After a very nice lunch, and a walk in the country that takes between 3 and 4 hours (the group still stays off the main roads-- wouldn't want to run into any Alarans...), the group arrives, thanks to the chief constable's directions, at a large old house... But the roof is half-caved in, and there are weeds everywhere... There's no sign that anyone's been here in years, let alone living there now. It's very obvious that the place is completely deserted.

What now?

Neide eyed the decrepit house with suspicion.

"Alright", she said, "This... doesn't look like a place anyone would be living in. But..."

She rubbed her neck thoughtfully.

"... what if this is some sort of illusion? Maybe some spell is being used on us..."

She eyed Ondreya.

"Can you, as a mage, check whether this is an illusion? Do you have anyways of discerning such things?"

"Witchcraft is hard... but I'll try..." Ondreya makes some gestures in the air... whispers some inaudible words...

(10:38, Today: Ondreya rolled 9 using 2d6+1 ((3,5)).)

"...Personally," she says quietly when she speaks again, "I think there is something going on here. And-- personally-- I think it's witchcraft, though I can't prove it. But... I can't break it..."

Kerran and Aden just stare at Neide, waiting to see what she'll say next. Aden's expression is particularly hard to read. Neide would hate to play cards with Aden, she realizes...

Neide cursed silently.

"Are you sure you cannot break it?", she asked Ondreya again, "Because if what we're seeing is an illusion, then... I'm not going into that hut. I don't want some witch I cannot see slit my throat or put some spell on me..."

She turned to Kerran.

"You are a priest... are you able to do something against illusions or other spells? I've seen you work miracles before..."

"Erm," said Kerran, embarrassed. "As I said back in town, I can, of course, call upon Veles, and ask for guidance... but..." He leaned forward. "...Is there some reason you do not ask Aden? He was the one who seemed most confident in dealing with this situation..."

Aden raises an eyebrow. He is trying to keep from smirking, but he's not quite succeeding anymore...

Neide raised an eyebrow, as she saw Aden's barely-hidden smirk.

"Alright then", she said, turning to the bard, "It seems that you have... an idea?"

Aden takes a few breaths, then sings.

Afterward, Neide can't remember what the song was about.

It's a beautiful song, full of longing and loneliness...

Was... was it about a siren, and the sea...?

Or... was it... something about windchimes, and...?

Or something about a ghost, and... a hallway...?

No. The words are gone as soon as he stops singing. Only the wistful feeling of heartbreak remains...

But!

The scene before Neide has changed.

The house is still very run-down, but it's not abandoned.

There's even a little smoke coming out of the chimney. She can smell it, even...

There are footprints in the dust, here and there...

How did she-- How could she--?

She looks at the others-- they see the same thing, she can tell.

Aden looks a bit smug.

"Oh", Neide commented, as she looked at the house after Aden stopped singing. So it was true... there had been an illusion in place!

"But how..?", she said, turning to Aden... then, she recalled what Aden had told her not that long ago about there being witches in his home country.

"Ah... yes, you did say you know how to deal with witches", she rolled her eyes at her own fault memory, "I'm sorry, I don't know how I could've forgotten about it. I feel like a fool now..."

She eyed the house again.

"So.. what did you do, exactly? Did you just break that one illusion, or is the witch completely powerless right now?"

"Don't worry, it allowed me to show off all the more dramatically. But the answer is no-- it's just the one spell I've broken. She hasn't lost any other capabilities she may have, not yet. In fact, if she's in earshot, she presumably heard me. She's probably wondering what she should do next... So now would be a good time for us to figure out the answer..."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:25, Mon 20 Apr 2020.

"We move in", Neide decided, "Right now, the witch is probably surprised... she knows that something is happening, but she might not be sure what yet. Let us get her before she concocts some other witchery against us... Let's be careful about it, of course."

And so, cautiously, she started approaching the house - trying to stay out of sight of anyone who might be looking out through the door or windows.

"...Front door? Or shall we look for a back door?" Aden whispers to Neide...

"Back door", Neide nodded, "Assuming there is one..."

She kept moving toward the house, slowly and carefully...

Aden leads the party in circling around the house to the right... you find an old, weathered wooden door. Aden looks at Neide, and when she doesn't stop him, he opens the door as quietly as possible.

It opens onto a hallway about 40 feet long. At the far end, there's a door on the left, and then the hallway makes a left.

Silently, Neide motioned toward the hallway with her head. Then, started sneaking toward the turn in the hallway - and once there, she trying peeking left to see if she could spot anything... or anyone.

The hallway, where it turns south, has two more doors, one on each side of the hall, and then it seems to open into a large, high-ceilinged entry hall. She can see the front door from where she's standing, in fact, thanks to the occasional shaft of light coming through the holes here and there in the roof.

Neide sees no one, hears nothing. So far everything is simply both dusty and silent.

"Hm", Neide murmured inaudibly.

She waved at her companions to follow her, then moved to the door located next to the hallway's turn. She put her ear to the door and tried listening for any noises...

OOC: Just to be clear - she checks the first door you mentioned, the one from your Friday post.

Neide hears nothing.

Carefully, Neide tried opening the door and peeking inside...

This is obviously a kitchen. It is dirty and damp, with patches of grey mold and a few cobwebs on the floor, walls and ceiling. In the corner to your left is some iron cooking equipment with a chimney above. Next to it, under the window, is a cracked and discolored stone sink.

To the right of the sink a small, closed wooden cupboard is fixed to the wall about 5’ above floor level.

Against the far wall a flight of wooden stairs leads upwards from left to right; even from the door it is obvious that the woodwork is decayed and a few of the treads are missing.

Silently, Neide backed away from the kitchen. Then, slowly, she took the turn left and tried approaching the other door on the left...

Two stuffed armchairs stand near the fireplace of this new room. The covers of both have been torn or cut and the stuffing has been pulled out; however, the wooden frames are still intact. The pieces of a broken table lie on the floor near the north wall.

"Still no sign of the witch...", Neide thought, "Where is she? Is she hiding behind some new illusion..?"

She backed away from the door and tried peeking into the room on the right.

At one time a long table stood in the center of this new room; now it lies broken — though still recognizable — on the floor. A broken chair stands against the wall between the
windows, and there is a heap of broken china in the northwest corner.

On the far side of the broken table, there's also a dead body of a man...

Upon seeing the dead body, Neide tensed. She raised her hand in a warning gesture, signaling her friends that she spotted something important.

With her hand on the hilt of her sword, she stopped into the room and towards the body...

(Wis roll, please...)

01:25, Today: Neide rolled 9 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,3.  Wisdom.

Neide realizes just barely too late-- the dead man moves. He lurches forward, and grabs Neide's left wrist...

(Zombie!

I'll let Neide go first, since she's closest (too close!), then I'll let the rest of Dear Old Gang try to be useful...)

"Goddess!", Neide exclaimed, as the dead man grabbed her wrist. With her other hand, she reached for her sword and slashed at the rotten monstrosity...

00:16, Today: Neide rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,2.  Slash.
00:19, Today: Neide rolled 1 using 1d10 with rolls of 1.  Damage.

Please tell me the zombie has only 1 HP... :)

The zombie claws at Neide, but her armor deals with most of it...

Kerran starts to pray, but he stammers and can't concentrate...

Aden slashes at the zombie, and is somewhat effective...

But it's Ondreya who's truly effective, blasting the zombie with bolts of magical energy, and destroying its head...!

The zombie is a threat no longer...


