Moving back downstairs, the group walked through a short hallway into a large, open room. This long hall, clad with fine wood paneling, looked like an oversized curio cabinet, with hundreds of items and art objects on display on small tables, in vitrines, and on benches. Dozens of paintings and tapestries of various sizes hung from the walls and muffle the echoes that would normally be present in this marble-floored chamber. In several spots there are spaces where paintings have been removed, presumably sold at some point, but the collection of curios and artwork was still impressive.
• Portraits in various artistic styles of the counts, their wives, and a few relatives and domestics wearing all kinds of expressions and outfits line the walls. A portrait in a freestanding picture frame on a small tea table with a single chair features Lowls as a child (“Haserton at age 5, 4681 ar,” is written on the back of the frame) posing near a kitten at the foot of a luminous window, seemingly terrified. DC 25 Perception or DC 15 Craft (Painting) check for more info.
• Marble busts of scholars from the Sincomakti School of Sciences, including three effigies of academically renowned ancestors of Lowls sit on small plinths. The sculptures with the Lowls name on their bases have been smashed against the floor and damaged.
• Small-town perspectives of Thrushmoor and a half-dozen large paintings of the surrounding landscape hang here. The large pictures include a historic piece, in which the first settlers of Thrushmoor are shown living in two clusters of huts on low hills, hard at work to reclaim the surrounding land from the swamps. Three stone obelisks scattered throughout the town have been added after the fact.
• Statuettes of dragons, giants, and strange beasts litter the shelves. Among these is a poorly executed, 1-foot-tall, clay figurine of an elephant-legged, multimawed, tentacled aberration. DC 24 Kn:Dungeoneering or Planes check for more information.
• Set on an ebony pedestal is a human skull that has been marked with elaborate carvings of geometric shapes and lines. Small, worked garnets are set in the teeth, and a thin line of silver rings the eye sockets.
• Porcelain and ceramic dishes, jugs, teapots, and vases, some of which are of excellent quality, are kept in a glass showcase. A small ceramic vial contains a silvery metallic dust. DC 22 Kn:Arcana check for more information about the dust.
• Worthless, bizarre, and sometimes grotesque souvenirs from across Ustalav and beyond are displayed here: coffee cups made from uncapped monkey skulls; a stuffed three-eyed bat; multicolor-dyed freshwater sponges; a mummified ogre’s ear; and more.
• A battered shield hangs on a wall, bearing the device of Mendev. According to a plaque fixed under it, the shield belonged to Fassimar Lowls, a cadet who died just beyond the northern border of Ustalav during the Second Mendevian Crusade. The shield is a nonmagical heavy steel shield.
Of more immediate interest, perhaps, is a bizarre tableau near the south end of the hall. A man dressed in a fine noble’s outfit appeared to be frozen in a shimmering field of amber.
A double door leads outside, while two other doors go deeper into the manor.
He might be a warrior first and foremost, but Lachen is a man of many interests.
And the strangeness of the tableau seems to draw him, but he lacks true knowledge of the mystic arts to fully comprehend it, for better or for the worse
Reine had been torn. She had an odd fondness for the mail-backed black leather vest she'd been wearing since... she couldn't remember. Something about it just said, "mine," and that was rather rare for her these days - other than her rage.
Still, the second chain shirt, once Broom had peeled it off of the duelist and cleaned it, looked like it would provide better protection than her battered vest - especially given that the rapier that had marked her had struck a spot where the vest hadn't covered, and the chain shirt would.
With a sigh, Reine slipped out of the vest and pulled the chain shirt over her head and settled it over the white blouse she'd been wearing under the vest.
She held the vest out to Broom, the favor in her eyes unspoken by her lips, but clearly - if silently - asked. She wasn't ready to leave the vest just lying on the floor behind them.
She then, after a moment's hesitation, strapped the sword belt around the waist of the shirt. Both to keep the shirt in place, and to keep the duelist's rapier at her hip. Just in case.
*****
Once in the room with the art, Reine's typical paranoia kicked in, and her eyes swept the room intently.
Reine noticed the painting of the child Haserton Lowls (the Count they were looking for) hinted that the painter had intentionally created a
frightening situation for their young subject and then expended a great deal of effort to seize his wide-eyed expression.
While her eyes critically examined the collection, it was her ears that caught something out of place. She could have sworn she heard the faintest creak of wood coming from the floor at the far end of the room. Reine didn't see anything when she looked, though.
