Difference between revisions of "Foxglove's Secrets"

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{{Infobox RPG session
 
{{Infobox RPG session
−
| Title        = {{Rise of the Runelords chapter|31}}
+
| Title        = {{Rise of the Runelords chapter|34}}
 
| Campaign    = Rise of the Runelords
 
| Campaign    = Rise of the Runelords
 
| Image        = {{Rise of the Runelords logo}}
 
| Image        = {{Rise of the Runelords logo}}
−
| Episode      = 31
+
| Episode      = 34
 
| Date        = 2009
 
| Date        = 2009
 
| GM          = [[User:Starfox|Abbe]]
 
| GM          = [[User:Starfox|Abbe]]
 
| Characters  = [[Nathaniel]]<br>[[Nell]]<br>[[Velicia]]
 
| Characters  = [[Nathaniel]]<br>[[Nell]]<br>[[Velicia]]
−
| Prev        = {{Rise of the Runelords chapter|30}}
+
| Prev        = {{Rise of the Runelords chapter|33}}
−
| Next        = {{Rise of the Runelords chapter|32}}
+
| Next        = {{Rise of the Runelords chapter|35}}
 
| Episode list = [[Nell's diary|'''''Rise of the Runelords''''' chapter list]]
 
| Episode list = [[Nell's diary|'''''Rise of the Runelords''''' chapter list]]
 
}}
 
}}
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[[Category:Rise of the Runelords]]
 
[[Category:Rise of the Runelords]]
 
<!-- Tag -->
 
<!-- Tag -->
−
''In this chapter {{Rise of the Runelords chapter|31|summary}}.''
+
''In this chapter {{Rise of the Runelords chapter|34|summary}}.''
  
 
<!-- Synopsis -->
 
<!-- Synopsis -->
−
== {{Rise of the Runelords chapter|31}} ==
+
== {{Rise of the Runelords chapter|34}} ==
  
−
Right after Honeypot left to help the others I rose from the body of Aldern and started to follow her, but I noted that my shadow cast from the light of Honeypots scarf moved in ways I didn't. It wasn't even on the right wall. I was drawn towards it and really wanted to embrace it, but I got hold of myself realizing that it was dark mold and moss on the wall strangely resembling a humanoid shape. Nathaniel came back in and told me they had killed all enemies out in the large cavern.
+
We continued up the stairs to the arcane laboratory. It was filled with
 +
soggy books about necromancy. Velicia said that they were in a bad
 +
state and would probably not survive being transported out of there.
 +
The paintings on the windows pictured someone we could recognize as
 +
Vorel turning into dust and getting sucked into a seven sided box. He
 +
looked up and raised his arms in triumph. Also there were a lot of  
 +
broken glass containers and three cages with dead rats in them.  
 +
Nathaniel noted an inscription on the cages. "Pugs contraptions
 +
Magnimar". There also was a picture of a small pig holding a key next
 +
to the keyhole. I know of it. It is a shop own by Pug. He was kind of
 +
an opponent to us street kids. At least back then he made cages,
 +
locks and traps. We cleaned one up and brought it.
  
−
I went back to my dead brother I never knew. I looked at his hideous appearance. Good thing I saw him before he became a ghoul so I have a better image in my mind of my brother. His clothes had been very beautiful but was now covered in old blood stains and even had little pieces of rotten flesh sticking to them. I noted that he had a cameo hanging from his neck. I opened it and saw it had a picture of Honeypot in it. It wasn't that good a match, but it was her, probably painted from a description. He had an awful mask made from flimsy strips of skin stained by blood. In his pockets I found three keys. One was an iron key with an opal. The next one was long and made of brass. It had a very complex tooth and a lion motif in the bow. The last one looked like the one I already had to this house. He had dropped a strange oversized razor he had been fighting with next to where he fell.
+
We moved on to the kitchen. There were still many rats alive but now  
 +
most of them was eating other rats. We sneaked past them and
 +
checked the rooms behind two doors that were in this very repelling
 +
kitchen. One was a store room with nothing useful in it, but the other
 +
turned out to be a wine cellar where we found some wine bottles still
 +
intact. A total of eight of them. They were from the Great Kingdoms
 +
and would probably catch a good price if sold. Next to the stair there
 +
was a room that had been a bedroom and was in quite a good shape,
 +
but the furniture had been turned over and looked to have been used
 +
to escape rats. Returning out into the kitchen Nathaniel looked around
 +
with a puzzled look on his face until he stopped across from the door
 +
to the laboratory and cellar. There he took out the pick and suddenly
 +
attacked the wall. Hacking away at it he revealed a secret room with  
 +
no entrance. It only contained some garbage from when the house
 +
was originally built.
  
