Claw marks? He whispers. Making a raking motion with an open hand before trying the door.
The elf frowned, but followed close behind. Sadly hwr summon has already departed to the realm of the dead, but there were always more at the tip of her fingers. Always so many dead.
When Rocko opens the door to the room, his vision is taken to past times. Though the room is currently empty, and the windows covered as all the others, in his mind's eye there is a youthful Elven woman sitting forlornly on a bed.
moonlight filters through tall arched windows, casting silver bars across the polished floor. Across from her, a figure in gilded armor stepped from the shadows: an Espan explorer, his cloak torn and face weathered from countless conquests. His eyes burned with the fierce pride of an age of empire.
He moves forward like a predator, while she twists aside with almost supernatural grace. Her long cloak flared as she moved. Ancient portraits looked on silently as elf and explorer circled each other — beauty and ambition locked in a duel that seemed to echo the clash of two worlds.
Rocko's vision returns to the present.
Need Will Save from Rocko and Djack, since they are closest to the vision.
Djack senses a particularly strong smell of roast chicken and onions, cooked in the old-world style. It's coming from the grand hall below. Looking back, he does not see his friends, nor can he see Rocko, nor the Elf/Rosentos vision that was there seconds ago.
Rocko feels a wave of confusion wash over him, and feels vaguely nauseous, but closes his eyes hard to steady himself. When he opens them, the vision is gone, and he feels normal.
Djack, on the other hand, has kind of a dazed look on his face, and is looking back up the hall toward the stairs in confusion.
"Are you two alright? You stumbled for a moment..." She speaks, moving closer.
"Are you two alright? You stumbled for a moment..." She speaks, moving closer.
Djack does not hear Yoltzin ask this question. Instead he hears it as if it were being called up from downstairs, where the smell of food is coming from.
Rocko hears (and sees) Yoltzin normally.
That smells... amazing! Love old world cookin'... he looks around for a way to get to it.
That smells... amazing! Love old world cookin'... he looks around for a way to get to it.
Straight ahead and back down the stairs, as far as Djack can tell.
Everyone else sees Djack walking down the hallway toward the stairs. If anyone is in his way, he tries to walk around, though to Djack, he's not sure why he isn't walking a straight line. But, who cares, yum! Chicken and onions!
Amideo gives Djack a quizzical look before trying to grab onto him. "Friend, you are confused. There is not such thing, here."
Djack feels constrained, somehow. He'd like to continue to the hallway and down the stairs, but it's as if an unseen force was holding him back. Someone from downstairs says "Friend, you are confused. There is not such thing, here," though Djack is unsure what's being referenced.
That doesn't make you guys hungry? I can nearly taste the chicken.
Smirking, 'Course it's not here. That's why I'm going... there.
"Djack, snap out of it!" Zia says, casting an unknown spell.
Suddenly, Djack's delusion ends. He is once again in the mansion hallway with his friends, preparing to assault the (probably) vampire lord Rosentos.
You OK, Z? Djack blinks, staring at Zia... concerned? Unlike her to yell.
Hmm... thought I smelled roast chciken! seems to be gone, now... He looks at Rocko, You eat it?
Chicken over vampires... any day.
The elf blinks at Djack and his odd delusions. "I suspect you were under the sway of something for a moment now... It's hold seems to have been broken."
With the assurance that he was fine, she moved into the room to give the contents of the room a closer look.
"No, but now you be making me hungry."
Rocko will hold back from entering the room while Yoltzin checks it out, but he'll be ready to assist if she needs it.
"Are that ghost elf lass and tall, fancy armor man still be fightin in there?"
All traces of ghosts, illusions, or whatever was witnessed are now gone. The room does appear to have been used more recently, however. The blankets on the bed are relatively clean, but rumpled as if laid on or slept in recently.
In the distance, a wolf howls outside, indicating the approaching night.
The room next to this one is likely the Master Bedroom.
The group pauses by the doors of the master bedroom; this is it. From inside, you can hear whispering, but you're uncertain if it's in the room or in your head. It's obvious Rosentos knows you're here. The whisper is an invitation.
Rocko will whisper, "Is everyone being ready? Last chance before we be saying 'hello' to the big chief man."
Zia casts Bulls Strength on Amideo in preparation for the battle.
The elf gives a hesitant nod.
Rocko will open the door expecting Amideo to step in first to do any necessary talking
As Rocko opens the door, a rush of earthy air flows out of the hacienda’s master chamber—a room of cool stone and dim lamplight, hung with the scent of tallow candles and dust. Shadows cling to the carved beams overhead, gathering like living things. Animal pelts lie scattered on the floor, their eyes catching the flicker of flame as though they, too, watch the intruders.
At first, the chamber seems empty. Then a figure resolves in front of the canopy bed’s embroidered drapes—a tall man in a crimson doublet, his hair bound in the fashion of old Espa, his skin the color of moonlit clay. His eyes glow faintly, not with reflection, but with hunger. The vampire lord Rosentos stands with poise of a don hosting unexpected guests, one hand resting upon the hilt of an ornate blade brought across the sea long before the explorers were born.
To either side of him stand his progeny—one a wiry youth with the taut stillness of a coiled coyote, the other a woman draped in a shawl dyed the deep indigo of the pueblos. Their expressions mimic their sire’s: a calm expectancy, as though this meeting has been long anticipated. In their presence, even the candle flames seem to narrow and shrink.
"Bienvenidos," Rosentos offers softly, his voice warm and cordial yet edged with something ancient and hollow. "At last, you have come."
Amideo steps in, a scowl on his face.
"I wish I could extend the same courtesy, but alas, I cannot. You stand as the cruel lord of an unjust fiefdom, a being that spits in the face of all natural orders. I shall not recount the list of your crimes, for I do not know them all, but those I have seen merit but one sentence. Unless you have any arguments to the contrary, it must be a return to death."
Roll Initiative.
Rosentos:
Vampire Spawn:
Amideo:
Djack:
Zia:
Rosentos begins the battle, charging the door and smashing at Amideo with a heavy, glowing mace. Upon hitting Amideo, a powerful electric spell discharges down the length of the mace.
At:
Weapon Damage:
Spell Damage: electric damage
Zia acts next. She touches Amideo's shoulder, casting Cure Moderate Wounds and healing
of the 28 just dealt him.
Rest of the part may act before the vampire's spawn.