(20:35, Today: The GM rolled 10 using 2d6 with rolls of 4,6.
20:35, Today: The GM rolled 3 using 2d3 with rolls of 1,2.
Counter-attack: Zombie does 3 damage to Neide (NOT counting her armor...) so 1?

Kerran tries to Turn the zombie...

20:36, Today: The GM, on behalf of Kerran, rolled 6 using 2d6+2 ((1,3)).

Fail!

20:37, Today: The GM, on behalf of Aden, rolled 8 using 2d6+1 ((2,5)).
20:38, Today: Aden rolled 2 using 1d6-1 ((3)).

Aden does 2 damage to the zombie...

20:38, Today: Ondreya rolled 13 using 2d6+2 ((6,5)).
20:39, Today: Ondreya rolled 7 using 1d8+1 ((6)).

Ondreya does 7 damage to the zombie and destroys it!)

"Thank you...", Neide gasped at her friends, "That thing... it caught me completely off guard..."

Her sword still raised, she took a step toward the rotten creature's remains. She eyed it warily - was it still moving..?

"Some sort of magic, I guess...", she commented, still unnerved. Then, she turned around toward the room's entrace.

"I suppose our presence inside isn't unnoticed anymore... if it ever was", she said, "Let's get moving. We need to find that witch before she springs any more tricks on us"

Having said that, she walked out of the room and into the entry hall.

The entrance hall is dirty and musty. To the right, a corridor leads into the west wing of the house. On either side of the corridor opening the walls are bare, but some pieces of wood in the corner near the window indicate that a small wooden table or chair once stood there. To the left, a staircase climbs to the next story, reaching it at a balcony which overlooks the hall along its north and west sides; the stairs appear safe to climb, though the balcony rail is broken in several places. Under the stairs, at the rear of the hall a third corridor (the second one being the one that was just used to get to this entry hall) leads east.

Neide paused briefly, considering her options. Then, she headed into the corridor leading west.

Once again, there are three doors to consider-- one on the left side of the corridor, another just a little farther along on the right, and one at the end... all are currently closed...

Neide walked over to the door on the left and tried opening it. This time, she was on guard for any bizarre danger that might appear...

One can tell that this room was once a library, with bookshelves around the walls. Most of the bookshelves are broken now and in many places have come away from the wall altogether. Those few shelves still intact are empty, but there is a pile of books in the southwest corner...

"No witch here, either...", Neide thought. She was begining to feel both frustrated and unnerved. Where was that witch hiding, actually? Could she be a step away, secreted behind another illusion..?

Having spotted the pile of books, Neide decided to inspect them quickly. It wasn't really the time for bookreading, but there was something peculiar in how the books from the bookshelves had seemingly been thrown onto one pile...

Hastily, Neide approached the pile of books, picked one of the tomes at random and skimmed through it.

There are over a dozen books in the pile untidily thrown into the corner and now covered with cobwebs and harmless mold (the harmless kind of mold)... all have been partially spoiled by a damp environment, but are still legible.

The first one Neide picks up is apparently a collection of romantic poetry.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:45, Fri 05 June 2020.

"Hm", Neide frowned. She put the book down and picked up another one...

(GM rolls some dice)

The next one Neide picks up is a history of Sefonia.

"I'll help..." says Aden. "Let's see... this is... a history of The Isles... Oh, this fellow has no idea what he's talking about..." He continues to flip pages in irritated scorn...

Ondreya steps forward and picks a book as well. "Well, well," she says with interest. "Not all of these are worthless. This one is On The Magical Properties of Gemstones... and the author knows what he's talking about, too. Some of these-- like this one. Shall we check them all...?"

"No", Neide shook her head, "Not until we deal with the witch. We can't get ourselves attacked when reading books - or let her get away..."

Having said that, she put the book away and headed back to the corridor. Then, she tried checking the door on the right...

"All right," said Ondreya. "I'm holding onto this book, though..."

The room on the right side of the corridor was once a writing room or study. Against the wall under the windows is a large wooden writing desk, partially broken, and riddled with damp rot. The desk consists of a flat writing surface on top, with large pedestal-like cylinders on each end. There are three drawers in each pedestal and a large central drawer; the latter is closed, but the others are all open — two obviously broken open forcibly.

Neide looked around the room briefly.

"I... don't see anything of importance here", she said, turning to her friends, "Do you? Any traces of the witch..?"

The fact that they didn't encounter the witch... or anyone else... yet put her on edge. Something wasn't quite right...

"Not here... I can try to check that middle drawer of the desk, if you want, or we can move on..." said Aden. "It seems like she just... doesn't use the whole house... so as to encourage the idea that it's abandoned...? But then where does she live..."

"Yes, *where* does she live..?", Neide repeated after Aden thoughtfully.

Then, she looked at the middle drawer.

"You think it might be important?", she said. Maybe Aden did have a point here - why has this one drawer not been broken open?

Carefully, she opened the drawer and peeked inside.

It's locked.

Try to break in (busting the drawer)?

Let Aden try?
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:39, Wed 17 June 2020.

OOC: Let Neide break in! STR test?

01:40, Today: Neide rolled 8 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,3.

As you break in, you hear a small noise like glass breaking...

The drawer contains nothing but valueless documents-- receipts for payments on the purchase
of various chemicals and laboratory equipment.

But there's a smell, a sort of spicy aroma...

A careful search of the cavity in which the central drawer fits reveals a small secret compartment. Inside, wrapped in cloth, is a now-broken glass phial which until recently contained a watery, rose-coloured liquid.

Oh well.

"Hm", Neide frowned, as she examined the broken vial. She wondered what the liquid inside had been...

"All right, let's move", she said to her friends. Then, she left the room and checked the final door in the corridor...

This is some sort of living room, with one or more windows on all three sides (one north, two west, two south). A door in the north wall leads onto a small paved patio, the paving now cracked and overrun with weeds. There is a fireplace on the west wall, between the windows, and a pile of refuse in the southeast corner-- otherwise, the room is bare of furnishings.
This message was last updated by the GM at 15:26, Thu 25 June 2020.

"No witch here, either...", Neide thought. But where *was* she?

She thought off the urge to just shout and challenge the witch to come out. Instead, she walked to the patio door and peeked outside, hoping to find any traces of the house's occupant.

About two-thirds of the way to the patio door, something happens.

A male voice-- seemingly just coming from the ceiling-- breaks the silence by loudly saying “Welcome, fools — welcome to your deaths!” followed by a prolonged burst of insane and fiendish laughter.

(Roll WIS, please...)

Upon hearing the voice, Neide immediately turned around to see what was happening...

01:57, Today: Neide rolled 10 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,4.  Wisdom.

Nothing is happening at all.

(GM rolls dice)

Except that Aden is running out of the room (by the door through which the party came).

Ondreya looks like she's about to panic, but can't quite decide between casting a lethal spell (at who? at what? the ceiling? It's not like anyone nor anything is attacking or anything!) and running (which exit, though?)

Kerran is like Neide: fine, just slightly startled...

Neide's eyes darted from her friends to the room, then back to her friends. What was going on here..?!?

"Hey!", she called out to them, "Did you hear that voice? What was it..?!?"

"Magic..." muttered Ondreya, shaking and shivering.

"We heard it," answered Kerran. "Perhaps witchcraft, perhaps not. Since nothing else bad seems to be happening, let's go after our witch-lore expert, shall we...?"

"... yes", Neide replied, taking a deep breath, "Let's find him. He shouldn't be alone in this place..."

