Miya's kusarigama lands with a rather final sounding crack and the mouther simply falls apart, revealing a thoroughly slimed Alexei in the middle of a rapidly decomposing pool of... stuff.
Unwilling to take any more risks Eliza leads her companions in a tactical retreat back into Crooked Cove, where a little investigation turns up a small house whose roof is still in good shape and has a reasonable selection of furniture.
A couple of trips to the surrounding buildings provides more furniture and enough dry wood to start and feed a good strong fire. With time to recover, apply first aid and call on divine assistance, as well as hot food and a night's rest, things seem much more manageable the next morning.
Said morning dawns in complete contrast to the previous day. The sky is clear and painted in glorious shades of pink and gold which kisses the ocean and makes even the looming shape of Xarwin Manor look pleasant and attractive in the early morning light.
The gates are exactly as they were left during the parties helter-skelter retreat last night and through them Eliza, Miya, Alexei and Tadia are once again confronted with a choice - take the path straight to the main house, or following the path through the grounds back to the pond which caused so much trouble yesterday...
Eliza, although keen to continue to clear her inheritance from the new found infestations, does at least apologise to the group. "I know I did not mention quite how challenging clearing this place would be, but I assure you I also was not aware."
"It would be interesting to know just how long this place has been deserted for to house a gibbering mouther. Unless, of course, a previous inhabitant had reason to keep one in the pond for unweary visitors. One can just imagine what type of person would do that and what else we may have to face if so."
Eliza gestures towards the grounds, "I feel that we should continue with our research around the outside, especially as it is no longer raining."
Alexi had been overwhelmed by the monster's hundreds of teeth ripping and tearing at her flesh. She had fallen unconscious within its writhing mass, but luckily, her companions finished the thing off and restored her health. Cathyriel had chastised the duskwalker for nearly dying from the first monster they had come upon, and Alexi had been quiet and pensive throughout the night.
Once the group returns to the manor, Alexi inclines her head to Eliza. "There's no need to apologize. We knew this would not be an easy endeavor. Let's return to the pond and finish searching it, then circumnavigate the manor before entering."
The secret panel in the pond is found with only a modicum of searching and proves to contain a rather fancy spyglass and a glass lens wrapped in a purple silk handkerchief. It radiates divination magic and would no doubt fetch a high price at market.
Continuing around the house brings you to a collapsed building, little more than a tangle of timbers and shingles, all overgrown with layers of blackberry vines. A brief search turns up nothing of interest and the group moves on.
As you continue around the back of the house Eliza notices an overgrown path leading into a small groves, away from the house but Miya glances backwards and is sure that she sees a figure in one of the manor's upper windows - watching her...
The path leads to a clearing of dry grass that seems to almost whisper as a breeze wafts through. A ring of seven ancient standing stones surrounds a circular crypt-like stone structure that measures roughly twelve feet in diameter and rises to a height of fifteen feet. Carvings of moths and butterfly-winged people flying among the stars decorate the crypt’s sides, while its heavy stone slab door is embedded with a series of bronze rings set in grooves. Each of the rings has a single, small disk of differently colored crystals attached to it; at the very center, a larger orb of pale-yellow crystal is affixed to the stone.
While the site is clearly Desnan no-one is able to make out anything more than that. Further investigation and completing the circuit of the house turns up nothing else. It is now mid-morning and the grounds have revealed their secrets (apart from whatever was hiding in that log...). All that remains is the house.
Alexi examines the lens curiously, but is unable to discern its properties. She passes it along to the others.
The strange crypt stumps the thaumaturge as well. With a shrug, she raises her amulet and sword. "Into the manor, then?"
Eliza examines the object after Alexei but cannot quite figure it out and passes it over to the others.
Like her companions, Miya isn't sure exactly what this object is and hopes that Tadia can identify it.
Once they complete their tour of the grounds, Miya makes sure she points out "Something inside. Upstairs. Watching us."
Once everyone is ready, she heads to the front door.
Tadia gives the lens a once-over, lightly touching the surface and feeling for any spiritual auras.
Her cloak still damp and uncomfortable from yesterday's rain, the girl seems impatient to get inside.
Once they complete their tour of the grounds, Miya makes sure she points out "Something inside. Upstairs. Watching us."
Tadia cranes her neck upwards, hoping for a glimpse of whatever the armored woman saw, but sees nothing.
"What was it? Was it physical? Spiritual? Did it just appear or vanish? Elaborate, please!"
A double door made of dark oak stands in the middle of the manor’s facade, carved with a series of overlapping circles with a stylized “X” at their center. The doors seem oddly shiny, as though there is some sort of wet liquid over it. As Miya opens the door the liquid stretches and then pops in a burst of foul smelling smoke. A wave of susurration creeps through the area, and all four women experience a sudden sensation of utter hatred toward birdlife for the span of a single heartbeat.
