CQ checks the two stained-glass doors, their windows flecked with dirt and grime. It's hard to see out but looks like it goes out onto a balcony. Beyond the balcony is a slowly moving wall of earth.
CQ approaches the mirror, a spirit in a nursemaid's uniform appears as an apparition in the glass.
The spirit resembles a pale, skeletally thin young woman, with all of her fingers and toes removed, her eyes sewn shut, and her lips and teeth torn from her mouth. Countless knife-thin scars line her entire body, including the flesh around her wrists and ankles, and her hair has been carelessly hacked to stubble.
The spirit floats in the mirror, without making any moves.
CQ backs away from the mirror. The spirit watches with body language indicating gentle curiosity.
Asha, who hasn't been able to take her eyes of the moving blanket. She strides into the room and removes the blanket in one movement. She finds that there is nothing beneath them. Instead, Asha only finds a bloodstained mattress and crude hand-and-foot restraints made from barbed wire nailed to the four posts of the bed frame.
"Freaking heck Asha, set you on fire if you aren't careful!" said Danu, toying with a produce flame she had ready in case a threat was under the blanket.
"How does one converse with a seemingly gentle spirit if said spirit has no eyes or mouth?", asked Asha, looking at the spirit in the mirror who was looking sad after the blanket was removed. A bad memory perhaps.
Danu enters the room. She hears the quiet humming of a young woman coming from the nursery, but ignores it and comes to stand in front of the mirror looking at the spirit.
"A series of closed questions to which she can nod or shake her head?" the halfling suggests.
"Hahaha! I like your thinking Danu," says Asha.
Danu faces the spirit in the mirror. "We want to help you and stop the evil in the house, and nod your head if you understand us."
Danu asks "do you know where a crystal shard might be hidden in the house?"
She turns with her back to Danu and points with a fingerless hand to the north.
Asha asks "do you have any other methods of communication - like ghostly writing on walls or something - because we'd like to offer our assistance if you need anything from us."
The spirit sadly shakes her head with a wry smile.
Some other questions to the spirit in the mirror reveal that the crystal shard is on this floor, and it was not in the statuette of the dancer which did not break or fall. The spirit showed some fear when shaking her head with that question.
CQ says "we should move the wardrobe out the way, see if there is anything behind it, like a secret door." She eyes Einnob. "Maybe a stout, angry warrior could do it. Hey, Einnob, I bet you can't move this wardrobe out the way."
Einnob rolls her eyes at the attempted manipulation, as a teenager would if talked down to by a parent. But she steps forward and easily moves the wardrobe. Nothing behind it. The spirit seems to be paying attention to this.
Some other questions to the spirit in the mirror reveal that the crystal shard is on this floor, and it was not in the statuette of the dancer which did not break or fall. The spirit showed some fear when shaking her head with that question.
Danu ponders. "That makes sense seeing as the final statue was of the lady of the house". She and Asha think for a second. Then Danu asks.
"Do you know what is in the basement?"
As soon as Danu mentions basement, the spirit gestures upwards, then steps aside—vanishing from sight—and the secret door behind the mirror slowly swings open. The spirit does not return.
Beyond the mirror are stairs going up to the top floor - the attic.
The party have a discussion about what to do, and they decide to see if they can find the crystal shard key first in the as yet unexplored north rooms on this level (3rd floor).
Asha heads to the baby room, and listens. She can hear the sound of a young woman humming. Asha thinks for a second.. she knows that melody - wait, it's that song Zap played on the harpsichord! The Waltz for Klara!
Taking a breath she opens the door. The humming stops immediately as the door swings open.
The air in this small nursery is strangely warm and tinged with a coppery scent. Blood-red runes cover the walls, arranged in concentric circles around the crib in the center, which seems to have a name carved into its side. Strange, flesh-like tumours have grown along the floor around it in sparse clusters, and slowly pulsate as if they're breathing.
Looking down, Asha notices that a small object seems to have fallen beneath the crib. In the distance, she can faintly hear the sound of an infant's soft whimpering.
Danu quietly suggests they exit the room and set said room on fire.
CQ looks at the finger, which appears to be that of a young woman. She tells the others, then CQ peers into the crib and sees an old, dusty blanket with some drops of blood.
