Maldorn sets his pack down and carefully removes the casket from within. Hoping the apparition can still hear him from wherever it went, he asks out loud the following question, though he is clearly misremembering the ghost lady’s name as he is known to do: “Does this mean anything to you, Berenice?”
The casket is indeed still inside Maldorn's pack. You all seem to be the same — everything you had, you still have. Erric approaches the mirror, but it is very unlike a mirror now. While the frame is still the same, and there is still glass in it (cracked, but still there), looking into the mirror does not show the bard's reflection. Again, it is kind of like looking through a window. What Erric sees "on the other side" gives the impression of slow moving black clouds. Though he really didn't spend much time looking around the room (Maldorn spent more time doing that), everything seems ... very similar to Erric. The crates and barrels and walls and floor and ceiling are all still there, but they're like shadows of those things. You all can still touch them, and they're solid, yet they're also not there. (You don't see any rats, but they had scurried away, so you're not sure if they're still around.) The layout of the room is also the same: a hallway leads back the way they came. Erric, you've heard stories of many different realms, but this one doesn't ring a bell. Since none of you have an arcana expertise, I'm going to say you're all pretty sure this has to be magic ... and there's no one to dispel that assumption ... if it should be dispelled. As Maldorn offers the casket up to any unseen presences and speaks to Clarice (as does Jambiya), he receives no response (neither did Jambiya).
Erric isn't going to let them run off on their own - he'll look at Maldorn, ask if he knows what is going on. He'll look behind the mirror (trying to see if it's attached to the wall like it was 'back home.' He'll then head down the hall and up the cellar stairs, keeping close to Anafrey and Jambiya.
As he does, he pulls out a spool of string, and lays a line of string behind him. He's heard a lot of stories, and this is what the smart protagonists do in strange places.
The mirror is not attached to the wall ... just like "back home".
Anafrey runs back down the short hallway and finds herself in a dreamy version of the cellar (the room they descended to from the kitchen). What's strange is the cellar looks to be in better condition than it did before, yet everything is beyond her grasp, giving way to shadowy nothingness whenever she draws close. Mostly ignoring the cellar, Anafrey climbs the ladder with Jambiya still holding a torch and following closely behind. They "exit" into the kitchen, which looks as good as new, albeit in a veil of spinechilling gloom. Everything is orderly and immaculate, yet dark as night.
"Anafrey, I confess I did see and swipe a bottle of wine earlier, and meant it as a happy surprise for you when we thought we were going to get out of this. Wish we'd grabbed some in the cellar before we got sent to... whatever this is..."
Maldorn stows the casket back into his pack and follows the group up into the 'kitchen'. "I have a feeling we'll find Berenice upstairs. Shall we visit the twisted version of the shrine where we found the casket in the first place?"
Jambiya claps and smiles. "You're right, Maldorn! This must be her world, how she remembers it. We must find her and talk to her. We can still help her!" Unthinking, she rushes to the room where the beam had crashed through.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he). Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Erric finally starts to get it, after seeing the house not burned to a crisp. "Maldorn, maybe I doubted your judgment too much. Maybe bringing whatever's in the box to this 'mirror world' is what will put things to rest. Just, you know, hopefully not us. I'd like to be able to go home. Dirk's going to track me down and re-murder me if I let anything happen to Jambiya."
He absentmindedly hands the wine bottle from his pack to Anafrey, and follows behind Jambiya, looking around for anything living, or anything that is visible/interesting in the de-burnt house: perception 1.
The torches are staying lit and we move, right? Also as Erric had gotten closer to the mirror to inspect it on both sides, did he notice, on either side, the border of the mirror having fey creatures dancing in a wood, and being gilded, as Dirk had told them?
Jambiya will join Anafrey in looking for the stairs, once she realizes the ceiling is not busted and there's no easy beam to climb up to the second floor (presuming that is what she finds). She will throw a frown at the bottle.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he). Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
You have little doubt the mirror is the one Dirk sold to Lord Redmane. Yes, the torches are remaining lit. Looking around, Erric sees a well-stocked kitchen. But as he approaches anything, it turns into nothing. Only from a distance do things look right.
As Jambiya runs to the kitchen door that exits to the hallway, she slows to a halt. The doorway is filled with more swirling black clouds. When she looks at the other door (the one that connected the kitchen to the dining room), it appears to be unblocked.
Anafrey has a sour look on her face as she takes another swig from the bottle, "Looks as though we're being led down a specific path. I don't like it, but I'd rather not test the dark clouds." She follows Erric, into the dining room.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Maldorn tries to make sense of everything, but reason seems to hold no sway here, so he gives up.
The group moves from the kitchen into the dining room. A large table and eight matching chairs dominate this room — the set you remember from before. Four shadowy figures sit around the table: three males and one female. They rise politely as you enter, acknowledging you with a slight bow. One of the males is dressed in formal finery, set apart from the others in his manner. The other three appear to be the servants of the one, dressed as one who serves a rich master, but servants all the same. As they raise their heads again, a veil of shadow falls from each of them, revealing four decomposing humans in tattered finery.
DM rollz: 656
Everyone, please roll initiative (and let me know if you're in the wrong place).
Maldorn’s 4th round CHA saving throw: 17.
After the mirror cracks:
Maldorn sets his pack down and carefully removes the casket from within. Hoping the apparition can still hear him from wherever it went, he asks out loud the following question, though he is clearly misremembering the ghost lady’s name as he is known to do: “Does this mean anything to you, Berenice?”
