Orik’s mood suddenly brightens back up! ”Well damn! Let’s get out of he-,” he says before pausing as realization sets in. ”Ummm…though, my room isn’t really…well, it’s trash. All I could afford long term is a room in some dive called the Feedbag. It’s so beneath you. And I don’t think the cathedral is really the best place either…” he muses, embarrassed at his situation.
"I have coin to spare. I'll get us a room here."
Lisa negotiates with the White Deer's somewhat rude proprietor. After a few minutes, she returns to Orik, dangling a key from her fingers. "Shall we?"
Orik is out of the booth in what could be record time! He accompanies Lisavet up the stairs to the room that Lisavet had acquired. As she approaches the door with the key, she is suddenly distracted by the return of Orik’s hands running across her stomach from behind and his lips busting themselves on the crook of her neck.
It takes Lisa several tries to get the door open, her hands shaking. Finally, she is able to unlock the door and stumble into the relatively luxurious room. Once the door is closed, she leans back against Orik, enjoying his touch. "Help me get my armor off," she pants.
Orik continues running his hands across her body as she leans back into him until she asks her question. He then steps away and around her, making his way to the bed where he has a seat and says ”I think I wanna enjoy the show…”
Based on the distortion of his trousers, it is clear he already is.
Lisavet gives Orik what he wants. She tugs at the various straps and buckles that hold her breastplate in place, removing the plates one by one over the course of a few minutes. Once the chest piece has come off, she works on the chausses and greaves, and soon enough, the priestess stands before Orik in only her padded undergarments.
Slowly, sensually, she removes these bits of clothing, dropping them to the floor. She runs a hand through her blonde locks and bites her lip as she stands before Orik, her body completely on display.
At the end of the undressing, Orik rises from the bed and surges forward, grasping Lisavet and pressing her firmly back against the door. He aggressively buries his face into her neck as his hands drift over her body like they are trying to make contact with every inch of her smooth skin.
After a few minutes, he hefts her up off the floor, to the point that her legs are draped across his shoulders as he stands on the floor, his face buried between her legs as he begins a relentless assault on her womanhood.
Lisa had not been prepared for the sudden bull rush. Orik is much bigger and stronger then her, and it's little effort for him to lift her up and begin giving her some much appreciated attention. She pants and moans, her fingers digging into his hair.
Orik is persistent, in a voracious sense. Almost like a starved animal. He continues, relentlessly, until he draws a climax out of the priestess. He then slowly lowers her to the ground, but only to the point her toes can barely touch the wood floor. He brings her hands up and pins them above her head against the door with his left hand as his right replaces where his lips had been. He rubs them roughly across the now hyper-sensitive area as he whispers into Lisa’s ear ”Thatta girl. I want another one. I’m not gonna stop until every room around us knows how good you’re feeling…” a moment before he playfully nibbles on her earlobe.
Lisa squirms at Orik's touch. "Ah! Ah... oh, Orik!" she moans again, writhing her hips against him.
He picks up the pace and the pressure, purely on the exterior surfaces. He growls in her ear ”Louder,” before his face crawls down her face, to her neck, to her shoulder, to her breast, all the while maintaining the pace with his right hand and not letting her hands free with his left.
"Mmm... Orik! Orik, don't stop!" Lisa cries. Her whole body is tingling with pleasure.
He doesn’t stop. He keeps it up, moving from breast to breast, as he continues muttering little encouragements to her, coaxing her to be louder.
When Thanara leaves the smithy, she is still in a haze. She doesn’t even shift her robe to a hooded cloak like usual. She groggily makes her way through town, headed for home.
A few minutes later, she realizes she wasn’t on the street she was supposed to be on, and saw the sign for Vernah’s Fine Clothing up ahead. Ryn.
She staggers her way to the door, which surprisingly is hanging a little ajar. She steps inside, the bell singing to announce her arrival. She can hear some sobbing from upstairs. So she followed the sound up.
