”Troubled spirits, go back to the Lady of Graves, and leave this world in peace. ”
Phaed sobs, then drops.
Tuco cries uncontrollably as he retreats.
Abella does not exactly have favorable associations with Pharasma, so she tries to shut out the voices and duffer through the pain.
She dodges the worst of the vortex, being do focused on her own survival.
She quickly pulls out some thanergy trickery to vent the haunt’s energies and hopefully exorcize it. She evacuates after, should it still be active.
Shade and Pavo pray into the cacophony of the vortex of dead psychopomps and Abella uses her knowledge of thanergy to aid in exorcising the haunt. The dirge quiets, the feathers and bones settle back onto the floor, but no one truly believes the haunt will rest until the malevolence is lifted from the house.
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With everyone badly hurt, Shade channels the loving touch of Desna.
He then looks to see who is still hurt.
Tuco peeks his head back up the stairs.
Lets make sure we’re all at full capacity before heading on.
Hmmm. Or a rest. I have such lovely dreams here.
After some time you are all able to heal up.
Phaed moves to open up the side rooms.
Shade follows Phaed, ready to heal or fight if needed.
Healed Up Tuco flexes and nods, ready to go.
Pavo listens at the doors but all seems quiet.
Phaed opens the western door.
This room looks to have been an armory.
A collection of bows and crossbows rest on a shelf in the south part of this dusty room. To the northwest, two barrels filled with bolts and arrows sit under a grimy window.
Searching for magic, Shade identifies one of the weapons here as magical!
There are 40 arrows and 40 crossbow bolts in the barrels. The weapons on the shelves include three shortbows, two longbows, two crossbows, and a heavy crossbow.
Phaed picks up the short bow. I can't use it. not with my shield. She hands it to Pavo. Seems like this was a sniper's roost.
Onward! She moves to the next side room.
Tuco shakes his head "I remember knowing how to use a bow, but it seems so foreign now, like another life. Hopefully it's just a faint memory and not this place eating my memories."
Shade grabs a crossbow and some bolts to go with. "Can't hurt to have this, right?"
When Pavo picks up the bow he gets a brief flash of Ioseff holding the weapon. Maybe it's the weight of it, or the quality of its construction, or the fact that it's magical, but Pavo can't help feeling that this was Ioseff's own personal bow.
You step across the hall and open the door on the eastern side.
Shelves of taxidermy tools line the southwest walls of this cramped room, and barrels partially filled with straw and sawdust sit on the floor nearby.
A bloody cloth lies on top of a workbench under a grimy window, the shape of an unidentifiable object underneath the fabric.
Pavo and Shade see something struggling feebly under the bloodstained cloth and hear a softly whispered voice call out, “Help them... save them...”
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Shade doesn't even think before he rushes forward to see who (or what) is under the cloth. It is not until he reaches down to move the cloth that his experiences in this manor hit, and he wonders 'What am I doing?' as he picks up the cloth.
Shade pulls back the cloth without thinking and a partially stuffed and bloodstained nosoi psychopomp suddenly flies into the air!
It careens in circles about the room as it shrieks and cries.
It finally flies out of the room and begins battering itself on the double doors to the north, leaving blood red marks on the wood.
“Help...save them...”
Shade runs behind the nosoi, and attempts to at least bandage it as he says "Someone! Help get this door open!"
"Please, calm yourself! We are going to help!"
Shade tries to heal the nosoi but on closer inspection can see that the pyschopomp is long-dead, yet some force of will still animates it.
An echo of its past life?
Shade takes a closer look at the nosoi to determine if he needs to be more or less worried.
Shade just nods and tries opening the door.
Shade patches up the panicked nosoi, but despite its appearance, and perhaps due to its state of undeath, the nosoi does not seem to be wounded.
The double doors are locked, but the skeleton key found earlier works.
An elegant but dusty flight of spiral stairs ascends in the middle of this room.
Paintings, display cases, hunting trophies, and taxidermic birds decorate this room, covering every available bit of space between the grimy windows— two of which to the east appear broken in a few places, as if by thrown rocks.
Low, round display tables with sculptures atop them dot the chamber. The sculptures and paintings all seem damaged in one way or another.
Four tiny plague doctor masks lie on the floor near the center of the room, as if discarded in flight.
Pavo and Shade sense that there are tiny creatures hidden amongst the trophies and taxidermic animals (10' up), but for Tuco they are undetected and unobserved.
Pavo
Tuco
Shade
???
