Miya finds that she actually knows somethings about the Void Mirror, although she'd be hard pressed to say why or even how she knows it.
Alexi meanwhile sleeps badly, her dreams haunted by faceless monsters from the darkness attempting to consume her. She wakes shaken and uneasy.
Miya, who seems to have strong views about the right course of action, leads the group upstairs the next morning, arriving on the second floor just as the clock chimes eight.
Moving around from the bedroom investigated two days ago, Miya leads the way into what appears to be a washroom. The room has a five-foot-wide wooden bench placed against the wall opposite the entrance. Directly north, the tattered remnants of a silk curtain hang from the ceiling. Ample holes and rips in the curtain provide glimpses into the room beyond, where an oversized cast-iron tub sits against the far wall, while to the west a large fireplace looms next to a pair of water barrels.
It is non-magical and worth perhaps 25gp, but there is clearly some sort of sentimental story behind how it came to be here, and who is Fulvia? Xarwin's wife was named Asethanna according to the portraits downstairs...
With little else to see in this room Miya leads on into the room over the kitchens downstairs. A single long table sprawls through the middle of this dining room, surrounded by a combination of chairs, broken and otherwise. A pair of fallen chandeliers lie atop the table at either end. To the south, a shattered cabinet for displaying fine place settings just barely stands, while a sideboard for food preparation nearby teeters on rotten‑looking legs. A large fireplace to the north is cold and dark, though it has become the centerpiece of a disturbingly majestic display of rotten curtains and table linens, strips of carpet, fragments of wood, and, in a few places, strange bones of what appear to be bat-like humanoids, all arranged to depict an immense bat with its wings spread from one end of the room to the other. Its head looks like little more than three hand mirrors placed to give the impression of an alien, three-lobed eye.
More important are the flock of purple skinned, winged creatures in this room which hiss loudly at the arrival of the ladies and attack immediately! The battle is brutal and Miya and Alexi have their work cut out fending off the winged fiends while Tadia engages their leader in a magical duel and Eliza darts in and out of battle, piercing wings with precise blows. After a few minutes hard fighting however the creatures are slain and silence, apart from the dripping of black blood, falls once more.
Esoteric Lore - Success Alesi recognises the creatures as grioths, aliens from rogue planets who travel through magical portals in order to find other worlds to conquer. Their presence here suggests a portal must have opened between Xarwin Manor and wherever they came from at some point in the past.
The grioths have little of interest apart from a curved glass lens, identical to the one Alexi found in the constellation pond outside a week ago.
After taking the time to rest and repair the damage done by the grioths Miya leads the group onwards. In the middle of the floor are stairs which lead down into the ballroom below and a pair of locked doors which yield to the skeleton key found in the master bedroom. Beyond is a long room contains a few high-backed chairs, which allows one to sit in comfort while gazing out through the wall of dusty, grime-encrusted windows to the north.
Investigating the next door on the left reveals a corridor with a number of doors leading off it.
As they reach the bedroom, Eliza walks up the fireplace and examines the trinkets on the mantlepiece. As she does she notices a skeletal left hand partially buried in the dust and ash. She picks it up with the tips of her fingers, keeping it at arms reach from her, squinting to look at the inscription on the ring.
"What's this? It says something in Elven..." She asks aloud, taking the ring off the hand. She fishes her glasses out of her pocket and still has to squint to be able to read it. "Love Eternal Under Starless Sky— Ioseff hearts Fulvia”
"Now last time I heard, Fulvia is not a standard elvish nickname for Asethanna, but I might be wrong. Has anybody read anything about Xarwin remarrying at any point, or perhaps getting engaged again? I think we just found what people would call juicy gossip on the man."