"The toothmarks look like that of a baby," says Asha, crouching and staring at the finger, not willing to touch it. "Baby vampire? Likes to nom flesh?"
Danu continues with her convincing speech about torching the room. "I mean whatever it is I vote we kill it. How about we just chuck some oil about the room and set it on fire? Both vampires and zombies hate fire! I mean one little cantrip and boom, done, no more zombie cannibal vampire baby tumour arms. Might also release the poor spirit if we burn her finger too."
Einnob rolls her eyes. She thought she was going to get good at that with this mob.
"Burn a wooden house that you can't get out of. I can't think of any way this could go wrong!"
Einnob roughly pushes aside the crib and uses her armoured boot to stomp on the pulsing flesh. Ichor and blood squirts across the floor and they stop pulsing. Einnob stops and listens. The house seems not to have noticed.
"Gods, Einnob, you'll be the death of us!" exclaims Danu, looking at the dwarf's bloody footprints out of the room.
"But not a fiery death," Einnob's voice floats from the other room. Danu can hear the grin in her voice.
"The spirit said the shard is on this level," Danu ponders. "Where haven't we checked yet?"
"Doors to the north!" Einnob's voice again, from the maid's room. "Let's go look!"
Danu looks at the red runes on the walls at the same height as the baby crib. She thinks they are likely some kind of magic. She studies the runes but they are beyond her knowledge and experience (she rolled a 5 with her Arcana skill check). She suggests to CQ and Zap that they could look.
Staring at the red runes, Zap doesn't get much more information from examining them, except that the runes definitely tap into dark necromantic magic.
Meanwhile CQ has left the room and has gone to the landing, where she is looking at the southernmost door in the west wall. It is a very plain door, with no keyhole.
CQ opens the plain door. Dusty shelves line the walls of this room. A few of the shelves have folded sheets, blankets, and old bars of soap on them. A cobweb-covered broom leans against the far wall. It seems to be a storage room.
Meanwhile Einnob approaches the north doors, with Danu behind her.
These grand doors loom tall, their dark wood frames enclosing a pair of dusty stained-glass windows. Each pane is etched with intricate designs that resemble windmills, their once-vibrant hues now faded and obscured beneath a thick veil of grime.
Through the dusty haze that prickles your eyes, Einnob and Danu catch a glimpse of something through the windows: a silhouette, standing mere inches behind the glass, lit from behind by a dim, amber glow. It's still and unmoving, but the mere sight of it seizes their muscles in a vice-like grip, their limbs refusing to obey their conscious minds.
The air around them thickens, its temperature plummeting to a bone-chilling cold. Einnob's breath fogs the glass panes, a delicate frost creeping across them as the house's distant creaks and whispers are swallowed by a heavy silence.
The shadow behind the door is nearly formless—insubstantial—but its presence invokes a primordial dread deep within their marrows. Both Danu's and Einnob's hearts beat faster, sweat beading on their foreheads, pulse racing through their veins. Slowly, the silhouette begins to turn its head toward them.
And then, just as suddenly as it appeared, the shadow evaporates. The biting cold ebbs away, and the house's quiet sounds return once more.
CQ turns around and scans the room, she notices the broom does not have any cobwebs on it anymore, so in a rage she casts eldritch blast at it. (Rolls a crit). The broom explodes in a shower of splinters and fibres.
Emboldened by her victory over a broom, CQ opens the door opposite the double doors.
This dark room contains a wooden tub with clawed feet, a small iron stove with a kettle resting atop it, and a barrel under a spigot in the east wall. A cistern on the roof used to collect rainwater, which was borne down a pipe to the spigot; however, after some experimentation CQ finds the plumbing no longer works.
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Danu casts her last cure wounds spell on Asha.
CQ checks the empty wardrobe thoroughly, she's pretty sure it is empty and there are no secret compartments (she rolled a 19 for perception).
Still to check - if desired:
CQ checks the two stained-glass doors, their windows flecked with dirt and grime. It's hard to see out but looks like it goes out onto a balcony. Beyond the balcony is a slowly moving wall of earth.
CQ approaches the mirror, a spirit in a nursemaid's uniform appears as an apparition in the glass.
