The Spice Merchants Of Sel-kai: Part Twelve
General Summary
The ghostly figure is difficult to hit and seems immune to blows that would stagger any mortal creature and Cran is hard pressed to keep the creature away from the rest of his party. The sound of the fight attracts a small pack of ghouls and Sharna disengages to try and hold these off while an enraged Cran, bleeding from a minor wound, begins a murderous assault on the ghost. The creature shrieks in anger, perhaps frustration, as Cran finally destroys the thing. Oddly, as well formed as it was (the apparition was clad in an old fashioned business suit complete with elegant cravat), the ghost clearly lacked a tongue.
Sharna has virtually crippled one of the ghouls and a second has been almost incapacitated when the rest of the party join her. Within minutes, Cran's bloody axe completes what Sharna began and all three of the foul monsters lie motionless on the floor. Taking a short rest, Ugnan attends to Cran's wounds and then the companions press on. The rest of the floor is empty but they find a small staircase to a secret room on the ground floor and more intriguingly, a suite of rooms completely hidden away in the eastern wing. In addition they find a small chamber adjacent to the suite that has a cache of money, a fine shortsword, a large iron key bearing the Orgillion family crest and an enchanted ring. The mechanism needed to open the secret doors to this "treasure" chamber and the suite of rooms was carefully concealed under a loose floorboard and consisted of two brass rods, one for each door. The door to the suite of rooms cannot be opened from the other side and anybody inside what were once probably very comfortable living quarters would have been trapped; the window shutters are locked and noticeably sturdy.
Inside this suite, consisting of a large bedroom and study and a bathroom, the party find the tiny skeletons of maybe half a dozen cats. These poor animals were obviously killed and then "displayed" by whoever resided in the rooms. The only possible clues to the occupants being some graffiti on the fireplace in the form of "Lar" and "Su".
A weapon cache found by the hidden staircase that leads back to the ground floor indicates that Deltar/Aenor's business enterprises includes this estate; the weapons are similar in style and quality to those they found in the Hadeshill Asylum and are all oiled and wrapped. A pair of particularly fine hand axes are taken by Ugnan, Cran is persuaded to "travel light" and reluctantly leaves an armload of swords behind. He picks up a curiously weighted greatsword and straps this to his back.
Resting and eating the party hesitantly agree that the upper floor needs to be explored next.
The stairway leads to a small library and study. Seated in one of the chairs is a gaunt and impossibly tall Loari. The demonic creature is fast and agile and launches itself at Cran without any hesitation, complaining of its bone-gnawing hunger. Sharna takes full advantage of this an in a frightening display of her martial powers, sweeps the creature into a crumpled heap against one of the walls. Cran follows up with a series of stone-cracking blows. The demon, "T'Chagga", attempts to bargain for its life but caught up in a red-mist of rage and pain, Cran moves in to finish the creature. Sharna prevents this but Cherry, drawing her new sword, moves in.
Sensing that something is not quite right, Ugnan, Sharna and Sylke try to prevent Cran's assault on the demon once again but grabbing T'Chagga's neck in his huge hands, the warrior snaps its neck with an awful crunch. Cherry drops her sword and collapses. Fortunately, whatever hold the demon had on her has been broken and she regains consciousness within a few minutes.
The remaining chambers of this final floor stand open and inviting …
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