Caraid continues to be battered and blown around, even as he tries to demystify the heart.
Aily gets battered again to the ground, anger boiling off her normally... well not calm, she is quite regularly angry, she just hides it well.
Caraid's attempts to unravel the enchantments around the heart are super effective, weakening it significantly. Combined with the pummeling the organ takes from Ceceka and Humerus, the shadowy heart shrivels away into a sheet of black cloth that flutters to the ground. The cloth radiates strong magic.
You are confident that whatever threat this shadowy cottage may have posed has now been thoroughly neutralized...
"Good job, boss!" Humerus congratulates everyone. "This cloth could be a threat too, boss, or maybe cursed? Want me to get rid of it?"
"Let's hold on to it, Humerus. I could be quite fetching on Aily, give Caraid or Ceceka some flair." Telvir admires the item.
"Sure, boss, whatever you say," Humerus agrees, holding out the item to Aily.
"I guess we should go wait for Seldeg, right, boss?"
Once the others agree, he heads outside and begins looking around for the grave knight, wondering how long it will take for him to return.
"Too dark for my tastes." Caraid replies, eyeing the cloak. He can appreciate it for its use but dark and brooding isn't his personal look. Thankfully it will suit his-, no, Aily very well.
"You seem to be acquiring a whole new wardrobe here." He says, falling in beside the shadowdancer with a smile. "Perhaps the next place we go you can help me get some new clothes? And perhaps with less mortal peril in the process!"
Aily accepts the cloak, She runs her han down the shadowy cloak which is elegant midnight and smooth as expensive silk. "Hmmm... a servant in more expensive cloths than her masters would stand out." her matter of a fact speech holding no deference as a proper maid would, since there are no others around. Looking Caraid up and donw, her lips curve, in the thoughts of dressing him. "Of course my lord." once again no deference, any of it lost in a more of a sensual amusement.
You set up camp in the Axan Wood a short distance away from the now inert cottage. The next evening, Seldeg returns on his skeletal steed. "The fey were a dead end. What did you learn?" He listens to your report and nods his head. "Well done. Thornhearth is at the edge of Axan Wood, to the south of here. That shall be our next stop on the hunt for Iron Taviah. Let us ride."
***
The journey takes you down gloomy trails that tunnel through deep, overgrown forests. An impenetrable wall of briars and trees lines the road on either side. Deer paths wind up hills and into shallow valleys, and a creek crosses the road several times, engorged from recent rains.
After several days, you arrive at a crossroads on the southern edge of Axan Wood. A stone obelisk indicates the road to Mechitar, but no markers show where the other roads lead. Seldeg is undeterred, however, pointing the way to the village of Thornhearth.
Two bedraggled humans stand in the middle of the road ahead. Seldeg glares at them irritably. "We are on the King's business. Clear the road!" he demands. The humans comply, but their movements are sluggish, and their eyes are ringed with dark hollows.
"Hold a moment, Seldeg" Telvir squints at the derlict humans. "You there, what is wrong with you?"
Telvir takes the most direct route with his questioning, and mentally catalogues their visible symptoms.
Caraid swings off his horse to examine the men more closely.
"Looks like they may just have too much flesh on their bones, boss. I think I remember when I had that problem. Things hurt all the time, sometimes my stomach bothered me, once I think I even had a regrown hair. My bones hurt sometimes. That still happens, so I'm pretty sure it did back then, but the rest of it doesn't anymore," Humerus babbles, happily answering Telvir's question even though it wasn't at all directed at him.
The woman looks up at Telvir and speaks in a hoarse voice. "Beg your pardon, lords. We have come from the village of Thornhearth. No one there has eaten properly in weeks, ever since the disappearance. We have been searching the dangerous woods around our village for the Benefactor while living on rainwater and berries."
The man simply looks at you warily, saying nothing. Both Telvir and Caraid can confirm both people are suffering from severe malnutrition.
"What disappearance was that? And who is this Benefactor?" Telvir impatiently questions the woman.
The woman narrows her eyes. "Beg your pardon a second time. It's not for me to discuss with strangers."
Caraid frowns and walks over to a nearby bush that the pair have clearly stripped of berries. He stands there, tapping his foot, until the bush blooms another crop of berries - which grow fast enough to actually watch. By the time it's heavy with fruit he steps away and makes a careless gesture towards it.
"Eat." He commands, and waits for them to do just that before asking any more questions. "You see, I can help. But only if I know what I'm helping with..."
"Oh, hey, no problem. I'm Humerus. So, see, now you know who I am, so we're not strangers at all," the skeleton says. "Plus, you're all skin and bones, and I'm all bones, so we're almost the same!"
Aily stays on her horse, the elevation providing her more of a vantage point to spot trouble, which she is on the lookout for as the others chat.
A growl emerges from Ceceka when the man and woman refuse to answer their questions in a proper and expedient manner. It's that Caraid is more diplomatic, and actively trying to 'mend' the situation, or only Zon-Kuthon knows what would have happened.
