Eliza sighs as Tadia yet again has a mad outburst, and winces as Miya tackles it head on. Tadia is certainly not in the right frame of mind for that conversation just now.
"I think Tadia is right." Eliza says, butting in quickly. "I have a feeling that burning this house down would have no benefit at all. Im not sure if it is just the house that is tainted, but something more. It is hard to explain, but I have a feeling this is not the least of our worries. I - no we - have a duty to make sure it is safe once again for anyone who wonders near to its path. Perhaps it may even help the abandoned village - who knows if that is not all tied together." Eliza theorizes, whilst wincing in pain as she takes in too deep a breath.
"But, I am truly sorry for the perilous position I have put you in Miya, I do understand if you prefer I find others who could help instead?
"We are committed to the task," Alexi says solemnly. "We will cleanse the taint from this manor in the name of the Lady of Graves."
Miya listens to Eliza explain the possible expansion of evil outside the mansion and nods once. "No. You misunderstand my meaning. I do not want to stop and leave, agree that we must rid the evil."
"We are committed to the task," Alexi says solemnly. "We will cleanse the taint from this manor in the name of the Lady of Graves."
"Yes. I am committed to the task, as Alexi says." Miya says with a smile. "She has better words for it."
Tadia turns in surprise as Eliza supports her argument. She nods in agreement, her anger slowly fading.
She steps back into the kitchen to provide more head scritches for Ezramalkun and to let the confusion from her unleashed anger fade.
"Bad energy gone!" Ezramalkun says happily as Tadia gives her more scritches. "Much better now! Will you make house better? I'll make lunch for you!"
"Do you have edible food here?" Eliza asks, unsure.
After sitting down, whether they ate edible food or not, Eliza suggests that the party continue investigate the right hand side of the manor.
"Yes, let us eat. And while we do, I would hear more about why you continue to dwell here," Alexi says. She spends several minutes conversing with the little nosoi.
Ezramalkun sets to work, but her ingredients seem to be either withered to the point of uselessness by time or, in some cases, entirely imaginary. She flutters around with great industry however and converses cheerfully with Alexi about her 'dreams about strange birds', which the knowledgeable thaumaturge is able to extract quite a lot of information from.
Once 'dinner' is over and Eliza has fixed everyone up the group treks, one at a time, through the portrait gallery and into the other wing of the house. The room proves to be a large study featuring three cozy looking sofas arranged around a low oval table. Two large stuffed chairs sit in the southeast corner, facing a low round table, while to the north looms a brick fireplace.
Alexi's honed senses pick up something - a haunt is about to manifest!
Unfortunately she can't figure out what it might do!
Tadia opens her mind to the otherworldly to try to bolster her defenses against whatever is coming.
"Well this looks fi-" Eliza begins to say just as Alexi yells out.
Alexi brandishes her amulet and invokes a prayer to try to quell the haunt!
Miya follows in Alexi's steps, attempting to remove the haunt before it manifests!
With a mighty invocation to her goddess, backed by Alexi's help, Miya exorcises the haunt in a burst of divine power! With the haunt dispersed Eliza notices nothing else unusual about the room, apart from a number of discoloured patches in the floor in front of the fireplace.
With nothing else of interest in this room the group pushes on to the room beyond, which proves to be a parlor. It has a large brick fireplace to the north but the rest of the room is empty save for a pair of chairs seated next to a small round table to the southeast and a locked door which must lead out into the gardens.
As gazes around the room, watching for a spiritual manifestation, something about the far wall catches her eye.
"There's another secret door here," she says. However, after her experience with the animate voyeur in the previous one, she's willing to let someone else explore what this one reveals.
Alexi leads the way through the secret door, amulet held high, eyes alert for danger.
The door opens into a stuff and stale windowless room, which is full of densely packed bookshelves lining the wall to the west and most of the south. The only other furnishings in the room are a large wooden desk with a high-backed chair in the corner opposite the shelves. Thick black curtains with little glowing spots hang on the north and east walls, giving the impression of a star-filled night sky. Above, a strange, spiral‑shaped growth of fungus almost looks like a twisted series of letters.
The fungus, when viewed carefully, prove to be words - spelling out a chilling message in the roof.
Critical Success
Alexi points out a secret door in the western bookcase. She studies the fungus. ”Very odd. This is obviously linked to Pharasma somehow. I doubt it is in a positive manner, though. Perhaps it is a sympathetic lure to her faithful? That may explain why the nosoi is drawn to this place.”