She took another breath to compose herself, then headed back into the corridor. Where did Aden go, exactly?

Aden was crouching in the middle of that main entry hall, his sword drawn, shuddering, alternating between squeezing his eyes shut and glaring around him.

When he sees Neide, he furiously looks away in shame...

"Aden..?", Neide asked, concerned about her friend. He seemed... shaken to the core.

She kneeled down next to him.

"Aden... are you alright?", she asked again, putting her hand on his shoulder...

"...Stupid..." growled Aden. "...Stupid! It's magic... it's just magic! You think we in the Isles don't know about magic? That wasn't even witchcraft! Just some stupid wizard's spell or something... Subtle as a warhammer! But I wasn't... It caught me completely off-guard! Should... should have known better... Shouldn't have been so... Damn!"

"Don't beat yourself over it, Aden...", Neide said softly to her friend, "Whatever it was, it took all of by surprise. There's no shame in getting spooked by it..."

She squeezed his shoulder gently, trying to reassure him.

"Come... let's go and finish this once and for all"

"...I will continue... but... what's our next move...?"

"We keep searching the house", Neide replied, "There is a lot to this place we haven't checked yet..."

She stood up and offered a helping hand to Aden.

"Are you good?", she made sure, as she helped her friend up.

OOC: If everyone is fine, Neide will lead the group back to entrance hall and check the third corridor, the one leading east.

The corridor under the stairs (well, under the top landing of the stairs) has only two doors, both on the right.

Her sword in hand, Neide opened the first door on the right...

The only thing of any note in this room is a clump of tiny red mushrooms apparently growing out of the floor all around the room's fireplace in a roughly semicircular formation. Otherwise the room is bare.

Neide took a long glance around the room. Once again, the witch was nowhere to be seen...

Irritated, she checked the second door in the corridor.

OOC: I hope it's not like those old click-and-point adventures, where a tiny thing like a mushroom could be a vital clue for making progress! :))

The next room is empty. The only matter of any possible interest is that the quantity of plaster fallen from the ceiling onto the floor is significantly greater in this room than elsewhere.

"Hmmmmm...", Neide thought, as she looked at the fallen bits of plaster...

OOC: I guess it's a WIS roll?

23:32, Today: Neide rolled 7 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,2.

This whole immediate area clearly suffers somewhat from mold and rot.

It suggests that the upper floor may be somewhat unstable.

It also suggests that this side of the house may be the particularly weak side of the house, and the opposite side the most structurally-strong.

Having made her observations, Neide retreated to the corridor.

"Nothing there...", she informed her friends, "Let's check the upper floor"

And so, she walked back to the entrance hall and started climbing the stairs...

The stairs creak ominously as Neide ascends, but they're apparently safe enough. At the top she and her allies reach the gallery which is on the north and west walls of the hall. To east and west, the corridor appears to stretch the full width of the house, with doors leading off it to the south. Opposite the western portion of the gallery is another corridor leading north.

(So, halls leading west and east, and one just around the corner headed north. One can see that there are doors, all of which open to the south, both east and west.)

Neide pondered briefly on where to go first. She suspected the witch wouldn't be hiding in the eastern part of the house, as it seemed to be the most damaged part. But should they try going north or west..?

In the end, Neide decided to try checking the corridor going north.

(Dex check, please...)

01:36, Today: Neide rolled 8 using 2d6 with rolls of 3,5.

Neide takes a left, heading to the intersecWHAT TH--

The floor gives way between the top of the stairs and the hallway intersection. Neide twists and turns, and manages to somewhat control her fall. Combined with her armor protecting her, she's not too badly hurt...

(Neide takes 1 new damage.)

OOC: Huh. Where is she now, then?

Neide couldn't help spitting out a few loud curses. Falling through rotten floor? Not only was this painful, it was also... embarrassing...

... not to mention, they were all being probably watched by the witch. Who could be waiting for an opportunity to spring some trap...

With that in mind, Neide jumped to her feet and ran back to the staircase to see if her friends were safe.

"We're fine, we're fine," Kerran assures her. "We didn't fall through the floor..."

"Yah, you're not just armored because you're a soldier," observes Aden wryly. "It's also because you tend to walk in front of the rest of us. That was all the warning we needed..."

"Oh, give it a rest", Neide growled, frustrated by her embarrassing fall, "Let's go on, all right?"

This time around, she headed west - and was on watch for any faulty floor sections.

(It'll be a little risky anyway-- you might want to look for another set of stairs to check west and north?)

                  wall     wall
                  wall     wall
                  wall     wall
                  wall     wall
wall wall wall wall     wall wall wall wall wall wall wall wall
wall                             HOLE                                        wall
wall door w door    railrailrailrailr         wall door wa door wa
                wall    rail          rail stairs wall
                wall    rail  open    rail stairs wall
                wall    rail  area    rail stairs wall
                wall    rail          rail stairs wall
                wallwallrail

OOC: Okay, hmm. Let me correct my plan, then:

"Let's go on, all right?"

As the hole in the floor was in their way, this time around Neide headed east. She planned on checking the doors leading south and seeing where the eastern corridor led to, exactly.

The first room is a bedroom, dirty and decayed; there is no furniture in here. The floorboards appear intact, but rubbish is scattered everywhere, and spiderwebs are profuse on the walls and ceiling. From the doorway, you can see a glint of light in the fireplace from what appears to be a small, highly reflective object.

The shiny object in the fireplace caught Neide's attention. She walked inside to check on it...

...It looks like some sort of crystal...?

(GM rolls dice)

Before Neide can get closer, two large spiders attack! They must've been by/above the door...

Each is about the size of a large housecat, more or less...

Both of them succeed in biting Neide... or they would have, except that but her armor protects her (for the moment)...

"Goddess..!", Neide spouted, as the two disgusting critters jumped at her. She has never seen a spider that big before!

... gross.

OOC: Hacking at one of the spiders with Neide's sword:

01:57, Today: Neide rolled 5 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 3,1.  Die, eight-legged freak, die.

... and missing, apparently.

(Neide gets one new point of xp, but gets a -1 on her next roll.)

(GM rolls dice...)

Ondreya attacks ferociously with a surprising physical attack... Aden and Kerran finish off the other spider.

"Just as well we finished that fast," says Kerran. "This kind is poisonous. Wouldn't kill you, but you'd feel weak as a kitten for a little while..."

"Wait, you have seen such spiders before?", Neide asked, surprised, "I didn't know we had such things in our woods"

She shuddered a little, looking at the awful dead arachnids...

Then, she recalled why entered the room in the first place. She went over to the fireplace and looked for the shiny object...

"Not in any woods..." says Kerran, "but we have... many things, in Quayern..." Oh, right. It was a reminder that Kerran was the Northerner of Neide's little group... Even though all this time they'd been slowly traveling toward the Northlands, well, Ondreya was so very Eastern, and Aden so Western, that it was often easy to forget that Kerran wasn't actually from Sefonia, either...

The object in the fireplace is a fist-sized chunk of crystal. "Not really valuable," says Kerran, unimpressed.

"You could get a few coins for it from a mage," says Ondreya. "That sort of crystal is sometimes used a a focus for spellcasting." She looks at it more closely. "This one's used up, though."

"It's not really a witchcraft thing," notes Aden. He looks around. "Just another leftover from the mage who first lived in this house... like the fear-inspiring spell downstairs in the one room..."

Neide gave the crystal a disappointed look, then pocketed it anyway. If it could be sold for a little money...

