Cato watched as Liseth summoned more water, suddenly lost in thought.  "Liseth, if you think about it, it seems kind of obvious that...whatever is doing this chooses to target you.  If I'm right, and the house is some kind of massive evil necromantic...manifestation of a spell gone bad, it makes sense it would target you.  You're a walking divine fountain of good.  You probably feel as bad to it as it does to you!"

"Or maybe you killed its father," said the gnome, her voice somewhat far off and seemingly not entirely her own.  "Prepare to die?" she then asked, her eyes blinking as though emerging from a daze.

Position: H10

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

AL: 8/9

---

---

Kerr held Liseth close as they walked around the now-quiescent manticore.  It seemed as if the creature had never come to life, but Kerr knew better.  The more he experienced in this forsaken place, the more he became convinced that it was out for their blood, and that either it would die . . . or they would.

“But how do you kill a house?”  He accidentally mused aloud, flushing as he looked around to see who might have heard him.  “I just mean, how do we get rid of this,” he waved a hand about, indicating the entire Manor, “this place?”

The paladin watched closely as Liseth conjured water over stain.  His brow furrowed as it flowed off harmlessly, seeming to accomplish nothing.  He drew a knife, then knelt down next to the moistened discoloration, scraping it a little.  It seemed to come off just as any other mold might.

“Huh.”  He observed, sitting back on his heels.  “Doesn’t seem that different from any other mold I’ve seen.”  He waved his hand over the disrupted spiral.  “I’d guess it is safe to cross . . .”

---

---

"Eeww."  The gnome wrinkled up her nose.  "You touched it, Kerr Mollin."  This, despite the many times she herself has had to come into contact with the near ubiquitous mold since their entry into this house of horrors.

"Not me!"  Pisca took a running start and launched herself into the air from the near end of the Maybe-Not-So-Cursed spiral of Evil Mold.  She flew through the air with a graceful and practiced ease, to land on the far side.

All of this, heedless, of course, to the already demonstrated fact that entrants to any newly encountered rooms have so far been subject to attack by curses, haunts and other generalized evil.

Pisca Neep Freemish rolled 22.  Acrobatics to Jump the Mold (-4 for 20Speed).

Position: H10

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

AL: 8/9

Cato thought about Kerr's musing, replying out loud: "Well, we have to disrupt the necromantic energy matrix that's taken hold of the house.  The most basic way to do that would be disrupting the magic itself - something like Dispel Magic, but the more powerful an effect that must be dispelled, the harder it becomes.  And as the ritual for becoming a lich is more powerful than something I could hope to do without a lot more experience, dispelling the side effect of such a thing is probably beyond me as well.  But maybe in exploring this haunted place, we'll find something else that can end it - some direct manifestation of the necromantic energy that we can somehow defeat.  Or a clue to it, at least.  Maybe the energy has a discrete source, and we could remove that and destroy it, thus freeing this place from its grasp.  I'd be halfway tempted to suggest just burning down the house - but I'm afraid that the house maybe containing the evil energy as well as housing it, and burning down the structure might just release more evil into the world.  But these are all just guesses, really.  Even liches are relatively rare, and as the process for becoming one is unique to each individual, it's impossible to guess at what exactly happened and how to stop it."

Lost in thought, Cato walked through the disrupted spiral of mold, following Pisca.

"What's strange to me is that we haven't seen any of those ghouls yet" Kellan offered as he crossed the mold, still looking shaken from his brush with enchantment. "I thought this place would be full of them, like mosquitos around a pond...figure they'd have to come from somewhere"

"We can't kill the house..."  Liseth pondered along with Kerr and Cato while keeping an eye on the suspicious mold, "Even if we burned it down, I don't think it would stop whatever evil energy is present here."