−
Looking around in the room there was a letter on a table next to some beautiful crystal glasses and silver plates. Sadly enough those were covered in old blood and rotten, maggot infested flesh from animals and humans. I felt sick and bringing the letter left for the bigger cavern. After a few deep breaths I returned, but stayed near the tunnel avoiding to look at the tables. Standing there I read the letter out loud.
+
Returning up the stairs and into the entrance room I felt a little
 +
better. No more awful stench of rotten flesh and no more diseased
 +
rats. There were just the manticore, the animal trophies on the wall
 +
and the strange monkey head. A rope hung down from it's mouth. We
 +
pulled the rope and the monkey screamed. Nathaniel pulled it again
 +
and again and it screamed every time. After all the awful things we
 +
seen in the house so far we thought it was quite funny and had several
 +
ideas on what to do with it. We then took a closer look at the  
 +
manticore. I thought it started smoking. I took a few steps over to get
 +
the drapes from the window to smother the flames but it didn't catch
 +
fire, Velicia did. Nathaniel ran over to her, but the fire seamed to
 +
have just been one of those strange things that happen in this house.
  
−
<div style="font-style: italic; background: antiquewhite; border: 1px solid #ccc; width: 30em; padding: 0.5em; ">
+
We went straight through the entrance hall into a dining room. It had a
−
Aldern —
+
large table and several painted windows. The windows depicted an ent,
 +
a roc, a sfinx and a kraken. The creatures were dran into a seven sided
 +
box. We recognized the box from the picture on the windows in the
 +
laboratory.
  
−
You have served us quite well. The delivery you harvested from the caverns far exceeds what I had hoped for. You may consider your debt to the Brothers paid in full. Yet I still have need of you,
+
We continued to a room that was a library. There were two armchairs in
−
and when you awaken from your death, you should find your mind clear and able to understand this
+
front of the fireplace. Between them there were a book on floor and a
−
task more than in the state you lie in as I write this.
+
book end of angel with butterfly wings with dark smudge on. A scarf in
 +
red and gold was draped over the back of one of the chairs. I picked up
 +
the scarf and noticed it moved. A little frightened I gave it to Nathaniel
 +
who got strangled by it. I tried to help him get it off but before anything
 +
really happened it stopped. We looked around and found all the books
 +
to be ordinary books.
  
−
You shall remember the workings of the Sihedron ritual, I trust. You seemed quite lucid at the time, but if you find after your rebirth that you have forgotten, return to your townhouse in Magnimar. My agents shall contact you there soon—no need for you to bother the Brothers further. I will provide the list of proper victims for the Sihedron ritual in two days’ time. Commit that list to memory and then destroy it before you begin your work. The ones I have selected must be marked before they die, otherwise they do my master no good and the greed in their souls will go to waste.
+
On the other side of the dining room there were a lounge with a sofa
 +
facing a fireplace. It had birds carved into it. We noticed dust that
 +
was moving as if someone walked through the room. I even saw
 +
footprints appearing. We agreed that it was Lorelei who wondered the  
 +
room.
  
−
If others get in your way, though, you may do with them as you please. Eat them, savage them, or turn them into pawns—it matters not to me.
+
There were a corridor with two doors along the right wall. The first
 +
room was the bathroom we had seen from above when the tub fell
 +
through the floor.
  
−
— Your Mistress, Wanton of Nature’s Pagan Forms
+
The last door to the right in the corridor led to a dance room where a
−
</div>
+
crystal chandelier lies smashed in the middle of the room and a grand
 +
piano stood in a corner. I went up to it and pushed the keys. It started
 +
playing. I shouted out and retreated out into the hallway, but Aldern
 +
appeared and pulled me back into the room. He looked as when we met him
 +
in Sandpoint. He took hold of me and started dancing. While we were
 +
dancing his tung grew out of his mouth, his hair fell off and his skin
 +
turned greenish gray. He turned into a ghoul in my arms. I broke out of  
 +
his grip and ran out through double doors opened by Velicia who had
 +
avoided the dancing. Nathaniel on the other hand was still dancing
 +
around in the room with some invisible partner. He later told us that
 +
it had been Iesha who was strangled while dancing. When he also broke
 +
the trance I looked around and could vaguely see ravens further out in
 +
the fog. When we came there had been a few. Now there were more than
 +
thirty all watching me. I quickly retreated into the dance room and
 +
closed the door behind me.
  
