"Little whirly winds."  The gnome was close to stepping into the room.  So close to chasing the little puffs across the floor.  But there was the commotion from back where the rest of her friends were.  With a somewhat annoyed pursing of her lips, Pisca closed the door and retreated back down the hallway.  What greeted her eyes was not good.

"Not good.  Not good at all.  I've seen this," said the gnome from behind the armored bottom of The Boyfriend.  "I've seen this!  I've seen this.  This is the Dance of Death!  This is bad."

"Catch her.  Somebody catch her," cried the gnome.  Pisca's insistent cries were accompanied by a fair amount of pointing and hand waving.  "Pin her down.  Trip her to the ground and pin her down!  If you don't, she'll burst into flames.  I've seen this!"

"Wait.  Have I seen this?"

Position: E7

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

Dancing.  Her heavy and awkward mail suit suddenly felt as light as a dress.  Liseth was swept up, launched into a dance like she had never imagined.  Perhaps she dreamed of such a dance before, but never thought she could actually move the way that she was moving.

The ballroom was filled with people; she could just catch glimpses of them out of the corner of her eye.  They were watching her and her partner dance together as though it was the greatest exhibition of such skill they had ever seen.

She was moving in ways she didn't think possible.  Her clumsiness; she felt as though she was going to keel over and hit the floor at any time.  Trip, stumble, fall.  But her dancer was so...so skilled.  He moved in ways that only made her clumsiness, her stumbles, look like they were a part of the dance.  Made them look beautiful, planned.  Liseth felt wonderful.

Rapturous.

Dancing.  She was dancing!  It was wonderful, she'd never felt better!  I don't want this dance to ever end...

The little blonde smiled in adoration.  Beaming at her partner.  But then she noticed...he looked so sad.  "Why are you so sad?"

It all suddenly came back to her.  Where they were.  What they were doing.  What she was doing.  Who she was with.

The acolyte blinked.  "No...No!  LET GO OF ME!!"  She shoved away at what appeared to be air, stopping her dance suddenly and resolutely.  Just like that she stopped.  She was panting heavily from the exertion and her armor suddenly felt like it weighed twice as much as it had before.

Liseth dropped down onto her knees, right there in the middle of the floor.  "I feel so cold...and weak...It...looked like...Aldern Foxglove.  He was dancing...I was dancing.  He looked...so...sad."

---

---

Kerr reached out his hand helplessly as Liseth pirouetted around the dance floor with her invisible partner.  He was astonished by how smoothly she danced; it was almost like the natural clumsiness that so embarrassed her had completely disappeared.  He stopped, transfixed.  It seemed like Liseth had never been more beautiful to him than she was at that moment.

Then everything changed.  Liseth shoved back against her invisible partner, yelling, as if she was struggling to get away from it.  Kerr had no sooner gathered himself to leap forward than Liseth stumbled back, dancing no longer.


Apparently freed from whatever had taken her, Liseth dropped to her knees as a mournful wail filled the room.  It was the sound of loss.  It was the sound of sorrow.  It was the sound of ineffable loneliness; the stark, poignant cry of one bereft of companionship and hope.  It shot through every single person present, making them feel as if they themselves might never find love, happiness, or friendship.

And then, after what seemed like an eternity, the sound went silent.

OOC:  Everyone needs to make a DC 15 Will save against the cry or suffer 1 point of wisdom damage.

18:06, Today: The Raconteur, for the NPC Ghostly Howl of Loneliness, rolled 1 using 1d2.  Potential Wisdom Damage.

---

---

"That was ... "  The gnome turned this way and that, looking into the air around her.  It was as though she might catch a glimpse of the sound, as though it might somehow hold a visible presence.  "That was so lonely.  And ghostly."

"That was some beautiful dancing, Lys," said the gnome, her voice still filled with the solemnity of quintessential loneliness.  "I didn't know that you danced."

"Who'd have thought a piano could make a sound like that, though, huh?  I forgive you," Pisca said to the dark grinning musical instrument.  "For wanting to bite my bottom.  I guess you were just lonely."

Pisca Neep Freemish rolled 25.  Will Save vs Ghostly Howl of Loneliness.

Position: E7

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

Kellan, who had been caught up in taking in the various deformities of the rat that had escaped the tub, screwed his eyes tight against the sudden howl from the neighboring room. He staggered, pressing ne gloved hand against his ears before he opened his eyes, now glossy and looking on the verge of tears.

