"As long as those spiders didn't arrive here via one of the nastier planes? Shouldn't be a problem."
Aurealia hisses and puts her back to Croq's. "We got this!"
Cai'nan and Krodha move up through the house towards where the girls hear the sounds, hoping to be able to be of some use against the threat...
As Cai'nan and Krodha step into the room, a swarm of hundreds of spiders immediately attacks a certain baby T-Rex!
Meanwhile, Audrahni approaches Galatea for one of her alchemist fires. The Kailani scion happily hands the current one over. They both wince when they hear poor Krodha growl in pain.
Trapped behind her allies, Aurealia retreats down the hallway to make more room for people to maneuver.
Jaya carefully links her thumbs and spreads her palms wide an instant before a fan of flames courses over the spiders.
With Croquelle's song inspiring her, Kallie steps into the room after Jaya lights it up. She swings her torch at the swarm in a wide arc.
Croquelle--pumped up by her own singing--steps in and tries to smash as many bugs as she can.
.
I (player) assume the swarm is likely too small to damage...but Croq will need to learn the hard way...and hey, maybe I'm wrong. ;-)[/ooc]
Cai’nan and Krodha both attempt to smash as many of the arachnids as they can, but do not seem very successful.
Thanks to the strength of her spell, Jaya is able to roast a majority of the spiders. However, with some of them on Krodha, she isn't able to incinerate all of them. Seemingly angered by the flames, the remaining arachnids quickly crawl off the T-Rex and scramble in the direction of the fire.
The closest source just happening to be Kallie and her torch...
(Meanwhile, Croq quickly learns that Drumstick isn't the best weapon to use against dozens of little spiders!)
Galatea quickly hands her second alchemist's fire to Aurealia. Meanwhile, Audrahni quickly scurries into the room. Not wanting to hit any of her allies, she tosses the explosive against the wall...
Some of the splash damage manages to cook another batch of spiders; speaking of which, they appear about ready to break...
Aurealia steps into the room, and readies to throw the alchemist fire that Galatea gave her as soon as Kallie is clear.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Kallie shrieks as the spiders swarm her despite the torch in her hand. Her tail works overtime, swatting and brushing off the spiders crawling up her legs and her flank.
"Gaah! This makes no sense! Why would they move toward a negative stimulus!"
Seeing Aurealia with a flask in hand, Kallie steps out of the center of the swarm.
Thanks to her excellent aim, Aurealia's attack obliterates most of the remaining spiders; despite the alchemist's fire itself being something of a dud, there so few arachnids left that explosion finally makes the few survivors break and retreat into the woodwork.
"G-Good question. Maybe these weren't ordinary spiders?" Audrahni offers in response to Kallie's question. "I've lived over a century, and I've never heard of spiders swarming like ants. Those cockroaches were the size of Biscuit, so who knows what we'll find in here..."
Before she can continue, Audrahni is distracted by Galatea rushing up to Kallie. The half-elf becomes visibly distressed upon seeing the centauress' numerous spider bites.
"Kallie, do I have your permission to heal you?" Kallie's aunt asks her niece tentatively.
Right now, the dinning room appears to be calm, so you all likely have a chance to explore the area.
Cai’nan shakes his head, gingerly checking to both Kallie and Krodha’s bites. ”This place isn’t right. I hope the ghost isn’t mad over all the fire...” he says as he looks around nervously.
Krodha appears to be mildly agitated at worst by his injuries; the spider bites would almost certainly heal overnight.
Kallie's injuries are more severe. Without magical healing, it will take a few days for her to fully recover.
Going by the eerie silence, if Sir Roderic is angry about all the fire, he hasn't decided to let you know! The damage itself is oddly minimal. The damp air must have prevented the flames from catching the infrastructure ablaze.
Cai’nan says ”I...I have an elixir that could help as well. I should warn you, though, it’s a bit bitter. Made with juice from the komingu berry found deep in the Mwangi...” as he retrieved a small vial of red liquid off of his belt, but he waits to see if Kallie would prefer that or healing from Galatea...and whatever awkward thing is going on there...
Kallie keeps the torch in her hand held up while she swats at the remaining spiders clinging to her. "Ouch! These bites are going to start itching any--" her muttering is interrupted by Galatea asking if it's all right for her to heal her. Then Cai'nan offers a potion as well.
She glances back and forth between them as she tries to decide. "Um, maybe I'll take the spell? Since the potion can be saved more easily? Or, I can just be smarter next time," she offers with a weak smile.
It takes a couple of castings, but Galatea is able to fully heal her niece's spider bites.
"Looks like you and Krodha also resisted any venom," the Kailani scion notes with relief.
For the moment, there appears to be nothing else dangerous in the dining room. In the center is a large table of masterwork quality, which appears to have fared much better than everything else in the house. In the corner is a fallen cabinet; at one time, it too was almost certainly a fine piece of furniture, but it has noticeably rotted and decay...