From above there's a brief squawk that is cut off as a rain of feathers and viscera descends from above. All the whippoorwills above seem to have been brutally destroyed in a burst of magically powered hatred.
Pushing on through the front door, motes of dust drift through the air of this large entrance hall. To the north, a pair of wide staircases ascend to a balcony that encircles the room above. An old, musty carpet on the otherwise-bare wood floor partially leads the way to a double door between the stairs. Four other doors provide exits to either side, while the southwestern and southeastern walls have tall cabinets and coat racks set against them. On the upper floor, the railed ten‑foot‑wide balcony circles this room, leaving the central area open to the second floor’s ceiling twenty feet above.
Tadia steps into the foyer and tips her head back slightly, closing her eyes and opening up her mind to the transitive vibrations of her surroundings.
Her head then quirks like a dog hearing a strange sound. She raises a single finger.
"Strangely enough, even though, supposedly, no one has been here in years, there's a clock still working upstairs," she says before opening her eyes.
With calm indifference, she removes her damp cloak and steps to one of the coat racks to hang it there before squaring her shoulders.
"Where to first, Miss?" she questions Eliza, her words respectful, but her tone dismissive and sarcastic.
"What was it? Was it physical? Spiritual? Did it just appear or vanish? Elaborate, please!"
Miya looks at Tadia, confused. "What? I am collaborate. I share things I see upstairs. Danger."
Miya sniffs twice when walking in, noting the smoke before turning to the squawk. Confused as to what is going on, she turns to Eliza and asks "What happened here?" as she waits for a direction to lead towards.
"Well clearly Tadia, somebody has been upstairs if Miya saw somebody watching us. Never make an assumption based on facts somebody has told you, especially in a letter. Always wait to see what you have observed with your own eyes first." Eliza suggests.
Eliza sighs at the young woman's tone, before striding to the double doors in front of them. "This way must be the main living area."
As Eliza heads for the double doors one of the upper slats in a nearby cabinet opens, revealing a single rheumy eye. A long drawer near the floor opens too and a raspy voice says in commonn.
"My house! Trespass! Begone!"
"It may have been once, but this house is mine now. I'd suggest we made a deal to share the space that is obviously your home, but I highly doubt you'd agree to that?" Eliza says, raising an inquisital eyebrow.
"Don't touch that thing, you'll likely lose whatever touches it." Eliza whispers from the corner of her mouth, whilst hoping the mimic is still trying to figure out what she said.
Unsure as to what sort of creature this is, Tadia takes a few steps away from the cabinet concealing whatever is speaking.
Noticing that Tadia takes a step away, Eliza continues. "Its a mimic, damage it from afar."
"No! Mine!" The dresser gurgles and lurches forwards into combat. Eliza feels a surge of possessive anger spike inside her at the creature's declaration - how dare such a filthy beast claim her home?
Miya tries to damage it as instructed, but fails to get a good angle at all. She positions herself to be "Afar", but in front of the group.
Tadia focuses her imagination on the ... cabinet ... and sends three bolts of energy into it.
Eliza leaps forward, striking the mimic with her rapier, hoping that she has a strong enough grip on her sword so as not to lose it to the adhesive slime.
Tadia pelts the creature with magic missiles and Eliza leaps forward to skewer it, while Miya makes warding gestures with her weapon in an attempt to be threatening.
The rapier punctures the creature and then sticks fast.
A long tongue appears from inside the dresser and it lashes out at Eliza! It hits with great power but fortunately Miya's intervention lessens the effect. Unfortunately its tongue sticks to the older woman in a most unladylike fashion and she is unable to dodge its follow-up attack!
Everyone up!
Eliza struggles her utmost to free her right shoulder and arm from the mimic, but in doing so manages to also get both legs stuck in the process.
with her free hand, she attempts to put pressure on her old wound which has reopened in her left side.
Unfortunately even thats not possible given the current situation.
Alexi studies the mimic as she raises her crossbow.
She presents a flask of alcohol to the monster as she pulls the trigger, then reloads.
Miya watches in confusion as the creature latches on to Eliza "Why every time you say from afar are we not far???" without taking her eyes off of it.
She then proceeds to attack twice.
"You said to damage it from afar!" Tadia yells out in frustration as Eliza is slowly pulled into the cabinet. A nimbus of anger surrounds the young psychic.
Trying to avoid the older woman, she mentally shoves one of the empty coat racks at the beast.
The mimic is beginning to look rather strange, with a coat rack, crossbow bolt, kagisama and old lady stuck to it. It still possesses its pseudopods though and continues to pummel Eliza.
A broken picture frame joins the coat rack as Tadia flings more debris at the rebelling cabinet. The effort quickly begins draining the young girl, though.