That done, she left the room and checked the next door in the corridor...

OOC: How many doors are there in the eastern corridor? Also, does the corridor take any turns that could lead further into the house?

((GM checks his map) Just two more, and nope.)

The next door opens onto another dirty, decaying bedroom without furniture. From the doorway, the floor in here does not look particularly safe; some floorboards are missing, while others appear to have suffered partial collapse.

There is only one more door on this end of the hallway...

Neide decided not to enter the room behind the second door... one fall through the floor was enough!

She moved on and checked the third door...

(Wis check, please...)

01:27, Today: Neide rolled 8 using 2d6 with rolls of 3,5.

Phew :)

It's locked.

Buuuuuut... Neide notices a key on the nearby windowsill...

"Ah", Neide thought, having spotted the key.

She walked over to the windowsill, picked up the key and tried unlocking the door...

The key unlocks the door easily.

Opening the door reveals a dirty, decayed bedroom-- indeed, the floor looks rather unsafe, especially in the middle.

However, in the far corner lies a man; he is visibly breathing, though bound and gagged.

Now... this was not what Neide expected to find in this house.

"Hey", she waved at her companions to come closer, then pointed at the bound man, "Do you see that? Why would the witch hold a prisoner..?"

She eyed the decayed floor with unease.

"We need to help him... I'm not keen on going in there, though. I've falled through the floor one time too many already... Any ideas how to make this floor safer? Any magic you know that could help with it..?"

Neide's companions sadly inform her that they don't have any miracles prepared for such an eventuality-- Ondreya's magic is mostly for attacking, Aden's is for affecting people (who aren't bound and gagged), and Kerran's prayers are mostly for healing (up close) and other effects.

"There are prayers to Veles to strengthen stone, or to make it easier to work, or to reshape it, but I'm not far enough along in my order to be able to call upon them... And this floor isn't stone, anyway," he adds. "If it were, we probably wouldn't be having this problem..."

"Alright, then", Neide sighed, "Let me try getting to him. Let's hope I don't end up falling through the floor again..."

And so, with utmost caution, Neide started making her way to the bound man - trying to circle around the most obviously unstable parts of the floor...

OOC: I guess it needs a DEX roll... BTW. will I get some modifier for being cautious?

01:51, Today: Neide rolled 7 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,1.

Neide stays to the edge of the room, headed to the bound man.

It's nerve-shattering-- there are many noticeable creaks and groans from the floor. It sounds a little like a lot more ceiling plaster is falling onto the floor of the room right below.

But, she makes it to the man without anything bad actually happening...

Neide wiped off the drops of sweat from her brow, relieved that the floor didn't break under her... not yet, at least.

She moved to the bound man and kneeled to examine him...

OOC: Is the man even conscious? Any visible wounds? How does he react to Neide coming over?

The man seems unconscious, but alive, with no visible wounds. Perhaps he's been drugged, or is under a spell?

"... hello?", Neide spoke to the man. Would it be possible to wake him up?

At the same time, she started removing the man's bonds, beginning with the gag.

He doesn't wake up, so far.

Neide removes the man's gag and bonds, but he remains unconscious... and, therefore, a dead weight... (Might be safest to kind of drag him...?)

"Damn", Neide thought, "What should do with him? We can't carry him around... not while the witch might still be here..."

"Hey", she spoke up, shaking the man's shoulder gently, "Can you hear me..?"

The man seems warm, and to be breathing, but he does not awaken...

"Damn it...", Neide muttered. She didn't want to leave the man behind - and yet, they couldn't drag him around, if they were planning to get into a fight. And they *were* planning it...

And yet...

Neide eyed the floor with a worried look. Was it even possible to drag the man to safety over this faulty floor..?

OOC: This is actually a question :) Neide has already went across the room one time, so she has some idea of what the floor is like. So, does it seem remotely possible to carry the man over and not step onto the damaged floor parts?

(Yes, it does seem possible. The important thing would appear to be to stay as close to the walls as possible//as far from the center as possible.)

"Oh well...", Neide muttered, "Let's try this..."

She waved at her companions.

"Could you come closer and keep watch?", she asked them, "If this floor breaks, maybe you'll be able to catch me... or this fellow here... before we fall"

Then, carefully, she started dragging the stranger to the safe side of the room...

OOC: DEX test or something else?

"I think more of us entering the room will increase the danger, but yes, I'll stand ready in the doorway," says Kerran.

(I could see this as STR or DEX, your choice.)

OOC: Let's go with DEX:

01:42, Today: Neide rolled 7 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,2.

I certainly hope it's enough!

Neide moves the unconscious man as carefully as she can...

When Neide is right near the doorway, the floor gives way. There's a creaking and shaking that warns her, first, though, so with a mighty heave, she bravely tosses the man's body to the doorway, where Kerran and Aden grab it and move it into the hallway, and then Neide herself jumps.

She is caught by Kerran, and he and Aden pull her in.

A splintered piece of wood did puncture her leg, though. (Neide takes 1 new damage.)

Once she's pulled up and into the hallway, she and the others look at the body that Neide fought so hard to retrieve safely.

It's a dummy.

A vague sort of bundle of rags and bandages, with a crudely-painted face and hands painted behind its back.

"...Now this is witchcraft," says Aden. "Look in the room, see a sleeping man. It's stopped, because you've taken it out of the room." Aden sighs. "I am so sorry. I never saw it coming. This stupid house is the perfect place for a witch-- she can mix her own craft with whatever leftover spells the previous owner placed to scare people away. I am so sorry," he repeats.

"At least it's confirmation we're in the right place," says Ondreya.

"Want me to heal your leg?" Kerran asks Neide. "Or save it for an emergency later?"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:13, Fri 18 Sept 2020.

When Neide took the look at the man she thought she was saving and saw that it was just a dummy, Neide punched the wall and sweared furiously. All of this... for nothing?!?

Then, she hissed in pain, as her leg wound started hurting.

"Please, do so", she replied to Kerran's offer of healing it, "Then, let's find that witch. I've had enough of these tricks..."

She turned to Aden.

"And don't feel bad about falling for this dummy...", she said to her friend, "It's not your fault. None of us suspected it might be another illusion..."

(07:13, Today: Kerran rolled 12 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 4,6.
07:14, Today: Kerran rolled 6 using 1d8 ((6)).)

Kerran places his hands on Neide's shoulders and whisper-murmurs some words, and Neide's wounds all feel better.

"Good," says Kerran. "Veles is generous. I can do this again later, if I need to."

"So... since there's that big hole in the balcony floor..." muses Aden, "I suppose we go back to the first floor now... look for a back stairs, perhaps...?"

"Thank you", Neide nodded at Kerran, as the priest healed her wounds, "And thank Veles..."

She sighed slightly, as Aden suggested going down to the first floor.

"I suppose that's the best idea we have", she agreed, "I'd rather not try jumping over that hole. Let's hope there *is* a second staircase in here..."

She led the way back to the first floor. As she did, she kept thinking on the house's layout and whether there really could be some staircase they missed.

OOC: And I'll be thinking, too :) I need to re-read these posts and draw a map or something. Who knows...

The party heads downstairs... "Might I suggest the kitchen?" says Aden. "We didn't get much of a look there... perhaps there's a servant's stairs to bring food on a tray up to the bedrooms...?"

"The kitchen..?", Neide mused. Which room was it - wasn't it the first one she checked..?

Then, it hit her.

"Of course!", she replied to Aden, "Yes, there was a small staircase in there. It didn't look stable, but... we can try it!"

