Glum's vote is for "get back into orbit and nuke the site from space" to quote the great sage Ripley.

I am with Glum

Cat we are waiting for you...

[Private to Catessa Fallowfield: I noticed you logged on sat, so my post from fri was up.  Was I not clear that you and Glum needed to act?  Why did you log on but not post?]

Look, there is alot more going on than just Aldern, and the haunts have clues, divided among the party.  If you don't communicate you can't figure out what is going on...

I will give everyone till monday to respond In Character to what you have seen and experienced.  Hopefully, by sunday night I will post a compilation of what everybody has seen.

off to Cali for a track meet, back Monday.  NPC me as needed.

Observations on the GM's post of observations.

Some rooms cause the same effect on people. (Clawing at one's face.) Failure of rolls.

Some rooms/objects cause different effects on people. (The portrait) Not sure why the difference.

We're all subseptable(sp?) to hearing sobbing. I really think this is a ghost or something.

I don't see any Clue(tm) jumping out at us from those observations.

We need to find the link between the ghouls and Foxglove. My plan/proposal: Finish searching second floor and finish the first. I suspect the answer will be found in a basement or under the house. Aren't most answers? :)

Maybe this will help, there are 3 different stories, separated by years.
- Vorel, Kasanda and their daughter Lorey.
- Traver, Cyralie, their son Aldern, and their two daughters Sendeli and Zeeva.
- Aldern and Iesha.

We know a tad about the last, but the first two?

Kasanda and Lorey- You hear a child’s voice, quivering with fear, ask “What’s on your face, mommy?”  You feel like there is something on your face that you must get off, and feel a compulsion to claw it off.
Kasanda- When you say the portrait she hears a woman’s shrill voice say "What are you up to down in the damp below?”; for several seconds you feel this intense anger against woman and feel a desire to hurt the nearest one, which happens to be yourself.  But you will is strong and you fight this feeling off.
-----------------------------
Cyralie- In the observatory; Again, you notice the sudden stink of burning flesh.  You suddenly feel uncomfortably hot and believe you have  suddenly caught on fire, you can see and feel it all over you, and that the only way to put the flames out before you burn to death is to throw yourself through the unbroken window and, hopefully, into the sea below. The compulsion is so strong, only your strong will power and training allow your to overcome it.
Traver-  As you approach the study to peek inside, you hear the sound of pages rustling, as if a book were being read rapidly inside the room.  Looking inside you don't see anybody with a book, but then you "remember" dozens of memories of expeditions, sea voyages, and travels to exotic locales.  They race through his mind, remnants of "your" journeys before "you" settled down here in Varisia. As the memories build momentum, they become increasingly infused with a sense of bitter disappointment and regret, and "you" become increasingly aware that these are memories that never were, memories of fantastic discoveries "you" could have made had "you" not chosen to settle down with a shrill harpy of a wife.  You have an overwhelming sense of depression and loss.
Traver and Cyralie- When you see this room you hear the sounds of a child sobbing and suddenly becomes convinced that your parents are trying to kill each other, and that whichever of them survives will be coming to kill him next; you have a vision of your mother(red haired), wielding a torch, and his father, festering with tumors and wielding a long knife, both struggling to kill each other. The vision passes as fast as it occurs, but the mind-numbing terror remains.
Traver- You shudder and are suddenly overwhelmed with the conviction that you have just killed the person you love most. Overwhelmed with despair, you felt a compulsion to cut your own throat with the silver-handled dagger you kept in the desk, before the voice returned.
-----------------------------
Aldern- Upon seeing the portrait you experience a sudden inexplicable wave of sadness.  It sweeps over you in an instant, and is gone just as fast.
Iesha- Upon seeing the portrait you experience a sudden inexplicable wave of fear.  It sweeps over you in an instant, and is gone just as fast.
-----------------------------
- You hear what sounds like a brief set of sobs coming from somewhere downstairs.  It's very faint, maybe it was the house settling.
-In the first room with the stuffed manticore Glum thinks he smells burning hair and flesh.  But a quick look around shows no smoke...
- You hear what sounds like a brief set of sobs coming from somewhere upstairs.  It's very faint, maybe it was the house settling...
- You hear what sounds like a brief set of sobs coming from somewhere upstairs.  It's very faint, maybe it was the house settling...
- You hear what sounds like a brief set of sobs coming from somewhere downstairs.  It's very faint, maybe it was the house settling.

In reply to DM (msg #87):

So am I still fatigued from all these compulsions and am I quite right in the head yet.

DM;
You are not physically or mentally fatigued in a rules sense, but if you want to portray the character as such, that would be fine.

"Right in the head"... for an 11 year old mind in a 20 year old body that was originally not your own...yes you're fine.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:50, Thu 22 July 2010.

I'm going to take several stabs in the dark. Nothing is connected sadly.



Mold?



you burn undead, like ghouls.

Everything else looks like unhappy family foo. The family is nuts.

Yes, apparently the Foxgloves have problems...

The mold is probably connected.  The mother and child died of them and the fathers portrait exploded in mold.  Connection...yeah.

I was going to post the next scene, but am busy today.  Will try to post what Talis/Zer/Cat see through the locked door with the sobbing sat or sun.

I'll get something up later today, I hope.

Cat, I was hoping you had memorized Flaming Sphere, this would have been a perfect opportunity to use it.

In reply to Talis Revain (msg #642):

Sorry, missed  the hint.

Late night at work and I need to get moving early today = will post wed.

Some basic rules about swarms,
-they are 10'x10' in size(4 squares), but can move anywhere a member of the swarm can move and can change their shape (any 4 adjacent squares)
(so the rat swarms could move through a small crack)
-they are immune to critical hits, flanking and sneak attacks
-they don't get Aoo and have no reach
-while they don't get aoo, casting spells or doing things that require concentration require a concentration skill roll while in a swarm
-they don't make attack rolls, they move onto characters and anyone they end their turn on takes damage
-weapons do little-no damage(slashing and piercing) or half-little damage(bludgeon)
(the theory being that bludgeoning weapons are sort of area-of-effect like)
-single target spells have little-no effect
(ray spells- including searing light and Cat's EB)
-area-of-effect is 50% more effective vs swarms
(the fireballs did +50% damage, a Flaming Sphere would do +50% damage)
-Flaming Torches and energy weapons (magic weapons with flaming, cold, shock...) can be used to damage them (unless the component creature is resistant or immune).
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:15, Wed 18 Aug 2010.

It's the Labor Day Weekend, so the massive, local, F/SF con is ago. I may have time to read posts but won't post. Please NPC me. Cat'll toss pebbles at ghouls and Adern.

have fun

Moving now so probably out until Thursday.  NPC Zer-wedula.  Plan is to cast defensive spells then rage and attack Aldern.

I don't want to npc people for the big battle vs Aldern, so we will wait for everyone to post...

...still waiting.

Whose go is it?

Sorry, misread the post, I didn't realise I needed to do anything.