"Think we checked enough," offers Krovek. "Found some valuables, now we can burn this f!~*ing place to the ground."
"lets burn it"
The party retreats back to the music room where they first entered, with the seemingly haunted piano. It seems like this has a lot of flammable material, and it was 'safe' enough.
Lunal conjures a sphere of fire, and begins to set it to burning the house. Some of the furniture alights, smoldering, but soon extinguishes - charred and ruined, but it seems the building itself is extremely resilient to damage.
Magic is afoot!
The house audibly groans, as if settling, the building seems to shake a bit and dust drops from the ceiling above.
Lunal keeps trying to burn down the building, his first attempt having no substantial effect.
This seems to do more, but suddenly, Lunal alone is stricken with a terrible sense that he should flee.
He runs out the door, into the rain. Once outside the fear no longer seems to control him.
"What the hell?" Krovek tries to take over for Lunal in setting this building on fire.
Krovek successfully lights a torch, but other than soot, there's no permanent damage to the frame of the house.
A similar fear effect seems to come over him, this time, seemingly more powerful. It is almost as if his worst fear manifested in front of his face, ready to dismember the druid - and then disappeared immediately.
Lunal comes back more angry than before, burnt of magic but snatching the torch from Krovek to continue trying.
Lunal feels a terrible sensation coming over them, as if the house is enraged at them specifically. They get a feeling the house has escalated the magic it is unleashing, and while the last spell effect was equivalent to the spell fear, this is like the spell spellblight jinx which Lunal knows is more powerful. They shake it off but it seems due to luck.
The torch does nothing.
Cator watches the whole affair play out and eventually says "Hey Lunal, what's your plan here?"
Shaedeen wants the place burned to ashes more than anyone, but things don't seem to be trending in that direction.
"Hey--why don't we leave it for now?" she suggests. "Maybe when we return from Magnimar it won't be pouring out and it'll go up like a tinderbox."
The rogue proceeds to the front door, looking out into the storm toward where the party left its mounts.
"To burn the place down, is that wasn't perfectly clear!!" Lunal shouts, gesturing wildly. "Try to curse ME? To spellblight ME?!? We'll just see about that!!" Lunal starts getting another spell ready...
Once Krovek gets his nerves back, he seems to be egged on by Lunal's own rage. "Seriously, f@$# this place, ya ain't seen nothin' yet!" The half-orc does something no one has seen before, as he transforms into a much more powerful looking troll! With a giant greataxe in hand, he starts arbitrarily chopping at a wall, support beam, or any other structural element, to deliver some payback.
;
;
Krovek swings mightily at the house, but as it is a house, it has no vulnerable areas. His axe nearly gets stuck in one of the pillars after he swings, and while it seems that he damaged the house, the effect is muted by whatever is protecting it.
The house settles again, groaning, and Krovek suddenly stops swinging. He drops his axe and starts walking outside.
Hollie turns, and Draxtherian nods, and the dragon moves to step in front of the now large, trollish being that seems to be walking towards the edge of the cliff. Drax spreads his wings, and hisses, "whatever you're doing, you had better stop!"
Hollie turns to Lunal, and then rushes over the arcanist, "listen - just stop! It's not working, let's just leave! We don't know what's going on and I don't want anyone to be killed..."
As Drax tries to block the troll-sized creature from advancing toward the cliff's edge, Krovek wordlessly tries to shove the dragon out of the way!
The dragon snaps at Krovek, both because he’s offended and because he’s trying to keep the druid from passing.
But the snapping bite fails and Drax is pushed backwards towards the cliff. Scrabbling for purchase, Drax is nearly at the edge. The dragon doesn’t look particularly worried for his own safety, but is annoyed at the troll that seems to be shoving him around. Hollie seems to get a message to this effect and says, ”Drax!” She turns to everyone, ”We have to stop Krovek before he kill’s himself!”
Lunal whips around with an annoyed expression, but then shakes their head and switches to a mixture of concern and guilt. They move over to the cliff to make sure the entire drop is visible to them. "Drax, throw him off if you have to." Lunal looks dead serious.
Scrawny Shaedeen looks on helplessly as the Krovek-troll lumbers toward the edge of the cliff. Suddenly she gets an inspiration.
"Kazaht--get master! Fetch!"
Hollie rushes over and yells ”Drax! Hold him down!”
The dragon leaps onto Krovek’s chest and neck as Hollie leaps onto Krovek’s back!
"Seriously, let him drop. I got it covered."
Cator runs to assist Drax "Krovek, stop, snap out of it"
Kazht looks confused, and snuffs the air, concerned. Drax grabs Krovek with Hollie’s help and immobilizes him for a moment. The big trollish being struggles to escape, mutely.
The druid breaks free despite everyone’s best effort and tries to jump over the cliff, his face morphing to that of despair.
At the edge, just before he is about to throw himself down, Krovek shakes his head and blinks, as if waking up.
Cator gets up "I think we're done here"
"Let's just leave this awful place!" Shaedeen wails. "It turned Krovek into a troll!"
Krovek lets out a sigh of relief. "What the hell was that? The house told me ta jump off the cliff! Not sure how you knew I'd be alright, Lunal."
Krovek seems determined to go back inside, but he sees everyone looking at him. "Just gettin' my axe. Ain't messin' with this house no more."
He then heads back out. "Guess there was one good thing 'bout this house. I've been wantin' ta figure out how ta change into somethin' bigger, and this f@#@ing house finally got me ta do it."
"Feather fall, my he...it's a spell, can make people fall safely. It's pretty much all I have left in my reservoir today." Lunal says quietly, seemingly embarrassed at their outburst earlier.
The rain continues to pour, but the thunder clouds seemed to have passed.
