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As they exit the Inn again Endra looks back and does a double-take. A surprised, flush look and then she shuts the door. She steps away and looks back at the door.
No... couldn't be...
She shakes her head quickly as if ridding herself of a mental fog.
I think I just saw the doll in there again, this time without Quintus and with pink hair. Did anybody else see it?
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In the bakery. Endra is ready to forget the doll sighting immediately, and so the proprietor's welcome doesn't affect her at all.
And good day to you too!
You getting any business with this pestilence going on? Sure smells good in here, you might have some business now... she remarks cheerily, not noticing anything specific about the gnome woman's disposition.
Endra leans over to Kappa and whispers, You still have that doll?
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As they enter the bakery, Nikebei quietly whispers to Kappa, "You know, I'm not expecting great things, don't smell like they been making any new bread today and definitely no cakes." However, ever hopeful the halfling enters the shop and smiling at the woman, says ever so matter of factually "Afternoon mi lady, we've just come from the farm over there, saved a family from disaster, fought off some blood bugs and saved a calf from starving to death and that's made us all very hungry. So we've come to you to fill our bellies?" Having ticked off all their accomplishments, he grins at the woman, "So what you got?" As he tries to engage the woman in conversation, he also asks about the Inn, as it doesn't seem to be very welcoming at present, and no food or ale, what's happened to it and it's owner?
- Will use a Hero Point to improve?
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Kappa responds to Brayka, "You think she's a gossip, eh?"
Kappa starts talking with the baker, "You know, they're having a big wedding in the next town over. It was the Lucerne's daughter marrying a Swiftwater boy. I heard some people saying that the Swiftwaters have kind of reputation around here and she should have accepted Garth Tabbin's proposal but she turned him down. And of course they couldn't have the Mercy Tabbin make the dress so they ordered one all the way from Tymon.". Kappa leans in and whispers, "And from what I hear, everyone says the thing looked terrible. And with all the money they spent ordering it all the way from Tymon!"
The gnome scoffs at the pink-haired human - clearly annoyed he has "stolen" her style cut - and the insultingly ignorant gnome, and the uninteresting elf, and the rudely whispering goblin - and shifts her attention instead towards the two halflings, intrigued by her most favorite topic! With grace, she extends a limp wrist first towards the wee sorcerer clearly expectant that he take it and kiss it "Charmed!" then in similar fashion to the young farmer with the dreadlocks "I am Miss Anna Marmazine" (emphasizing "Miss"...) "And welcome to what was once the the greatest Bakery for miles around!" she seems to daydream as she speaks these last words.
While Miss Marmazine converses with Kappa about "what SHE heard was that..." it quickly becomes apparent to Nikebei and the PCs that this Bakery hasn't had a fire in the oven for a long time - all that lingers in the way of edibles is the stains of dried flour upon a single table on the kitchen side, likely from years of being used as a kneading surface. There is, however, a bottle of spirits, half-empty, sitting right in front of her, even as she currently neglects it, perhaps not wanting to be overseen drinking straight out of the bottle in front of company.
A rat dashes across the floor - and raising her eyebrows she quickly scans the PCs to see if they saw that she saw it too - a momentary pause as Kappa tries not to yawn at her prolific extolling about her various opinions and judgements upon the lives of strangers. It seems that nine out of ten people mentioned in her stories somehow end in "But that was BEFORE so-and-so moved away...". Ten or twenty minutes pass, and just when it seems she may be finally reaching a point - another ten or twenty minutes pass. At some point, well after it is clear to her that the PCs have grown impatient, she finally relents, and asks point blank "So! What brings YOU to Shimmerford?"
...
Keep that Hero Point; consider it unspent.
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Endra had nearly fallen asleep leaning on the wall next to the halflings. The gnome had focused on them, and she hadn't really minded.
She snaps sharply to attention at the abrupt question, blinking several times while processing that the baker was, in fact, addressing all of them.
Well, actually, we're here checking on this plague, or pestilence as it were. We've noticed more than one strange thing or two. Do you get out of this building much? For starters, how well do you know Quintus over at the inn?
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Brayka shoots Kappa a discrete thumbs up.
As Marmazine’s oration grinds on, Brayka, used to villainous monologuing from undead nobility, stalwartly endures. But Miss Marmazine possesses a fixation that even Tyrant Geb himself cannot rival. After a time, Brayka distracts himself by reciting his vows. As he contemplates, he flirts with the idea that Miss Marmazine’s verbal assault may constitute a form of oppression. Is he obliged to strike her down to liberate his friends? Is it possible that Quintus visited her and fell into despair and madness? Is it possible she is the Mosquito Witch? He opens his mouth to ask this very thing ... just as Endra’s question whips over his head.
