Too exhausted from the bloodrage, and out of options of what to do with this situation, Ano doesn’t fight back. Instead, she holds Cherry close, shielding him from the merciless pecking.
The extreme explosion of positive energy coming from Ethan and Alicia is enough to melt away nearly all the undead birds. The few that remain fly away.
The group finds that being outside of the mansion's surroundings makes them feel much better. Even the weather seems to feel better as the group finds a place to camp, and the rain recedes to a drizzle.
"Is anyone hurt? Gather 'round, and I will draw upon Dead-Eye's power again to heal us."
Ethan waits for moment to make sure anyone who wants to be healed is within ranged, and then unleashes another burst of divine energy.
Juriya was... clearly spacing out from everything. She just stood there and took it, exhausted. "Pfft... thanks. Please let this be all. I need REST holy shit."
Sighing heavily, "What Juriya said."
He does feel refreshed by Ethan's channeling of Erastil's grace.
Ethan get some long-needed rest, and upon rising, prays to Erastil for the power to cleanse the house of its evil taint.
Ano sighed once the swarm goes away. Other than a few bleeding spots she’s alright.
“We all need a good sleep after all of that,” Cherry chirped. Ano didn’t even respond, she found the closest tree and sat against it.
Arrian offers his poncho to one of the women of the group while he offers the others his two pieces of canvas.
"Sorry it doesn't provide more cover but at least your head won't be soaked."
Donimah watches as the others dispatch the carrionstorm and sighs.
"Sometimes magic cannot help because it is not strong enough, other times, it cannot help because the caster lacked the foresight to have the right spells ready. The perpetual dilemma of any wizard."
She joins the others in setting up camp for the night and getting a campfire started.
"I'll do my best to cook something up. Least I can do."
Donimah watches as the others dispatch the carrionstorm and sighs.
"Sometimes magic cannot help because it is not strong enough, other times, it cannot help because the caster lacked the foresight to have the right spells ready. The perpetual dilemma of any wizard."
She joins the others in setting up camp for the night and getting a campfire started.
"I'll do my best to cook something up. Least I can do."
"I've helped Jargie often enough I can help with cooking. Or I have some trail rations left if the cooking goes south."
"My grandfather had a solution to that problem: be an arcanist," Juriya chuckles to Donimah, thinking of the late Yoshi Arima's notes. So many scattered, deranged thoughts from a brilliant man Juriya would have loved to meet. A kindred spirit in being weird.
"I've helped Jargie often enough I can help with cooking. Or I have some trail rations left if the cooking goes south."Donimah watches as the others dispatch the carrionstorm and sighs.
"Sometimes magic cannot help because it is not strong enough, other times, it cannot help because the caster lacked the foresight to have the right spells ready. The perpetual dilemma of any wizard."
She joins the others in setting up camp for the night and getting a campfire started.
"I'll do my best to cook something up. Least I can do."
"Thank you, Arrian."
Donimah sets to work, trying to prepare something resembling the stew she and her father subsisted on when she was growing up.
All she does is manage to set the damn thing on fire.
"Blast it! I've probably fouled the pot to uselessness now! Of COURSE the moment I try to do something nice for someone else the spirits choose to make a fool out of me!"
"I'll give it a try; remember I do have some trail rations..."
Arrian calls upon the divine guidance of Cayden Cailean to, that's right, cook supper.
"Tastes like something fished out of Nora's tank..."
Cherry flutters over to the rest of the group, not really being able to help with cooking, but perhaps wanting a conversation. As Ano watches, the catfolk sighs and turns to her side, her spirit faltered after the last few days of murder and uncertainty.
"I can't cook, but maybe there is something I can do to help," Ethan says. He looks around the area, trying to find some flavorful herbs, edible mushrooms, and wild onions.
Once he has collected an assortment of ingredients for the meal, he offers a quick prayer to Erastil before handing them over.
Never let a tiefling Paladin cook
Like, people who are immune to disease, highly resistant to poison and well...
I am, how to say it like that... I maintained alas the spice level preferences of the midnight isles. Which are... not suitable for normal people. Its also gets expensive, because, while one can get Chili and strong peppers in Magnimar, it does eat into your budget.
