"That means that it's right there, right?" Tadia questions, gesturing at the center of the tendrils. Unsure as to whether what she's going to try will work or not, she growls in frustration before sending a trio of magical bolts at that exact spot.
Miya joins in, doing her best to strike in the middle of the tendrils.
Alexi lands a blow and Tadia's magic missiles strike with pinpoint accuracy as the tendrils constrict around the wisp.
The tendrils bulge alarmingly and then start to spark with electricity as the wisp reappears, still held fast. Alexi is painfully jolted!
Eliza leaps nimbly back into the fight, not showing her age, and jabs her rapier confidently forwards into the tendrils mass, hoping for the best.
Alexi brandishes her holy symbol to ablate the electric shock.
She then swings her sword ineffectually!
With the wisp now visible, Tadia repeats her previous spell with confidence.
Miya whirls and slings her weapon towards the wisp repeatedly!
Tadia's second barrage of missiles and a pinpoint sword blow from Miya slay the creature! The tendrils sink out of existence without another word and both Miya and Tadia feel a sense of satisfaction, as though they've removed a minor annoyance like a stone in their shoe. Miya in particular feels a rush of warmth and... approval?
Meanwhile the knickknacks displayed on the headboard and mantle of this room are mostly gifts given to the Xarwin couple during the early days of
their marriage—statuettes of Asmodeus, ceremonial daggers, portraits of Abrogail I, and so on. In all, these art objects are worth a total of 20 gp. There is also an odd item that looks like a vastly foreshortened telescope.
There is also a locked iron coffer on the headboard.
Loot
Next door is an extremely decrepit bathroom with nothing of interest in it. The doors opposite the bedroom are both locked.
"Why would they keep part of the clock here?" Tadia questions, looking over the strange telescope.
Miya inspects the fireplace, finding a loose brick at the back. She pulls out a small iron key hidden within the lockbox, holding it up for the group, very proud of herself.
"Look what I find."
Eliza stands watch, examining the room whilst the others set to examining the contents.
"This couple were clearly Cheliaxian loyalists." Eliza comments, casting her gaze across the couple's belongings. "There is something about clearing out a house after somebody's death that feels very personal."
"Abrogail I was ruling around 4600 to the mid-70s I believe, so that dates this couple and therefore this house to around that period at least."
As Miya points out the loose brick, Eliza cannot hold back her curiosity and helps examine it, after helpfully correcting the young girls' gramma of course. "Found. Look what I found."
She reaches into the coffer and picks out the badge and the key first. "Now these will certainly come in useful Im sure." Passing them back to the others, she then carefully picks up the wedding ring and examines it closely.
When everybody has done examining the room, she suggests that they continue to the next room along this short corridor.
Alexi is grateful when the wisp is defeated. She examines the scorched skin on her arms. "I could use some healing before we proceed."
Eliza tries to help Alexi by wrapping her arms in some cloth, but it does little good. "Sorry I couldn't help much more. Perhaps Miya can give you some respite."
Tadia rolls her eyes before taking a slow breath and directing some of her mental energy towards Alexi's injuries.
Between Tadia and Miya, Alexi's wounds are healed and the group investigates the bedrooms opposite. The door yields to the skeleton key from the lockbox and reveal two children's bedrooms. The first is uninteresting. A single bed sits in the corner of this room. Tangled sheets marred by ancient bloodstains lie in a heap on the floor. The opposite corner features a half-sized fireplace; a freestanding dresser and a table with a chair fill out the room’s remaining furnishings while atop the table rests a shortbow, several arrows, and a taxidermy fox. Paintings of the woods and hunting scenes decorate the walls.
The next room meanwhile is similar although the table here holds a scale model of Xarwin Manor, along with several sheets of paper and drawing instruments. Paintings of houses with striking architecture decorate the walls.
Suddenly, despite the group being split between both rooms, everyone sees a sudden image of two children having having the tops of their heads cut away by unseen blades, followed by the ghastly sight of brains being placed into the empty skulls within.
Tadia pales at the image thrust into her mind. Her hand flies to her mouth as bile rises in her throat.
Eliza's stomach twists and turns with the vile image in front of her.
"Look! This way! We are surely better targets than these poor children!" Eliza shouts, trying to gain the attention of the malefaction.
Miya holds her hands to her head, gasping out in pain. She tries to focus and exorcise the haunt, but can't concentrate at all.
Eliza and Miya reel in the face of the haunt and in their moment of the distraction the twin ghosts act. The girl gestures and Alexi finds herself trapped in an ectoplasmic replica of her childhood home. Suddenly a window opens and an arrow flies through. Taken aback, Alexi is caught flatfooted and the arrow strikes her in the chest with critical force!