She led her companions back to the kitchen to examine the stairs there...

"Oh," said Aden. "I didn't stick my head in the door as far as you did... Lucky guess on my part."

Back at the kitchen, nothing has changed. It's still dirty and damp, with patches of grey mold and a few cobwebs on the floor, walls and ceiling. In the corner to the left is some iron cooking equipment, with chimney above... Next to it, under the window, is the cracked and discolored stone sink.

To the right of the sink a small, closed wooden cupboard is fixed to the wall about 5’ above floor level.

And yes, against the far wall a flight of wooden stairs leads upwards from left to right; even from the door it is obvious that the woodwork is decayed and a few of the treads are missing... but then again, it seems in better shape than the room with the dummy...

"Hm", Neide frowned, as she inspected the stairs, "Still better than jumping across that hole upstairs, I guess..."

She moved away from the stairs and glanced toward the cupboard. Recalling all the various trinkets she and her friends found in this house so far, she walked over to the cupboard and peeked inside.

Gaaah! Five giant centipedes apparently lives in a nest under the floor below the sink, with access to the room via a hole at floor level! They crawl out and attack-- starting with Neide!

(GM rolls dice)

Owww! One manages to bite Neide! It stings... like, literally and figuratively! These things are poisonous!

Also, ewwwwwwwwww!

(Neide takes 1 point of damage... but she might KEEP taking it for a while...)

OOC: And there goes my freshly-healed HP pool...

With a shriek of disgust, Neide jumped back from the centipedes. Ignoring the stinging pain from the wound, she hacked at one of the creatures with her sword...

01:42, Today: Neide rolled 12 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 6,5.

BTW. How big are these things, actually?

Neide easily destroys one of the centipedes. They aren't hard to hurt, just hard to hit.

(They're each more than a foot long; each is shorter than 2 feet long

GM rolls many dice...)

Kerran kills a centipede with his staff. It's a little clumsy at first, just hitting some of the 'pede's legs (of which it has plenty, after all), allowing the 'pede to counter-attack, but the counter-attack fails, so Kerran is able to finish it off quickly.

Aden neatly slices the nearest 'pede into thirds with his sword.

Ondreya just jumps and stomps the 'pede nearest to her.

That leaves one remaining, which attacks Neide... but badly-- it doesn't even hit her armor, let alone her...

(Neide takes 1 poison damage.)

Irritated by the itching wound, Neide swinged her sword at the critter - not very successfully...

01:35, Today: Neide rolled 3 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 1,1.

(Neide gets 1 new xp, but takes -1 forward. (Wow, I imagine she may level up after this house exploration!)

10:28, Today: The GM rolled 3 using 2d6 ((2,1)).)

The final centipede attacks Neide again, but fails.

(Neide takes more damage from poison-- 1 new damage.)

Kerran manages to kill the final centipede.

"This poison of this type of crawler doesn't usually last long... should I try to heal you again anyway, to attempt to help speed up the process, or just let it burn itself out...?" Kerran asks Neide...

"How... long may this poison last?", Neide asked, stopping herself from scratching the itching wound, "I wouldn't want to strain your healing abilities for no reason..."

(Neide takes 1 damage.)

"Not long enough to kill you," said Kerran, "but long enough to weaken you badly, if we're unlucky..."

Again, there was this itch Neide felt she needed scratching...

"All right", she said, "Try healing me, please..."

It even hurts a little while Neide and Kerran are talking about it.

(The GM rolls dice...)

Kerran heals Neide... then her bite burns a little more... but it stops after another minute or so.

(Neide gets back all of her health save 2 points.)

"I can heal again today, but I think it will be more difficult..." says Kerran...

"Let's hope we won't be needing it, then...", Neide nodded. Then, she turned toward the small staircase.

"All right", she said, "We go up. Mind your step... and keep your eyes open for any new witchery"

She readied her sword and started climbing the stairs...

"Just a second..." says Aden quietly. "There's this other door..." He gestures. There is indeed a door in the east wall, which was hard to see from the quick peek Neide first took into the room. "It's probably a pantry, but should we check first?"

Neide eyed the door with suspicion.

"... yes, let's check what's inside", she said, "Just... let's be on watch for more centipedes..."

She walked over to the door and motioned with her head for Aden to open it. After her experience with the centipedes, she wasn't going to peek in there first...

Aden opens the door to the new room.

This room has suffered the effects of damp and decay more than many in the house. Mold grows in patches on the floor, walls and ceiling; there are many cobwebs, though even these appear to be decaying. A large copper boiler, dented, split, discolored, and empty, stands under the
window; a small heap of crockery shards is on the floor beside it. Stairs lead down into the darkness of what is presumably a cellar.

Neide gave the dark passage leading down a long look.

"... no, I'm not going down there", she protested, "I know, we can expect everything in this house - but I'll wager that there's nothing down there aside from filth, rats and other vermin. And I've had enough of vermin and bugs."

She pointed toward the staircase leading up.

"I say we go up there and find that witch..."

Kerran gives Neide a look, but says nothing.

The party ascends the narrow staircase to the second floor of the house. The treads appear to be insecure-- three are missing, here and there-- but on the whole, things are not rotted enough to be quite dangerous. (One wouldn't really prefer to have to go back down to the ground floor in a hurry, though.)

Once one is at the top landing, another staircase, along the east wall, climbs to an upper level-- an attic space, apparently. These new stairs have mostly collapsed — only the lowest six steps are still intact, and there is no easy access to the hole in the ceiling to where the staircase used to lead. A heap of rotten timber lies in the northeast corner.

To the southeast, the start of a hallway leads south...

Neide gave a wary look to the damaged staircase leading up. She hoped they wouldn't have to climb up there...

Turning to her friends, she motioned with her head toward the hallway leading south. Then, she started moving along the hallway, looking for any doors... or traps.

Neide moves so that she can see straight down the hallway...

...Yes, all right-- this makes sense-- this hallway is on the west side of this part of the house, so its windows look down upon the same bit of back yard as the exit from the room where the spoooky magic voice sounded, the part with the cracked and weedy patio area...

..So, this hallway goes straight south, past two closed doors, until it gets to an intersection...

Taking that intersection to the left should lead to the other edge of the hole where Neide fell through the floor... no need to go that way...

Going straight leads to more balcony over the entry hall, but otherwise a dead end...

Taking the intersection to the right should lead to more doors that were seen earlier from a distance, and then the party will have explored all of this floor...

"All right, then...", Neide thought.

Remaining on guard, she started walking down the hallway. On her way, she checked the first of the closed doors before the intersection.

OOC: I understand that both of the doors are on the same side of the hallway. If so, Neide will check out the first door she passes. If they are opposite each other on two side of the hallway, Neide will be choose the door to the right.

(No no, you understood correctly.)

This room appears to have been used for storage. A large oak chest stands under the window, its lid closed. Elsewhere in the room are three wooden chairs, all broken, two splintered wooden buckets, and a mildewed sack.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:54, Thu 22 Oct 2020.

Carefully - *very* carefully - Neide approached the chest and tried opening it..

...The chest is empty.

"Well", Neide thought, "At least there were no centipedes inside..."

She closed the chest and left the room. Then, she checked the next door in the hallway...

The next room is a large bedroom, now decaying and dirty. Damp mold covers portions of the walls and ceiling and rubbish is strewn liberally round the floor. In the center is a single mattress which has been badly torn and from which the stuffing protrudes. Under the window is a large wooden chest, the timbers split, its lid closed.