Having noticed the odd bookcase before Alexi pointed it out, Tadia rolls her eyes at being told something that she's quite aware of.
"It's a spiral. Of course it relates to Pharasma. I think most of us were awake during our basic seminary classes."
She walks over to one of the curtains to examine them a little closer. "And someone has no skill in crafting a proper poem and a horrible sense of meter."
Eliza nods in agreement. "Why somebody would bother to write it in such a way, I cannot fathom as it does not add anything to its effect. I wonder if it is invoking something magical itself? Does it show any auras Tadia?"
Whether it's difficulty with the words, the organization or something else, Miya has a hard time recognizing the link to Pharasma until it's brought up by her companions. After it's suggested, she catches on to the spiral and nods.
Tadia pauses in her examination of the pretty curtains and directs her gaze back upwards, letting her focus shift to search the fungus for any magical or spiritual auras.
"Its okay Miya." Eliza says, trying to reassure the girl but sounding slightly patronizing. "We understand if you cannot read this right now, we can always read it for you. Perhaps you could go investigate somewhere else on this floor, or find a book you can read with more ease perhaps?"
Eliza decides to stay put where she is and takes a seat in the single chair in the room.
Having gleaned all she can about Tchekuth , Eliza then starts to research into the Order of the Starless Night, having found a lead in on of the books she had been flicking through.
Having determined what she can about the fungus, Tadia settles into a chair with a number of books to read for a bit.
She then heads off to chat with the adorable Ezramalkun again.
After an hour of chatting with the psychopomp, Tadia transitions to the main library.
Alexi hits the libraries trying to learn more about the psychopomp predicament.
Miya does her best to contribute to the research on psychopomps and finds a few relevant bits from the main library. After a long day of research the group digs up a decent amount of information.
It seems that the source of all the hauntings and unpleasantness in the mansion comes from a single source - Tchekuth, who was slain thousands of years ago on this very spot! He may have been part of the Dominion of the Black, a loose confederation of alien entities with an affinity for stealing thoughts, inhabiting bodies, or eating memories.
That probably explains the psychopomps. They often gather in regions where the cycle of death has become disrupted, but the psychopomp presence around Xarwin Manor indicates an unusual amount of attention for a single location.
-----------------------------
With night falling the group retreats swiftly from Xarwin Manor and return to their base in the village, taking time to rest and plan their next moves.
At night the dreams come once more.
Another full day comes to an end, and Miya is exhausted. Though not as deadly as the first day, the task of cleansing this manor was proving to be quite the ordeal.
She bids the group good night, says her prayers and heads to bed with the hopes of dreams about the starless night.
Tadia sits outside the ruined tavern where the group is taking its rest. With her arms wrapped around her knees and her eyes turned upwards to gaze at the sprinkling of stars upon black velvet, she wonders at the horrors they conceeal.
Alexi dreams of the darkness between the stars...
Eiza waits until everybody else goes to sleep before doing so herself, she watches Tadia pensively out of the window, wondering what the poor girl must have experienced to make her the way she is.
Eliza's own dreams yet again feel all too meaningful.
The next morning Eliza begins her new hypothesis over some lackluster porridge made simply with oats and water. "After the information we found out yesterday, we need to consider what exactly we might encounter next. The manor clearly has links with the ancient evil, Tchekuth, although I hate to ponder about the reasons somebody would build a manor here with all of these bad portents." Eliza says, her lips wrinkling to a frown.
"I presume we may see more servents of Pharasma but I wonder if all will be quite as benevolent as the little bird. Alexi, can you tell us anything about Psychopomps and what we should do in the event of having to defend ourselves against one?"
Eliza's dreams are indeed meaningful - she sees figures in muted robes of an unfamiliar joining hands in a circle and chanting as the moon rises over a familiar sea; its the view from the clifftops where the manor stands.
When she wakes she knows that the Order of the Starless Night were an ancient Desnan sect, active in Thassilon. They saw themselves as guardians against the sinister influence of entities from the Dark Tapestry. Eliza's new knowledge informs her that the Order did not survive long after Earthfall.
"Most psychopomps are immune to disease and death effects. They resist poison and negative energy. Their means of attack vary, but many can employ magic that debilitated their opponents in various ways. Hopefully, we won't need to come to blows with them," Alexi says.
Tadia's dreams, on the other hand, are quite disturbing and she wakes in the middle of the night stifling a cry. In spite of reassuring herself that it was simply a dream, she remains awake until the first rays of dawn break the horizon.
