Merelda will listen at the door.
Placing your ear against the damp wood you wait as the uncomfortable moment passes and then concentrate on what lies behind the door. All you can hear is silence.
The door seems untrapped and Boros can sense nothing beyond the door.
Grabbing her spinning Ioun torch with her free hand Merelda will open the door.
Looking inside? (w/Low-Light Vision)
A warped table surrounded by wooden chairs stands in the center of this dining room. The furniture and floor are both covered with a thick layer of dust. A mass of dusty cobwebs shroud most of the south wall.
The ceiling is blackened and scorched from a long ago fire.
As the group starts to move out Innis will familiarize herself with the pages in the spellbook mostly out of curiosity and need for a distraction than any scholarly endeavor. "Such dry reading material I do not envy those not born into the Talent." she will sigh.
Releasing the Ioun torch to return over her head. Merelda will pull a handkerchief out with her now free hand and cover
her mouth with it to step into the dusty room.
Rapier out, she will move into the room to clear the door and, and will move towards the door with no footprints.
Looking to the next person(s) coming in the room, Merelda will point the footprints out.
"Someone has been through here recently."
As you enter the room you see there are two doors. One lies on the southern wall and is where the trail of footprints originate from. Another door is located near the southwest corner of this dining room.
Innis clears her throat. "I suppose we invoke violence against this door as well then?"
Merelda will check the unused door to see if it is open and see what is beyond.
With stealthy care Him follows behind Merelda, smiling at Innis's question but remaining silent even though stealth is likely pointless at this point.
You look at sunken streets mixed with with rutted, muddy lanes. The buildings here are mostly intact, but you spot a couple that have crashed to the ground likely from poor foundations. The district is home to lower-class craftsmen, dock workers, and outright thugs.
Innis will attempt to open a window if they are shut.
"I think my nose is still, revoltingly, full of zombie," Him responds as he sniffs the air and winces.
"I don't know whether to envy you or tell you to be glad, dear. I'm not sure if this is an improvement." Lililinda says to Him, then holds her nose against the odor.
Moving to the window Innis you see that the window panes have been smashed and sharp edges can be seen running along the frame. The shutters that were once part of this window were destroyed by the fire from the looks of it. The window is only large enough for Lililinda to crawl out of.
The burnt flesh odor that some of you smelt grows even stronger for those that detected it, however the others still smell nothing. Just as you are about to say something you watch as six ghostly child-sized hands wreathed in bluewhite flames rise into the air above the table.
Without thinking Merleda will lash out again with her cantrip against the undead.
Possible Crit?
Seeing the results of her point blank blast she ponders the strange hand's origins.
Merelda you fire the ray hitting several of the hands. But as Nicias fires one of his raining arrows you watch as the water passes through the hands as if the hands weren't there. It is then you realize what you are up against.
The only way to truly harm them is through positive energy (via channeled energy, cure spells, and the like) and even still the haunt is not fully destroyed.
To destroy a haunt, a specific action must be taken in the region to end the effect forever (such as burning a haunted house to the ground or burying the bones of the slaves who died on the site to create the haunt). This specific act is different for every haunt (although a number of nearby haunts often share the same destruction act).
The hands fly forward at each one of you.
"Gahhh! By the tips of her nibs! These things aren't creatures! It's an echo of emotional death and destruction attached to a location! A haunt! Innis! If it continues, channel the goddess' energies to rid us of them!"
"Let's just get out of here!" Lililinda shouts, and runs for the nearest door.
Merelda will open the disused door she was heading for. Ducking inside quickly to avoid aggravating the haunt further, she will glance around for anything dangerous and then look back toward the other room.
Lililinda runs for the door right in front of Merelda hoping to elude these scorching hands, but as soon as she makes it to the door you watch as the hands fade. The only evidence of their existence seems to be the burnt hand print for those who were injured by the hands.
"Unless we can figure out how to settle the Haunt, it will be back eventually."
With that, for the third time, Merelda continues to open the door to the disused room.
"We are not here to uncurse a haunted house. If there is merit in investigation so be it but those who can not defend against it should leave immediately." Innis will gesture to the door Lililinda made a dash for.
"I cannot argue," Him responds hurrying over to the door, "it is always disconcerting to face a foe you cannot harm."
You push the door open quick to escape from this room and move closer to finding the location of the cultists and hopefully the cure.
You look into a room with a long wooden table, its surface scored and stained with mold and dust, dominates the center of this kitchen. Empty shelves line the walls, and a large brick fireplace is set in the middle of the north wall. A door leading outside stands slightly ajar on the west wall and another smaller door is set against a slanted wall to the southwest. A flight of stairs to the east leads up to the second floor.
Digging out a potion of healing, Merelda will down it quickly then move to the stairs going up to check them for dangers or traps.
Merelda moves to the stairs and as she does you all hear the door on the west wall creaks open slowly. As you all turn ready to face your next opponent you stare at the face of a young boy who stands motionless completely frozen by fear of you. Behind the boy you can see and hear some other children asking what is going on and pushing the lead boy further into the room
"Uhh..uhh...uhh" is all he can stammer out his face white with fear.
"Children? Why are so many children here?"
"Say something Aren."
"Look at those ears."
"She looks funny. Why is she wearing all tight clothing?" you hear three other voices behind the lead boy who you assume is Aren.
Aren watches now as the group moves into the room. His eyes grow even larger shocked at the sight of your group. He fans his hand back quieting the other children down. He looks up at the tall stature of Merelda"Uhh...well we live in these quarters uhhh maam. We didn't know people still lived at the old Ambrik House. Uhhh...do you live here?"
From the back you hear, "Aren you know noone lives here. The place is haunted! I bet they could help us. I bet they are heroes! Look at their stuff."
Aren shushes his friend and continues, "Are you heroes maam? We need your help. Please maam! We need you to help us find our friend!"
From behind Aren you can see the door leads outside from the amount of sunlight that is pouring in. "Our friend is lost in this house, mister dwarf. We had dared him to go in last night but have not seen him stepped out since!"
"NO! Noone lives in this house it's haunted. We live in the quarters nearby. Uhh know you are in Cassomir? We are in the Fens."
Innis clears her throat for attention. "Perhaps, you should see these children to safety Master Dwarf & good Sir Knights while I accompany Lady Merelda on her quest to break the evil curse that binds this house and rescue the lost boy." she re-frames her original statement for the audience of children that have arrived on the scene. "Just don't stray too far." she adds.
Waving her hands towards the stairs, Merelda bows.
"Well Innis? I guess we should check upstairs to see if the brat fell asleep up there among the cobwebs and other haunts."