Lefdam opens the door. The floor of this room is covered in thousands of keys of all sizes and shapes.
Nightshade steps cautiously past Lefdam and looks around the room, gazing quizzically at the keys.
There's keys. Lots of them.
Seeing nothing else of value here, Nightshade moves on to the next door and motions for Speck.
Speck checks the door.
The door is locked and does not appear to be trapped.
snick and the door is unlocked. Speck steps back with a bow.
Pistol drawn, Nightshade stealthily opens the door and peers inside.
This room is full of broken things: mannequins, grandfather clocks, musical instruments, and so on, all slowly falling to pieces. They have been carefully arranged to create the appearance of a lived-in room, even though a cursory glance shows that no one could possibly use these things.
The room is so cluttered that you would need to enter and dig through stuff to discover anything of value.
Nightshade steps into the room, gingerly crossing the floor to look for anything valuable.
As Nightshade enters the room, two of the chairs suddenly animate and start scrambling towards him. Additionally, the detritus on the floor transforms into shards of metal, glass, and wood.
A particularly nasty piece of glass pierces the sole of Nightshade's foot, right through his boot.
Round 1:
Rupert
Chair 1
Speck
Lefdam
Nightshade
Chair 2
Rupert, you're up!
You're all right :)
"Nightshade, out of the room! Let's draw them out and away from the broken glass.
The first chair ambles over next to Nightshade and attempts a slam.
And fails miserably.
Speck drops his rapier and draws his bow.
Round 1:
Rupert
Chair 1
Speck
Lefdam
Nightshade
Chair 2
Bold may act.
Nightshade growls in irritation. Seeing how pitifully the animated object's attempt at violence was, Nightshade fires point-blank at it before moving out of the room.
Moving out into the hall, he snaps, [color=red]"At least step out of the doorway. Let them into the hall so I can get a clear shot."[/color]
Nightshade's bullet tears a huge chunk out of the chair. Wood splinters and strips of upholstery fly in every direction. It attempts a slam at Nightshade as he retreats.
It manages to catch the back of Nightshade's leg as he turns.
Lefdam can still act.
Lefdam steps into the room and up to the chair that Nightshade took a chunk out of. He winces at the pain from doing so but knows that they need to deal with these things.
He, as silly as he feels in doing so, takes a swing at the chair.
As Lefdam steps into the room, one of the shards on the ground partially severs Lefdam's achilles tendon. Doubling over in pain, Lefdam's strike misses the chair.
Chair #2 saunters up to Lefdam like some horrific version of Beauty and the Beast.
Big ol' miss.
Round 2:
Rupert
Chair 1
Speck
Lefdam (2 damage, movement speed halved)
Nightshade (6 damage)
Chair 2
Rupert's up.
We're fighting furniture now? There had better be something of use in this room.
Rupert raises his greatsword and slashed down at the chair around the corner.
This chair has incredible dexterity! We're all doomed!
Where to next?
Lefdam mumbles something to himself about being stupid and rushing into an obviously dangerous room as he meanders back to the group limping with pain.
"Well, that was...interesting...I say we head upstairs. Seems like the next most logical destination.
“Agreed. I believe we’ve spent enough time here and I’m getting a chill. I think it’s high time we climb the stairs and meet this Nicasor.”
Nightshade glances disdainfully at his bleeding wounds. [color=red]"I'll live. Let's carry on."[/color]
Speck heads to the stairs and quietly ascends them and takes a peek around.
Rupert waves the wand over Lefdam’s wounds.
Speck leads the party back to the dining room and up the stairs and into a seemingly deserted hallway. There is a door on the southern side of the hall, then the hall winds around and ends in two more doors.
"Speck, I don't think this first door suits us. Will you ensure that the hallway is not trapped so that we can move on? The far Southern door is calling to me."
Rupert pauses at the top of the stairs and listens for any sounds of life from the the hallway or the rooms lining it.
Speck walks up to the nearest door, checks it for traps, and tries to stealthily open it.
Lefdam fallows behind Speck and will take a look into the room once the door is opened.
This is a well-appointed bedroom, where carpets and wallpaper cover the otherwise grim substance from which the house is constructed. Every available surface is covered in writing, lines of curly script that wind around the room in great arcs and spirals. A hanged body dangles from the ceiling, immobile in the still air.
You also hear a constant, incoherent muttering, and as your eyes adjust to the shadows in this room, you see a shadowy, skeletal creature. It has its back to you, staring at the writing on the wall, and hasn't noticed you yet.
They have a babble attack that can fascinate their foes.
Surprise Round:
Speck
Round 1:
Nightshade
Rupert
Speck
Creature
Lefdam
Speck may act in the surprise round, then Nightshade, Rupert, and Speck in round 1.
Speck seeing that he has caught the monster off unawares, maneuvers into position to setup a flank.
Once in position, speck takes advantage of this opportunity and strikes with his rapier.
Speck's rapier passes right through the creature. Sensing the attack, it turns, sees the party, and snarls.
