"What is that?" Selia muses, crinkling her nose.
Smells like burning fur...
Selia casts Disrupt Undead, thinking maybe it will scare any haunts away.
If nothing happens, Selia looks at the mold, but doesn't touch it.
"I'm not sure..."
Before the rest of you have a chance to react, Selia casts a spell, throwing a beam of divine energy forward towards the stuffed manticore which, to your utter amazement, lurches to life..
There's a degree of unreality to the scene. The manticore's face resembles the portrait you saw earlier of Cyralie Foxglove. It's fur erupts into flame, and its tail strikes forward at Nich (NOTE - the burning manticore is represented on the map by the ball of fire). There's a smell of burning flesh, and Nich takes 12 hp dmg. You also need to give me a Reflex save to avoid catching on fire.
Ned, the smell is that of burning flesh, specifically people, not beasts or monsters.
Iesha takes no notice of the commotion in the entrance hall and is still focused on the mold. To your eyes, Selia, it has a spiraling pattern.
(NOTE - yes, this is another haunt effect, and while Selia was able to strike first, her spell wasn't powerful enough to suppress the effect. I also had to roll her 'to hit' and damage).
"What is wrong with this place!?"
(power attack, monster hunter, bless)
Nicholae drops to the floor and rolls around.
Just a rules reminder, the only way to combat haunts is to channel positive energy. And, if you want to beat them to the punch, you have to notice them before they activate AND then beat their initiative in the surprise round!
Fortunately, after this initial assault, the manticore returns to its normal appearance. However, Nich's clothes have caught on fire (4 hp dmg). You'll need to give me another Reflex Save to see if the fire has been stamped out.
Ned's sword cleaves the air. And, Iesha is prowling in a circle around the mold stain, all the while staring intently at it. "A stair that is not a stair? I am not amused, Aldern."
With the disappearance of the fiery monster, Lleidr will move over to help Nich put out the flames while keeping an eye on Iesha.
"Sounds like she's talking about a trap door or something."
Continues to roll Help meeee!
Nich, you're OK now. Flame's are out.
Iesha has started tearing into the floor, in the center of the mold stain, which kind of looks like a spiral staircase. She's ripping the slimy carpet into shreds and her hands puncture the flooring underneath. Splinters and shards of wood are flying through the air as she digs for something underneath the house.
"This is very strange. But I suppose we see where it goes, eh? Let her dig?"
Agreed
After about a minute, Iesha has shattered the floor so that there's just enough space for passage to an area below. She immediately leaps into the inky darkness and disappears.
You can make out a square room below with a set of stone stairs spiraling down into the dark, and you can hear Iesha's footsteps descending them.
NOTE - I'll update the map depending on where you go next. Due to your vantage point, it's difficult to make out many details of the basement room which Iesha has revealed.
And, to add to that, you can, of course, choose to explore the other rooms of the manor's ground floor. There's quite a few doors in both the north & south walls which you haven't checked out yet.
"We should go down. Hopefully we can get rid of these haunts then explore at our leisure."
Lleidr will produce a (cheap) coin to cast Light on, then with the FoE ready, he will drop down the hole after Iesha.
Agreed.
Agreed - we can check the other rooms later.
Piles of broken stone, dirt, and a few ruined pickaxes line the edges of this room. The floor in the middle of the room has been torn up to reveal an ancient set of stone spiral stairs, obviously of much older construction than the surrounding basement, winding deep into the bedrock below. A foul stink, like that of rotten meat, wafts up on a
cold breeze from the darkness.
You catch sight of Iesha stepping further down into the darkness, following the descending stair, and disappearing in the dark.
In the southwest corner of this basement room, there's a small staircase of much more recent construction leading to a hallway pointed towards the east. Presumably, this passage leads to the rest of the house's basement level. However, Iesha has disappeared below, into a ruin of some sort far under the earth.
"Do you still respond to my call, my love? The darkness will no longer hide you, Aldern."
This is far worse and terrible than I could have ever guessed.
He casts Cure Light Wounds on himself as he follows.
