Orel walks over to the skeleton and crushes its skull with a slight drop of the maul. He then goes and joins Stone by the door. "I wouldn't trust anything dead in this place," he says to the monk. He then nods to the door to indicate he's ready for him to open it.
Rey looked around the room, her sight settling on the framed picture. She didn't care about the picture itself, she care more about the gilded frame. "Damn," she whispered, realizing it was too large to take with. Once the desk was uncovered, she started looking it over. "Thank you, Marius. How kind!" She gives him a pat on the cheek.
The desk was covered in beautiful scroll work. Peeking under, she could see charcoal drawings, most likely from a child, and the name Eleanor written over and over. "Eleanor," she said aloud. Moving back up, she checked all three drawers, finding them all locked. In fact, the central drawer looked to have been trapped with a simple needle trap at one time, but the mechanism had failed throughout the years. Rey pulled out her thieve's tools, and began to work on the lock of the central drawer, with tiny, meticulous movements, feeling the pins, and finally convinced the lock to open for her.
Inside was an ornate dagger with a silver handle and hilt and a long, thin blade. It looked like it was in pristine condition, and razor sharp. "Hello, beautiful," she said, giving the dagger a twirl. She stashed it in her belt, then moved on to the next drawer. "Which one of you wants to be next," she asked, touching each lock, almost lovingly. Choosing the left drawer, she got to work. This one she had trouble with and she finally gave up on it. "Must be stuck,' she said, turning to the right drawer. This one popped open much easier, revealing piles of old, yellowed, and crumbling ledgers. They looked like the would fall apart at the slightest touch. "Hey, anyone interested in paperwork? I just found the jackpot," she joked. She walked away from the desk, looking over the brand new dagger she found, turning it over and over in her hands.
Elaine looked for more traces of magic, but couldn't find anything. Her heart was beating loudly in her chest, the nerves of the situation were almost too much for her to bear. She needed a break, so she found a mostly clear patch of floor and began to tune her viol. The bard began to sing, unable to do anything else. Music always helped calm her soul.
"There's a house in this spooky town And it has skeletons around We found Ellie, with her neck all bound She rests here forever more.
Oh and I say: Ellie, you're a fine ghoul What a good host you would be Yeah, if you could just help us find the curse."
Seeing no action on Stone's part, Orel gives the door a quick once-over before trying the handle.
He thought the monk would be more apt to act. He opened one door without bothering to know if there was anything wicked within, so he wondered what the monk's hesitation was this time.
The door opens into a large oval foyer, many stories tall, with two curving stairs wrapping around the left and right sides. The manor's front door lies to your left and several doors exit the area to other areas of the home. On the back wall of the foyer, to your right, a huge stone hearth and chimney carved and embossed with images of death and the afterlife. Within an arched stone frame, high on the chimney, a curious and disturbing image is painted:
Everything in the room is aged and falling to pieces, save for the painting. It looks fresh and new.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PBP "Beregost Blues" - Dungeon Master of Gnome Slaying +5
Orel enters the room, eyeing the painting for an overly long moment before he turns his back on it and watches the stairs above. "Remember, there are creatures up there," he reminds the group. He has his maul out at the ready in case anything comes tumbling down the stairs at them.
Marius walks through the door into the foyer and glances up at the huge painting. Only a glance, though, before he walks past and begins pacing around the room; he seems positively unimpressed by the generic depiction of some Abyssal horror.
He sees Orel turn his back on the painting and nods approvingly. "We've both seen worse, haven't we?"
His examination of the doors is short-lived as, in his focus on doors, he forgets to check the floor. A rotten section of flooring collapses under his feet, and he barely tosses himself back in the direction he was walking before the wreckage drags him into the floor beneath.
For a long moment he lays on his back gasping and eyes bugging out while trying to remember how to breathe. Then his breath comes again in one explosive gasp. When he can talk again he says, "Well that was fun!" cough-cough "If only there were an expert here who could spot rotten wood and collapsible floors!"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid,Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions! I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
Stone slipped into the room, hands in the folds of his robes, holding a dagger and small throwing knife. With no apparent danger, he released the weapons and moved further in. The painting caught his eye and he spend a long minute staring at the scene, trying to determine why something so pristine sits in a place so decrepit.
