Though Kast has interest in dillying, he’s not feeling any patience at all for dallying, and 5’ steps forward to open the next door.
”Aldebert!? Are you in here?” Kast calls out, hoping for the best.
"She must be something fearsome. Most mothers can at some point" Izomandakus looks back like remembering something, then steps into the corridor with Kast.
"So, we open this one first, then we work the rest of the corridor?"
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Val raises her chin as she answers Seamus, putting on the airs of someone at least four times as self-satisfied as herself. ”Certainly not. A Lady of Society conducts herself in the most gracious manner at all times, and tossing shoes is not within the constraints of decorum. Threatening to toss your teenage daughter on the street because she stays out too late is what nobles do.” She hopes to have glazed her delivery with enough sarcasm that the others will get the point. ”If only she threw shoes. One merely has to dodge. Mother’s guilting always finds its mark, though.” She digs her knuckles into her neck to try to loosen it up. ”Anyways, this places has enough bad memories of its own that I have no call to add to them. Yes, that sounds fine, Izo.”
This oak paneled chamber must have once been breathtaking, but it’s a sad sight now. The floorboards are warped with moisture and the paneling scratched and spotted with mold. A grand piano, its surface splotchy and keys warped, leans tiredly in the southeast corner.
You’re struck again by the amount of decay and general decrepitude. The room is in bad shape to be sure, worse than you’d imagine - especially considering the young Aldern has been, supposedly, fixing up the place. But the piano! It’s been ravaged by time from the looks of it - as if it were suffering from decades of mistreatment.
"Thrown shoes, huh? My mum never did that, but not like she had much reason to with me," Kast adds to MVals' revelations.
Kast looks in the room, but not seeing anything alive (or dead), he moves to the next door (north). He will open it when others are ready.
Izomandakus has a quick look at the piano "Hum, that must have been pretty valuable at some point"
Turning towards the others and following up "Do you think Aldern's mom throw him shoes or heels?" he looks down the piano almost expecting to find one of the mother's shoes below it, rotting in the mold.
Other than that, he follows the team "You were too good Kast. Some people in Sandpoint do not deserve"
Val rolls her eyes at Kast, but she keeps an amused expression. ”Yes, I am sure you were quite perfect. If your mother threw a shoe, you would just fetch it like the good little doggie you are.” She laughs, then laughs again at Seamus’s comment about his mother’s many outfits and heels.
She walks over to the piano and presses a key to test the tuning. ”Mother insisted upon piano lessons. It took ten years of my teachers telling her I refused to practice to get her to stop.”
Valena presses down on the piano’s keys, and is surprised to hear music come from it - in perfect tune! She glances inside the piano, and notes that one of the keys she pressed doesn’t even have a string, but it sounded lovely none the less.
And the lovely sounds continue, long after she touched the keys, as the instrument begins to play its own tune - a catchy but discordant Varisiain song. The party finds the music quite catching indeed, and nearly everyone is, for a moment, caught up in it.
Kast however leaps across the room in a series of pirouettes, as if dancing with an invisible dance partner. But she does not remain invisible for long! It is Iesha, in all her vibrant beauty, that Kast finds himself dancing with.
However, just as she didn’t remain invisible, she also doesn’t remain unchanging. Almost as soon as they begin, Iesha’s beauty fades as her neck darkens into an angry blue-and black bruise. Her eyes bulge and water, her mouth twists in pain, and her tongue protrudes - all as if she were being strangled.
In moments, she crumbles away into rot in Kast’s arms, and he is released from the short jubilee.
Kast, please make a DC 15 will save or suffer and be fatigued by your brief, but breathless spinning.
The room grows quiet, save for Kast's heavy breathing from the exertion. Valena, do you plink at the piano again?
Will
Kast drops to a knee, winded, as he has never danced, let alone danced like that in his entire life. And he doesn’t appreciate being forced into it.
He gets up when he can, looking around angrily.
”What the hell was that?” Kast barks, waving the Iron Quill around, looking for Iesha.
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Val was about to tap the keys again when she suddenly notices Kast leaping into a dance. She actually laughs at first, thinking this is some kind of random whimsy, but she quickly sours as she sees the ghost appear. Her breathe catches in her throat at the realization that spectral Iesha is being strangled. She freezes, consumed with reliving her memories of her husband and how he tried to strangle her, too. She places a hand to steady herself on the piano and tries to slow her breathing, realizing she has been hyperventilating.