"There has to be something here," she nodded with Cato's reasoning, "some evil thing that is the source of all this.  Something ancient and cruel, that drove everyone who lived here mad, or killed them...or worse."  She watched Pisca leap over the stain, "Powerful priests can cut off evil energy from an area infused with it; but the sheer volume of evil here is beyond the abilities of anybody I know."

Liseth gingerly and cautiously tapped a toe into the mold spiral on the floor.  She expected it to somehow open up and drag her down into it, or release a toxic cloud of spores to attack her.  He heart was racing with the knowledge that this place was targeting her specifically.

"Maybe all of the ghouls left already?"  She responded to Kellan as she quickly moved across the field of mold.  "Like the ones we saw at the farm, or the others who are supposed to be in the countryside."  A terrible prospect, but it could be the case.  "They might not think they need to protect this place.  Or the ghouls need to predate on innocent people is too great, and they can't just stay here in one spot."

"Or...maybe whoever controls the ghouls wants us to be here...wants us to come to this evil house..."  Liseth frowned; more likely, they wanted just her.  For whatever evil reasons they could have.  Her thoughts turned again to the loss of the Heily statuette Kerr had gotten her.  Disappeared before they came here...as though setting bait for a trap.

Being all wet didn't help the sudden chill that the girl felt.

---

---

“The ghouls must be somewhere, right?”  Kerr’s utterance was halfway between a statement and a question.  “It just doesn’t look like they’re here.  Maybe they’re,” a horrific thought struck him, “maybe they’re holed up at various farmsteads.  Like at the Hambley’s.”  The thought that more families might have suffered the Hambley’s fate shocked him into silence.

The group moved into what looked like a dining room; it contained a mahogany table surrounded by chairs.  Twin fireplaces loomed to the west, and the four strange stained-glass depictions continued to stare down at the room, unchanged from the last time the party had seen them.

Kerr—believing that Pisca was correct, and that they were alone in the manor—walked over to the southern door and opened it.

He found a library.

Bookcases lined the walls of the room, each filled with tomes of varying mustiness.  It featured two chairs, one of which lay on its side, before a stone fireplace.  A scarf, its reds and golds contrasting with the drab palette of the room, was draped over the side of the fallen chair.  A book sat facedown on the floor between the chairs, while a stone bookend—carved to look like a praying angel with butterfly wings—lay on its side in the fireplace itself.

“Hey Pisca,” the young paladin called to the gnome, the ghost of a smile on his face.  “Books.”

   A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z
  +--+--+--+--+-xxW-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
1 |  |  |  |  |x | W|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--x--+--xx-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
2 |  |  |  | D|  |  | x|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+D-+--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
3 |  |  |  x  |  |  |  |x |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+-x+--+--+--+--+-xx--+--+--+--xxxxWWxxxx--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
4 |  |  |x |  |  |  |  |  |W |  |  |  s  |  |  x  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+-xxxxxxxxxxx--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
5 |  |  |W |  |  |  |  |  |  D  |tt|  x  |  |fpx  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+-xx--+--+--+--ppppppx--+--+--x--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
6 |  |  |  |W |  |  |  pppp  x  |  |  x  |  |  W  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+-xxDDxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxDDxxxx--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
7 |  |  |  | x|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  D  |  |  x  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--xxxxWWxxxxDDxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxDDxxxxx-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
8 |  x  |  |  |  |  |  |  x  |  |  xfp|  |  |  |  | xxW |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--xxxxxxxDDx--+--+--+--+--+--+xxW--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
9 |  D  |  mmmmmmmmmm  |  |  |  s  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |xxW  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--D--+--MMMMMMMMMM--+--+--+-sss-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+x-+--+--+--+--+--+--+
10|  D  |  mmmmmmmmmm  |  |  |  s  |  |  |C |P |K |  |  |xxW  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--xxxxxxxDDx--+--+--+--+--+--+xxW--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
11|  x  |  |  |  |  |  |  x  |  |  xfp|  |L |R |  | xxW |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--xxxxwwxxxx--xxxxxxxDDx--xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxDDxxxxx-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
12|  |  |  |  |x | x|  |  |  x  |  |  |  |  |  x  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+-xx--+--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
13|  |  |  |  |  |x |  |  |  D  |  |  |  |Ch|  W  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
14|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |x |  |  |  |  |fpx  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-x+--+--+--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
15|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  x  |  |  |Ch|  W  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+xxxWWxxxxWWxxxx--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
16|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
17|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
18|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
19|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+