−
There were some thoughts about what could have been harvested from the caverns and what brothers he had been in debt to. Apparently by marking the victims with the star their souls benefited some evil power. They also seem to target greedy people. The main lead was the townhouse in Magnimar so we decided to go there after we finished searching the manor.
+
We left the dance room and went upstairs. We used the other stairs
 +
behind a door. We guessed they were for the servants. I could hear
 +
steps following us, but nothing happened.
  
−
Velicia found lots of pornographic drawings of Honeypot. They were not very good. She said "At least these aren't drawn from model... Oh, but this one is..." turning slightly red in her face.
+
When we got to the second floor I went straight to my old room. It was
 +
strange to stand there knowing that I used to live there. I used to
 +
have a family. I can hardly remember anything from that time. In there
 +
I looked around to see if I could recognize something. I searched
 +
thoroughly but it was hard. I had been so small when I left. I found a
 +
teddycat that I remembered was mine, but most toys were wooden swords
 +
and shields and had been Aldern's. I remembered hiding in the big fire
 +
place, when I was afraid. Searching it I realized I spent a lot of time
 +
there, but didn't find anything. At least I have an idea of why I got
 +
so good at hiding.
  
−
Doro found a skeleton key
+
Next we went to the music room. It too had painted windows. Velicia
 +
realized that all the windows had a common topic. It was about how to
 +
become a lich, and the components needed.
  
−
Note to self; buy perfume.
+
In the dining room we notice it had been lit by a magical continuous
 +
light item, but it had broke over time and now it was dark and gloomy.
 +
I gathered the eight paintings of my family and put them next to the
 +
door. I want to keep those. It's almost the only connection I have to
 +
my family.
  
−
At last we left that awful room where Aldern lay slain. Honeypot stayed behind. She wanted to clean him up. It was not a good idea to be alone in this haunted house so we thought that someone more should stay. Dorothea agreed to keep her company. I, Nathaniel and Velicia went back to the big cavern. We decided to take a better look at the pool. Even though the ghoul goblins had hid in the water it was quite clean so I washed my hands. I was happy to get rid of the dark mold and blood from Aldern. Velicia looked at the water for some time and then said that she thought it was seawater. There was a small heaving of the surface that she thought was created by currents from the waves. We talked about one of us diving in to try to swim out to the sea and one holding on to a rope, but while I took out my rope Nathaniel and Velicia had dressed down and dove in. That was when I realized that they brought all the light with them.  
+
We continued on into the master bedroom. We looked at the dark stain on
 +
the desk, but couldn't decidedly say if it was blood. We took the two
 +
kits, one for a male with shaving utensils and the other for a female
 +
with brushes and beauty utensils.
  
−
When they eventually returned I had lit my own lantern and put back the rope in the pack. They told me that they had swam through an underwater tunnel out into the sea. From there they had seen the high cliffs up to the house and above the vague shape of the huge bat circling in the fog. They had also heard ominous sounds that they thought came from more ravens.
+
In the room where everything was broken and the painting of Iesha I
 +
found a dress with embroideries of peacock feathers that was not only
 +
undamaged, but very nice and in my size.
  
−
When they had dressed we returned up the slope and looked into another cave we had passed on the way down. There was a stench equal to that of Alderns cave. It was filled with the remains of a lot of people that had fallen victims to the ghouls. The only thing left was just bones, and even those had been cracked open and gnawed on.
+
We went on upstairs to the observatory. We looked around when I thought
 +
I smelled burning flesh. Velicia screamed and ran towards the complete
 +
window but stopped before throwing herself through it. As the other
 +
window was broken in a way that could indicate that someones fate had
 +
been to be set on fire and then threw herself out of the window,
 +
landing on the cliffs below. That also fit with what we had seen happen
 +
to Cyralee on the paining. Composing ourself we searched the room and
 +
the only thing we noted was that the lenses of the telescope were
 +
undamaged.
  
