"I'd say we should use some long objects to remove it from the wall, and see if there is anything behind it. Looking at it seems rather risky considering..." Eugeni says, looking guardedly at Destrina.
"I'm with Zoli. Let's take a cautious peek." says Morythine. "Though those long-handled objects Eugeni mentions might be better served fending off our weak-willed friend."
The group, after some deliberation, decide to check the other side of the painting. It reveals a beautiful dark-haired Varisian woman in a thoughtful pose.
The next door in the hallway, unlike the rest thus far, is locked.
Zoli listens at the door before picking the lock. She takes a quick peek back at Destrina over her shoulder just once as she does so--offering a nervous smile.
Once the door is unlocked she steps back to allow the paladin to enter first (entering right behind Destrina).
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Zoli can hear nothing on the other side, and fiddles with the lock for a few moments. Soon enough, the familiar click of the lock sliding into proper alignment seems to ring out through the quiet house, and the door opens up, revealing another set of stairs up.
"Hmmm, there's one room left to look at on this floor but with all of what's been going on I'm inclined to go fast before something else happens to us--and of course I'm always curious to see whatever folks decided to lock up.
"Let's go!" Zoli resumes her spot right behind Destrina an they ascend the stairs.
The stairs creak loudly as the group moves single file up their length, into what appears to be an attic. The first door they come to opens with a bit of difficulty, revealing a large number of wooden planks, rope, and other repair supplies stored there. The ceiling above sags noticeably; in several areas patches of the sky above are visible, and it is clear that night has officially arrived outside the confines of these horrid walls.
Continuing on, the hall is flanked with a series of doors on either side that open up into store rooms. Each of these rooms is stacked with old furniture, sheets and linens, boxes and crates, and other bits.
The final door on the right at the end of this stretch of hallway opens up into a bedchamber. The ceiling of this room angles down steeply, leaving only four feet of headroom to the southeast. A low cot and a dresser are the room's only furnishings. As you leave the room and begin down the next stretch of hallway, a sudden and unmistakable shriek of pain echoes through the attic. The sound came from behind the door at the end of the hallway on the right.
Before the group moves on, Darius pales visibly upon seeing the picture and takes a moment to use his rod to flip it back over on the wall. He shudders, but looks relieved after its all said and done. Nevertheless, he doesn't mention anything to the group and follows the rest of them. Suddenly more cautious, Darius pulls out his Ioun Torch and lets it float around his head, adding more light on top of Zoli's Light.
When the shriek occurs, Darius readies himself for yet another unseen horror, but lets the rest of the group lead on.
Hairs standing up from the back of her neck to the tufts on her hairy feet, Zoli quickly follows Destrina toward the source of the scream. She pauses briefly to check the door for locks or traps--disabling anything she finds--and to see if she hears anything else behind the door.
The door is indeed locked, but the unmistakable sound of a woman sobbing can be heard coming from the other side. Zoli works with the lock for a moment and the door creaks open.
This room is cold and damp; an old armoire stands near the east wall. The ceiling slopes down to only four feet high to the northeast, leaving little room for a small window. A full-size mirror in a dark wooden frame of coiling roses leans against these bricks, angled toward the tiny window.
Hunkered down there, in the alcove created by the walls, window, and mirror, sits a woman badly bloodied and pale, sobbing at her reflection in the mirror.
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"Hold friends, stay your weapons. That is a revenant, and she is rendered helpless by her reflection, unless we destroy the mirror or attack her. As far as I know, the only way to slay her is to kill the person that murdered her." Destrina explains. "We may be able to search this room, find out who murdered her, and bring vengeance to that person, destroying both evils. We must be cautious, however, revenants are very powerful foes, resistant to magic, cold, and all weapons but blades."
Zoli--recognizing an evil undead in this very evil house--starts toward the revenant with scimitar out...but pulls back quickly at Destrina's words.
Looking up at the paladin she says, "I had no idea about that part. Then yes! Let's see if we can get her soul some rest."
Zoli begins to gingerly look around the room for clues about the revenant's fate...careful to avoid disturbing the frightening undead woman in the corner. When done in the room, she'll back out and lock the door again.
"Mam? Are you okay? We're here to help you..." Eugeni says, still holding his bow ready in case she proves to be some kind of trick.
Despite a thorough and careful search of the room, no clues to the woman's murderer are to be found. As such, the group slips out and locks the door behind them, searching for answers elsewhere.
After fighting to open the jammed door, the party opens the room across the hall from the sobbing revenant. Shelves of books line the walls of this room, interspersed with curious objects such as skulls fitted with stubs of candles, tribal fetishes, and decorative scroll cases. An empty birdcage lies near the southern wall beside a small desk and a fine leather chair. Statues and sculptures grin from all corners of the room.
The oddments in the room include several dozen curious fetishes and masks, but the most impressive piece is an old painting of a bullfight. The painting bears a plaque that reads "Throwdown in Swynetown," and in the painting, vast crowds jeer and cheer the bullfighter on, the huge bull aurochs towering over him, its cruel forward-jutting horns each teh length of a spear. Dozens of bodies lie in the streets - the aurochs has clearly rampaged through them already, and although a score of brightly colored spears jut from the creature's flanks and back, it still rages on. It appears to be an original and likely quite valuable.
The books are mostly on Shoanti tribal cultures and history, along with numerous maps of mysterious realms and nautical charts. The scroll cases contain maps of the surrounding area, along with two intact scrolls.
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For the briefest second, Morythine tilts his head as if listening to something. Whatever caught his attention, he chooses not to share, particularly considering the jumpiness of his companions, his own funny turn but a while ago, and Destrina’s less than funny turn even more recently.
The dhampir wanders about the room, pawing at its contents.