Hollie heads through the rain to where they had tied off and hobbled their horses. She releases hers and climbs up into the saddle and prepares to head back to town. During the ride, she is quiet and clearly either upset or deep in thought. She doesn’t attempt to shield herself from the rain, and her hair and body is soaked.
Hollie looks for her, and all of the horses- but they seem to have bolted. Drax notices them some distance away, cowering under a copse of trees to the west.
The reason quickly becomes apparent. Where’s there were a few dozen crows gathered on the way to the manor, there are now hundreds or even thousands of ravens covering almost every surface above the ground, staring at the house and the adventurers. The crows are distinctively rotting, and their eyes glow with a very pale, supernatural red light, as if they are animated by some unholy providence.
They do not look to have slaughtered the horses, but this may have been a matter of luck or training. Collectively, there is a malign intelligence, and it seems directed towards the party.
Cator yells out to the group "those are carrionstorms, we will have to fight our way through"
Krovek seems to be both annoyed and excited at the sight of the carrionstorms. "Great, let's go kill the birds. I want somethin' I can fight properly."
Lunal folds their arms. "I've got nothing left. You'll be fighting without me."
"Bloody hell--I'm no good at fighting swarms!" Shaedeen growls. Nonetheless, she's got her rapier at the ready, prepared to skewer as many undead crows as she's able.
Lunal has an 'aha!' moment and rummages in their pack. "Wait...I can have one, but that's it. Can't promise it will do enough to take them down."
Krovek seems unafraid. "I got some tricks, we can start from way back."
”We don’t really have a choice in the matter,” Hollie grumbles as the rain soaks her hair and body. ”Let’s get this over with,” she adds as she draws her rapier wearily.
With two bursts of radiance and the burning hands, it's enough to kill the carrionstorms without them devouring anyone else.
The party manages to retrieve the horses, and as Hollie wanted, slowly makes their way back to Sandpoint. The road has become muddy in places, and the going is slow, with the horses still shaken up by the events of the evening, and tired. It is thankfully, uneventful, though.
By the time the party treks back to the small Varisian town, the rain has stopped, though this does little for the party's comfort - as everyone is thoroughly soaked - and it is around 3:00 am.
Ameiko rubs the sleep from her eyes as she greets everyone at the door, but otherwise ushers the party into the cozy inn.
When Cator wakes up the next day the phantom rash on his arm as spread significantly. He can barely get out of bed, and it's obviously visible to everyone watching. The rash has lines of black spreading under his skin, as if the mold is growing within his veins.
Back in Sandpoint, Shaedeen thanks her friends for eliminating the threat of Aldern Foxglove from her life. His obsession with her has left the teen visibly shaken.
She takes time to brush down Thunderclap when the horses are returned to the stable, even though she's pretty much out on her feet. She covers her prized horse with a blanket and even kisses his neck, thankful for his steadfast service. Once inside, she manages to give Ameiko a glassy-eyed smile before retiring for what remains of the night.
Stripping off all her gear and wet clothing and throwing it all haphazardly onto a chair, Shae climbs into bed and burrows beneath the covers. It's only then, and at the very edge of her consciousness, that the teen realizes she didn't take off all her gear: the Sihedron medallion still rests coolly against her chest.
Hollie thinks it's evil the girl reflects. I don't. I think it gives me power and protects me.... And that's the last thought Shae has for the night before cupping the ancient artifact in her small hands and falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.
"That can't be good!" Shaedeen comments when she sees Cator's affliction. "I'll go fetch Hollie and Father Zantus!" she adds before scooting out the inn's front door.
Thankful that his druidic magics were able to dispel the swarm, Krovek joins in the awful slog back to home. He was thankful that they had removed Aldern . . . even if the evil in the house remained. A warning not to go to that place was all he could offer.
In the morning, Krovek sees the awful disease spreading through Cator. "Hold up, Shae. Lemme give it a shot first." After communing for spells in the morning, he tries to restore Cator to good health.
Lunal sleeps in late, even for how late they got back, and wakes up grumpily. It's nearing dinner time when they get out of bed. But Lunal doesn't leave the room, just ordering some wine and staying in, door shut, otherwise completely silent from the outside world.
Hollie comes running up, not wearing her armor but rather her cropped shirt and skirt. She had a nervous look on her face as she asks ”Is Cator alright? Shae said he was sick?”
Cator murmurs as he wakes, moaning in horror because he lacks the energy to scream, until being cured by his brother. He lets out an astonished "thank you" while staring at his healed arm in relief.
"You betcha, bro," says Krovek with a hearty slap on the back. "Yer lookin' almost as pretty as ever."
Once it is clear everyone is safe and healthy, Hollie relaxes and returns home. She cleans her armor and dons it with Draxtherian’s help before heading to find Father Zantus and the Mayor to give them a report on Aldern’s condition, the curse that seemingly rests on the manor itself, and their discoveries within.
Shaedeen checks in with Lunal, Cator, and Krovek, but it's obvious to them that Lord Foxglaive's ghoulish obsession with her has left the teen deeply shaken. She asks for a piece of the treasure recovered from The Misgivings--the cameo bearing her likeness. With that in hand, she wanders back out of the Rusty Dragon in search of Hollie.
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When Hollie finishes briefing the mayor on all the recent events, she finds Shaedeen waiting for her outside. The teen presses the cameo into Hollie's hand. "I wasn't sure what to do with this thing...whether to keep it or destroy it. But I don't want to keep it--too many bad memories are attached to it. I figured I'd give it to you."
Managing a faltering smile, Shae adds, "You might want to check it first to make sure there's no curse upon it. Then you can either keep it or destroy it as you see fit."
"Sooooo, Aldern had this?" she asks, a look of concern on her face. "He was such a creeper..."
Lunal groans out a vague response to Shaedeen from inside the room, but otherwise gives little indication of much else.