Hoping to sooth the restless spirits, Tadia actually breaks out in a lullaby. Unlike her normally indignant tone that stretches to almost a whine at times, her singing voice is smooth, soft, and entirely enrapturing.
The shift as the haunt's attention turns to Tadia's song is easily noticeable and after a few moments the feelings of pain and anger shift to cheerful pleasure and then to peace as the haunt fades away entirely.
Returning to the clock Eliza reapplies herself to the metal bands and pops them off in no time! Inside is revealed a rather gruesome sight - a full human brain, floating in a jar!
There are also two obvious attachment points and a little experimentation connects the telescope into the clock. The bubbles around the brain surge as the connection is made, but there is no sound.
Perhaps another piece is missing from the clock?
It takes Tadia a moment to recovery from either the haunt or her song - it's difficult to tell which. She brushes at her eyes and then follows the others as they head back to the clock.
She doesn't even attempt to conceal her horror at what's inside.
"Oh, gods! Please by all that's good ... let that not be one of the children?" she says, her voice choking.
Once again, bile rises in Eliza's throat at the thought. She had heard many worse tales, but when a thought includes a child, it is almost too difficult to behold.
"I don't think so no, it looks too large and is likely an adult's brain. Rest easy." Eliza says, trying to reassure Tadia, but realises its a dificult situation to deal with either way. "Although I cannot tell you if its linked to one of the previous inhabitants or not. Considering what we found downstairs in the cupboard. There does seem to be an odd energy and an obsession with people's brain matter in this household. I presume its linked to some forbidden knowledge they may all have had. I wonder if it is genetic knowledge, passed down to them or if it is locational." She says, but at this point its clear she is speaking to herself.
"Either way, I think we need to find out a lot more before we continue. What do you all say to some more time hitting the books? Downstairs where it is safer."
Tadia nods.
"And ... can we close ... that?" she says, gesturing at the clock.
Miya abides by Tadia's request and closes it before agreeing with Eliza, "Let's do more reading." and heading downstairs.
Eliza heads back down the stairs to more familiar territory and finds a comfortable armchair to put her feet up. Its really starting to feel a lot more like home. Especially as she seems to have found her favourite quiet place to research.
Eliza barely brings her eyes up from the journals as she buries herself deep into their pages. "I'm considering staying here for the night. Cuts out the travel time and I don't think it would be too dangerous down here." She suggests to the others when she realises it is already dark outside. "What do you say?"
Miya dives into the journals attempting to find out about the Dominion of the Black, but only succeeds in growing more and more frustrated by her inability to find what she wants. Finally having enough, she throws the book across the room and quickly rises to her feet.
She turns to Eliza and nods, "I agree. No need to leave. We took care of danger here. Easy to stay."
Tadia spends more time with Ezramalkun, hoping that the cheerful pyschopomp will take her mind of some of their more recent discoveries.
Having had enough of the cute creature, she returns to the library.
"As long as we don't anger the portraits in the hall, we should be fine staying here," Tadia adds.
Alexi spends most of her time studying the manor itself to learn more about the ghosts and spirits that haunt it.
The group spends the rest of the day being busy around the bottom floor of the manor, accompanied by the regular tolling of the clock above. Much information is found and some (but none of the stuff Miya locates) is even useful!
Tadia learns from Ezramalkun that the Caul is a physical manifestation of a powerful hatred of birds and thirst for knowledge. She thinks it extends across the entire estate, although she's never left her nice kitchen to check.
Alexi finds even more disturbing information, that the Caul absorbs knowledge and memories from sentient creatures that dream within its area of influence, and these absorbed thoughts are siphoned into the actual malevolence that haunts the manor. Strangely though even this information doesn't do much to convince anyone that they should leave the manor tonight.
Eliza attempts to find an original floorplan of the manor and fails, but she does find records that suggest that all the original builders of the manor disappeared shortly after completing the commission. She also tracks down more information about the Dominion of the Black who have destroyed countless worlds over the eons. Their interest in Golarion isn’t new, but recently, the Dominion has become more active in certain parts of the world. This may well be one of them...
With the research done and food consumed you settle down for the night, pleased by the thought of comfortable beds and not having to leave your new home.
Eliza suggests that everybody take a few minutes to help each other to shift some of the beds from the other side of the house into the old librarians bedroom.
Fortunately, they just about manage to squeeze in 4 beds, far enough away from the fireplace to be safe. In order to fit the four beds, it was necessary to push them all up against each other, so it is necessary to clambour over each bed.
Just as everyone is settling down to bed, Eliza pipes up. "Has anyone checked the plumbing is still working here yet? We should have checked in case we need to go to the toilet in the middle of the night!"
