"Oh, I'm stupid and foolish and unworthy of being called your brother." he says, sighing what would be overdramatically for a human, but just ordinary dramatics for a gnome. "I didn't make up any alchemist's fire this morning."
Sazen continues with Morsun, approaching the house.
Quisillo tilts his head sideways, looking at Niven, and smiles.
That's silly Niv'. The fact that you sometimes manage to be foolish is exactly why I know that you are my brother. And to be fair, if we are coming for ghosts, why bring the fire bombs?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Emri quickly shakes the rest of the centipedes off of her, the snoops around the centipede nest and weird tree to see if there's anything notable laying around.
With a shrug, she follows the others to the house.
"Well, I was prepared enough to bring ghost bombs." he says, always buoyed by Quis. He ruffles his hair and moves up to the front line, ready to investigate the house.
Merlin looks up at Niven.
Let us hope you have enough.
The Armiger seems excited.
"Well, I've got four today. After that, it's the old fashioned way." he say, patting the small jars at his belt.
As the you approach, dozens of whippoorwills perched along the eaves of the run-down manor perk up and begin to cry out in their eerie song.
There are hundreds of the birds in all on the building’s roof and in the surrounding trees, and as you draw closer the whippoorwills take to the air, flying in a spiral in the sky above. The birds continue to fly in this spiral pattern.
With his uhm experience Morson can tell the windows on the ground floor he checks around the front are latched from the inside and look like they've been that way for many years, even if unlatched he suspects they'd require a little brute force to open.
A double door made of dark oak stands in the middle of the
manor’s facade, carved with a series of overlapping circles
with a stylized “X” at their center.
Niven will step onto the porch, weapon ready to deal with threats. If somebody is going to open the door, he'll be at their shoulder to cover them.
"If we're done being sad, we probably can't open any of the windows without making a lot of noise. We could try around back, I suppose, but let's see about the front door."
Morsun inspects the door and the area in front of it for any hazards. If he doesn't find any, he'll try to open the door.
If it's locked, he'll try and pick the lock.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Sazen waits to see if Morsun succeeds at picking the lock.
If he does not, she tries her hand.
Quisillo catches up with the group as they work on the latch, fiddle still in hand. As the B&E specialists do their job, he gives the symbols on the door a curious look.
Emri waits a few steps back from Morsun and Sazen, looking at the house with curiosity.
Merlin approaches the front porch. The knight halts just before the front door. He stands there (shield ready and sword in hand) peering to either side of the manor.
Perhaps, we should explore the grounds prior to the manor proper?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The door is not locked, a little stiff but Morson gets it open... the spiraling whippoorwills all begin falling from the sky at the same time, raining down in sudden, awful silence save for the momentary patter of hundreds of warm corpses hitting the ground.
Motes of dust drift through the air of this large entrance hall. To the north, a pair of wide staircases ascend to a balcony that encircles the room above. An old, musty carpet on the otherwise-bare wood floor partially leads the way to a double door between the stairs. Four other doors provide exits to either side, while the southwestern and southeastern walls have tall cabinets and coat racks set against them. On the upper floor, the railed ten-foot-wide balcony circles this room, leaving the central area open to the second floor’s ceiling twenty feet above.
Between the sounds of the birds falling to the ground you can all hear the ticking of a grandfather clock.
A cabinet’s upper slats opens to reveal a large, rheumy eye the size of a dinner plate. The eye glares angrily at you as you stand in the doorway. A longer drawer near the ground turns into a mouth to rasp out, “My house! You trespass! Begone!”
Quisillo blinks uncertainly as the furniture comes to life; then, despite the threatening tone of the cabinet, he smiles brightly at this novel experience.
Wow... You. Are. Amazing.
Coming to terms with the furniture's orders, however, Quisillo falls down a little bit from his high spirits.
Hmm, sorry. Rufus didn't mention that you would be living here. There might be a misunderstanding, I guess? We were sent here by the man who owns this out, to check out its current state. We didn't mean to barge in on you. I'm sure that Rufus would love to talk with you, when he makes his way here, and figure out how you can all live here together? We were just hoping to look around. Maybe you can tell us about the house! That'd be grand!
