Morek dips his finger into the puddle and discovers it is just water.

Digger dumps his hunting stones and puts his shirt back on to free up his hand. He follows the herd.

Sarelor looks at the cul de sac, and sighs, "ok, that makes me feel a little better... wait, no it doesn't. I almost asked why the dead would have need of buildings, but I don't feel like being out of doors on a cold night, so if I'm dead I would have need of buildings."

"This is some horrible curse, forcing us to question our own existence. We must have truly angered whomever bestowed this dwoemer upon us. Cursed with both physical misery and existential confusion, what will become of us."

He rubs his ribs as he trudges on to the enclave they've found. "Such a cursed magical dimension that even the trees are unclimbable," he grumbles.

Kyra sighed audibility at Sarelor, shaking her head. "Your not dead and this isn't tbe afterlife. Would you feel hungry, tired or thirsty if your dead....no. Would you feel pain...no. This is no cursed magical realm. It's a place, nothing more."

She walked on, mumbling. "why do.men overreact so much" she asked herself.

She made for the homes and the crying.

The offshoot is a short gravel road which leads to a small hamlet containing a few houses which are dark as tombstones.  A tall Victorian-style home stands between two squat, ramshackle buildings.

The loud whimpering draws your eye toward a pair of children standing in front of the middle house, a boy and a girl.  The boy's cries attracted your attention, and what appears to be his older sister is attempting to console him.


This message was last edited by the GM at 04:11, Thu 25 Feb 2021.

Digger looks thoughtful, "You might. It kind of depends on where you wind up, doesn't it?"

He moves up to the children, "What's the problem, kids?"

Kyra shakes her head at the human. "Fool" she muttered under her breath.

As they approached the house and the kids. As Digger casually addresses the children, she shoots him a dark look, and walks up slowly, crouching to their level. "Hi....my name is Kyra. What has your brother so sad?"

Sarelor quietly scoffs. "It's amazing how many people I meet that know what it feels like to be dead."

Rather than argue, he joins the others as they approach the odd house. Not wanting to interfere with those asking after the crying child, he stands off and looks around in hopes of spotting someone in one of the other houses.

After shushing the boy, the girl turns to the group and says, “There’s a monster in our house!” She then points to a tall brick row house that has seen better days. Its windows are dark. It has a gated portico on the ground floor, and the rusty gate is slightly ajar. The houses on either side are abandoned, their windows and doors boarded up.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:49, Thu 25 Feb 2021.

"Where're your parents? And what kind of monster?"

The children look young, both below ten.  The boy clutches a stuffed doll close to his chest while the girl responds softly.  "Mommy and daddy are in the basement trying to quiet the thing...but the howls are so loud this time!  Poor Thorn couldn't stay inside any longer.

"I've never seen it...we aren't allowed down there."  She looks down and puts an arm around the boy, who has pulled close to her side.

In reply to The Narrator (msg # 61):

Digger nods at the boy then heads around the house until he finds the basement doors, he opens them and heads down "to lend a hand".

Digger steps away from the group as they converse with the children.

He circles around the home, but is unable to find any entrance outside of the stone portico.  On either side of the multi-story building are two smaller buildings; both of them look rotting and decrepit as if under years of neglect.  On the left appears to be a smaller home and the right seems to be an old, ruined stable.

In the back of the house, the surrounding area looks as if wilderness is in full swing of reclaiming past farmland.

Sarelor looks at the decrepit buildings, and the fallow farmland, then smiles and heads to the front door. "Hello the house," he loudly exclaims, "is anyone to home?"

Sarelor steps away from Morek, Kyra and the children.

Morek took a knee in front of the kids and pointed at the boy, "The lad is Thorn? And what's your name?" He let the girl answer before he proceeded, "And your parents? What're their names?"

Listening for sounds from the house
12:49, Today: Morek rolled 8 using 1d20+3.  Perception.


"I can perform a ritual that might help us locate the monster, and know more about what we're dealing with. I could skip the ritual and cast it now, but it would remove my ability to save lives later."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:54, Thu 25 Feb 2021.

The boy nods shyly and half-hides behind his sister.  "My name is Rose," she says matter-of-factly, "short for Rosavalda.  Thorn is short for Thornboldt.  Our parents are..." she trails off, thinking hard, "...Gustav and Elisabeth!  And we have a baby brother, Walter.  We're actually supposed to be watching him, but we left him in the nursury."

At the mention of a baby being involved as well, Morek didn't bother waiting to hear the other's opinions on the ritual.

Cast Detect Evil and Good

Sense the presence and location of all aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, fiend, or undead within 30 feet, and any magical consecrated/desecrated ground in 30 ft, for the next 10 minutes

With no external door and a monster in the basement, Digger heads inside the house to find stairs down.

OOC: Would you mind including a reminder for me in your posts?  Either as a short "Active Spells" private line, or OOC.  Just so I don't forget.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:08, Thu 25 Feb 2021.

Morek grabbed the kids and ushered them over to the side, "Stay here while we go in to help. You can step inside and close the door if there is danger out here."

With that, he followed Digger into the home.

Active: Detect Evil (30 ft)

Kyra smiled at the two as they spoke, a warm smile. "Both beautiful names. Rose....why don't you and your brother take shelter some place. We will go check on your parents and brother."

With that, the half elf woman stood, and nodding to Morek, waljed beside him, looking over at Sarelor. "Come on...food can wait, we have people to find."

She follows Digger and Moree into the house but pauses, looking at the stable. "Hold on a second, I want to check something." She walks to the stable and looks on tbe floor, going in for a second, then returns out. "OK....let's go."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:27, Thu 25 Feb 2021.

OOC: I'll wait to see if Sarelor has any further questions for the children before moving on.

If Kyra wants to explore outside a bit more before going on, that's her choice. Digger isn't waiting. Time is still passing inside, after all.

Sarelor stares back at the children for a moment, and then decides they'll be just fine sitting where they were and walks into the house to look for adult people who might have answers.