Session 10 - Demon in the Orphanage

General Summary

• We head to the St. Andral's Orphanage
  • It looks weathered
  • Damia knocks on the door, with the rest of us close behind
  • Headmistress Claudia Belasco greets us. She is straight-backed, but graying
  • Damia asks if we can speak to Milivoj the Gravekeeper, and Ariah explains that Father Lucian sent us
  • She is suspicious and asks if we're seeking money from him.
  • He is quite sick now
  • Someone else has been here to asks him about money later today
  • He has been out cold for a few days. Ariah offers to help, explaining that she is a cleric
  • Jonathan asks her to describe the people who came. There were two brothers, rough around the edges. They had information from him and wanted money from him.
  • Milivoj gets up to "all these different dealings", she doesn't pry to much
  • He is 19 years old
  • We're invited in and head to Milivoj's room
    • Milivoj's room is covered in dirt
    • Jonathan cleans up some of the dirt with Prestidigitation (In an alternate universe, he hurls the dirt in Richard's face because of a rasist remark...)
    • He has "byller" and is bleeding in a face
    • Claudia is concerned that it is contagious, as some of the children has started exhibiting the same symptomps.
    • Richard approaches him to check his condition. He feels an evil presence and knows that the disease is not completely natural
    • Richard asks why he is here, when he is an adult. She says that he should have moved out, but he has step brothers here and is helping out
    • Ariah asks for some privacy, and Claudia leaves
    • We discuss, and Ariah suspects that this is caused by the artifact we're after, and that we need to get it away from them before curing them
    • Damia casts Detect Magic and detects strong necromancy all around him, some faint traces on the kids and a very strong presence above us
    • Ariah, standing close to the bed, sees something on the bed posts: Small marks in infernal meaning "dark dreams"
    • She points it out, and Richard notices that it has been carved in with a knife
    • Damia confirms that they are faintly magical
    • Richard uses Detect Poison and Disease, but doesn't detect anything
    • We talk about how to remove curses, and Jonathan mentions a curse from a bird (when he saw himself dead at the crossroads)
    • Richard insults him with a rasist remark, Jonathan responds by using prestidigitation to make his socks wet
    • They start arguing, and everyone except Richard goes to check upstairs
    • After we leave, Richard notices that Claudia enters the kitchen
    • Eventually Jonathan comes back down
    • Richard apolgises to Jonathan, and Jonathan asks him to make it up to him by standing between him and the "demon child" upstairs
    • Richard doesn't want to leave Milivoj unsupervised
    • Eventually he is convinced, when Jonathan says he will take full responsibility if Milivoj leaves
  • We reach the second floor
    • There are a bunch of bedrooms with the doors open, a broken window to the south and a hatch in the roof
    • The only closed door is in front of us. We hear the singing of a young girl through it
    • Damia slowly opens the door, and reveals a small nursery with a few toddlers and a 16 year old girl humming, and another girl sitting
    • Damia closes the door, opens the hatch and climbs up (the magic is further up)
  • The attic is empty except for a 7-8 year old boy carving a wooden doll (Felix the Orphan)
    • Damia strikes up a conversation
    • The boy emotionlessly tells her the doll is for Cedric, who died last week (?)
    • Damia gets close enough to detect a strong necromancy from the amulet aroung his neck
    • Cedric fell out the window downstairs
    • Jonathan starts backing away and heads back to Richard
    • Damia complements him on the necklace and asks him where he got it from
    • He got it three(?) weeks ago, finding it on the streets
    • That day he became an orphan
    • It talks to him when he is away(?), and becomes him sometimes
    • He knows that it hurts the other children. He is fine with it, and says that we might not be ok
    • He doesn't need much more, but he has a feeling that he is going to get it from us
    • The last part is spoken is a distorted, deep voice
    • Damia instantly casts Catapult, while Ariah casts Shield of Faith on Ariah
    • (His name in Foundry is Shadow Demon...)
    • Damia then uses a gust of air to jump backward
    • We roll initiative
      • 
      • "You made a big mistake coming here. Now give me your souls"
      • He crawls on the walls, keeping 10 ft. distance
      • He misses two attacks on Ariah, and takes cover behind the broken furniture
      • Jonathan and Richard make it up the ladder
      • Jonathan Bane's him and Richard Protects Jonathan from Evil and Good
      • Damia retreats, and the demon follows
      • It hurts her and seemingly tries to grab her soul
      • Something gets dragged out of Damia, and the demon heals and gets stronger
      • Richard can't reach us yet, but Commands the demon to Flee, preventing it from attacking Damia if she retreats
      • Damia casts two Catapults, doing a lot of damage before jumping away
      • Ariah heals Damia and gets close enough to get an opportunity attack (Inflict Wounds doesn't seem to affect it... rip)
      • Jonathan has now given Bardic Inspiration to everyone and Richard finally reaches the demon
      • Damia uses Lightning Lure to drag it down from the wall
      • The demon is getting hurt and desperate, it hits Richard and crits on the soul thing
      • It avoids Richard and goes for the squishier members in the back
      • Richard runs towards it and throws a broom (with slight bardic thunder dmg)
      • "You mortals fight well, but what will you do about this?" The kid appears before the demon, terrified. The demon is holding the knife against the kids neck
      • The demon says he needs the boy when Damia asks if he will just kill the kid anyway
      • Damia and Ariah roll low on insight, but Jonathan rolls high and realises it is bluffing
      • Damia says "sorry child!" and casts catapult on the demon (thinking the demon is going to kill the child)
      • The demon turns into smoke, that seeps into the locket. When the demon is completely gone, the locket falls to the ground
    • Ariah and Damia both carefully wraps it in blankets and Ariah takes it for safe keeping
    • Damia tells the terrified kid that his parents are dead and that the demon has made him do terrible things
    • Jonathan wraps him in a bedroll and carries him downstairs
    • Richard goes downstairs to check that Milivoj is still unconcious, then comes back upstairs
    • Seeing Richard like that makes all the children terrified
    • Damia calls Claudia to tell her what happened, but she is busy calming the children
    • We gather in Milivoj's room and Claudia eventually comes to scold us
    • We tell her that we saved Felix from a very cursed amulet, and she understands after seeing who it is
    • She says that strange things have happened since he's arrived
      • The three kids he was sharing a room with has gone missing
      • Cedric died
      • The other kids got rashes
    • Ariah checks up on Milivoj's health, and sees that he is getting better. It will take time, but it is at least better
    • Damia suggests that we come to check up on him tomorrow. Claudia is happy that we're coming to help clean tomorrow
    • She calls Jonathan Little Man, and he rolls a really high deception check to convince her that his name is Big Man
    • Ariah asks Claudia if Milivoj has been in contact with Felix
    • Claudia says that he wasn't in a lot of contact, but that he confronted Felix about the disappearences
  • As we exit the house, a man is waiting outside expectantly. He hands a letter to the first person who exits (Damia?)
  • 

Plan

Receive the letter from the mysterious man. Get some rest and restore some spell slots. Do something about the cursed amulet.

Report Date

20 Sep 2022