−
Continuing to another cave there were more mold and I thought it wiser to leave it alone, but Nathaniel and Velicia wanted to search it. Even with handkerchiefs over their noses and mouths they didn't dare to enter as even small movements brought up massive amounts of spores, but Velicia used her magic hand to bring out a pick that had been left in there. Nathaniel thought it might come in handy and brought it along.
+
The last room that we just glanced into on our first tour of the house  
−
 
+
could best be described as a gentleman's room. There were armchairs and  
−
Returning to where the stairs came down, we went into the last passage we hadn't searched. It smelled as bad as the worst places so far. It turned out to be where the ghouls lived. There were three corpses that hadn't been eaten. I recognized the wanted pirate Shadz "Rodshaw" Bilgar. We searched the body and found that he had some interesting things. He had a hat of disguise, a pearl necklace, 56 gold and a magical dagger. Very practical things if you're a wanted pirate. We noted that another of the corpses had been killed by a blow to the head rather than a ghoul bite. In the other end of the cave there was a shaft that turned out to be the well. From above we could hear the sound of an unkindness of ravens, but all you could see was a dark fog and below was the water.
+
bookshelves and several strange items like skulls. When we entered we  
−
 
+
heard a noise like pages rustling as if someone was browsing through a  
−
We continued up the stairs to the arcane laboratory. It was filled with soggy books about necromancy. Velicia said that they were in a bad state and would probably not survive being transported out of there. The paintings on the windows pictured someone we could recognize as Vorel turning into dust and getting sucked into a seven sided box. He looked up and raised his arms in triumph. There were also a lot of broken glass containers and three cages with dead rats in them. Nathaniel noted an inscription on the cages. "Pugs contraptions Magnimar". There also was a picture of a small pig holding a key next to the keyhole. I know of it. It is a shop own by Pug. He was kind of an opponent to us street kids. At least back then he made cages, locks and traps. We cleaned one up and brought it.
+
book. Nathaniel looked absent in a strange way and then he told us that  
−
 
+
he had felt anger over all the adventures that he had missed because of  
−
We moved on to the kitchen. There were still many rats alive but now most of them was eating other rats. We sneaked past them and checked the rooms behind two doors that were in this very repelling kitchen. One was a store room with nothing useful in but the other turned out to be a wine cellar where we found some wine bottles still intact. A total of eight of them. They were from the Great Kingdoms and would probably catch a good price if sold. Next to the stair there was a room that had been a bedroom and was in quite a good shape, but the furniture had been turned over and looked to have been used to escape rats. Returning out into the kitchen Nathaniel looked around with a puzzled look on his face until he stopped across from the door towards the laboratory and cellar. There he took out the pick and suddenly attacked the wall. Hacking away at it he revealed a secret room with no entrance. It only contained some garbage from when the house was originally built.
+
his wife. We looked through the books and there were mostly history and  
−
 
+
adventures, but we also found books published by the seekers and a
−
Returning up the stairs and into the entrance room I felt a little better. No more awful stench of rotten flesh and no more diseased rats. There were just the manticore, the animal trophies on the wall and the strange monkey head. A rope hung down from it's mouth. We pulled the rope and the monkey screamed. Nathaniel pulled it again and again and it screamed every time. After all the awful things we seen in the house so far we thought it was quite funny and had several ideas on what to do with it. We then took a closer look at the manticore. I thought it started smoking. I took a few steps over to get the drapes drapes from window to dowse the flames but it didn't catch fire, Velicia did. Nathaniel ran over to her, but the fire seamed to have just been one of those strange things that happen in this house.
+
painting of a bullfight It was named The throwdown in swynetown signed  
−
 
+
by the artist Andaluso
−
Dining room Ent + Roc + Sfinx + Kraken painted on windows.
 
−
 
 
−
seven edged box draws in the monsters.
 
−
 
 
−
Library, Scarf in red and gold + book on floor and a book end of angel with butterfly wings with dark smudge on.
 
−
 
 
−
I pick up scarf and notice it moved. I gave to Nathaniel who got strangled by it.
 
−
 
 
−
Lounge with birds carved into fireplace. dust moves as if someone walked through the room. Even footprints. Lorelei
 
−
 
 
−
Bathroom...
 
