Session notes 3-11-2019 & 6-12-2019

the 27th of Irawish
 
With renewed energy we decide by vote to travel northward, back towards Baferton and eventually Volheim.
 
Ferrum is back!
 
Thanks to our inventor and some help of others we have created a magnificent tent-cart that will be pulled by Kastanjesok towards our new destination.
 
The first day of travel is calm, a bit of rain. We mostly talk about the things we have done the past few days, what we saw in the temple, what we think about La Familia and Vida. The usual stuff.
 
I also took some time to look at a book that has recently come into my possession. I woke up with it at the end of my bed one morning. It looks a bit like the spellbook I have but it has more complex writing inside. I think it is another way to cast spells, much like I have seen Thalmiir do. I have not yet used the book, i looked through it and thought about asking Thalmiir to take a look at it for me, but I'm not quite sure yet.
 
As we set up for the night Liya goes out to find some food, she is very quick on her feet and returns in no time. We take watch and the night goes by without issue. I suspect Ferrum has stayed up during the night?
 
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28th of Irawish
The day is calm and travel is swift. Thalmiir tells us a bit about why he wants to go back to Baferton. Apparently he has some unfinished business with an orc? half-orc?
He lost his brother to this (half) orc and has sworn to take revenge. He had asked the local authorities and police departments to keep track of stories around the (half) orc and his band of bandits, and they had pointed him back to Baferton.
 
As the evening starts to fall, we decide to set up our camp once again. However, as we look around, we see a rather large house in the distance.
As we get closer, we see that the place is abandoned. There is no light inside, the stables are empty.
 
Curious as we are, we decide to investigate. Knocking gives us no answer. Looking inside only reveals two statues standing guard on either side of the door on the inside, and a flash of blight blue lights on the other side of the door.
 
Taking more harsh measures and trying to break the door shows us, rather painfully, that the door is magically reinforced by magic that is preventing the door from being forced open.
As this is going on at the door, Ferrum and Liya decide to walk around the building for a bit, after which Liya and I decide to take some time setting up the tents, suspecting we are just going to camp outside.
 
After a while, Thalmiir and Ferrum to try and go around the back inside the house, nearly setting the fence around the garden on fire while trying to climb over. As soon as they are in the garden, the front door opens with a soft 'click'.
 
I just now saw that there is smoke being emitted from the chimney.
 
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its nearly the 29th of Irawish as I am writing this, sitting next to the ruins of what was montharas manor. Together with Ferrum, I am keeping the first watch of the night. But first the story:
 
So, as we started investigating the mansion after the door opened, a totally reasonable choice, we were immediately met by the statues on the other side of the door. As Thalmiir said the felt the presence of elementals they started to move and shift to attack us. With some quick movements and right hits, we finished them of in a flash, after which Ferrum immediately started running into the next room.
 
Of course, the door had closed behind us. (Selûne be damned)
As we continued into the next room, a gryphon statue scared the shit out of all of us for a second. But soon our interest was drawn toward a little doll laying on one of the sofa's in the dusty, half dark room. Liya had already spotted the puppet and suggested we put it in de bag of holding 'just in case'. As Ferrum tries to do this, the doll comes to live, scratches and fights, somehow makes the chandelier drop from the ceiling and disappears into the shadows.
 
Confused as we were we decided to investigate a bit more.
 
One of the rooms that stood out was the dining room, where apparitions of people were sitting down to dine. They did not seem to notice us at first. Everyone at the table was happy and eating except for the host, a middleaged human man who stands up, walks straight towards Ferrum, stands op straight and scrams 'Get out of my house!" .... "NOW!".
Shaken by this event, we try to leave the mansion at first, but the door is still closed, so our investigation continues.
 
In all the hassle, Thalmiir has found a sort of ballroom where two other apparations are having a moment.
The host of the dinner party, though younger is talking to a lady. If I remember correctly they said the following:
"leave together"
"cant, a lot of work"
"army of undead is rising"
"We need to go "
before they disappeared into nothing.
Looking through the windows from this room shows a different landscape than the one we came from. The garden looks well kept and there are no burn marks on the fences. The hills we travelled through are scattered with houses that we were sure were not there before.
 
