Adventure #22 - Paranormal Housewarming

General Summary

Adventure #22 - Paranormal Housewarming 10/25/24
Players: Tim: Laerwynn Aly: Schmibblefritz
Synopsis: At the Elderflower, Laerwynn and Schmibblefritz wait for Jebodiah to discuss arrangements concerning Laerwynn's lycanthropy. While they wait, they notice a robed man sleeping in the corner of the bar, perhaps after having too much to drink. Before they have time to inquire about him, Jebodiah arrives, and they begin their meeting. Jebodiah explains that the fact Laerwynn can be contained during his monthly full moon transformation is a huge step forward in managing his condition, but there are still other ways he could change that need to be addressed. For example, if Laerwynn were to sustain a critical blow during combat or if he would be on the brink of death, the werewolf part of him would engage out of instinctual self-preservation. Because of this, Jebodiah suggests to have Laerwynn join him in his new monster hunting trade; not only will Jebodiah be able to keep an eye on him in case of a transformation, but his work would typically keep Laerwynn away from town during these jobs if the worst should happen. He also explains that having Schmibblefritz join them would be wise, given her magical prowess. Should Laerwynn transform, Schibblefritz could try to help calm him down in a number of ways, including Sleep spells, Charm Person, Fascinate, and other magical means of distracting his mind. Laerwynn and Schmibblefritz agree to these terms, and the business partnership begins. Right away, Jebodiah already has a small job lined up for the three of them to test their group dynamic and start with something that should be easy to take care of. On the outskirts of Aberystwyth, a retired older human by the name of Isaac Robbins has moved into town a week ago, and he has been experiencing some strange noises and movement within his home after sundown. The group's task is to find the source and take care of it so Isaac can enjoy his retirement in peace, and the party agrees to the job.
Just as they are about to leave, they hear the sleeping man in the corner sleep-talking in an arcane tongue and making strange gestures with his hands. A small glowing purple ball of energy forms between his moving hands, and without warning he claps his hands together on the purple ball, which sends a powerful energy pulse bursting outward through the tavern and through the walls of the building. Immediately, and in perfect synchronization, everyone's hair suddenly falls out, including beards, eyebrows, and any other body hair. A moment of silence passes as everyone processes what just happened, and then chaos ensues within the tavern. The barmaid Hazel starts crying, some goblins are fighting over their hair that got mixed together on the floor, and Bronith Terrabrand tearfully gathers his beard hairs and runs out the door in shame. Jebodiah and the party all succumb to the sudden hair loss as well, and their hair falls in their laps and on the table. The party runs over to the sleeping man and shake him awake, who awakens with surprise and asks if he can help them. They explain that he cast a spell while he was sleeping that made everyone lose their hair, and he looks stupefied at the accusation, explaining that he doesn't even know how to cast such a spell. They demand that he regrow everyone's hair back, but unfortunately he admits that he doesn't know how to. Then Pappy bursts through the door completely bald and without a beard, and it takes a moment for the party to recognize him. Pappy approaches the party, explaining that everyone outside suddenly lost their hair, and that he came to find out what caused the strange event. The party explains the situation, and Pappy turns to the strange man and exclaims that this is Newton, the new mayor of Newtontown, formally known as Josephtown (Laerwynn's hometown, where the town's name changes every year). According to Pappy, Newton came to discuss trade arrangements with Pappy, and apparently Newton waited for him at the bar and fell asleep while waiting. Pappy says he will work with Newton to figure out a solution to this townwide hair loss, as well as their normal trade arrangements. Seeing that the Pappy has things sort of under control, the party gears up and heads out the door to their first job.
Meanwhile, apart from the party and just before everyone's hair fell out, Erberk works on crafting new chains for Laerwynn's next transformation. However, during the moment of mass hair-loss across town, Erberk's iron beard, enchanted by the Pendant of Ironbeard that he won at the Bonnie Beard Competition months ago, falls off his face and directly into the forge on the cherry hot chains. Immediately, the iron bristles of his beard bond with the hot chains, leaving countless "spikes" along the length of the chain links. Both ashamed by his hairlessness and inspired to use this moment to glorify his deity, Erberk pivots and begins crafting heavy flail instead, using the sharp and jagged chains to connect the large spiked ball to the handle. Upon finishing his latest work, he named it "The Locks of Atonement", in hopes this offering of a finely crafted weapon will please his deity Torag despite his shameful beardless state.
Returning to back to Laerwynn, Schmibblefritz, and Jebodiah, the party passes by countless bald townspeople, most of them crying or angry. Some chase their hair as it blows away in the wind, and some of the goblins catch them and have hair fights with each other, much to the dismay of the people who own the hair. The party weaves through the chaos and eventually make their way to a peaceful country home, with rustic fences surrounding the house and lush vegetable gardens. The party decides to split up to investigate the perimeter of the property, but they don't find anything out of the ordinary. However, they do hear joyful humming coming from one of the gardens, and find an older man busying himself with a tomato harvest. The party greets him, and the older man pleasantly greets them back, introducing himself as Isaac Robbins, and welcomes them to join him in the garden. The party explains that they are there to help him with his nightly disturbances, and he thanks them for their aid. He then invites them further into his house, where they can discuss details further over a warm meal. The party follows Isaac inside, and as begins Isaac to cut vegetables, he tells them about his experiences. Since the first day he arrived in his new home, eerie scratches and distorted inhuman screeching can be heard from within the walls, ceilings, and floors, always starting at the front door. Items on the mantle and tables get jostled by something unseen, and the events don't sop until sunrise. Although surprisingly cheery, Isaac is exhausted