Alexei brandishes her amulet and then cuts hard at the choker holding her, slicing clean through both spindly arms! It has just long enough to gape before Eliza passes her blade through the creature's body and it falls down dead.
The other one takes a devastating blow from Miya but its oddly soft body manages to survive a blow that would have killed a less malleable being. It throttles the paladin once more before scurrying backwards and hammering one of the other doors leading out of the room, which opens to reveal a larger choker!
"I've got the big one," Alexi declares. She studies it briefly before moving forward to attack.
"Miya needs the help." Eliza replies, before taking few sprightly steps and lunging forward with her rapier.
Miya attacks three times without much success, unable to get a proper angle across the table.
Feeling the anger inside her building, Tadia picks up the battered candelabra that missed the choker and flings it at the one engaged with Miya.
With a heroic effort of will Tadia fells the last young choker with a thrown candelabra, leaving Alexei to duel with the larger one. She lands a powerful blow, but it lashes out with large, grasping hands.
Fortunately the thaumaturge is ready, ducking and weaving under its grasp.
Everyone up!
Alexi continues to hack and slash!
Unfortunately, Eliza cannot figure out a way to get from where she is, to the new interloper and make an effective strike, so instead spends a moment to switch to her crossbow and load it.
Miya strides forward and attacks twice with her kusarigama.
Tadia rides the cresting wave of her anger and sends more of the room's gathered nick-nacks flying through the air at the remaining choker.
The emotional crash follows.
The larger choker takes blows from Alexei and Miya but seems undeterred and lashes out with an arm at each!
Fortunately she seems slow, or otherwise distracted and her blows are easily warded off.
Alexi continues to slice and dice!
Alexei lops the matriarchs head off with a single, powerful blow.
The room it emerged from is nothing more than a bathroom, whose tiled floor of this room is dusty and spotted with patches of mold. To the north sits a large bathing tub, while to the south sits a smaller washtub for linens and clothes. Next to that is a partially collapsed laundry basket with shredded bits of clothing strewn around its base.
The only item of interest is a bedraggled scarf that the choker was wearing. It proves to be a dancing scarf. With that you have cleared both wings of the manor. Now, to press on on the ground floor, or to head upstairs?
"I ... I need a moment to rest," Tadia says, putting her hand to her forehead. She takes a seat in one of the leather chairs and lowers her head into her hands.
"Already? We just rest?" Miya asks, studying Tadia.
Looking her over and seeing the state she is in, she nods and says "Okay, take rest then."
She takes the opportunity to heal Alexi's wounds and then stands watch.
Eliza slowly disassembles the crossbow she just finished loading, flexing her fingers and arms to loosen any tension as she does so. "Well, your skills certainly came of good use there Alexi and Miya." She says, congratulating them.
She sits in the other leather chair and rummages in her bag for one of the journals, beginning to thumb through its pages absentmindedly. " And your Father was certainly right about your unique talents too Tadia." She adds, wary of the young girl having yet another tantrum. "What exactly is it you do there? I presume you have some sort of psychic connection to a being with incredible psychic power that you can draw upon and unleash in little bursts?"
Not looking up, Eliza continues with her perusal of the journal, skipping pages here and there to speed up the process.
Eliza rereads the journals and is able to piece together a few more clues about Ioseff Xarwin, particularly his fascination with an ancient Desnan sect. Unfortunately there is nothing else of use about him in the journals.
Alexi sits patiently as Miya tends to her otherwise minor injuries. Cathyriel manifests beside the duskwalker as Eliza hits the books. The phantom taps her ethereal chin. "Thus far, we have encountered only monstrous aberrations in this place. Given the manor's reputation, I would have thought there would be more spirits and haunts to deal with."
"Give it time, sister," Alexi says, sharpening her blade with a whetstone. "Pharasma sent us here for a reason. I am sure we will encounter at least one undead creature here deserving of its final rest."
"What exactly is it you do there? I presume you have some sort of psychic connection to a being with incredible psychic power that you can draw upon and unleash in little bursts?"
"Why does everyone assume that my abilities have to come from someone else?" Tadia snaps. "A mage casts a spell that levels a tavern and everyone says 'Ooo, what a powerful wizard', but when I do something it must have come from somewhere else. Because a stupid girl couldn't possible have power herself, it must have come from some other source."
Her eyes narrow and her face flushes with annoyance. "Well let me clear that right the f@~@ up. My power is mine and mine alone. No one gave it to me. No one uses me as their 'vessel'. It's my will pressed upon the world around me. No divine source like the priests use - just me. No mana drawn from the outside world like the wizards use - just me."