The casket is indeed still inside Maldorn's pack. You all seem to be the same — everything you had, you still have. Erric approaches the mirror, but it is very unlike a mirror now. While the frame is still the same, and there is still glass in it (cracked, but still there), looking into the mirror does not show the bard's reflection. Again, it is kind of like looking through a window. What Erric sees "on the other side" gives the impression of slow moving black clouds. Though he really didn't spend much time looking around the room (Maldorn spent more time doing that), everything seems ... very similar to Erric. The crates and barrels and walls and floor and ceiling are all still there, but they're like shadows of those things. You all can still touch them, and they're solid, yet they're also not there. (You don't see any rats, but they had scurried away, so you're not sure if they're still around.) The layout of the room is also the same: a hallway leads back the way they came. Erric, you've heard stories of many different realms, but this one doesn't ring a bell. Since none of you have an arcana expertise, I'm going to say you're all pretty sure this has to be magic ... and there's no one to dispel that assumption ... if it should be dispelled. As Maldorn offers the casket up to any unseen presences and speaks to Clarice (as does Jambiya), he receives no response (neither did Jambiya).
Anafrey spends a few shocked moments looking around and at the mirror, then runs up the stairs.
~♡~
Jambiya has almost the exact same idea at the exact same time. Is the rest of the world still there? She races up the ladder behind Anafrey.
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
Erric isn't going to let them run off on their own - he'll look at Maldorn, ask if he knows what is going on. He'll look behind the mirror (trying to see if it's attached to the wall like it was 'back home.' He'll then head down the hall and up the cellar stairs, keeping close to Anafrey and Jambiya.
As he does, he pulls out a spool of string, and lays a line of string behind him. He's heard a lot of stories, and this is what the smart protagonists do in strange places.
The mirror is not attached to the wall ... just like "back home".
Anafrey runs back down the short hallway and finds herself in a dreamy version of the cellar (the room they descended to from the kitchen). What's strange is the cellar looks to be in better condition than it did before, yet everything is beyond her grasp, giving way to shadowy nothingness whenever she draws close. Mostly ignoring the cellar, Anafrey climbs the ladder with Jambiya still holding a torch and following closely behind. They "exit" into the kitchen, which looks as good as new, albeit in a veil of spinechilling gloom. Everything is orderly and immaculate, yet dark as night.
"Stay close, it seems as though this is only going to get stranger. I wish I had some brandy right about now..."
~♡~
"Anafrey, I confess I did see and swipe a bottle of wine earlier, and meant it as a happy surprise for you when we thought we were going to get out of this. Wish we'd grabbed some in the cellar before we got sent to... whatever this is..."
Maldorn stows the casket back into his pack and follows the group up into the 'kitchen'. "I have a feeling we'll find Berenice upstairs. Shall we visit the twisted version of the shrine where we found the casket in the first place?"
Jambiya claps and smiles. "You're right, Maldorn! This must be her world, how she remembers it. We must find her and talk to her. We can still help her!" Unthinking, she rushes to the room where the beam had crashed through.
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
Erric finally starts to get it, after seeing the house not burned to a crisp. "Maldorn, maybe I doubted your judgment too much. Maybe bringing whatever's in the box to this 'mirror world' is what will put things to rest. Just, you know, hopefully not us. I'd like to be able to go home. Dirk's going to track me down and re-murder me if I let anything happen to Jambiya."
He absentmindedly hands the wine bottle from his pack to Anafrey, and follows behind Jambiya, looking around for anything living, or anything that is visible/interesting in the de-burnt house: perception 1.
The torches are staying lit and we move, right? Also as Erric had gotten closer to the mirror to inspect it on both sides, did he notice, on either side, the border of the mirror having fey creatures dancing in a wood, and being gilded, as Dirk had told them?
Halflings get to re-roll ones, phew. Perception: 16
Anafrey uncorks the bottle and takes a swig moving through the house, looking for the staircase going up.
perception : 4
~♡~
Jambiya will join Anafrey in looking for the stairs, once she realizes the ceiling is not busted and there's no easy beam to climb up to the second floor (presuming that is what she finds). She will throw a frown at the bottle.
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.
You have little doubt the mirror is the one Dirk sold to Lord Redmane. Yes, the torches are remaining lit. Looking around, Erric sees a well-stocked kitchen. But as he approaches anything, it turns into nothing. Only from a distance do things look right.
As Jambiya runs to the kitchen door that exits to the hallway, she slows to a halt. The doorway is filled with more swirling black clouds. When she looks at the other door (the one that connected the kitchen to the dining room), it appears to be unblocked.
Erric checks the unswirly door and the dining room...
Anafrey has a sour look on her face as she takes another swig from the bottle, "Looks as though we're being led down a specific path. I don't like it, but I'd rather not test the dark clouds." She follows Erric, into the dining room.
~♡~
Maldorn follows from the back of the line as usual, arrow nocked.
"Do you think some of these swirly voids are the people that inhabited this home in the past?"
The old man tests his argument against his limited understanding of the arcane world (arcana: 5).
Maldorn tries to make sense of everything, but reason seems to hold no sway here, so he gives up.
The group moves from the kitchen into the dining room. A large table and eight matching chairs dominate this room — the set you remember from before. Four shadowy figures sit around the table: three males and one female. They rise politely as you enter, acknowledging you with a slight bow. One of the males is dressed in formal finery, set apart from the others in his manner. The other three appear to be the servants of the one, dressed as one who serves a rich master, but servants all the same. As they raise their heads again, a veil of shadow falls from each of them, revealing four decomposing humans in tattered finery.
DM rollz: 6 56
Everyone, please roll initiative (and let me know if you're in the wrong place).
Jambiya's initiative: 15
ey/em/eirs, or they/them works, too (just not he).
Role-playing since that keep on those borderlands. I love it so.