VampByDay's 1-01 Round Robin Speedrun Extravoganza (Inactive)

Game Master VampByDay

Alaric grabs a bottle. "That is nice! Let's take these over to that house and we can have it through the night." He helps lift the crate.

"Samna, someone should tend to that bite," Isurus says.

On the way to the abandoned house, he suggests, "We should find out what people know about this place."

Diplomacy +6

Samna brushes off some blood with a rag. "I wouldn't say no to some help, and it seems we have some time to handle it."

Isurus doesn't learn much about the haunted house other than 'it's spooky' and 'it's scheduled for demolition next Wealday.' Others can try if they want. I'm assuming everyone can heal up for free from Ogren (if he allows it)since you have plenty of time.

Ogren always offers healing when ever he has the focus for it. Or a ten minute raincheck if he doesn't.

Ogren also asks around about the place, curious what he'd find about it.
Diplomacy +6

Jaxon tries to ask around some of his old contacts to see what the local criminals might know.

Diplomacy +4; Lore Underworld +3

Jaxon can look at the spoiler tag for Ogren.

"Holy s@!*, this place has got some bad juju. The last owner was a nasty mob boss who was in the habit of cutting off fingers, and sometimes even whole hands, of people who betrayed or failed him. Some say he even worked a way of disposing bodies directly into his house in case he had to kill people in his own home. Rumor has it that the spirits of those he maimed and killed came back to haunt him in his final days."

Jaxon wrings his hands a bit. "If these spirits are really restless, maybe we need to find where he disposed of their bodies."

"If there is a well or pond, he probably dumped them there," Isurus says. "Surface dwellers seem to have a compulsion for dumping things into water."

"You sure about that? Or did you hear it from a bunch of teenagers wild stories?" Alaric looks calm on the surface but inside he is frightened about what they will find inside.

"I find the living more terrible than the dead. Let's check it out."

After everyone is all rested up and ready to go, and you wait until sundown to spend the night in the haunted house, you get to the aformentioned address and . . .

This old home might have once commanded the respect and envy of its neighbors, but the remaining story is cracked and crumbling. Whatever upper stories it might have once had have long collapsed, scattering stone and debris across gardens grown wild and weedy. Two curving staircases lead to a broad veranda bereft of its railings. Two openings that might have once been doors lead into the faint remnants of a solarium, while two more doors lead further into the creaking house itself. A whiff of rot and decay seeps from the structure.

Okay, so different parts of the house trigger at different points in time, so the party will need to decide where to go and then wait for me to let you know what happens. Right now you are outside looking up at the front stairs/front porch. Let me know where you guys want to go.

Jaxon sniffs and gives a slow exhale out of his mouth. "This place stinks of death, but there ain't anything down there that hasn't been there a long while already. Maybe we check out the outside parts first."

Veranda

Ogren also follows Jaxon up to the veranda and starts to peer into the open windows and doors. "BAD person lived here and did BAD things here. I think we need to stay on our toes!"

"At the very least not do anything to make the walls fall down upon us," Isurus says. "Are you certain such a structure can remain standing much longer?" The azarketi's bioluminescent markings begin to grow brighter, providing some light for his less dark-adapted companions.

He peers through the window as they gather on the veranda.

It's only dim light in a 10-foot radius, so you'll want more light.

"I agree. Let's search the perimeter before we go inside."

Looking around the veranda and the outskirts of the building shows nothing that you didn’t already see.

Nothing new in these areas. Ogren receives a hero point, I’m gonna be rolling some secret checks here shortly, let me know if anyone wants me to automatically use their hero point, and on what number they want me to reroll (aka nat 1, 5 or lower, etc.)

Ogren gives a very small smile at the suggestion to not bring a wall down on the group and 'trips' as he rolls and slams into one of the sturdier looking walls. "Oops!"

Thanks for the Hero Point! Ogren will use it to reroll a crit failure on any Search checks or Saving throws.

As Ogren takes ones set of stairs up the veranda, Alaric takes the others. He takes his cloak and cleans the dirt from the windows to try and peer inside. "This place does look like it is going to fall in around us."

Alaric doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary in the house. While the upper two floors have collapsed, he thinks they should be fine for the night if they sleep in a smaller room that still had load bearing walls intact.

Jaxon looks around the veranda and shrugs. "Don't see nothin' here." He turns back to look into the Solarium. "I guess we should check here before going inside."

Jaxon will use a hero point on a nat 1

Stepping into the Solarium reveals a ruined set of furniture which may have once been a chez-lounge and some chairs . . . And a whole lot of dirty and broken glass.

Samna scrapes a foot through the debris.

"Well. This is...something."