She lets herself into Ryn’s room, and sees the girl sitting on the side of the bed, crying into a pillow. She jumps when she notices movement at the door, but then she narrows her eyes and asks ”H-how could you?”
Thanara walked slowly over and sat on the foot of the bed. ”It’s…it’s what Ms. Savah wanted…”
Ryn shakes her head. ”But not what I wanted, Tee!” she says, hurt evident in her voice. ”We were friends. And she ruined that! We…we won’t ever be the same!”
Thanara shook her head. ”We can if we want to be. What I did, I did because she told me to. It was what Ms. Savah demanded. What happens with her, between us, is for her. Here, we can just be…be the friends we always have. I promise I won’t make it weird. If…if this is what she wants, shouldn’t we try to provide?”
Ryn’s eyes dart back and forth between Thanara’s, then looks away. Her fingers run along her own bracelets as she says ”Maybe.”
She looks back and says ”It was awkward, right?”
Thanara nods. ”A little bit. But you enjoyed it in the moment. And I enjoyed making the two of you happy. So, if we have to do it again, then let’s just…act like it’s just a task we have to do, right? We can talk it off here and vent about it afterwards, okay?” she said as she placed a reassuring hand on Ryn’s.
”I…I guess…” she said. She then looked up at Thanara and let out a slight laugh. ”It was weird though.”
Thanara laughed along with the half-elf seamstress. Then the two spent the rest of the night sharing Savah stories until they were certain their friendship had in fact not been ruined, and then the two fell asleep, with Ryn’s arms wrapped around Thanara.
Lisa obliges. The door is rattling as she writhes against it, her shouts echoing off the walls of the room. "ORIK! YES! ORIK, YES!"
He smiles in approval as he pauses long enough to remove his own clothes. He then lifts her up again, holding her up against the door as he finally goes all the way with her.
__________
Outside, an older couple that had rented a room as they were passing through were walking by, and could clearly hear the obvious sounds coming from just the other side of the rattling door. The pair blushed and hurried on down the hall.
__________
The pair, having spent their first session of passion against the door, the second on the floor, then the third, fourth, and fifth sessions finally in the bed, lay panting in sweat covered heap as they caught their breath.
”I was wrong. Sex with a priestess doesn’t sap their powers. It’s clearly the…the other way around,” he jokes between panted breaths.
Lisa sighs contentedly as she lies in bed with Orik, snuggled up against him. The two talk quietly for a few minutes before exhaustion overtakes them and they fall asleep.
***
The next day, Lisa seeks out Thanara. "You'll never guess what happened last night," she says, grinning broadly.
Yeah, I bet you wouldn’t either…
Thanara blushes a bit and asks ”What happened?” as she sips on some cider and picks at some eggs and hash browns at Risa’s.
Lisa sits beside the sorceress. ”Orik and I... We rented a room at the White Deer, and we... We took our relationship to the next level.” She giggles and blushes.
Thanara’s eyes widen in surprise. ”Really? Wow…”
She then asks quietly ”Aren’t…aren’t you worried about becoming with child?”
Lisa hesitates a moment. ”Oh. We were so caught up in things, I wasn’t even considering...” She looks at Thanara. ”But that doesn’t happen every time, right?”
Thanara shrugs. She knows little about medical knowledge and had no mother to explain these things to her. And her father damn well didn’t take that sort of time with her.
”I’m glad everything is going well with you two,” she replies and places a hand on Lisavet’s arm. She then gets a mischievous smile and asks ”How was it?”
She then sighs. ”I suppose we need to let Belor know what we’ve learned. Don’t we? I…I still can’t believe it…”
”Oh, Thanara, it was wonderful!” Lisa gushes. She then whispers as she describes the activities that she and Orik participated in the previous night, sparing few details.
