Revival of the Runelords (Inactive)

Game Master Cellion

Wow.

However, in incredibly swift fashion, another arrow sinks into Aldern's chest before Kargas' falchion crushes down through his collarbone and deep into his torso. He lets out an agonized gasp of "Why... Fl-" before reaching out toward the entrance to the room. His grievous wounds overtake him before he can do any more and he topples to the floor.

Iesha sways for a moment, heaving with exertion, and then lets out a victorious screech. As she screams, her voice rapidly becomes less and less monstrous. You see her claws receeding back into ordinary fingers and her teeth growing small and blunt. She lays herself down across the table as her screaming ends, and in moments her body is completely lifeless.

Out of Combat!

|||| STATUS ||||
Guiness (8 dmg, 1 NLdmg)
Kargas (11 dmg, 4 NLdmg)
Colvyn (8 dmg)
Kellek
Flo (8 dmg, 5 NLdmg)

In an unexpectedly tender gesture, Guiness frees Iesha’s scarf from the pickaxe and drapes it gently over her shoulders, whispering, ”Ye deserved better than this in life, lass—I pray ye find peace in the afterlife.”

Sparing a look for the moss, Guiness tries to recall if he has seen anything like that before in the caverns of his homeland...

Knowledge Dungeoneering: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

Panting as the electric-blue glow left his eyes, Kargas leans his falchion against the table and arranges Iesha in a more dignified position. "Sorry your husband was a monster," he whispers to her.

"Everyone okay? Is this...over?"

"Well, that was certainly anticlimactic" says a half-dozen Floredanas filing through the opening into the cave. After a word of magic their eyes go bright octarine.

Detect magic. Looks about room. Takes 10 on Spellcraft when inspecting anything.

Kellek, could you take a look at this fungus too before Guiness starts looking through the room in detail?”

Sure. Takes 10.

"It's... over. It's all over," Flo says softly as her secret stalker topples to the ground. Sensing the outcome already, she can't help but check for a pulse in Iesha's neck.

Regardless of her results, she gently rubs the former Revenant's back. "What a life you must have lived to have turned into that. I'm glad you found peace. Rest at last," she says soothingly. I'll mobilize the church and make sure everyone gets a proper burial, maybe even consecrate this place before it is torn down. If the evil and suffering can be removed, maybe it could even be repurposed?

The linchpin of this nightmare finally removed, she breathes a deep sigh of relief.
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Heal, DC 15: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28
F#*+. Yeah. Nice job everyone! That was sick! Flo will help search with a T10.

As Guiness spares a glance at the fungus growing on the wall, he gets the feeling that the vaguely humanoid shape that the fungus turned into is... moving. None of the rest of you notice this oddity, and neither Guiness nor Kellek are sure what kind of strange fungus this mass is.

Kellek inspects the room for magical auras and finds a whole array of them. Many are emanating from Aldern's ghoulish body, so you look it over for objects that might be useful. You find that the razor he was using in combat is a +1 war razor, underneath his noble garb he was wearing a +1 leather armor, and on his clawed fingers lie two magical rings - one a ring of jumping and the other a ring of protection +1.

Furthermore, stuffed in a pocket of his vest is a gruesome mask crafted from preserved sections of multiple different human faces, draped over one another almost like scales. Kellek susses out a complicated series of magical effects inherent in this gruesome mask. (I've added a stat block and pic for the stalker's mask to handouts.) Around Aldern's neck, you find a non-magical silver cameo with two portraits drawn inside it. One portrait has been torn and cut, rendering it unclear, but the second is unmistakably a picture of Flo.

Kellek continues his search of the room and finds another magical aura emanating from a mass of orange fungus in the south-west corner of the room. To the best of Kellek's knowledge, the orange fungus is not dangerous.

Looking at the rest of the room, you spot a few other items that seem immediately interesting. When Iesha threw the central table aside, a few items from atop it scattered across the room. One of them was a silver keyring with two keys on it - one key is tarnished iron with a large opal set in its handle, the second is a smaller bronze key with an unusually long tang ending in a set of three notched blades. The second key also has a head resembling a roaring lion. You also see a bizarre collection of other items in small vials. Locks of pale blue hair. Shavings of pale bluish skin. What looks to be a scrap from a Quasit's dress.

A series of two dozen charcoal drawings also now litter the floor. Each one shows Flo's face and torso from various angles - even in his undead state Aldern was an excellent artist - though there is a over-emphasis of characteristics that Aldern found most attractive. Among the art however you also find a letter written in a graceful hand and addressed to Aldern. (See Handouts for the Letter)

Guiness’ face grows slack and appears to take on a fearful aspect. He moves urgently towards the fungus and starts digging around in it, suddenly popping a portion of the nauseating substance in his mouth!

