Raj follows, bow in hand, senses keyed to a high pitch.
Jim walks abreast of Jace, his eyes discerning the vital energies (or unvital energies) radiating from those around him.
Ziebodug watches the others examine the statue, while he watches their backs.
Raj smells the decidedly unappetizing aroma of burning fur as he enters into the room. The group looks around but there doesn't seem to be anything of value aside from the stuffed manticore, which could likely fetch a fortune if the group knew anything of taxidermy.
Elena tries to keep a basic cantrip of Detect Magic up at all times, just to be sure they didn't miss anything important.
Ziebodug looks at Elena. "Doesn't that get tiring?" He shrugs and starts poking at the manticore to see if it was real.
The manticore appears to have been real at some point, but has been dead and stuffed for quite a long time. There appears to be some damage to the pelt of the beast, likely from age and lack of care.
Elena scans the room with her magical sight, but finds that there are no magical auras in the room.
"Just a minor headache boys. Toughen up," she smiles at the mother hens.
Jace opens the southern door and finds a set of stair leading upwards to the second floor. The gentle sound of weeping can be heard in this direction as light lazily illuminates the stairwell despite the ostentatious curtain.
"Now who is crying?"
Zie checks his extracts and nods, ready to go comfort whatever is wailing, although expecting it to be another haunt.
"If there are more haunts, the weeping will be coming from me," Elena groans as she too fears the worst.
"Jace, can you banish a haunt?" Jim asks, not really knowing how they work.
He prepares to ascend the stairs, weapons drawn, just in case it's something more corporeal and nasty.
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Raj silently takes up the rear, watching out behind.
The group climbs the stairs and finds a single hallway that moves through the entire upper floor, replete with access to eight rooms. The farthest door around meandering hallway seems to be where the crying is emanating from.
The building creaks in its old age, but nothing seems to come out and attack you.
"Well, let's see what's going on in there, shall we?"
Zie moves to the door, and checks for traps.
The door creaks open as dust and a musty odor fill the nostrils of JAce and Zie, nearly sending them into a coughing fit. Sadly, Mr. Foxglove is not behind this door and the group only finds that it is another set of stairs that leads to the attic.
"That's creepy. Should we investigate the rooms before we go further up?" Jim wonders aloud, monetarily forgetting he is the (self-proclaimed) leader of the group.
"Sure, let's be sure there will be nothing coming up behind us when we climb the stairs!"
"Before we do that, we are best finishing what is below. There is part of the house that we have not explored yet."
"Before we do that, we are best finishing what is below. There is part of the house that we have not explored yet."
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Perception:
+2 for traps
Initiative:
The group moves back down the stairs and begin to move past the stuffed manticore when its body erupts in fire and the creature itself seems to animate as it roars.
Only Jim and Ziebodug are ready to tackle this problem as Jim thinks more on the little dwarf's heritage...
Initiative-:
1st: Jim; Zie
2nd: Manticore Haunt
3rd: Elena
Jim whirls into action and rips his sabre across the thing.
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Jim's sword slashes into the giant stuffed manticore, drawing a gout of fluff stuck on the serrated edge of the blade, but the creature shows no damage. It seems that only holy magic or similar attacks will injure the creature.
Initiative-SURPRISE ROUND:
1st: Jim; Zie
2nd: Manticore Haunt
3rd: Elena
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"I AM UNQUALIFIED FOR THIS!" Jim declares with frustration.
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Zie watches in awe as the fiery tail of the beast raises high into the air as the face of the fiery manticore seems to morph into the visage of a crazed woman.
Without warning, the tail plunges down and tries to impale Zie as the man looks onward.
At the last second, Jim leaps into the fray and shoves the dwarf roughly to the floor as the stinger impales itself into the floorboards. A roar emanates from the woman's face before the flames die down and the group merely sees a stuffed manticore with a giant slash in the side. The only evidence of the haunt is the smoking puncture in the wooden floorboards.
Seeing the tail come crashing toward him, and Jim's rescue attempt, Zie shakes his head and stands back up. "Er, thanks... but I can handle a hit or two, Jim."
Zie mixes a few reagents and tosses a makeshift bomb at the reanimated creature.
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Perception
"What's that you said, Jim? Something about your son? You were muttering to yourself, sounded like..."
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Jim holds Zie back from blowing up the manticore. "Woah there little guy, no need for that. It's over."
Elena mentions something, but Jim dismisses it. "Don't be silly Elena, I don't have a son. At least not that I know of. You're hearing things. Shake it off."
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The group makes their way to the door south of the muralistic windows and Jim eyes the locks and doorway for traps. Finding none, the man opens the door and the heavy hitters move through first to ensure safety, but the group only finds an empty library.
This library features two chairs, one of which lies on its side, before a stone fireplace. A scarf, its reds and golds contrasting with the drab palette of the room, is draped over the side of the fallen chair. A book sits face down on the floor between the chairs. A stone bookend, carved to look like a praying angel with butterfly wings, lies on its side in the fireplace itself.
Perception:
+2 for traps
Initiative:
As the group looks around, Jace picks up the scarf to examine it, but Elena gasps as she sees the swaying of the scarf is not from his handling of the material, nor from an errant draft, but it has a mind of its own.
Initiative-Surprise Round:
1st: Elena; Jim; Ziebodug
2nd: Scarf Haunt
"Jace no!" Jim cries, moving in to slash the scarf in half. But he hesitates, remembering the futility of his swords thus far and fearing he might hurt the man.
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Jace turns to Jim. Yes, I heard you mention something about your son also.
Jace pokes at the stuffed manticore with his blade. What was going on with you all? This thing hasn't moved. See!
Opening the door Jace picks up the scarf and turns to show everyone. For some reason they seem to have terrified looks on their faces. What? He asks in a demanding voice. Why you all looking at me weird?
Looking at the scarf he sees it swaying slightly and drops it to the ground, taking a step back away from it.
Seeing he scarf twitch, seemingly of its own volition, Elena fires a magic missile at it. She was tired of playing around in this place.
Damage
Elena blasts the scarf that Jace tries to drop and it nearly rips it to shreds, but the scarf's power seems to be slightly stronger than the power of the Elena's magics. At least stronger than one blast of it.
The scarf wraps around Jace's neck and the man's eyes glaze over as the fabric stretches tightly across his throat.
Jace collapses to the ground and passes out for a moment before suddenly jerking upright, coughing and ripping the fabric from his throat. A fabric burn is present on his neck.
The scarf falls limply to the ground, apparently exhausted of its power for the time being. It still bears the rips and holes dealt by Elena and is nearly destroyed.
"What is with this place? It's like a gathering of spooks!"
Raj invokes holy fire on the scarf.
"Maybe we need to head back to town and hire a cleric to come and bless this place. I've never seen so much evil and so many haunts in one place before..."
"I kind of agree, but let's make sure there are no ghouls lying in wait either. That's how we got started on this whole business isn't it?"
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