She puts her head in her hands as even the small outburst drains her.
"I'm sorry. But every step I take, every time I demonstrate it, I feel like I have to prove myself all over again."
"Yes Alexi, you're right infestations rather than anything signficant here." Eliza replies.
---
Eliza raises her head and a single pointed eyebrow at the sylph as she starts her burst of frustration, but listens as she does so, not once meaning to interrupt.
"Well......that sounds impressive Tadia and I am honestly very sorry to have seemed to have underestimated you. Talented young woman are often turned away from their elders and, I wouldn't want any part in that." Eliza says, slightly ashamed of her own part in it. She had always tried to encourage the young women she had taught, and had merely put Tadia's abilities in a box because of the girl's tantrums. That was certainly unfair.
"I can be quick to change my mind and my opinions about others', girl, don't you worry about that. People will always surprise you and likely do the unexpected, you may as well give them credit for it."
She closes the journal and places it softly on the table. She leans towards Tadia as she does so, and places a gentle hand on the girl's knee.
"Although, perhaps we can give you a few meditation classes that I've learned over the years on my travels. Maybe they would help."
Tadia lifts her head from her hands, glancing first at Eliza's hand on her knee and then meeting her eyes.
"Help me what? Be a calmer or nicer person? Are you attempting to 'handle' me, Miss Yarrow?" The girl straightens up and squares her shoulders.
"Well sod that. I'm comfortable with my anger. It warms me and strengthens me. It gives me power. I have no interest in being the demure quiet little thing that Father feels that I should be. And if you're trying to gain favor with him by helping to conform me to his image of the perfect little daughter, then you can give that up right now."
"I am my own person, Miss Yarrow. And in spite of Father's desires, I will not be pressed into anyone else's mold of who they want me to be."
Eliza's eyes widen, shocked at the girl's reaction.
"Okay Tadia, I understand you're frustrated, I was only trying to help. But if you're truly happy with this anger, then I will leave you be. Just know the offer is always open."
We can keep trying, this was never going to be an easy fix. I wonder if anger is really the source of her power or if she could harness more of it if she could get past the anger. It might even be a block for her powers. I wonder how I could try find out....
Eliza purposefully picks up her book again and opens it, sitting back in her chair to settle in for her reading.
"We can move on in a couple of hours." She adds, before anyone gets time to start another argument "Everyone have a break and get your breath back."
Returning to the main hall you proceed through the double doors at the end of the hall. This opens into a huge ballroom which has a wide, open floor of dust-caked woodwork. A pair of grand brick fireplaces stand to the west and east; low stone benches fitted with rotting cushions flank either side of each fireplace. Several dozen antlers from deer and elk adorn the walls around and over the fireplaces. To the north, three long risers lead up to a stage with two large chairs placed on it. A flight of stairs leads upward to either side of the chairs, and a ratty tapestry of red and black — the colors of House Thrune — hang behind it.
As you head cautiously into the room a ghost appears in the western chair. The wild-eyed figure rises up from his seat and raises his left arm, red smoke bleeding from the stump where his left hand should be. The smoke quickly coalesces into a misty red hand, a pointing finger aimed Eliza. His voice booms as he proclaims in oddly accented common, “You have what should be mine!” At the word “mine” his voice grows louder and louder, seemingly shaking the foundations of the manor. As suddenly as he appeared the ghost vanishes into a puddle of blood red ectoplasm, and two massive skeletal snakes come slithering down from the walls with hunger in their empty eyes.
Critical Success
"Use bludgeoning weapons!" Alexi says confidently. She flips her sword around as she moves in, swinging with the hilt but missing her target.
"And where exactly do I find one of those?!" Eliza exclaims before striding forwards.
Tadia seems determined to smash anything not significantly fastened down and deny Eliza the benefit of her inheritance as she grabs a nearby vase with her mind and sends it flying into one of the snakes.
As the group heads for the snake on the left Miya heroically charges the one on the right, holding it back from her allies with shield raised.
Unfortunately her strike glances off the creature to no effect and it leaps on her in retaliation, just as Tadia smashes a vase over its head.
Thankfully the champion is able to ward off the blows!
Meanwhile on the other side of the room Eliza lashes out at the creature's head, scoring a line across its skull and distracting it while Alexei goes low and smashes a powerful blow into its body, shattering bones all over the place.
The creature rears back and begins to sway, entrancing the eye and clouding the mind.
Eliza gets caught in the creature's gaze momentarily and gets distracted before quickly snapping out of it and trying to attack it yet again.