Eventually, though, Thanara suggests checking in with the sheriff. Lisa quickly becomes serious as well. ”Yes. It is difficult to believe. As soon as we are ready, we need to travel south to put a stop to this undead menace.”
Snow, meanwhile, has been up to some less carnal-ly inclined activities.
Leaving before first light she travelled south, intent on locating Foxglove Manor and the so called 'pack' to be found there. Fortunately Niska has lived in Sandpoint since its inception and provides directions to 'Old Vorel's place' with too much difficulty.
On the less positive side Snow underestimates just how difficult the path is, and thus her journey time. Intending to slip out of town and be back within by midday it takes her nearly four hours just to find the place - a desolate near-ruin perched on the cliffs above the Gulf of Varisia.
Too sensible to approach a potentially dangerous building alone Snow observes the place for over an hour from significant distance and only then takes on her wolf form to investigate the scents and sounds of the area.
A pervasive stench confirms to her sensitive nose that something like the murdered in the mill has been in regular attendance and Snow knows just enough about undead to be confident that she will learn nothing else during daylight. Unwilling to enter the house alone, Niska's stories always featured the prominently the gruesome deaths of foolish young women who entered strange houses by themselves, Snow turns and makes the length return trip to Sandpoint - returning in the mid-afternoon tired and dusty.
Sheriff Hemlock listens to your report, nodding grimly. ”So some sort of ghoul is behind the murders. That makes sense, considering my guards and I have just returned from a nearby farm where the family had been killed and transformed into ghouls themselves. We found another note there as well, pinned to a corpse with that star carved into its chest.”
The bloodstained note reads: Take the fever into you, my love—it shall be but the first of my gifts to you. -Your Lordship
”All the clues point to Aldern Foxglove. I hope you can find him and put a stop to this reign of terror.”
***
Shortly after the meeting with the sheriff, Snow rides back into town...
The new message simply confirmed her fears. Aldern was obsessed, and a monster.
”W-we have to stop him. Whatever has happened to him, he’s changed. A monster.”
She looks out the window at the sun’s position in the sky. ”We’ll never make it to the manor before nightfall. We should do whatever we need to do to prepare and then leave first thing in the morning. Unless we would rather go camping in the wilderness with undead lurking about…” she adds.
"We definitely do not want to do that," Lisa says. Spotting Snow riding back into town, she waves and makes her way over to the ranger to fill her in on everything.
"You went to the Misgivings? What did you see there?" she asks.
"Not much." Snow says shortly, moving to take care of Varshti. "Smells awful. Ghouls there. But sunny. Nothing moving. Go in daylight. Carefully."
She looks between the two women and cracks a small smile. "Glad you had fun." She says, but doesn't elaborate. "Must go. New armor. Old armor too heavy now."
It isn't an invitation exactly, but she hasn't asked them not to come.
"We'll go with you, Snow," Lisa says. "Let's make sure all of us have all the equipment we need before we head out."
Thanara nods absentmindedly. Her mind a thousand places.
Aldern’s obsession.
Savah’s possessiveness.
Ryn being upset.
Her father’s hatred.
Snow’s possessiveness.
Lisavet’s happiness.
All this and more was tumbling through her head as she followed along with the other two heroines.
Snow doesn't head towards Savah's but instead heads for the Red Dog Smithy, where she is greeted with a smile by Des Korvut, the much better tempered son of Das, the smithy's famously foulmouthed proprietor.
"Hey Snow," He says with a smile. "Great timing. Got done with your new set this morning. Dad did a great job and I had a lot of fun doing the extras, thanks for letting me cut loose on it for once."
"No problem." Snow says, pulling the young smith into a back-slapping. "How are Daz, Derek and Dog?"
"As foul as ever." Des replied, grinning. "They'll roll over like puppies for you though, I'm sure. Must be why Dad was willing to do this, he always says fancy work is a waste of time."