Aurealia searches around for any hidden clues or treasure.
Croqelle pounds a few of the charred bugs in frustration while her sister looks around.
"Find anything, Big-O?"
"That was a quite atypical response from those spiders... Further evidence I supposed, if any were needed, of an element of the supernatural."
Her fingers flick as she performs a simple divination. "Likely whatever we're investigating won't have a sufficiently simple aura for this to pick up on, but no sense in not making the attempt."
"I know, right??" Kallie agrees with Jaya.
She tries to stop Gali from casting her second spell. "I'll be fine with that, thanks. Better save it for someone else who may need it more, okay? We haven't gone upstairs yet."
Kallie helps everyone look around for anything else hidden or secreted away.
Galatea nods at Kallie's request and complies with her niece's wishes.
Those searching the room eventually zero in on the cabinet as the only thing of note. After inspecting inside, they discover several shattered dishes, all made from porcelain or earthenware. However, numerous metal pieces survived the tipping over of the cabinet, which seems to have ironically also protected them from the ravages of time.
The first piece is a fine serving set made of silver, which Galatea estimates to be 70 gp. The second is a lovely decanter also crafted from the same metal, which Gali believes to be worth 35 gp. Finally, there is a collection of six copper mugs that Galatea values at 15 gp collectively.
If asked, Gali blushes and explains, "There are a number of merchants in the family, so I've learned how to estimate the value of trade goods over the years."
It would appear that there is nothing else of interest in the dinner room.
Scratching Biscuit behind the ear, Croq declares, "A silver platter's cool and all, but let's keep moving. The sooner we find what we're looking for, the sooner we're away from giant bugs and rotting floorboards and ghosts."
Croq leads the way into the next chamber, peering left and right.
...Why is knowing that something to blush about? Commonplace useful knowledge isn't... You don't have something against merchants and trade, do you?"
Cai’nan walks to the next doorway, peering warily around it as the group searches this room. ”Perhaps we can talk about all that after we are out of the haunted house?”
Scratching the back of her head, Galatea blushes again and explains further, "Of course not! It's just... I sometimes rattle off my estimates without really thinking, and it's gotten me odd looks before."
With her sister right behind her, Croq carefully steps into what appears to be the back hall. To her left is another set of creaky stairs. Beneath them is a door that has been covered with wooden boards... which seem far less decayed than the rest of Roderic's Wreck. There is no doorknob, and the lock seems to have been jammed by a metal spike.
"Well that's not at all suspicious..." Aurealia says, focusing her formidable senses on the spiked door, looking for any signs of traps.
Going by the way Aurealia's nose twitches, nothing appears to have passed by the doorway in quite some time. Meanwhile, Audrahni tentatively follows her friend into the back hall. Biscuit is at her heels.
Her long, pointy ears suddenly twitch, and Biscuit suddenly perks up.
"...I hear water churning behind the door," Audrahni says softly.
Not having the same combat training as Cheshire and Krodha, Biscuit starts whining in fear and backs up against Croq...
"Well...do we leave the barred door alone? Or do we see what someone went through so much trouble to block up?" Cai'nan asks softly.
Kallie unslings a heavy crossbow and starts cranking the winch to arm it. "I didn't bother when I was worried we might encounter a ghost," she explains, "but you don't board up an entrance to stop the incorporeal." She places a bolt in the groove and sets the crossbow's stock against her shoulder.
"Of course we open it," Aurealia says, before removing her wands and casting a series of spells on herself.
Cai'nan sighs and shrugs, and begins setting to removing the barricades...
Jaya twitches her fingers, one hand resting near her spell-pouch, and nods her assent.
Immediately after Cai'nan pulls off the boards and forces open the door, a giant wave of water comes rushing out of the closet!
Tapping into her latent elven reflexes, Audrahni presses her slender self against the wall immediately and somehow avoids the torrent. Thanks to having the reflexes of a bat, Aurealia manages a similar feat. Being so far away from the rushing wall of water, Biscuit is able to scurry up part way up the stairs to avoid being caught, and Jaya manages to toss herself into the dinning room at the last second. Still being in there as well, Galatea and Cheshire avoid the whole affair entirely.
The same can't be said for Cai'nan and Krodha. The two are immediately swept away by the torrent! They promptly crash into Kallie and Croq. As the water dispurses, all four of them are sent flying into the back wall of the hallway!
Cai’nan crumpled into the wall alongside the others from the torrent of water. As he tries to stand himself up, he presses up with his hand against the nearest surface he finds. Accidentally, it just so happens to be Kallie’s bosom! He realizes it too late, and his hand rests there awkwardly for a few long moments as his face blushes. He jerks his hand away and brushes the wet hair from his eyes as he stammers ”I...I’m sorry...I didn’t...”
The blast of water was a complete surprise, and her four legs didn't help her keep her footing as she was pushed back down the hallway along with Cai'nan and the others.