Merlin enters the Entrance Hall with shield raised. The Magus notes the surrounding environment with a quick glance.
As the cabinet begins eyeing them and speaking, the Armiger smiles.
Armiger Merlin Brokencrown asking your name please. For the records you see.
Once inside, Morsun is in the process of stowing his tools when the furniture starts to talk. He quickly whips out his blades, far less enthusiastic at this turn of events than his allies are. While the others talk to the cabinet, the dwarf scans the other objects in the area for any threats or surprises.
Niven keeps quiet. He doesn't mind talking, but he doesn't think it's a good idea for everybody to speak at once. His weapon is inhand, but in a guard position.
Sazen likewise says nothing, observing and seeing if she can learn anything, and waiting for a possible answer.
(ha.)
"No! NO! NO! I do not need to know your name. Your name is food! If you do not leave I will gobble you up... you look delicious. If you come inside or keep bothering me I will feast on you food!" A rather slimey looking tongue runs along it's sharp teeth, it's eye does have a rather hungry look about it.
Sazen considers the strange furniture... possessed by a outsider... or a ghost or maybe manipulated by fae... it's a bit hard to tell... or maybe a wizard did it?
Morsun doesn't see any other threats.
Merlin doesn't recognize it as a common variety of haunting or spirit but these sorts of locations do attract other entities.
Okay, Creepy Cabinet. Not sure why you are just talking rather than eating then if you aren't willing to listen. We can fight you if you want, but it is our job to come in here and figure out what is up. You can help us or fight us, but we have to come in. It's the job.
"EAT!" The creature roars triumphantly in answer to the question proposal. It's fangs almost seem to grow larger as it prepares to strike. Quisillo seems too caught up in the wonder for a heartbeat while the others are more ready to defend themselves.
Sazen
Niven
Morson
Emri
Merlin
Cabinet AC20
Quisillo
Sazen moves in and takes a shot at the carnivorous cabinet.
Merlin watches with a bit of a sigh as the carnivorous cabinet begins to mouth off and advance on their position.
Anyone else have Beauty and the Beast ringing in their heads?
The Magus begins to cast a spell on his longsword, while smiling at the carnivorous cabinet!
The Magus then begins a sword kata.
Niven will sigh, "The furniture these days has no respect for tradition.""
He will step in and take a shot at the violent furniture. After that, he'll prepare his weapon for melee.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Morsun glares at his teammates, seeing everyone hanging back from toothy cabinet, but knowing he can't do the same. He cautiously advances towards it and he strikes when he's in range.
Emir's eyes widen as a flock of birds plummet to the ground and die. ".......What.... the.... heck...?"
Faced with carnivorous furniture, Emri leaps into action, dashing into the building and launching a series of punches and kicks at the cruel cabinet!
...Poorly!
Sazen moves in and takes a shot at the carnivorous cabinet.
Niven will sigh, "The furniture these days has no respect for tradition.""
He will step in and take a shot at the violent furniture. After that, he'll prepare his weapon for melee.
Morsun glares at his teammates, seeing everyone hanging back from toothy cabinet, but knowing he can't do the same. He cautiously advances towards it and he strikes when he's in range.
Faced with carnivorous furniture, Emri leaps into action, dashing into the building and launching a series of punches and kicks at the cruel cabinet!
Merlin watches with a bit of a sigh as the carnivorous cabinet begins to mouth off and advance on their position.
Anyone else have Beauty and the Beast ringing in their heads?
The Magus begins to cast a spell on his longsword, while smiling at the carnivorous cabinet!
The Magus then begins a sword kata.
The infernal furniture continues it's assault lashing out at Emri and Morson. "This is my house, I will eat you and then you will be dead and no one will say this is not my house!"
Adhesive The mimic is coated in an adhesive slime. Any creature that hits the mimic, is hit by the mimic, or otherwise touches the mimic must succeed at a DC 23 Reflex save or become grabbed (Escape DC 23). A weapon that hits the mimic is stuck to the mimic and can be removed with a successful DC 23 Athletics check (made as a single action). A mimic can have any number of objects or creatures stuck to it at a time. The mimic can release a stuck creature or object by using a single action, and the adhesive dissolves 1 minute after the mimic dies, releasing all stuck objects and creatures.