Although I get that you probably need to make Gylou-Mari really spicy, assuming they actually are made from a high ranking devil
She then moves to the other "non cooking capable person".
You look a bit like you could use a hug Ano, that house was... deeply unpleseant.
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Donimah smirks.
"You might be surprised, Alicia. We Shoanti have a tale about Grandfather Pah's gift: he was an old Sklar-Quah who, one day while looking for food to feed his starving family, was greeted by Asmodeus himself with a spread of smoked meats and the seeds of crops. He told Grandfather Pah he could have all of this if he could eat a hot pepper without sweating or crying. Grandfather Pah gave the Prince of Darkness a counter-offer: if he could eat the pepper without sweating or crying, not only would he get all the food, but the seeds of the pepper itself too AND the ability to eat spicy food would be passed down to ALL his children AND the cousins too! Asmodeus smirked and offered him THE spiciest pepper on all Golarion, the Kuthite's kiss. Grandfather Pah took it, looked it over a bit, then took out his false elk teeth and popped it in his mouth. Chewed and swallowed it in one bite! Then he yawned and stretched, and told Asmodeus to start packing the food up because they had a long hike ahead of them."
Then she shrugs.
"Dunno if it's a true story: the Sklar-Quah love to brag that they're the most Shoanti of the Shoanti. Of COURSE they'd be arrogant enough to claim one of their ancestors beat Asmodeus at his own game. But the Kuthite's kiss IS exclusive to the Cinderlands, where they live, and it's popular in their cooking, and even my Shadde-Quah father gave me pickled peppers for snacks growing up. One of the few luxuries we allowed ourselves in Riddleport."
Arrian's eyebrows shoot up listening to Donimah's story, "Yeah it's tough to know whether the story is true or not. But there's usually a grain of truth somewhere in those old tales."
You look a bit like you could use a hug Ano, that house was... deeply unpleseant.
Ano didn’t look at Alicia. “I don’t know what happened to me in there. I barely felt like myself…like I was even there. I felt so…useless…”
"I think we were all out of our depth in one way or another," Ethan replies. "This was my first encounter with this degree of malevolence, and that's saying something, considering what we found beneath the goblin lair. I can only hope that we can put this place to rest come morning."
I was once laughably useless against an Imp with a wand of magic missle. The f~$$ing thing nearly killed me. But its wand ran out before my lay on hands did.
I think its equipment. You are wearing a non magical lamellar armor? Useing a non magical weapon? I think your only magical item is your amulet?
We gonna get you some equipment, that job should have a decent payout! And if it doesnt, I should be able to arrange something with Kelinahats temple. Its good business and common sense to keep some capable adventurers on retainer, you guys and girls did save my life.
Nodding to both Ano and Ethan, "Similar situation for me. To realize that sick freak was stalking me and wanted me to be his apprentice or something? He was as evil as he was stupid. It took everything I had not to fly off the handle in a half-orc rage."
The group manages to find some shelter from the elements in a farmhouse whose owners probably became ghoul food.
Ethan manages to bring a wide assortment of herbs and berries. While not completely saving Donimah and Arrian's less than stellar cooking, he does manage to make it remind the taste of food. After the meal settles in everyone's bellies, the talk of old stories and spices does a good job to provide some sense of tranquility after the ordeal. Ethan also uses the house's own kitchenware to brew some tea from some fresh leaves. The sound of the light rain with the warmth of the hot tea do a great job to make all doze off.
The group wakes to a sunny sky. The rain seems to have left, but the air is still very cool. The way back to the mansion is tranquil with the early sun warming the adventuring bones of the group. However, the house itself is as oppressive as before.
"Here we are - hopefully for the last time. We'll stand guard over you Ethan while you consecrate the areas that need it most."
"we should probably start with where we found Foxglove," Ethan says. "That place seemed to be the heart of the evil."
Donimah nods.
"Agreed. Like I said, it's as much his great-great uncle's evil as it was his own."
The mansion is just as the group left it. The haunts haven't been given enough time to recharge. Upon reaching the caves underneath the house, one could swear that the pulp that was once Aldern Foxglove's body is in a different position than before the group left.