”Another spiritual manifestation. She must have died in this room. Murdered, really. Probably by her husband.” She just stands still, helplessly looping the moments of Corioles’s hands on her neck. Without even thinking, she takes out one of her wine bottles and takes a long drink, returning it without even registering that she removed it. She blankly stares at the last spot Iesha’s spirit stood in before disappearing. ”I understand why you are so angry now, Iesha. I am, too.”
Izomandakus starts whistling the tune, almost instinctively, but when Iesha manifests, his eyes go wide "No Kast! What are you?..."
Then when the bruises appear, he frowns and attempts to go and separate the manifestation from his friend.
When things settle down he negates "I get you want to practice perfect kisses but there are better ways than hugging tortured ghosts"
”Ha, yeah, thanks Izomandakus,” Kast laughs, dusting himself off. He wishes his armor didn’t have so much exposed midriff, but has to agree it might have been nice for the people watching the spectacle. At least he looked good…until his dance partner crumbled to rot. ”Maybe next time we’re in Magnimar, you’ll show me that kissing spot…and we’ll find some new friends who want to do that.”
Kast moves to the next door and opens it when others are ready.
Seamus doesn’t recognize the song, but he has heard parts of the melody before, though done a bit more upbeat in his last hearing.
Kast looks for Iesha, but finds no one as the party settles after the dancing.
With the usual preparations, Kast opens the next door north and finds s simple washroom. An ancient metal washtub stands to the north, a ring of mildew crusting its inner surface. A strange, furtive scratching comes from inside the tub however. You’ll need to enter the room to see what it is…
"That jeweler girl, the one who designed the rings I had made, what was her name? All you'd have to do is talk to her instead of act like a complete buffoon."
Kast pauses, stopping up short.
”Marigold? Marigold Pottersmoot?” Kast wonders. ”Yeah, she’s okay, yeah. I would talk to her, but then she might reply and who knows what to do next after that. So obviously, that’s out.”
He moves to look inside the tub, the Iron Quill extended.
You step into the room and see… well, a horribly diseased rat (image). The rat is, as far as you can tell, still alive, though its eyes have rotted from its skull and the disease is slowly rotting its blistering flesh.
Fort DC 14 or nauseated for a bit as you recover from the sight.
The rat is trapped in the washtub, and unable to climb out. So it scratches and scratches vainly trying to get free.
Fort
Kast begins to lose his lunch, bend over and drooling and trying to suck back the sick that threatens to overtake him.
Val takes Kast’s place in the room, holding her handkerchief up to her nose as she brandishes her rapier.
She gasps, but not at the smell. That such a little creature could have been so cruelly left blind and alone to literally rot disgusts her more than any smell. Perhaps Foxglove left it here on purpose for his enjoyment. She does the only thing she knows that could help, and she tries to grant the little creature a clean death. She stares at the blind rat to try to make sure she gives it a gracious, singular strike.
"What's it Kast? Is Aldern's crawling hand?" Izomandakus approaches to look as Kast reels back.
Upon witnessing the problem the boy picks the staff with both hands and makes it descend with determination over the rat.
But he halts as Valena dashes forward faster than him "That shall end its suffering existence"
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The party ends the rat’s suffering existence by playing 'splat the rat', and mostly keep your stomachs in place.
You press on to the next door, after you recover. After the usual preparations, you open it. This dusty room features a long couch caked with white sheets of wispy fungus. Eddies of dust skitter along the warped floorboards as if caught up by a slight breeze, yet no wind is noticeable in the air.
Thinking back to what you know of the Foxglove family, Lorey is the name of Vorel and Kasanda’s only child, a daughter - though she died at the same time as her parents in 4644 (it’s 4707 now for reference). Vorel is the one who originally built the manor and is the great-great-uncle of Aldern.
- - -
"Is everyone good to go?"
Kast spits out a bit more bile, but nods, trying to recover. He moves out of the room, and allows VMegl and Izo to finish off the ick inducing rat.
"Yeah, kissing should be simple, right? Not like holding hands or something truly difficult," Kast offers some very clear and unclear insight on relationships. It's almost like he has no idea about them, as he's never really had one.
Kast doesn't enter the next room yet. He allows someone else to face whatever ghost lies in wait.
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”Just a moment, Sea.” Val cleans off her sword and makes sure that none of the rat bits got on her. As she does, she hears Kast pick up the talk of “kissing” again and she massages her temple. She had assumed he was just exaggerating, but they have been working together long enough that she knows he must be serious.