************
Eliza points out the bat display at the back of the room. "That reminds me of a snippet I once read in one of my colleague's journals on the Outer Gods. Nyarlathotep I'd say, in his guise as the Haunter of the Dark. I remember reading that Nyarlathotep seems to enjoy manipulating mortals and driving them to madness. Now that would certainly make sense in this household and I think should confirm any suspicions we had about this place being entwined within the Dark Tapestry. "
****************
Eliza sits down, and reaches into her pocket, pulling out the letter received from Ravounel and opens it, staring down at its contents. "When I took this letter of inheritance, I never once thought that clearing out this place would be such a challenge. I have studied links to the otherworld my whole life, but now I'm experiencing that dark side of it myself I am finding it much more gruelling than thrilling."
"Now last time I heard, Fulvia is not a standard elvish nickname for Asethanna, but I might be wrong. Has anybody read anything about Xarwin remarrying at any point, or perhaps getting engaged again? I think we just found what people would call juicy gossip on the man."
Tadia is unable to resist reaching out and taking the ring to examine, herself. "'Juicy', indeed," she says with a grin at finally having discovered something that she would consider 'interesting'.
As Eliza looks over her letter, Tadia steps to the window and gazes out, reaching up to touch the glass. "This is an amazing view," she says with longing. "When we live here I want to ... Hey! There's a man out there!" She points towards the crypt.
Eliza's head shoots up from her hands and she rushes out of her seat to the window.
"What do you mean?" She says looking towards the crypt. "I cannot see anybody? Did I miss them?"
"He walked inside one of the pillars," Tadia says with a frown. "He looked kind of like the painting of Ioseff, but it's hard to tell from here. Besides, he's dead, right?"
Miya moves beside Tadia and Eliza and looks around, "No man. Only crypt."
Turning to Tadia she say sternly "No crypt. Upstairs first." before turning to continue to look around.
"No Miya, I think after everything we've found, and now what Tadia had said, I must insist that we head out to the Crypt to find out what is going on." Eliza says, and places a gentle hand on the Champion's shoulder, attempting to guide her.
"Come on everyone, let's go find out what is going on."
Miya listens to Eliza, but still shakes her head no and doesn't move when Eliza takes a few steps away. "One does not leave unexplored areas behind them. Must finish house first."
Eliza, not one to usually insist, but on this occasion, she snaps at Miya. "Miyasaki, I do not know what has gotten into you but this is ridiculousness. I do not want to pull the boss card on you but you are under my employ, and I am sure Tadia and Alexi agree that this is important to investigate further." Eliza looks around at the other two women for support.
"Those rooms haven't been explored in how many years?" Tadia questions, putting a hand on her hip and leaning back. "They're not going anywhere and they'll still be here after we find out who that man was."
"Exaclty, thank you Tadia. Let's all go."
Eliza says, making the final decision and she leaves the room, not looking back, hoping that others follow.
Tadia twists her lips as if she wants to say something to the warrior woman, but then shakes her head and follows after Eliza.
Miya folds her arms across her chest and stands firm. "Crypt not going anywhere either. We already here. Maybe information in next room. Maybe there is no man and you make it up. Make no senses."
Tadia stops and turns, her eyes narrowing and a nimbus of psychic energy coalescing around. "Are you calling me a liar?" she asks, her voice dropping to almost a whisper.
Miya narrows her eyes in return at Tadia, sensing a potential threat. "I see no man. Eliza see no man. You want to take Eliza out to unknown crypt. Sounds spicious."
Standing a little taller, she reaffirms "We stay."
"Maybe we should stay here," Alexi says. "Standing around and arguing isn't getting us anywhere. And we should finish clearing out our home to make sure it is safe for us to rest again tonight."
After Alexi sides with Miya, she breaks eye contact with Tadia to look at the duskwalker instead. She nods to her and reinforces it with "Agree."
"This is Eliza's house and her expedition," Tadia continues in a low voice. "If she says we explore the crypt, then we explore the crypt."
Eliza pauses, just outside the room round the corner, hoping someone follows but when no one does, she stands silently round the corner and eavesdrops on the conversation; she is pleasantly surprised when Tadia takes her side.
After listening for a moment, Eliza strides back round the corner decisively.
"Right, I am going to the crypt. It is my house, so if I have to go, then so be it, however, anybody else who would like to join me is more than welcome. We are going to look for the man Tadia did see. Please note, that this job is more dangerous than I expected so I am being reasonable here and not insisting that anybody joins me. If you are too scared to face the unknown, I understand."