Sazen
Niven
Morson
Emri
Merlin
Cabinet AC20 HP-35
Quisillo
Merlin ◆Strides into melee with the carnivorous cabinet. He attempts to slice and dice as many pieces of wood as he can! The Magus cast a spell into his longsword before bringing it down!
This House needs an enema!
"Ack!" Emri shrieks in surprise as the cabinet's side almost sticks to her. "Ew! Get off me!"
She dashes back, out of the cabinet's reach, pulls out her sling, and loads it. It takes her a while—she can't remember the last time she had to resort to using her old, hand-me-down sling.
Niven steps up to hammer at it.
At feeling the stickiness he tries pulling his weapon away. ... and tries again...
Quisillo, without a good view of the furniture, ◆Strides into the room, then begins to sing a woodcutting jig learned in a farming village years ago (◆Inspire Courage). He then carefully observes the furniture. (◆Recall Knowledge)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
◆◆ Sazen moves to a better position on the stairs so she doesn't have to shoot through her friends, then takes another shot at the covetous, carnivorous cabinet.
(inspire)
Missing completely.
◆ Disappointed in that crappy shot, she tries one more.
(inspire)
Morsun emits a sharp yell in revulsion and pain when the mimic's elongated tongue wraps around him and grabs him. He moves to stab at the appendage, but he finds that his blades are stuck to their target.
◆
◆
Feeling that they are stuck fast, the dwarf releases them and tries to free himself.
◆
His sudden change in tactic allows him to quickly slip out of the encircling appendage.
"This f*+*ing thing stole my blades!" he announces to anyone who cares.
Sazen moves to a better position on the stairs so she doesn't have to shoot through her friends, then takes another shot at the covetous, carnivorous cabinet. Missing completely.
Disappointed in that crappy shot, she tries one more.
Niven steps up to hammer at it. At feeling the stickiness he tries pulling his weapon away.
Morsun emits a sharp yell in revulsion and pain when the mimic's elongated tongue wraps around him and grabs him. He moves to stab at the appendage, but he finds that his blades are stuck to their target.
Feeling that they are stuck fast, the dwarf releases them and tries to free himself.
His sudden change in tactic allows him to quickly slip out of the encircling appendage.
"This f+&*ing thing stole my blades!" he announces to anyone who cares.
"Ack!" Emri shrieks in surprise as the cabinet's side almost sticks to her. "Ew! Get off me!"
She dashes back, out of the cabinet's reach, pulls out her sling, and loads it. It takes her a while—she can't remember the last time she had to resort to using her old, hand-me-down sling.
Merlin strides into melee with the carnivorous cabinet. He attempts to slice and dice as many pieces of wood as he can! The Magus cast a spell into his longsword before bringing it down!
Casting Telekinetic Projectile
This House needs an enema!
The creature goes limp it's form turning into a misshapen grey blob with eyes and teeth at random points... it's still quite sticky but you are eventually able to retrieve your weapons.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Emri eyes the blobby thing suspiciously for a long while, then shrugs. "Weird. I wonder what else is in here."
She returns to the centre of the room and looks up, curious if she can see a balcony landing, or second floor hallway at the top of the stairs.
When she's done gawking, she explores the main room they're in, peeking in drawers, looking behind furniture, and testing loose boards for hidden compartments.
When everyone's ready, she asks, "Which way first? I'm feeling the doors on the right, myself. Just feels right, you know?"
Sazen smirks at the wordplay.
Right. Sounds good to me.
She follows Emri with her bow ready, in case they run into any more carnivorous furniture.
Merlin smiles.
Carnivorous cabinet is marked off the list of things that may be hazardous.
The Magus joins Sazen and Emri.
Getting close to the dead mimic, Quisillo tilts his head, looking at the corpse.
What a waste. I wonder how it came to be here. Do they just wander around until they find an empty house to call their own? Or did someone bring it here?
Quisillo then follows Emri around the room, opening his First World's connection to the arcane, feeling any source of magical energy. It does however mostly look as if he is wandering around aimlessly, eyes unfocused, while Emri is doing all the work.