"What was that?" he asked weakly as he slowly joined the others, looking around warily.

12:36, Today: Kellan Storval rolled 5 using 1d20+2.  Will Save vs Howl of Loneliness (15).

Cato shuddered as the howl washed over him, struggling to maintain his composure as the horrid wail bore into what seemed like his very soul.

15:50, Today: Cato Crispin rolled 11 using 1d20+5.  Will Saves vs Howl (DC 15).

Active Effects:
1 point of wisdom damage

Such terrible grief...such loss.  So much loneliness.  Liseth's heart tore for the image that she saw.  A man bereft of hope or happiness.  Companionship or love.  A part of her felt responsibility for his wailing grief; after all it happened directly in response to her shoving him away.

Liseth felt so much sorrow for the image.  It looked so much like Aldern Foxglove to her...was it...his ghost?  She had no idea what might have happened, but she did know one thing.  His pain and loss felt so much like her own; the sorrow she held for so long after she had thought that Sarenrae had rejected her.

"I'm so sorry..." She said to the image that she saw.  Liseth was still down on her knees as she spoke,  "I'm so sorry for your pain.  What happened to you?  We only want to help..."

21:30, Today: Liseth Thoradin rolled 24 using 1d20+5.  Will Save.

---

---

Kerr stumbled as he lurched towards Liseth, falling next to where she knelt and clutching his chest.  The young man was not often vulnerable to depression, but the howl brought a wave crashing over him, threatening to drag him into a sea of it.  Did anyone truly love him?  Did Liseth?  Would his life as a paladin prevent him from developing lasting ties to anyone?  He clutched his chest, seemingly unable to breathe for a moment.

After what seemed like an eternity, the overpowering feeling passed.  "R'ya all rite, Lise?"  He asked dully, his tongue feeling thicker than normal and his mouth refusing to shape the words properly.  He took a deep breath.  "What happn'd to ya theer?"

OOC:  08:32, Today: The Raconteur, on behalf of Kerr Mollin, rolled 13 using 1d20+10.  Save vs. Ghostly Howl of Loneliness.

PARTY STATUS:  Kerr, Cato, and Kellan all have one point of wisdom damage.

---

---

This message was last edited by the player at 15:41, Mon 06 June 2016.

Normally quite animated, the gnome lapsed into stillness, her eyes roaming between first one and then the other of the friends who'd accompanied her into this House of Haunts, this Haunted House.  Must be a human thing.  They all seemed quite unwell, or otherwise out of sorts.

"Who are you talking to, Lys?"  Pisca took a few steps into the room and pawed the air next to the young human acolyte.  "Eenie meanie chili beanie," she added to herself, cryptic words for cryptic circumstances.

"You know, don't you, that we can't always help everyone.  'There's only so much gnome to go around,' or so they say.  And right now, we're trying to help the people in Sandpoint.  Right?  Or so I thought."

"If that's the case," she continued as she wandered to a nearby window and drew the curtain for a little natural light, "then I think we should move along.  I think I saw a few little haunted whirly winds in front of the fireplace in the next room.  I don't think we need to be worried about a two or three little whirly winds."

The gnome grasped the windowsill and went up on her toes for a look at the last of the evening light.  "If we want to save the folks in Sandpoint another night of ghoulie terror, it would probably be best to move on.  Keep moving.  Without stopping for funny musical instruments."

Try to draw the curtain, let light in, and look out.

Position: E5

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

Liseth stared ahead as though paying very close attention to something.  Then the girl gasped softly before noticing her friends.  "I'm...I'm alright Kerr.  Pisca."  The acolyte looked at everyone quizzically, "You mean...none of you saw him?  Saw anything?"

"It was..." The little blonde frowned; why was she the only one who had seen anything?  "It looked like Aldern Foxglove.  His image...almost like a...a ghost.  He...danced with me.  It was hard to resist."

"But Pisca, I think I learned something important.  He didn't talk...but..."  Liseth thought, "Pisca do you still have that card that we found from the masked wizard?  The one with the number seven on it?"

"Because he had one.  The ghost of...Mr Foxglove?  He showed me a card just like it that had the number seven on it before he disappeared.  He was so sad...I know he was trying to ask us to help him."