W = Window   D = Door  p = piano  t = washtub fp = fireplace
M/m = Manticore  s = Stain  Ch = Chair

---

---

"The ghouls must be somewhere," mused the gnome.  "The ghouls ... must ... be ... "

"Could they be nowhere?"  The nod of her gnomish head considered the possibility.  "Yes.  Yeeeessssss.  That would be diabolical."

"Huh?  What?"  Still somewhat lost in the brilliance of her revelation, Pisca wandered to where The Boyfriend stood with the door to the next room open.  Squeezing between Kerr Mollin and the wall, she peered around the doorjamb from outside the apparent library.  The look on her face was more sad than anything else.

"But now I don't have any place to put them," she sighed.  "What poor timing.  Can we go back and find this place three months ago?  Can we?"

"Hmmm," Pisca mused then, as though seeing the confluence of items and furnishings in the library for the first time.  "A scarf, a book and a stone angel walk into a library," she droned in the cadence of an ages old jest.  "The chair falls on its side and says ...  Hmmm.  What story does it tell.  I wonder?"

Position: P11

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

AL: 8/9

Cato cautiously entered the room, his curiosity over the contents of Foxglove Manor's library outweighing his sense of caution.  "If the Elder Foxglove was versed in necromancy, it's possible we'd find more clues here, possibly even evidence of his apparent need to flaunt his forbidden knowledge."

Cato walked over to the chairs, bending down to examine the title of the book without actually touching it.  "But this is interesting," the wizard mused over Pisca's telepathic link.  "This looks almost as though someone was surprised while relaxing in front of the fire, reading a book."

Position N14
Read title of book on floor?

"Wait!  Wait!"  The gnome reached out into the doorway grasping at the wizard's robes.  The fabric slipped through her fingers - smoke on the air - and she waited for the inevitable possession or burning or rat attack or the irrational desire to jump from a roof.

"Well, yes," the gnome replied through her Whisper Magic as nothing untoward seemed to happen.  "Perhaps, if this all started with something necromantic that Vorel Foxglove was working on, then ... maybe ...  Well, maybe if we found what it was that he was working on and undid that, maybe all of this would go away.  What do you think?" asked the gnome.

"That would mean some sort of lab, I'm thinking."

"Wait!  Don't pick that up!" Pisca cried out loud as Cato stooped for the book.  In her mind the thing was already flapping on leather-bound wings and batting madly at her mystic friend's head with sharp paper-cutting pages.

Position: P11

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

AL: 8/9

Liseth was perfectly happy to peek past Kerr to see what was within the library he had discovered.  There was little need to make herself vulnerable to another unknowable assault.

"Is that an...angel?"  The acolyte's comment was immediately confirmed by Pisca's summary of the contents of the room.  "Maybe the chair just said 'ouch?' when it fell?"

She watched Cato enter the library to examine the book on the floor amidst Pisca's protests.  In a way she was just as apprehensive about whatever could happen; but she couldn't let her fear and apprehension keep them from doing what they needed to do here.  That must be exactly what the evil powers at work wanted.

"Everything else here is so...wicked and twisted.  This librabry looks...normal."  The acolyte was fixated on the little stone angel.  With all of the other evil symbolism, would a lich-to-be have a simple angel in his library?  Even as a bookend.  "Maybe this wasn't Vorel Foxglove's room?  Or it was changed since then.  It's so clean; maybe Aldern was here...when he was...attacked?  Could that be what happened to him?"

