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Truddig examines the jars on the tables in the kitchen. Cautious in the event that spoilage may have done something nasty--or that there is a trick or surprise, he carefully opens one. If nothing seems amiss, he proceeds to open the others as well.
He eyes the stairs leading down, but cautions against going into the basement yet. "Let's make sure that there are no surprises up here before we head down." He approaches the door into the rest of the manor instead.
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Truddig barely is able to take in the features of the room when he's overwhelmed by the two skeletons standing in front of him! Realizing that he's woefully unprotected, he focuses his mind on the "snake" fighting style at the same time that he retrieves a wand and casts the spell in it, creating an invisible field of force around him.
An invisible but tangible field of force surrounds the subject of a mage armor spell, providing a +4 armor bonus to AC.
Unlike mundane armor, mage armor entails no armor check penalty, arcane spell failure chance, or speed reduction. Since mage armor is made of force, incorporeal creatures can't bypass it the way they do normal armor.
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Truddig move into the room so that others can see, and studies the chair with interest. He glances around and doesn't see any exits to the room...
It can't be that someone just rushed out; there's nobody here!
He focuses himself, reaching out into the room to try to detect things that he might not be able to see.
At 1st level, a menhir savant can detect the presence of undead; fey; outsiders; and astral, ethereal, or incorporeal creatures. This ability functions like detect undead, and the druid detects all of these creatures rather than trying to detect one kind. This ability replaces nature sense and wild empathy.
You can detect the aura that surrounds undead creatures. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area.
1st Round: Presence or absence of undead auras.
2nd Round: Number of undead auras in the area and the strength of the strongest undead aura present. If you are of good alignment, and the strongest undead aura's strength is overwhelming (see below), and the creature has HD of at least twice your character level, you are stunned for 1 round and the spell ends.
3rd Round: The strength and location of each undead aura. If an aura is outside your line of sight, then you discern its direction but not its exact location.
Aura Strength: The strength of an undead aura is determined by the HD of the undead creature, as given on the table
belowat the link.
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Quinn moves into the room following Hasmed.
"Creepy rocking cradle ain't a good sign."
When he see's the baby centipede he says "Oh it's a bebe! Don't anyone hurt it. It's no threat to anyone!" he says as he waves off the dangerous adventurers.
He then turns to the centipede. and begins making strange clicking sounds as if speaking to it.
CASTING
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
EFFECT
Range personal
Target you
Duration 1 min./level
DESCRIPTION
You can ask questions of and receive answers from animals, but the spell doesn’t make them any more friendly than normal. Wary and cunning animals are likely to be terse and evasive, while the more stupid ones make inane comments. If an animal is friendly toward you, it may do some favor or service for you.
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"He hatched here. Guess that's obvious." Quinn moves around the cradle and tries shoving the cradle towards the window.
"Can one of you muscley folks help me move the cradle to the window so he has a place to crawl out? Don't touch him cos he might bite. Yeah yeah I know he'll grow big and all and maybe be a danger. But he might not and might go out into the wilderness and live a happy life away from anyone. And if he's a problem I'm sure big strapping adventurers will sort it out. Till then, no one's killing an infant animal. Now help me."
He stays trying to shove it towards the window. If helped he will open the window and carefully remove the blanket so the centipede can crawl out the window into the night.
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You can easily move the cradle to the window and carefully tug on the blankets enough for the creature to wriggle out and crawl to freedom.
Searching the rest of the room reveals little of note, save for an elegant silver music box on the table. Folded up inside is some sheet music, with the words “play to access the secrets below” scrawled on the back.
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Hasmed sighs and moves the cradle to the window, allowing for the goo-covered centipede to leave. "I hope that wasn't a colossal mistake" he sighs, before turning his attention to the music box. Realizing he knows nothing of music or local culture, he places it in Truddig's hands before stepping towards the next door on this level.
"Ready?" he asks his companions, axe-fist at the ready.
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Ingrge nods at Hasmed's words. "Aye...Quinn you be having a good heart...but, as a follower of a Erastil myself, I've seen what these things become when they come in contact with the purple goo...as have Truddig, Hasmed, and Khafra...nothing good can come of releasing this thing...it'll either grow to kill innocent wildlife...or worse...but it's done now and we best move on..."
Ingrge moves to check out the next door down, to the south...
...if he finds nothing odd, he'll nod for one of the front liners to open it while he covers them with his bow...
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This dormitory-style bedroom looks tidier than other rooms in the building. A hunched figure wearing a maid’s uniform is sitting on a small bed in the northwest corner of the room. When you open the door, she looks up and gives you an unnerving smile. "Hello there." She regards you for a moment, absentmindedly snipping the air with the scissors in her hand. "I don't know you. Why are you here?"
The woman before you resembles a human with oddly segmented limbs, waxen skin, and doll-like eyes.
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Hasmed steps in cautiously. "I am Hasmed, the mighty fist of Vudra, scion to the Iobarian McGuffin clan. I am here because I have been asked to find papers, books, documents that show the evil that the humans who once lived here were committing. And by Jahurbanash the Word-Keeper, I will find these things if they exist. Who are you and why are you here?"
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Hasmed spreads his arms far and wide. "Oh, Anilda of the Forsaken Manor, let me tell you of the evils of the people who lived here, evil so great that word of the depravity reached even distant Vudra! A tale of blood, horror, and cruelty even the Cults of Death stopped in awe, and Zinijnah of the forsaken souls rubbed her hands with glee!" Stepping forth, he conjures light to amplify his features, using it to weave his tale. "When the villagers found the girl, they could not believe neither their eyes or their ears, but her body had been mortified in countless ways, and her tale sent shivers down the spines of hardened woodsmen. She had been lost for almost a week by then you see, snatched from under her mother's gaze by a shape that passed through like the wind, a shadow that looked like a wolf, and hissed like a snake. She said that she had escaped from the big manor house, and all knew it was the Sarini manor, for none had quite as magnificent a manor as they. And she said that she saw her little friends hung upside down like piglets before the butcher's blade, but it was a gloved hand that held the knife, a hand enveloped in silk, with a blade as sharp as Ninthurimi the Jovial's wit. She said that there were many shadows in the darkness of the cellar, many shadows indeed from the cage she was held in, and in those shadows fang and claw glistened and drool dripped down, hissing as it hit the ground. How she escaped, we don't know. It was lost to time. But the tide of angry villagers was a sight to behold! March down to the manor they did, and when they burst in, the saw fully grown men, skinned and hanging from the ceiling to drip their blood in cups of silver and jade! They saw beasts that were no longer beasts snarl and caw at them! And behind these creatures, flanked by shadows that crooned with the most evil of anticipation, were the Sarinis, their faces caked in the dried blood of their victims, looking at the righteous crowd with contempt... And desire."
He pauses, to gather his thoughts. Where do I go with this now?
"They defeated the evil within, but they could not purify the manor, for the spirit of those innocents who had been claimed had seeped into the very foundation of this place. They could only bring the Sarinis outside, bring them into town and hang them by their necks until they died. But even as they died, they laughed and growled, their necks bulging not with missing air, but with the flesh of the beasts they had become. But the light prevented the beasts from escaping into the wilds, and they died, uttering a curse upon any who would enter their home. "Your seed will become brittle and wine will curdle from your lips. Crops will wither and die, and your livestock will be the prey of wolves until none are left if you ever return to our home." Some say that the Sarinis spirits themselves escaped back to their beloved homested. Who knows? What is known is that locals who enter this cursed place died soon thereafter, the smile of a beast upon their face, clutching at their necks."