”Oh, for heavens’s sake…you are making too much of a big deal out of it, Kast! Stop waiting for perfection and just go for it! And stop overthinking it. If you like someone, say so, and say so early before you have built up a whole narrative. Casual, direct. If they say no, then you take it in-stride and be friends or acquaintances or whatever and then you can move on to the next person. People are just people, even when you think they are attractive! We all f*+% it up before we get it right. You think you just fly right into perfection? Well first you have to crawl and walk and run and dance and jump. You cannot fly into flying. You think Mister God of Perfection got everything right the first time? He was human, so I guarantee he fell on his ass plenty of times.”
She massages her temples with her free hand. She really did not mean to go on a rant, but this place is just…and he just keeps talking it in circles…and that poor rat. ”I do not want to hear a single mention of ‘kissing’ from you, Kast, until you do something beyond just talking about it. Or at least until we get out of this GODS-FORSAKEN MANOR.” The last two words—three depending on how you count the hyphenation—are shouted up towards the house itself. She stamps her heels and flails her fists in pure childish frustration.
She finally settles herself and takes a moment to fix her hair, which has gotten wildly frizzy in the exertion. That was all rather unseemly, but it did feel good to let loose a little. Sassy would like how she used the crawling jumping flying analogy; she probably even used it correctly maybe. Like most of Val’s aphorisms, she got it from Sassy. ”I am fine now. Well, no. I will not be fine until we find Abegnale or whoever the hells is keeping this place looking and acting like something out of an Ailson Kindler novel. I am not fine, but I am composed, which is what matters.”
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Izomandakus stands and starts reciting "All the girls in the world were divided into two classes: one class included all the girls in the world except her, and they had all the usual human feelings and were very ordinary girls; while the other class -herself alone- had no weaknesses and was superior to all humanity." he hits Kast with the elbow and tells him with a smile and a confession tone "No worries, the manor is nerve breaking for everyone. Even the willest of us. I am sure there is the perfect girl for you out there if that is what you are truly seeking!"
While the boy is distracted with the conversation, Pachemu enters the room and soon starts to sneeze out of the general dust and fungus.
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Kast waits to see what is what.
The party stands around the entrance talking about how to find someone you can kiss and hold hands with, while Pachemu, valiant war pig, bravely enters the chamber and chases the dust motes around.
Whatever seems to be causing the movement within the chamber, seems to ignore Pachemu, though he did feel a tug (made save, but against what you have no idea).
Izomandakus smiles back to Seamus "In fact, the quote was caught in my head because it holds two hard truths. First, that attraction and love both depend on the sole view and will of the person that experiences it. And two. That humans become blind when they fall in love" the boy can hardly avoid laughing but he suddenly notices Pachemu is getting into problems.
"Hei pig! Come here please! Aldern is not there in that room, you are going to catch whatever parasite within that dust and fungus" the boy makes signs to invite Pachemu out of the place, which the pig happy to put distance with the room, obeys "So, where next? What about that door to the southeast?"
”I do not want to hear a single mention of ‘kissing’ from you, Kast, until you do something beyond just talking about it. Or at least until we get out of this GODS-FORSAKEN MANOR.”
Kast shakes his head, wondering why *he* is getting in trouble...he didn't bring up kissing, and certainly shouldn't be in trouble for not-kissing, unlike Izo, who apparently is a kissing machine who knows so much about it.
He moves around to look at Izo, hopefully out of ValMeg's earshot.
"See how complicated kissing is? You can't even talk about it without people losing it," Kast checks to see if Izo agrees.
He waits for others to arrive before opening the last door on the first level.
"People is complicated. Even before you spring cultural differences together" Izomandakus jiggles and pads Kast's back while they walk over the last door "Just keep trying, pieces will fall in place at its time"
As Seamus asks him about it, the boy calls Pachemu to be ready nearby "Expertise is just committing all the errors you could reasonably do in a life span, Seamus"
You follow into the dining room overlooking the ocean. A mahogany table surrounded by chairs sits in this room. Twin fireplaces loom to the west, while to the east, stained-glass windows obscure what could have been a breathtaking view of the Lost Coast.
Each window depicts a monster rising out of smoke pouring from a seven-sided box. From north to south are depicted a gnarled tree with an enraged face, an immense hook-beaked bird with sky-blue and gold plumage, a winged centaurlike creature with a lion’s lower body and a snarling woman’s upper torso, and a deep blue squidlike creature with evil red eyes.
Viewed this way the monsters are not emerging from the boxes, but rather are being drawn in - and their snarling visages express not rage, but fear.
- - -
Also, as you’ve surrounded it, and Kast is standing in it, you look to the little hallway between the dining room and the entry to see a rather gruesome antique - what appears to be a mummified monkey head - sitting on a little shelf on the northern wall. A bellpull extends from the monkey’s tiny gaping mouth.
