Frantino Kraddren, I lived in Magnimar for a number of years at the Qadiran embassy there. It wasn't my first choice for a post, but it's what I was assigned. Orders are orders. However, it has now led to opportunity for me, and I intend to seize it.
As it appears that everyone is in agreement that we will finish exploring the house, Nasir again draws his sword and points the way forward upstairs.
I can lead the way to the rooms I have encountered. Since you can talk to spirits, I will lead you to the sewing materials as that seemed most likely place that one resides in.
Nasir carefully walks toward the "sewing" room, shield up and sword ready.
Roscoe, not wanting to commune with another malevolent spirit when he already has one, decides not to get any closer to the closet, especially when the others reported there is nothing to discover inside.
"The spirits--they are restless when they want something. Hopefully, we can placate our good resident pirate. An get to his Secret Horde, too."
The door to the immediate west (down) is open already and the light of your torches shine inside well enough to illuminate the room. Ayita's careful review of the door and its environs show no suspicious devices.
Sagging shelves, one of which has partially pulled free from the wall, line the walls of this room, set with spools of thread, boxes of needles, moldy scraps of cloth, bolts of decaying fabric, and various types of shears. A round box of soiled yarn rests on a worktable along the north wall, and a dress form lays propped in the corner.
Frantino will go in and look around.
"Nasir, is this the room where you said things were moving around?"
Frantino will go in and look around.
[dice=Perception]1d20 + 10
"Nasir, is this the room where you said things were moving around?"
When Frantino enters he hears a quiet weeping and notices items in the room begin to vibrate.
My apologies, Ayita. I did notice your fine falcon, but I guess this house has me so unnerved that I forget myself.
Ter was then name, was it? How many competitions have you won with her? Falconry it an excellent sport. May I ask who Ter's breeder was? She looks like a fine specimen, and I would be interested in procuring one myself.
Nasir again hears the weeping coming from the "sewing room" as Frantino enters.
That weeping was what I heard when I looked into this room before. It is quite disconcerting. It sent shivers up my spine.
He addresses Roscoe and Frantino.
Perhaps you can placate it or cheer it up or something? I don't know how your spirit talking works.
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Ayita looks confused and a little worried... before she can figure out what to say, Ter cocks her head sideways at Nasir, then turns her head so she is fixing him with one eye, and speaks directly to Nasir.
No mate. With Ayita. Would like to meet nice male for play-flying though. Do you know nice male?
Ayita looks at Nasir and tries to figure out his reaction...
Ayita looks confused and a little worried... before she can figure out what to say, Ter cocks her head sideways at Nasir, then turns her head so she is fixing him with one eye, and speaks directly to Nasir.
No mate. With Ayita. Would like to meet nice male for play-flying though. Do you know nice male?
Ayita looks at Nasir and tries to figure out his reaction...
LOL!
Nasir nearly drops his sword as he's surprised by the falcon speaking to him. He takes all of his attention off what is happening in the room and looks at Ayita.
Your falcon can speak?!?!? This is a wondrous thing. Maybe a vizier might have one, but never someone such as you and me. If she is smart enough to speak, then I am excited to see her hunt! A bird with that kind of intelligence would win many competitions! You could be rich and every satrap would pay you more money than you could imagine to own such a creature.
Nasir recomposes himself and focuses on the "sewing room" as he remembers the task at hand is to not be killed by malevolent spirits.
We must talk more on this when we are done here, Ayala.
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Hatfield offers some experiential wisdom for Nasir: "Don't underestimate Ter. Oh, and don't feed her blackberry pastries, either."
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Hatfield offers some experiential wisdom for Nasir: "Don't underestimate Ter. Oh, and don't feed her blackberry pastries, either."
Ter's head swivels almost 180 degrees to look at Hatfield.
Pastry! Need pastry now!!!
Ayita encourages Ter to help against the danger in this house... Pastry tonight, Ter! Hatfield will buy you some since he mentioned it.
