Casa di Chimera

The Casa di Chimera is the ancestral home of the The Guilliero Family. It is abandoned and has been for a while due to a curse attributed to Arnaldo Guilliero.
The Guilliero family curse is caused by the restless spirit of Arnaldo himself. His portrait is Arnaldo’s doorway to the material plane and is held to the wall by a powerful supernatural force that cannot be removed by any means short of a wish spell. Touching either the canvas or the golden frame causes that person to experience a flash of intense cold. Daily, at the stroke of midnight, the ghost of Arnaldo Guilliero will step from the portrait. His form is a ghostly green colour that represents the toxins he subjected his body to in life and his arrival is accompanied by clouds of glowing green smoke. If no living beings are present, he will patrol the first two floors of the estate until dawn, at which point he disappears back within the painting.

Design

Arnaldo Guilliero’s massive portrait conceals the entrance to his secret laboratory. Here the Blood Hunter was able to work in peace, tirelessly concocting the various tinctures, potions and mutagens that would give him the edge against even the most dangerous quarry. In this chamber he explored forbidden alchemy and experimented on himself to achieve maximum effect. The process was often unpleasant and some of the consequences of his transformations are still apparent from the fingernail-spaced grooves and scratches on the walls and surfaces, the dark stains upon the floor and the worn restraints and harnesses he used to try to contain himself.

If any living person enters the room, a pseudodragon statuette on Arnaldo’s desk will expel four small orbs that shed a dim light out to a range of 10 feet. These orbs slowly rotate around the room in an undulating pattern around 5 to 8 feet from the floor and do not expire as long as there are humanoid creatures present. Complex arrays of tarnished copper alembic stills, tubes and cannisters jostle for space atop a large table supported by strong wrought iron legs. Closer inspection reveals that the table’s flat surface is made from a single slab of pure black obsidian.

Another wooden table is strewn with scattered scrolls and parchment, including several crazed scrawlings of huge reptilian beasts. One of these drawing is simply of a large three-toed footprint and is annotated with ‘the thundering roar’.

There are shelves of glass bottles and containers, some of which are still sealed and contain liquid contents. Most of these are reagents necessary for various alchemical experiments. However, scattered amongst these are nine potions of healing, six potions of greater healing and two potions of superior healing. There are also three vials of acid, three flasks of alchemists’ fire, one potion of fire giant’s strength (orange transparent liquid with a black half-moon shaped item floating in it), one potion of invulnerability (syrupy liquid iron), three potions of heroism (blue potion that bubbles and steams as if boiling), two potions of poison resistance (transparent green) and one potion of speed (continually swirling streaks of black in a yellow fluid). There is also a thin flask containing a highly congealed dark liquid marked ‘blood’. This is the preserved blood of Arnaldo Guilliero.

Show spoiler

For combat purposes Arnaldo Guilliero uses the ghost stats but with the following changes. Arnaldo’s ghost has max HP and retains all the proficiencies he had in life, including simple and martial weapon proficiencies. His save DC is 15 instead of 13 for all effects. He has 1 Legendary resistance per day where if he fails a saving throw, he can instead choose to succeed. Additionally, he can take 3 Legendary Actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time, and only at the end of another creature's turn. Spent legendary Actions are regained at the start of each turn. • Attack – Arnaldo makes one Withering Touch attack. If he is possessing a target this is replaced by one weapon attack. • Reconstruction – Arnaldo regains 8 hit points. • Blood Blindness – a target within 60 feet that requires eyes to see and has blood must make a Constitution saving throw. If it fails it is blinded until the start of Arnaldo’s next turn.