Going back to the door, we find that there is a route to the second floor that has opened up.
as the front door is still not open, we decide to continue looking around.
-two little blue eyes peered at us from the other side of the door-

The next floor is a long hallway to which several rooms are connected. The hallways look old and weathered and a soft green glow from lines on the floor is the only source of light present. We hear the footsteps of a little doll and are immediately on edge.
 
As we pass through the rooms (will add a little map later) we find a room with some apparations, a giant spider and a room with a body in a bathtub.
All a lot of fun as one can imagine. The dead ladies arms are cut open and the bath is stained red from old blood. As Thalmiir tries to get closer a ghostly image of the lady appears and immediately disappears after touching Thalmiir. Thalmiir starts attacking us with his hands and hammer (as if he was possessed). Speaking directly with him (telepathically) gives no answer and I can't command the lady to get out. So we let Ferrum knock him out, painful but effective.
 
 
As this happens, the creepy doll appears again, attempting to bite and slash at us once again.
Getting kind of done with this doll we attempt to hunt it down once and for all, but she disappears into the shadows once again.
After a bit of healing (mostly Thalmiir) we continue into some other rooms.
There are those we do not open (Ghouls were sensed on the other side of the door) and those we do.
As we find ourselves in a very nice kitchen, we are once again greeted by a not so friendly spirit that throws just about anything at us. A Poltergeist as Ferrum later told me. Everyone was very swift and quick and avoided all of the throws, but as I tried to close the door a plate turned sideways and hit me straight in the face. It was not necessarily painful physically, but mentally it was horrendous.
 
Finally, we find our way to what looks like a study. A skeleton secretary greets us, while writing down dates, names and war strategies, and states that 'Advisor Gertrude' had been waiting for us. (Advisor Gertrude then proceeded to walk through the door, without noticing us, but it was the lady from the ballroom)
 
But the skeleton lets us pass, and in the small waiting hallway we see a little girl holding the damned doll that had been following us all the time. The girl looks at us, smiles and at that moment her throat is cut by the doll and the little thing attacks us again.
As we were completely done with her at his point, and with Ferrum pinning her down, preventing her to flee into the shadows, we finally completely destroy her.
 
We hear Gertrude laugh and Thalmiir opens the door, upon which Ferrum, Liya and I are sucked into the door by a strong wind.
 
*
 
A fierce battle takes place, between us and three ghouls who are controlled by the still living(?) Gertrude. The room we were sucked into is a large study, with a lot of dirty windows and walls covered by some kind of sluggish material. On the ceiling, there is the man we saw earlier totally covered by the strange goo, with the green light emitting from him.
 
The ghouls were quickly cut down by us and were equally fast reanimated by Gertrude. As soon as she takes damage, she draws energy(?) from the wall and seems to heal herself. Every time this happens the light grows dimmer in the room.
As we are following her around the room, she suddenly disappears and reappears in the hallway. William and I chase her down, as Thalmiir, Erky and Liya focus on the man in the ceiling.
 
Chasing her was successful but I was knocked out by her. and I awoke after Ferrum and William took care of me a little bit.
There was not a lot of time to recover, as the building started collapsing. It was only later that I heard that Thalmiir, Erky and Liya had managed to 'kill' the man on the ceiling and that that had caused the house to collapse back upon itself.
 
Outside, we take some time to breathe and camp which is where we are at now. I still feel very shitty but have decided to take the first watch with Ferrum.
I needed some time to think after going knock out.
During this time I saw the being that gifted me the powers I have now. The Bard, as I have called him before. It was not necessarily scary, but a bit confronting as I had always hoped that he would maybe forget about me? But it is clear he did not, but maybe using these powers granted by him do not help with me trying to escape his view.
 
As Ferrum and I keep watch, we exchange secrets. Ferrum is curious to find out more about the party, as we have been travelling together for some time now. Starting with some simple stories, such as Ferrum being very scared of anything we face in battle, and me telling him that when I was younger I tried to put on some a very ornate set of plate mail armour and fell over because it was way too heavy for me. To eventually stories about how Ferrum, got to be the way he is now, and me telling him about my encounter with The Bard earlier that evening.
 
 
 
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29th of Irawish
 
Eventually, I must have passed out because the next time I woke up, I was right next to the fireplace and Ferrum and William were making a hell of a sound to supposedly scare something away... possibly Gertrude, she got away so maybe she is still hunting us. But I was too tired to think about it then, and I let the subtle music hush me asleep once again.