Ethan's spell starts to form powerful a light green aura. For a moment, one can swear there are vines coming out of the corners, but a second look shows that it's just tricks of the light. The fungal mass on the cave's wall starts to move, and the black mold that resembles a man seems to be thrashing in despair. The waves in the cave's bottom crash louder as if in protest.
Once the spell completes, a short silence follows as nothing seems to happen. However, screams from all sides slowly fade in as if in pain. Shortly after, the screams get overwhelmed by other voices, those of relief, joy and calm. The black mold dries up and falls completely from the wall, and the air in the entire mansion soothes. Although its physical features remain twisted by Vorel's evil influence, it has become a mundane construction.
You can make out two male, two female, and a child's voice in the relief sighs.
You hear the same voices as before whispering to you "Thank you"
"Erastil grants you peace. May your souls find the Spire. May the Gray Lady judge you justly."
Ethan moves over to the remains of the revenant, and lays a hand upon it.
"May your body find the same rest as your soul."
He then moves over to Aldern's remains.
"May your body remain ever at rest, and your soul receive just judgement."
Ethan rises to his feet and says, "I think this area is cleansed now, but if you could use your senses to verify?" He directs his request at the end to Alicia.
Arrian uses some of his divine magic to check for any lingering magical auras in the house.
"It doesn't feel evil and oppressive anymore but I'm still putting this place to the torch unless anyone has a good reason why I shouldn't."
"I think I have enough power left to cleanse the upper floors," Ethan says. "We can burn this place, and remove its legacy from Sandpoint, or we might be able to re-purpose it for good. Are there any surviving members of the Foxglove family? If not, we could petition to lay claim to the manor, and turn it into something beneficial to the community sometime in the future."
Arrian uses some of his divine magic to check for any lingering magical auras in the house.
"It doesn't feel evil and oppressive anymore but I'm still putting this place to the torch unless anyone has a good reason why I shouldn't."
"Unless you want to do one last sweep for any valuables worth salvaging we might have missed, I can't think of any," Donimah replies with a shrug.
"Unless you want to do one last sweep for any valuables worth salvaging we might have missed, I can't think of any," Donimah replies with a shrug.Arrian uses some of his divine magic to check for any lingering magical auras in the house.
"It doesn't feel evil and oppressive anymore but I'm still putting this place to the torch unless anyone has a good reason why I shouldn't."
Listening to Ethan and Donimah, "Yes we definitely need to search this place top to bottom. Not just for anything of value but anything evil that needs to be destroyed. And Ethan makes a good point about turning it into something useful. I just wonder if this place is like the Glassworks where evil just tends to focus here for some reason we don't know."
"I don't see how good it can be of use," Ano said coldly, "I vote to burn it after we search the place."
Detecting Evil Alicia says as her eyes flare blue
Kelinahat approves of bringing light from darkness, if people can be redeemed, and they certain can, then so can buildings.
"If we agree to claim the Manor, we can come to some consensus on how best to use it," Ethan says. "If it were solely my decision, I would make it into a house of healing, a place where the sick could be tended and cured, where women could come to labor and deliver in a clean environment with ready assistance from a midwife, and where the elderly and incurably ill could pass away peacefully, ending their time in this world feeling the touch of gentle, caring hands. If such a place existed in Sandpoint, I would gladly make it my home and life's work. And if Old Dead-Eye deems me worthy, I will find a wife who shares this dream, and we will raise our children to carry on the work of caring for the needs of others."
Donimah shrugs.
"I dunno, Ethan. This place is rather out of the way. I'm not a healer myself, but if I were one, I'd want to be somewhere people can get to easily when they're in need. It's a noble aspiration, obviously, I just wonder if doing it in a rich mage's recluse wouldn't be...inefficient."
She begins looking through the rooms, checking if anything of value may easily be spotted in the clean light of day that they might have missed in the night.
"Out of the way like that Sanitarium? We'll need to make sure the Sheriff has that situation under control too. And then we need to start our search for the next step up in this chain of evil."