"There are always chamber pots," Alexi sugggests as she settles down in her bed.
That night, she has angry dreams.
Just as everyone is settling down to bed, Eliza pipes up. "Has anyone checked the plumbing is still working here yet? We should have checked in case we need to go to the toilet in the middle of the night!"
"What are we? Five?" Tadia says with a grimace. "Can't you hold it until morning?"
And a full bladder isn't something that disturbs Tadia's sleep. Her dreams, on the other hand ...
"Can just go outside." Miya suggest, but then reconsiders "Or hold it."
As usual, she isn't able to make any sense of her dreams.
Eliza sighs, "You'll both understand when you're older that holding it just isn't an option."
The next morning, Eliza wakes up early, and heads to a bathroom to use the toilet - on her own, whether there is working plumbing or not.
Heading back to the others, she claps her hands to try and wake anyone still dozing up. "Come on all, rise and shine. Time for more research before we find out what else is going on."
She stays in this room, and gets comfortable on one of the many beds. Eliza spends all morning trying to find out more about the Dominion of the Black after their knowledge gained yesterday.
Unfortunately she gets nowhere but continues in the afternoon.
After making a breakthrough in the early afternoon, she wanders out to the secret study that they found and continues her search into the evening, with no plans to leave the manor again tonight.
Alexi spends all day trying to learn more about the psychopomps in the library. She spends all day making no progress until a surprising breakthrough late in the evening.
Alexi finds some interesting things about psychopomps: The lord and lady of Xarwin Manor had very different opinions on psychopomps, Asethanna
drew inspiration from them and increasingly saw them as divine muses, while her husband Ioseff saw them as pests or even threats and took to hunting them in later years.
Eliza finds more information on the Dominion and can't help but feel like she's on the verge of a breakthrough...
Tadia spends the day split between the library and the secret study, but is slowly discovering that any more information may be beyond her abilities to ferret out.
When she takes a break from the library, she quietly approaches Eliza as the woman flips through a journal.
"Hey, um ... I was wondering ... I mean it's not a big deal or anything ... and don't assume that we're like friends or anything, but ... uh ..." She meanders to a halt and seems to take interest in the spine of an innocuous book on the nearby shelf. "If you're planning on staying here after we cleanse the manor ... could ... would it be possible ... for me to stay on as well?" She shrugs. "If not then that's fine and all ... I've got a lot of other prospects back in the city."
She avoids Eliza's eyes as if bracing for rejection.
Miya also spends the day with Alexi in the library, determined to crack away at the Order of the Starless Night. Surprisingly, her hard work finally begins to pay off as she feels like she makes the connections necessary.
When she takes a break from the library, she quietly approaches Eliza as the woman flips through a journal.
"Hey, um ... I was wondering ... I mean it's not a big deal or anything ... and don't assume that we're like friends or anything, but ... uh ..." She meanders to a halt and seems to take interest in the spine of an innocuous book on the nearby shelf. "If you're planning on staying here after we cleanse the manor ... could ... would it be possible ... for me to stay on as well?" She shrugs. "If not then that's fine and all ... I've got a lot of other prospects back in the city."
She avoids Eliza's eyes as if bracing for rejection.
Eliza takes a long moment to remove her rim-less reading glasses, and deliberately folds them, focusing her entire attention on them as she places them delicately on the table in front of her before her attention finally turns to the young girl.
"Tadia..." Eliza begins, worried that she is walking on eggshells, "You are an energetic young woman, trying to find her own place in the world. You would be welcome to stay here for as long as you needed, you would have certainly earned the right to it after this job. I also wouldn't mind the company. But - " She pauses abruptly, her brow furrowing.
"I would not want to presume to get in between any issues that may exist between you and your Father by doing so. I wouldn't want you to take this as an opportunity to run away from anything, you have so much ahead of you."
Still not meeting Eliza's eyes, Tadia's exploration takes on something a little more destructive as her poking and prodding turn into tearing at the target book.
"My father?" she responds, snorting in disgust. "Don't be ridiculous. If I died here tomorrow, he wouldn't even notice until next year when I wasn't there to be paraded around as some prize for the first ball of the season." Her annoyance results in the spine pulling entirely off of the book she's punishing. She shoves the evidence back onto the shelf and then steps away. "And even then he'd just be annoyed that I'd disrupted his 'all important' schedule."
Her voice takes on a tone clearly mocking her father.
"Tadia, you disappoint me. How dare you die and disrupt my well crafted plans. I'll have to take this out of your allowance."
