"That might bring more of a response than we can handle," Shae replies quietly. After a brief, quiet discussion, the plan is to check the hallway (and adjoining rooms) to the west. Shae checks the first two doors for traps.
Hollie nods in agreement with Shaedeen before following her through the hallway.
Cator follows as well and says "north first?"
The northern hall door opens to a small hallway and a staircase which descends below the mansion.
"Damnit, I wanna fight somethin'!" says Krovek with some frustration. The series of weird things Shae and Hollie were hearing did not make Krovek feel safe in these parts.
cator says "we should check the south door before we go down, don't want to let anyone get behind us."
”And what about the upper floors?” Hollie asks.
The search of the southern door in the hall shows no traps, and when the door opens, it leads to a landing and another narrow stair leading up, not down. Suddenly, there is a flash of lightning outside - it must be close, and the odd stained glass throws shadows and monstrous patterns on the walls - patterns which look to be reaching shadowy claws to devour Krovek and Lunal - though these disappear as quickly as the light fades.
A few moments later, a peal of thunder is heard, shaking the bones of the house - and discharging black dust from between the slats in the ceiling. The sameboards creak as if protesting an indignity, though…
…it sounds as if something is moving? No - it was just the house settling.
The rain begins to fall harder.
Krovek spins, ready to axe the shadow that appears before deciding it was just an illusion of the light. He immediately feels embarrassed. But also a desire to be ready.
Krovek prepares his Shawl of Lifekeeping, allowing some of his own life energy into it, before healing his wounds.
He also casts Longstrider to increase his movement speed. He checks in on Kazaht to see if his animal friend is spooked by this place.
"Well, here'r the stairs up, Hollie. But I'm thinkin' we head down. Slimeball necromancers like ta be underground, right?"
”Less places for threats to hide or escape from upstairs though. Which also eliminates one more area where we can be attacked from once we move into the basement. Down there, who knows? Might be tunnels.”
Hollie then moved to the other door in the room with the stained glass windows and adds ”Plus there’s this door here,” as she gestures to it with her sword.
The party searches the southern door in the room for traps, and finding none, pushes the door open. 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 facedown 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.
It looks like the scarf is moving slightly, on its own.
Hollie approaches the scarf slowly, holding a hand out to few for whatever breeze was causing the scarf to move in case it led to a secret door.
Cator attempts to detect if the scarf is magic somehow.
Cator picks up and examines the book.
The party moves in carefully and starts to look at the oddities.
The scarf flutters for a moment when everyone approaches, and then suddenly, a horrific shriek fills the air, as if coming from everywhere! The sound soon passes, and the scarf lies still. Draxtherian is particularly unsettled.
The book is nonmagical, but appears to be a history of Varisia, one commonly found in libraries in the region.
A splash of dried blood stains the back of the northernmost chair, and an examination of the bookend reveals more blood, clots of hair, and bits of skull and flesh—in addition, part of one wing has been broken off.
"So... we're gonna burn it all down. We're gonna burn it all down, right?"
Hollie jumps with a start at the shriek! She looks over the blood stains and gore with a growing dread. ”At least not until we make sure there aren’t any innocents here…” Hollie muttered. The , if there is nothing left on this floor, and no one objects, she leads the way up…
"but then after that we are burning this place to the ground and throwing salt on the ashes"
Draxtherian nods anxiously. ”Yes. Fire would be good…”
"Has all this happened since...since we first met Lord Foxglove during the goblin attack on Sandpoint?" Shaedeen gasps in disbelief. "This place looks and feels like it's been...corrupt...for decades."
Krovek tenses as the shriek fills the air. He then does a gesture to ward off spirits. "Nothin' that can hurt us," he declares confidently, as he takes a closer look at the blood, hair, bones and flesh to try and identify it.
"Has all this happened since...since we first met Lord Foxglove during the goblin attack on Sandpoint?" Shaedeen gasps in disbelief. "This place looks and feels like it's been...corrupt...for decades."
"All the Foxgloves who were living here died of a mysterious disease some decades ago"
"So what 'bout Aldern? Dude decides ta come back ta the house where his family died? Maybe he got some disease too."
"We already know he's undead. So who knows what's going through his head. Let's just finish clearing the house and then head down below," Hollie says anxiously as she continues on the discussed path.
"agreed, lets head to the next room"
The party checks the next threshold for traps, and then opens the door to the western room.
This cozy-looking drawing room is marred by the unnatural dampness and the thick sheets of mold that cling to the curtains closed over the southern window.
Hollie looks the room over. If she doesn’t find anything, she turns to the others and signals with her head to head upstairs before returning to the stairs up and cautiously making her way to the next floor.
The party moves back the way they came, to the center hallway. They glance into the western entranceway before they head upstairs.
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.
The brothers are certain that they hear the sounds of sobbing coming from somewhere upstairs as they pass the stairwell to glance at this room.
The party checks the landing of the stairs for traps, then files into the narrow starcase and heads up. The footsteps echo through the old house oddly, and when Kazaht brings up the rear it... sounds as if more footsteps are following the party. When everyone turns to look, a few more footfalls occur, and then it is quiet again.
as he examines the monster in the center of the room Cator asks "anyone else hear that sobbing?"
Shaedeen shakes her head at Cator's question. But then again, her focus has been off from the moment the party entered this grisly, lifeless house.
Hollie freezes when Cator mentions he hears someone sobbing. Her first thought is that Foxglove has a prisoner held hostage he intends turn, causing her teeth to clench and her hand to tighten on her sword.
Lunal goes quiet. "Sobbing? What's sobbing? Me in a few more minutes in this hellhole. Where?"
Before everyone goes upstairs, Cator spends a moment looking at the Manticore.
Lunal, getting more nervous by the minute, casts mage armor as the group continues forward.
"I hear it, bro. Someone cryin' from upstairs. Think it's real?" It's not entirely clear if Krovek's last question is about the sobbing or about the manticore in the room.
The party returns to the second floor landing and after checking the exit door for traps, pushes the door open. It leads to a somewhat broad hallway with numerous doors leading from it, all presumably leading to rooms.
The rain is louder here.
”So many doors…” Hollie mutters. ”Lets be systematic about it. Start there and work our way through the level. See if we can find this person crying.”
She then moves to a door and prepares to open it.
"The Manticore? Looks real. What do you think something like that costs?"
"An arm and a leg, but definitely not human ones."
This bedroom features a child-sized bed, a chair next to a toy box, and a looming stone fireplace big enough for a child to get lost in.
When Hollie opens the door, she can hear what sounds like a child sobbing in the room, to the left (near where the bed is).
Cator enters the room and checks the toy box for traps
Shaedeen peers in at the bed. "There!" she whispers tersely, pointing toward the small bed. "That's where the sobbing is coming from!"
Shaedeen makes no move toward the bed or the sound. Either she doesn't like kids or she doesn't think it possible that a real child could possibly have ventured alone into the miserable Misgivings and is highly suspicious of a trap or ambush.
Hollie looks at Shaedeen as if to ask if she was sure, and then sheathed her sword as she slowly approached. She bent down to try and see as she got closer. ”Hey, hey, it’s okay. We are here to help.”
Cator grows suspicious of all of the unseen voices
Cator frantically says "Hollie, stay back and keep your sword out. I think it's a haunt, its like a ghostly trap."
”A what?” she asks. When he mentions a trap, she steps back and draws her sword again.