−
 
 
−
The last door in the corridor is a dance room where a crystal chandelier lies smashed in the middle of the room and a grand piano stands in a corner. I went up to it and push the keys. It started playing. I shouted out and retreated out into the hallway, but Aldern appeared and pulled me back into the room. He looked as when we met him in Sandpoint. He took hold of me and started dancing. While we were dancing his tung grew out of his mouth, his hair fell off and his skin turned greenish gray. He turned into a ghoul in my arms. I broke out of his grip and ran out through double doors opened by Velicia who had avoided the dancing. Nathaniel on the other hand was still dancing around in the room with some invisible partner. He later told us that it had been Iesha who was strangled while dancing. When he also broke the trance I looked around and could vaguely see ravens further out in the fog. When we came there had been a few. Now there were more than thirty all watching me. I quicly retreated into the dance room and closed the door behind me.
 
−
 
 
−
We use other stairs - servants? Steps follow us
 
−
 
 
−
When we got to the second floor I went straight to my old room. It was strange to stand there knowing that I used to live there. I used to have a family. I can hardly remember anything from that time. In there I looked around to see if I could recognize something. I searched thoroughly but it was hard. I had been so small when I left. I found a teddycat that I remembered was mine, but most toys were wooden swords and shields and had been Aldern's. I remembered hiding in the big fire place, when I was afraid. Searching it I realized I spent a lot of time there, but didn't find anything. At least I have an idea of why I got so good at hiding.
 
−
 
 
−
Music room Painted windows. Velicia said Lich components for making
 
−
 
 
−
In the dining room we notice it had been lit by a magical continuous light item, but it had broke over time and now it was dark and gloomy. I gathered the eight paintings of my family and put them next to the door. I want to keep those. It's almost the only connection I have to my family.
 
−
 
 
−
We continued on into the master bedroom. We looked at the dark stain on the desk, but couldn't decidedly say if it was blood. We took the two kits, one for a male with shaving utensils and the other for a female with brushes and beauty utensils.
 
−
 
 
−
In the room where everything was broken and the painting of Iesha I found a dress with embroideries of peacock feathers that was not only undamaged, but very nice and in my size.
 
−
 
 
−
We went on upstairs to the observatory. We looked around when I thought I smelled burning flesh. Velicia screamed and ran towards the complete window but stopped before throwing herself through it. As the other window was broken in a way that could indicate that someones fate had been to be set on fire and then threw herself out of the window, landing on the cliffs below. That also fit with what we had seen happen to Cyralee on the paining. Composing ourself we searched the room and the only thing we noted was that the lenses of the telescope were undamaged.
 
−
 
 
−
The last room that we just glanced into on our first tour of the house could best be described as a gentleman's room. There were armchairs and bookshelves and several strange items like ????
 
−
When we entered we heard a noise like pages rustling as if someone was browsing through a book. Nathaniel looked absent in a strange way and then he told us that he had felt anger over all the adventures that he had missed because of his wife. We looked through the books and there were mostly history and adventures, but we also found books published by the seekers.
 
−
 
 
−
There was a painting of a bullfight It was named The throwdown in swynetown signed by the artist Andaluso
 
−
 
 
−
We think about everything. Vorel tried to become lich and failed. Mold in cellar probably him. We decide that we will try to exorcise him.
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
To be able to exorcise him we had to know more so Velicia stayed in the arcane laboratory to study as much as she could from the books falling apart there. I and Nathaniel returned down to the cellar to tell the others. When we got there I nearly threw up. I still couldn't get used to the stench. I and Nathaniel decided to start burying the remains and brought what we could carry upstairs.
 
−
 
 
−
As we exited the house we saw almost a hundred ravens gathering in the fog outside. We walked towards the ruins when some took off and looked to prepare for an attack. We retreated back and choose to bury the corpses under a tree close to the house. I started digging, while Nathaniel went down to bring up the rest of the bones and corpses I took out the last of the food I brought. It had been a long time since I ate last, but I still wasn't very hungry. It didn't help being closely watched by the ravens. I ate it anyway and started digging again just in time to see Nathaniel bringing the next load of bones. He said that was all and took over the pick and started digging. He was a lot better than me at digging so I carved a sign to put on the grave. I was quite pleased with the outcome and Nathaniel was impressed.
 
−
 
 
−
Late afternoon, not long before sunset Velicia completed her studies. She said that she didn't know if it would work, but there were no more to be learned from the soggy books and we return down.
 
