Octavian does as he is asked and finds all the doors are locked.
"Uh oh!', Valrieth gives Finley a worried look. "No way out. We should hurry, but be very quiet."
The watering can resting atop the chest is full of water.
There seems to be no further clues in the chest of drawers.
OK. Seeing that there's still water in the watering can, Val takes it off of the chest of drawers. She will stand up the clay pots one by one and water them in the hopes that the plants are not entirely dead. She knows that plants sometimes drop their leaves in dry conditions to conserve energy, waiting for the next rain, and she'd like to think that some of the plants have survived despite Bavlorna's neglect.
You hear Val say, "Poor babies. If I were a plant in Bavlorna's blighted realm, I'd drop my leaves and wait for spring, too." She had meant to whisper quietly to the plants as she watered them, but she forgot that her fey bargain makes it impossible for her to whisper. She glances around at the others, looking a bit embarrassed.
The dead plants begin to undulate and tiny leaves sprout among their branches that moves as if there is some unknown breeze. Though all stay within their pots. A gnarled wooden hand pushes up through the dirt ,like a zombie, unfurling its hand revealing a black-enameled iron key.
The dead plants begin to undulate and tiny leaves sprout among their branches that moves as if there is some unknown breeze. Though all stay within their pots. A gnarled wooden hand pushes up through the dirt ,like a zombie, unfurling its hand revealing a black-enameled iron key.
Valrieth hops back, startled at the sudden transformation of the "dead" plants. As leaves begin to sprout, a smile spreads across her face until she is beaming happily at the plants. She looks around at the others, proud that she was able to bring some relief in this desolate swamp.
Noticing the key, Val squats down and carefully takes the key from the hand, saying, "Thank you! I was glad to help." She stands up and puts the watering can back on the chest of drawers. Then she hands the key to Finley and says, "Finley, look! A key! Do you think that it fits the lock on that chest? Or maybe one of the doors?"
"This place is just awful." Finley states after the wisp retreats back. Following Val he looks around the room in a slight daze, before she mentions the key. "Let's try th' chest with it first, but lemme check fer traps just in case."He tries to move as quiet as he can, before checking around the chest for traps.
(Investigation:8 and Stealth: Nat 1 for a 12 with Pass without Trace if that matters.)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Finley Stoneshaft, Dwarf Artificer - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Falkas, Half-Elf Drow Warlock - Keys of Empire
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
While Finley looks at the chest, Valrieth tries to make good use of their time. There's no telling how long they have before Bavlorna finds them or the will-o'-wisp decides to attack.
Val checks the two locked doors, to the south and to the east, for traps and listens at the doors for any sounds or hints of what's behind them. Not for the first time in this house, she wishes that she could see through doors. Perception18
As she walks quietly from one door to the other, she says to Finley, "I think it's OK. I don't think that Bavlorna expects anyone to come to her bedroom uninvited, so I doubt that there's a trap. Or if there is one, it's probably more like what happened on the stairs. Let me know before you try the key so that I'm ready in case...something attacks." Her eyes flick to the will-o'-wisp as she says "something."
There is no sound heard through the door and there seems to be no traps either on the doors.
OK. Then Valrieth just waits by the door for Finley to try the key on the chest first. If that doesn't work, she'll ask him to try it on the door. (Or if that doesn't work, see whether Jingle-Jangle's key works. They haven't found anything else more 'important' that they needed to open in Bavlorna's hut than the locked things in this room.)
When Finley tells her what he has found, Valrieth says, "Oh? OK." She sounds a little downcast: she was hoping that the chest might have held Clapperclaw's head. Val watches the Will-O'-Wisp suspiciously for a moment, but as long as it doesn't attack Finley, she gets Bavlorna's book out of her backpack. She's careful not to tell an outright lie, just in case the Will-O'-Wisp can understand them, simply saying, "Here. We need to put this book back in the chest and take these other things downstairs."