"Any one of these tomes probably costs more than I make in a week..." Kellan mused as he split his attentions looking after the friends, trying to stay near the forefront as they advanced. It was nearly impossible in a place like this, where an attack could come from anything, and any direction at any time...but he had to try, and he picked up his pace in hopes that the others might do the same.

---

---

"It doesn't look like an evil necromancer's laboratory."  Kerr responded doubtfully as he ran a finger down the spine of Varisian Legends:  Myth and Reality.  The library seemed to be a serene place of study.

Until Kellan walked in.  A horrific shriek filled the room as the scarf flew from the floor to wrap itself around his neck.  It seemed as if the ghostly image of a dark-cloaked man was suddenly holding the scarf, tightening it around the young guardsman's throat.

The man's face was covered by a hideous mask.  A mask adorned with one bulbous eye.

Kellan reached a hand out to push the man away, a look of terror on his face like no one in the group had ever seen from him before.  Then his eyes rolled back into his head and he slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Before anyone could react, the spectral man disappeared.


OOC:

23:14, Today: The Raconteur, on behalf of Kellan Storval, rolled 9 using 1d20+8.  DC 16 Fortitude Save.
23:14, Today: The Raconteur, on behalf of Kellan Storval, rolled 13 using 1d20+2.  DC 16 Will Save.

PARTY STATUS:  Kellan is prone, unconscious, and dying at -1 hit point.

   A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z
  +--+--+--+--+-xxW-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
1 |  |  |  |  |x | W|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--x--+--xx-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
2 |  |  |  | D|  |  | x|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+D-+--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
3 |  |  |  x  |  |  |  |x |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+-x+--+--+--+--+-xx--+--+--+--xxxxWWxxxx--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
4 |  |  |x |  |  |  |  |  |W |  |  |  s  |  |  x  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+-xxxxxxxxxxx--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
5 |  |  |W |  |  |  |  |  |  D  |tt|  x  |  |fpx  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+-xx--+--+--+--ppppppx--+--+--x--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
6 |  |  |  |W |  |  |  pppp  x  |  |  x  |  |  W  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+-xxDDxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxDDxxxx--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
7 |  |  |  | x|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  D  |  |  x  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--xxxxWWxxxxDDxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxDDxxxxx-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
8 |  x  |  |  |  |  |  |  x  |  |  xfp|  |  |  |  | xxW |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--xxxxxxxDDx--+--+--+--+--+--+xxW--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
9 |  D  |  mmmmmmmmmm  |  |  |  s  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |xxW  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--D--+--MMMMMMMMMM--+--+--+-sss-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+x-+--+--+--+--+--+--+
10|  D  |  mmmmmmmmmm  |  |  |  s  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |xxW  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--xxxxxxxDDx--+--+--+--+--+--+xxW--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
11|  x  |  |  |  |  |  |  x  |  |  xfp|  |  |  |P | xxW |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--xxxxwwxxxx--xxxxxxxDDx--xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxDDxxxxx-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
12|  |  |  |  |x | x|  |  |  x  |  |  |  |L |  x  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+-xx--+--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
13|  |  |  |  |  |x |  |  |  D  |  |  |R |Ch|K W  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
14|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |x |  |  |  |C |fpx  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-x+--+--+--+--+--x--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
15|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  x  |  |  |Ch|  W  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+xxxWWxxxxWWxxxx--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
16|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
17|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
18|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
19|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+


W = Window   D = Door  p = piano  t = washtub fp = fireplace
M/m = Manticore  s = Stain  Ch = Chair

---

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 07:27, Mon 21 Nov 2016.

"I KNEW IT!  I KNEW IT!"

"I didn't know it."

The voice of the excitable gnome rang out in the quiet library even as she sprang through the door to engage the Scarf that Should Have Been a Book as it sought to strangle her friend.