His revere is cut short by a crack and a cry as Marius finds the weak floorboards. Stone hurries over to ensure the companion is alright and peer inspect the wrecked floor.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
Rey followed the others into the foyer, barely taking her eyes off the new shiny dagger. It wasn't until Marius fell that she looked up. Snorting with laughter, she replied to Marius, "Perhaps you shouldn't go wandering off before said expert can look at said floors." She took a step closer to Marius, and began gagging. "Oh! That's putrid!" She could smell stagnant water and rotting, putrid wood. "Lower level is flooded. We're lucky this whole place doesn't collapse with us in it."
Turning back, she focused on the door across from the one they'd just come through. Listening, she could hear nothing. Checking the door, it was neither locked, nor trapped. "Here goes nothing," she said, opening the door, then pulling out her daggers out, just in case. She peered in, but couldn't see a whole lot. "After you," she said to Stone.
Stone breezes into the room, not aensing any immediate danger. The room is furnished with old, rotten furniture and the walls are covered in a grotesque combination of pibk and yellow wallpaper. In the center is an old, worn rocking horse.
For a moment, something like affectionate care come from the rigid elf's stoic demeanor, "Theae grounds are evil. Fergus was right: this place does not welcome children. This room was made many times over, but never saw Life enter its walls."
For a brief flash, a girl is seen in a corner mirror. As Stone double-takes to the mirror, nothing is seen.
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
Rey walked into the room and noticed the gorgeous silver mirror. "Oh, hello, sexy! It's unfortunate you're so big. I'd melt you down in a heartbeat." She touched the mirror and withdrew with a sharp inhale. "Shit!" The mirror was cold, very cold. Her fingers stung from the chill and the mirror fogged over where she touched it, gradually clearing up. "Weird," she said looking closely, her breath fogging it back up. Walking to the cupboard, she found a sewing kit and a piece of cloth with the embroidery "As Above, So Below" on it. Stashing both in a pocket, she glanced around again, and finding nothing else of interest, she decided to leave the room, joining the others.
Orel notes the others open the door to the child's playroom. Again the monk says a cryptic phrase and mentions children not being welcome in the house. He knows he sensed something upstairs, so that's where he sets his sights. Cautiously, he begins making his way up the staircase to his left. To the others he cautions, "The other staircase looks a bit unstable. Be careful if you follow."
Stone and Orel begin up the left staircase (as you're facing the hearth), Stone hanging to the shadows and crouching low to avoid being seen, when a board breaks under his feet and sends him careening toward the rail, which collapses under his weight. The fall takes just long enough that Orel is able to take a quick step and just barely reach the back of Stone's sparse garments. As Stone falls, his weight and momentum nearly take Orel with him, though Orel's able to save them both by collapsing on the stair and using his own weight as an anchor.
Off balance and facing a severe mechanical disadvantage, Orel begins to pull Stone up. His muscles tense, bulging against his clothing, and his knuckles whiten as he struggles to maintain his grip, slowly and methodically dragging the monk back onto the stairs.
The whole ordeal takes no more than 15 seconds, barely enough for others to register what happened, but to the parties involved it could have been an hour...
(META: Deep breath... 24 Stealth check for Stone, then a 7 Dex save to ascend the treacherous stair. Nat 20 Dex save for Orel to ascend, then a 12 Strength save to catch Stone. Orel then had a 9 Athletics check, a 20 composite Strength save to maintain grip after the failed attempt to pull, then finally an 18 Athletics check to succeed. 4E skill challenges eat your heart out!)
Stone brushes himself off and gives a nod to Orel, "Thanks. I don't like this place," no emotion registers any disdain. As the party proceeds, Stone keeps trying to ignore the burning cold in his torso from being heaved up by Orel. He makes a note of it to try and piece it out later.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
"No worries," Orel responds. He pulls his maul back up and follows Stone to the top of the stairs. He knows his touch has this affect on people, and he knows that Stone had more than enough contact to feel it. He appreciates the silence on the monk's part. This wasn't a good place or time to trade stories.