Val brings the book over to Finley and hands it to him, trying to stay on the other side of the chest from the Will-O'-Wisp just in case. While they work, she says, "Thank you so much for giving us some light! Isn't it nice, Finley, to have a little glowy friend to light up the room?" Since Will-O'-Wisps are rumored to feed on agony, fear, and despair, she hopes that a cheery attitude will make it lose interest in them. They can remove the other items from the chest to make room for the book, and Val will put the marionette and carnival ticket in her backpack for now since she already has it open.
Val knows that the scrolls would be useless to her. Once they have the book in the chest, Val says, "My bag is getting pretty full. You should probably carry those scrolls so that they don't get crushed." Once they've swapped the contents of the chest for the book, she suggests that they close and lock it again.
Once they've swapped the contents of the chest for the book, she suggests that they close and lock it again.
(OOC: assuming that they managed all of that without getting attacked by the Will-O'-Wisp...)
Still proceeding with their clockwise pattern of searching Bavlorna's hut, Val takes Finley over to the door in the east wall. She peers at the keyhole for this door and asks him, "Does it look like the same key would work on this door? Or do you think that we should use that other key we were given? The instructions weren't clear about which key goes to this door." She hopes that Finley realizes that she means Jingle-Jangle's key, but she wants to make it sound like they may have received the key from Bavlorna in case the WIl-O'-Wisp is still listening. She hopes that one of the two keys unlocks the door, and she's not sure whether there's any downside to trying the wrong key.
If Finley wants to investigate the keys and keyhole to determine the best key to try first, Val will try to help him figure it out. (She cannot cast Guidance while she is still concentrating on pass without trace.)
"Ah, it, uh sure is nice to have light.."Finley says hesitantly and slips the scrolls into a side pouch on his pack. He looks from Valrieth to the wisp and then follows along with her to the door. "Ah'm sure she'd give us th' right keys fer th' job." He adds and tries the Jingle-jangle key and if that doesn't work he tries the key that unlocked the chest.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Finley Stoneshaft, Dwarf Artificer - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Falkas, Half-Elf Drow Warlock - Keys of Empire
This musty room looks like a miser’s attic. Lying in tall heaps are discarded blankets, quilts, cushions, and clothing of all shapes and sizes, not to mention musical instruments, toys, dolls, jewelry boxes, flower vases, child-sized caskets, and broken furniture.
Among the heaps of junk are a few oddities, including a stag’s skull hanging on one wall, a white porcelain jar with chicken legs standing on a table, a fancy helmet placed on the faceless head of a wooden mannequin, and a five-foot-long bronze statue of a giant frog squatting in a corner, its mouth agape and filled with impenetrable darkness. A weak croaking sound calls your attention to a tiny, shriveled figure lying on the floor. It lets out one final gasp before dying.
A shape moves in the gloom—a dark humanoid figure lurking among the junk. It clutches a large spool of thread in one hand as it heads for the door.
This musty room looks like a miser’s attic. Lying in tall heaps are discarded blankets, quilts, cushions, and clothing of all shapes and sizes, not to mention musical instruments, toys, dolls, jewelry boxes, flower vases, child-sized caskets, and broken furniture.
(OOC: I'm going to assume that Finley and Valrieth have both stepped into the room at this point and aren't simply peeking through the doorway.)
Among the heaps of junk are a few oddities, including a stag’s skull hanging on one wall, a white porcelain jar with chicken legs standing on a table, a fancy helmet placed on the faceless head of a wooden mannequin, and a five-foot-long bronze statue of a giant frog squatting in a corner, its mouth agape and filled with impenetrable darkness. A weak croaking sound calls your attention to a tiny, shriveled figure lying on the floor. It lets out one final gasp before dying.
A shape moves in the gloom—a dark humanoid figure lurking among the junk. It clutches a large spool of thread in one hand as it heads for the door.
Valrieth goes through a series of sensations in quick succession:
She feels an excited swooping sensation in her belly when she spots the stag's head, and she lets out an excited gasp.
Then she sees the dying creature on the floor, and her excitement vanishes, replaced by an aching sympathy and an urgent desire to help.
But then she feels the hair on her neck standing on end when she realizes that there's a dark figure in the room with them. Fear and an immediate sense of danger floods her mind.