Reine was paranoid, she knew that. But just because you were paranoid didn't mean someone wasn't out to get you - she knew that, too.
"Someone approaching from the end of the room," she said to the others, pointing towards where she'd heard the sound, "invisible!"
She did not, however, draw the rapier at her belt. Instead, she slipped into a combat stance, gathering her rage.
Her eyes seemed to glow bright purple, and a faint shimmer surrounded her head. Those near her felt as if their names were being called, though Reine had said nothing beyond her warning.
The weird deformed clay figurine is a representation of a dark young of Shub-Niggurath. Feel free to know as much of the fluff on that page as you want.
The dust is dust of appearance.
She held the vest out to Broom, the favor in her eyes unspoken by her lips, but clearly - if silently - asked. She wasn't ready to leave the vest just lying on the floor behind them.
Broom took the vest without any hesitation. She arranged it neatly and packed it away in her magical pack making mental note of mending and cleaning that would need to be done on it later.
Moving back downstairs, the group walked through a short hallway into a large, open room. This long hall, clad with fine wood paneling, looked like an oversized curio cabinet, with hundreds of items and art objects on display on small tables, in vitrines, and on benches. Dozens of paintings and tapestries of various sizes hung from the walls and muffle the echoes that would normally be present in this marble-floored chamber. In several spots there are spaces where paintings have been removed, presumably sold at some point, but the collection of curios and artwork was still impressive.
Broom's eyes lit up at all the wonderful curiosities. Even Us oozed out of the sorceress and began skittering too and fro in excitement, her multitude of little eyes peering in all directions as she tried to take in the entire room all at once.
The little familiar peered at the paintings, dashed between the statuettes and knickknacks on the shelves, crawled into and out of the jeweled and cup skulls and ended up perched on top of the amber limned man.
Broom indulged a little as she admired the collection, letting her mind wander and bump against other thoughts while staying close to avoid the attention of whatever was out amongst the furthest thoughts. While it was fun seeing all the possibilities of what these items could be she gleaned nothing of actual use.
Us was able to send her mind as far as she wanted to find thoughts, but she was so excited and scattered that she flitted from one thought to another on all the topics at once. In the end all she had to offer in her screechy little voice was innumerable fragments of random trivia on everything in the room.
There was one item in particular that Broom didn't need to send her mind out to investigate, she just *knew* what it was. Her eyes lingered on it as she studied it thoughtfully. "We know what this is. It is a n'ghft lw'nafhnah... a Dark Young. A child of Shub-Niggarath." she said quietly.
Broom stood transfixed by the statue. It wasn't that the statues brought back memories so much as strange and hazy feelings that she couldn't quite explain.
Reine's warning woke her from her reverie.
Broom had just a moment to act before Reine's threat materialized.
Wand of death knell (18), Wand of infernal healing (15), Wand of bless (14)
Broom cast about the room but there wasn't anything to see! What was she supposed to do?
As she struggled to decide what to do a feeling and thought entered her mind. She blinked as her eyes went itchy, the black veins the writhed at the corners growing thicker and more pronounced. As they extended and crossed her vision she suddenly found that she could see the unseen!
She didn't know how, or why, but the fact that she could came as a pleasant surprise.
"There! Its over there!" she called out, pointing at the previously unseen entity.
Broom spotted a lean, quadrupedal creature with an unnaturally toothy, distended maw stealthily creeping up the east wall. At her warning, its eyes snapped to Broom and it leapt! Her warning came too late for anyone to do anything to stop it.
The monster snapped at Broom but she managed to avoid the worst of it. Everyone could see it now, a four limbed, black skinned, bug eyed, toothy monstrosity that almost resembled a canine. But only if a canine had been imagined by a deep sea fish or alien intelligence.
Little is known about their nature outside of blood-spattered notes and deranged writings of the nearly insane survivors of their attacks.
When not summoned by the mad, they enter the physical world on their own in pursuit of those who have trodden too much the netherways beyond time and reality — time travelers (be it physical travel or simply divinatory glimpses forward or backward in time) and creatures that teleport without regard to how this movement impacts subtle magical currents in the multiverse particularly draw their interest.
More information provided based on roll.
What now, this thing expect some treat maybe? Eat my hammer! But not literally, of course.
Knowing what the foe is, Lachen springs in action, and smashes at the hound of Tindalos with his massive earthbreaker
"Broom!" Reine's voice cracked, her concern for the diminutive doctor making her voice snap with anger, "get back!"
