The atmosphere of this place seems to bother Jessica, setting her on edge, and Kiley and Sunday's conversation doesn't help any. When the birds are spooked and flap around Jessica lets out a frightened cry and clings to Tal. After a moment she pulls her face back and, still staying close to him says, "Much as I don't want to we should probably go in and make su sure no one's hurt in there."
Covering his mouth incase a yawn in place of words come out Sunday bobs his head back and forth before heading to the entrance of the dilapidated manor.
Kiley follows, her halberd ready. She doesn't even notice Jessica's reaction as she tries to keep a cry of her own from escaping.
Delendir opens the way, this time readying his bow, as he carefully checks the path for dangers. If no other resistance is found, he keeps walking with the party until the entrance door of the servant quarters.
Once in the door he will check it to see if it is closed, locked or trapped.
"If no one is against it, I guess I will knock at the door" and looking to Jessica "If no one answers we can force in just to check there is no one in danger"
As the group approaches the house, the flocks of birds start swirling into the air once again. The cluster together, then start moving ominously towards the companions. As they get closer, the more observant members of the party can see that these crows are actually quite, quite dead. Maggots swarm many of them, festering wounds visibly underneath black feathers as they release a CAW in harmony, a horrific sound.
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Tal takes out a scroll from his pocket and gets ready to read it should the two swarms come close enough.
"Take care everyone, if you have anything like alchemists fires on you, now is the time to use it. Otherwise I suggest we retreat and get some. I have one little spell for them, but nothing else I'm afraid..." Tal says while wiggeling the scroll he has in his hands.
Delendir gets surprised on observing the crows are in fact dead. Without not much hope to demise the horde, the half-elf lets go the two arrows he had prepared to fly.
He steps 5 feet to the side trying to not impede Tal's attack, and readies himself to run as suggested by Tal "If your fire doesn't work, let's run to the protection of the house!"
"If they get close enough I can send positive energy into them, I'm just afraid it won't do a lot of harm."
Not quite sure how to combat the murder Sundays still draws his bow and some of the arrows Delendir loaned him and takes aim.
Delendir releases a couple of arrows, striking down a couple of members of the mass of crows. The birds swoops inexorably closer as Wednesday looses a shaft at them, not making any significant contact.
Jessica, noticing the horrid condition of the beasts, correctly guesses they are undead and unleashes a blast of Shelyn's fire at the birds. Several more drop, the murders thinned but still quite formidable.
Tal then steps forward, quickly reading the scroll. As it crumbled in his grasp, he held his thumbs together, a fan of flame enveloping the majority of the birds, immolating them in the magical flame. The few birds left are quickly dispatched with little effort.
Delendir readies more arrows and observes for more dangers "Great job Jessica and Tal. Undead crows... How is that? Has Foxglove really lived here?"
The half-elf sends Ghina to seek for dangers in the area, helping him to secure it.
He then approaches the doors to the building. If the party follows, he goes inside.
Grumbling at his own uselessness Sunday follows after the half-elf to the manor.
Ghina finds no other things of note in a swift flyby of the manor house as Delendir and the rest approach. As you all get closer, you encounter a feeling of malevolence emanating from the mansion. You feel unwanted as anger washes over you in a flood. While the house looked magnificent from a distance, up close it is easy to tell that it would take a major renovation to bring it back up to its former majesty. The paint has flaked away from the briny air, boards have shifted and warped, and the roof shingles are half missing.
Delendir attempts to pull on the front door, and finds it is locked.
Delendir brings out his thieve's tools and tries to force open the lock.
Once it is unlocked he stores back the tools, and readying his bow, he opens the door slowly, trying to be as much stealthy as possible.
Letting Daud and Kiley to go in first, he follows afterwards, observing nervous the decaying presence of the manor.
The sound of the house straining and creaking gives this long, high-ceilinged room an additional sense of age and decay. The place smells damp, the unpleasant tinge of mold lacing the air as surely as it stains the wooden floor, walls, and furniture in pallid patches. Moldering trophies hang on the wall to the northeast: a boar, a bear, a firepelt cougar, and a stag, yet they pale in comparison to the monster on display in the center of the room. Here crouches a twelve-foot-long creature with the body of a lion, a scorpion's tail fitted with dozens of razor barbs, huge batlike wings, and a deformed humanoid face.
Sunday looks the stuffed menagerie of the wonderful over as the group enters the room.
"We have found the big brother of your scorpion familiar Tal" the half-elf aims at the stuffed beast with the bow, then scans the rest of the room for dangers.
After further checking of the lion monster, Delendir points towards the easternmost door and approaches to perform some checks.
If the door is clear, he opens it letting the others to go in.
Kiley swallows hard as she follows the others. The crows had been bad enough. This was enough to set her completely on edge.
"C-can we just hurry up and do whatever we need to so we can leave, please?"
The creak of leather can be heard as her hands tighten on her halberd, it's spear-like spike trembling.
Seeing the animals seems to make Jessica rather sad, but the sight of the large creature in the middle of the room, a creature of nightmare, causes her to cry out in fright and huddle against Tal. Once she calms a bit she gives everyone a sheepish look, "Sorry, I guess that," she gestures at the creature, "startled me." The unsettling atmosphere of this place has her gripping her glaive in a ready position and staying close to Tal as he examines things.
Hearing that familiar sound of leather screaming Sunday holds out his hand for Kiley.
Also getting increasingly nervous Delendir quickly opens the door "Y-yes... why were we here again?" he looks to side and side and tries to shout but obtains less than a whisper "Foxglove...?"
