2017-07-30
Contents |
Raw Notes
In the moments after the battle Sardalis explains that this was an animated object.
Delg tries to put on a gauntlet from the armor and it does not fit. He suggests they take a breather.
After a rest they head back upstairs.
They decide to open the double doors with stained glass with the windmill insignia.
First thing we notice is that this master bedroom is very dusty, big four-poster bed with tattered gossamer veils, vanity with jewellery box & wooden framed mirror , padded chair etc. There's a small parlour to the south-east.
Above the fireplace a dust-covered portrait of Gustaf and Elizabeth Durst. Cobwebs coat everything.
There's a dumb-waiter in the parlour.
Pavel opens the door to what turns out to be a closet, full of dust.
Sardalis and Delg investigate the silver jewelery box with gold filagree, finding three gold wedding-band style rings, thin platnimum necklace with a pendant which has a blue topaz set into it.
Lady Elizabeth is wearing the necklace in the portraits.
Pavel opens the door heading off the north of the parlour and finds a balcony. The fog roils at the edges of the balcony but does not cover it.
They try the door across the way from the bedroom and find a bathroom, small iron stove with kettle on top and a wooden bathtub with clawed feet. There is a barrel in one corner and a pipe which emerges from the ceiling above ending in a spigot.
Pavel turns the spigot but not a drop comes out. Pavel turns it off.
They return to the landing and open the door to the west, some kind of storage room. Dusty shelves with folden sheets, blankets and bars of soap. There's a broom in the corner.
They open the south door to find an elegant-looking bedroom (less so than above). They are more immediately concerned by a ghostly figure standing by the fireplace. The terrified, skeletally thin young woman stares furiously at them as soon as she sees them.
She rushes towards Delg and reaches a hand out toward him but it seems to have no effect.
Pavel staggers backwards trying to push Sardalis forward saying "This seems more like your sort of thing". Sardalis doesn't budge but as Pavel retreats out of the way unleashes 3 missiles of arcane energy which slam into her, fluorescing as it hits. He too takes a step backwards onto the landing with Pavel, expecting her to come for him.
Delg takes a huge swing with his warhammer, smashing through the spectre leaving a trail of fluorescence as it swings through and she unleashes an unearthy scream.
The broom comes zooming out of the linen closet and jabs at Pavel's head, dealing only a glancing blow (no damage).
The spectre passes through the wall and Delg, disappating as it passes through him.
Pavel is very concerned about the possibility of some kind of spectral possession but his immediate concern of the animated broom takes priority. His rapier severs a chunk of fibres from the broom but it remains up. Sardalis swings his quarterstaff without making contact and Delg grasps only air as he attempts to grab the rogue cleaning equipment.
The broom responds by sweeping Delgs legs which the dwarf nimbly hops over, and both Pavel & Sardalis are unable to hit it. Delg manages to get his hands on it and though it struggles it is unable to escape. Sardalis shatters the broom into splinters with his quarterstaff.
Delg convinces the paranoid Pavel & Sardalis that he is himself.
They hear a creaking sound from the bedroom and realize that the door to what appears to be a nursury of sorts, with a crib shrouded by black curtains. A small stained-glass window casts a dim light onto the crib.
As Delg parts the curtains with his warhammer a wave of immense sorrow washes over him. Inside there is an infant-sized bundle tightly-wrapped in black cloth. He picks it up to un-wrap the cloth it unravels and is empty. There's not enough cloth to have been padding out the form... Creepy.
Delg keeps the wrap.
Delg smashes the tiny stained glass window and the light disappears instantly, replaced with roiling fog staying right where the glass was.
They return to the bedroom take better note. It contains an empty wardrobe, orate-framed full-length wooden mirror which looks like ivy and berries at first glance but is revealed to contain staring eyeballs amongst the berries. Pavel and Sardalis notice what appears to be a door inset, and sure enough it opens into the same secret space as the door on the landing.
Delg opens the door leading outside and finds a larger balcony. Pavel & Sardalis notice the silhouette of a man which they really shouldn't be able to see in the fog, standing on the same level as they are. They get the feeling that they absolutely should not be able to see him, as if he's at a distance that doesn't make sense.
The moment they try to point him out to Delg they lose sight of him as well.
