Chapter 2: Some Things Really Are As They Seem
General Summary
The party find a mysterious house in the mist, and uncover the secrets of the family that lived there.
Part 1: Don't Worry, Kids, We'll Help You (Khaylen)
As we followed the road through the mists, we came upon a large house that released a pair of terrified children into its yard. The kids, Rose and Thorn, informed us that their parents were busy dealing with the howling monsters in their basement, and that their baby brother and nursemaid were scared in the attic. As we investigated the house, we found much decay hidden behind an illusory magical veil, and several instances of poltergeist trickery. After confirming that the house was empty save for the hanged corpse of Rose and Thorn’s father, we began to destroy several artifacts that displayed magical behavior - a dangerous suit of armor, a self-aware harpsichord, and some stuffed wolves who had blood on their teeth. On the top floor, we discovered that Rose and Thorn, as well as their baby brother's nursemaid, were all ghosts. The nursemaid's ghost showed us the way to the attic, and Rose and Thorn accompanied us as we brought their remains out from their locked bedroom. Rose told us that they had never been to the basement, but they nervously led us to the secret entrance to the long spiral staircase down.Part 2: Mom Never Let Us Go Down The Stairs (Khaylen)
The basement was dark, musty, and unpleasant, but by far the worst part of being there was the incessant chanting. It was faint, but unending, making it almost impossible to sleep. The language escaped us all, but its intent was clear: some dark ritual was under way. We quickly found the crypts where we could lay Rose’s and Thorn’s remains to rest, but our exploration was quickly interrupted by a pack of grossly deformed humanoids who burrowed out of the ground and chased us through the tight hallways. We managed to defeat them in a choke point, but we knew that there would be more danger awaiting us as we explored further, so we found a room with some cots and many of us took a rest to maintain our strength. As we explored this basement further, we discovered a staircase to an even lower floor, clearly the source of the chanting, but we continued our search upstairs, in hopes that we could find an exit without interrupting the ritual. We found several chests with interesting items, as well as many brutalized corpses. We were attacked by shadows after finding a statue holding a magical sphere that we learned was called “the Dark Lord’s eyes”, that we think would allow the man called Straud to see through it. We laid Rose and Thorn’s mother’s corpse to rest after she pleaded with the Dark Lord through the orb but refused to give us information about the exit. Her reanimated neck pinned to the wall with a sword, she spat at us and laughed: “Did you try going back out the way you came in?”Part 3: Did You Try Leaving Through The Way You Came In? (Khaylen)
Accepting that the only way out was deeper, we hatched a plan to quietly investigate the sub-basement. I snuck down and found a wide, water-strewn ceremony chamber whose altar bore a baby-shaped bundle. In addition, I found Letho’s squire chained to a wall, unconscious atop a pile of dusty bones. We extracted and healed him, then retreated intending to rest further before confronting the active cultists. However, as we brought Borokin to safety, we heard the cultists cease their chanting, leaving a heavy, foreboding silence as we laid down to rest.Excerpt from Seir’s Little Black Book (Session 7/16/20): Penned in Borokin’s hand, via dictation
I tried to sleep in the damn house, but there was some great cacophony assaulting my senses, and I was unable to get any real sleep. There was no room in my mind for magic. I was not enthusiastic about moving on to fighting the cultists but it seems I had no other choice. Borokin seemed fairly traumatized. Alive, but not there. Khaylen and Letho looked him over, and they said it seemed that there was nothing wrong with him. Poor thing, he’s a bit young for all of this. Perhaps I’m a bit young for this, too. Khaylen says he needs time. The chanting was gone. It’s odd that I wound wish it back, but I suppose such things do happen. We had to move forward, or, rather, downward. Khaylen tried the upstairs door, but (of course) her efforts were unsuccessful. Thoradin, however, had a more classical approach, hitting it with his mace, but only succeeded on damaging his own weapon. In frustration, he tried to turn the door, but it was to no avail. Borokin could walk, but it’s just a shuffle. I grabbed his arm, and dragged him along with me towards the downstairs. I was a set of robes, though it’s dreadfully distasteful to be playing pretend as so. I suppose it cannot be helped, as I was on my last legs and have little else I can do besides such distasteful trickery. The first room down the stairs was a reliquary, full of strange items. A small, mummified hand. A knife carved from human bone. A dagger with a rat’s skull set into it. A bird’s feather. A shriveled, dry ear with a point. O and I looked around, as I felt precious out of resources and was desperately looking for something that could be useful in the inevitable coming battle. Thoradin noticed a small wooden figurine that resembles a mummy, while I found a small dry frog lashed to a stick. Someone else found some bat guano. Zin found a shrunken