The gnome turned from the window that was so encrusted with grime and mold as to be completely opaque.  No light of sun, fading as it was, would fall upon the floor of this haunted piano room.

"Of course I have the card, Lysa."  Pisca left the window and returned to Liseth, producing the card with it's golden number seven from her pouch.  "It's the key behind the Mystery of Mister One-Eyed Maskie," she added.  "Aldren had a card just like this?  Where did he get it?" Pisca then asked.  For a moment the gnome might have been asking how the ghost of their noble friend had acquired the card, but that was immediately cleared up as Pisca continued.  "Did he take it out of his pocket, Lys?  Did it just appear in his hand?"

"Um ... Stomper," she asked, "could I borrow your polearm, please?"

Borrow Kellan's polearm.

Position: E5

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

"Well, he..."  Liseth thought, and her hands simulated the motion as she recounted how the image produced the card.  "He reached his hand into the inside pocket of his jacket and drew it out from there.  Then he showed it to me."

"First he looked at the card, then he looked at me.  And...there was no mistaking the look he had either.  It was like he was begging for help..." Liseth frowned.  What could have happened?  Who were these number seven people?  "Then he just...faded away."

The gnome gave a solemn nod.  Solemnity is all in the eyes, after all.  "Poor Aldren," she said, as if those few scant details had told her the entire story.  (Or, maybe some version thereof.)

"Um ... polearm, please?"  The gnome looked up a second time, this time with her hand outstretched.

Borrow Kellan's polearm.

Position: E5

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

Cato stood still, pondering the implications of everything that had just been revealed.  The auras, the spectral dancers, the piano, the rat in the tub, and shook his head.  "There's so much going on here.  But...but, if Liseth saw Aldern's ghost, does that mean that he's dead?  I mean, what are the implications of that?  If Aldern is an undead ghoul or whatever, can he have a ghost as well?"

Active Effects:
Mage Armor (? Duration Left)
1 Point Wisdom Damage

"Aldren may be dead.  Or he may be a ghoul.  He may be a ghost.  Or all three," said the gnome, throwing contradiction to the four winds as she took a firm grip on the haft of Stomper's bladed polearm.  "But, if what Lysa's seen is true and not a distraction, then what seems clear to me is that the Card of the Seven belongs to him."  With the heavy blade of the human-sized weapon resting on the ground, Pisca readied for a swing.

"It wasn't a warning.  He took it from his pocket.  It's something he's involved in.  But he's sad.  It sounds like he regrets it."  Then, with a heave, Pisca swung the polearm in an overhead arch to strike the window with the sound of steel against glass.

Pisca Neep Freemish rolled 15.  +1 Attack Window (+3Melee -2SizePenalty).
Pisca Neep Freemish rolled 1 using 1d10.  Damage to Window.

Position: E5

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

---

---

"Begging for help?"  Kerr asked in confusion as Liseth described her interaction with her spectral dancing partner.  "Help with . . . whoa!"

Only good peripheral vision saved him as Pisca overbalanced and brought the business end of Kellan's polearm within millimeters of his nose before successfully smashing it into the target window, shattering one of the panes of glass and bringing the late-afternoon light into the room.

The light didn't have any apparent effect on the room or the piano, which now stood quietly.  No one heard the piano music any more; it had stopped at the same time as the haunting, lonely howl.

"Hey," Kerr resumed speaking, but on a completely different topic.  "Look at that!"  He pointed through the broken pane of glass, where everyone could see that a great multitude of black birds with beady eyes had gathered near the house.  Strangely, none of the creatures was making any noise at all.  They were just standing there.  Watching the house.

Waiting.

---

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 18:24, Fri 10 June 2016.

"Thank you, Stomper," said the gnome as she handed back unwieldy human-sized weapon.

"What?"  Pisca then said over her shoulder as she looked on with disapproval at the seemingly much unimproved haunted piano.  "Look at what?"  With a sigh she gave up on the piano and crossed back to the window.

"That's a great multitude of black birds," said the gnome with great redundance.  "Those can't have been there when we arrived.  I hope the ponies are safe."

"Do you think ... " asked the gnome taking in the great multitude with a speculative eye.  She flexed a finger and said, "Do you think I should poke them?"

How far away is the great multitude of black birds?

Position: E5

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3
This message was last edited by the player at 19:10, Fri 10 June 2016.