Fortitude: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17 (+2 if poison-based)

The fungus is just as revolting as it looks, and even as the bizarre compulsion begins lifting from Guiness, he feels a terrible heat billowing up from inside him. Blisters and tumors begin to form over the next few seconds, growing and bulging until Guiness' exposed flesh looks like that of the rat you killed in the bathtub upstairs. Guiness feels a deep fever settle in, fogging his concentration.

(Guiness takes 1d4 ⇒ 2 Cha damage and 1d4 ⇒ 4 Con damage and is afflicted with Vorel's Phage. You're no longer under compulsion to eat the fungus.)

Guiness drops the vile fungus and falls to his knees, a look of horror on his blistered face..."What have I done? Everyone, stay away from that fungus!" he says with despair, looking towards the broken body of Aldern with...a new understanding.

Colvyn relaxes by the entrance, letting the others take a look around when he sees Guiness eating some of the fungus. "What the hell man!! What are you doing??" Colvyn can't believe his eyes. Then, as the flesh on the dwarf start erupting in blisters and tumors, the young ratfolk tries to prevent his stomach from emptying itself. "That is so sick! You need to see the priest back in town, and fast!" With that, he steps outside the room, standing next to the half dozen Floredanas.

"I...I don't know..." says Guiness, still on his knees. "It was some kind of compulsion...and I couldn't resist. Now I hear a voice in my head...He says he lives on through me. Could this be what drove Aldern mad?" he finishes, softly.

Kargas stares at Guiness as though the dwarf were a dog that might be rabid. "Yeah, could be," he manages after Guiness' question hangs in the air a moment. He starts to rummage around the room, but never quite fully turns away from the dwarf.

Picking up the keys and letter that fell from the table, Kargas holds it close to his face and slowly mutters his way through the contents. "F**~. We're not done yet," he announces to the others, holding out the scrap of paper. "Aldern was working with someone--I think they killed him and turned him into this...thing. The letter says this other person gave Aldern a list of victims to target, and also mentioned a house in Magnimar."

Her attention shifting from Iesha to a glint of light on the floor, she leaves the corpse and steps over to the collection of vials. With trembling hands, Flo holds up each of the vials. What began as a gentle shake erupts into seismic tremors by the time she collects the vial with the dress and she begins to cry freely. "How did he get this? My hair, my skin, the Quasit's dress!"

She sucks down a ragged breath.

"Was he in my room at the inn? How else could he have taken this from me? Was I ever safe?"

She barely registers Guiness' actions, but forces herself to respond to them. "Guiness, Father Z-zantus will kn-know what to do, ok?" she stammers, wiping her nose and face. "I can't be in here anymore. I have to wait outside."

Following Colvyn out, she makes her way around to the other end of the spiraling pit before dropping to her knees, dumping her bag out, and going through the rest of her things.
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Flo would have kept the silver cameo as her memento for their latest troubles. Once everything has been collected/identified, we've got the rest of the house to get through, right?

Guiness stays where he is, on his knees, while the others remove the valuables from the room. The only sound he makes is the cracking of his knuckles as his grip grinds tightly on the haft of his hammer.

Colvyn looks at Floredana walks out of the room. He opens his mouth to say something but the words don't seem to want to come out. Waiting for the rest of the group to come out, he turns to Kellek. "Could you turn that spell effect off, you are giving me a headache."

As Flo looks through her belongings, most of them appear to be untouched, though she does notice a small corner of the Quasit's dress missing. The piece in the vial appears to match up with the small tear.

As Flo comments on in her OOC notes, you guys have a choice to make here regarding next moves. There's unexplored sections of the Manor but you also have a lead toward Magnimar. If I see two votes in one particular direction, I'll send you guys that way with my next post.

"Tell me, wizard," asks Guiness of Kellek flatly, "How does one destroy this fungus so that it claims no other victims. Will it...burn?"

Guiness would prefer to clear the rest of the manor and get cured as soon as possible. He is concerned that the madness that affected Aldern may consume him as well if he dallies too long before ridding himself of this malady.

The other Flos would prefer to wait until he had more spells available. So that's "5 votes" for wait. If the vote is to go investigate more Kellek insists on doing so immediately--his mirror images only lasts 5 minutes, which might already be up. ;)

Colvyn looks at Floredana walks out of the room. He opens his mouth to say something but the words don't seem to want to come out. Waiting for the rest of the group to come out, he turns to Kellek. "Could you turn that spell effect off, you are giving me a headache."

