Ellery smiles as he feels Dervak pass and challange the creature then continues to rub at his eyes to clear them of the dust. He also does his best to stay alert to any attacks (Total Def.).
Dervak gives the organ pile a vicious gash down her length. The wound starts to heal almost immediately but it has a ways to go before it will recover. She grimaces at Dervak, "Wait your turn!"
Rowan tries to shake off the effects of glitterdust again.
”Does anyone know what we are fighting, or how to kill it? I didn’t get a great look at it.”
Mara called out to Rowan as she struggled against the monster, "It's a type of vampire, so positive energy ought to work. Hurry, it's drinking my blood!"
Theophilus claps for Dervak!
Sorry, Rowan’s will save:
The flying undead recovers a little but is still greatly hurt.
She continues to wrap her dead viscera around Mara squeezing tightly.
"Let her go!"
Dervak then steps back to let Rowan get in there.
Dervak cuts the strange vampire twice again and it falls from Mara motionless draining blood onto the floor.
Cesadia rushes up the stairs and says, "What in the Nine Hells? Why does it smell like vinegar of all things?"
Theo shakes his head.
Now, this is just such a mess.
The gentleman waits until his spells ends, before casting Cure Light Wounds on Mara.
Mara backed away, finally free of the undead monstrosity. "I don't feel so good," she said, waiting for the cacophony to die down before healing herself.
Dervak hacks the vampire into small pieces.
"Anybody got holy water?"
Otherwise he will put the pieces into a box and then bring it outside in the daytime.
"Sorry Cesadia... there are bad things at Iris Hill. I think they are coming for us here. We will go back there and finish the job."
Theophilus sniffles.
"Is there any way to ward the Sleepless building against such intrusions?", Mara asked Cesadia.
Before going to sleep again, she retrieved her restorative wand and countered some of the vampire-inflicted blood loss.
After a difficult night, Mara awoke in the morning and, after checking on Theo's symptoms, prepared her spells.
1st lvl: Ant Haul, Bless, Cure Light Wounds, Liberating Command
2nd lvl: Barkskin x2, Ghostbane Dirge, Spiritual Weapon
3rd lvl: Heroism x3
"Let's get to Iris Hill."
Dervak paces, anxious to put an end to the horrors that are coming after the party.
Cesadia replies to Mara, "I'll look into it but nothing is full proof." Then turned to Dervak, "The sooner they are taken care of the better. People still are going missing."
"I'm ready to go!", Mara declared. She didn't want to wait and give the cult another chance to attack.
Ellery spent the time while the others rested to attune heartseeking to his rapier. He nods in agreement as they others state it is time to finish what they started.
Theophilus plays cards with the White Rabbit, before the two join the group.
The group arrives back at Iris Hill rested and recharged as best they can. Ellery sees that the poison needle trap on the front gate has been reset but Ellery easily disarms the trap and picks the lock . No one is inside guarding the gatehouse this time.
Mara recited a number of prayers to bolster herself and her companions.
She advanced cautiously into the gatehouse, on guard for ambushes. After checking for traps and satisfying herself that it was empty, she looked out onto the estate grounds.
Theophilus casts Heroism, Mage Armor, See Invisibility and Unseen Servant.
"I want to make sure that... slaver-woman-thing... is still dead, but I think we should first try to find Nemira Lowls' physical form."
"Let's head straight for the largest building and look for the attic."
Mara replied, "OK. Shall we skirt around the small building in front of it? Go along the beside the hedge?"
Ellery makes some hand signs...
"Let's just go straight to the double doors facing the well."
Dervak uses the wand of Shield (now at 46) and moves near the door. He takes his falchion in both hands.
"Theophilus, can you have Frederick open this?"
The invisible butler opens the door:
This room is furnished with a big table, eight chairs, and a glass-paned cupboard. Ashes linger in the fireplace, and a few dirty dishes, an emptied wine bottle, and used silver cutlery testify to a meal consumed at the table within the last couple of days. The fine furnishings in this room reflect the wealth of the Lowls family, despite being a few decades out of fashion. A flight of stairs leads up and another door sits in the west wall.
After a cursory check for traps, Mara entered the dining room. She looked around the room and scanned for magic auras.
In a drawer near the bottom of the cupboard is a ledger with handwritten delivery receipts tucked into it, listing a number of alchemical products sent by someone named Miacknian Mun from Cassomir. Mara finds no magical aura but the porcelain dishes and silverware are valuable.
Once upon a time, in a home like this, Dervak would have pocketed all the silver, later selling to a fence for coppers on the silver.
Now, he is wealthy beyond his wildest dreams of those days. Maybe someday he would even be welcome to sit at such a table as a proper guest.
"These receipts may be important. Lowls doing some business with an alchemist in Cassomir - if we want to track him down, the alchemist is at least a lead on where he went."
He looks around.
"Upstairs?"
Ellery aids Mara in the searching of the room.
"Let's not spend too much time on looting right now," growls Dervak, "Clock is ticking on these spells."
Theophilus brings up the rear. The gentleman keeps a paranoid eye out for ambush from behind...
Up the stairs:
This room features a large fireplace and a round table with stuffed, high-backed chairs around it. The walls are decorated with patterned wallpaper and small paintings of the surrounding landscape. Against the walls are three large mahogany sideboards with brass candleholders. The shutters of the windows are closed, and the room is lit by candles. A strange tittering issues from the southeast corner near the ceiling, it almost sounds like laughter.
Theophilus peers about the chamber. The gentleman politely points at the place and position of the outer planar creature.
In a pirate voice, he says,
Dere Be monsters at da edge ov da map!
The White Rabbit makes an Arrrr! sound.
Theo moves into the room to get a better look but he determines that he knows nothing. He can rule out that it is an outsider.
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Theophilus then Hexes it.
The creature is only momentarily affected by Theo's curse.
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The White Rabbit says (to Theo),
Well, that worked splendidly. You may want to Cackle next round...
It winks at the camera.
Mara moved forward and tried to see what Theo was talking about. "Where is that coming from?"
Ellery slips past the others keeping an eye on the indicated area trying to notice the creature while preparing for it to attack (total def).
Suddenly Mara feels a sharp pain as two talons rip through her armor. She is also bitten by an unnatural sucking mouth. The thing pulls her closer holding her tight with something slithering, wet, and sucking. Mara’s wounds bleed profusely and the creature drinks her blood. As the creature drinks Mara’s blood it does not disappear but instead stains the interior of the creature, revealing it. It is a mass of floating talon tipped tentacles and feelers centered by a toothy radial mouth.
"WHAT IS IT WITH YOU THINGS?? Let her GO!"
Dervak moves and attacks the creature.
"Aargh!", Mara cried as the tentacle monster grabbed her and started sucking her blood. She turned her head to look back towards her friends and concentrated. Her eyes turned pitch black as she opened a temporary portal and slipped through it, reappearing back beside Theo, bleeding profusely.
Theo hits it with another Evil Eye (-2 Saves; DC 18).
He Cackles.
Ellery steps up to the side of the beast and trusts in his rapier to find the proper place.