Her rage manifesting itself through her actions, Reine stepped past Broom, coming to stand between the doctor and Lachen. She had briefly considered passing between Broom and Desdimona but changed her path, unconsciously avoiding the latter's shadow.
"I will end you, you miserable, bug-eyed abomination," Reine's lovely voice was, again, so very incongruous to the words and rage and terror it expressed, as she reached out a hand to touch the beast.
Desdemona's mindspace for fear was fully occupied by the fear of the dark; it made everything else seem bearable, somehow. Now, she saw the animal-like alien thing, and brightened, dashed dreams of research and dissection resurrected.
"Oh! This really is marvelous - a hound of Tindalos! Don't damage it too badly, I would love to- YRK!"
Her excited request came to an abrupt end in a strangled sound of fear that ought to apply to the horrid monster, as her shadow surged forward, perhaps drawn to the alien thing, alien as the shadow itself was.
Broom considered in retrospect that shouting and pointing and generally making it clear that she could see the invisible beast may not have been the best choice. She shrank back as the hound snapped at her leaving some light scratches and torn cloth. She clasped her arm to cover the black blood seeping from the wound.
"Bad ot ahl'n'gha! Go back to your angles!"
Lachen stepped up and smashed his huge weapon down onto the alien creature's back. Reine's shadow stretched out unnaturally from underneath her feet and looped two enormous fists into the gruesome dog-thing sides. The monster's flesh gave way sickeningly and the powerful strikes didn't seem to do as much damage as they should have.
Reine swiped at it with her fingertips and the beast recoiled in a way it hadn't from Lachen and Desdemona's shadow, rents opening up on its black flesh and oozing pus-like liquid flowed out in place of blood.
She really didn't want to hurt the hound further, Broom rather wanted to see it just go away back to its place between places. Unfortunately it seemed persistent in its attempt to hurt everyone and in doing so also threatened to break stuff in the museum, and she couldn't allow either of those things.
Taking a quick step back being careful not to bump into anything she pooled a little black liquid in her hand and tossed the viscous orb at the beast.
Her eyes were still itchy as the little veins writhed much more vigorously than that ever in the path. She quickly rubbed her left eye trying to keep the hound in sight while grayish tears started to well up in the corners.
Broom's black goo sizzled and dripped into the creature's carapace.
Taking a surprising beating from the intruders, the Hound did what any reasonable predator would do and ran. It was just the way in which it did so that was alien. The unnatural thing leapt for the baseboard where the wall met the floor, seeming to shrink, stretch out, and get pulled into the 90 degree angle there.
Broom watched the hound squeeze through the corner and disappear into another dimension. Is that something she could do? She would need to investigate later, but for now she was simply happy that it went away. Or did it?
She rubbed her itchy, teary eyes again and looked about to make sure the hound had truly left for the realm of angles.
Broom turns a full 180 and spots the corner hound boiling out of the northwest corner of the room like steam escaping a pot.
Having learned her lesson the first time, Broom gave a brief gesture in its general direction and whispered loudly "Its over there" before stepping back from the materializing hound.
Desdemona all but launched herself into the air in a very unladylike way as the shadow slithered back over the ground to what had been the back of the group, sending tendrils toward the Hound again.
The pale woman threw out a hand to stop it, some glimmer of hope of research nearly giving her the courage to deny the shadow its feast, but more shadows congealed from the corners of the room, using her arm as a springboard to follow it. She gasped and snatched her hand back, but they were already on their way.
Defense:
20% miss chance in bright light, 50% miss in any other lower level of light. Immunity to death effects, disease, and poison. Evasion. Cold/electric resistance 10.
Offense:
Slam reach 10', bite reach 5', 2 claws reach 10', increased by 5' each when Large. Melee attacks affect incorporeal creatures as if it had the ghost touch weapon property. All attacks are treated as magic. Combat reflexes (4 AOOs).
Defense:
50% miss in any other lower level of light than normal bright light. Cold/electric resistance 5. Disguise self 1/day (Sp). Darkvision 60'.
Current AC: 20 (within reach of eidolon)
Des's shadow smashed its enormous fists into the expensive wood paneling over and over, causing a fair bit of damage but doing little else. Her hungry little shadows seemed to find something in the corner but did little damage.
Lachen moves to where the hound might be, following Broom's vague directions, and strikes, hoping to find the creature under his hammer
But he feels no resistance under the massive weapon, hears no sound of bones cracking.
The warrior is disappointed.
