the same time Ali does strongly feel that this abomination of a two-leg dwelling should be cleansed and destroyed.
As always when a fire is involved, she will stand by ready with water & water spells to prevent it from getting out of control.