She groans under the pile of bodies in top of her. Kallie concentrates on where the aches and pains are signaling to identify if anything was serious and with relief she realizes nothing was broken.
A hand on her left breast snaps her attention to Cai'nan who was awkwardly trying to push himself off her. She tries to keep the pain from showing up on her face while he stammers out an apology.
"S'Okay," she says forcing a smile. "Bad time for that. Later, then?"
Seeing Cai'nan's head on Kallie's bosom, Aurealia has a sudden realization. Those are real breasts!
"What the Calistria's pendulous milk bags?! How? How did you do it?" she demands, staring at Kallie in open shock. "I assumed you were disguising self, but those ţâţe are real!"
She puts her left fist on her hip, arm akimbo as she points at the centauress with her right hand, an incredulous look in her face. "You were flat and weird like me before. How do you look like a nymph now?"
Kallie sputters at Aurealia as she rises to her hooves. She folds her arms over her bosom, made even more pronounced by her wet and now nearly see-through clothing clinging tightly to her skin.
Her cheeks color at the sudden attention on her chest, but she glares defiantly at the skinchanger. "I-- it wasn't on purpose." She gives an uncomfortable glance at Galatea.
She takes in their soaked surroundings and the now-opened door. "Could we >ow< discuss this later, or do you have to know right now?"
Aurealia's already naturally squinty eyes narrow further in suspicion and probably jealousy. "Fine, keep your secret for now. I'll have it from you eventually though!"
"Hey look I found some nifty magic slippers!" a flustered Galatea suddenly exclaims in one breath.
For anyone with Detect Magic, she is indeed holding up a pair of magical slippers. Any careful inspection of the closet or the now drenched hallway reveal that there is nothing else of interest in the area. Once everyone is finished searching the closet, Galatea jams the door back in place and nails the boards back over it via her morningstar.
"...The more I think about it, the more I suspect that someone else got hit by that... trap in the past, so they boarded over the door," remarks Gali. "Is everyone okay?"
Once everyone is ready to go, Audrahni informs you that there are three areas left to explore on the first floor. Right next to you is the back deck; she sees no reason to explore there. Next, in the western part of the house, there would be the kitchen and the family room. Otherwise, you are also free to head upstairs...
Kallie throws up her hands. "I said I'll tell you!" She looks back down at her chest with a sigh. She turns slightly away and starts wringing the water out of her shirt.
"Can we quit focusing on my t!+s and focus on the door we just opened?"
"Thank you, Gali!"
She casts detect magic and studies the slippers.
"Can we quit focusing on my t@%# and focus on the door we just opened?"
Jaya rolls her eyes. "Yes. Please. There could hardly be something less important right now. And if you're really that curious Aurealia, I'd be happy to research some transmutations on that front. An elixir of sex shifting should handle it, and that's if there's not a cheaper way, if that sort of augmentation is really important to you."
"How was that water trap triggered anyways? Natural build up of pressure from some architectural quirk? Or was there some sort of spell trapping it?"
As she ponders she takes out a piece of chalk and writes "Water Trap" across the replaced boards in a few local languages.
"T-There's definitely something supernatural about it," speculates Audrahni. She points at the door frame and says, "The closet isn't airtight, and yet the floor was dry before we opened the door. Aurealia also didn't smell anything, which makes me think that no one... living has been in this area lately..."
Cai’nan gawks a moment at the wet, clinging attire on Kallie before quickly turning his head and back to the situation at hand. He winces as he steps away from the bruised ribs on his left side, but says ”Well...let’s leave it be and check the other two rooms done here before...going upstairs...” he says as he looks anxiously at the stairwell.
He then whistles for Krodha to follow and leads the way onward.
Jaya gave Cai'nan a withering, but brief, glare for his lack of focus. "If this is some sort of haunt, it would be worth figuring out what might remove it. Or at least how to avoid triggering it..."
Aurealia blushes and doesn't answer Jaya. Pretending that Kallie's body had never been brought up, she moves on. "A haunt, huh? Cool! I've read about them before, but I never thought I'd see one. This place is so spooky. Why didn't we ever come here before, sis?"
Cai’nan looks visibly wounded from Jaya’s rebuke. He holds up his hands and says ”Sorry...I just...I have very little to offer against...” he waves his hands in the air about him at the house, ”...this.”
He then turns away and watches for threats, but his shoulders visibly slump at being belittled so brashly.
"We all have different strengths, Cai'nan. I just don't want to feel like I need to put blinders on you to keep you focused."
"Since the water stems from supernatural causes, but doesn't appear to have an arcane signature to it, it stands to reason that it's an echo of the most powerful presence associated with this place, Sir Roderic himself. Likely a reflection of the tragic drowning of his family, more specifically. Laying this haunt to rest would likely require Sir Roderic passing on as well, but the warnings should suffice until then."