halfling’s head and a lock of auburn hair woven into an infinity. While this was all fun and macabre, I don’t see anything I felt particularly compelled to pick up, because I am not terribly into the thought of stuffing corpses in my pockets. O (such a knowledgeable child!) said this cult is unfamiliar to her, but the cult seems devoted towards everlasting life and the desires of those beyond the grave. She said the relics were not inherently magical, but they had at least a symbolic significance for the cult members. Picking them up is apparently like initiation into a sorority at the wizard’s college: the patron in charge gives you some obnoxious esoteric thing to get, and you grab it. My sister had to do something similar, but she had to find a rainbow-patterned cat and not an evil artifact. In addition, she has no compulsion to actually listen to the dean of her college (being a wizard is so much better than a warlock, I must say!). The next room was large, damp, and smooth. The floor was coated in a layer of water, and the walls were featureless and stone. A breach in the far wall revealed a pile of refuse, and a filthy-smelling mist poured from an altar in the center. The altar was covered in rusty chains, as well as a small, pristine white bundle. It probably used to be Walter. It was all blocked off from us by a portcullis, which Khaylen roses. The water smelled disgusting and I felt bones underneath. I quickly stepped out, pulling Borokin along (the poor fellow couldn’t even see anything!) as Khaylen and Letho investigated the bundle while O and Thoradin looked at the pile of refuse. I smelled a rat, both figuratively and literally. I was sure something had to go wrong, as that’s just my luck, honestly. Letho poked at the bundle from across the water before boldly picking it up. He moved it as if it was light, and then unwrapped it, revealing a rusted, serrated dagger covered in dried blood. A faint hiss sounded while Khaylen slammed her paw on the pedestal to weigh it down. She committed a rather impressive feat of acrobatics, but mist poured out of the pedestal anyway.. The mist took the shape of humans, in hooded forms. They spoke: “One must die, one must die…” Fuck this. Honestly, this nonsense absolutely was not worth any of this. Khaylen pulls out her bow and shot one of them, asking if any of them would like to volunteer. It was a very cool moment for her. Thoraden dug around in the pile of gore and shit, seeming to care not a whit for its sensory effects. There appeared to be nothing there in terms of an alternative exit, but he did discover a delightful array of body parts. We left the room with the altar and approached the prison, where we saw little but bones. We made work of futzing about with these bones, finding cultists’ robes and a ring made of gold. I poked around at the walls, finding a chain that could be pulled on. However, the secret passage only led back into the altar room, so it was effectively worthless in terms of our escape. Khaylen decided to run upstairs and grab the orb while Zin suggested we look at the dagger. However, as far as I could tell, there’s nothing to see on the dagger. We brought the bones from the prison as well as Mrs. Durst’s body down to the altar, but there was little response. Khaylen suggested that we kill B- oh, never mind, scratch that out. We staged a pretend sacrifice of a corpse and chanted along (it reminded me a bit of summer camp) and the misty figures began to chant more angrily. The water stared to ripple. The bones beneath the water started to move towards the alcove in the side, while the portcullis fell. Of course something wanted to have a huge toss-up with us. Of course, it’s like usual. The voices whispered, “then you all must die.” It was a vicious, filthy, disgusting pile of viscera. I don’t know how it had a shape or form, but it seemed to think that we looked delicious. I’d aching for a tart right now. The flesh mound seemed to attack by engulfing its target. I shouted a few insults at it, distracting it enough that Letho had the opportunity to narrowly avoid the onslaught. O hit it with a powerful hit of lightning. It produced an unpleasant scent, but the attack was very impressive (it reminds me of when I got to see my sister casting magic missile!). After hitting it a few times with some choice insults, however, I saw the ears on the mound seem to retreat within it. It seemed to not be fond of my callouts. The creature grappled Khaylen as I debated the virtues of giving up meat forevermore. On one hand, it is a very fast way to get protein into my body, but on the other I’ve heard wonderful things about beans. As I pondered this, Khaylen manages to escape. The creature turned around and reached for Zin, so I tried to come up with some inspiring speeches on the spot as I notched an arrow in my crossbow. Zin was completely consumed. While he was hitting at it, the mound began to coalesce into an even larger form as it seemed to be collapsing from the inside, seeming to restore its health. Khaylen leaped up on top of the mound and began tearing away at it. He screamed that he saw a baby inside, presumably alongside Zin. Letho made an effort to go after him, but ended up inside the mound of flesh. It was a shitshow. There was a struggle, and the flesh began to liquify. Zin and Letho emerged from the pile of gore, holding the corpse of a baby as the surrounding shadows