Brayka passes a hand over his suddenly sweltering brow. Shinmerford is doing strange things to his mind...
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After listening to the gnome for some time, Nikebei sighs, but then she finishes her monologue, "Well Mrs Marmazine, we arrived to get to the bottom of this mosquito witch story, especially now it seems that the town and it's people appear to be victims, not beneficiaries of the legend. I suppose you couldn't help? I mean, it would be marvellous if we could help you get your ovens fired up and get some fresh bread on the go. Once we have enough food, perhaps you could guide us around the place. Don't you want to know what it is, perhaps become the village hero." Behind his back his hands flap around nervously to his companions, trying to get his companions to be patient.
Like a cats repeatedly allows a mouse in it's clutches to have another chance for "escape" before inevitably consuming it, Miss Marmazine decides whether or not to segue back into more stories that are only tangentially related to the various feedbacks and questions she fields from the PCs...
...A stroke of mercy? In asking about Quintus, she quickly offers "The old bat overcharges at his Inn - the Whitefish and Stag - the property he inherited from another man who gifted it to him years and years ago - you see he used to work as a bell boy there, in his youth - the OTHER owner having named the establishment for the claim that he once went fishing and..." another ten or twenty minutes pass in how the Inn got it's name when she finally comes around to "The rumors go that the real witch doesn’t drink blood; she drinks tears. Her victims lose the ability to cry, and then the ability to feel, and they waste away and get colder and meaner as they get thinner and thinner. That’s what happened to Ms. Mordha Lyons." Even as even those among you listening intently can't seem to remember the transition between topics...
...The pause is pregnant as Miss Marmazine looks properly ready to indulge her company with yet another story!
...
"Oh she's in no state to leave - that's for sure - and lived under the same thatched roof in that horrid shade of chartreuse with the eggshell trimming as far back nearly as this town has history, and let me tell you about THAT woman, you see the truth is..." Miss Marmazine seems hellbent on another ten to twenty minutes of loosely interconnected stories to people you will likely never meet...
You remember passing by a house of that description on the northwest corner of town...
More than a couple false starts: Manny seeking to be opportune at her breaks for breath saying matter-of-factly something like "Well then" before she continues unexpectedly on a tangent; Oscre saying "Thanks for your time" but the Miss then quickly asking a direct question it would be rude to ignore; Brayka turning towards the door "sneakily" but immediately "polled" as to his reaction to a random piece of gossip... Yes indeed, after several ineffectual goodbyes, the PCs finally manage to stick an exit that maintains a semblance of etiquette, not wanting to be offensive of course, and walking outside, realize the morning has now unfolded into mid day!
One PC turns to another with a "did we really just spend the entire rest of the morning in there?" look, and the shock of the situation settles in for all. A couple of halfling tummies grumble...
...But without wasting another precious minute, the PCs walk their way up-village to the house with the chartreuse paint and eggshell trimming - passing the Driver walking the opposite direction as they do - and notice right away that the front door is slightly ajar, as if someone forgot to shut it all the way...
...
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Endra sees the door ajar, and looks back at the driver.
Did he just come from this house? Maybe we'll ask later...
She nonchalantly walks up to the door and knocks hard on it, as if it wasn't cracked open. In the first few moments of waiting for a response, she pulls the door back closer to closed, but not all the way.
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Nikebei, seeing the driver the halfling calls across to him, "Hello, how are you? Are you recovered? Perhaps I can buy you a drink at the Inn, if we can find anything there?" It is all he can do at the moment to cheer the driver up. "We're off to see Mrs Lyons, do you know her? Is she nice?"
Nikebei hears a loud knocking behind him, It seems Endra is making an entrance.
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Manny breathes a sigh of relief as they pull away from Miss Marmazine. "We call those Whirlpools. They'll suck you in and it's almost impossible to escape. Good job keeping it classy."
"Wish she had some food, though..." Manny pats his tummy.
They reach the house and... it's open? Manny keeps his eyes peeled and tries to seek out any trouble.
"Who's that phasing with the DOOR!" A man's head pokes though, his pleasant face balancing features at once gentle and firm: a thin nose contrasting a strong jaw, soft brown eyes contrasting well-manicured eyebrows (currently poised in anger!), his full long silky black hair bleached to an unnatural shade of pearl white. Faster than a blink of an eye, he scans the entire party, and with a "Nope!" slams the door in your face!