Alexi grimaces as Eliza falls unconscious. The duskwalker drops her crossbow and draws her sword, moving in to attack up close and personal!
It's a risky move, but Alexei's gamble pays off. Tadia impales the mimic on a broken picture frame and Alexei's sword blow between the eyes cuts the thing into two, almost separate pieces. With the creature dead its adhesive rapidly dries and Miya is able to pry herself free in short order as Alexei extracts the unconscious Eliza.
Whatever the plan is, this is not a room to linger, far too many doors!
"Thank you." Miya says to Alexi and Tadia for taking the creature down. Separating herself from the creature and junk, she reclaims her own weapon and stows it.
Miya then crouches down and lays her hand on Eliza, healing her. She scoops up and carries her back to the previous room and sets her down gently. "We wait and heal here."
She using lay on hands every ten minutes to restore their health until everyone is ready to move forward again.
Eliza groans as she sits up slowly. "Oh my bones are much too old and creaky for this."
"I think I must have overestimated my abilities to get free from the mimic. In my younger days, there would've been no question that I could've done it you see. Our minds do not always want to catch up with our bodies." Sighing heavily, she thanks Miya for the assistance.
"Something....strange, happened just as the mimic was claiming his territory earlier. I felt a very much irrational burst of possessiveness towards this place. I know that it is not how I feel right now however. I'm self-aware enough to know that I do not normally feel such jealousy. I have some concerns that something more is going on here, I really wonder if we should head upstairs to see if somebody was indeed watching us earlier."
The doorway opens into a small corridor with two doors on the right and one, at the far end, on the left. The first door opens into a bibliophile's bedroom. Full bookshelves line the western wall and either side of the door in the northern wall. Along with a bed to the south, a footlocker, a small round reading table, and a partially collapsed wooden chair also furnish the chamber.
The footlocker proves to contain a number of items: a few spare changes of clothes, a set of sterling artisan’s tools suitable for Craft checks associated with bookbinding or book repair (worth 50 gp), an iron key and several journals which record several events that happened in the manor over its final few years as an inhabited house. Reading them properly would take some time, but even a brief flick reveals quite a bit of information about the Xarwin family.
Pushing on, the next room proves to be a reading room. A pair of high-backed reading chairs sit in the corners of this room to the east, and a large brick fireplace rises to the west. Bookshelves on the north and south walls are empty save for a few knickknacks, most notable of which are a pair of bookends sculpted in the shape of elephants, waving their trunks in joy, while the middle of the room stands a long table with a chair at both ends. The only other item of note is a particularly well-crafted wooden sculpture which depicts two teenaged youths standing back to back. Carved into the base of the sculpture are the initials “A.X.”.
The final door, across the corridor leads into the manor's library. Several floor-to-ceiling bookshelves turn this large room into a cozy, almost cramped space. The musty smell of old books fills the air, and most of the shelves are stuffed with books of all shapes and sizes. A large brick fireplace is built into the northern wall, and a wrought-iron spiral staircases rises to the northeast. The window between the staircase and the fireplace is broken; the flooring and wall around it appear more weathered than anywhere else in the room. Outside can be seen a fountain of some sort, although no detail is visible through the dirty windows.
The doorway at the other end of the room is locked, but it yields to the key you found in the bedroom, revealing a staircase which leads downwards into darkness. While the book collection is extensive it doesn't seem to be immediately useful to you, but might be a nice place to stop and read the journals in more detail.
"There are definitely malevolent forces at work," Alexi says. "We should exercise extreme caution as we proceed."
When they find the journals, the duskwalker suggests taking some time to look through them to try to gain insights on this place. Unfortunately, she gets bored halfway through and doesn't learn anything!
Its hard to get Eliza's nose out of the books and she loses herself into them for a considerable amount of time trying to find information on the manor and its family.
"Something....strange, happened just as the mimic was claiming his territory earlier. I felt a very much irrational burst of possessiveness towards this place. I know that it is not how I feel right now however. I'm self-aware enough to know that I do not normally feel such jealousy. I have some concerns that something more is going on here, I really wonder if we should head upstairs to see if somebody was indeed watching us earlier."
Tadia rolls her eyes again.
"Well, of course there are lingering emotions of some sort. Could no one feel them before when we came through the door?" she declares as if stating the obvious.
~~~
"This is, like, more books than a single person could even read," Tadia says with a frown. "Why would someone have so many? It feels like a waste ... or someone just showing off."
Tadia is the only one to make much headway in the journals and by the time you are all done the light outside is beginning to fade. It's clear that night is coming quickly, although you have a few more hours before the light fades entirely.
The choice now is between retreating to safety or pressing on and potentially having to stay the night in the house...
"We will return to the village tonight." Eliza says, glancing up from the most recent journal she is entrenched in. "Last night was satisfying enough, and there is indeed an unease here, even if Tadia was the only one to feel it at first."
