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When the giant yellow centipede tries to slither toward Gervase, the ranger reaches out with her long hammer and smashes the vermin to a pulp.
In the corners of the last two stalls, purplish, nearly pulsating goo covers the walls and floor. More demon’s bile, and the two giant fiendish centipedes have recently laid eggs within it.
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"As much as I hate to do it, I think we need to cleanse this nest of demonic evil. The creatures that will spawn here will not me natural creatures deserving of life."
Quinn hefts his cold iron spear and proceeds to try and clear the demonic bile and eggs which are infected.
"This is another evil that needs to be payed for by that vermlek."
After working on the bile and eggs, Quinn looks around the stables seeing if anything has been left behind.
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“I’ll give you a hand, Quinn.”
Gervase wipes the bug-gloop off her hammer on the weedy ground as best she can, before harnessing the weapon. Drawing her cold iron spear, she sets to work destroying demonbile beside the shifter.
When they’re done, she follows his lead looking for interesting items.
“I think Bellisir suggested clearing the outbuildings first. There’s one to go.”
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"I will help too," Soddy says as she brandishes her cold iron dagger and moves to help the rest of her companions in clearing out the stables. The leshy does try to keep an eye out for anything else that might be dangerous or of interest as she works.
"Yes, we should go check the other little building before we try to go inside the house!"
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Annea has come to realize that the simplest and most effective way to deal with the demonic filth is by using her ability to channel positive energy which she is more than willing to do.
"By the power of the Goddess, the Moon, Earth and Sky... cleanse this place of the evil that has tainted it and corrupted nature's creatures. "
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As the rest of the party begins clearing away the demon's bile with their cold iron weapons, Annea channels the divine energy of her goddess, destroying the entire fiendish mess.
Following Bellisir's earlier suggestion, the team sticks to that plan, continuing to clear the estate's outbuildings. You move east, then north toward the Sarini family's mausoleum. Your path takes you past the southern edge of the estate's wild, overgrown garden, which occupies the area northeast of the residence.
Hidden amid a copse of gnarled trees sits a large mausoleum of polished granite. Statues of weeping angels of green-tinged bronze flank the closed entrance. A tarnished silver doorplate on the black steel door reads, 'Sarini.'
(+3 in bright light)
Boom Sticks spots something alarming: The angel statues that flank the tomb’s entrance are actually cleverly disguised traps. Taking a closer look, the leshy realizes that were someone to try to open the door to the mausoleum, the statues’ wings would unfurl, slicing anyone standing within their reach.
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"Oh, look - so many poisonous plants there in the garden," Soddy remarks as the group's path takes them past the estate's overgrown garden. "I wonder if that was on purpose? At any rate one could make some money by harvesting and selling some of the things I see there. Maybe we can stop by on our way back out later."
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“You’re gonna find this hard to believe, but I’ve got a crazy idea for dealing with the trap.”
Gervase purses her lips and draws her hammer as she listens to Boom Sticks’ explanation.
“What say we simulate messing with the door by throwing rocks at it until the angel wings deploy. Then we sunder the wings so they can’t hurt us if the trap resets.”
“Whatcha think? Anyone got another idea?”
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Assuming that no one has any better ideas for springing the trapped angels, Soddy decides to start with Gervase's suggestion because it's the easiest. She reaches down and grabs up a few palm-sized stones and begins chucking them at the doors.
*CLACK*
*WHUMP*
*THOKK*
"This is noisy...but we already made lots of noise earlier so now it doesn't matter," the leshy cheerfully remarks.
*WHACK*
"This is also very fun! Now I see why fleshies like to throw rocks at things. Once, Poffis and I met this man that lived out in the woods near a small village. He spoke in rhyme and liked to throw rocks but I don't think the people in the village appreciated it much," Soddy continues to ramble as she throws more rocks.
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"Based upon all the poisonous plants here, I'm guessing that the people who lived here deserved their dark fate."
Seeing the leshy engaged in rock throwing, Quinn decides to join him. After a bit of rock throwing, he gets impatient and takes his spear out and tries to jam the wings while standing as far away as he can.
"Grrr, this is taking F O R E V E R...Why can't we just head inside already?
