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"I've heard about Illirigarde Manor. Lady Illirigarde commissioned it 40 years ago, and it's always been said to bring bad luck. She disappeared without a trace within its halls, and nobody's even entered it for 20 years. The last person who did ran out screaming, and behaved strangely for several hours afterwards. It's been in a state of utter neglect ever since, and everyone agrees it's haunted, so if anyone has any holy water, have it ready. I did hear something interesting: They say that after the lady died, the house's mirrors began reflecting the house as it used to be, not as it is now."
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"I'm glad one of us knows something about this place," Katarina sighs. "I've spent most of my life in and around Osirion so my knowledge of other places is a little lacking."
"Sounds like we'll definitely want to be prepared for more ghosts then...I just hope those ectoplasmic containers work like the Professor hopes they will," she adds as she draws her now-daily card from the Harrow deck.
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Spending some time in the village of Dunhob to rest battered and bruised bodies, you have plenty of time to ask for rumours about the nearby Manor of Lady Illrigarde. Deciding to get a early start, you shoulder your packs and set off through the 'delightful' Ustalav countryside, the ground permanently wreathed with mist.
A few hours later you stand before a Grand Mansion, isolated from any nearby villages up in the mountains. It is Impressive, though has clearly fallen into disrepair, the doors are locked and the Windows thick with dust, but the Professor's Key easily gets you inside.
Dusty sheets cover the furniture of the front hall—all save a large portrait flanked by unlit candelabras above the fireplace directly opposite the front door. The room smells musty and old.
As you explore the room, the candles around start to light themselves as you approach.
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Indeed, there are two exits to the foyer you find yourselves in, grand double doors in the centre of the east and west walls. The Candles flame illuminates the portrait, which you now see is defaced leaving it slashed and Lady Illirigarde’s face unrecognizable.
Despite the damage, the subject’s strong widow’s peak is still visible. The plaque below the painting reads “Lady Rena Illirigarde,” but something tried ineffectively to scratch that out and instead carved “Hate” in many places on the wooden frame.
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"After what happened with the skulls back in Dunhob, I'm not so sure about splitting up either - even if we went in groups of three," Kat comments, adding her two copper to the discussion. "We'll just have to try and be mindful not to get in each others' way while we're looking around."
She frowns as she takes in the damaged painting of Lady Illirigarde. "I guess the locals really do blame her for all the trouble in these parts, especially if someone was willing to break in here long enough to shred this painting."
As the group moves over to the eastern door, she nods to Ash and the rest of her companions, drawing her crossbow as well.
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Conferring, you all gather around the eastern door and push it open slowly, the old hinges creaking loudly in the silence of the Manor house. Directly ahead you see another set of double doors, though to the north-east of the mansion there is a set of oaken double doors with light flooding from underneath the doors.
Out in the corridor you spy further signs of neglect and vandalism, dut covers the area like a fine powder and various pictures along the wall have been crudely scratched out.
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Moving slowly up the corridor, the candles lining the walls once more lighting as you make your way to the door. This one too is locked but oddly, the Professor's key seems to fit like a skeleton key. The hinges creak as you push into the next room.
This room’s walls are polished steel, and it contains several workbenches littered with broken glassware and alchemical apparatuses. Four tall mirrors hang from the walls. The bare floor suffers blast scars, as if some great explosion had taken place here. The light you spied from the corridor is centred here on an alchemical alembic on one of the work stations.
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As the group makes their way into what is apparently a laboratory of sorts, Kat's attention is drawn to the alembic on the table. "Huh...that explains one mystery, I suppose. Oh look, some of the vials survived...whatever happened in here!" she observes, pointing to the scattered vials.
"Jinkies. It still looks spooky though."
"So you think this is what caused the explosion?" She snatches up one of the surviving vials, eyes it closely, shakes it, eyes it again, and shrugs.
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Theo and Eldren begin to shiver, swearing that they can see their breath misting in the air, the steel walls of the lab start to thicken with frost. Alexis and Katarina feel nothing amiss, though a sight catches everyone's eye in the lab's mirrors, the story plays out slowly as if you were looking at it through a window. The scene it takes place in is definitely the lab you are currently in.
The strange vision is of the intact laboratory in the mirrors. Lightning from two generators blasts a tiny grue with limp wings as a woman with a strong widow’s peak observes. The tiny creature seems confused and screeches in protest as its arms drift left then right like hands on a compass.
The woman seems displeased with the results and the creature’s pleading squeals. She shuts off the device, picks up the little gure, and throws it in a box covered with skulls. She closes the latch just as the vision fades. The frost begins to blacken and ake from the walls like ash, and as it does, it clumps together into hundreds of tiny creatures that twitch with life.
The woman looks familiar, it is Lady Illrigarde. Now you look, the clump of tiny creatures looks to be too real, almost puring out of the mirror.
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Faux:
Ashton:
Katarina:
Eldren:
Theoden:
Alexis:
Haunt:
The soot pouring from the mirrors becomes solidified on the cold steel floor of the laboratory, akin to a mass of spiders clambouring over each other. You can feel the malevolence from the manifestation of the Haunt aimed directly at you group.
Faux
Eldren
Ashton
Alexis
Theoden
Katarina
Haunt
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Although Katarina can tell that they're obviously bugs of some sort, she's never seen any that behave like these.
Are they under some sort of magical effect? Is this a guardian of some kind?
For a lack of any better ideas, Kat focuses her mind on one of the empty vials sitting on the workbench and attempts to fling it at the mass of spiders.
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Ashton stamps on soot, though to no avail as it reforms under their ghostly feet, unharmed by the ghostly attack. Katarina's projectile too sails harmlessly though the writhing mass. Fauxish, Eldren and Theoden have much better luck, their explosives hit the mass of the creature and cause it to dissipate amidst a fierce conflagration.
Standing in Lab, you can all feel the creeping frost and see the Mirrors replaying the scene. Alexis reacts quickly, positive energy streaming from her hand into the mirror, causing the frost to recede and the visions to stop.
Pausing to catch your breath, you notice the light centred on the Alembic wink out suddenly, causing the room to darken. Across the hall you can see the light appear in the south east corner of the manse.
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"I'm surprised you don't know. It was a haunt - sort of a less fortuitous version of what you are. Great psychic trauma often leaves lasting imprints in the place it happened. It's like a jagged scar running through the Astral, Ethereal, and Material Planes - the mind may move on, but matter does not forget so easily."
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"Surprisingly, I've not ran across one until now...and apparently I'd better broaden my studies a bit to things beyond ancient history," Kat sighs. She then glances towards the open doorway, where light can now be seen from somewhere to the southeast. "Did the light just pick up and move to a different room? We'd probably better check it out...carefully."