Rupert takes in the grizzly scene as he steps into the room.
Rupert isn't sure what this thing is, but he knows Speck well enough to get into ideal combat position. He raises his greatsword and brings it down with all of his strength, trying to end this fight quickly.
Rolling his eyes in disgust, Nightshade strides into the room and fires at the specter. [color=red]"Another shadow-creature to shrug off all our attacks. Wonderful."[/color]
The thing is surprised by the party's sudden appearance, and takes damage from both Rupert and Nightshade (though probably not as much as you had hoped). Rupert gets the feeling he will need to be more accurate now that it is aware and on its guard.
The creature's constant babbling rises in volume, pitch, and frequency. You can't understand what it is saying, but you catch words you recognize like "Stepan" and "betrayal" and "revenge". The babbling continues to rise until it becomes rhythmic and hypnotic.
Round 1:
Nightshade (fascinated 6 rounds)
Rupert (fascinated 4 rounds)
Speck
Creature (10 damage)
Lefdam
Lefdam is up.
Lefdam moves up next to Speck and, seeing as everyone else does not want to try and talk to this thing, takes a swing at the creature.
- Speck surprised the creature and attempted a sneak attack, but his non-magical weapon had no effect.
- Rupert, Nightshade, and Lefdam were able to hurt it, but with reduced damage.
- The creature facinated Rupert and Nightshade.
Round 2:
Nightshade (fascinated 5 rounds)
Rupert (fascinated 3 rounds)
Speck
Creature (15 damage)
Lefdam
Speck is up.
Speck takes a 5 foot step, opening up his spot next to the creature in and yells to Lefdam "Take my spot, I will snap Rupert back to reality!"
Once he finishes saying that, he turns to Rupert and slaps him across the face and says "Wake up princess, you have work to do!"
Rupert feels the blood rush to his face and his eyes focus on Speck, what the hell, why is this bastard hitting me, what happened?
As he remembers what he's doing and hears Lefdam shouting about an Allip Rupert realizes that this tormented soul must be put to rest.
Rupert feels like he made good contact as his sword seems to catch the ether of this creature.
Speck's slap brings Rupert out of his reverie. The creature must not have been expecting Rupert to be able to act, because Rupert just f!&#ing obliterates it. The form explodes into shadow and dissipates. The scribblings on the wall slowly fade and disappear after the creature is defeated.
Inspecting the hanged body, you recognize it as Henric Boroi. From what Lefdam knows of allips, you surmise that being here in the mirror drove him mad, and he returned as an allip when he took his own life. His ramblings suggest that his brother's betrayal was a source of his insanity.
On the body, you find:
- Noble's outfit worth 200gp
- Ring of sustenance
An ornate wardrobe against the wall contains:
- +1 longsword
- 2 potions of protection from evil
- an intricate belt of linked gold rings worth 1000gp
With an irritated sigh, Nightshade moves up to the south door, beckoning Speck over to check it for traps, and listens carefully.
Speck glares at Nightshade and whispers something about Rogan being far more cordial when asking for assistance and then checks the door.
Unevenly upholstered furniture fills this large common area, chairs and sofas circled around asymmetrical tables. Doors on both sides of the room lead off into tiny bedchambers. There are six kayal here, lounging about with the same malaise and ennui as the kayal you met downstairs. The others look at you and the male kayal closest to you says, "Oh. Hello. Who are you?" He looks at one of the women and motions with his head; she leaves through the last door on the western wall.
"Well hello, I am Sir Speck El-Boddom and these are my companions Rupert, Lefdam and Rog ... um Crimson Nightshade. Who are all of you fine folks?" As speck is talking he takes in the room to see if he can see anything of interest or sense any danger.
+2 for traps
Despite having the same basic melancholy as the group of kayal downstairs, this group is clearly awarded much more comfort and luxury than the others. Their rooms are small but well appointed. The furniture is old and somewhat patchwork, but well made. Their clothes are considerably newer and cleaner. As for danger in this area, this is obviously a well lived-in area of the structure; it would be unusual if its residents had to constantly avoid tripping traps.
The kayal regards Speck and the rest of the party as you enter through the doorway. As each of you come through the door, his expression becomes more and more bemused. "Well, you are a varied bunch, aren't you?" He chuckles to himself. "Anyway, my name is Boris." He proceeds to introduce the rest of the kayal, most of whom barely acknowledge you. "Apologies for this lot; we've been here a long time and some of us are handling the monotony better than others."
He pauses and considers for a moment. "You must understand how rare it is for newcomers to arrive here. And since nothing interesting ever happens here, you represent the most entertainment I've had in years. You simply must tell me the story of how you've come to this place."
Rupert notices the head nod and the kayal leaving the room. Alarm system, maybe? Why is this man so keen to keep us here?
"It's somewhat of a long story, and I'm afraid we're in a bit of a rush, Boris. Maybe we can come back and chat another time? For now, we're looking for Nicasor. Any idea where we might find him?"