This damned forest is putting him on edge. Days of stolen light and walls of green, no wonder its inhabitants are so ... so! Once again, Ceceka growls.
The man and woman gratefully eat their fill of the berries. "Thank you," the woman says, and the man thumps his chest and bows. It seems like he cannot talk at all. (If asked, the woman explains, "A fairy took his voice a few days ago, and we couldn't get it back.")
"Very well. Follow us back to Thornhearth, and I'll explain everything," the woman says, gesturing for you to ride behind her.
You smell woodsmoke and manure before you catch sight of the village. About a dozen rough cabins surround a grassy knoll with a stone well at its base. A hill rises just to the east, supporting a small stone manor house that overlooks the village. A few farms are full of grain, root vegetables, and other crops, but the crops are untended and starting to rot. Worry lines the faces of the villagers, who all go about their usual tasks with vacant looks of misery and hunger. Sullen children haunt the yards, and adults with nervous eyes whisper in the village center.
The woman invites you to her cabin, where she prepares a meal of cold gruel for you. She reluctantly tells you her name is Akui and introduces the man as Soama.
"Thornhearth is ruled and protected by the Benefactor," Akui explains, "who lives in the estate on the hill. Three weeks ago, the Benefactor stopped coming into the village. Since he usually delivers instructions to the people each night, the people feel abandoned. The Benefactor hasn’t willed them to eat or work, so they don’t do either for fear of angering him. Many villagers believe it’s a test or a trial, but I worry something is very wrong. The Benefactor has left before for business out of town, but never for more than a few days. Everyone in Thornhearth is afraid of what will become of them without the Benefactor."
Humerus chatters obliviously as the group makes its way back to Thornheart.
"What kind of fairy? And why'd it take his voice? What'd you do to try to get it back? I had a human once, tried to take some stuff of the boss'. He said I had to get both of 'em back. So I did. Boss didn't seem to actually care that much about his stuff, but he was real glad to get that human back." He ponders for a minute. "Worked out well for me too, cuz the next week the human was helping me move crates and stuff. At least, I'm pretty sure it was him. It's hard to tell without faces, but he had all his bones cracked right where I cracked them when I caught him..."
Later, after hearing Akui and Soama's stories.
"Boy, the people here don't seem all that bright. You'd think they'd be able to do something, but ... well, if they only had a brain, right, boss? Did anyone go ask the Benefactor what they should do? Or do they need him to come tell them to do that first?"
Akui shrugs when asked about what type of fairy it was. "Didn't get a good look at it. It ran off before we could catch it."
When asked about going to the Benefactor, she visibly pales. "Oh, no! Villagers are not allowed to go to the Benefactor's estate unless invited." She shifts anxiously. "Even with his absence, we have been too afraid to break his laws. But you are not from the village. Perhaps you could go to the estate and try to learn what has become of him?"
"Sure, boss, no problem!" Humerus agrees. Then looks around to see what everyone else thinks.
"Someone has gulled these credulous villagers." Telvir comments to his companions. "We should explore the 'Benefactor's' mansion to get to the bottom of this."
Caraid nods his agreement - someone who can deceive an entire town, possibly for generations - is someone he wants to see.
The quietly judgemental maid on her horse thinks these people should all simply be put out of their miserable lives. While the power to turn people into simpering mice sounds like something they should study, having to spend just the little amount of time around this pitiful wretches has her want to kill them. So doing whatever this is to their own staff would be counterproductive.
You make your way through the town of dejected residents to the Benefactor's estate. A brownstone manor house perches atop a hill, surrounded by rosebushes in full bloom. Two chimneys rise from the red-shingled roof. Ivy covers the crumbling stone face overlooking the village, and no light shines within the tall windows on the upper floor. An antiquated brass doorbell hangs beside the door, but ringing it elicits no response.
After propriety was satisfied with the knocking, Aily stoops low to inspect the lock. Her picks are pulled from various hidden pockets and her dark bun, then she gets to work.
A soft angry hum comes out of her mouth when she fails, and then she tries again.
The door creaks open once Aily is able to pick the lock. Inside, the manor is dark and quiet. A cozy drawing room is to your right, while to your left is a long dining room with a grand mahogany table. A hall straight ahead leads to a tower with a spiral staircase ascending.
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"Good," Ceceka grumbles when Aily (finally) manages to open the door to the manor. His worn leather gloves groan as he grips his weapon, knowing that the current quiet inside the manor is but a lie. They'll find violence within. They always do.
"We might want to create light. Keep the shadows at bay."
Only Aily's impeccable training keeps a scoff from escaping her lips at the mention of light. Instead she silently ignores the request and moves around looking for traps, hidden bits and anything interesting.
"Sure, boss, it's a little dark in here," Humerus says.
He pauses. For one moment, then two, then a third.
"How do we do that, boss?"
"Not to worry, Humerus."
