"I don't want to get anybody hurt, but these windows are certainly evil. What do you all think would happen if we tried to destroy them with an axe or something? Do you think they would shatter or do you think the evil would resist?"
"More likely nothing." Karlan says.
"So downstairs its windows of soul sucking boxes, and here its a description of spell components, and both built on after the house was constructed? Well the family patriarch was the Magical lunatic, Aldern was a lot of things, but he was no order of magician"
"Lets not go breaking things though, they have a habit of hurting us back"
While I agree Handsome that there is a time and place for muscle, this seems more like a puzzle, we just have to figure out exactly what the pieces are. Lets finish looking at the rooms and see what else we have.
"Agreed."
Harry gets to work on the next door, the one north of the 'suicide room'...
This bedroom features a child-sized bed, a chair next to a toy box, and a looming stone fireplace big enough for a child to get lost in.
a looming stone fireplace big enough for a child to get lost in.
Harry quickly moves through the room looking for anything with a name on it that might reveal whos room this was, all the while giving the fireplace a wide berth.
Perception
"What do we think? Nothing looks amiss."
Above the fireplace, the initials A.F. are artfully carved into the stone.
"Alderns bedroom then. Such a promising start to life, he should have had it all, yet seems fate had other plans"
Harry is slowly cooling down, at heart he can't but help feel some sympathy for all the suffering in the whole sorry tale.
This entire bedroom is caked with a thick, spongy layer of dark green, blue, and black mold.
Kanyk glances into the room and frowns at the thick layer of mold covering everything.
"Mold this thick is going to be full of spoors, you stand on it and take a breath and then your lungs'll be full of them too. Not a good thing most of the time, but in this house? Might eat you from the inside out. Maybe we just skip this room?"
Ailetha wrinkles her nose at the disgusting mold covering the room.
Good thought Kanyk. We could toss something in and see if the room suddenly explodes into a cloud of spores. Just leave the door open an inch or so. If there is a giant poof when the stone hits the floor, then shut the door the last inch and leave to for a while.
"Wait just a moment, friends. If you really think Aldern has become the undead ghoul leader that you suspect, maybe there is something in this room that can give us some insight into him. You know, a weakness or a motivation. The better we know and understand our enemy, the better prepared will be to face him. Handsome, do you see any books or object of interest that might give us some insight?"
Harry hasn't noticed such a thing.
"How about a toy or some object that has some great meaning to him? Do you see a simple treasure box or a diary or something where he keeps his most important treasured items. Maybe a locket from his mother or something of the sort?"
There was a toy box.
"I leave the decision up to you, Handsome, but I wonder if that toy box contains something of value to him. We may be able to use it against him."
"I leave the decision up to you, Handsome, but I wonder if that toy box contains something of value to him. We may be able to use it against him."
Er, Celestra, our first concern was whether the room was trapped. That mold looks like it may explode. I think we should toss a handful of copper pieces in and see if the room goes POOF. And have the door ready to be shut the instant the coins hit the floor if anything does happen.
"Well no use going in there to an early grave, I wonder about this mould though, reckon the rat downstairs was mouldy rather than diseased? Maybe this stuff gets on the living as well as in the house?"
"As to something precious to Aldern that we can use against him, I reckon a ghoul would go down readily enough to our combined blades. We've killed demons, reckon he couldn't be worse"
"As you wish, Handsome. I suspect you are right, we have certainly dealt with worse. I guess I just find it unnerving that there seems to be nothing living in this place other than that diseased rat."
"...and us! don't forget us! we're still alive eh? Seems like my plan is working so far, whether I am lucky or just overcautious, we seem to have avoided too many more of their lurks and traps... I feel like a deck-swab stuck on a ghost ship"
"That's a good point! Indeed we are alive! Thank you for keeping us safe, Harry! I promise to buy you a few drinks when we get out of this place!"
"I reckon by the time we are done here we will need them too..."
An iron tub sits in the middle of this room, the floorboards sagging with the tub's weight. Outside, the storm has become even more violent and sometimes you feel how the whole building is slowly bending over.
sometimes you feel how the whole building is slowly bending over.
"None of the portraits show anyone dying in a tub, so no need to poke in this room either."
Harry backs out and tries (I think) the last door on this level...
The once fine chamber has been destroyed. The bed is smashed, the mattress torn apart, walls gouged as if by knives, chairs hacked apart, and paintings on the walls torn to pieces - with one exception. A portrait hanging on the northwest wall seems to be untouched, although it hangs backward, its unseen subject facing the wall.
"Either someone here went crazy, or that picture on the wall can literally shoot daggers. I'm going to turn it over really gently, but take my axe and blade before I do in case it is the first, and stay well out of the way of the door if it is the last."
With a light look of doom and apprehension, Harry hands Kanyk his weapons, and checks the rope tied around his waist is tight and that Sir Karlan and Kanyk have a good grip on it in case they need to drag his body.
Once he knows all is as good as can be, he creeps across the room, pausing to look for danger... and then turns over the picture...