Phaed
Abella
Panicked Nosoi
Pavo takes a look, but unfortunately he isn't able to observe the creatures.
Shade also seeks, asking the undead nosoi ”where are they?”
Lurking among the hunting trophies, Shade spots tiny, fleshless human skulls with sharp fangs atop a raven’s body!
Pavo
Tuco
Shade
???
Phaed
Abella
Panicked Nosoi
Tuco delays until an enemy becomes non-unobserved to him.
Shade points out the skulls as he tries to recall what they are
”They are corrupted nosoi. Be careful, they spread corruption and rot ”
Tuco drops into his mountain stance as he heads in and elbow drops in the general vicinity of #4.
From the far corner, nosoi #1 begins to croon an ominous, but entrancing song.
“The Lord slumbers below, you’re nothing but his dreams. When the lord will awakens, you’ll know the end of things!”
Critical Failure: As failure, and the creature must spend each of its actions on its turn to move closer to the nosoi as expediently as possible while avoiding obvious dangers. If a fascinated creature is adjacent to the nosoi, it stays still and doesn’t act. If the creature is attacked, the fascination ends.
The other nosois shriek and cry out in a tangle of languages as they launch from their roosts.
Nosoi #2 flies down to peck at Pavo, before flying back up to perch amid the trophies again.
Nosois #3 and #4 fly down to bite Tuco, and then fly back to their spots on the wall.
Nosoi #3:
Nosoi #4:
Pavo
Tuco
Shade
Corrupted Nosois
Phaed
Abella
Panicked Nosoi
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The lord will die below, and so shall you above, my horrid little dove.
You add a flourish to your composition to extend its benefits. If your next action is to cast a cantrip composition with a duration of 1 round, attempt a Performance check. The DC is usually a standard-difficulty DC of a level equal to the highest-level target of your composition, but the GM can assign a different DC based on the circumstances. The effect depends on the result of your check.
Critical Success The composition lasts 4 rounds.
Success The composition lasts 3 rounds.
Failure The composition lasts 1 round, but you don't spend the Focus Point for casting this spell.
Phaed moves in, and then glares at #3
She makes sure to set up a counter-performance; her voice warbles like a bird's as if her throat isn't quite human.
The Desnan cleric avoids the call of the song.
Abella’s mind ends up trailing off, distracted by the haunted melody and her own thoughts of thanergy.
The panicked nosoi flies into the air above Pavo where it explodes in a burst of energy!
The nosoi's body falls to the ground and animates one last time to whisper, "...thank you..."
Pavo
Tuco
Shade
Corrupted Nosoi 1
Corrupted Nosoi 2 -11
Corrupted Nosoi 3 -11
Corrupted Nosoi 4
Phaed
Abella
You're welcome.
Phaed throws the Nosoi's skull at one of its corrupted kin.
She then casts Guidance on Tuco in case he needs to roll a save.
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Pavo is too full of himself to be compelled by the song. However, he is fully vulnerable to the mundane assaults. He steps back as the corrupted nosoi's beak pecks into him and burns.
Looking down at the released nosoi, his wounds magically healing, he says, "Thank you."
He sheathes his rapier and quickly draws an arrow to fire at the corrupted nosoi over Tuco and then releases another.
”Desna, help me cleanse this place!” cries out Shade.
He then casts moonbeam on #3 (#2 if that one is gone
And his spell hits nothing.
He then moves in to stand by Phaed. ”Perhaps a healing burst instead, next. ”
Pavo takes an additional , but he manages to fend off the rot.
Pavo sends an arrow to pierce #4.
Pavo
Tuco
Shade
Corrupted Nosoi 1
Corrupted Nosoi 2 -11
Corrupted Nosoi 3 -11
Corrupted Nosoi 4 -6
Phaed
Abella
Tuco grunts in pain before opening up the assault against #4
Tuco then raises his shield.
Tuco isn't able to connect with any of the nosois as they are 10' up!
The nosois fly from their perches to attack!
Nosoi #1 swoops down to bite Tuco!
“The Lord slumbers below!"
Nosoi #2 flies down to attack Pavo!
"You are nothing but his dreams!"
Nosoi #3 flies down to peck Shade!
"When the lord awakens..."
And nosoi #4 swoops down to bite Phaed!
"You'll know the end of things!"
Phaed sends a skull flying at nosoi #3, which kills it!
She then casts Guidance on Pavo.
Pavo
Tuco
Shade
Corrupted Nosoi 1
Corrupted Nosoi 2 -11
Corrupted Nosoi 4 -6
Phaed
Abella