The spirit resembles a pale, skeletally thin young woman, with all of her fingers and toes removed, her eyes sewn shut, and her lips and teeth torn from her mouth. Countless knife-thin scars line her entire body, including the flesh around her wrists and ankles, and her hair has been carelessly hacked to stubble.
The spirit floats in the mirror, without making any moves.
CQ backs away from the mirror. The spirit watches with body language indicating gentle curiosity.
Asha, who hasn't been able to take her eyes of the moving blanket. She strides into the room and removes the blanket in one movement. She finds that there is nothing beneath them. Instead, Asha only finds a bloodstained mattress and crude hand-and-foot restraints made from barbed wire nailed to the four posts of the bed frame.
(from chat)
"Freaking heck Asha, set you on fire if you aren't careful!" said Danu, toying with a produce flame she had ready in case a threat was under the blanket.
"How does one converse with a seemingly gentle spirit if said spirit has no eyes or mouth?", asked Asha, looking at the spirit in the mirror who was looking sad after the blanket was removed. A bad memory perhaps.
Danu enters the room. She hears the quiet humming of a young woman coming from the nursery, but ignores it and comes to stand in front of the mirror looking at the spirit.
"A series of closed questions to which she can nod or shake her head?" the halfling suggests.
"Hahaha! I like your thinking Danu," says Asha.
Danu faces the spirit in the mirror. "We want to help you and stop the evil in the house, and nod your head if you understand us."
The spirit slowly nods her head.
Danu asks "do you know where a crystal shard might be hidden in the house?"
She turns with her back to Danu and points with a fingerless hand to the north.
Asha asks "do you have any other methods of communication - like ghostly writing on walls or something - because we'd like to offer our assistance if you need anything from us."
The spirit sadly shakes her head with a wry smile.
Some other questions to the spirit in the mirror reveal that the crystal shard is on this floor, and it was not in the statuette of the dancer which did not break or fall. The spirit showed some fear when shaking her head with that question.
CQ says "we should move the wardrobe out the way, see if there is anything behind it, like a secret door." She eyes Einnob. "Maybe a stout, angry warrior could do it. Hey, Einnob, I bet you can't move this wardrobe out the way."
Einnob rolls her eyes at the attempted manipulation, as a teenager would if talked down to by a parent. But she steps forward and easily moves the wardrobe. Nothing behind it. The spirit seems to be paying attention to this.
Danu ponders. "That makes sense seeing as the final statue was of the lady of the house". She and Asha think for a second. Then Danu asks.
"Do you know what is in the basement?"
As soon as Danu mentions basement, the spirit gestures upwards, then steps aside—vanishing from sight—and the secret door behind the mirror slowly swings open. The spirit does not return.
Beyond the mirror are stairs going up to the top floor - the attic.
The party have a discussion about what to do, and they decide to see if they can find the crystal shard key first in the as yet unexplored north rooms on this level (3rd floor).
Asha heads to the baby room, and listens. She can hear the sound of a young woman humming. Asha thinks for a second.. she knows that melody - wait, it's that song Zap played on the harpsichord! The Waltz for Klara!
Taking a breath she opens the door. The humming stops immediately as the door swings open.
The air in this small nursery is strangely warm and tinged with a coppery scent. Blood-red runes cover the walls, arranged in concentric circles around the crib in the center, which seems to have a name carved into its side. Strange, flesh-like tumours have grown along the floor around it in sparse clusters, and slowly pulsate as if they're breathing.
Looking down, Asha notices that a small object seems to have fallen beneath the crib. In the distance, she can faintly hear the sound of an infant's soft whimpering.
(from chat)
Asha asks "CQ can you use mage hand to pick up the object under the crib?"
CQ agrees and casts the cantrip to pick it up and move it towards Asha.
Asha sees it's flesh and bloody and says " nooo thank you, on the floor near us so we can look and not touch!?"
CQ chuckles and uses mage hand to place the object on the floor near Asha.
The object is a severed human finger with several pieces of flesh stripped from it. Tiny toothmarks can be seen around the wounds.
Danu quietly suggests they exit the room and set said room on fire.
CQ looks at the finger, which appears to be that of a young woman. She tells the others, then CQ peers into the crib and sees an old, dusty blanket with some drops of blood.