"He likes me." Snow says, flicking her hair back with a wink. The move is too obviously staged to be effective, but it is funny and Des laughs heartily. "Go find him you troublemaker!" He says, slapping Snow on the back. "I'll entertain your lady friends."
Snow heads out the back of the store where a volley of barking makes it clear that the famous Red Dogs have indeed found her as Des turns to Thanara and Snow. "Lady Scarnetti, Priestess Ambra, how can I help you today?"
Snow emerges fifteen minutes later wearing a set of leather armor that Thanara and Lisa have never seen before. The main suit is a remarkable white and someone, presumably Des, has lovingly scored tiny lines into it, giving the impression of fur. There are also elaborate pauldrons, shaped into snarling wolf's heads as well as greaves and bracers in a similar white leather.
"So?" Snow looks a little nervous. "What you think?"
Lisa is in awe of the elaborate armor now is now sporting. She gives a thumbs up. "It's fantastic, Snow! It definitely suits you! Any enemies that see you coming will know that you mean business!"
"I made something else for you as well Snow." Des adds. "Before you say anything it's included in what you already paid. Dad said I need to do my masterpiece soon and this was great practise."
He offers a finely carved helmet made of steel. "Might not be the most practical thing in the world I know, but if you ever want to scare someone this should be perfect." He says with a grin. "Show everyone what you're made of kid!"
Snow gapes at the helmet and then pulls Des into a hard hug, nearly lifting the burly young man off the ground entirely! "Thank you!" She whispers, before slipping the helm onto her head. With her white hair fanned out below and the white armor to go with it Snow looks like a vengeful warrior of ice and fury!
"Have sack?" She asks Des, removing the helm once more. "Want to make show, tomorrow."
With her new gear carefully wrapped and hidden away Snow leads the way to Tanner's Bridge where Hank sees her coming and offers her another sack. A series of incomprehensible words pass between them and Snow passes over some more coins before bending her path to Mvashti manor.
"Don't have to come." She says to her friends. "More to get. Want to be surprise."
------------------------------------------------------------
Having extracted herself from Thanara and Lisa Snow heads for Vernah's Fine Clothing. The door is closed and curtains cover the window but Snow knocks anyway and then tries the unlocked handle.
"A closed door means I not-" Ryn yells, storming out of her work-room and pulling up sharply when she sees who it is. "Sorry Snow, I thought you were... someone I don't want to see right now. What can I- oh, of course, you're here for your order."
She bends behind the counter and starts piling neatly folded garments onto it. "I haven't finished everything yet, but these should be enough for a couple of weeks at least. I'll have the rest done in a few days hopefully. Do you want to try any of them on? I can check the fits while you're here, save you a trip."
Snow nods and remembers to step into the curtained alcove this time before slipping out of her clothes and taking the garments that Ryn passes through the curtain. Each piece of clothing is much better fitted to her body than she is used to and Snow has to put in a lot more effort to dress herself than normal, which leads to some interesting noises floating out to Ryn on the other side of the curtain.
When the shifter finally throws the cloth aside and steps outside though the seamstress breaks out into a wide grin. "Damn I'm good." She says, the smile on her face the most genuine expression Snow has seen on her today. The shifter returns the smile and twirls on one bare foot.
"Thanks Ryn." Examining herself in the exquisitely polished length of silver alloy that Ryn keeps as a mirror for her customers Snow turns this way and that to examine herself better. "Looks great!"
"Try the rest on." The seamstress responds. "The measurements should be fine but we'd better check."
Snow parades through another four outfit combinations, including a jacket with fringes of tassels that flutter in the breeze whenever she turns sharply and makes the shifter laugh.
On her final trip to the changing room Ryn passes the clothes through and Snow makes a surprised noise before poking her head out to look at Ryn.
"Did not buy this." She says, looking intently at the half-elf who blushes under the scrutiny.
"No, I err... well I was working a couple of nights ago, thought of you and just had to put that together." She replied, "If you don't like it you don't have to wear it."