Ethan sighs. "As I said, if it were my decision alone, that is what I would choose, but I will accept the consensus of all. I understand the desire to raze this place to the ground, and scrub all memory of it from history."
Ethan follows as Donimah and the others carefully search. He looks into each room where hauntings were previously encountered, if either Alicia or Arrian indicate an evil presence, he calls upon Erastil's power to consecrate the area.
You detect absolutely no evil auras.
The group spends an entire day combing through the abandoned house.
Things the group find in the mansion:
On the ground floor, the monkey head that is hanging on the wall is actually magical. There's an attached rope to it. When it's pulled, the monkey head screams loudly, enough that it will be heard all through the house. One can imagine this was used to signal the start of dinner.
There's also a washroom on the groundfloor. Inside a bathtub, there's a diseased rat. upon entering the room, it tries to attack whoever's there, but cannot get out of the tub. The rat is easy enough to kill. Thinking about it for a few seconds, the group remembers that on the first floor there was also a washroom with a very fragile floor. If it were to break with someone on it, that someone would fall into this tub with the rat.
Another thing that the group notices is that all the haunts are gone from every single room, even those rooms that the group hasn't visited yet.
Next to the kitchen, the group walks into a wine cellar. Although it is mostly empty, a careful examination reveals eight bottles of fine wine from the famed Vigardeis vineyard. Arrian knows that each goes for 100gp. If Jargie could get his hands on these, he could probably steal some business from Ameiko.
In one of the caverns, the group fights an undead bat. It is vicious and the fight is nasty, however the group prevails.
In the cave's bat there are three long dead Varisian nomads.
You recognize one of them as the corpse of the notorious one-armed bandit Shaz "Redshiv" Bilger, suspected of organizing the robbery of nearly two dozen merchant convoys along the Lost Coast Road over the past decade. There's a 500gp reward in Magnimar to be presented to anyone who can bring proof of his death.
In these remains, there's a few items to be found. A pearl ring worth 300gp, an adamantine longsword, a magical hat and 56gp in a small pouch.
It's a hat of Disguise.
In another cave, there's some mold on the wall. There's some pickaxes thrown on the floor and one of them seems particularly well made.
Being close to the mold is very dangerous.
One of the picks is magical.
It's a +1 heavy pick.
Ano was stoic the entire way of the house, even when she helped killed the undead bat. But seeing the one armed corpsed made her eyes almost pop out of her skull.
“That’s…that’s Shaz Bilger. You know, Redshiv? That bandit who stole from Lost Coast travelers the last decade? I hear Magnimar is looking for evidence of his death, and the reward is worth a lot of gold.”
Arrian blinks at Ano, "Yeah I remember hearing about him! Worth a lot of gold eh? The next step of our journey takes us to Magnimar anyway so we can collect the reward to help pay for supplies."
These pickaxes look valuable, let me retrieve them
Blerg, what
That mold bleeerrrghh Alicia is coughing heavily as she gets the pickaxes back
Yikes, if it gets through to me that was really bad. Those who are weak to Abyssal swearing may wish to cover their ears
Alicia semi silently erupts into a barrage of complex Abyssal expressions
You make out very unpaladinlike expressions best translated as *I should have nailed Aldern Foxgloves between the legs pimple to a waterwheel* *All fires and heaven and hell on C*yth-Ssugs domain* *I am considering hiring Nurgal to exterminate that F***Ing molds home village thrice*
"I don't have any restorative spells prepared, at the moment," Ethan says in an apologetic tone. "As long as the fungus isn't one of an extraplanar variety, I think I can work up a tonic that might help, though."
Ethan rummages in his healer's bag for a few moments, retrieves two full vials and one empty one, then carefully mixes the two in measured, but unequal parts into the empty vial.
"Here. Drink this," he says, offering the vial to Alicia.
Alicia gulps it down
Could be extraplanar but I dont think it is, if its... lets not speak that things name out loud, things would be even worse.
She says somewhat sheepishly
"In the future allow us to study things first to determine if things are dangerous and how best to approach them. Don't worry Ethan I can heal her damage."
Arrian begins casting a spell but it requires time to gain the favor of Cayden Cailean to grant such power.