Elaine wished she knew what she was looking for. Every room sent a shiver down her spine. She watched as Orel and Stone attempted to go up the stairs, as well as the ensuing struggle. If she had been a betting woman, she would have guessed that the large half-orc would be the one to misstep. Apparently, she would have lost. As soon as they were safely up, she decided to follow.
Her feet barely touched the ground as she gracefully tiptoed up the bannister. Elaine dismounted with a little flip that would have made the court jester who had taught her how to juggle proud. "That wasn't so bad," she dusted off her armor. "Shall we continue the hunt?"
Rey nudged Marius with her elbow. "C'mon. Can't let them have all the fun without us." She winked at him, with her milky eye, and walked over to the left staircase. She breezed up the stairs, careful to avoid the soft spots, and waited at the top for Marius to catch up.
Marius watches the elf - particularly the feet of the elf - as she ascends the rickety staircase. Rey's grace matches Elaine's, only with a straightforward and pragmatic, almost unintentional loveliness to the movement.
"There, and then there, and then quicksstep step quicksstep quicksstep," he murmurs to himself, then takes a deep breath and scampers up after the rest of the party.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid,Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions! I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
At the top of the landing, now on the other side of the great chimney, you see the house's central tower above you. A spindly iron stair ascends the rear of the chimney into a chamber at the top of the tower. Set in the rear of the chimney, as well, is a life-sized statue of a tubby middle-aged man with a weak chin and thin beard - the brass plaque at his feet says "Hugh Crain". To your left, at the rear of the house, a large stained glass window full of knotwork and filigree.
You see two doors going left and right near the rear of the house and the landing wraps around to other doors on each side, overlooking the foyer. The floor here is covered with a plush red carpet, once beautiful but now mottled and putrid with age and moisture.
Orel goes to the door at his immediate left. "Prepare yourselves," he says, moments before opening it. He ignores the statue, still focusing on immediate threats that might be present. His plan is to check each room to determine if something nefarious is in it, then move on to the next. The landing allows plenty of room for combat if needed.
Orel walks over to the skeleton and crushes its skull with a slight drop of the maul. He then goes and joins Stone by the door. "I wouldn't trust anything dead in this place," he says to the monk. He then nods to the door to indicate he's ready for him to open it.
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Rey looked around the room, her sight settling on the framed picture. She didn't care about the picture itself, she care more about the gilded frame. "Damn," she whispered, realizing it was too large to take with. Once the desk was uncovered, she started looking it over. "Thank you, Marius. How kind!" She gives him a pat on the cheek.
The desk was covered in beautiful scroll work. Peeking under, she could see charcoal drawings, most likely from a child, and the name Eleanor written over and over. "Eleanor," she said aloud. Moving back up, she checked all three drawers, finding them all locked. In fact, the central drawer looked to have been trapped with a simple needle trap at one time, but the mechanism had failed throughout the years. Rey pulled out her thieve's tools, and began to work on the lock of the central drawer, with tiny, meticulous movements, feeling the pins, and finally convinced the lock to open for her.
Inside was an ornate dagger with a silver handle and hilt and a long, thin blade. It looked like it was in pristine condition, and razor sharp. "Hello, beautiful," she said, giving the dagger a twirl. She stashed it in her belt, then moved on to the next drawer. "Which one of you wants to be next," she asked, touching each lock, almost lovingly. Choosing the left drawer, she got to work. This one she had trouble with and she finally gave up on it. "Must be stuck,' she said, turning to the right drawer. This one popped open much easier, revealing piles of old, yellowed, and crumbling ledgers. They looked like the would fall apart at the slightest touch. "Hey, anyone interested in paperwork? I just found the jackpot," she joked. She walked away from the desk, looking over the brand new dagger she found, turning it over and over in her hands.
(Investigation 23, Dex 23, Dex 11, Dex 18)
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
Elaine looked for more traces of magic, but couldn't find anything. Her heart was beating loudly in her chest, the nerves of the situation were almost too much for her to bear. She needed a break, so she found a mostly clear patch of floor and began to tune her viol. The bard began to sing, unable to do anything else. Music always helped calm her soul.
"There's a house in this spooky town
And it has skeletons around
We found Ellie, with her neck all bound
She rests here forever more.