Just after Finley and Val enter the room, Val gasps and clutches Finley's arm. She excitedly points to the stag's head. But just as she was about to head toward the stag's head, she notices the creature on the floor. Val's focus immediately shifts to helping the creature. Her brain registers that it is one of Bavlorna's Lornings. Seeing it dying and realizing that they're here, uninvited, alone in a room with a dead servant of Bavlorna, she says, "Oh no! No! No, no, no." What are they going to do if Bavlorna finds them here? The hag will think that they killed the Lornling.
Just as she steps forward to help, Val spots the dark figure among the junk. "Wait! What's that?", she points.Surprise and fear at suddenly realizing that there was another creature in here with them is quickly replaced by a certainty that this must be the killer. "Finley, Octavian--don't let it get away!," Val says urgently. She hops back to block the doorway until Octavian can come over, assuming that Finley will engage the creature in hand-to-thunder-gauntlet combat if it continues forward. Val casts Produce Flame, ready to throw the flame at the figure if it gets within 10 ft of the door.
(OOC: I'm not sure whether we're already in initiative order or not. At this stage, Val would cast the spell and hold the flame ready to throw if the figure continues to advance. I think that that's basically a readied action, which means she probably cannot also use her bonus action. If she's attacking, she'd like to use her archer Starry Form, too, but I guess she wouldn't be able to do that this turn since she doesn't want to attack it until they find out whether it's actually the killer and whether it's hostile to them. She can ready an attack, but I don't think that it's possible to ready a bonus action.)
Movement: Moving into the room and then back to block the doorway Action: Basically ready to attack with Produce Flame, 18, Damage: 6 fire Ready condition: if the creature gets within 10' of the door or engages Finley in melee Bonus Action: None this turn Free Action: Talking
"Halt!" Finley moves, holding his fists up in front of him to try and block the dark figure, "Who are ye and.."He notices the thread, "why're ye stealing from the hag?"
Action: He readies to attack the figure if they attack one of us. Hit: 24, Damage: 11 Thunder. Disadvantage on targets other than Finley until the start of his next turn.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Finley Stoneshaft, Dwarf Artificer - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Falkas, Half-Elf Drow Warlock - Keys of Empire
The spool of thread is absorbed into the creature somehow. The shadowy being rushes forward slipping through the party as its shape twists and flattens. The effort to stop it is similar to trying to stop mist. The shadow hurriedly moves towards the balcony door and is seeping halfway under the door as it can slip through any tiny crevice or opening.
"Uh oh!', Valrieth gives Finley a worried look. "No way out. We should hurry, but be very quiet."
OK. Seeing that there's still water in the watering can, Val takes it off of the chest of drawers. She will stand up the clay pots one by one and water them in the hopes that the plants are not entirely dead. She knows that plants sometimes drop their leaves in dry conditions to conserve energy, waiting for the next rain, and she'd like to think that some of the plants have survived despite Bavlorna's neglect.
You hear Val say, "Poor babies. If I were a plant in Bavlorna's blighted realm, I'd drop my leaves and wait for spring, too." She had meant to whisper quietly to the plants as she watered them, but she forgot that her fey bargain makes it impossible for her to whisper. She glances around at the others, looking a bit embarrassed.
Stealth 31
The dead plants begin to undulate and tiny leaves sprout among their branches that moves as if there is some unknown breeze. Though all stay within their pots. A gnarled wooden hand pushes up through the dirt ,like a zombie, unfurling its hand revealing a black-enameled iron key.
Valrieth hops back, startled at the sudden transformation of the "dead" plants. As leaves begin to sprout, a smile spreads across her face until she is beaming happily at the plants. She looks around at the others, proud that she was able to bring some relief in this desolate swamp.
Noticing the key, Val squats down and carefully takes the key from the hand, saying, "Thank you! I was glad to help." She stands up and puts the watering can back on the chest of drawers. Then she hands the key to Finley and says, "Finley, look! A key! Do you think that it fits the lock on that chest? Or maybe one of the doors?"