"What? Do you prefer this?" says one of a bevy of giant hooded Colvyns.

disguise self (other race, other size): 1d20 + 2 + 10 - 12 ⇒ (16) + 2 + 10 - 12 = 16

Kargas would probably write off the house and burn it to the ground. Against his player's better judgement. So that's a vote to GO

With all of her things accounted for, Flo stands back up. She looks exhausted, weary from bearing such an unrelentingly heavy emotional load, but her voice seems to have found itself again. "Let's clear the rest of the house out. I know we need to rest, but if we can make it safe, we could head back to town and ask Hemlock to deal with the estate. That gives us plenty of time to pursue our lead in Magnimar the following day We'd have to rest regardless," she points out.
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Since the main threat has been dealt with, should we set up a SOP to try and speed up the rest of the house?

I think there is still a bandit on this level that we can get a bounty on if we bring proof of death, but I think Kellek was the only one who made the roll to recognize him. Guiness is fine either leading the way or guarding the back for SOP in the rest of the house, though with a bit of separation given that he doesn't want to infect anyone...Also waiting for Kellek's response to his question.

Since you did a bunch of magic item identification, gathered loot, and multiple characters had alarming things happen to them, 5 minutes have definitely elapsed. Buffs have all dropped off.

Both Kellek and Guiness know that generally fungi can catch on fire, so the mysterious wall of humanoid fungus *should* be burnable. This particular fungus looks wetter and may be more challenging to light, but it shouldn't be impossible. However, it's not entirely clear what effect that would have, considering that many fungi have spores that are released upon being burned.

Looks like 2 votes for clear out the rest of the house, 1 for wait, and 1 for leave? In that case clearing the rest of the house is the winner!
While I don't like allowing SOP (forgetting to check for traps is a real thing that really bites you :P) in this case I think we'll roll with it to get through a bunch of rooms.

Where do you want to start first? There's two ways into the unexplored basement level (down the stairs from the ground floor, or through the door from the ancient spiral staircase room) or you could check the remaining rooms in the attic.

Guiness feels strongly about destroying that fungus, but he will ask the others to move back to a safe distance before he gets to work.

No strong preference for order of clearing the rest of the house, but finishing the attic since that’s what we were doing sounds reasonable to me. After he destroys the fungus, Guiness will follow along perhaps a dozen feet behind the others, trying not to breathe on or come into physical contact with any of his friends.

Since you did a bunch of magic item identification, gathered loot, and multiple characters had alarming things happen to them, 5 minutes have definitely elapsed. Buffs have all dropped off.

Roger that.

Kellek is all out of "burn" spells at this point (hence the make camp and return later vote). The most he could do would be to freeze it over several rounds with ray of frost. However if someone has a alchemist's fire or a lot of vials of acid on them...? Kellek doesn't have any problem recovering easy to grab treasures like deceased bandit heads, if we were leaving.

Looks like 2 votes for clear out the rest of the house, 1 for wait, and 1 for leave? In that case clearing the rest of the house is the winner!

While I don't like allowing SOP (forgetting to check for traps is a real thing that really bites you :P) in this case I think we'll roll with it to get through a bunch of rooms.

Where do you want to start first? There's two ways into the unexplored basement level (down the stairs from the ground floor, or through the door from the ancient spiral staircase room) or you could check the remaining rooms in the attic.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." says the other Colvyn.

BTW Since Guiness decided to go through with smashing the fungus with his hammer, you guys should open the spoiler in my previous post. I should have labeled it to make it clear that everyone can read it.

SOP: Kargas leading, Colvyn checking for traps, Flo & Kellek next, wit Guiness bringing up the rear? Open to other suggestions

As Guiness smashes away at the fungal mass, the lockbox shakes loose and rolls across the floor. Stopping it with one booted foot, Kargas bends down and retrieves the object, looking at it curiously.

I didn't see a note explicitly saying we grabbed it, so I wanted to make sure we did so. Ready to move on!

"Might as well start back from the top and make our way down again. If Iesha was locked in the attic, I wonder if these keys go to anything else in there," she suggests, eager to get out of this particular part of the house.
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Flo will T10 if allowed to look for traps too! Anything that's been mentioned itemwise, Flo will scoop into a bag now for further examination/use later.