Distracting yourself with the driver, it is quickly clear to you he makes a bee-line around you and your comrades on purpose - and you would need to make a similar maneuver to those described above to short circuit his path in the opposite direction...
...
"Excuse you madam!" He attempts to shut the door again - this time with a little more oomph!
"You and everyone else! This woman has suffered enough. Please Leave!" He orders with authority as he once again reaches for the door...
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"We're here in town investigating the Mosquito Witch and we've heard that the lady might know something about it that would help us. Like Brayka said, we do have healing that may be able to help her if needed, but mainly we are trying to help the town out. We are specialists in the strange and arcane and may be able to uncover things that over adventurers have failed to unearth. Would you please reconsider?"
Reluctantly, the man stops fighting about the door, and instead retreats further into the domicile, and while not outright welcoming by any sense of the word, neither does he try to prevent further intervention by the PCs of whoever - or whatever - is lurking deeper within the house.
"YeeeeeeeEEEE" Kappa smacks his ear as he feels a mosquito crawl into it, as he and the party step inside, and then it hits like a wagon crushing into rocks: The smell of the tiny house is overwhelming! Like a crusty, wet, rotting piece of swampwood, filling the hairs in your noses as a sponge being immersed into a stagnant murky puddle of excretion...
You nearly lose the ability to process smells, as your nostrils nearly oversaturate!
You lose the ability to process smells, as your nostrils are completely oversaturated!
The creature that lurks inside here is the source of the smell, and has completely coated every surface with skin flakes and other body particulates, such that, you suspect, it has not only never made any appreciable effort to remove the smell, it seems to have never even left it's lair in scores of years!
The creature that lurks inside here is the source of the smell...
As the smell overpowers you, you realize you are in the welcoming area of the tiny house - perhaps a third of it's volume - cramped again and now choking for air - but it continues around a single corner to perhaps it's center, and you imagine, a third section at it's furthest bit, judging from the shape from the outside. As your wits return, it dawns on you two things: First, that the man has already proceeded around the corner; and Second, that the source of the smell is most probably the very mess of the house. The carpet is stained with filth, the walls have seemed to have the paint melted off from the stink, there are dirty clothes strewn everywhere, clumps of fur and hairballs, books fallen over and stepped over breaking their spine, bits of food scraps...
Any appetite the party had walking in has suddenly fled!
...
Brayka to ???; no weapons
Endra to Search; no weapons
Kappa to Detect Magic; no weapons
Nikebei to Search or Avoid Detection?; no weapons
Manny to ???; no weapons
Oscre to ???; no weapons
...
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"Thank you, sir. We'll be quiet and quick about it."
Manny steps into the house.
He pauses for a moment, opens the corner of his mouth, and begins breathing through there. It's hard to smell anything else in this home.
"Does Ms. Lyons live here?" Manny practically whispers. It's hard to talk while breathing through the mouth. He also suspects Ms. Lyons may not be alive anymore, or is too weak to speak. No one has maintained this house for months, at least.
Brayka to ???; no weapons
Endra to Search; no weapons
Kappa to Detect Magic; no weapons
Nikebei to Search or Avoid Detection?; no weapons
Manny to Search; no weapons
Oscre to ???; no weapons
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Brayka can’t hold it together and rushes outside to vomit beside the door. In his haste, some shoots through his nose, his bile clogging his own sense of smell. “Ahh, Cayden, normally you advise us to celebrate before the morning after. But there is no joy to be had for this town. Please lend me your strength for the sake of these people.”. Heartened, if not recovered, he steps back into the house.
“The odor reminds me of my youth!” he declares stoutly. It is not a lie.
“Good sir, your name? And might you take me to the lady of the house, so I might try the healing I promised?”
Brayka to Investigate; no weapons
Endra to Search; no weapons
Kappa to Detect Magic; no weapons
Nikebei to Search?? or Avoid Detection??; no weapons
Manny to Search; no weapons
Oscre to ???; no weapons
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Nikebei seeing Brayka dash out of the door in front of him and pebble dash the ground, stops briefly to ask Brayka what happened. As Brayka finishes his descriptoin of the stench in the house, Nikebei steals himself for the smell to come. He pinches his nose and enters and sees a horrible home. Gradually he releases the pressure on his nostrils and lets the smell slowly increase in intensity, as he controls his reaction to the disgusting aroma.