Hihi, this is the tale of my second outing, significantly scarier, way more mysterious yet, very fun in it’s own way. So, a bizarre house had been spotted near the road, surrounded by fog, seen only at night.
- Khora|Merfolk|Tinkerer|Team leader
- Pup|Metal Dog
- Plink|Kenku|Magic and Music
- Yeldan|Firbolg|Priest of a nature god
- Gorstag|Human|Link to necromancy, had an undead servant
- Friend|Undead, origins unknown
- Silthon|Human|Practitioner of martial arts
- Snipper|Super hot and friendly
- Snapper|Owl| Familiar
Spotting the House
It was our first day, before departure we decided it would be intelligent to select a leader. No one applied for the position so we forced Khora into the role haha. Gorstag said he would keep an eye out for any threat and Plink was willing to be our hunter and tracker, I was lazy.
Side note: I used this adventure to set the mood for my next prank, the whole time I acted like a mature, educated and normal person hihi! They totally bought it! Suppressing the urge to prank was extremely hard though.. By acting different I hope to convince them that I have multiple personalities and that they take over my mind, these people are so easy to manipulate.
We knew that the house was somewhere in between the two roads to the north of WMC, but it’s exact whereabouts were unknown. To try and spot it, we had Snapper fly 100 ft up every mile or so, I would then look around through his senses in an attempt to find this mysterious ‘Mansion’. The day flew by uneventfully, but as the sun set I spotted fog and a house where I previously saw no house.. I relayed this information and we quickly devised a plan.
Using our extremely developed knowledge of the arcane, we theorized that the house only appeared at night. We therefore, decided to waste no time, quickly approaching the house and sending forward our pets as scouts. The path to the estate was overrun by creepy old trees, they almost looked alive, staring at us with their evil faces. I wanted to scare the group so bad but I managed to keep myself from it, it didn’t fit my new persona.
Casing the Joint
The house was big, it was a mansion of sorts. It had clearly been untouched for many years, no tracks led to it, the wood was rotten and musty. In this state, it was terrifying. It was about 4 stories tall, including the attic. It’s windows were more or less intact, but very very dirty. There were 3 chimneys on the roof. Peering through the windows, it looked abandoned and empty.
Snapper did a fly about as we prepared ourselves. I concentrated my magical power into a nice set of armor and Khora cast a spell that allowed her to detect magic through her goggles. She instantly was taken aback, seemingly blinded by the strong presence of this magic. It’s origins were unknown, an odd mix of the schools. Yeldan cast light on a stick, to use as a torch and slowly we made our way to the double doors. Engraved on the doors was a wolf that appeared to be a part of a family crest.
Breaking and Entering
Now ready to enter, we knocked but heard no answer and so we opened the door ourselves. Committing crime made me feel alive again Hihi! As we moved forward into a small hall, a sound could be heard in the distance. At first, we couldn’t make it out but as we streamed into the abandoned common room, we identified the eerie noise as piano music. (/ooc See embedded Youtube video. ) That shit was creepy as hell!
The common area was a nice open room, there was a fire place that looked as though it hadn’t contained a fire in decades, at the end of the rectangular space was a rotten and flimsy double staircase. Yeldan is a funny fellow, he decided it was a good idea to jump onto the musty stairs to ‘test’ them. They broke under his weight. This stunt really set off my urge to prank. I needed to do something soon lest I go even more crazy than I already am Hihi!
We called out, “Anyone home?” No answer, not a single fly moved, the house had been in a still state for years. The layer of dust was meticulous, nothing had disturbed it, no steps or prints, nothing. Yet still, the music played. An odd sensation overcame my body, this emptiness didn’t feel real. I felt a distant presence. As always, I heard the voices. As I contemplated this bizarre feeling, the front doors shut with a slam.
Everyone was a little on edge as we moved through the room, slowly expanding outwards, branching off in exploration. We opened a closet door to find 3 wolf skin cloaks. Before we moved on, into the next hall, I saw an opening, I couldn’t hold back, I needed to prank! I tried to be discrete but I was surrounded by my party and this urge was powerful. I giggled, casting a trick I know too well, as footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. Apparently it was obvious that I was the cause of this trick, no one jumped, they just frowned at me. Worth the try…
We moved into a fine dining hall, food still lay on the plates, untouched by a soul yet clearly touched by time, it was moldy and disgusting. Yeldan was at the helm of our investigation, he opened every single door! He found 2 hallways that linked the common room to the dining room and an indoor outhouse. In the in-outhouse, there was a mirror, apparently Khora saw a glimmer pass by as she watched her reflection. Sounds like paranoia to me, maybe she also sees things.. I should ask..
At this point, we attempted all sorts of shenanigans for the sake of adventuring: Plink mimicked the music, futile, Gorstag and Friend put on the wolf cloaks, useless, and Yeldan cast a spell to locate the grand piano… I felt like I should burn this place down and move on but a little birdy told me not to.
It is now that we noticed the sheer quantity of wolf morabilia: Crests, symbols, heads, stuffed wolves, carpets..
A Quaint Room, a Fire and a Man…
I don’t know much about this encounter because I stayed out of the room where it happened.. What I do know is that there was a room linked to the common area. In the room was a nicely lit fire, and multiple stuffed wolves. The room was clean and new. Sitting on a beautiful armchair by the fire was a man, holding a glass of wine.
During this encounter, I stayed in the common area which was directly linked to this room via a door.. I watched over the stairs and eventually curiosity took the better of me. I sent Snapper up. He saw a small room, with 4 sets of knight armor. This was clearly a sort of a hallway room, there were many doors leading elsewhere. I even began climbing the first few stairs, testing whether like Yeldan I would go through. I was too light to damage the stairs but they were old and my weight sadly did not stop them from creaking.