Delendir expression changes to a dim one as he passes by the stuffed monstrosity "Burnt hair and flesh..." his eyes become glassy as the smell pattern fits the one of the past "Goblins again..."
The ranger continues walking as he listens the faint sound "Someone is screaming! Foxglove? We have to help him!"
Delendir runs to the dining-room trying to secure the area. He then approaches the door the scream is coming and checks it.
Jessica, startled by Delendir's sudden statement, quickly begins to follow him with her glaive ready as she says, "Come on," to the others.
Part concern and part cautious crept into his mind as the others made for the door but Sunday follows regardless, hoping it wasn't some ploy.
Kiley keeps close to Sunday, finding his presence reassuring, but when Delendir mentions the burning and the screaming, her face goes almost bone white. She follows Sunday, whipping her head around at every shadow, every creak. The pit of her stomach seems to fall through the floor, and snakes writhe in her belly. An icy fist squeezes her heart and lead weighs her feet down.
"I wanna get out. I wanna get out of here and never return."
Disregarding what they're heading towards Sunday slows down and puts his hand on Kiley's. "There might be someone in here, but if you want to leave, we'll leave," he says to her stoically but reassuringly.
Delendir, also looking troubled turns to Sunday and whispers "Perhaps it is wiser to do so an leave... But I cannot leave Foxglove there if he is being attacked. Get ready to run or follow, I am opening the door"
And so Delendir gives a last worried look to Kiley and opens the door stepping inside and looking for the origin of the scream.
As the group moves into the dining area further in, they see a mahogany table surrounded by chairs sitting near the eastern end of the room. Twin fireplaces loom to the west, while further east, stained-glass windows obscure what could have been a breathtaking view of the Lost Coast. Each window depicts a monster rising out of smoke pouring from a seven-sided box. From north to south are depicted a gnarled tree with an enraged face, and immense hook-beaked bird with sky blue and gold plumage, a winged centaur-like creature with a lion's lower body and a snarling woman's upper torso, and a deep blue squidlike creature with evil red eyes.
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Whilst walking in the mansion Tal places a protective arm around Jessica to support her.
Once the enter the room he lets go and proceeds to study the imagery.
"Hmmm these monsters aren't coming out of the box. They are being sucked in. What might appear as anger on their faces is actually fear... and the runes on the box indicate more necromancy at work. It seems that the Foxgloves had some dark secret in their family. We should be wary of Aldren."
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"What kind of person draws monsters in his home decoration? No real positive environment this one..." says Delendir just to be asserted by Tal's comment.
He then opens the door to the scream source. If not able to locate the origin, he opens the northern door and let's the party to go in.
As Delendir opens the northern door, he sees a small chamber with stairs that lead down.
"A sewer... I would prefer to check the rest of the ground level before going down as I don't want to risk we getting trapped down there" Delendir scratches his beard and starts descending "But someone is screaming down there. Can you hear? We have to save him"
The ranger carefully descends the stairs looking for traps.
Once down he looks around for dangers and the scream source.
Elisai screws up her face in distaste, her hand tightening on the hilt of her Greatsword. "How can you be sure that it's not someone else screaming for aid?"
"Elisai's right, we don't know who's in here."
Delendir stops in the middle of the stairs, and turns, cold sweat running his front "I fear the other option means something horrible is going on in this house and we have been eating with the butcher" still scared of his own words, the half-elf tries to get strength and only show selfconfidence.
"Let's watch out" he says as he resumes the descend, aiming with his bow at whatever lies ahead.
"True we don't know who is in there, but someone seems to need help and I don't think we can just ignore them and live with ourselves for it." Jessica seems nervous yet determined to aid whoever is calling for help.
The group heads downstairs, trying to find the source of the faint screaming they had heard earlier. A large oaken table, its surface covered with moldy stains and rat droppings, sits in the center of this large kitchen. Shelves line the walls, and an oversized fireplace dominates the northeast portion of the room. The shelves in the southwest wall are in a much greater state of disarray, and two one-foot-wide cracks in the wall near the floor lead south into the earth beyond the basement walls.
As the companions enter and start to look around, a curious sound starts. It sounds almost like sandpaper running against a smooth wooden surface, punctuated by squeaks. The noise appears to be growing louder.
Probably rats...
"Whu--what is that," Kiley asks, the sound grating against her ears and her already frayed nerves.
"I don't know Kiley but I don't like it at all either" the half-elf says as he approaches to the cracks going to the earth and checks them.
He then checks the most likely source of the "sandpaper" sound, longbow at hands.
Delendir continues the exploration of the place, starting by the oversized fireplace.
He also checks if it has been in use recently.
The ranger picks a random door, let's say northeastern one (or whatever other member of the party points out), and he pushes it open after some inspection.
Jessica shivers as the strange sound grates across her ears and stays close to Tal for the moment. She stays silent though, not trusting herself to speak just now.
Elisai hangs back behind Delendir, waiting to see if the ranger trips anything or discovers something else of note before venturing further in.
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Tal hears the squeaking as well and thinks of an idea.
"Maybe this will help direct them to a location, everyone be still." Tal whispers and casts a little cantrip.
In the corner of the room, away from the party it sounds as if there is a second party, stomping around on the floor and scraping weapons.
As expected by some of the group, out of the cracks in the wall a couple of huge swarms of rats come piling out, their chittering loud and cacophonous now that they are in a clear area.
Initiative:
Sunday, Rat Swarms, Tal, Delendir, Elisai, Jessica, Kiley