"This place is just awful." Finley states after the wisp retreats back. Following Val he looks around the room in a slight daze, before she mentions the key. "Let's try th' chest with it first, but lemme check fer traps just in case." He tries to move as quiet as he can, before checking around the chest for traps.
(Investigation: 8 and Stealth: Nat 1 for a 12 with Pass without Trace if that matters.)
Finley Stoneshaft, Dwarf Artificer - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Falkas, Half-Elf Drow Warlock - Keys of Empire
Finley does not notice any traps as he is distracted by the looming Will-O'-Wisp nearby watching everything you do.
While Finley looks at the chest, Valrieth tries to make good use of their time. There's no telling how long they have before Bavlorna finds them or the will-o'-wisp decides to attack.
Val checks the two locked doors, to the south and to the east, for traps and listens at the doors for any sounds or hints of what's behind them. Not for the first time in this house, she wishes that she could see through doors. Perception 18
As she walks quietly from one door to the other, she says to Finley, "I think it's OK. I don't think that Bavlorna expects anyone to come to her bedroom uninvited, so I doubt that there's a trap. Or if there is one, it's probably more like what happened on the stairs. Let me know before you try the key so that I'm ready in case...something attacks." Her eyes flick to the will-o'-wisp as she says "something."
There is no sound heard through the door and there seems to be no traps either on the doors.
OK. Then Valrieth just waits by the door for Finley to try the key on the chest first. If that doesn't work, she'll ask him to try it on the door. (Or if that doesn't work, see whether Jingle-Jangle's key works. They haven't found anything else more 'important' that they needed to open in Bavlorna's hut than the locked things in this room.)
Finley looks over at Valrieth to give her a nod, but keeps looking up at the Will o' Wisp as he uses the key on the chest to see if it unlocks.
Finley Stoneshaft, Dwarf Artificer - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Falkas, Half-Elf Drow Warlock - Keys of Empire
The chest unlocks and the Will-O' Wisp moves closer to Finely to see what he does next.
Inside the chest
When Finley tells her what he has found, Valrieth says, "Oh? OK." She sounds a little downcast: she was hoping that the chest might have held Clapperclaw's head. Val watches the Will-O'-Wisp suspiciously for a moment, but as long as it doesn't attack Finley, she gets Bavlorna's book out of her backpack. She's careful not to tell an outright lie, just in case the Will-O'-Wisp can understand them, simply saying, "Here. We need to put this book back in the chest and take these other things downstairs."
Val brings the book over to Finley and hands it to him, trying to stay on the other side of the chest from the Will-O'-Wisp just in case. While they work, she says, "Thank you so much for giving us some light! Isn't it nice, Finley, to have a little glowy friend to light up the room?" Since Will-O'-Wisps are rumored to feed on agony, fear, and despair, she hopes that a cheery attitude will make it lose interest in them. They can remove the other items from the chest to make room for the book, and Val will put the marionette and carnival ticket in her backpack for now since she already has it open.
Val knows that the scrolls would be useless to her. Once they have the book in the chest, Val says, "My bag is getting pretty full. You should probably carry those scrolls so that they don't get crushed." Once they've swapped the contents of the chest for the book, she suggests that they close and lock it again.
(OOC: assuming that they managed all of that without getting attacked by the Will-O'-Wisp...)
Still proceeding with their clockwise pattern of searching Bavlorna's hut, Val takes Finley over to the door in the east wall. She peers at the keyhole for this door and asks him, "Does it look like the same key would work on this door? Or do you think that we should use that other key we were given? The instructions weren't clear about which key goes to this door." She hopes that Finley realizes that she means Jingle-Jangle's key, but she wants to make it sound like they may have received the key from Bavlorna in case the WIl-O'-Wisp is still listening. She hopes that one of the two keys unlocks the door, and she's not sure whether there's any downside to trying the wrong key.
If Finley wants to investigate the keys and keyhole to determine the best key to try first, Val will try to help him figure it out. (She cannot cast Guidance while she is still concentrating on pass without trace.)
The Will-O'-Wisp barely moves as you swap the contents though it does not head back to the rafters either.