They made a loud sound that apparently the man in the other room heard. He shouted: “Graela is that you?” and made his way out of the quaint room and into the old common space. The instant he stepped in, the room I stood in seemingly rejuvenated, looking clean and new. The room he stepped out of, looked old once more. It is then that things became weird.. I introduced myself as did he, his name was Will, mine, this time around, was Snipper. Seeing that he was a fine looking host, I asked for a tour, he then led me to his dining room which instantly looked new and young. A true feast lay before our eyes.
I did not eat, but Gorstag did. He ate a lot, making it obvious that this was his first good meal. Apart from the fact that we had broken into this house, that it had magically appeared, was surrounded in fog and had an insane magical aura, this felt normal. I felt like a real guest and our host was a nice man. Although I had presented myself as Snipper, I acted much more refined, as always, putting on a show, being a persona.
Yeldan’s Manners
I guess it’s because he was raised in the woods, but Yeldan had no manners. He apparently saw a ‘black smudge’ on Will’s neck. Any normal person (and therefore most likely not me) would have moved on and acted as though nothing happened. He decided to exit the room, disguise himself as a doctor and reenter, trying to deceive the host.. This lead to a chaotic encounter that reminded me strongly of the conversations in my head hihi! Yeldan said he was sent by Will’s doctor, Will was no idiot and demanded proof, Yeldan tried lying some more, Will basically showed us all that Yeldan was an imposter and so forth. At this point, he should’ve just stepped away and played it off as a joke.
He instead, enchanted the man, giving him a powerful command. He pointed and said “Undress”. Will was compelled to listen and quickly got naked. All across his body, a black mark was revealed. Using my knowledge of the arcane, I guessed that it was some sort of curse or illness that spread from the heart outwards.
Orders completed, Will clothed himself, pointed at the door and shouted at us to “Get the FUCK OUT!”. Yeldan tried convincing him that he could help him and that he was a doctor.. The fool thought he was still in good favor with this guy. Trust me, if anyone would understand insane behavior like Yeldan’s, it would be me but I will admit his lack of thought angered me.
Nighttime – Daytime
We stepped out of the fog surrounded house into the blinding light of daytime. We entered at night and exited during the day yet, we had only been there for an hour or so.. I swear. The house magically disappeared as we ventured off.
We were weirded out by this odd encounter but we couldn’t just leave. We had so many questions. Notably, who, what and why? Was he cursed? Who was this daughter he constantly spoke of? and more.
We moved out of the ‘fog zone’ and set camp. We needed to rest, regardless of the time of day. During my watch, I flew around as Snapper and felt a tap on my (Snipper’s) shoulder. I laughed, looking around for the perpetrator. Everyone was asleep… How bizarre. No one was in view.. Was invisibility at play? I began throwing pebbles to see. Nothing happened…
Unwanted Guests
Night time falling once more, we returned to the site where the house once was. It looked untouched. I knocked a few times, looked through the windows, but there was nothing. The house looked abandoned as it was originally. The door was locked, Khora was unable to break in with her thieves tools.. We had to get creative. Plink summoned a mage hand on the other side of the door and stumbled around blindly, eventually managing to open it from the inside. Breaking in brought back the high, the feeling of adrenaline, the fear of getting caught.
The Shenanigans
We decided that we wanted to prove to Will that he was being manipulated, that his reality was but an illusion. We confronted him and tried explaining but he was understandably angry. He thought we were trying to trick him. I cast silent image, attempting to show him what the room looked like to us. His illusion seemed to battle my own, I couldn’t keep it up for long. Regardless, he thought this was another one of our tricks, like Yeldan’s disguises.
Oh yeah, by the way, after we broke in, Yeldan tried yet another disguise, which inevitably failed hihi!
We messed around, part of the party found a secret room where a book was located. It was the Schorel Family tree, apparently Will was a Schoorel. It was given to me, so I guess I now am indirectly in charge of this adventure.
A few people were distracting him in the library. Silthon tried showing him what we saw by putting a mirror in front of him. He hoped that the reflection would not be altered, or that Will would see the other room in the reflection and see it’s old form. This didn’t work..
Meanwhile, Plink and I held a show for Graela in the other room. I cast illusions and Plink played music. We heard applause coming from an unknown source. Plink mimicked Will saying: “Graela is that you?” sure enough she answered, causing Will to exit the library and step into the room where the show took place. We then, saw Graela, a young girl of approximately 14 years of age.
Confrontation
We convinced Will to give us a tour of the town. He exited his house, instantly disappearing. It is then that Graela revealed her true form to us. That of a ghost. She was furious, told us not to meddle in her affairs and to leave her father alone. He was sick, and through this illusion, she kept him alive. Her magic was giving him life and she would appreciate it if we fucked off. We all agreed to mind our own business, as long as she moved the house. It was after-all, causing concern.
Yeldan on the other hand, was suicidal. Throughout the adventure, his foolish behavior made me, a mad man, want to abandon him, now more than ever. He refused to leave, forcing Graela to ‘give her father a choice’, and to simply ‘let him die’. It was the natural way of things and blah blah blah! The house literally shook under Graela’s rage, this house was an embodiment of her spirit.
We dragged him away but he continuously resisted and tried to return.. I believe he returned to Faerun, this adventure was hard on his innocent mind hihi!
The Journey Home
I’m getting tired of writing this so here’s what happened in its purest form. We traveled back, saw a woman and her baby getting attacked by a wolf, murdered the wolf, saved the couple and brought them home. Yeldan tried to go back on his steps but got scared.. We got back, she paid us a little, and now, here I am ready for more adventure. I wish to return to the house, to see if Graela followed her word, and moved it. Hihi, always have fun,