"'Lysa!  Lysa, I ... I'm not sure Stomper is breathing anymore," she said as her small fingers worked at tearing the scarf from around his throat.

"And did you see that?" she floated the question upon the currents of her Whisper Magic.  "Another One-Eyed Maskie."

Position: O12

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

AL: 8/9

There was a startled scream and Liseth found herself ducking behind Kerr before she realized that nothing was trying to get her this time.  There was little comfort and lots of guilt as she was forced to watch as Kellan became strangled by the apparition that had appeared.

"No!"  An instant later the apparition had disappeared and Kellan was on the floor.  "Kellan!"  Liseth tore herself away and hurried next to Pisca to help Kellan.

"He's not..."  The acolyte knelt down and checked Kellan quickly.  "Erastil gift the stricken with your breath and vigor!"  Liseth invoked.

She lay her head against Kellan's massive chest, an ear listening for his heartbeat.  "Kellan...?"

Cast CMW on Kellan; heal for 9.

17:29, Today: Liseth Thoradin rolled 9 using 2d8+7.  Cure Moderate Wounds on Kellan.

OOC: Two 1's!  Oof.

Kellan looked like he had caught a tree limb to the throat at a full run as his legs whipped forward without him and his armored back slammed into the floor with a loud, jingling thud that echoed throughout the high ceilings of the library.

It happened so quickly, and the scarf proved so tight, that he had only a scant few seconds of air that he had spent violently trying to tear the thing away before he slowed and quickly lay still, his face an ugly shade of purple, his eyes half lidded.

At the sound of Kellan's struggle and fall, Cato turned from his examination of the fallen book, his hands coming out to prepare for an arcane attack only to find...nothing that he could react to.

"Blast this house and its tricks" Cato murmured to himself as Liseth helped the guardsman.

His glance caught Pisca as she made her observation.  "Like the one we fought in Thistletop?  We need to find more about that, once we stop this immediate danger."

"Like the one we fought in Thistletop, yes." answered the gnome.  She stood away from her fallen friend and gave a stern finger wagging to the now-limp scarf before threading it around her belt and knotting it securely in place.

"And, I'm afraid that if we believe Aldern Foxglove to be Your Lordship, then I can't help but think that the Maskie that we saw was Aldern as well.  The seven pointed stars that Your Lordship carved into his victims connect to the card with the golden seven that we found on the first Maskie.  And, if Aldren is Your Lordship, then he connects them all."

"Are you alright Stomper," Pisca asked after delivering her tenuous treatise.  And, she offered her friend a hand up despite the incongruous image of the much smaller gnome heaving up the heavily armored human.

Position: O12

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

AL: 8/9

"I . . . I don't think so."  Kellan sat up, rubbing the new red mark around his neck.  "I saw something while that was happening.  Felt something, too.  Like I was another person, named Iesha.  It was like I wasn't even myself, on the outside looking in."  He fell silent for a moment, thinking about how to continue.

"I . . . or Iesha . . . was terrified of that guy attacking me.  The spirit one.  I, or she, thought that this was one of the men that her husband warned her about.  I felt like I was dying.  And the last thought of hers that went through my head before I passed out," he looked up, "was whether this guy would kill her husband Aldern as well."
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 23:47, Fri 02 Dec 2016.

Pisca froze.  Hand still extended, but her small mouth now hanging open, she froze.

"Iesha."  The missing name.  "Lys, that means you're Iesha.  The picture upstairs.  Iesha."

"But wait.  If that's true, then the Maskie might not be Aldern.  But, then why would Your Lordship carve the stars on his victims?" mused the gnome, her freeze thawing as her thoughts percolated through the miasma that was her mind.  "But, regardless, it seems that Aldern and the Maskies of the Seven are connected.  In some way.  Some way.  Dum dee dum."  Pisca sung tunelessly to herself as her thoughts propelled her around to just behind Kellan's head where she squat down and slipped her hands under his shoulders in a fruitless attempt to lift the heavily armored human up off the ground.