−
 
 
−
Velicia drew strange things on the walls around the cave with a chalk and then stood in the middle. She nodded to me and I started talking to the dark mold. It felt a little stupid, but in the stench of rotten flesh it was easy to keep a straight face and when I realized that the mold understood and reacted to my persuasion it was frightening rather than stupid to talk to my grandfather in this way. Velicia lifted her sword and pointed at her drawings. The magic started and was fought by spores pouring out of the humanoid shape on the wall. Nathaniel tried to burn the spores with his sword, but I got a deep breath of them and coughed violently. I tried to talk to Vorel again. This time I told him not to fight the ritual. I told him it was trying was to correct and complete his transformation to lich. The spores eased up on me but the damage was already done. I saw the same dots on my skin that Dorothea and Velicia had talked about earlier. I vaguely see Velicia trying to burn mold and then returning to her magic, but she was distracted by the spores. Nathaniel used the pick again and hacked down the wall where the shape was and then burned the last remains of moss and mold he could find, ending it. We succeeded!
 
−
 
 
−
We only take valuables we can carry or take in Velicias bag of holding. Rest we leave for now.
 
−
 
 
−
We left on foot, carrying heavy burdens of loot. The ravens???
 
−
 
 
−
It was getting dark when we arrived at the bridge where Orik waited with the horses. As we saddled up for leaving I hesitated. I really didn't want to infect Creampuff too. I took my bedroll from the pack and covered him before mounting up.
 
−
 
 
−
When we arrived the sanatorium it was already night and the guards hailed us. We told them who we were and were let through. Nathaniel told dr. Habe that I, Velicia and Dorothea wasn't infected by ghoulrot but something called Vorels phage and that it was caused by spores from some dark moldy moss. I went to bed hugging my old teddycat. That was when it all hit me. My grandfather tried to become a lich. My grandmother was killed by him. My father killed my mother and probably himself too. My brother killed his wife and murdered several other people. Now we had killed him. I mourned the family I never knew. I couldn't stop crying but drifted off to sleep still sobbing.
 
  
 
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Latest revision as of 19:36, 19 February 2010

“Template:Rise of the Runelords chapter”
Rise of the Runelords episode
Template:Rise of the Runelords logo
Episode no. Episode 34
Date 2009
Game Master Abbe
Characters Nathaniel
Nell
Velicia
Episode chronology
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Rise of the Runelords chapter list

In this chapter Template:Rise of the Runelords chapter.

Template:Rise of the Runelords chapter

We continued up the stairs to the arcane laboratory. It was filled with soggy books about necromancy. Velicia said that they were in a bad state and would probably not survive being transported out of there. The paintings on the windows pictured someone we could recognize as Vorel turning into dust and getting sucked into a seven sided box. He looked up and raised his arms in triumph. Also there were a lot of broken glass containers and three cages with dead rats in them. Nathaniel noted an inscription on the cages. "Pugs contraptions Magnimar". There also was a picture of a small pig holding a key next to the keyhole. I know of it. It is a shop own by Pug. He was kind of an opponent to us street kids. At least back then he made cages, locks and traps. We cleaned one up and brought it.

We moved on to the kitchen. There were still many rats alive but now most of them was eating other rats. We sneaked past them and checked the rooms behind two doors that were in this very repelling kitchen. One was a store room with nothing useful in it, but the other turned out to be a wine cellar where we found some wine bottles still intact. A total of eight of them. They were from the Great Kingdoms and would probably catch a good price if sold. Next to the stair there was a room that had been a bedroom and was in quite a good shape, but the furniture had been turned over and looked to have been used to escape rats. Returning out into the kitchen Nathaniel looked around with a puzzled look on his face until he stopped across from the door to the laboratory and cellar. There he took out the pick and suddenly attacked the wall. Hacking away at it he revealed a secret room with no entrance. It only contained some garbage from when the house was originally built.

Returning up the stairs and into the entrance room I felt a little better. No more awful stench of rotten flesh and no more diseased rats. There were just the manticore, the animal trophies on the wall and the strange monkey head. A rope hung down from it's mouth. We pulled the rope and the monkey screamed. Nathaniel pulled it again and again and it screamed every time. After all the awful things we seen in the house so far we thought it was quite funny and had several ideas on what to do with it. We then took a closer look at the manticore. I thought it started smoking. I took a few steps over to get the drapes from the window to smother the flames but it didn't catch fire, Velicia did. Nathaniel ran over to her, but the fire seamed to have just been one of those strange things that happen in this house.

