Faywen's face takes on an expression that could mildly be described as "revulsion," but she moves on to the east.
Erond hears nothing past the door, and finds no trap. Opening it slightly, he sees a staircase leading up.
Faywen inches east to find the dining room. A mahogany table surrounded by chairs sits in this room. Twin fireplaces loom to the west, while to
the 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, an immense hook-beaked bird with sky-blue and gold plumage, a winged centaurlike creature with a lion's lower body and a snarling woman's upper torso, and a deep blue squidlike creature with evil red eyes.
to the importance of the images.
+3 to identify creature abilities and weaknesses
"Fricking artists!"
Trox really has no idea about the artwork and frankly it is not to his interest. Still he moves along and waits for the sure to come attack.
Druamin nods at Skarn, chuckling with a low rumble. "I know what you mean. Why spend so much energy on something just to look at. And half that time it's not even worth looking at. But looking at these things, I wonder if it doesn't have more meaning."
"Unlikely!"
Hmmm...It looks like the runes on the box are necromancy-related, that the monsters seem not to be emerging from the boxes but rather being drawn in, and that their snarling visages express not rage, but rather fear. Most Interesting! Cordwin states as he is memorized by the painting.
"So basically we should keep a lookout for this here box. Otherwise, seems like we should just continue lookin' around." René pointed to the door to the south and raised an eyebrow.
"You know, this is a weird place for a stained-glass window. I mean, it's obscuring what's got to be a great view. This has got to have some sort of special significance."
"Eh, the house's designer seemed ta have a weird thing with these stained glass windows. Mebbe something magicky. The fact they'd do something dumb like that ain't no suprise."
"Perhaps they simply have no appreciation for natural beauty," Faywen suggests.
For those just catching up...
This is the family estate of Aldern Foxglove, who most (if not all) of you met some time ago in Sandpoint... in fact, you saved him during the initial goblin attack.
The house is in disarray - decrepit and looks like it is on the verge of collapsing and crashing off of the cliff it sits on and into the sea that you would see if these were clear windows instead of the stained glass.
For those that were in the basement exploring, they can recall what they saw there:
Two stained-glass windows loom: The northern window depicts a thin man with gaunt features drinking a foul-looking brew of green fluid, while the southern one shows the same man but in an advanced state of decay, as if he had been dead for several weeks. His arms raised and head thrown back in triumph, his rotting body turns to smoke and spirals into a seven-sided box.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Fricking artists!"
"The number seven again. It keeps popping up in the strangest places. René, this looks like it's depicting some kind of ritual. What do you think?"
"It's one of the previous masters of th'house turnin' inta a lich." René shrugged. "Seems ta have been a weird obsession, the undead. One that seems ta have taken over the most recent master of the house. We've fought several so far."
"Yeah, seven virtues of rule, seven schools of magic, seven sins. And these seven-sided boxes. If I was a betting dwarf I'd say there was a connection."
Turning to Erond Druamin asks him about the door he opened. "What's behind that door?"
"Seven what? Classes of alcohol? Beer, wine, whiskey, ummmmm?"
Reynard can easily confirm what René has said - it appears that the person dipicted in the picture windows is indeed aon a journey to become a lich.
The route to lichdom is a personal quest. While each prospective lich can build upon the discoveries and methods of previous necromancers, the actual formula varies from soul to soul. In this case, it seems the would be lich has built his phylactery from body parts harvested from four exceptionally long-lived monsters-a treant, a roc, a sphinx, and a kraken.
"What kind of freakish stuff was this guy into?"
"More necromancy," Faywen hisses. "The proper thing to do would be to burn this place to the ground."
And here I remember him as being a pleasant fellow!... Cordwin adds.
"Aye. I share the sentiment Faywen. But if we burn this down, we'll lose any evidence that might tell us more about what happened."
"Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying he did this recently? And then, as a lich, he hired someone to come in here, and make a stained glass of the whole affair? That doesn't even sound reasonable to me! Now, burning this place, that DOES sound reasonable to me though!"
"What guarantee do we have that burnin' the place will destroy anything dark'n evil in here? Do ya think the fire woulda reached that there underground area with them undead? 'Sides, fer all we know, there's regular people stuck in here somewhere. I mean, ya need someone ta start off with if ya gonna make a ghoul. And this does seem ta be where the ghouls are comin' from."
Tired of waiting for someone to actually do something, René then opened the door to the south.
René opens the door. 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 ofthe 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.
Cordwin will go over and take a look at the book.
Druamin follows René and Cordwin into the room. While the bard moves to inspect the book, the druid goes to the fireplace to see if he can tell when it was last used.
"Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying he did this recently? And then, as a lich, he hired someone to come in here, and make a stained glass of the whole affair? That doesn't even sound reasonable to me! Now, burning this place, that DOES sound reasonable to me though!"
"Could be that he made the windows as he went, to remind himself of his achievements or something." Reynard says to Skarn. Once they enter the library, Reynard goes over to the scarf, bens down, and examines it.
"Huh, kinda werid ta see an angely thing with all the undead and dark imagry. Mebbe that's why someone went an' chucked it out?" René moved next to the other door in the room but waited to at least let the others poke about a bit first before doing anything. He didn't really see a point. After all, they weren't here to loot the place. They were here to look into the increase in ghouls. And maybe find Aldern.
"Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying he did this recently? And then, as a lich, he hired someone to come in here, and make a stained glass of the whole affair? That doesn't even sound reasonable to me! Now, burning this place, that DOES sound reasonable to me though!""Could be that he made the windows as he went, to remind himself of his achievements or something." Reynard says to Skarn. Once they enter the library, Reynard goes over to the scarf, bens down, and examines it.
"So he's the artist too? Craziness! Fricking artists!"
Trox lets the others do the investigation, it is not part of his limited skill set, and so moves to the unexplored door.
Cordwin's eyes open wide at the find! Anyone mind if I take this? I am all out of bed time reading!
If no one object he will stuff the book into his back pack.
"Unless that's a book on the history of brewing, it's all yours."
As Cordwin takes a look at the book, and Druamin checks out the fireplace, finding nothing of real interest.
Reynard starts to reach for the scarf, but Erond gets a little too close and the scarf flies away from Reynard - right at Erond! It wraps itself around his neck.
Faywen, who had been silently fuming at the audacity of the stained glass, turns just in time to see, of all things, a scarf leap up and assault Erond. "What--?" is all she can get out before it starts strangling him.
The only thing that Druamin achieved by searching the cold and uninteresting fireplace was to cover his hands in grey ash. He wipes his hands on his pants as he stands. Just then the colorful scarf leaps from the chair and onto Erond. "What!!!" Druamin takes a rapid step towards Erond and tries to grab the scarf from around his neck.
"By the First Mug, what just happened?"
Trox is just standing there looking very confused. He moves closer in an attempt to grab the scarf if able.
Figuring that 5 people swarming him all at once wouldn't be that useful, René hung back. "See, this here is the kinda thing that happens when ya needlessly poke yer nose where it don't belong."
"Erond, are you all right?" Faywen asks, her voice full of concern.
The scarf strangles Erond, but luckily he is able to wrestle it away, at which point it falls limp and seemingly harmless.