Alexi is slightly unnerved, but she slams her sword against the construct.
Tadia's mind whirls at the serpent's gaze with intruding thoughts filling her head.
Miya is unaware of the dancing snake and continues her heroic battle before raising her shield once more!
She lands one strike, cracking bones and making the construct wobble alarmingly. On the other side of the room Alexei also lands a powerful blow, leaving her construct in even worse shape while Eliza strikes at the creature's tail and manages to break off a section.
The leftmost construct is still swaying but now it seems uncontrollably rather than with any specific plan, it bites hard at Alexei however, apparently unwilling to go down without a fight!
But not much of one as the duskwalker easily avoids every blow!
Meanwhile the other construct bites at Miya and then skitters off to attack the stunned Tadia! It's bite burns with poison!
Alexi finishes off the construct she's been attacking. She moves to defend Tadia, swinging at the other necrophidius but missing.
The psychic is easy prey for the skeletal snake and freezes instantly upon being bitten.
After fighting off the attempt to paralyze her with ease, she quickly takes notice that Tadia was not so lucky. She marches up to the other side of Tadia, opposite of Alexi, and does her best to draw the attention to herself.
Eliza strides forwards rapier in hand but decided against striking with the very ineffective weapon and instead fusses ineffectually over Miya.
Although Alexei fells the first construct, the second continues to attack, mostly aiming for the convenient paralysed meal in front of it.
Alexi attacks again!
Eliza gives up on the horrid attempt to help Miya and goes back to stabbing its tail.
Alexei crushes the constructs skull and then Eliza severs its spine and the creature collapses into inert bones. The poison infusing Tadia works swiftly and soon her limbs get their feeling back and she feels able to dance again! Aside from the staircases leading upstairs, the only other exit are a pair of double doors at the back of the room.
And once control is returned to her limbs, Tadia does, indeed, dance - on the ruined bones of the construct.
Although the dancing looks more like stomping and is accompanied by a plethora of curses that a high-born young lady should never let leave her mouth.
With her vitriol vented she gestures towards the double doors at the rear of the room.
The stairs at the back of the room open into some sort of portrait gallery. A line of grimy windows along the north wall faces four large portraits to the south. Each of these paintings presents a life-sized depiction of a different person: a teenaged boy carrying a crossbow in the woods (a plaque below it reads 'The Little Hunter'); a teenaged girl building a dollhouse that looks like Xarwin Manor ('The Little Architect'); a red-haired woman standing in a graveyard, carrying a pair of matching crimson-handled woodcutter’s hatchets hanging from her belt straps, ravens swarming around her ('Self Potrait'); and a stern-looking man holding a silver telescope in his hands as he looks up into the night sky ('Lord of the Manor').
Suddenly the portraits begin to bleed - the Lord of the Manor (who you think is the same figure as the ghost you just saw in the ballroom) bleeds from the left arm and each of the others suddenly has a bleeding line across their forehead as blood runs down their faces.
The pain ebbs for a moment and then resurges as the paintings seem to scream in their frames!
Before continuing on, Tadia pauses and bathes herself in soothing mental energy.
Tadia screams out in pain and then collapses in a spray of blood.
Miya watches Tadia goes down and does her best to fight through the relentlessness of the haunt and stay on her feet. Though she's bleeding, fill sick to her stomach and scared, she attempts to exorcise the haunt even though she'd rather turn and run!
Alexi tries and fails to call on Pharasma to fight the haunt!
Eliza shrieks as she feels her left hand being chopped off, her right-hand goes immediately to grab at it and she fortunately still finds it there but she wretches at the thought. She looks up momentarily to see what the possible cause could have been just as she hears Tadia hit the floor and the pain re-emerge yet again at her side.
Firstly, she tries to exorcise the paintings, however her constant wretching distracts her mind from the correct method.
"Just get out of here!" She calls with urgency before grabbing Tadia's body and dragging her back out of the room.
Eliza drags Tadia's unconscious form out of the room, but the painting continue to wail and writhe as Miya and Alexei feel the pain mounting in their skulls!
Miya can't withstand the painting's wailing and collapses to the ground, dying.
Shaking and bleeding profusely, Alexi drags the dying Miya out of the room. She quickly grabs a potion from her belt and helps the warrior drink it.
She then slumps over the Tien champion as her bleeding wounds cause her to pass out.
Eliza, now working purely from adrenaline starts to work her non-magic.
-------------------------------------------
Alexi sits back up, thanks to Eliza's healing. She spends several seconds bandaging her forehead as blood continues to drip from. Eventually, the bleeding stops, and she sighs with relief.