Emri sneaks a little ways up the stairs to see they lead to a large ballroom has a wide, open floor of dust-caked woodwork. A pair of grand brick fireplaces stand to the west and east; low stone benches fitted with rotting cushions flank either side of each fireplace. Several dozen
antlers from deer and elk adorn the walls around and over the fireplaces. To the north, three long risers lead up to a stage with two large chairs placed on it. A flight of stairs leads upward to either side of the chairs, and a ratty tapestry of red and black—the colors of House Thrune— hang behind it.
Emri notices while some of the rooms contents are tattered two black and red oversized snake skeletons look suspiciously well preserved... magic items or perhaps undead guardians? They have not reacted to her peering up the stairs.
Under detect magic both of these odd painted skeletal things register as magical. Unless extremely newly created by magic undead would not register
Constructed from bones harvested from serpents and humans, a necrophidius is animated by occult magic, not unlife. Each necrophidius is built from the skeleton of a large snake, but its skull has been replaced by that of a humanoid creature. Some death cults or particularly cruel crafters seek out the skulls of specific individuals against whom they bear grudges to provide the head for their necrophidius. The final step of the construction is the alteration of the teeth and jaws to give the creature a more serpentine visage, complete with fangs.
If a necrophidius's creator dies, the construct follows the last series of commands it was given. If it cannot do so, the necrophidius aimlessly wanders the area near where it last served its creator and attacks any creatures it encounters.
Quisillo ponders the, they are intelligent enough to realize an old manor like this will lure in meals for them and provide a ready excuse for why the people go missing. Likely it felt this was a good hunting ground but might not have been as confident with such a large group as yours.
Peering down the first door to the right reveals a corridor with three doors lining it and a window at it's end.
Emri points beckons for Quisillo and points out the suspicious skeletons. She waggles her eyebrows at him, apparently expecting him to be fluent in eyebrow waggle.
After she does, she scampers back downstairs and over to the door on the right, ready to move on. Opening it, she heads over to the first door and beckons Morsun over. Best to let the expert check for traps before she waltzes right in. You never know with rich people. Or ghosts, she supposed.
Grousing about disgusting aberrations, Morsun retrieves his blades from the gooey mess left behind. Like the others, he also looks around, knowing that he may look for things the others haven't. He is surprised by the dust lying over the large ballroom, considering that the house is obviously not uninhabited, so he takes a moment to see if he notices any footprints or other prints that might have disturbed the dust.
He finally catches up to Emri and starts to look over the doors she intends to go through.
Quisillo looks in confusion at Emri, then the skeletons, then Emri. Until he finally senses the magical nature of the skeletal snakes.
Ooh... right... cool stuff!
Quisillo contemplates these constructs and, as their true nature dawns upon him, heads towards the rest of the group.
Hum... you know... there is dark magic here. Those snakes... aren't really snake. Someone made them out of people.
Quisillo shudders slightly at the thought, though his curiosity nonetheless pushes him to give the necrophidius another considering look.
I'm also... not sure they are inactive, you know? These are twisted constructs that cannot disobey whatever orders they were last given. Which, considering the type of magic we are dealing with, probably weren't to welcome us warmly.
Accompanying both Quisillo and Emri, the Armiger smiles at Emri's descriptive shenanigans.
The Magus takes a look at the snakes.
Are we certain that they aren't hippocampus?
Merlin decides that whatever they represent, he is certain they are harmless.
Nah, I think Quisillo is correct, and we should probably beat them to powder, just to be sure.
She steps forward to do just that, swinging her morningstar to start hammering away at the questionable bones.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As Sazen quickly springs into action, Quisillo looks in bewilderment.
That's not what I...
He then remembers his ill-advised attempt to communicate with the tree, and the mimic's dubious welcome.
Sigh.
Right. Yes. That's probably safer.
Morsun checks the door for traps finding none just hearing a faintly musty smell. The landing above doesn't seem to have any tracks but in the area below he notes more disturbance going to the western wing of the house...
In this musty-smelling room, full bookshelves line the western wall and either side of the door in the northern wall. Along with a bed to the south, a footlocker, a small round reading table, and a partially collapsed wooden chair also furnish the chamber.
Before Sazen gets within striking distance the snakes begin to animate.
Emri
Sazen
Snake Things
Morson
Quisillo
Niven
Merlin