Mindful of her encounters with centipedes, Neide tried peeking into the chest through the gaps between split timber. Was anything moving inside..?

It's dark in there. Neide detects no movement. Doesn't hear anything, either.

Slowly - very slowly - Neide tried opening the chest...

Nothing attacks! Yay!

The chest is not locked, and opens easily. Inside is a pile of moldy, ragged clothing-- nothing of value there-- and a bundle of papers, mostly moldy and stained...

"Yuck", Neide thought.

Nevertheless, her curiosity was stronger than her disgust - so, she tried examining the papers...

Most of the documents are old letters which appear to relate to the original purchase of the house; details are unclear, though their general tenor can be deduced-- sale, financial arrangements, payments...

One sheet, towards the bottom of the bundle, gets Kerran's attention.

"Say, may I see that please?"

Neide hands it over-- it seems to her to be in some other language she doesn't know, or perhaps in code.

Kerran studies it with pleasure. "This is-- it's like a clerical scroll! This is the prayer asking Veles to stiffen the limbs of the enemy, making their joints and sinews temporarily like stone-- this can paralyze an enemy, stop them in their tracks! The mage who used to live here must have come across this but didn't know what it was! Probably meant to study it later, and never got around to it. This is very useful! I haven't mastered this invocation yet-- but this'll let me ask Veles for it once, for sure!"

"Keep it, then", Neide grinned briefly, "This definitely may come handy. It seems that there are useful things to be found in this rotting place..."

She headed back to the corridor.

"Let's move", she hastened her comrades. When they were all ready, she walked to the intersection and took the turn to the right...

There are only two more doors remaining on this floor that haven't been examined, and they're here, on this west wing of the house...the doors open to the south, just like all the rooms over in the east wing...

Neide took a deep breath and tried opening the nearest of the two doors.

Would the witch be inside..?

What was once a fine master bedroom now stands dirty and decayed. Some of the floorboards are missing and there is rubbish scattered around. A tall wooden wardrobe stands against the wall opposite the fireplace, its door closed.

Neide's first instinct was to leave the room be, but the wardrobe got her attention. Recalling the useful scroll she found earlier, she decided to try looking inside...

Watching her step for any faulty floor parts, she approached the wardrobe and tried opening it... slowly. She didn't want to get any further centipede bites...

The wardrobe contains two things: a pair of old, cracked leather boots, and a stained and dirty cloak hanging on a peg.

"The boots look worthless..." said Ondreya, "but... I don't know... something about the cloak... You don't suppose it's a magic item or anything, do you...?"

Neide gave Ondreya a puzzled look.

"Well, you do know magic is not something I've been educated in..."

She picked up the cloak and started examining it. Would there be anything that could confirm Ondreya's suspicions..?

(Roll 2d6 plz)

23:30, Today: Neide rolled 5 using 2d6 with rolls of 2,3.

(Neide gets 1 new xp, and trouble!

13:13, Today: The GM rolled 5 using 1d5, unique dice ((5)).)

Neide takes 5 damage (armor doesn't count).)


The cloak suddenly starts moving, wrapping itself around Neide's head and neck, and choking her...!

(Anything that Neide has to do involving seeing or speaking will come with a -1 penalty, but I can see how her most immediate needs might not require speaking nor seeing...

Tearing this damn thing off Neide's head and getting it the heck off 'er in general will be an STR roll, which by itself won't invoke the penalty...)

Completely surprised by the cloak attacking her, Neide let out a short cry. Then, she desperately started trying to free herself!

13:42, Today: Neide rolled 8 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 3,4.

With great strength, Neide focuses on loosing the horrible thing's grip around her throat.

She succeeds... but it's still wrapped around most of her head, fighting her.

She hears a sword leave its sheath... And then nothing. "I can't cut it," says Aden, "it's too-- I'll cut her!"

Other hands reach out and try to tug at the thing-- it's pulled up some, and Neide's mouth is uncovered...

"Let me try now--" says Ondreya, and there's a small bit of ripping-- now Neide's left eye is uncovered, too, and her right eye can see a bit of the floor... but the cloak still fights her...

(Neide is almost free of the hated thing. One more roll might be enough...

...Unless she flat-out fails the roll...!)

Neide pulled on the cloak even stronger...

04:52, Today: Neide rolled 11 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,6.

Neide finally pulls the cloak entirely off her head, throws it over on the floor away from her, and Aden pins it there with his sword.

Kerran and Ondreya jump over and stomp on the thing, and then Ondreya starts ripping and slashing at it with a dagger.

Finally, the cloak really appears to be dead.

"Not witchcraft, I think," says Aden. "Something else the previous homeowner left behind..."

Neide leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

"Damn it", she uttered in a rasp voice, "That was... scary."

She took a few breaths more, then straightened.

"All right", she said, "No more poking around. I've had enough of suprises. Let's just find that witch..."

She walked out of the room and tried the next door.

Once perhaps a fine guest bedroom, the final room on this hallway is now decayed, like the rest of the house. Rubbish is scattered around; there is some evidence of rodent infestation, and some webs hang torpid in the corners. A four-poster bed, once a grand piece of furniture, is against the wall opposite the fireplace. Its woodwork is worm-ridden, and the curtains which once screened the bed are torn and stained. There is no bed linen, but the frame of the bed is otherwise relatively intact.

"...Nothing," says Kerran, and he gives Neide a look. It's a look that suggests he's thinking If the first and second floors don't have a witch, Neide's not going to like what that leaves...

"So... the attic, then?", Neide commented, "Oh, for Goddess' sake.."

She knocked her fist against the wall in frustration.

"I guess we have try getting into that attic", she continued, looking at her friends, "Any suggestions how to do that? You saw what the stairs were like..."

"That's... not what I was thinking," said Kerran. This was going to be harder than he thought. "There really didn't seem to be stairs leading up," he said. "Unless that was an illusion or something, no stairs would be inconvenient for whomever lives here now. Now, maybe there's some other way up that we're missing, I admit we haven't carefully searched every room. But... Well, in Quayern, when winter comes... we go and live... underground." Kerran's holding back, waiting anxiously to see how Neide will take this line of thinking... For all he knows, she's claustrophobic or something...

As Kerran spoke, Neide's eyes widened in disbelief. Then, she cursed loudly.

"... the cellar!", she moaned, "You think that the witch is that cellar I didn't want to go into..?"

She clenched her fists in frustration.

"Of course, it makes sense. How could I've been so stupid..?"

She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"All right", she said, then, "Let's go down there and check. If she's not there, I'll be inclined to simply torch that whole house down..."

"A normal cellar, for a Sefonian, probably wouldn't have a chimney-- although a Quayern cellar certainly does-- and we saw smoke coming from one of the chimneys earlier, even though I haven't seen a recently-used fireplace above-ground yet," said Kerran. "So whoever built this place probably has a whole living space down below, is my guess, with a hearth that secretly lets out on the roof like all the others..."



The party heads back down to the previously-noted cellar stairs...

Kerran turns to Neide. "Would you like me to go first...?" he asks, still wondering if claustrophobia might be a problem...

"No", Neide shook her head, "I've made a fool of myself already by assuming that nobody could be down there... I won't be a coward now, at least. Let's go."

Having said that, she stepped onto the stairs leading to the cellar...

(Roll Wisdom!)

01:10, Today: Neide rolled 12 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,6.

As soon as Neide treads on the top step, hideous screams — as if of a soul in torment — rise from the darkness below for several seconds.