After a bit of this, Quinn examines the door, does it open inwards or outwards? He really seems to be getting impatient.
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Bellisir's mouth twitches just a little as he watches Soddy and Quinn throw rocks at the door. The monk is not being secretive and anyone looking at him gets the feeling that he's amused by the casting of stones at the door.
"A good effort to avoid the trap," he says to both of them in his standard demeanor. "But Boom Sticks did say that opening the door would cause the trap to spring. Perhaps tying a rope to the door handle and pulling the rope would activate the trap."
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The barrage of sticks and stones fail to trigger the trap. The spear jammed amid one of the statues' wings might prevent it from deploying when the trap is triggered.
Having settled on using a rope and grappling hook to try to trigger the trap by opening the doors from a safe distance, the team rummages through its rucksacks to see if anyone brought a grappling hook or other useful implement...
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"Who's got a grapply-thingy?"
"ME!"
Gervase pulls the three-pronged item of the hour out her back, already attached to 50 feet of rope.
She hands the sling-rig to Soddy and pats her shoulder encouragingly. "Do your worst, girlfriend."
"Assuming Annea doesn't want to risk a heavenly haircut of course."
"Grrr, this is taking F O R E V E R..."
"Who cuts your hair, Quinn?"
The ranger attempts to distract the Teen Terror, allowing him some time to cool down. "The style really suits you."
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Annea offers to sacrifice a dreadlock or two, but then Gervase pulls a grappling hook from the bottom of her pack.
Soddy Daisy accepts the metal implement from the ranger and makes short work of affixing the grappling hook and rope to the door handles.
Stepping back a safe distance, she tugs on the rope. With a screeching metal *clang*, the statues' wings unfurl, severing the rope.
The leshy steps forward to examine the door. It's locked.
Without a key, you'd have to pick the lock or break it with brute force.
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“Welp, looks like I’m buying some new rope on payday.”
Maybe I can afford spider-silk this time?
"This is noisy...but we already made lots of noise earlier so now it doesn't matter"
Hearing this as permission to go loud, Gervase stands in the bushes and reaches out to the problem door with her hammer. “Watch out for undead.”
"Nearly!"
"And again!"
"Bah, one more try!"
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Humming to herself, Gervase grips her hammer and gets busy.
"I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me.
With the last booming thud of her hammer, the mangled doors give way, crashing to the ground, the clamor echoing over the estate.
Inside the mausoleum, two stone coffins stand on a dais, and several more coffins lie on shelves built into the walls. The coffins on the dais were made for the baron and baroness, but it looks like their bodies were never laid to rest, and the coffins remain empty.
One of the other coffins contains the bones of an adolescent boy. The corpse is still clutching an old journal, whose dedication reads 'to Luca.' Moisture has rendered the journal nearly illegible. It would take hours to carefully read it without destroying the journal in the process
The skeleton holding the book has a prominent chin, a feature that remains obvious even in his skeletal form.
Luca’s coffin also contains a palm-sized golden disk with a winged eye carved onto it.
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Bellisir steps into the tomb and surveys the area. His eyes widen, but not in terror. With an amazed look on his face, he seems transfixed by the golden symbol on the coffin of Luca.
"Uncle Fu told me of people who'd worshiped the Last Azlanti, but this is the first time I've seen anyone have Aroden's holy symbol displayed to show their faith in him," he says, his normal demeanor sounding oddly awestruck.
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"While some of you might want to take these items from the boy's coffin, I would have to suggest that we don't. Why do the living need to disturb the sleep of the dead? Maybe the book... I don't know... but all of the ancient tales of the Varisani seem to have tragic ends for those who loot the graves of the restful dead."
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"So this grave is very old, right?" Soddy asks of Bellisir, tugging at his sleeve. "I think I remember something from training about the fleshy god Aroden but he died years ago, right? I didn't know that gods could die but then again there's a lot that I don't know."
The leshy peers curiously into the coffin at the disk and then shrugs. "This little sprout isn't using the disk anymore but I know fleshies are very particular about things that get buried with their husks. If it seems better to leave it here then that's okay, but we should probably take the journal, at least for a little while. Maybe once we read it we can put it back."
