The investigator slowly and cautiously enters the room, unsure of what happened to result in the tableau before her eyes. The northernmost chair--the one still standing--has a rust-colored stain on on its back, and the bookend in the fireplace is similarly stained. The bookend also has some hair and other, less identifiable matter sticking to it. Nia has just started to get closer to the fireplace when a horrific shriek fills the room. Without warning, the scarf suddenly flies through the air and wraps itself around her throat!
Nia, you see a ghostly apparition strangling you with the scarf. It looks like a well-dressed male human. In addition to the unnatural terror, you feel as if you're someone else...a human woman named Iesha, and the man strangling you is your husband, Aldern Foxglove.
Nia collapses to the ground as the scarf chokes her to death.
Garrick raises his axe, then says, "Anyone know a way to get rid of that that won't risk decapitating her?"
"Could be possession of sorts." Andrezi comments, reaching for his holy symbol to channel a burst of energy.
A mental shriek of anguish echoes through everyone's minds, fading into silence. The scarf drops to the floor and stops moving.
Andrezi's second channel rouses the investigator, restoring some of the damage done to her throat.
Andrezi offers a hand to help the investigator to her feet. "That seemed rather unpleasant." he quips as he begins to cast a spell to heal her further.
Nia spasms and coughs, rolling over onto her side and throwing the scarf away from her as she recovers. "It was... Aldern. He was my husband. I was... Iesha Foxglove." The usually brash and brave investigator shudders as she fights to push away the images that had been forced into her head.
She waves a hand at Andrezi. "Thanks but give me a second." The young woman reaches under her cloak and pulls out a vial of some sort of pale blue liquid, which she quickly drinks down.
The scarf looks like it's probably worth quite a bit.
The book on the floor is an introduction to Varisian history, written in a more popular/less academic tone.
Nia clears her throat and nods then reaches out to take Andrezi's hand to stand up. "Next room," she says as she collects the scarf and book.
Nia notices nothing odd about the door and opens it, though like every other door it sticks and takes some pushing. The room on the other side is a drawing room that might once have been described as cozy, but the unnatural dampness and thick sheets of mold clinging to the closed curtains on the south wall have pretty well put paid to that. A closed door in the north wall apparently leads back to the entrance hall.
Nia looks suspiciously at the mold before entering the room and looking around.
Garrick shakes his head, "Even what nature has crept into this place is putrid and vile... I feel bad about that hunt, now, certainly."
It's not apparently hazardous. Nia finds nothing out of place.
"The Foxgloves...it is like their vileness is transforming their surroundings to reflect the corruption they carry within."
Vidar makes a sour face and spits on the floor.
Nia nods. "And that's assuming all this rot isn't deliberate. I've heard of spellcasters and cultists who cultivate mold and fungi." She shrugs. "Let's go check out those doors in the hallway."
The young investigator goes to open the door back into the foyer.
The party returns to the entrance hall. Before Nia gets further than the doorway, she notices a smell of burning hair, or fur. There's nothing apparent that could be causing it, though.
"Does anybody else smell that? Like a rug on fire." Nia makes a face and looks around, shaking her head.
Garrick sniffs at the air, then shakes his head, "Not me. Maybe it's like the music downstairs?"
"This house...it hold so many memories, it is becoming difficult to tell what is merely a memory and what is real and present."
As Vidar enters the room, the taxidermied manticore lurches to sudden life, its face shifting to look like that of a woman and its fur erupting into flame. Its sting lashes out at the wizard, but misses him. At that, it returns to its previous state, unaffected save for what might be singe marks on its coat.
"Well....I...uh...could certainly have done without THAT..."
Nia flinches as the statue comes to life and goes over to check Vidar after it de-animates. "Gods! You're okay?" She looks the enchanter up and down then looks at the manticore. "What do you think it was, an illusion?"
Garrick eyes the figure, "Is it likely to do that again? Should I cut it in half, just in case?"
Vidar pauses, slowly pats himself down and then nods.
"I appear unharmed, fortunately."
The question Nia poses does intrigue him enough to nearly forget the potential danger he was just in.
"Hmm, an interesting question.
Normally I would say "yes", highly likely...
However, the danger of an illusion is limited to your belief in it, and it did leave me with a minor scratch, which SHOULD not be possible if it was merely an illusion.
Perhaps Shadow magic? A partial illusion, infused with just enough reality...hmm...."
Nia nods at Garrick, still looking at Vidar. "Would destroying statue prevent it from happening again, do you think?"
"I am unsure, allow me a moment to examine it please."
Vidar will use detect magic and look for traces of still active magic.
Vidar detects no magic on the stuffed manticore.
"More than likely another haunt. This place seems to be riddled with them. Physical destruction of the object, in theory, could break the haunt's fetters to this plane of existence, but there is no guarantee that course of action would do the job." Andrezi flatly states.
Nia shakes her head. "Let's leave it, then, and just give it a wide berth if we have to come back through here." She turns and heads off to continue her walk to the doors in the short hallway.
Garrick sighs, "More than half-tempted to suggest we just burn the place down to cleanse away all the evil."
Nia hears nothing at the door, which opens to reveal a flight of stairs leading down into darkness.
"Stairs down," Nia says to the others. She gestures at the other door. "Let me check that one then I think we should start downstairs and work our way up floor by floor."
The other door opens onto a flight of stairs going up.
Garrick chuckles, "I'm a dwarf, I won't object to starting underground."
With a look of mild concern on his face Andrezi counters, "Umm...crying upstairs? Are we just going to ignore that for now?"
"We will not!
Though...
I highly suspect it will not be a real person doing the crying.
Nevertheless!
We cannot risk it now can we?"
Nia shrugged. "Let's go find the crying, then."