Denizens

The house is haunted by the ghosts of the The Guilliero Family:

• Deidra Guilliero - Unlike her husband, Deidra loved light and her chamber is located at the front of their grand townhouse so as to make use of the large windows. It is known that her husband showered his love with fine gifts from his many travels, including an ornate dressing screen from Mitzu and a necklace of rare black pearls.
• Armando Guilliero - Armando’s bedroom is on the top floor and gives clues about both his bullish personality and his desire to prove his worth through force of arms. A servant’s journal reveals he became an officer in the Milagonian army.
• Eldriche Guilliero - In his bedroom there is a mandolin is propped against the wall. His shelves are filled with books of music, art, philosophy and the arcane.
• Eduardo Guilliero
• Michele Guilliero - Michele materialises from the Ethereal plane, rising from the wing-backed chair. If players enter the room with weapons or holy symbols drawn, he is immediately suspicious and hostile, fearing his brother has sent them to destroy him. He will attempt to possess one of them, but if this is unsuccessful, he will flee back to the Ethereal plane. However, if players appear in an exploratory frame of mind and they have not already spoken to Eduardo in the sitting room, he will make the reverse argument to his brother, explaining that only with Eduardo’s destruction can he truly pass on. In exchange for this, he offers the same secret as Eduardo.
• Sofia Guilliero - Interacting with her notebook summons the shade of Sofia Guilliero from the Ethereal Plane.Sofia was actively investigating the family curse and moved into the Guilliero estate. Her notebook contains her research and early findings. She was able to explore the first two floors before it grew dark and she retired to the Master Bedroom to sleep. During the night she was visited by the ghost of Arnaldo Guilliero who asked her if she ‘believed’. Unfortunately, her enquiring mind went into overdrive and she asked him questions rather than responding in the affirmative. As a result, the ghost grew hostile and she succumbed to its withering touch. Her body was left to fester for some time before she was discovered and the keys to the house retrieved. Sofia wanted nothing more than to uncover the mysteries of the Guilliero family. If the players take her notebook with them as they explore, she will follow them and converse with them quite happily, but she will not aid them in combat. She knows that the portrait cannot be pried away from the wall (having tried to do this herself) and seems to be held there by some unnatural force. She also knows a lot about the history of Arnaldo and his family and will freely share information if the players approach her in a scientific or academic way, though she mistrusts social niceties and pandering as she associates such tactics with the ambitious, but less intelligent people who often tried to take credit for her work when she was alive. Sofia knows the stories and identities of all the other undead creatures in the house, having either pieced the information together or from interviewing during her afterlife. If players mention the second floor whilst in her presence, she will warn them that something unnatural stalks the hallways above. Update: Sofia has met the party. She took a shine to Petryan due to his scientific mind, but mistrusts Gamble due to her fawning attempts at persuasion. Sofia’s fate relies on the party returning and lifting the curse of Arnaldo Guilliero.
• Zella Chesleale nee Guilliero - Zella was abandoned by her philandering husband, who abandoned her and their young son, Paolo, and left them to fend for themselves. Alone and desperate, Zella resorted to claiming the vacant Guilliero estate, in spite of the legends of the family curse. Needless to say, the spirit of Arnaldo discovered her and possessed her body, forcing her to hang herself from the first-floor balcony. Without his mother, Paolo starved to death and his remains are still present in the nursery on the second floor.
• Paolo Chesleale - Paolo is still lost and afraid. Initially he is meek and shy, but his spirit is capable of throwing an almighty tantrum if provoked. If players are kind, he will lead them to where he ‘lay down'. Inside the toy chest, nestled amongst spinning tops, rattles and old rags, are the skeletal remains of a small child. If these are gathered and returned to Zella, it will reunite mother with child and complete her quest. Both souls will then be able to pass on peacefully.
• Di Maggio - Di Maggio was the Guilliero family butler and his ghost appears as a grey and sober man, dressed in sharp livery. Pre-occupied with order in life, he is unable to rest until the bottles of wine in the pantry have been organised into date order, from oldest to newest. His spirit is not immediately aggressive but will become so if any player attempts to steal any of the wine. Otherwise, he paws ineffectually at the bottles with a forlorn expression. The party avoided entering the pantry and did not meet di Maggio. His soul lingers on.

Type

Mansion / Villa

Parent Location

La Riserva