Cato stared up at the waiting birds, trying to suppress a shiver.  "I'm not quite sure what that's all about, but it can't be good."

Cato edged away from the watching birds, towards the doorway to the south.  "Let's complete our examination of this place and leave as quickly as we can."

Move to E7, examine door.
Active Effects:
Mage Armor (? Duration Left)
1 Point Wisdom Damage

"You're too far, little birdies," crooned the gnome to herself.  "Just too far.  Of course, I could shoot an arrow at you."

"But, then again," Pisca said, turning away from the window, turning back, in fact, to address her friends, "we know what they're out there for, don't we?  They're there to keep us from leaving.  We're trapped.  The House wins again.  No going back through the Fat Man's Nightmare."  The gnome shrugged.

"Onward then."  There was another door.  Aside from the one behind which the whirlie winds lived.  The gnome strolled back out into the hallway, watching with curiosity the wizard's methods of examination as she went.

"Not to disturb you, Cato, but I'm going to open the door just a bit and peek through," she whispered into her magic.  "If you don't mind.  Just tell me when you're ready.  This will be quick and quiet."

Peek behind door at E7 when Cato is ready.

Pisca Neep Freemish rolled 16.  Stealth.
Pisca Neep Freemish rolled 25.  Perception.

Position: F7

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

Cato nodded and moved from the door, allowing the diminutive gnome through.  "For what it's worth, I didn't hear anything, but you make a better scout than me, I think."

Move to F7.
Active Effects:
Mage Armor (? Duration Left)
1 Point Wisdom Damage

"That's not right..."  After some initial shock, Liseth stood and approached the shattered window.  "I've never seen so many...crows?  I think they're crows or ravens.  I've never seen so many in one place like that..."  Considering the location, and what she had just witnessed, those birds were probably more than simple birds... "Why are they so quiet?  They should be making noise..."

"A flock of ravens is called a murder...some religions and cultures relate them to evil spirits..."  Liseth turned from the window, "Let's hurry."

---

---

As Pisca cracked open the door she got a whiff of dampness, the unpleasant tinge of mold lacing the air as surely as it stained the wood floor, walls, and furniture in pallid patches.  The sound of the house straining and creaking gave this long, high-ceilinged room an additional sense of age and decay.

But what the gnome really noticed was huge monster in the center of the room!  It was a twelve-foot-long creature with the body of a lion, a scorpion’s tail fitted with dozens of razor barbs, huge batlike wings, and deformed humanoid face staring at the front door as if ready to pounce on the first person who might enter.

After a brief start, she realized that the creature was unnaturally still, and probably some sort of trophy.  The room was just as still, quiet, and dim as the rest of the house they’d seen to this point.  Shadows blanketed every corner, and a pervasive gloom was all but palpable.

---

---

"And ... And I thought I heard a woman crying," Pisca said to the others after describing to them what she'd seen.  The look on her face was thoughtful, as though chasing the voice through the echoes of her own mind.  "I'm not sure which direction it came from.  It was only there for a moment.  I wish ... I wish I could piece it out."

"But ... but I think that's the direction we should go," says the gnome, throwing her hat into a metaphorical ring.  "That is," she adds, despite the Possibly Stuffed Monster."

Position: F7

Active Effects: Message on all 50m

Expended
L1 - 4/5
L2 - 2/3

"Is that thing...real?"  Liseth asked, peeking from a safe place far behind any forward-venturing gnomes.  It definitely looked like what one might call a monster; Liseth had never seen a thing like it.  Nor had she ever wanted to.

"Don't touch it."  The girl cautioned, remembering what her light touch had triggered from the grand piano.  "Is there another way we can go?  I don't want to have to go in there with...that."

That monster looked like it wouldn't just want to dance if it did come to life...

Cato peered into the room around Pisca, marveling at the creature.  "That's amazing.  I almost mistook it for a living creature at first.  Do you think it would be haunted as well, Liseth?  Can you detect anything from it?"

He looked back towards the room with the phantom piano.  "I suppose we wouldn't want to risk it if we didn't have to.  But we need to explore this house."

The wizard looked down the hallway.  "I suppose there is another door down there (pointing towards O7).  Pisca, do you want to do the honors?"

Know: Arcana to identify?
This message was lightly edited by the player at 17:19, Tue 21 June 2016.