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Yen Wu fights off the poison, even as he returns the strike. The rapier strikes the snake right at one of its eyes. It bends disturbingly, almost to the point of snapping, but it holds and pierces right through the construct, destroying whatever magic is animating it.
The iron cobra is inlaid with silver patterns, and you figure its remains are valuable, and can be sold for 100 gp. On the table, other than the cobra, there is a signet ring (embossed with the Sarini's coat of arms) worth 25 gp and an assortment of jewelry worth 125 gp on the table.
A quick search of the room reveals that the eastern door is locked. Through the opened western door, you see what looks like the bathroom .
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While Yen Wu works on the locked door, the Pathfinders search the bedroom but find nothing else of note.
Yen Wu finds that the lock is quite tricky but eventually manages to pick it with great skill. As soon as he is about to step through, he notices the tip of the spike sticking out from the floor. A more careful examination reveals that the floorboard is designed such that any pressure will trigger a number of such spikes to burst through.
Through the open door, the Pathfinders make out that this was likely the study. The furniture in this irregularly shaped room are cluttered with scientific equipment, and the glassy eyes of taxidermy animal heads stare down from the walls. At the north end of the room, the stuffed body of a large, winged beast is mounted on a low platform.
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Pre-warned by the first trap, the Pathfinders enter the study carefully, and sure enough, GAB! notices a cunning scythe affixed via some mechanism hidden behind the northern pillar. Yen Wu again breaks out his tools and in no time, disables the mechanism.
After making sure there are no more hidden traps, the Pathfinders go doing what Pathfinders do best, looting the place. In a cupboard, you find an old map of the manor and surrounding grounds. It shows more details than the crude map that Nolaria passed you earlier. However, it indicates that there is a secret door in the southwest corner of the cellar. In addition, a musical note has been drawn onto the area depicting the ballroom .
You also find a chain shirt and a masterwork cold iron longsword in the cupboard.
On the table next to the southern column, you can find five vials which detect as magical. On the table next to the fireplace, you also find a magical monocle, as well as four vials of alchemist’s fire, and two sunrods.
The rest of the equipment in the room makes up a fully functional alchemist’s lab.
This is a potion of cure light wound.
This is a potion of endure elements.
This is a potion of endure elements.
This is a potion of a potion of enlarge person.
This is a potion of a potion of reduce person.
This Antiquarian Monocle is often used by those without spellcasting training to peruse mystical writings.
This lens, mounted in a round silver frame, fits snugly in the eye orbit of any Medium or Small user. Three times per day on command, the monocle allows the user to read magical inscriptions (including scrolls) as if affected by read magic.
Once per day, by speaking a second command word, the user can activate a 1st level spell from a scroll even if she doesn’t have the spell on her class list or meet the other requirements. Activating a scroll with the monocle is a full-round action (or the spell’s casting time, whichever is longer).
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After the others have so bravely risked life and limb for his safety, Rithon slips into the room and begins to investigate the table and its contents. He pours over each vial, spinning the liquids in it around the glass before turning his attention to the monocle.
"This one is meant for healing, and these two are to help endure elements. This one enlarges and this one shrinks as well, if anyone would have use for such parlor tricks" and he walks away from the table without so much as moving the potions.
Why can't I figure out this stupid monocle. It seems so simple yet...
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Try as he might, Rithon fails to decipher the magical aura emanating from the monocle. Finding nothing further of interest in the study, the Pathfinders return to the master bedroom, and enter the open door to the ...
Dozens of once-fashionable outfits hang in three large closets set against the north wall. Two red folding screens covered in dark stains partially hide a lavish bathtub of gilded porcelain.
Most of the clothes in the closets are smelly and moth-eaten. However, the closet in the middle seemed to have been treated with an alchemical substance that has kept pests away, and consequently, the contents of the closet are still in pristine condition, including four noble’s outfits worth 75 gp each, and a magical cloak!
Also, behind the clothes is a bundle wrapped in luxurious cloth and tied with a red silken sash, which upon unravelling reveals a cold iron morningstar and a cold iron dagger.
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The cloak is clearly valuable, being very well-made. The essence of its magic, however, eludes the party wizard.
Heading to the next door, Yen Wu checks the door very carefully and is satisfied it is not trapped. As he is about to listen in, a shrill voice calls out, "Are you the ones making the racket? You'll wake my baby."
Uncertain what to do for a moment, since whoever's in there already know's you're here, you enter, albeit very carefully.
This dormitory-style bedroom looks tidier than other rooms in the building. A hunched figure wearing a maid’s uniform is sitting on a small bed in the northwest corner of the room. You see no signs of this baby that she mentioned.