Lastly, a ratty throw rug partially obscures a foul stain of dark-colored mold on the floor, that looks somewhat intriguing, but you’ll have to move the rug aside to see it.
Izomandakus contemplates the windows' pictures "Astonishing. I wonder if the Kaijitsu manufactured these pieces in the Glassworks. Not like what we saw the goblins managing there"
Pachemu stares at the bellpull, but seeing it too high, the pig moves his attention to the rug. The pig sniffs the mold trying to identify it.
Kast takes his time to really really examine the stained glass window.
Know (Arcana)
After a few long moments of glazed silence, Kast seems to come to an understanding about the glass.
"Hey Izo...do you see that? Isn't that just a mirror of the lichy notes from above? See that...a treant, a roc, a sphinx, and a kraken? Those are what the Whispering Tyrant probably used to become a lich, you know? Might be that we should burn this place to the ground, an act of cleansing fire. I can't believe this is what Aldedorn is into."
Kast explains, but doesn't do anything just yet, waiting to see if Izo's bellpull has any effect.
"Ah! You sure are right Kast. Those can certainly be parts of the construction of a lich phylactery. Interesting..." the boy examines the glass from a distance "...still, how a lich relates with the house being haunted and with Aldern himself?"
When the group loses interest in the glass, Izomandakus moves nearby Pachemu "What is there in the rug Pachemu?"
And absentmindedly pulls the bellpull.
Val is taken aback at first that Kast would know something so obscure, but then again, isn't The Whispering Tyrant a lich? That does make sense he would have studied that subject at least.
She contemplates going and moving the rug back with her sword, but then she remembers that she has even more subtle methods to try. She focuses intently on trying to roll the rug back, or at least push it to the side.
Pachemu is unable to determine the exact type of mold, and sneezes when he gets too close, but it doesn’t seem to be adversely affecting him.
Izomandakus pulls the cord, and a loud ringing bell sound comes from the monkeys mouth, as if it cast Alarm (link). An interesting curio called a Hungry Decapitant, and worth 500gp in the market to certain distinguished buyers.
Enough of the rug is shifted by the mage hand that you see what lies beneath. The stain under the rug is about 10 feet across - a swirling pattern of dark blue, sickly green, and black - all mold that has grown in an odd shape. If looks almost like a bird’s eye view of a spiraling staircase descending downward, with each step littered with skulls and bones. The detail is remarkable, especially considering it’s ‘naturally’ grown mold.
”That’s weird mold, right Izo? That’s not natural. But it is?”
Know (Nature) - the mold
Kast shifts to avoid stepping on the strange mold. He waits for the alarm to stop, both hoping and dreading that someone might approach.
He waits, listening. And after a few moments, he will open the door he is next to on the map.
Izomandakus jumps back, alarmed, by the alarm "Critters!" and covers his ears as good as he can "That is a loud monkey"
When, if, the alarm calms down, he examines the mold nature more closely as requested by Kast.
The pig keeps sniffing the strange figure mold "Mmmm... yes. Sure. I guess. Kast. Mmmm... interesting hypothesis" he rubs his chin for a second, then stands up and moves to the southern door where he accesses just after the Sandpoint guardian.
Val shrugs and lets out a single laugh. ”I touched nothing. The mage hand did all the work. Besides, we have to touch some things if we want to figure out what is going on.” She forces herself to look at the mold but keeps her mouth covered and tries not to think about the grossness of it in detail. ”There is no way that is natural. Maybe it marks a trapdoor or something? They typically put those under rugs, after all.”
Kast is pretty sure it is common house mold, though the colors are a little disconcerting. And the layout. Izomandakus isn’t familiar with it at all. At Valena’s urging, you check the floor carefully, but no secrets are revealed (taking 20).
After some delay, Kast opens the door and discovers a somewhat damp set of stairs leading to a darkened basement. He hears nothing at first, but then he makes out the faint scratching and chittering of more rats, though they don’t seem to be getting any closer. Just rats in the basement.
”Yeah, we can try the attic eventually,” Kast agrees. ”I’ll wait here while y’all check out the last areas before we head own.”
Kast closes the door and leans against it.
Izomandakus opens the next door. This library features two chairs, one of which lies on its side, before a stone fireplace. A scarf, its reds and golds contrasting with the drab palette of the room, is draped over the side of the fallen chair. A book sits facedown on the floor between the chairs. A stone bookend, carved to look like a praying angel with butterfly wings, lies on its side in the fireplace itself.
- - -
"What is in particular about this door Seamus?" Izomandakus asks while he proceeds to open the last door as called by the elf, and has a look inside "Aldern! Are you here? Everything ok?"