Watch out for those sewing implements, they look sharp! We know these spirits can move things around...
When Frantino enters he hears a quiet weeping and notices items in the room begin to vibrate.
Normally Frantino would wait to see what happens, suspecting that the story behind a haunt is best deciphered by experiencing it. However, he's a little haunt-shy after his watery experience downstairs and will back out of the room to observe from the hallway.
"I can hear a voice crying, and all of these pointy sewing implements are starting to shake."
When Frantino enters he hears a quiet weeping and notices items in the room begin to vibrate.Normally Frantino would wait to see what happens, suspecting that the story behind a haunt is best deciphered by experiencing it. However, he's a little haunt-shy after his watery experience downstairs and will back out of the room to observe from the hallway.
"I can hear a voice crying, and all of these pointy sewing implements are starting to shake."
Frantino watches from the doorway as the items in the room come to life and chaotically fly through the air, slashing at and tangling everyone in the area. Flurries of needles fly about like straw caught in a dust devil, while scissors and shears flap dangerously through the area. Spools of thread and yarn spread like ever-shifting webs.
It would surely be painful if a person was in the room when all of this happened!
Walf peers into the whirling chaos, attempting to determine whether there might be something in there worth taking a closer look at before moving on.
[Dice=Perception]1d20+4
Walf doesn’t see anything in particular worth taking a closer look.
Frantino will also go in and take a second look around. (His first perception check was a 24.)
"Let's be thorough, I don't want to come back to this place again if we can help it."
Walf, Frantino, Roscoe and Ayita step inside the room. There are off-color rectangles on the moldering walls show that there were once many frames hanging on the walls of this room. A selection of pens and brushes, as well as a silver-capped ink jar, lie on the floor amid the remains of a desk.
Moments after the three (and others?) enter, the room gets COLD. Frantino sees his breath in front of him and the entire room goes quiet, even more silent than it already is, if that's possible.
Water begins running up from the floorboards. Up, up, up draining into the air in a mockery of gravity until it assembles itself into the form of an emaciated, ghostly man wearing a wet, rotting doublet and torn pants. Once he is fully constituted, the ghostly water begins to drip from his body to the floor of the room. Each drip dissipates when it hits the floor, gone back into the ether from which it came.
“The cove. The stone house in the wood," the ghost says, its hollow voice an icy sound from beyond the grave. "The gauntlet. Save them. My map. The key.”
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Ayita glances sideways at Roscoe... She tries to thank the spirit as it fades.
Our thanks to you, Spirit; we will do our best.
Stone house in the wood... S.H.!!! Roscoe, it's not Secret Hoard, sorry... well maybe there is treasure somewhere there anyway! Save what or who, I wonder? The gauntlet and key? Or the people in the Cove? Both? Neither?
We should go to the wood though, in any case... after searching here...
If there is no supernatural attack, Ayita will begin to search the room.
As Sir Roderic slowly dissipates he says, "Baraket will control them! It will control you! The gauntlets! I should have used them."
Now ragged and nearly gone, he gasps out, "Be brave, where I was not. Endure. Save my Cove! ... h e r o e s of the C o v e..."
"Maps have keys, too. Or maybe the map is the key? We'll have to take a very close look at that map once we're out of here, especially if we can't find a physical key."
After witnessing the apparition, Nasir has to shake off the chill of what he saw.
"Dawnflower protect me. I have not witnessed anything such as that in all my years. Was that the same ghost you encountered before? He's giving you clues to where to go?"
Nasir feels the warmth creep back into his bones after the ghost fades. Seeing as his new companions are not shaken by the appearance of creature, he engages with them.
"What are you looking for in here? I'm not the best searcher, by I will help where I can."
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"What are you looking for in here? I'm not the best searcher, by I will help where I can."
"I'm not sure. To be honest, I am not a very good searcher, either," Walf shrugs.
"We were asked to check the house for clues on how to lay Sir Roderick's spirit to rest. We encountered him several times today already. It gets easier to witness."