Snow's head disappears back into the curtain and she emerges a minute or so later. She strikes a pose, hand placed on one hip in imitation of a gesture Thanara often uses and watches with satisfaction as Rynshinn stares at her. The corset-like garment leaves Snow's shoulders and arms bare, covering her small chest and emphasising her trim waist. The hip hugging trousers with silver embroidery down the seams sit dangerously low, showing a sliver of Snow's muscled stomach and the shifter runs a finger across the strip of bared skin, watching as Ryn's eyes follow the gesture.
"Thank you." Snow says, a predatory smile on her lips. "I like!" She steps forwards, places her hands on either side of Ryn's waist and presses her lips firmly to the seamstresses. The kiss was only meant to last a moment but the low moan that Rynshinn lets out at the contact sets a fire burning in Snow's stomach and she can't help running her tongue across the half-elf's plump lips, demanding access as pheromones spike, filling Snow's nose with a heady scent of passion and lust.
Ryn melts, her mouth opening as she leans into Snow's powerful frame and then, equally quickly, pulls back again. "No, stop! Stop Snow! I'm... I'm sorry!" She pulls back, practically babbling. "I can't. There's... I just... unprofessional... you see... shouldn't... there's someone.. I... just can't..."
Snow steps forward and places a finger on Ryn's lips, gratified to see that the simple gesture is enough to cut off the babbling entirely.
"Don't worry." The shifter says simply. "Am sorry. Not happen again. Just thank you. For clothes. Don't worry. Our secret." She winks and steps behind the curtain once more, reappearing shortly afterwards with the final outfit piled roughly in her hands.
"Mean it." She says as Ryn refolds all the clothes and wraps them into a hefty parcel. "Won't say anything. Not want to hurt you. Say nothing. Even though good kiss." She takes the parcel and can't resist dropping a final light kiss onto Ryn's slightly parted lips. This time she pulls back before the seamstress can respond at all and throws a wink over her shoulder as she leaves the store.
Left on her own Ryn puts her hands on the counter and lets her head hang. Guilt and lust war in her stomach as one thought runs through her head.
If clothes make the woman, then what sort of monster did I just create?
When Snow emerges from the back, Thanara’s eyes widen appreciatively at the beauty of the armor. ”Des, did you make this?” she asks as she runs a finger across some of the leather. ”It’s incredible! I really am impressed!”
__________
Later, when everyone goes their separate ways, Orik catches Thanara alone and approaches her before she can get out of town on the road to her home. ”Lady Scarnetti! May I have a word?”
Thanara smiles at the man, and her mind wanders to the detailed descriptions Lisavet gave her earlier, causing a slight blush to form on her cheeks. ”Good evening, Orik. How are you?” she asks, though she has a decent handle on how his past few weeks have been.
He smiles and answers ”Excellent, ma’am. I just wanted to say thank you again for the multitude of kindnesses you’ve shown me. And…hopefully…well, there is no easy way to ask this. I need a job. And was wondering if maybe your family might be looking to hire a bodyguard?”
Thanara stops walking and looks at him, surprised.
Although, with the recent murders, Father may want to add a bit more security to the Mill…
She smiles at him and says ”I think perhaps something can be arranged. In fact… she removes four gold coins and hands them to him. ”Consider yourself hired! I trust four gold per month is a fair price for a man of your skill?”
He takes the coins and smiles back. ”Certainly, My Lady. Please, allow me to walk you home.”
As they arrive at the manor, her father is waiting in the porch, arms folded as he flowers at the pair. ”Who the hell are you?”
Orik bows, but before he can speak Thanara says ”This is Sir Vancaskerkin. The man who helped us at Thistletop. I hired him as a new House Guard.”
Titus’ head snaps Thanara’s way. ”You. Did. What?” he seethes.
”I…I just thought, with the attack at the Mill…extra security wouldn’t hurt…” she stammers.