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“I believe Mayor Trinelli wants the Sarini’s records of their victims and diabolical rituals, which are implied to be somewhere on the grounds.”
“The main clue to the location of the records is the extra building material that was paid for ‘off the books’ to hide the fact that it was used.”
Gervase scratches her head. “I guess it’s possible there’s a secret passage to a dungeon located in this crypt, but I don’t really want to disturb the dead without exhausting other possibilities in the mansion-proper.”
“Can anyone read the journal? I agree with Annea and Soddy that’s the only thing we should borrow or examine.”
“Once that’s done, maybe it’s time to move onto the main house?”
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Quinn perks up when he hears Gervase talk about secret passages. As the other pathfinders are busy looking at the journal Quinn decides to give the crypt a good search hoping to find a secret door.
"Ah, ha. I knew it....Oh, well I tried."
With the search over, Quinn mentions the gazebo to the north of us and points out the doors on the side of the house near the gazebo.
"Well, we almost checked the entire outside of the house, if we can glance in that gazebo then we can then head inside."
I wonder what fiendish creatures await us inside, hopefully nothing...
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Annea counsels against looting the holy symbol of the dead god, Aroden.
But everyone seems to agree that it would be wise to take the journal clutched in the hands of the skeletal youth with the prominent jawline.
Gervase suggests moving on, searching the manor.
Quinn suggests the team first check out the gazebo in the garden in the northeast section of the estate's grounds.
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The wild garden is flush with colors and full of scents both sharp and sweet. A gazebo topped with a weather vane sits in the northeast corner of the garden.
The Sarini family must have cultivated many different kinds of poisonous plants in the garden, including hemlock, poison oak, belladonna, and even stranger growths.
(+3 in bright light)
Entering the garden, you spot a bloated giant frog lying in ambush amid the bushes.
Map & Images
Soddy Daisy
Annea
Bellisir
Quinn
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Giant Frog
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Boom Sticks
Tyndyn
Gervase
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"Oooh, a lot of these plants don't normally grow in this part of the world," Soddy points out as the group enters the garden and heads toward the gazebo. "I think someone brought them here from other places, like Sargava. They don't seem to be as potent as they probably used to be but I would still be careful, okay?"
Then, she spots something hiding in the tall grass and bushes.
"Watch out! It's a big fiendish frog!" Soddy warns as she flings a seedpod at it.
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Soddy Daisy lobs a seedpod at the giant frog, and it leaves an ugly shiner near one blinking eye, but it doesn't seemed bothered by the concussive burst of noise.
Map & Images
Soddy Daisy
Annea
Bellisir
Quinn
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Giant Frog
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Boom Sticks
Tyndyn
Gervase
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WIth Soddy Daisy's caution about the poisonous nature of the exotic plants, Quinn, Anne and Bellisir avoid entering the overgrown vegetation.
Quinn moves closer to the giant frog, illuminating its hiding place among the bushes. Annea and Bellisir stay put, the witch casting a defensive spell and the monk adopting a defensive stance.
With a bellowing croak, the big amphibian opens its gaping maw and shoots out its long tongue at Boom Sticks. The leshy reels away from the attack before the frog can close its grasp.
Map & Images
Soddy Daisy
Annea
Bellisir
Quinn
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Giant Frog
---
Boom Sticks
Tyndyn
Gervase
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Like everyone else, Gervase and Boom Sticks avoid entering the overgrown vegetation of the garden. Gervase moves forward, closer to the giant frog, but Boom Stick stays put, swinging the lucerne hammer at the frog, but finding its path obstructed by a combination of vines and branches.
Map & Images
Soddy Daisy
Annea & Tyndyn
Bellisir
Quinn
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Giant Frog
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Boom Sticks
Gervase
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As Soddy, Quinn, Gervase and Boom Sticks keep the giant frog occupied, Bellisir glides around to the left of the frog, passing in front of Gervase. He moves along the path to where he can see the frog in the bushes.
The monk quickly scans the foilage for an opening. He finds a spot where he can see the wet amphibious skin through the cover of leaves. Leaning forward, his arm pistons out into an open palm strike through the bush.