Book 3: The House of Lament, Session 13

As Victor is the last to run into the Mists while the Quantarius battles a wolf made entirely of mist and as large as a one-story home, he hears the wizard let out a scream of pain and terror, but when he turns around to see what fate befell him, he sees nothing but a thick wall of Mist. Ahead, Casimir Lukas disappears into the fog, far outside the soft glow emanating from the Lantern of Ezra. Expecting the Lantern of Ezra to protect them within the Mists, the wanders find themselves unsettled at the visions the Mists provide as the lantern’s light pulses four times as if tapping out the beats of an unheard song. They share the visions the Mists held, each seeing something slightly different yet somehow related.
Ozrek – Sees his friend Ezmerelda d'Avenir   being taken by black tendrils beneath the earth. Kass – Sees an unknown boy with cherub-like features also being taken by black tendrils. Victor – Sees two boys summoning something demonic. Norikami – Sees a woman with dark, frizzy hair and a brass leg being bricked up into the walls of a house.
After discussing their visions, Ozrek informs them that he knows Ezmerelda and that’s who Norikami saw as well. The group decides to try focusing on Ezmerelda and that perhaps the lantern will guide them to her. It seems to work, for the group emerges from the Mists on a dirt road surrounded by a thicket with a cross-roads up ahead.
At the cross-roads the group sees a cloaked figure, but as the approach it spreads large, dark wings and takes off, something falling to the ground as it does. Victor says the figure’s wings reminds him of a raven but he has never seen a raven the size of a man before. Investigating the area, the group finds four black feathers and a planchette. After Ozrek explains that a planchette is used to communicate with spirits, Norikami is upset by this information and Ozrek uses his Divine Sense to assure him nothing is out of ordinary about the planchette itself. In doing so, Ozrek discovers that Victor is Undead or at least his vision is telling him as much. With this in mind, the group continues up the road and eventually arrive at an old mansion with a large tower attached to it. Ozrek recognizes the vardo parked outside of the mansion’s iron gates as Ezmerelda and he anxiously heads inside, the others following in his wake. As they approach, the two boys Victor saw in his vision are on the porch talking in whispers. They are dressed in fine tunics and the older of the two can be heard complaining about how “she’s treating them like servants”.
After speaking with them briefly, the younger boy (~12) leads Ozrek, Kass, and Victor into the house where Ezmerelda is and the older boy (~15) cons Norikami into carrying most of the things Ezmerelda likely sent him and his brother to fetch for her. Ezmerelda has a number of books and research notes stretch out over a table as well as a spirit board. After greeting Ozrek and dismissing his vision with not much concern, Ezmerelda says she’s there to finish van Ricthen’s work. He had always meant to research the house, which is quite haunted and see if there was a way to help the spirits within.
Though, Ezmerelda does show some signs of concern when Norikami states that he saw her walled up in the house they were standing in and Kass says he saw the younger blond boy being taken by dark tendrils. At this, the elder boy becomes a bit over protective of his sibling, though neither will share their names. They say they were wandering the streets of their city when a strange Mists brought just outside the house. The elder boy believes they will get back eventually. No one corrects this assumption.
Victor asks the boys if they were or had been summoning something. They admit to nothing, but there is obvious concern and nervous guilt in the elder boy’s eyes.
After using the spirit board with the planchette they found, they are able to contact a spirit within the house. The spirit asks them to “seek the chimney witch” and indicates that whoever the chimney witch is keeps them within the house so they cannot move on. The group wanders the first floor house looking for the ‘chimney witch’ and encountering a number of strange haunts while doing so, though mostly only one of their number sees the apparitions at a time. Norikami sees a woman tending to plants in the green house and Victor sees an echo of the demonic creature that was in his vision.
In what is now a dance hall, the entire group witnesses a warlord asks them to pledge against their lady or be sealed within the walls of the house, when no one speaks a scream echoes in their minds. After the scream echoes through the house, the elder boy comes out concerned and starts demanding of the group what is happening. He reluctantly holds a torch for Norikami as they explore. Ozrek confronts the boy and he eventually tells him his name is Firan  , though he pauses as if considering what name to give and reluctantly goes back into the séance room with Ez at Ozrek’s prodding. Victor notes that Firan looks like he could be Quantarius  ’s younger brother, though no one else seems to see the resemblance.
When Norikami begins bashing a bust of his own head, the four busts (one of each character) comes to life and attacks – they all appear to be undead versions of themselves expect the head of Victor which looks exactly as Victor always does. When Norikami enters the music room, he approaches the harp there and plays one of the most beautiful and haunting songs anyone has ever heard. He knows this song is called ‘Sundered Heart” and it was written by Harkon Lukas.