He turns back to Orik and looks him up and down. ”Fine. But know this. You work for me? Is that understood? And I will handle the terms of the contract. Not my whelp of a daughter.”
Orik bows his head and answers ”Certainly sir.”
Titus signals for Orik to follow him as he adds ”Come on. Let’s have a drink then and discuss your contract.”
As the pair disappear into the manor, Thanara takes the opportunity to retreat upstairs and go to sleep. A nights rest a much needed thing at this point.
_________
Thanara slipped as quietly as she could out of the house. She doubted it would be a good idea to tell her father what her plans were for the day.
She took Frostfire from the stable and led him into town to the Garrison, where she assumed the other two would meet her.
If Thanara and Lisa hadn't been as the Red Dog to see Snow collect her armor then they might well not have recognised the figure waiting for them both outside the Garrison.
Wearing fine leather boots and figure-hugging trousers the woman waiting for them both bears little resemblance to the usually bedraggled Snow. The white wolf armor, combined with her wolf helm draws the eyes of everyone passing the government buildings and the thrill of chatter and new gossip is everywhere.
"Who's that? I've never seen anyone like him before!"
"Silly it's a woman! No man has legs like that."
"I'd be careful if I were you, she looks like she could take your head off."
"Can't be that Snow girl could it? I'd swear its the same hair."
Arika, always interested in the latest gossip, pulls up when she sees Thanara coming.
"Hey Thanara, any idea who the mysterious woman over there is? Aneka bet me a morning at the bakery that she's a woman from the Ulfen lands. Tell me she's wrong! Please!"
Snow greets her friends with a nod before removing her helmet and shaking out her hair. She gives no sign of hearing the outburst of gasps and chatter when people recognise her, but as the group rides out of the gate she breaks into a broad grin.
"Going well." She says, looking rather pleased with herself. "People see me now!"
Thanara answers Arika, ”That,” pausing as Snow takes off her helmet. Lucky for her, Arika and everyone had looked away. Because Thanara chewing her bottom lip at the confident display from the lean shifter would easily have been noticed otherwise. ”that, is Snow.”
Thanara approaches, her own white attire matching Snow’s surprisingly well. ”Yeah, they definitely do.”
Thanara’s heart rate quickened as her eyes took in Snow’s powerful new look. I can’t believe Savah has left me like this. She’s kept me worked up for days. I…I don’t know how long I can keep this up…
Snow eases Varshti alongside Frostfire and the two horses nicker comfortably at each other as they settle into lock-step.
"You like." Snow says, shooting Thanara a sideways glance. "Glad. Be like you. Proud. Confident. That was plan." She gives the sorceress another look, letting her eye trail up and down Thanara's form with the same blatant stare she's seen the sorceress trying to hide from her.
"You are... tense." The shifter leans over, managing to get her mouth near Thanara's ear despite the movement of the horses. "I could help..."
She pulls back, a wide grin on her face to watch the blush she knows is coming.
Thanara’s heart races and her body visibly trembles when Snow leans in and whispers a suggestive comment directly in her ear. Her whole body indeed flushes, all the more evident given her bare back and other wide swathes of exposed skin. ”Snow!” the sorceress counters. In her mind, it was a scathing rebuttal. But her tone, body language, and blush make it seem more like a fleeting moment of embarrassment.
She shoots Lisavet a glance to see if she had noticed Snow’s blatant come on.
Snow merely quirks one pale eyebrow in response and sits back in her saddle, relaxed and grinning like the proverbial cat.
"Wow, Snow! You've really learned how to dress to impress!" Lisa says, marveling at Snow's new distinctive look.
The cleric turns to ready her own horse, failing to pick up on the interaction between Snow and Thanara. By the time she turns back around, the moment has passed. "Well, are we ready? Let's head out!"