With that, she decisively walks down the stairs towards the front door, very much hoping that somebody joins her.
Tadia nods at Eliza's words and watches as she moves to the stairs. Her eyes move between Miyasaki and Alexi. Her expression conveys disgust. "So much for 'Honor' and 'Loyalty'," she says with a derisive snort and turns to follow Eliza.
Miya thinks about what she just heard, assuming she misunderstood something. Turning to Alexi, she asks "Scared. Honor. Loyalty. Why are they using those words? Seems like a child?"
Alexi crosses their arms. "It all seems rather petty, yes. Come, let us continue on our task."
With a nod of agreement, Miya walks onward with Alexi to the closest unexplored area.
Eliza and Tadia head downstairs and leave by the front door without issue. The journey around the house is reasonably pleasant and when they arrive the small clearing is bathed in sunshine. It is also utterly empty and despite thorough searching the women find nothing to suggest anyone was ever there.
Alexi and Miya meanwhile investigate the bedrooms in the corner. The first one they find is covered in dust but otherwise utterly uninteresting. The room opposite has a door covered in mould and it takes some effort for the two women to force it open. Once it gives way however it reveals a dust-covered, but made, bed and a fireplace with shelves on either side. An overturned child-sized chair lays on the floor beside a low table between grimy windows to the north. Toys lay scattered over the floor, along with fragments of dolls and ripped-up pages from children’s’ books. The debris appears arranged in a roughly spiral shape and is caked to the floor with patches of mold.
A strange creature with a vulture skull for a head looks up as the door opens and cocks the empty eyes to one side.
Everyone reacts quickly but the creature is fastest. It steps faster and both Alexi and Miya are assailed by an aura of sobs.
Miya strides in, unafraid by the sobbing. She tries to identify it and then declares "You do not belong here." before taking a swipe at the likely undead creature.
Miya is confident that it is undead, but the exact type eludes her...
"It's... it's... I don't know," Alexi mutters, fumbling with her esoterica. She moves to flank with Miya and attacks.
Miya lands a blow, the holy power behind it scorching the undead. Unfortunately Alexi can't land a blow of her own and the creature seems utterly unperturbed by the strike.
It bites at Miya, latching onto her thigh and she feels the air being pulled from her lungs.
Alexi swings ineffectively!
Miya is only barely able to stop the air being pulled from her lungs, but it still winds her. Gasping out a breathy "No!", she quickly uses her lay on hands ability to help restore what was taken from her.
Feeling restored, she attacks twice, flanking with Alexi.
"Be gone!", she declares sternly.
+ positive if undead.
+ positive if undead.
Tadia leads Eliza directly to the column where she saw the figure and spends some time examining the structure carefully.
Miya lands another blow, despite having her breath (briefly) stolen from her. The creature still seems unphased though and its skeletal body shows no sign of real damage thus far.
+ positive if undead.
+ positive if undead.
She attempts to attack twice more, lashing out with her weapon before attempting to speak.
"I. Say. No!" she repeats, struggling between each word.
She then uses her healing ability, restoring some of the wounds, but still remaining quite injured.
Alexi swings ineffectively (again)!
Once more Miya lands a pair of blows while Alexi performs an interpretative dance routine which does at least force the creature to divide its attention.
Miya is nearly felled by the creature's bite and survives only thanks to Alexi's intercession. This may not be a good thing however as the creature lashes out with a claw and rips the samurai's armor and belly open with a grievous wound! Miya collapses to the floor in a dying heap!
The small undead meanwhile spins on Alexi and strikes her with a claw as well!
Alexi cannot speak, only slash empty air and resign herself to her inevitable demise.
Miya's wounds slow somewhat, perhaps due to Divine Grace as she lies unconscious on the floor.
The undead continues to strike at Alexi!
Alexi keeps her breath but feels her voice vanish! Screaming silently, the duskwalker drags Miya out of the room and slams the door, leaning against it with all her might.