"Indeed. On top of the weirdness of following Iesha's corpse to a domestic dispute from hell, this is too much like a few weeks ago when we found a passage below the Glassworks into ancient ruins for me to feel comfortable."
"Agreed. But do we continue to follow? I think we must, but I am beginning to fear we step in too deep. On the other hand, what if Aldern is innocent and we just unleashed this thing on him? I think we have to continue."
"Yeah. What could possibly go wrong?"
Selia, need a Perception check please.
OK, can you give me a Will save.
Selia has a strange look on her face.
"You aren't going to attack me are you? I admit I might deserve it, still..."
"I just got a strange vision... Aldern Foxglove...wild and dirty, digging in the floor in this room with a pickaxe. I think he was doing it for me, but I don't know why..."
Selia covers her eyes.
"Ach! He just broke through into the room beyond, and a horde of shrieking ghouls pull him into the darkness. Then they turn to me..."
Ghouls? Iomadae - we don't wish to fight them again. Be cautious in following the revenant.
NOTE - I got a 20 on a Will save for you, Selia. The vision passes without further incident.
The stairs end in a limestone cavern. The walls drip with moisture, and swaths of black and dark blue mold grow in spiraling, tangled patterns on the floor, ceiling, and walls. Rubble and broken bones clutter the floor, and a rhythmic sound—like the breathing of some immense creature—echoes through the cave from three tunnels, one to the north and two to the west. Of the two western tunnels, the southernmost one seems to be a relatively new creation.
You see Iesha disappear into the middle passage (the northernmost tunnel pointing to the west, the one directly west of Selia on the map image) with a determined stride.
DUH, didn't see that you had also rolled your Will save earlier. Funny that you rolled the same thing I did.
Selia continues to follow.
The dead lady seems to know where she's going. Lleidr will do his best to keep up. Not so fast that he blunders into or touches that mold, if he can help it.
Nicholae mirrors Liedr.
NOTE- I'll update with a map after I return, and with initiative order. This seems like a good stopping place.
The passage continues more or less to the west, where you see Iesha round a corner and disappear towards the north. After she passes, 3 trembling ghouls step out from shadowed corners and block your passage.
"We cannot allow you to pass, but perhaps you wish to linger among us?" one ghoul asks in a raspy voice with a lick of his lips.
Nicholae raises his sword high. We will not allow you to stop us from right the wrongs of this house.
Initiative Order: Lleidr, Nich, Ned, Selia, Ghouls
Lleidr will flatten himself against the wall so Nich can squeeze between him and Selia and hold his action until the melee guys have moved into combat.
Ned will move forward 10' and stab at a ghoul
"Never been much of a joiner..."
(power attack, monster hunter)
If he can, Lleidr wants to move into a flanking position on one of the ghouls, so he might have to wait until after the ghouls move. If he can't get into position, he'll just make a normal stab attack. Either way, he'll enhance the FoE with Arcane Strike first.
+2 if flanking
if flanking
And, heck, since I haven't rolled these dice in a while:
if he has to move through a threatened/occupied space
Nicolae moves up and past the halfling to protect Lleidr.
Attack on Ghoul
for
Just waiting on Selia ...
Selia starts casting Summon Nature's Ally II.
Foxglove Manor Caverns, Western Passage, Round 1
The fellas dispatch two of the ghouls with ease, while Selia begins chanting a spell for divine aid.
The sole remaining ghoul lunges at Lleidr with its jaws agape and its taloned hands slashing with wild abandon. The claws miss, but the ghoul succeeds in scoring a bite out of the halfling (3 hp dmg). I'm going to need 2 Fort saves from Lleidr.
hp: 29
I can't remember what effect ghoul bites have. Lleidr has a +2 bonus to Fort vs disease (and poison) from Hagfish Hopeful trait, and +2 vs fear, so hopefully you'll be adding one or more of those bonus to these rolls...
No noticeable effect for Lleidr ... 1 ghoul is still with you, ready for another attack ... actions, please.
If it somehow survives the blender of Nich and Ned and whatever Selia throws at it, Lleidr will stab at ghoul after enhancing the FoE with Arcane Strike again.
Nicholae attacks
for