Eliza stuffs 2 more journals into her bag before returning and continuing her research. Unfortunately, the wound that reopened earlier is still giving her trouble and she finds it hard to focus or find anything relevant at all.
Alexi bangs her head against the books in frustration. Cathyriel manifests beside her, the phantom shaking her head disapprovingly. "You were always the bookish one, sister. I just can't find anything relevant in these dusty tomes!"
"I wish I could help you more, but I'm just a ghost of my former self. Literally," the phantom sighs.
If these people who are from here can't find what they are looking for in these books, Miya stood no chance. While people are researching, she ensures everyone is healed up and stands watch.
Once a decision is made to return to the village, she leads the way.
Tadia does a much better job than the rest of the group and finds a key passage about Xarwin Manor, pinpointing its construction to 4642 AR. Cross-referencing reveals that it seems to have been abandoned fifteen years later in 4657 AR.
The night passes largely uneventfully, except for the fact that each and every member of the group suffers from dark and disturbing dreams. There's a strong sense of dislocation and your minds feel as though they are being pulled into the vast darkness beyond the stars, where a devouring hunger awaits.
Despite these dreams you awake the next morning, somewhat shaken but unharmed (at least in body). The sun continues to shine today, but is somewhat obscured by clouds and there is a chill in the sea breeze. Still, work needs to be done!
In spite of the strange images in her dreams, Tadia's subconscious still attempts to decode the underlying message.
She awakens with insight ... and chilled bones.
"We're not going to be spending every night here, are we?" she questions as she rubs her hands together and gazes with distaste at the abandoned home they've taken up residence in. "I mean even that cheap inn with the leaky roof we stayed at was better than this."
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Eliza, still tired in the morning from her over-exertion yesterday and incessant dreams last night, closes her eyes momentarily and takes a very deep breath to steady her patience before replying. Unfortunately, the deep breath wasn't quite enough to hide all of the frustration in her voice, and she replies tersely.
"This is our best option Tadia, it is safer to stay here than the Manor whilst we are still trying to learn about what has befallen it. The quicker you learn about it and clear it, the quicker you can get out of here."
"I definitely had too much cheese last night. The last time I dreamed so vividly was when I had some aged Blue Galtian for dinner whilst I was teaching some first years about Nethys' links to dark rituals. Im still not sure if my brain was over-active or Nethys appeared to me to silence my next lecture....." She says, trailing off in her own memories.
Eliza, is too busy remembering past events in order to decipher her dream. She suggests they eat a hearty breakfast before returning to the manor to continue the exploration of the ground floor.
Alexi had faced the darkness in her dreams head on, boldly staring it down to learn what lurked within. She had already died once, so a second death did not frighten her.
Miya too awakens undaunted from her dreams and, along with Tadia and Alexei finds herself with better knowledge of Ioseff Xarwin - a human man, who was the first Paracount of the county of Ilverness and was married to the artist Asethanna. They had two children — twins named Marney and Mira.
Cheese issues aside the group find themselves ready to return to the house once more. The main hall is still unoccupied, with nothing disturbing the dusty shoe prints of yesterday.
Turning left instead of right the group enters a corridor which contains six almost identical rooms. They are clearly servants quarters and, with a little inspection, reveals the presence of a butler, cook, maid, tutor, carpenter and groundskeeper.
At the end of the hall the corridor bends to the right and a window looks out over the grounds but as Miya, who is in the lead, looks out of it she feels a sudden pull on her mind as one of the worst memories of her childhood suddenly rears its head. Then, with equal swiftness its gone, and the champion feels a surge of relief as the memory vanishes from her mind.
Pressing on around the bend reveals a linen closet at the far left end of the corridor beyond the bedrooms, which is empty apart from some unsettlingly bloodstained sheets.
The door on the right opens into a large room with three chairs at the center, surrounding each side of a long wooden table. In the room’s southern portion, two tall leather-backed chairs face a smaller table. To the north looms a brick fireplace, a spray of dusty ashes and charcoal scattered across the floor in front of it.
In the two chairs are grey skinned creatures with long limbs who are sitting in an almost trancelike state and occasionally twitching as though under the effects of some sort of drug.
On a critical success you can read: their beastiary entry
Before you can react both creatures lurch upwards, yelling words in a strange language.
One creature goes for Alexei and the other for Miya!
Miya also has reach and feels no need to get directly next to one. She whirls her kusarigama through the air towards the one to her south. She tries again, but her second attack is not as successful.
With no time to work out what these infestations are, Eliza strides forward to try and save Alexei first.
"Chokers!" Tadia cries out, just in case anyone else didn't recognize the strange creatures.
A nearby candelabra flies towards the one engaging Alexei.