Oh and I say: Ellie, you're a fine ghoul
What a good host you would be
Yeah, if you could just help us find the curse."
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
Seeing no action on Stone's part, Orel gives the door a quick once-over before trying the handle.
He thought the monk would be more apt to act. He opened one door without bothering to know if there was anything wicked within, so he wondered what the monk's hesitation was this time.
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The door opens into a large oval foyer, many stories tall, with two curving stairs wrapping around the left and right sides. The manor's front door lies to your left and several doors exit the area to other areas of the home. On the back wall of the foyer, to your right, a huge stone hearth and chimney carved and embossed with images of death and the afterlife. Within an arched stone frame, high on the chimney, a curious and disturbing image is painted:
Everything in the room is aged and falling to pieces, save for the painting. It looks fresh and new.
Orel enters the room, eyeing the painting for an overly long moment before he turns his back on it and watches the stairs above. "Remember, there are creatures up there," he reminds the group. He has his maul out at the ready in case anything comes tumbling down the stairs at them.
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Marius walks through the door into the foyer and glances up at the huge painting. Only a glance, though, before he walks past and begins pacing around the room; he seems positively unimpressed by the generic depiction of some Abyssal horror.
He sees Orel turn his back on the painting and nods approvingly. "We've both seen worse, haven't we?"
His examination of the doors is short-lived as, in his focus on doors, he forgets to check the floor. A rotten section of flooring collapses under his feet, and he barely tosses himself back in the direction he was walking before the wreckage drags him into the floor beneath.
For a long moment he lays on his back gasping and eyes bugging out while trying to remember how to breathe. Then his breath comes again in one explosive gasp. When he can talk again he says, "Well that was fun!" cough-cough "If only there were an expert here who could spot rotten wood and collapsible floors!"
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid, Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck
Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions!
I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
Stone slipped into the room, hands in the folds of his robes, holding a dagger and small throwing knife. With no apparent danger, he released the weapons and moved further in. The painting caught his eye and he spend a long minute staring at the scene, trying to determine why something so pristine sits in a place so decrepit.
His revere is cut short by a crack and a cry as Marius finds the weak floorboards. Stone hurries over to ensure the companion is alright and peer inspect the wrecked floor.
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser
Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale
Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
Rey followed the others into the foyer, barely taking her eyes off the new shiny dagger. It wasn't until Marius fell that she looked up. Snorting with laughter, she replied to Marius, "Perhaps you shouldn't go wandering off before said expert can look at said floors." She took a step closer to Marius, and began gagging. "Oh! That's putrid!" She could smell stagnant water and rotting, putrid wood. "Lower level is flooded. We're lucky this whole place doesn't collapse with us in it."
Turning back, she focused on the door across from the one they'd just come through. Listening, she could hear nothing. Checking the door, it was neither locked, nor trapped. "Here goes nothing," she said, opening the door, then pulling out her daggers out, just in case. She peered in, but couldn't see a whole lot. "After you," she said to Stone.
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
Stone breezes into the room, not aensing any immediate danger. The room is furnished with old, rotten furniture and the walls are covered in a grotesque combination of pibk and yellow wallpaper. In the center is an old, worn rocking horse.
For a moment, something like affectionate care come from the rigid elf's stoic demeanor, "Theae grounds are evil. Fergus was right: this place does not welcome children. This room was made many times over, but never saw Life enter its walls."
For a brief flash, a girl is seen in a corner mirror. As Stone double-takes to the mirror, nothing is seen.
(Natural 20 Perception roll)
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser
Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale
Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
Rey walked into the room and noticed the gorgeous silver mirror. "Oh, hello, sexy! It's unfortunate you're so big. I'd melt you down in a heartbeat." She touched the mirror and withdrew with a sharp inhale. "Shit!" The mirror was cold, very cold. Her fingers stung from the chill and the mirror fogged over where she touched it, gradually clearing up. "Weird," she said looking closely, her breath fogging it back up. Walking to the cupboard, she found a sewing kit and a piece of cloth with the embroidery "As Above, So Below" on it. Stashing both in a pocket, she glanced around again, and finding nothing else of interest, she decided to leave the room, joining the others.