"Some way that made the Maskies mad.  Mad enough to send someone to kill his wife.  And maybe he ... oof ... himself."

"You know, Stomper, maybe a few less beef briskets for a while, alright?"

Position: O12

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

AL: 8/9

"Iesha..."  Liseth helped Kellan to sit up alongside Pisca.  "She's not me Pisca."  Liseth frowned, "Is there any place in this house where something horrible hasn't happened?  I didn't even know Aldern was married..."  She looked back to Kerr, "Did you know Kerr?  How long ago could this have happened?  Surely it wasn't just recently..."

"Kellan, let me see your neck."  The acolyte's dainty hand moved Kellan's away.  The bruise could only be described as cruel; who could have done something like that?  To that poor girl...only to be relived later by Kellan.  "You'll be okay, it's good we were all here together."

"Sarenrae, send us your light."  Liseth touched Kellan's neck and passed her healing light to him.  "Can you get up?"  She put on a weak smile, "I don't think that Pisca and I can carry you."

Cast CMW on Kellan, Heal for 12
21:48, Today: Liseth Thoradin rolled 12 using 2d8+7.  Cure Moderate Wounds.

"Yes we can.  Yes we can.  Yes we can," chanted the gnome: a mantra in preparation for a Herculean feat of strength.  "C'mon, Lys.  C'mon.  Nghhhhhh."

"No we can't."

"Sorry, Stomper," still behind him with his head and neck resting in her lap, the gnome patted the young human guardsman on one metal shoulder.  "I'm afraid you're going to have to lever your bulk up by yourself."

"But, Lysa," Pisca added as she slipped out from under Kellan's head, "even if you know you aren't really Iesha, Aldern thinks you are.  Or, Your Lordship does.  Or seems to.  Or, maybe he thinks your similar.  A close substitute.  Double?  Proxy?

"Say ... "  This was a thoughtful 'say' that came from the gnome as she stood and brushed off her lap.  "That gives me an idea."

"But, first, lets see what more this room can tell us."  And she began poking around in corners and inspecting the oddly placed items, anything that might reveal more about the room.

Perception 36 Taking 20 to inspect the room.  Most particularly the book and the stone bookend.

Position: Unknown

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

AL: 8/9

---

---

"I'm not sure," Kerr scratched his head, thinking, as Kellan struggled to his feet.  "I don't really keep track of Magnimarian high society, you know?"  He absentmindedly drew an arrow from his quiver and ran a finger thoughtfully along its fletching.

Finally, he shook his head.  "I just don't know," he admitted.  "I might have heard something about a marriage a year or two ago?  But I can't say for certain."

---

---

The gnome held the stone bookend up high in her hands as though height alone might give her greater insight into the part of one butterfly wing where it was broken off and still encrusted with blood, clots of hair and bits of skull and flesh.  She ran the angel shaped bookend back around to the chair laying on its side.

"I think we have a match here," Pisca said, holding up the praying angel to the splash of dried blood stains the back of the chair.  "Looks like someone got their skull bashed in.  Someone ... with an interest in Magnimarian history," she added with intimations of a revealing detail.  By way of explanation, the gnome thrust a finger at the book lying on the floor.  What import that tiny detail might have, however, was doomed to be lost to time as, characteristically, she continues on without explaining.

"But ... if Iesha was strangled with a scarf by a Maskie, then why the blunt instrument?  Unless, of course, there were two people here that dark and stormy night.  Of course this also might be two people killed in this room at two completely different times."

"Oh well, I guess we'll never know.  Shall we move on," Pisca said, moving on herself.  "There were two doors on either side of the Moldy Swirly," she added as she exited the door on her way back to the Moldy Swirly.  "Lets see where they go."

"Eenie meanie minee ... North," chanted the gnome as she played a pointing game that ended at the northern door.  "Lets see what's in here."

Position: K9

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

AL: 8/9