watched. Letho calmly took the baby. O said that there was an ancient curse in the area, which is believable especially with all of the baby-killing. Walter’s spirit has been chained to the house, tormenting everyone and chaining their souls there. O says that she’s heard that the way to fix this up is to bury his soul beneath the threshold of the house. As she was talking, the obnoxious misty figures decided that they were done with this mess and headed out. Their departure was welcome, but the following quake was not. The building seemed to be collapsing. I used mage hand to open the portcullis from the inside, and we all dashed out with the orb and the dagger. On our way out, we saw a man on a table, with a gash in his belly. He appeared corporeal, and chanting surrounded it. Letho stayed behind as we ran to try and release him as I dragged Borokin’s silent figure forward. Thorodin joined Letho in the thwacking. The man had a distinctly spectral quality, and tried to run off, but Letho wrapped him in his blanket and tossed him over his shoulder. Hooded shady figures begin to flood the hallway to attack the man Letho picked up. The man wriggled out of the bag and appeared to try to fight off the shades. Up ahead of me, thankfully, Khaylen had no problem opening the door into the house this time. We creeped up the stairs. We made it upstairs, where we were greeted by swarms of spiders. Unpleasant, but I honestly wouldn’t have cared less if it wasn’t large enough to swipe at us. It tried to catch Letho in its web. He escaped but it took time. As we came down, we saw the dog and pigeon. They seemed afraid (understandably) but otherwise okay. Zin, with great enthusiasm, tucked the yapping little creature under his arm like a ball and dashed down the stairs as Khaylen jumped down the banister. The door to the bathroom exploded, sending filthy water out at Khaylen. The poor feline has been getting in so much water today, and seems to hate it. On the second floor, we saw the suits of armor come together, seeming ready to block our entrance from the stairs. People ran for the stairs and some of the more dextrous amongst us tried to jump. However, I was dragging around a catatonic lump -oh, sorry Borokin, sorry, I’m in a bad mood, you see- so that wouldn’t do. I pushed Borokin down the stairs and tried to jump after him, but my cloak catched and I fell backward. Letho slashed at my cloak, allowing me to fall unceremoniously to the ground. However, that meant that he was alone up there. I tried to go back to help him out, but a cloud of black smoke flooded the area. I heard my party talking amongst themselves as my world went dark. After this, I had a dream. It was odd, and deeply uncanny. A capital=E Evil looking fellow appeared before me, and he told me some platitudes of how I had potential, and he couldn’t let me go to waste. He wouldn’t tell me what he wanted of me, and just seemed amused at the prospect of doing… whatever he wanted to do to me. I woke up to see Khaylen looking down at me, through a sheen of rubble. She popped the cork off of a healing potion and poured it down my throat. After some coughing, I stood up to look around me. It appeared as if the entire house had completely collapsed. People were around me, digging through the rubble. However, everything seems strange to me now. Sharply off in the distance, things disappear, as if I am extremely nearsighted. The colors seem different, and my stomach feels hollow and empty. It took a while to realize what exactly was going on, before one of my companions remarked to me that I seemed to have no eyes. Waving my hand in front of my face, I realized that what they said was true. A commotion drew me over to Letho, who seems to have gone through the same thing as me. If he is anything to go by, I look horrifying and grotesque. This is all horrifying and grotesque, and I… I don’t really know what to do. They tell me they saw a basket, with a note in it. I tried to read the note, happy that the seal was still in clear contrast to me. It appeared to be familiar, belonging to that of the fellow who seemed quite evil and had left notes in the Durst household. However, when I pulled it open, it was utterly blank to me. I cannot read. I- I… I can’t see words. I can’t see far. I’m hobbled forever, and I feel so damn hungry. I don’t know what to do. I can’t read. I CAN’T- Oh, oh yes, Borokin, sorry. I’ll get on with it. They told me that there was a letter, thanking us for dealing with the house.. There were some healing potions. Some wine, which Zin finished off handily on his own. Some weak gratitude does not equal what I lost today. I hate this place, and want to get out of here, though I suppose now I’m stuck until I figure out what the hell to do. I don’t even know what has happened to me, so I doubt I could afford a cleric to fix this. I need money, I need skills, I need something to help me and to believe in, but all I see right now is a dim twenty-or-so yards ahead. The people told me they saw a town off in the distance. I merely had to take their word for it. I feel useless. Khaylen helped me cut up what was left of my cloak so that I could cover my disfigurement with a blindfold. If anyone asks, I’ll just say that I lost them. It’s the truth, isn’t it? I would like to take Zin’s lead and drink myself into a stupor.
Report Date
16 Jul 2020
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