Alexi braces hard against the door for at least a minute but utter silence is her only reward. The creature inside seems uninterested in attempting to leave - thank the Gods for small mercies.
Doing the most sensible thing she can the thaumaturge drags the champion into the room across the hallway and deposits her in the dusty bed, before falling into a similarly dusty chair and trying desperately to regain her composure.
The two are still there half an hour later when Eliza and Tadia return from their pleasant, but ultimately fruitless walk.
Visibly sulking at having found no evidence of the man that she absolutely, without a doubt, did not imagine, Tadia grumbles as they return to find Alexi and Miya entrenched in a silence of their own.
"Are we going to keep exploring?" she asks.
"Wwhat happened to the two of you?" Eliza asks with concern, as they enter in on Miya and Alexi. "Are you both okay? Don't tell me you continued exploring without us? That would indeed be foolish based on our previous encounters!"
Some time has passed since Alexi dragged Miya from the room, only moments before she should have died. During that time she was healed enough to recover from her wounds, but it was also discovered she could no longer speak. Remembering gasping and fighting to keep her breath during the fight, she can only assume something had happened from that strange creature that has taken away her ability to speak.
She was already challenged with verbal communication with her allies, but this new complete nonverbal communication was even worse! She thought it was going to be difficult to convey this to Alexi, only to find her companion was similarly troubled.
Miya is not overly excited to see the two women return. Had the foolish women not left to take a pointless mid-day stroll around the grounds chasing something that didn't exist, this wouldn't have happened. Alexi and Miya had almost died because their companions abandoned them.
And then they walked in and called them foolish? For doing the job they were here to do?
Miya's gaze does not immediately rise to meet either woman. It takes several seconds for her head to pivot up to look at Eliza from her spot where she lay against the wall. She slowly turns and points to the smeared blood stains from the room they were just in to the spot she current resides that Alexi had dragged her to.
Alexi pantomimes a small, vicious creature clawing at herself and Miya. She gestures to their throat, putting her hands around them and miming pulling something out of their mouths. She demonstrates her inability to speak. She points to the door where the creature that attacked them resides.
"See?" Tandri declares, utterly failing to read the room. "You should have come with us and this wouldn't have happened."
She looks to Eliza.
"Should we investigate?"
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Maybe it's the fact that Miya almost died (again) or perhaps Tadia's words finally push her over the line, but either way Miya loses her cool and presses her hand firmly into the bloody stained floor next to her and pushes herself to her feet.
Teeth clenched and wide-eyed, she marches over to Tadia in the blink of an eye and presses her bloody hand to Tadia's face, specifically over her mouth. She then mouths Child! Should be you who can not speak!, but it also could be interpreted as Wild! Should we get food and eat!, depending on how good your lip reading skills are.
Tadia stumbles back, wiping the blood from her mouth and an air of potential energy surrounds her like the atmosphere around a breaking storm. Her eyes narrow and her lips form a tight line.
A glance at Eliza seems to be the only thing that prevents the inevitable explosion. "Keep your hands off me!" she hisses.
"Look, let us all calm down a moment and take a deep breath." Eliza says, holding up her hands and taking a step towards Miya and Tadia.
"Clearly this place is wearing us all thin and our emotions are a little fraught. Let us first all recognise this and appreciate that we all want to achieve the same goals." She tries, hoping that people are ready to not only listen but take on board some advice.
"How about we take a moment to rest for the afternoon and regroup. Perhaps then we can all figure out together how to help both Miya and Alexi."
After a short rest where the combined efforts of Eliza and Miya manage to restore both fighters to something approaching health, Alexi's voice returns! Miya's, unfortunately, does not!
There is plenty of daylight left if further exploration is considered - or a return to the room across the corridor...
Alexi tries to remember what she can about the creature that stole their voices, seeing if there is a way to help Miya.
Alexi thinks that the creature is some sort of undead that steals the life from its victims one touch at a time, starting with the voice. It seems to be created from a child and therefore can be distracted by toys and other childish games.