“Might these scrolls carry a spell or two?” he asks Darius.
“Great painting. Probably worth a stack of coin to the right collector, if we can carry it off once we’re done here.”
Moving to the final room in the attic, in search of clues regarding the revenant, Zoli works with the door, and eventually manages to get it open. A desk and a chair sit in the middle of this drafty room. Chimneys rise to the west, while to the east, two intricate stained-glass windows are set into the wall. The northern window depicts a dark-haired woman with pale skin, large green eyes, and a black-and-red gown; with both hands she wields a jagged iron staff.
The southern window's lower half has been broken and patched with canvas; what remains of its upper half depicts a handsome man dressed in regal finery and a crown of ivory and jade.
Small scorch marks mar the wood near the broken window. A battered and ruined telescope lies on its side near the desk and a large trap door in the roof has been tied shut by several lengths of rope.
Despite the draft, the room suddenly feels uncomfortably hot, and the scent of burning flesh assaults your senses.
Eugeni and Darius suddenly begins screaming and slapping at their bodies frantically before bolting and leaping through the unbroken stained glass window. They both are badly cut by the stained glass in the process. They fall about ten feet to the steeply slanted roof below, knocking the wind from them. They begin to slide quickly down towards the edge, to a fall of roughly 300 feet to the rocky surf below.
They both narrowly avoid a weather vane, and both lash out trying to grab on. Eugeni manages to get a grip, but Darius, frantically grasping at it, fails to get a hold and continues to slide!
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"F*!+!" Eugeni shouts. "Quickly, someone throw me a rope!" He grips the weathervane for dear life.
Seeing Eugeni and Darius jump out the window, Zoli screams "NO YOU IDIOTS! STOP!!!" to no avail.
Without pausing to question her wisdom, she shakes her head, hollers, "OK fellas, hold tight!" and (as her friends gasp) jumps out after them. Despite catching her boot somewhat on the windowsill, with a bit of her signature derring-do, she manages to land with relative grace.
She slides hard into the weather vane but stops close enough to Darius to shout a quick arcane word at Darius, causing him--just as he falls off the edge of the roof and starts to tumble downward--to slow to falling at a feather's pace.
As Darius begins his inexorable slide towards his doom, he frantically thinks through all of his options, using his great intellect to sift through any spells he might have at his disposal that might save him from falling to his death. Alas, despite being able to bend reality to incinerate, melt, freeze, and electrocute his foes, he doesn't have the simple ability to slow his descent.
Luckily, grappling the rope his cousin threw at him works just as well in the mean time.
As he grabs the rope and clambers back up towards the group, the wizard is sweating profusely from his near-death experience. He nods at his cousin for saving him, dusts himself off, and inches away from the window, keeping a cautious eye on it.
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Seeing as Morythine has nothing really he can do to change the things
On having assured himself that his two companions are not splattered about the base of the manor, Morythine sighs. “All this weirdness is doing serious harm to my renovation plans”
With a weak smile belying his nervousness at standing so close to her, the monk helps Destrina brace the rope.
Darius, Eugeni, and Zoli are all one by one pulled back up carefully through the window. While they recover, you are each able to finally take in the room now that the threat has passed.
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Zoli requests a zap from their healing wand--and makes sure that Darius gets one as well--before listening at the next door, and checking for locks or traps.
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"Everyone okay?" she asks, feeling a strangely relieved that she isn't the only one that has succumbed to whatever foul magic pervades this place, while simultaneously afraid for her companions' safety. Whatever was caused the haunting in the place would be on the receiving end of Ragathiel's Vengeance.
"This place speaks more and more of the Foxgloves' depravity and focus on the Necromantic arts. I suppose they figured no one would notice, but the stained glass windows represent two rather horrific figures of Necromantic lore in history. I'll leave the specific details out for now since its probably best we get this over with." Darius motions to the door and looks eager to be rid of this place.
The door to the next chamber opens easily, revealing a dusty chamber. A stone fireplace sits in the northwestern portion. Paintings hang on the walls to the north and south, each covered over with a thick sheet of dusty cobwebs that obscures its subject from view. There is another set of double doors along the western wall.
The furniture in this bedroom, while dusty and unkempt, does not exhibit any major signs of water or mold damage. The one exception is a dark stain on the desk near the northern window.
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"Zoli?" Eugeni asks, readying to grab her if she tries to do anything strange. Don't need another one of our own attacking us in here.
Zoli wails.
Making a sudden grab for the dagger on the table, she continues "Poppa, I'm so sorry, how could I have killed you like that! Poppa, wait for me, I'm coming to join you!!"
"Don't be weird Zoli!" shouts Morythine, and leaping towards her, but the halfling scurries out of his grasp.
"Zoli?" Eugeni asks, readying to grab her if she tries to do anything strange. Don't need another one of our own attacking us in here.
"OH NO, IT WAS MEEEE!!!" Zoli wails.
Making a sudden grab for the dagger on the table, she continues "Poppa, I'm so sorry, how could I have killed you like that! Poppa, wait for me, I'm coming to join you!!"
"Don't be weird Zoli!" shouts Morythine, and leaping towards her, but the halfling scurries out of his grasp.
Eugeni, however, is more fortunate in his attempt. He manages to snatch Zoli up just as she grabs the wood shard from the table.
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It takes Destrina a moment to catch wind of what's going on in the confusion (as that is truly not what she's best at), but she reacts quickly once she's sorted it out. Seeing her chance once Eugeni has a hold on the halfling girl, Destrina wrests the wooden sliver from Zoli's hands. "Calm down girl!" the paladin says, once she has the splinter in hand. "It's just the foul magic of this place playing tricks on your mind!"
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