She cocks her head when you enter. "I don’t know you. Why are you here?" As she speaks, she nervously keeps snipping at the air with a pair of scissors.
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"Uh...baby? Look lady, er nukkefeen, you know this place was abandoned like forever ago, right? And now, something here seems to be causing all kinds of trouble back in town. I don't suppose you know anything about that?"
Krennel gets the team's attention, points to his eyes then shakes his while mouthing 'she's blind'.
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The nukkefeen cocks her head as she replies. "Can't be abandoned if I am here, can it? Trouble? Town? I have no idea what you are talking about!" As she speaks though, she is clearly getting more agitated, "looking" at your with more suspicion than before.
Something seems to occur to her, and she asks, "You better not have harmed my baby! Have you seen her? Is she safe!"
She cocks her head again as Krennel gestures to the party. "Any why does your mouth move but no sound comes out? And what's wrong with your ears?"
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She glares at Yen Wu, at first rather suspicious as you can see her start to raise her scissors, then as he speaks further, gradually lowering it down again. She seems to have been appeased somewhat, but still blurts out, "No! It's fine. I'll look for her myself."
She then seem to notice the pair of scissors in her semi-raised hand. She gestures at it, and asks, "My scissors are dull. Do you have anything sharper?"
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Jangafzaar's crossbow bolt makes contact, grazing across her arm, but the wound closes almost immediately . Yen Wu's cold iron blade however, face no resistance as it pierces through her flesh, a strike that causes her to shriek again this time in pain. Rel comes up from behind Yen Wu, but with him in the way, he finds it difficult to land the blow.
With her serious wounds, the nukkefeen takes a step back and throws open the window. But before she flees, she turns and glares at Yen Wu from her sightless eyes, and Yen Wu starts to feel his vision cloud over.
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The nukkefeen shakes in frustration as her enchantment fails. The frustration turns to terror as the half-orc comes barreling in, smashing in her shoulder with a swing of his mace. Before she can scream in pain, Yen Wu finishes her with a stab through her chest. She collapses onto the floor, looking eerily like a human-size doll.
The Pathfinders turn to search the room, but being what likely used to the servants' quarters, nothing of worth is found. Some faint brown stain, likely centuries old, seems suspiciously like blood but there is no way to tell by now.
As you turn to the leave the room, you can't help but wonder what secrets of the house the nukkefeen might have revealed.
The creaking sound of a rocking cradle echoes in the room. Dolls, wooden figurines, and clockwork toys lie abandoned on a table.
You draw cautiously towards the rocking cradle. Could this be the nukkefeen's "baby"? But as you draw near, what you see instead is a young centipede is squirming to escape from under the blanket, causing the cradle to rock. The creature is too tiny to be of any danger to the you.
On the table, there is a silver music box . The sheet music for the melody is carefully folded and placed within the box. On the back of the sheet music are the scrawled words: “play to access the secrets below.”
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"I think GAB! is trying to say something." Yen Wu said as he heard the piano keys getting pounded, like someone was using their fists to play it. "Unless someone knows how to play a piano, we might have to work a bit to play the tune. lets see if this works"
"May I?" he said asking for the sheet music before heading downstairs. Once downstairs, he smiled at GAB!. "Alright if I give it a shot?" Trying to remember the tunes that he danced to, Yen Wu tried his hand at playing the music.
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Indeed, the tiny centipede is coated with the all-too-familiar purple goo...
As the Pathfinders leave the room, Krennel hangs back a little but joins the rest of the team quite quickly, nonchalantly wiping clean his mace from the combat earlier.
The large windows of this bedroom offer a magnificent view of the hills to the northeast. It was likely used as a guest room. A careful search of the room reveals letters scratched into the floor near the bed. Looking under the bed, you see the words “help me” carved into the hardwood planks in a dark substance, but again, from how faded it is, it is likely centuries old.
The Pathfinders then follow the excited blob of glob to the piano. After letting GAB! massacre the piece of music for however long humanly possible, Yen Wu takes over the piano and plays the piece from the sheet music almost flawlessly. Almost immediately, a grinding sound is heard near the piano. You lift up the carpet that lays over the source of the sound, revealing an open trapdoor with a ladder that leads down to what appears to the be cellar.
Before proceeding, the Pathfinders also make a sweep of the ballroom, now without an arrow-firing mite to distract you. The floor, walls, pillars, and fireplaces of this majestic ballroom are all made of polished marble. On the north side of the room, a grand staircase with divided flights leads up to a balcony overlooking the ballroom floor. An angel of black marble is standing menacingly on a platform behind the middle landing of the staircase. A careful search reveals the same purplish goo on both of the room's support columns.