Des's shadow smashed its enormous fists into the expensive wood paneling over and over, causing a fair bit of damage but doing little else. Her hungry little shadows seemed to find something in the corner but did little damage.
Broom clasped her hands over her head and grimaced, wincing at every blow that damaged something. She rubbed one itchy eye and vowed to herself to come back and fix this if she was able.
When Broom pointed, Reine cursed, but spun around, pulling her bow off of her shoulder and an arrow from the quiver at her hip.
"Eat bone shards, freak!" She shouted, and then let fly the arrow on her string.
()
When the arrow struck the shaft - made of bone - shattered, sending a cloud of razor-sharp bone fragments flying through the air.
Broom saw the unnatural beast flinch as the bone shards sliced into its black carapace. It spun around as if to jump back into the corner to disappear again.
Invisible to its opponents save for Broom, the creature used its space-twisting powers to flee the terrible invaders. The Briarstone survivors were alone once again in the trophy room.
A double door leads outside, while two other doors go deeper into the manor.
"No!" Desdemona cried out, reaching out to where she'd last seen the thing before it vanished, as though to prevent it from escaping.
Instead, it seemed to draw her shadow back to her, the shape and length of it dwindling back into a mockery of her own shape - at least, to her eyes it was a mockery.
Holding her rose-glowing dagger like a talisman, she shakily breathed out.
She turned toward one of the doors leading deeper into the building, then hesitated, turning back.
"Were any of you... injured?" she belatedly asked, curiosity flaring in her eyes once more to see what manner of damage such a creature might do. Already its strange, disjointed form was slipping from her mind, the details hard to remember when they were so hard to understand.
"Goodness. What a mess," she sniffed, stepping over the mess they'd made as she approached to study any wounds more closely.
Not a scratch, apparently. Bad doggy was send to his kennel, wherever that might be. Shall we proceed through the next door?
Lachen looks out for potential traps near and on the doors that led inside the manor
Lachen didn't find any traps near either sets of doors. The double doors were unlocked and led back outside. The single door near the man frozen in amber led to a library.
The walls of that large room were lined with ceiling-high bookshelves laden with bound tomes, parchment scrolls, and stacks of paper. The thick shelves were stuffed full and sag under the weight of their contents. A dozen amber-colored crystal lamps were fixed to the walls, and three more lamps stood on two central tables and a desk. Stairs in the western corner of the room led up to the second floor.
Want to check the place before we go on, girls? Seem no one has bothered with cleaning the room and putting it in order in a while. Not that I expect you to clean the room or reorganising the furniture, just making a statement. Probably some books in there you'll find interesting, and I'll find weird.
Lachen looks around for recent footprints, secrets passages, hidden cabinets and so on
Are those lamps magical? Or anything in the room, in fact?
Desdemona's face fell a bit at the answer - no wounds to examine? She'd completely lost her opportunity to study such a rare visitor, even by what it left behind - but her attention was drawn to Broom rather than Lachen as he poked about.
Broom hadn't even mentioned cleaning up.
"Doctor? Are you quite all right?" Desdemona queried, some part of her astonished that she found the wherewithal to care.
She went over to stand by Broom as Lachen looked around, but the woman showed no sign of any injuries. Frowning, Desdemona eventually turned to look around the room as well.
Behind her, her shadow began to stretch, oozing across the walls and cabinets and bookshelves.
Desdemona spotted nothing magical. The crystal lamps appeared to be gas, like the ones at the Sleepless Agency.
There were hundreds of books, scrolls, stacks of paper, and even rolled parchments stuffed into the library. There were also two crates near the fireplace; Lachen found an opened envelope with a letter inside.
Among the more mundane works are a number of research books regarding dreams and how to manipulate them. These books discuss methods by which an individual can choose to appear in someone else’s dream; one even includes an overview of the Dreamlands.
Notes and marked pages indicate that Lowls was using dreams as a method of research, wherein he would project his consciousness into the Dreamlands to meet with people and creatures there. One such figure is someone he refers to as the Mad Poet, who offered to show him the way to a forgotten city in return for sacrificing his assistants’ minds.
In addition to the many, many written works, Lachen noticed a slight ridge in the rug near the southeastern wall that hinted at something concealed underneath.
Desdemona was drawn to the books with such hunger in her eyes that it seemed, for a moment, as though something alien was looking out from within. She flipped through them, devouring everything she skimmed, until she stopped short on the passage about the Count's assistants.
And their "sacrifice."