from not being about to sleep, and is beginning to regret moving to town. The party asks for permission to explore his home, and Isaac gives them full access to every room. The party splits up, Jebodiah checking outside, Laerwynn examining a spare room filled with moving boxes of all kinds, and Schmibblefritz checking the master bedroom, where she finds a locked chest. After debating with herself of whether she should lockpick the chest and see what's inside, she ultimately decides to not pry, and meets Laerwynn in the parlor. There, they find the fireplace mantle lined with all kinds of curios, such as pictures, pottery, and a collection of small carved toy soldiers. Above the mantle hangs a large portrait of Issac posing with a woman and a cat, and the party ask him about it. Trying to hold back tears, Isaac explains that it's a portrait of his wife who passed away two years ago, leaving him alone with their beloved cat Pepper. After Pepper passed away, Issac explains that he just couldn't be alone with the memories of what once was any longer, and decided to move to Aberystwyth to finish out his golden years, start fresh, and perhaps get a new cat to accompany him. At that, Isaac announces that dinner is ready, and sets out a delicious meal of hot vegetable stew, fresh baked bread, and some hearty ale, and the party joins him in the meal. Once they finish, the party notices that the sun is about to set, and they place themselves strategically around the home for the events to come, Jebodiah and Laerwynn by the front door and Schmibblefritz by the fireplace.
Once the sun goes down, immediately the sounds of distorted screeching and wild scratching come from outside the front door, and the party draws their weapons while Issac runs into his bedroom to hide. The front door shakes violently for a time, and then bursts open, revealing absolutely nothing behind it but the darkness outside. Laerwynn fires an arrow towards the empty space, but it sails clear through the doorframe and hits the porch floor outside. Suddenly, an unseeen force throws Laerwynn into Issac's vegetable storage crates, smashing the fresh tomato harvest. Wild clawing and scratching can be heard on the ceiling and the walls as the entity moves into the house, and Laerwynn throws a tomato trying to hit the entity, but succeeds only smashing it against a wall. Jebodiah gets thrown across the room by the unseen force, and Laerwynn swings his new wolf great axe wildly into the air in hopes of hitting the invisible entity. Somehow, one of Laerwynn's swings strikes the entity on the ceiling, causing a ear-piercing shriek to shake the walls of the house and cause all of the candles to flicker. In response, a drawer full of silverware gets launched out of nowhere at Laerwynn's back, but his thick leather armor protects him from the blow. Behind Schmibblefritz, the carved toy soldiers animate, and leap off the mantle to assault the party. Two of them leap directly onto Schmibblefritz's face and BOTH land a critical blow, one stabbing her in the eye with a tiny sword, and as she opens her mouth to scream in pain from the injury, the other toy soldier stabs through her tongue. As a third toy soldier lands on the floor and starts climbing up Schmibblefitz, two other soldiers attack Laerwynn, one climbing up his chest and the other on the floor attacking his boot. As Jebodiah pulls himself up from being thrown, Schmibblefritz uses a single swing of her dagger to hit both toy soldiers attacking her face and destroying them. Laerwynn destroys the other toy soldier on Schmibblefritz's chest by grabbing the soldier and throwing it against a wall, and then slams his own chest down hard on the dining table, smashing the toy soldier climbing up his chest to bits. Jebodiah throws a bottle of holy water up at the ceiling, hitting the invisible entity and leaving a wet outline of its form against the wooden ceiling, which depicts a jagged quadruped creature about the size of a dog. As it screeches from the holy water, large wet animal paw prints leave tracks on the ceiling that leads to the bedroom Issac is hiding in. Jebodiah gives chase as Laerwynn tries to stomp the final toy soldier, but he can't seem to hit. Suddenly, the toy soldier critically strikes Laerwynn by spearing it's sword directly through his Achilles' tendon, and Laerwynn stomps it to death with his good foot. However, the critical wound catalyzes Laerwynn's lycanthropy instinct of self preservation, and he wretches over as his body fights to transform into a werewolf. Schmibblefritz, alone with a werewolf in the beginning stages of transformation, panics as she desperately attempts to cast Charm Person in hopes of calming Laerwynn, despite the fact that wounded tongue causes her to struggle with the verbal components of the spell. Against all odds, she successfully casts the spell, which causes Laerwynn to see her as a friend and not a threat. In doing so, Laerwynn miraculously calms down and avoids transforming. Both with serious wounds, Laerwynn and Schmibbemfritz rush down the hall towards Issac's bedroom.
As they enter, the party finds Issac cowering in the corner as the locked chest that Schimbblefritz found earlier shakes violently in the center of the room, almost as if something was trapped inside. The lid of the chest suddenly bursts open, and then a chilling stillness permeates the air. After an anticlimactic moment passes, Jebodiah carefully draws close to the chest, and pulls out a small urn that sat alone in the middle of it. Jebodiah asks Isaac about the urn, and Isaac cautiously approaches him. As Isaac receives the urn, tears roll down his cheeks as he reveals who resides within the urn... his beloved cat, Pepper. Isaac cradles the urn in his hands like a baby, and weeps as he apologizes to Pepper for leaving her alone, and he leaves the room towards the parlor. Dumbfounded, the party looks at Jebodiah, and he surmises that although it's rare, some animals create a bond with their master so strong that they choose to remain even after death. After pondering, Jebodiah theorizes that it's likely that soon after Pepper passed and was cremated, Isaac packed her remains into the chest and moved to Aberystwyth, and then forgot about her there while he started a new life. That, paired with him openly talking about getting a new cat, likely agitated the spirit of Pepper, and causing her to lash out in a supernatural cry for attention. Seeing that the danger is over, the party limp into the parlor and find Isaac rocking back and forth in his rocking chair while humming a gentle tune to the urn cradled in his arms. Jebodiah gestures to the party to give him space, and the party trods back slowly to the Lady Lenora Church of Sarenrae for healing.

Report Date

25 Oct 2024

Primary Location

Aberystwyth