"I'm not sure why we were picked, but it's clear something terrible has happened here, and I am glad to do what I can to help make it right."
Walf glances at Nasir's scimitar, appreciatively. "That's a pretty good blade you have there. I trained with the dwarves of Qadira in the Paraheen techniques. Once we have laid the spirit to rest, I believe I could make you another in that style, if you would like."
Walf's searching of the room reveals little, save for a pile of kindling in the center of the room. Upon examination, it was likely a map table, broken in to numerous pieces, perhaps to be used for a fire against the cold by a daring young Cover spending the night in the Wreck.
Amidst the wooden debris are pens and nibs and a small piece of parchment, torn from a larger piece it seems. Upon the ragged 5x5 inch piece is a compass rose.
Nasir recognizes it as the missing corner of the larger map he sketched while in Roderic's Cove's town hall. The rest of the team, pulling forth the sketch paper recovered downstairs, note that the compass rose is missing from their sketch.
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Roscoe doesn't know what it is, but he recognizes the symbol.
"Hey--I have a medallion with that on it. I--can't seem to get rid of it," he says, baring his chest to show it. "Every time I leave it somewhere, or give it to someone, it just shows up around my neck again."
He shrugs. "I guess that's also when I started feeling a little frisky with the spirits, if you catch my drift."
He sighs as Ayita reads the Thassilonian. "Maybe no Secret Horde, but it's worth checking out. I've got to figure out what's happening to me, and I think it's tied to all this."
"Interesting, a Sihedron rune, symbol of the Runelords of Thassilon. This map isn't 10,000 years old, is it? What's it doing here? Now if we could just figure out these gauntlets he mentioned. Speaking of clothing, anyone want to analyze these slippers, and this stick? They were in the closet downstairs that tried to wash me to Riddleport."
"This looks very similar to the map I saw at the town hall. What you have in your possession seems to be a draft of the larger map in the town hall. It would be interesting to see what changed between the draft and the final. It may yield some clues."
Looking at the compass rose again, Nasir makes an observation.
"I am confused why the runes on this compass are rotated in an unusual directions. I cannot recall that from the town map. Perhaps this is a clue of some sort? Another item to compare to the town map."
Reacting to Walfrenden's comments about his scimitar, Nasir just shrugs.
"This is just an Empire issued blade. Very serviceable, and I have relied on it for many years. It works well against Taldoran cowards and ogres, but not sure how it will do against spirits. If you have trained as you say, I would be honored to wield something of that fine craftsmanship. We shall talk more on this when we leave this gods cursed house."
Looking at the compass rose again, Nasir makes an observation.
[b]"I am confused why the runes on this compass are rotated in an unusual directions. I cannot recall that from the town map. Perhaps this is a clue of some sort? Another item to compare to the town map."
The map in town was missing a corner. This piece would likely fit.
Nasir looks at even more intently at the piece of the map.
"Let us take this as it will fit the missing section of the town's map. We will have more time to examine it once we leave this place. We should continue our search of the rest of the house quickly and be away from here."
Seeing that there is another room next door and it appears that the apparition of this dead captain does not seem to be attacking the group, Nasir moves to continue the search of the house in the room to the north.
"Come, let us search this next room."
Ayita will move up near Nasir, and examine the entrance to that room for traps, rotten wood etc. If she finds any, she will attempt to disarm them.
[dice=perception]1d20+3+1+2
[dice=disable device]1d20+9
You find no traps or other dangers at the entrance.
From where Nasir and Ayita stand, they can see a set of bunk beds that have fallen apart and crumpled against the south wall of this room. A wooden chest of toys is turned on its side, spilling moldy stuffed animals, wooden blocks, and neglected toys across the floor.
Assuming that we are going in, Frantino will follow the others and help quickly search the room for additional clues.
Nasir will attempt to help Frantino search.
He uses the tip of his sword to move things around in the room, not really adding any real assistance to the search.