Telvir gesture's at Ceceka's weapon and it begins to give off a soft glow.
Speaking softly, he adds, "Shall we examine the drawing room, first? Perhaps there are papers there that would shed their own light on the situation."
"Sure, though I don't think I'm all that good at drawing, boss."
He quietly (despite the near-constant chattering) moves into the room, looking around.
Aily follows behind the group, staying as far from the light as possible, disappearing as much as she can.
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Caraid practically glow - horrendous show-off that he is - and waltzes into the dark without a care in the world. He's actually so lit up that it's hard not to notice him.
Surely no-one would take advantage of any theoretical observer's theoretical distraction to plunge a theoretical knife into them? Surely
This cozy drawing room is appointed with rich velvet sofas and chairs, and thick brocade rugs are arranged attractively on the stone floor. Mahogany bookcases and curio cabinets cover one wall entirely, while another wall hosts a massive stone hearth.
The air in the drawing room is stale. The hearth contains only ashes and charred fragments of logs, as though the wood placed within went untended until it burned out. Wax puddles on tables and shelves hint at places where candles were once lit and neglected.
A search of the room reveals a hidden lever on the westernmost bookshelf. However, both Caraid and Telvir can sense that a haunt is centered around the lever and will manifest if it is pulled.
"Stand back a moment." Gesturing for Smoke to stand in the hallway, Telvir mutters the appropriate incantations to drain the haunt's energy.
"Drat this thing."
He tries again, drawing on some less-common phrases.
"Would someone else like a shot at this? The spirit is resisting my charms."
While trained in the basics of religion, Ceceka is not armed with the knowledge and rites to counter-act a haunt like this one. As such, he steps back and leaves the matter of the haunted lever to the experts.
"It's like a shadow washed over this place and snuffed out the life and light. Heh, and left enough trauma in its wake to manifest a haunt."
Humerus waits and watches. He stays in the room, far away from Smoke.
"Are you sure it's safe to send him out there alone, boss? The living only know what he'll get up to there. Start chewing on the furniture -- or bones! -- and peeing and pooping everywhere ..."
"Not my area of expertise." Caraid says - he's a social fellow, not the kind to focus on spirits. "As long as no-one pulls the level nothing will happen. And if we're so keen to try it I propose Humerus. Such spirits are usually much less impactful on the dead."
He himself will be well away if the group decides to go that way...
Telviree frowns. Papers shift on desks in the room and pens rattle as he bends his will against the haunt.
"This chasing after hags has left me out of practice. I could have banished an unquiet spirit in moments, before. I will think on it."
Aily concentrated on keeping an eye out in the shadows, expecting something to come and kill them while they bantered.
Telvir eventually dispels the haunt. As he does, there is a brief manifestation. The spectral figure of a handsome, well-dressed man flees towards the bookshelf, clutching a wound in his side with one hand and making a shoving motion with the other. He pulls the hidden lever then seems to descend through the floor.
With the haunt gone, you pull the lever and cause the bookshelf to slide open, revealing a set of steep stone stairs leading down to a basement...
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"Whoa, good job, boss!" Humerus exclaims.
"Should we go down now, or explore the rest of this area first? This ghoul I worked with always said don't make more work for yourself until you finish the work you already have. But he was real lazy, I mean one time he ..." continues chattering, telling you an almost completely irrelevant story about a ghoul he knew one time before mindlessly switching to some other topic, all the while ignoring Aily's glare.
"Yes, we've previous negative experiences with basements, as well." Telvir nods at Humerus before tuning out the rest of his story.
"The manifestation suggests some sort of foul play. Interesting, considering the attitude of the local peasants."
Aily worries that her glare is losing its effectiveness. Is she going soft? The thought makes her want to stab something, but instead she brushes out her skirts needlessly.
"Is there any way to determine how long the haunt has been there? Could it be the after image of this Benefactor?"
There's no way to know for sure when the haunt manifested.
You head across the hall to explore the dining room. A grand mahogany table proudly occupies the center of the room. Goblets filled with congealed blood, the north one spilled on the tablecloth, occupy the two place settings at far ends of the table. The two high-backed chairs are toppled over, and one of them is missing a leg. Wax puddles in the center of the table suggest spent candles.
Telvir can sense the presence of another haunt here, centered around the spilled goblet.
"That's better." Telvir takes a closer look at the goblet after dispelling the haunt.
As the haunt's energy disperses, a spectral scene manifests. Two spectral figures, one a tall man dressed in fine clothing and the other a hulking woman in a hooded cloak, appear seated at opposite ends of the table. The man sips from the goblet that is now spilled and listens to the woman speak. Though their mouths move in conversation, only distorted snippets of their words can be heard. The woman seems to deliver a pronouncement to the man, to which he shakes his head in refusal. The scene abruptly shifts to that of a desperate struggle, with the woman breaking a leg off of a chair and fighting the man, attacking with both her claws and the makeshift stake. The vision then fades away.