"The toothmarks look like that of a baby," says Asha, crouching and staring at the finger, not willing to touch it. "Baby vampire? Likes to nom flesh?"
"Zombie baby?" replies Danu. "Vampires don't normally eat flesh."
Danu continues with her convincing speech about torching the room. "I mean whatever it is I vote we kill it. How about we just chuck some oil about the room and set it on fire? Both vampires and zombies hate fire! I mean one little cantrip and boom, done, no more zombie cannibal vampire baby tumour arms. Might also release the poor spirit if we burn her finger too."
Einnob rolls her eyes. She thought she was going to get good at that with this mob.
"Burn a wooden house that you can't get out of. I can't think of any way this could go wrong!"
Einnob roughly pushes aside the crib and uses her armoured boot to stomp on the pulsing flesh. Ichor and blood squirts across the floor and they stop pulsing. Einnob stops and listens. The house seems not to have noticed.
"There," she says. And stomps out of the room.
"Gods, Einnob, you'll be the death of us!" exclaims Danu, looking at the dwarf's bloody footprints out of the room.
"But not a fiery death," Einnob's voice floats from the other room. Danu can hear the grin in her voice.
"The spirit said the shard is on this level," Danu ponders. "Where haven't we checked yet?"
"Doors to the north!" Einnob's voice again, from the maid's room. "Let's go look!"
Danu looks at the red runes on the walls at the same height as the baby crib. She thinks they are likely some kind of magic. She studies the runes but they are beyond her knowledge and experience (she rolled a 5 with her Arcana skill check). She suggests to CQ and Zap that they could look.
Updated map Third Floor
I stare at the ruins curiously and use my arcana ability to decipher their meaning...11
Staring at the red runes, Zap doesn't get much more information from examining them, except that the runes definitely tap into dark necromantic magic.
Meanwhile CQ has left the room and has gone to the landing, where she is looking at the southernmost door in the west wall. It is a very plain door, with no keyhole.
(from chat)
CQ opens the plain door. Dusty shelves line the walls of this room. A few of the shelves have folded sheets, blankets, and old bars of soap on them. A cobweb-covered broom leans against the far wall. It seems to be a storage room.
Meanwhile Einnob approaches the north doors, with Danu behind her.
These grand doors loom tall, their dark wood frames enclosing a pair of dusty stained-glass windows. Each pane is etched with intricate designs that resemble windmills, their once-vibrant hues now faded and obscured beneath a thick veil of grime.
Through the dusty haze that prickles your eyes, Einnob and Danu catch a glimpse of something through the windows: a silhouette, standing mere inches behind the glass, lit from behind by a dim, amber glow. It's still and unmoving, but the mere sight of it seizes their muscles in a vice-like grip, their limbs refusing to obey their conscious minds.
The air around them thickens, its temperature plummeting to a bone-chilling cold. Einnob's breath fogs the glass panes, a delicate frost creeping across them as the house's distant creaks and whispers are swallowed by a heavy silence.
The shadow behind the door is nearly formless—insubstantial—but its presence invokes a primordial dread deep within their marrows. Both Danu's and Einnob's hearts beat faster, sweat beading on their foreheads, pulse racing through their veins. Slowly, the silhouette begins to turn its head toward them.
And then, just as suddenly as it appeared, the shadow evaporates. The biting cold ebbs away, and the house's quiet sounds return once more.
"What the fook was that!?" growls Einnob, she did not like that feeling of helplessness, it was foreign to her.
CQ has a look around the storage cupboard. She finds nothing, but as she turns to leave she feels a blow to the back of her head.
Mysterious assailant - Attack: 19 Damage: 6
CQ turns around and scans the room, she notices the broom does not have any cobwebs on it anymore, so in a rage she casts eldritch blast at it. (Rolls a crit). The broom explodes in a shower of splinters and fibres.
10xp each character.
She leaves and shuts the door behind her.
Emboldened by her victory over a broom, CQ opens the door opposite the double doors.
This dark room contains a wooden tub with clawed feet, a small iron stove with a kettle resting atop it, and a barrel under a spigot in the east wall. A cistern on the roof used to collect rainwater, which was borne down a pipe to the spigot; however, after some experimentation CQ finds the plumbing no longer works.