Her knuckles turned even more pale than they already were as she clenched the book hard, her teeth locked in pure fury that would have been more at home in Reine. The harsh expression on her normally slightly brittle-smiled but politely pleasant face didn't exactly seem out of place... more like an old and long-forgotten outfit that no longer suited who she had become, but fit perfectly.
Meanwhile, her shadow flowed over the ridge in the carpet, which was suddenly flung aside as if by invisible hands.
For once, focused fully on the book in her hands, Desdemona didn't seem to notice the shadow's actions, or what it found. She stood tense, lips slowly peeling back over her teeth as her glare burned holes in the page with its sheer acidity.
Unnoticed by its master, Desdemona's shadow revealed a locked trap door concealed under the rug.
Lachen works on the trapdoor as soon as he is informed by Desdemona.
When everyone is ready, he opens the previously hidden door
Reine had first looked about the room for traps and ambushes - her paranoia was serving her well, so she saw no reason to abandon it - but once the room seemed secure, she found herself drawn to the books along with Desdemona.
But she had only flipped through a few of the tomes when she saw Desdemona's face change.
Immediately, Reine stepped up behind the smaller woman, looking over her shoulder to see what was happening. Reine was ready to knock the book to the floor if it seemed to be a source of danger.
Then, she read the words.
"What. The. HELLS?!?!!"
The trap door opened on a set of stone steps leading down into darkness. It was cool and dry at the bottom of the stairs, and while the door was well fitted it was unlocked. Inside, the shelves in this cellar room were neatly stacked with glass and clay bottles, tiny kegs, decanters, mugs, and crystal goblets. To anyone familiar with the subject, the wine cellar was an impressive collection of fine bottled wines, ales, and liquors, all of good to excellent quality.
Lachen smiles when he see all the wine and alcohol.
That's my kind of treasure.
He doesn't drink, but select two of the finest bottles to put carefully in his backpack
Broom merely nodded silently at Des' inquiry as to her well being. She rubbed her eyes again and absentmindedly pulled a kerchief from her pack to take care of her nose that had started to run.
The sorceress' mind lingered on the destruction in the museum. Things around her had been broken or damaged before, but something about this was different. Seeing the damage to the displays in the museum had evoked a much more poignant feeling that lingered and she wasn't sure why.
The group moved on to the study and Us excitedly skittered around on the amber limned man examining him closely as Broom ruminated on her feelings.
After a few minutes of self reflection as everyone else was perusing the books and investigating the room she had an epiphany. It wasn't the destruction itself that was causing her more distress than usual, it was what was being destroyed.
When mundane items were broken, as unfortunate as it was, they could usually be replaced. A cup's value was in its function as a cup, and a broken cup that couldn't be fixed could just be replaced.
The items in the museum were each unique. Each trophy was the product of a specific event that could not be repeated. Every piece of art the result of some spark of inspiration unique to that moment. Even the portraits and mementos were products of a specific that had some kind of meaning unique to that history. Unlike a cup, when one of these items was destroyed what it represented was gone forever. There was no replacement for anything that was destroyed and that was why the loss of any one of those items was so much more tragic.
With her thoughts and feelings finally sorted, she vowed once again to fix anything that she was able to once the Count had been found. Clearing her nose once more her demeanor once again brightened up. Rubbing her tearing eyes once more she had a quick look into the book that had caught Des and Reine's attention.
"If the Count sacrificed his servant's minds for his studies, and we used to be his servants, then who are we now?" she asked quizzically.
There is some anger in Lachen's voice as he speaks
Whatever we want.It's ours to decide. Think of it as a fresh start.Someone has clean out our memories, and we can mourn them, pity ourselves. Or we can walk away from the past and create a new destiny. Maybe I was just a janitor at the count service. Maybe I was of noble birth. I don't know, maybe I will never know. Maybe some old memories linger on. Maybe we will find out along the way who we were, before, and who knows, maybe avenge ourselves for the wrongs we suffered.
Then, calmer
I don't know if it is a remain of my old personality, or if it's me now, but I try to live in the moment, taking whatever pleasure I wish, while trying to control my own darkness. I feel you all have your own kind of darkness, no offence meant. And we struggle with it everyday, each in our ways. I know each of you is a powerful woman, and yet something in me still wants to protect you, to take care of you. I respect you, even if we can and will have our disagreements. We're all in together, even if we don't really know what this "in" is about.
He takes Broom's chin in his hand, tilting her head backward a little, and delivers a soft, gentle kiss on her forehead
The only question that matters right now is: do you need a hug to start your favorite collection of brand new memories??