The shattered puzzle box Kargas picks up is an odd thing, made of dark lacquered wood, bracketed with silvered filigree, and engraved with thousands of strange runes. Even ruined as it is, the fragments are still quite beautiful.

It takes some time to retrace your steps back up to the attic level. When you reach the basement floor, you're stuck for a short while as you hoist someone up with a rope to help the less athletic members climb up out of the hole you jumped in from. You're able to take your time and do so safely, getting everyone back up to the ground floor. (I figured this would be easy enough without any time pressure)

From there, you ascend back up flights of stairs until you reach the attic level. Kargas takes the lead while Colvyn and Flo keep their eyes open for traps and hazards. The first unopened door on the right gets a seal of approval from the trap-spotters, so Kargas opens it up.

This first room (Green Arrow on map) is sizable but fairly barren. The ceiling angles down steeply, leaving no more than four feet of headroom to the southeast. A low cot of very simple wooden construction and a battered old dresser are the room's only furnishings. A check inside the dresser reveals it to be empty except for a few rotted scraps of fabric.

You continue on to the next room on the right, confirming that its also safe looking. Kargas opens the door and you are caught with a chill draft blowing through. A desk and a chair sit in the middle of this drafty room. Chimneys rise to the west, while to the east, two intricate stained-glass windows are set into the wall. The northern window depicts a dark-haired woman with pale skin, large green eyes, and a black-and-red gown; with both hands she wields a jagged iron staff. The southern window’s lower half has been broken and patched with canvas; what remains of its upper half depicts a handsome man dressed in regal finery and a crown of ivory and jade. Small scorch marks mar the wood near the broken window. A battered and ruined telescope lies on its side near the desk.

Multiple things to possibly investigate in the telescope room. Also, if you want to progress north to the final remaining room (orange arrow), you'll need a solution for the 10ft gap in the floor marked in red :>

Colvyn looks at the gap in the corridor. "What was a good plan earlier is now preventing us to easily access that room. I trying to recall, what was the size of the table in the hall downstair?"

Or, there is always the "Toss the dwarf solution".

Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20 YAY!!

Turning the broken lockbox over and over in his hand, Kargas frowns. "Feels...like death. Like necromancy," the half-orc says aloud to himself. "Which makes it no different from anything else here, I guess." He drops the box into his hip pouch and follows the others up.

+ + +

Kargas consider the window's display in the telescope room. "She looks like she could f&*! your s$+~ up. Who was she?" Colvyn's question draws his attention, and he comes over to crouch down by the hold in the floor. "I could jump it, but I don't trust these floorboards to hold me when I land. What if we just cut through the wall instead?"

The re-Kellek-ified Kellek imagines putting the puzzle box together in his mind. (Takes 10 for 21)

Kargas consider the window's display in the telescope room. "She looks like she could f%&* your s$*# up. Who was she?" Colvyn's question draws his attention, and he comes over to crouch down by the hold in the floor. "I could jump it, but I don't trust these floorboards to hold me when I land. What if we just cut through the wall instead?"

Kellek notes the windows, and draws people's attention to the "lich queen" and Tar-Baphon's "wight-hand man". (Takes 10 for 21) "Well, one hopes that this was never a nursery. They are liches, Kargas. Arazni is currently the Harlot Queen of Geb, and Socorro, was known as the Butcher of Carrion Hill. He hasn't been seen since the Whispering Tyrant's imprisonment."

While in the pink room, Kellek asks to borrow Kargas's black sword shoves it through the north wall and proceeds to saw his way through and into the next room. I have a character with a +1 adamantine falchion--he's always doing things like this--only faster. ;)

He'll wave folks through but would rather stay behind to have a thorough look around. If allowed to he spends a solid 10 minutes (100 rounds, taking 20 5 times [for 27]) to look over the various points of interest.

Nobody wants to toss a diseased dwarf. It just isn't as fun. (Sorry for the slow posting--out all day delivering singing valentines.)

Staying away from the others, Guiness carefully sifts through the ashes in the fireplaces to see if there are any clues there.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Kargas keeps a firm grip on his adamantine sword, staring daggers at the wizard until Kellek withdraws his hand. The big half-orc cuts the hole in the wall himself.

While the others take to their various tasks, she heads towards the telescope. Taking it carefully in her hand, she peers out the window to see if there was anything beyond the night sky to look at. What marvels has this seen? If only it worked now, it'd be quite the find!

Placing the piece she picked up on the desk, she begins to rummage through it. Perhaps more history of this place? We've plenty of pieces, but the picture is only just coming together in certain areas.
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Flo could clear that jump and is relatively light, she also has fly to cast if needed.