"Ah, it, uh sure is nice to have light.." Finley says hesitantly and slips the scrolls into a side pouch on his pack. He looks from Valrieth to the wisp and then follows along with her to the door. "Ah'm sure she'd give us th' right keys fer th' job." He adds and tries the Jingle-jangle key and if that doesn't work he tries the key that unlocked the chest.
Finley Stoneshaft, Dwarf Artificer - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Falkas, Half-Elf Drow Warlock - Keys of Empire
The door to B19 unlocks
This musty room looks like a miser’s attic. Lying in tall heaps are discarded blankets, quilts, cushions, and clothing of all shapes and sizes, not to mention musical instruments, toys, dolls, jewelry boxes, flower vases, child-sized caskets, and broken furniture.
Among the heaps of junk are a few oddities, including a stag’s skull hanging on one wall, a white porcelain jar with chicken legs standing on a table, a fancy helmet placed on the faceless head of a wooden mannequin, and a five-foot-long bronze statue of a giant frog squatting in a corner, its mouth agape and filled with impenetrable darkness. A weak croaking sound calls your attention to a tiny, shriveled figure lying on the floor. It lets out one final gasp before dying.
A shape moves in the gloom—a dark humanoid figure lurking among the junk. It clutches a large spool of thread in one hand as it heads for the door.
The dead creature looks like a Lornling.
What do you do?
(OOC: with Jingle-Jangle's key?)
(OOC: I'm going to assume that Finley and Valrieth have both stepped into the room at this point and aren't simply peeking through the doorway.)
Valrieth goes through a series of sensations in quick succession:
Just after Finley and Val enter the room, Val gasps and clutches Finley's arm. She excitedly points to the stag's head. But just as she was about to head toward the stag's head, she notices the creature on the floor. Val's focus immediately shifts to helping the creature. Her brain registers that it is one of Bavlorna's Lornings. Seeing it dying and realizing that they're here, uninvited, alone in a room with a dead servant of Bavlorna, she says, "Oh no! No! No, no, no." What are they going to do if Bavlorna finds them here? The hag will think that they killed the Lornling.
Just as she steps forward to help, Val spots the dark figure among the junk. "Wait! What's that?", she points. Surprise and fear at suddenly realizing that there was another creature in here with them is quickly replaced by a certainty that this must be the killer. "Finley, Octavian--don't let it get away!," Val says urgently. She hops back to block the doorway until Octavian can come over, assuming that Finley will engage the creature in hand-to-thunder-gauntlet combat if it continues forward. Val casts Produce Flame, ready to throw the flame at the figure if it gets within 10 ft of the door.
(OOC: I'm not sure whether we're already in initiative order or not. At this stage, Val would cast the spell and hold the flame ready to throw if the figure continues to advance. I think that that's basically a readied action, which means she probably cannot also use her bonus action. If she's attacking, she'd like to use her archer Starry Form, too, but I guess she wouldn't be able to do that this turn since she doesn't want to attack it until they find out whether it's actually the killer and whether it's hostile to them. She can ready an attack, but I don't think that it's possible to ready a bonus action.)
Movement: Moving into the room and then back to block the doorway
Action: Basically ready to attack with Produce Flame, 18, Damage: 6 fire
Ready condition: if the creature gets within 10' of the door or engages Finley in melee
Bonus Action: None this turn
Free Action: Talking
"Halt!" Finley moves, holding his fists up in front of him to try and block the dark figure, "Who are ye and.." He notices the thread, "why're ye stealing from the hag?"
Action: He readies to attack the figure if they attack one of us. Hit: 24, Damage: 11 Thunder. Disadvantage on targets other than Finley until the start of his next turn.
Finley Stoneshaft, Dwarf Artificer - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Falkas, Half-Elf Drow Warlock - Keys of Empire
Octavian also tries to block the doorway.
The spool of thread is absorbed into the creature somehow. The shadowy being rushes forward slipping through the party as its shape twists and flattens. The effort to stop it is similar to trying to stop mist. The shadow hurriedly moves towards the balcony door and is seeping halfway under the door as it can slip through any tiny crevice or opening.
What do you do?