Session 10: Old Homes and Old Enemies

22cnd Of Snowmelt

General Summary

The day starts with the party discussing their next move. However, before coming to a clear idea on what to do, they see Grann Norhall beckoning them in the Red Dragon Inn. He has been up all night to find at least one task the LUKI Four could do for the city without involvement of the Bloated Bounty. The party is in luck, as he has exactly one task for them. It involves clearing out the abandoned mansion of the United Order, a group of political fanatics that was removed from power after an unsuccessful coup of Brothers' Crossing 350 years ago. It would grant them 50 gold each, but 100 gold if they try to clear the task this very day. The group is warned for a group of bears that had been spotted, as well as a door in the vaults that disintegrates anything that touches it. Despite these warnings, the party accepts and heads off to the abandoned mansion.
Upon arriving at the location, the party walks a lap around the outside of the building. They notice various collapsed sections, and spot various old and partially ruined rooms on the inside. One of the final rooms they see from the outside looked to be an old dining room, but with a disconcerting black substance dripping from the wall on the far side of the room. They decide to ignore it for now, and start investigating rooms on the inside. They pass through the main entrance hall, a war room, the library and a medical room, spotting various traps along the way. From here, they head down below to the vaults that Grann had warned them about. However, with some clever thinking from Uthal, the party uses his magical book from the floats to transform a wall into air. Inside this vault, they find a ring that had once belonged to the head of the United Order, which looks to be worth quite a lot.
Once back in the medical room, Uthal seems to notice some illusion magic back in the library due to his constant use of detect magic, but it darts off before he can see what it was. The party heads down into a landshark nest, but to their surprise it, and the bears it had for lunch, are already dead. Once again, they spot the same black substances, this time oozing from the wounds of Bulette. The party decides that they want to check out the dining room where they saw the black substance, and the room adjacent to it. While trying to open the adjacent room, an invisible force attacks Leaf before fleeing into the mansion again. Inside the locked room, the party finds a pile of corpses from which some necrotic energy is siphoned into a room just above the one they are in.
The party starts cat-and-mouse game with the invisible creature, who keeps assaulting them from time to time. The party manages to find a chest of those who worship Aphia, though getting it set off a trap that temporarily paralyzed Indra and Killian. It contains an empty piece of paper, but the party quickly realizes it probably needs moonlight to reveal the words on it. When the party finally decides to head to the second floor, they trigger an alarm spell, which causes someone on the second floor to flee. Killian peruses this creature, but is hit by sleeping darts on the way to the second floor. The target manages to jump out the window, with Leaf trying to catch the creature in an entanglement spell, however the creature manages to flee from the party. During this small chase, Uthal manages to grapple the invisible creature, which allows the party to finally make quick work of the creature. The room the creature fled from has multiple stacks of paper scattered about, as well as a crude elvish writing of a word that looks like "blade" or "bleed".
Failing to make much sense in a quick glance of the information in the room, the party starts exploring the rest of the second floor. This brings a ever so slightly impatient Leaf to the room above the dining room, where she learns the hard way that the door handle is trapped with necrotic energy. Uthal decides to simply turn the part where the door handle is attached into air, unlocking a room that is completely covered from top to bottom in black paint, just like they saw on the mural in Gildenwharf. What is even more strange is that they find a husk of Shahnameh seemingly barely alive in a lead bathtub filled with the same black stuff. In attempting to move him, Uthal accidently 'kills' Shahnameh, who dissolves into the bathtub. With the rest of the house not yielding anything new, the party is once again left with questions unanswered. They decide that their next step is to find the Tower Scholars and Norfaed to get some answers, but will they? That question will have to wait, as there is a play for them to enjoy!
Next session: Session 11: Playing Time!

(Noteworthy) Characters Interacted With:
Grann Norhal of the Hall of Heroes

Report Date

08 Oct 2022

Primary Location

Brothers' Crossing

Grann Norhall