While Kargas saws his way through the wooden wall with surprising ease - the grey-black blade of the sword seems unusually sharp - the rest of the party investigate the telescope room.

Guiness takes a look through the ashes in the fireplace and finds a charred wooden stub of what must have once been a torch, but otherwise nothing of interest. Flo heads over to the Arazni window and realizes that the window has a latch on one side and can swing open. She opens it up just a little to peek outside (the windows are stained glass, so are otherwise opaque) and gets a chill spray of rain in her face. The ongoing storm outside keeps view distances short, but Flo can make out the slope of the slate roof beyond before it drops off towards the ocean.

When Colvyn steps into the room, he suddenly begins feeling uncomfortably hot. In the first few seconds while he's trying to work out what might be causing it, the heat appears to intensify to a scorching radiance.

You cut yourself a path into Iesha's room, then continue into the final unexplored room in the attic level (orange room). Shelves of books line the walls of this room, interspersed with curious objects such as skulls fitted with stubs of candles, tribal fetishes, and decorative scroll cases. An empty birdcage lies near the southern wall beside a small desk and a fine leather chair. Statues and sculptures grin from all corners of the room.

The most striking oddity in the room is a large painting with a plaque that reads "Throwdown in Swynetown". In the painting, vast and well detailed crowds jeer and cheer a bullfighter on as a huge bull aurochs towers over him. Dozens of bodies lie in the streets - the aurochs has clearly rampaged through the already. And although a score of brightly colored spears jut from the creature’s flanks and back, it still rages on.

When Colvyn steps into the room with the ruined telescope. Feeling warmer then normal, he keep staring at the fireplace. As flames appear from every direction, the ratfolk just utter a single word and walks right back out of the room. "Nope." Once the new "doorway" is created, he stick his head in the room first, looks around, and if no flames appear, quickly make his way to the next room.

Guiness continues to follow along and keep an eye out for threats.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

"Are we done on this level?" he asks.

Looks like a lot of folks were busy this weekend. Go ahead and poke around the last room if you'd like. If not, let me know where you want to go next.

Flo closes the window before wiping her face. Don't know what I expected.

Looking at the painting, she calls back over her shoulder. "Anyone heard of Swynetown before? Sounds fake, but I can't say I've really given a map beyond the local area a good hard look," she confesses.
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Down to the next floor! IIRC, room 7 still has a painting ready to fungify us? If so, Flo will spontaneously cast Cure Serious and try to touch the painting (can't remember if we made a check on it, but based on what she's seen here, a haunt seems reasonable to her).

Guiness will search the last room if it seems the others are not interested...he seems to still be keeping his distance from the others as much as possible still, staying out of the way and speaking little.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

Kargas pushes through the whole he cut, carefully scanning the room for any threats. Seeing none, he starts to move on but pauses by the painting.

"Good for you, get 'em," he says to the wounded bull in the image.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

Neither Guiness nor Kargas spot anything other than knicknacks and oddities crowding the shelves of the study. Nothing that looks particularly valuable. Satisfied that you've searched the attic floor, you head back downstairs to the room with all the family portraits.

(Turn your attentions to slide 3 for the manor's 2nd floor)

Considering how unpleasant the portrait gallery was the last time you were here, you approach the paintings with great caution. Flo takes the lead and prepares to dispel any unusual behavior with a pulse of positive energy, but that proves to be an unneeded precaution. The room stays perfectly rational - no exploding fungus in sight.

That leaves the westerly door. Flo and Colvyn check it over and don't spot any traps. You open the grand, but dusty, double doors to reveal a spacious bedroom. The furniture in this bedroom doesn't exhibit any signs of water or mold damage, in fact, other than being dusty, everything is in fantastic shape. A four-poster bed sits in the center of the room, a fireplace to the south, and a desk and leather chair to the north. The only odd element in the room is a dark, almost black stain in the center of the desk.

Kellek continues at his unhurried methodical pace--fully expecting either a devil to come and try to take him for being hindmost, or for one of the others to fetch him when they invariably run into some new inexplicable item, or phenomenon.

Guiness stays at the rear of the party, keeping an eye out for threats while the others search the room.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

Breathing a sigh of relief, Flo sets to work poking around the room. "Why would this place be so... orderly?" she wonders out loud while making her way to the desk. And what might this be?

"Kellek? Keeeelleeeeek?" she calls, having found a new conundrum for his magical expertise and/or learned brain to unravel.
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Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (11) + 13 = 24