“Tastie, don’t run off as well.” Lanky prods the disgusting creature’s head, trying to determine what it is.  “Well, it’s not a spirit,” 

religon: 6   If arcana is more suited, take 2 off.

Lanky, you take a closer look at the head with the viscous pool of black blood forming below it and realize you haven't seen anything like this creature before.  You realize that it isn't a spirit like you thought you were here to fight, but something else entirely.  The smell emanating from it is beyond the smell of rotting flesh, but it is so bad, you feel it in your eyes.

Elirion will join the queue to get upstairs.

E'lar will heal Gabin, 9.

(Remi need heals too?)

E'lar will push into one of the rooms up here. Stealth is out of the question, might as well go with armor.

Sounds good, and I realize you haven't been in that bedroom yet, so I covered it back up.

E'Lar gives healing to Gabin and the aasimar is slowly starting to feel like himself - though still paralyzed.

The elf goes into the bedroom that the creature came out of (though he doesn't know that) and sees that this dim room holds nothing but a bed, partially coated in debris from the collapsed chimney. Cold air gusts in through the gaps.

Remi steps up and looks at, picks up the glittering thing off its hand, examining it.  “Is this… is this the Mayor?  This smelly thing?”

Remi, holding his breath, leans down and takes the ring off of the things "hand" and examines it closer.  It appears to be an ornate platinum signet ring embossed with a snowdrop blossom.

Remi takes the signet ring and looks at the design.  He shows it to everyone and says “Were these people transformed into these things?  Let’s look for any diaries or writings here!”  He looks for any desk, writings, anything with an insignia for the town, looking for a snowdrop blossom.  

Con: 4 

Gabin slowly pushes himself up to his hands and knees as he regains control of his body. "Damn it! It's happening all over again." He pounds his fist against the floor in frustration. His wings of light have faded by this point and Gabin looks despondent as he says without looking up, "I'm sorry everyone. I got distracted, rushed in without thinking, and when it really mattered, I froze up. Just like..."

He sits up against a nearby wall while everyone is searching and mutters to himself, "What am I even doing here?"

Elirion looks down at Gabin, and shrugs, "Look on the bright side: You won't be doing much of anything if you keep running off like that" she says with a grim smile. After a moment, she tries to soften her words, adding "Though I think everyone got a little rattled by their tricks."

While everyone else resumes searching the building, she pulls out her book again to restart her ritual. She asks Arara to sit near the top of the stairs and warn if anything else appears.

Tastie

She looks around the room rummaging through the furniture looking for cool stuff, still a bit shaken by what she had heard I her head earlier, despite knowing other people heard things as well. “I have healing capacity as well, though I’d rather use my talents for more...vengeful things...anyone need a shot of juice?”

Lanky gives a soft sigh and puts a hand on Gabin’s shoulder. “Ahem, uh… I know you were trying your best, and wanted to save someone.  That’s admirable, you’re not yet haded from the world.  But er…you do need some experience. How did that saying go.. Um…ah I got it, a bird learns how to fly by falling first.  You got to fail sometimes to truly succeed.  I’m not mad…annoyed but not mad, but that’s because you ran off without much warning,  Um…what I’m trying to say is that next time you do something like that might be the last.  But don’t give hope on yourself, okay?”  

Remi says “Yeah, I think it is clear now, ignore any voices you hear, these creatures try to get inside your mind and lure you in.  Let’s all stay together and do this slowly, one room at a time.”  Responding to Tastie, he says “I don’t need any healing from you, thank you.  But if we could stop here and rest for a short while I think that would help.  Everyone else ok with that?”  Remi continues to look for some writing, desk, notes about what has happened in this town.

"Clear the building before we sit and rest.", E'lar suggests.

Gabin stands up as he clenches and unclenches his wounded hand a few times. Light glows from within each it curls into a fist, and before long the wound has closed up.

Healing Light:

1 

"I'm sorry, you're right," he says to everyone glumly. "Let's keep going."

As you're standing on the upstairs landing you see that all the doors around you, other than the one the creature came out of, are closed.  There is a large opening to the South though and Remi heads there to check things out.

Shelves filled with books line the walls of this library, and four wingback chairs sit around a low table in the center of the room. The wide bank of windows in the south wall affords a panoramic view of the dilapidated houses beyond the twisting branches of the tree in the front yard. 

As Remi walks to the table to search for answers, several open books lie on the table, with notes scribbled on bits of paper stuck between their pages. The topics include the effects of physical and emotional trauma, nightmares, and mysterious disappearances. Seemingly out of place in comparison to the other topics, a book about the Feywild and its sundry creatures holds a single note, written in a shaky hand. It reads: Could this be the answer?

The note marks a page with an entry on meenlocks, which includes the following information:

• Meenlocks are corrupted fey creatures that spontaneously manifest in response to fear in places where the border with the Feywild is thin.
• Meenlocks create more of their kind by transforming humanoids through a process of psychic torment that takes hours or days.
• Meenlocks live in subterranean nests.
• Meenlocks are sensitive to bright light and can sense shadows and darkness.

After reading these notes, Remi looks up and sees through the window that it is now dark outside, night has arrived.