You ride south along the Lost Coast Road for several miles, eventually turning to the west. The route leading out to Foxglove Manor is a 3-mile hike along a narrow path that follows the Foxglove River from the covered bridge where it flows under the Lost Coast Road to the dark sea cliffs overlooking the Varisian Gulf. Here, wild sea birds call out to a roaring ocean that churns hundreds of feet below.
As you near Foxglove Manor, it almost seems as if nature herself has become sick and twisted. Nettles and thorns grow more prominent, trees are leaf less and bent, and the wind seems unnaturally cold and shrill as it whistles through the cliffside crags. The path slowly rises, bending around a steep corner in the cliffs, and then Foxglove Manor looms at the edge of the world.
The strangely cold sea wind rises to a keening shriek as Foxglove Manor comes into view. The place has earned its local nickname of the “Misgivings” well, for it almost appears to loathe its perch high above the ocean, as if the entire house were poised for a suicide leap. The roof sags in many places, and mold and mildew cake the crumbling walls. Vines of diseased-looking gray wisteria strangle the structure in several places, hanging down over the precipitous cliff edge almost like tangled braids of hair. The house is crooked, its gables angling sharply and breached in at least three places, hastily repaired by planks of sodden wood. Chimneys rise from various points among the rooftops, leaning like old men in a storm, and grinning gargoyle faces leer from under the eaves.
The ruins of an outbuilding stand along the path to the manor. It’s impossible to tell how many floors the outbuilding that once had, for all that remains are the sooty, scorched stones of its foundation. To the east, a four-foot-wide stone well sits, partially collapsed, in the corner of the ruins.
There are two obvious entrances into Foxglove Manor itself, the front doors and the side doors. Numerous windows could provide entrance into the manor as well; the unbroken, grime-encrusted panes of glass in their frames speak not only of the Foxglove family’s wealth in being able to afford such an extravagance, but also of the manor’s notorious reputation—no vandals have dared break them.
Thanara looked on at the approaching manor with a sudden sense of dread in her core. Had she really went on a date with this man? He was different, wasn’t he? And, she didn’t recall it being that impactful, had it?
Even so, she was a mixed up bundle of emotions as they approached the manor.
”So…should we just go up and knock? Or…?”
"For some reason, I don't think anybody is going to answer," Lisa says, frowning. A shiver runs down her spine as the cold wind howls past her. She looks at Snow. "How do you think we should proceed?"
"Front door obvious." Snow says slowly, examining the building. "No tracks but... leave horses. Try side door."
She makes sure to secure the horses some distance from the house itself, just in case, before leading the way cautiously towards the side door of the manor.
You quietly approach the manor's side door. It is locked, but Snow is able to pick the lock and open the door.
This oak-paneled chamber must have once been breathtaking, but is 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.
Snow leads the way, letting her sensitive nose pick out the heavy scents of the undead...
The scent of decay abounds inside Foxglove Manor. Ceilings sag, plaster swells, and timbers rot. Mold and stains mar walls and floors, often in strangely unsettling patterns.
The door to the east leads to a 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.
Inside is a horrific and pitiful sight--a blind, tumorous rat! It scrabbles at the metal tub, shrieking in a frenzy as it tries to clamber out! It is harmless to you, but it would be a mercy to put it out of its misery, should you choose to do so.
Once the rat has been dealt with or ignored, Snow leads the way down a hall and into the northeastern room. 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.
Peering closely, Snow can see that the dust is being disturbed, almost as if an invisible person were pacing violently back and forth before the fireplace...
Snow leaves Thanara to deal with the rat, touching it seems like a bad idea, and leads the way onwards.
In the next room when she notices the dust she points towards it and silently edges around the room, staying well away.
"By the Dawnflower!" Lisavet breathes. "This place may be literally haunted! Be on your guard."
She carefully follows Snow into the next room. 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.
"What those?" Snow says softly, pointing to the windows. While those more knowledgeable than her examine them she keeps a wary eye (and nose) out for any more... ghosts.