Perception
Karlan's blood nearly freezes as he spots the raven-haired beauty on the painting. This is the woman he has met in the dancing parlour downstairs...
Harry exhales, at first through relief that the picture hasn't exploded outward and harmed him, but then at the beauty of the woman in the portrait.
"What a waste to have killed such a treasure, what madness could have driven a man to do such a thing?"
Harry backs out slowly...
"So its the stairs, and to the lights seen above. Steel yourselves for a ghost, they are terrible creatures that haunt the seas on the ships of the damned, I never wished to meet one close up"
Harry fetches back his axe and dagger, then starts climbing the stairwell.
As you walk over to the stairs...
You are suddenly filled with an intense hatred of women! You are compelled to attack the nearest woman.
Harry snaps and runs at Celestra without warning, fire and rage in his eyes, he seems intent on beating her down...
"You stupid b*tch! you want to break windows, you want to smash the house, you want me to risk my a$$ in room to steal toyboxes... you shouldn't be standing around like a useless cow you should be on your hands and knees cleaning the place! I'll strangle you wench!"
Attack - Punch 'b~%!&slap' (power attack)
Damage -
Harry seems set on grabbing a hold of her and putting his Thug skills to work on the woman, no doubt looking to get his meaty hands around her throat.
'What the hell are you doing? In Cayden's name, stop! I know we have had our differences, but this is no way to act!"
Celestra does everything she can to get Harry off of her, kicking, biting, scratching, and if need be, her rapier. If she can get free, she will hastily flee out of his range and prepare herself to defend against him.
Escape Artist Check
"Don't you dare lay a hand on me, ever again!, You Bastard!"
Celestra is far more agile than Harry would have thought possible and if Kanyk and Karlan decide to help her, she will be able to escape Harry...
Once the two overpower you, you regain your senses. Btw. great roleplaying!
Harry is delighted his hit has made it's mark, and with a malevolent grin begins lining up his next attack... ignoring all else in the room.
"You are all the same you women, nag, nag, nag... don't do this, don't do that, you act as if you own the place!"
"You are all the same you women, nag, nag, nag... don't do this, don't do that, you act as if you own the place!"
Celestra stands with her rapier drawn, ready to defend herself.
"I will admit to my many mistakes, Harry, but what in dear Cayden's name is wrong with you?! What has happened to you? Is the stress of this house finally getting to you? You may have been annoyed with me in the past, but you have never laid a hand on me! If you want my continued help, I suggest that you change your tone a great deal! Kanyk, Karlan, can you figure out what in dear Golarion is wrong with Harry?!"
Without hesitation karlan reaches out and tries to grab him. "That's because it's not harry! Channel your energy at it! You have to dispel the influence!"
CMB to grapple
Celestra immediately channels the divine energy of Cayden Cailean bathing the 30 foot radius surrounding her with a warm glow of light and a faint scent of beer.
"All good and mighty Cayden Cailean, I call upon you to engulf this man, Harry Handsome, in your light and free him of the evil that threatens his soul!"
Channel Energy to damage Undead
Seeing Harry going slightly mad, I cast Sleep
Sleep - Save DC 16, Will
Affects 4HD - centering on Harry
Seeing Harry going slightly mad, I cast Sleep
Sleep - Save DC 16, Will
Affects 4HD - centering on Harry
Save.
Harry snors profoundly and is no threat anymore.
Well, lets drag him away from that room and bind him before we wake him up. He might be slightly annoyed, but that is better than us having to fight a really annoyed half-orc.
I think we have a few minutes until he wakes up, although we can wake him any time we want.
"Thank you, my friends. I don't think my channelling had any effect on him. I don't know what happened to him, but I certainly have never seen anything like that before. So what do we do now? Do you think we will be able to trust Handsome and more?"
Well, wake him up and see if he is chipper Harry or slobbering undead Harry.
I still say we keep him bound until we know that he has decided to stop attacking Celestra. . . . But it is your call, just realize that I will be hiding behind Kanyk when you wake Harry up.
"Well we never got a chance to see if it worked or not. Oh well. Let's drag him somewhere we know's at least marginally safe."
Harry lurches awake after his brief respite.
"Huh!? What!? Oh..."
He looks around, a little confused.
"The strangest thing, I didn't realise I had fallen asleep there on my feet, I haven't blacked out before... but I had a dream I hated women of all things, can you believe it? Harry Handsome not like women? ridiculous. Anyway the worst part of this dream was that I hit Celestra of all people! Horrible stuff. I suspect that maybe I was part of the rage that saw the poor woman of the house snuffed from this life... perhaps the poor unfortunate on that picture."
Harry looks down, "I seem to have become tangled in the rope I tied around myself and gave to Karlan and Kanyk. What? Why are you looking at me like that? Give us a hand to untangle eh?"
"Anyway the worst part of this dream was that I hit Celestra of all people! Horrible stuff."
"Horrible indeed! Handsome, you should know that you were not dreaming. It really happened! I even have the bruises to show for it! So, I would like to know how you really feel about me right now?"