Ondreya is slightly shaken. "...Suspected that might be coming sooner or later, and yet I still wasn't quite ready," she says, her teeth chattering.

Neide, Aden, and Kerran are fine this time, though. "It suggests that we might be on the right track," says Kerran. "...Although it makes me wonder if there was something in that large room with the first spell that we didn't find..."

"No time to dwell on this now", Neide shook her head, "Let's move"

Remaining on guard, she continued down the stairs... Will there be more tricks or dangers before they reach the cellar..?
This message was last edited by the player at 00:16, Tue 08 Dec 2020.

The area Neide and the party descend to was obviously once a wine cellar. Wooden bottle racks —mostly broken — line the north and west walls to a height of 6’. There appear to be no intact bottles left in the racks, though there are several with broken necks. Broken bottles cover the floor beneath and near the racks.

Against the east wall, at the foot of the stairs, are two large metal storage bins which appear to be empty.

In the center of the room lies a human corpse clad in plate mail; a longsword lies by the corpse’s right hand, and a large shield lies across the legs.

As she spotted the corpse, she raised her palm, warning her friends to stop.

A dead body... why was this person dead, though? Was there a trap nearby? Also, where was the witch..?

Neide looked slowly around the cellar, trying to spot any threats - and to see if there was some doorway leading to any further chamber...

If there's a threat, a trap, or a secret or hidden door, it's not noticeable from just standing and looking...

As she couldn't discern anything just from looking around, Neide braced herself and moved slowly toward the corpse. When she was close enough, she tried prodding it with her sword...

OOC: In case you need a Wisdom roll:

01:19, Today: Neide rolled 8 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,2.

The corpse does nothing.

One of the many things it doesn't do is jump up and attack, like an undead monster would.

OOC: Hey, the previous corpse did jump on Neide, right? :)

As the corpse seemed to be what it appeared to be - just a dead body, nothing more - Neide kneeled and tried examining the dead warrior. Who could they be and what could've killed them..?

"By Veles!" hisses Aden. Neide looks up. Aden is over at the far wall looking down at something. He looks back at her. "Don't touch that body," he hisses (why are we whispering now?)...

Confused, Neide almost opened her mouth to speak... but then, she realized that Aden was quite probably whispering for a reason. So, in silence, she cautiously moved away from the body - then, she mouthed a wordless question to Aden: what was going on?

Ondreya and Kerran come over to listen, too.

Aden points to the metal bin. "On the bottom of this, before I turned it over, was a very powerful sigil of death. Probably this fellow saw it-- which is exactly why it was placed here, I'm sure. The sigil's used up now-- although I turned the bin over, because why be reckless? --but sometimes it sticks to the body after it's killed, which is why I warned you not to touch 'im. This was serious witchcraft... which says to me we're getting close. I bet there's a hidden door around here somewhere-- I'm guessing built into this wall where the sigil was placed. Shall we search... quietly...?"

"... yes", Neide nodded, "Yes, of course. Let's search for it..."

From the tone of her voice it was clear that she was unnerved. A sigil that kills you when you see it? That witch really was starting to frighten her...

She turned to the wall to look for the hidden door.

"What if there are other sigils like that further on..?", she voiced her concern, as her eyes moved over the wall, "How do we protect ourselves from them?"

OOC: Here's a WIS roll to speed things up...

01:34, Today: Neide rolled 6 using 2d6 with rolls of 1,5.

"I have a thing I can do if that happens. Death isn't quite instantaneous," says Aden. "But she wouldn't leave them around where she could see them, and a witch can almost never have more than one of those active at a time anyway. But other than that? Cross your fingers. Seriously, that helps."





Neide is so distracted thinking about death magic and crossing her fingers, she finds nothing.

(Neide gets 1 new xp and takes -1 forward on her next roll.

GM rolls some dice...)


Fortunately, Aden and Kerran find a stone in the wall that makes something slide to the side... A new chamber awaits beyond. One can't tell much about it save that it is already lit by firelight.

Just as Aden and Kerran are about to slide the section wider, an annoyed woman's voice calls, from the other side, "--Come on in..."

Neide shot Aden and Kerran a surprised look. The witch sounded... just annoyed?

She shrugged and stepped closer to the opening, motioning for her friends to slide the false wall to the side.

"Be ready for anything", she whispered, as the opening was wide enough - then, she stepped inside...

The party enters a room which is so unlike anything else previously seen in the House that for a moment Neide pauses, somewhat taken aback. The illumination here is good since several lighted torches are held in shoulder-high brackets around the walls. This was obviously a cellar, but equally obviously, it is now used for an entirely different purpose; your first impression is that it is the living quarters for about ten people.

Ten single beds (crude affairs — little more than thin mattresses on boards) stand with heads to the south wall, each with a small wooden locker at its foot. In the center of the flagged floor is a long wooden trestle table on which there is a variety of cheap metal cutlery and earthenware crockery together with a large jug about half full of a light brown liquid. There are a dozen wooden stools round the table. Against the north wall are two casks, one larger than the other, but only one has been broached. A metal dipper hangs on the outside of the rim of the larger cask.

Next to the casks is a large wooden bin. Above it, hanging on hooks on the wall, are a large ham, a long string of sausages and a small side of meat. Next to the bin is what appears to
be a crude, metal wood-fired stove standing in a fireplace.

Above the stove, on a shelf, are some iron and earthenware cooking utensils, while next to it is a small pile of logs.

There's also a stairway, stone, in good repair! So there was some other way down here, too!

A woman of perhaps 40 years stirs a cauldron. "Well, well, a motley crew... Even an Easterner! I think you'll find there'll be no need for violence, good folk. If you've gotten this far, I'm in a mood to answer your questions..."

Aden glances at Neide, shrugs. He apparently doesn't think any witchcraft is being used so far...
This message was last updated by the player at 14:43, Tue 05 Jan 2021.

Neide gave a questioning look to Kerran and Ondreya. What did they think of what they were seeing?

Turning back to the witch, Neide pointed at her with her sword.

"You can start by explaining who you are, exactly", she said harshly, "And what exactly all of this is...."

She motioned in the general direction of the room with her blade.

(I changed the witch's portrait to one I liked better, but it didn't change at first. So, edited.)

"My name is Rowena, and this is my house. But I understand what you really mean by your question... Amongst the paid services I offer to the demi-monde is to sometimes allow my home to be used as a sort of refuge for those... who wish to avoid trouble with the authorities. It's a service that's fairly lucrative... but which I sometimes regret starting in the first place... which is why you and I are discussing things now. I think you're here because of certain colleagues of mine... colleagues toward whom, this week, I'm feeling a certain amount of annoyance."

"That sounds... interesting", Neide said, her eyes still keeping a close watch of the witch, "We *are* seeking a group of people who are up to no good. I assume these would be the... colleagues you speak of. So... what's the reason for your annoyance..?"

"It's you. You've found me. I don't like people even coming in the house upstairs, let alone finding me. Since I started living here, no one's ever stood where you're standing without being invited. That means my record of unwanted visitors is good. That means the problem of you people originates with my colleagues. The plan sounded a little iffy from the first, although lucrative, but it was never, never supposed to lead back to me, and that means someone's messed up, to put it mildly. This is why I had misgivings about the plan in the first place-- it seemed a little too ambitious, a little too big. Now I feel like I should move. And I mean, away. And I kind of liked it here-- it was the perfect place to live in complete obscurity. The problem, I suppose, was that it was too good-- no one could do business with me unless I trusted them enough to tell them how to find me... And it appears I've finally trusted the wrong person or persons."