"Nothing left but forward," Isurus says.

Ogren moves into the room and looks to his left and cocks his head. "But there's a whole building there... and isn'T forward that way." He then points in front of himself.

"WAIT! That's my left! Not your left!" Ogren moves around to stand right next to Isurus and looks left again... "Wait, that makes less sense..."
Sorry for literal reading of that. I actually had a moment when reading your post where I read it as being left as in the direction and was slightly confused.

Opening the doors and peering into the large hallway:

The tiled floor, ornate columns, and sweeping staircases of this once-grant hall evoke a distinctly Taldan aesthetic, though the finery has suffered greatly over the past years. The marble floor tiles are cracked and filthy, and the statuary lining the walls has been smashed. None of the three staircases climbs beyond head level before ending abruptly, debris from their fallen upper reaches scattered across the floor.

Samna, Jaxon, please make sure to move your dudes on the map so I know where you are, precice movement is important in this part of the scenario.

Jaxon searches through the debris to see if there might be anything of value left behind.

Perception +5

Isurus moves inside the house, his luminescent spots casting colored light into the nearby shadows. He listens carefully for sounds of squatters or creatures that might have made a home of this abandoned house.

Jaxon finds nothing in the debris.

Isurus hears plenty of things, creaking floorboards, the house settling, mice scurrying across the floor. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Jaxon follows Isurus into the house, looking around and down the left wing of the building.

"Shall we start with this door, here?" Isurus asks as he walks over to one of the rotting side doors.

I don't have a preference where to start, I just felt like going a different path than every time before.

Alaric stands beside Isurus. "Let's go on three." He lifts up three fingers to open the door."[/b]

You carefully open the door on three to find that you have busted in on . . . what appears to be the remains of a sitting room. It looks like at one time servents may have put trays of food down here in preperation for taking them out to guests, or maybe after it was cleaned up guests would adjurn here for a good smoke and some small talk.

Jaxon follows the others into the room, moving inside and taking a look around the room for anything interesting.

"Nothing haunted here," Isurus remarks. "Onward through this door on the other side once the others have joined?"

Samna follows along, keeping one eye behind the group.

Assuming Ogren joins you.

You open up the door to find that the second floor has collapsed into the first floor in this room. Detritus is everywhere, though judging from the splinters of furniture on the bottom most pile of the rubble, you guess this used to be a dining room. Probably for dinner parties. The furniture on top indicates a sitting room has fallen on top of it.

"This does not relieve my fears of the building collapsing upon us as we sleep," the azarketi comments dryly.

Alaric walks as lightly as possible as he heads further into the rooms to investigate what is beyond. "Have some rope ready in case I fall through into the basement."

As Alaric opens the door:

A large, long-cold fireplace stands in the east wall of this expansive parlor, but the furnishings are all rotted. A dank stench of mold lingers in the air. The ceiling overhead has collapsed, leaving the room open to the sky. The floor in the room’s southern end has followed suit, leaving a gaping hole into darkness.

Alaric immediately spots on the far end of the room that some of the floorboards are about to give way, which would plunge you unceremoniously into the basement. it's somewhat hard to see because, surprisingly, the throw carpet over the top of this section is still intact.

Dangerous area outlined in yellow.

Jaxon steps into the room behind Alaric. "Well, this is just grand." He moves over to the east to examine the remains of the furnishings and the fireplace there.

Are those doors back into the main hall?

"Yes. I have rope," Isurus says and removes his pack from his shoulders in order to retrieve a coil of rope. "Maybe we should break down the unstable floor so that we can more safely descend to explore the basement."

"If we're looking for dead bodies, I suppose that makes sense."

"Should we find something heavy to toss on the area or are you lookig to go down there Isurus?" Alaric begins to question the man's sanity and safety.

"I'm happy to slip down, if someone will throw some light."

Samna checks the rope and shimmies down it.

Let me know if you need a skill check.

"Hammers or axes, if we have them," Isurus says as he removes a hammer and crowbar from his pack. "Though whoever does the work should secure themselves with the rope."

I won't require a check here. Basically you shimmy down into a ruined basement. Most of the rest of it is blocked off by rubble so you can only explore one little room, which looks like it was used for foodstuffs which has long since rotted away. You don't find anything else of note down here.

If someone else had given you the mission you would have found something here, so good intuition, but not when Benari gives you the mission.

Now that you know the danger in the room you can devise a system for getting back up that doesn't require you to make a skill check.

Samna brushes some dirt off of her hands onto her trousers.

"Well, that was a whole lot of nothing. Let's check out the other rooms. Possibly, this is just an, creepy place."

With that Alaric heads over to the other side of the house. "Looks like they were all stories."