We went straight through the entrance hall into a dining room. It had a large table and several painted windows. The windows depicted an ent, a roc, a sfinx and a kraken. The creatures were dran into a seven sided box. We recognized the box from the picture on the windows in the laboratory.

We continued to a room that was a library. There were two armchairs in front of the fireplace. Between them there were a book on floor and a book end of angel with butterfly wings with dark smudge on. A scarf in red and gold was draped over the back of one of the chairs. I picked up the scarf and noticed it moved. A little frightened I gave it to Nathaniel who got strangled by it. I tried to help him get it off but before anything really happened it stopped. We looked around and found all the books to be ordinary books.

On the other side of the dining room there were a lounge with a sofa facing a fireplace. It had birds carved into it. We noticed dust that was moving as if someone walked through the room. I even saw footprints appearing. We agreed that it was Lorelei who wondered the room.

There were a corridor with two doors along the right wall. The first room was the bathroom we had seen from above when the tub fell through the floor.

The last door to the right in the corridor led to a dance room where a crystal chandelier lies smashed in the middle of the room and a grand piano stood in a corner. I went up to it and pushed the keys. It started playing. I shouted out and retreated out into the hallway, but Aldern appeared and pulled me back into the room. He looked as when we met him in Sandpoint. He took hold of me and started dancing. While we were dancing his tung grew out of his mouth, his hair fell off and his skin turned greenish gray. He turned into a ghoul in my arms. I broke out of his grip and ran out through double doors opened by Velicia who had avoided the dancing. Nathaniel on the other hand was still dancing around in the room with some invisible partner. He later told us that it had been Iesha who was strangled while dancing. When he also broke the trance I looked around and could vaguely see ravens further out in the fog. When we came there had been a few. Now there were more than thirty all watching me. I quickly retreated into the dance room and closed the door behind me.

We left the dance room and went upstairs. We used the other stairs behind a door. We guessed they were for the servants. I could hear steps following us, but nothing happened.

When we got to the second floor I went straight to my old room. It was strange to stand there knowing that I used to live there. I used to have a family. I can hardly remember anything from that time. In there I looked around to see if I could recognize something. I searched thoroughly but it was hard. I had been so small when I left. I found a teddycat that I remembered was mine, but most toys were wooden swords and shields and had been Aldern's. I remembered hiding in the big fire place, when I was afraid. Searching it I realized I spent a lot of time there, but didn't find anything. At least I have an idea of why I got so good at hiding.

Next we went to the music room. It too had painted windows. Velicia realized that all the windows had a common topic. It was about how to become a lich, and the components needed.

In the dining room we notice it had been lit by a magical continuous light item, but it had broke over time and now it was dark and gloomy. I gathered the eight paintings of my family and put them next to the door. I want to keep those. It's almost the only connection I have to my family.

We continued on into the master bedroom. We looked at the dark stain on the desk, but couldn't decidedly say if it was blood. We took the two kits, one for a male with shaving utensils and the other for a female with brushes and beauty utensils.

In the room where everything was broken and the painting of Iesha I found a dress with embroideries of peacock feathers that was not only undamaged, but very nice and in my size.

We went on upstairs to the observatory. We looked around when I thought I smelled burning flesh. Velicia screamed and ran towards the complete window but stopped before throwing herself through it. As the other window was broken in a way that could indicate that someones fate had been to be set on fire and then threw herself out of the window, landing on the cliffs below. That also fit with what we had seen happen to Cyralee on the paining. Composing ourself we searched the room and the only thing we noted was that the lenses of the telescope were undamaged.

The last room that we just glanced into on our first tour of the house could best be described as a gentleman's room. There were armchairs and bookshelves and several strange items like skulls. When we entered we heard a noise like pages rustling as if someone was browsing through a book. Nathaniel looked absent in a strange way and then he told us that he had felt anger over all the adventures that he had missed because of his wife. We looked through the books and there were mostly history and adventures, but we also found books published by the seekers and a painting of a bullfight It was named The throwdown in swynetown signed by the artist Andaluso

Rise of the Runelords
Campaign Rise of the Runelords • Episodes • People • Drawings
Heroes Dorothea • Honeypot • Nathaniel • Nell • Velicia
Locations Whisperwood • Turtleback Ferry • Sandpoint • Magnimar • Perrenland
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