"I'm sure we'll be able to cleanse the house," she says to the others as Eliza outlines her thoughts. "We should move upstairs."
Nodding to Tadia, she says "Agree. We go up first." Gathering her weapon into her hand she leads the way.
Returning to the manor once more (Tadia and Miya both feel a weight lift from their shoulders as they do so) the investigators use the stairs in the main entrance hall to ascend to the second level. Here a ten-foot-wide balcony winds around the entry hall below, the edges adorned with elegant but dust-caked wooden railings. To the south, a tall clock stands on a platform extending from the balcony. Beyond the clock, four tall windows in the southern wall appear to be caked with filth and grime. To the north of the stairs, the frame of an elegant wooden double door is decorated with stars, planets, and comets.
An elegant, eight-foot-tall grandfather clock stands on a platform extending from the balcony. The clock’s face is six feet off the ground, a mix of brass and bronze etched with ornate stars and planets. The clock’s iron hands are shaped like curving comets. Below, grimy glass windows built into doors allow the complex clockworks to be observed as the pendulum swings back and forth. Above the clock face is a complex-looking pair of interlocking doors decorated with a tangle of curving metal strips. The arrangement resembles a set of intricate bars, which appear to secure the enclosed compartment.
Out of curiosity to see what is inside, Eliza has a good crack at the bars on the clock, and gets very close to detaching them, but her hand slips at the last second and she gives up.
"I feel that I might return to these later. Perhaps we shouldn't be interfering with such things now." She suggests, with some decorum. "Let us start in this far corner and work our way around. It should give us an easy way out if - when - we need to retreat. Remember what Alexi said about the servants of Pharasma too."
"Why would they lock that up?" Tadia questions, her gaze lingering on the closed portion of the clock. "Do you think that's where their jewelry?"
She follows Eliza as she leads them to the corner door.
Before moving on Miya says to Eliza "I can open it if you think something important inside. Would break it though."
"I wouldn't want to risk harming the thing, Miya but that is nice of you to offer."
Eliza is not sure if Tadia is being serious with her question, so responds with her own theories whilst walking along the corridor. "I have hopes that it might be a benign power source and holder of secrets that would help us refine our own knowledge and understanding, but I suppose it could also be hostile. Perhaps if when we try again it does not work, we may have to resort to breaking it? What do you say?"
A large four-poster bed is set against the north wall of this room. The sheets are tangled, and a headboard that doubles as a shelf displays several knickknacks, candlesticks, and a small iron coffer. The mantle of the large brick fireplace to the west appears decorated with small art objects. South of the bed, two chairs flank either side of a round table, while the nightstand near the bed and the dresser in the southeast corner have mostly fallen into disrepair.
The most notable thing in the room is a glowing ball of light, which Eliza identifies as a will-o-the-wisp, which seems to be trapped inside odd ectoplasmic tendrils that seem to be attempting to crush it. The wisp flickers and a throaty voice speaks.
"I am the Master of the House! Free me at once!"
"Will-o'-Wisp, " Eliza whispers, "Ot will feed off of your fear, do not let it. Everyone ready?"
"Ah, yes, indeed - just give us a moment and we will think how to free you."
Eliza waits for an affirmation that everybody is prepared for what they are facing, especially as it, itself does not appear to be rushing to attack.
Tadia shrugs noncommittally, but then nods.
Alexi studies the wisp, wrapping a few icons related to fearless heroes around the hilt of her blade. She give Eliza a nod of readiness. "It will be immune to most magical spells. Blast it with magic missiles," she whispers to Tadia.
The will-o-the-wisp, seemingly perceiving your hostile intentions, strains its way out of the binding tendrils. It zaps Alexi with a jolt of electricity and then extinguishes its light - disappearing from view.
Eliza steps forward and tries to skewer the place it was previously seen but her rapier cuts through thin air.
Alexi cries out as the wisp zaps her and vanishes. Gritting her teeth, she slashes the air where she last saw the creature!
As Tadia prepares to pepper the wisp with magical missiles, it vanishes.
"Uh, what do I do now?" she whines before mentally flinging a nearby candlestick at the creature's last location.
Miya seeks, looking for the creature to strike. "I do not see it." She takes her best guess at a location and strikes.
Faced with an invisible foe, the explorers miss horribly!
The ectoplasmic tendrils however seem to know something you don't and lash out once more. They strain but seem to be successfully holding... something.
Alexi moves up and drives her blade into the center of the tendrils.
Eliza repeats Alexi's tactics before stepping back again.