Her charade fades and pain appears for just a moment on the young woman's face before being replaced by ever-present mask of anger. "Well, sod his plans. Even if we don't all die here, I'm not going back."
Miya finds rather a lot about the Order of the Starless Night - it appears that they crafted magical telescopes called the starless scopes, which they used to scan the night skies for threats from the Dark Tapestry.
In the secret study she finds something even more intriguing, a note in the margin of one of the books which suggests that Ioseff Xarwin believed that the Order of the Starless Night built a compound in what is now western Ilverness, which is why he chose this site for his manor. This is probably the strange crypt behind the house!
Tadia meanwhile delves deep into the mysteries of the Dominion of the Black and it soon becomes clear that Ioseff Xarwin became increasingly obsessed with the Dominion and collected many books and items associated with the topic. One item in particular seems to have been the focus of his obsession, something called a Void Mirror.
Still not meeting Eliza's eyes, Tadia's exploration takes on something a little more destructive as her poking and prodding turn into tearing at the target book.
"My father?" she responds, snorting in disgust. "Don't be ridiculous. If I died here tomorrow, he wouldn't even notice until next year when I wasn't there to be paraded around as some prize for the first ball of the season." Her annoyance results in the spine pulling entirely off of the book she's punishing. She shoves the evidence back onto the shelf and then steps away. "And even then he'd just be annoyed that I'd disrupted his 'all important' schedule."
Her voice takes on a tone clearly mocking her father.
"Tadia, you disappoint me. How dare you die and disrupt my well crafted plans. I'll have to take this out of your allowance."
Her charade fades and pain appears for just a moment on the young woman's face before being replaced by ever-present mask of anger. "Well, sod his plans. Even if we don't all die here, I'm not going back."
"Tadia, do you really think that?" Eliza retorts, shocked at the young woman's understanding of the whole situation. "Firstly, we are not going to die here. This is my home now - our home if you'd like to call it that. There is a special bond that a person holds with their true home, a protection of sorts. Yes, the manor doesn't seem to have realised this itself yet, but it will - eventually."
She sighs heavily and walks over to the shelf with the destroyed journal, picking up the pieces and examining them, somewhat tactlessly, to check if she can salvage any of it.
"I know that you are angry at him right now and that you feel diminished by his words but that doesn't mean that your relationship is not salvageable. Words are just that, and nothing is beyond repair. But perhaps, time is what you both need. Time away from each other. You would have to think carefully about what you would do with yourself here, of course as you cannot just wile away your time. An old woman such as myself has much to be doing, I even have a few papers I have been meaning to write but never got around to. But living here would involve being far away from any entertainment."
Eliza smiles kindly, at the young girl.
"And after all of that, you'd also have to put up with me!" Eliza tries to jest, to nervously lighten the mood somewhat. She had dealt with many things in her years, but dealing with an emotional young woman was not a skill she had practiced.
"My relationship with my father died when ..." the girl begins, but shakes her head and in a rare moment attempts to calm herself. "There is nothing to salvage there," she says simply. "I am nothing but an expensive pet to him. Although, I think he values his hunting dogs more."
She's quiet for a moment, pondering the past perhaps.
"And If I can put up with my governess for the last seven years, then I can put up with you. You haven't once hissed at me to stop slouching." She smiles.
Tadia has no personal knowledge of two of the new subjects that are revealed, but does remember something about the Order of the Starless Night.
As usual, if it's not a monster, Alexi doesn't know much about it.
Eliza heads back to bed late that night quietly pondering how she can help Tadia with her Father issues without interfering.
Eliza dreams of the Dominion but when she awakes, all memories of the dream leave her and only the fear that she felt lingers.
That morning, after everybody has stirred, she suggests that they head to the crypt outside in the grounds, hoping to find out more about the scopes and Order of the Starless Sky.
Expecting more dreams of the spaces between the stars above, Tadia is surprised by a dream that she hasn't had since childhood.
Waking in the night, the renewed sense of loss is profound and she makes her way out of the confined sleeping area to make her way to the study to sob alone.
When the morning arrives, she joins the others with her emotional armor in place and follows Eliza towards the crypt.
Miya almost feels like she makes a connection in her dreams, but just as it is about to happen, she wakes suddenly from her sleep, breathless and startled.
When the other women begin to depart for the crypt, Miya objects and stands firm. "No crypt. We finish the upper floors first before leaving."
"What do you mean Miya? It might be helpful in the grand scheme." Eliza says, but something about the woman seemed steadfast, and she wasn't in the mood to sway people's minds right now. "Okay, let's continue upstairs today and see what we find."
Miya nods when Eliza "agrees" with her. "Good. Upstairs now." she repeats, and leads the way up to the next unexplored area.