"So. Now you're here, and I don't believe it's coincidence. I think it's connected to The Goings-On. I don't want to fight you, and I will modestly suggest that you don't want to fight me. The fact that you haven't started doing so yet suggests that you might be intelligent, reasonable people... So. Here's my suggestion: You tell me what you know, and what you don't know, and I'll fill in all the gaps about things you don't know about. The way I'd like this to work is that you, with the information I give you, go back to town and deal with the people actually causing the trouble that brought you here, and I pack up and go. How does that sound?"

Neide remained silent for a moment, considering the options. Eventually, she lowered her sword... tentatively.

"All right", she nodded, "It's a deal. We won't fight and we'll let you leave this town in peace - but will tell us what you know in return."

She motioned toward the beds.

"Let's start with... who exactly are your 'colleagues'? Some sort of mercenaries? And *why* are they here?"

"They're... let me think for a moment, and make what I know of as a long story into as short a story as possible." She thinks for a good minute. "...All right, let me say it this way: The man you think you want-- and you're right-- is a man named Arno Marwell. He's a mercenary, a soldier of fortune, and he has his own little band of sellswords, and he's about as scrupulous as a falling leaf, which is to say that you can count on him to be as reliable as the money you've paid him, as long as his life's not at risk, in which case he'll sell you out as soon as blink, which is part of why I'm telling you this right now. Arno's really quite a good swordsman, and good with a crossbow, good at a lot of things.

But the man you really want is a rich man in the town, a man named Rollo Festin, who's at least twice as smart as Arno, and at least twice as dangerous. Even I wouldn't be crossing him, unless I was immediately about to move far away, which I am.

Rollo wants total control of the town, because there's no such thing as 'enough' money for a man like that, and he's going to get it by replacing the constables with Arno and his men. Arno and his men are the ones who've been committing all the goings-on lately... thanks to me. I know a spell that can make it... very hard to notice something, even when it's happening right in front of you, as long as it doesn't endanger your own life. With the charms I've been providing Arno and his men... well, as long as they don't actually attack any people, they can do almost anything, as long as they do it quickly, and no one will notice anything until shortly after Arno and his men leave the scene of the crime.

I imagine that fits what you know already...?"

Neide nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes, it what we - more or less - suspected", she said, "So... this Rollo Festin is trying to stir trouble up to oust the current Chief Constable and have Arno and his men take over as the town guard. Do you happen to know what Rollo might be planning to do next? We know what he had Arno do so far - but is he planning to do something else than theft and arson? Also... you don't happen to have any kind of proof that Rollo is behind all of this, do you? Say, any letters from him that would mention his plans..?"

Neide knew it was a longshot, but she thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"After he replaces the current constables with men who'll really be working directly for him? No idea about specifics, though I'm sure make sure no one can stop him and make lots more money are on his agenda..."



"Once he controls the town? No idea. Before he controls the town? ...I don't know that either, but as I've said, my spell to make people not notice Arno and his men would break if they physically attacked anyone directly, so... perhaps not?"




"No. And I'm not about to testify to it, either. My advice to you is to get Arno to turn on Festin. It shouldn't be too hard, if you can overpower him-- this plan relied heavily on secrecy-- and as I've strongly implied already, Arno's as loyal as a well-oiled weathervane. And of course Arno's men are rather less strong-willed than Arno himself."

"All right, then", Neide nodded, pondering on what Rowena said, "I suppose that, without a proof, having Arno turn on Festin is a good idea. The question is: where can we find them? They are not here, so... do you happen to know where they went?"

"Have you checked the area known as Greenhill, to the northwest of Bredon...?"

"We started to," says Aden. "I think we ran into Arno and his men coming back toward town, on the path. A clue we found on one dead man helped-- slightly-- to lead us here, but Arno got away... Shall we presume that they'll have abandoned whatever camp they have there...?"

"Yes, that's probably a safe assumption..." says Rowena. "Festin wouldn't be putting them up at his place, I don't think... And since you saw Arno's face, he'll still be in hiding, not staying at an inn... Ah..." She frowns, hesitant.

Aden also seems uncertain about something...

(Which of the two do you encourage to speak their mind?

If you say "both," one will speak, but you'll scare the other off...)

Neide took note on the strange look on her friend's face.

"Aden?", she asked, "What is it? You seem to be concerned about something..."

Aden speaks to Neide quietly. "...Now that I know that the reason the constable's men could not catch the perpetrators in the act was because of witchcraft... I think I could disrupt it. Would you have sufficient confidence in me for us to set up our own attempted ambush of catching them red-handed...?"

Neide raised an eyebrow, as she heard what Aden had to say.

"You think you could do this?", she replied, "Well, catching them red-handed could be just what we need. If you could this, I say we go with it..."

"I think I can..."

"All right", Neide nodded, "Let's try this."

She turned back to Rowena, then.

"I understand that you do not know where Arno and his men are hiding now, do you?", she said, "But maybe you could help us with something else? This Rollo Festin fellow... he seems to be a real master of puppets. It stands to reason that it's not only Arno and his men who are working for him. So... do you happen to know who else in the town works for Festin? Are there any people you know we shouldn't trust?"

Rowena frowns slightly. "I am aware of no one that anyone in town couldn't warn you about. That's not to say there couldn't be such people that secretly do Festin's will, but I don't know who they might be any more than anyone else."

"I see", Neide nodded again.

She looked over the room again, the sight of beds drawing her attention.

"One last thing", she said, "If Arno's men used to stay here, did they leave any possessions of theirs here? If so, could we take look? Maybe there will be something there that would give some more hints on their plans..."

"Hm... I think that they left nothing of importance... But as a gesture of goodwill, I will let you look."

(Roll Int to search...)

01:26, Today: Neide rolled 6 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 3,2.

Meh.

The footlockers, all unlocked, contain only clothing and small personal effects of no interest, beyond indicating that those who've been using this room are male.

Now that Neide's looking around this room a little more, she notes two more doors off to the left, one of which is sturdily barred with a thick wooden bar.

Neide tilted her head thoughtfully, as she noticed the two doors.

"Did Arno's men use these two rooms..?", she asked, turning to Rowena, "Could we peek..?"

She knew she probably could force her way into these rooms. But they could be Rowena's living space and there was no point in antagonizing the witch...

"They did not. The door on the left leads to my own quarters. Do not enter there.

The door that is barred... leads to an area used by the original owner of this house... He left some... guardians in there. ...Would you like to see...?"

"... no", Neide replied, "I don't think I'm that curious..."

In fact, she wasn't curious about the 'guardians' at all. She's had enough of magic for today...

"All right", she said, turning to her friends, "I think we're done here. Unless anyone has other suggestions..?"

Personally, she couldn't think of anything else to ask Rowena - but she could be missing something...

No one else seems to have any bright ideas regarding prolonging things, either...

Seeing that her friends didn't have suggestions, Neide turned to Rowena.

"We'll take our leave now, then", she said, extending her hand in a farewell gesture, "Thank you for your help. I'm glad we resolved this without unneeded violence... Stay safe in your travels."

Having said her goodbyes, she headed out of Rowena's hideout and out of the house...

Nothing interferes with the party of allies leaving the house upstairs...

OOC: To make sure - we're out of the house, yes?

(Yeah, go ahead and post in the yard if you wish, or back in the original Bredon thread.)