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
Orel notes the others open the door to the child's playroom. Again the monk says a cryptic phrase and mentions children not being welcome in the house. He knows he sensed something upstairs, so that's where he sets his sights. Cautiously, he begins making his way up the staircase to his left. To the others he cautions, "The other staircase looks a bit unstable. Be careful if you follow."
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Stone and Orel begin up the left staircase (as you're facing the hearth), Stone hanging to the shadows and crouching low to avoid being seen, when a board breaks under his feet and sends him careening toward the rail, which collapses under his weight. The fall takes just long enough that Orel is able to take a quick step and just barely reach the back of Stone's sparse garments. As Stone falls, his weight and momentum nearly take Orel with him, though Orel's able to save them both by collapsing on the stair and using his own weight as an anchor.
Off balance and facing a severe mechanical disadvantage, Orel begins to pull Stone up. His muscles tense, bulging against his clothing, and his knuckles whiten as he struggles to maintain his grip, slowly and methodically dragging the monk back onto the stairs.
The whole ordeal takes no more than 15 seconds, barely enough for others to register what happened, but to the parties involved it could have been an hour...
(META: Deep breath... 24 Stealth check for Stone, then a 7 Dex save to ascend the treacherous stair. Nat 20 Dex save for Orel to ascend, then a 12 Strength save to catch Stone. Orel then had a 9 Athletics check, a 20 composite Strength save to maintain grip after the failed attempt to pull, then finally an 18 Athletics check to succeed. 4E skill challenges eat your heart out!)
Stone brushes himself off and gives a nod to Orel, "Thanks. I don't like this place," no emotion registers any disdain. As the party proceeds, Stone keeps trying to ignore the burning cold in his torso from being heaved up by Orel. He makes a note of it to try and piece it out later.
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser
Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale
Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
"No worries," Orel responds. He pulls his maul back up and follows Stone to the top of the stairs. He knows his touch has this affect on people, and he knows that Stone had more than enough contact to feel it. He appreciates the silence on the monk's part. This wasn't a good place or time to trade stories.
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Elaine wished she knew what she was looking for. Every room sent a shiver down her spine. She watched as Orel and Stone attempted to go up the stairs, as well as the ensuing struggle. If she had been a betting woman, she would have guessed that the large half-orc would be the one to misstep. Apparently, she would have lost. As soon as they were safely up, she decided to follow.
Her feet barely touched the ground as she gracefully tiptoed up the bannister. Elaine dismounted with a little flip that would have made the court jester who had taught her how to juggle proud. "That wasn't so bad," she dusted off her armor. "Shall we continue the hunt?"
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
Rey nudged Marius with her elbow. "C'mon. Can't let them have all the fun without us." She winked at him, with her milky eye, and walked over to the left staircase. She breezed up the stairs, careful to avoid the soft spots, and waited at the top for Marius to catch up.
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
Marius watches the elf - particularly the feet of the elf - as she ascends the rickety staircase. Rey's grace matches Elaine's, only with a straightforward and pragmatic, almost unintentional loveliness to the movement.
"There, and then there, and then quicksstep step quicksstep quicksstep," he murmurs to himself, then takes a deep breath and scampers up after the rest of the party.
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid, Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck
Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions!
I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
At the top of the landing, now on the other side of the great chimney, you see the house's central tower above you. A spindly iron stair ascends the rear of the chimney into a chamber at the top of the tower. Set in the rear of the chimney, as well, is a life-sized statue of a tubby middle-aged man with a weak chin and thin beard - the brass plaque at his feet says "Hugh Crain". To your left, at the rear of the house, a large stained glass window full of knotwork and filigree.
You see two doors going left and right near the rear of the house and the landing wraps around to other doors on each side, overlooking the foyer. The floor here is covered with a plush red carpet, once beautiful but now mottled and putrid with age and moisture.
Orel goes to the door at his immediate left. "Prepare yourselves," he says, moments before opening it. He ignores the statue, still focusing on immediate threats that might be present. His plan is to check each room to determine if something nefarious is in it, then move on to the next. The landing allows plenty of room for combat if needed.
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Please feel free to message either Sorce or another moderator if you have any concerns.