They return inside and Pavel volunteers to try to sneak up the secret staircase. He turns a corner and finds a doorway up another short flight of stairs. He attempts to peer through the keyhole and sees an unremarkable and unadorned room. He reports back to the others and they head upstairs opening the door and revealing an irregular shaped room with 4 doors. One door has a mundane but sturdy padlock securing it.
They open the southmost door and find a slender bed, writing desk and stool, rocking chair and a smiling doll in a yellow dress propped up in the window-sill veiled in cobwebs.
The cabinet contains plain dresses to suit a young child.
They head down the small corridor and Delg opens the south door, revealing a kind of storage area. All of the objects are draped in white sheets except the small stove. Delg feels drawn to the stove, then finds his attention drawn to what might appear to be a chest or trunk.
Sardalis checks under most of the sheets as Delg uncovers the chest, then opens it and finds skeletal remains sitting on bedsheet stained with blood. He tells the others and examining the bones it appears to be the bones of a woman who was stabbed to death. It appears that she was still alive when she was put into the chest as there are scratch marks on the inside.
Delg gets a very clear mental image of the spectre they saw before, though living. Perhaps a nurse or governess.
Delg opens the door to the north and they find another small room but this time the wardrobe is empty.
Pavel attempts to open the lock without success.
They retrieve the key from the library and Delg uses it to unlock the padlock.
This room contains a bricked up window with two children's beds. A toychest with two windmills painted on the side and a dolls house that perfectly resembles this house. Skeletal remains huddled on the floor, one clinging to a doll seen in the family portrait.
Pavel investigates the doll house and as he touches the roof gaunt, ghostly apparentions of Rose Durst & Thorn Durst appear standing where their remains are. Rose Durst says quietly
My name is Rose Durst, and this is my younger brother Thorn Durst. We live here... well we used to.
It was better than the alternative. Our parents locked us in here for our own protection. They told us there was a terrible monster in the basement.
Thorn Durst confirms "There is a basement, but I never liked going down there. "
S: "Who lived here?""
"We did, with our parents, our youngest brother Walter and our nurse."
Delg lies to them telling hem their youngest brother is okay.
Delg asked them what the monster looks like and Thorn Durst became afraid that as they don't know what the monster looked like perhaps Delg was the monster.
Though Thorn Durst becomes frightened that they are monsters, Rose Durst allows Pavel to open the dollhouse and see the hidden entrance to the basement which is amongst the room full of shrouds.
Pavel opens the spiral staircase and Delg leads the procession down through the dark...
THE BASEMENT
Narrow tunnel stretches to the south from the narrow staircase.
All can hear eerie chanting incessantly echoing through the space.
Pavel sneaks down the nearest blind corner and finds a room with 4 mouldy pallets a table & chairs. A small corrior leads off and has some stairs leading downwards.
They discover a room with a four-foot diameter well with a 3-foot high wall and beam supporting a rope. Small rooms surround it with actual beds and locked chests. The locks are rusty and of poor quality.
Pavel peers down the well and it appears that there is water approximately 30 feet down.
As they proceed east down a corridor Pavel notices that the ground doesn't seem quite right a few feet down the way. He gestures to the others that there is danger down there.
He proceeds down the other corridor and finds a larder of sorts, pretty bare except for a table and benches.
Sardalis and Delg hear very faint breathing noises from the far side of the larder, though Pavel doesn't notice.
Sardalis heads north, wanting to ignore the noise and Pavel follows his lead but Delg tosses some detritus at the pile and hears a slithering in response. Delg follows, watching carefully behind.
Sardalis investigates the northmost of two doors discovered down the corridor, finding a stone coffin inscribed with the name Rosavalda Durst.
Sardalis heaves the heavy stone cover aside with Pavel's help and discovers that it is empty.
Delg checks the lower of the two doors and finds a nearly identical crypt with the coffin inscribed "Thorn Durstbolt Durst".
Matching crypts for Gustav Durst and Elizabeth Durst are across the other side of the corridor.
Gustav's coffin is empty, but Elizabeth's is not...
A wild centipede swarm appears
Pavel shouts "get back" and retreats to the intersection of the corridor, Delg smashes some with his hammer then runs back. The centipedes swarm over Sardalis knocking him unconscious as they stampede towards Delg.
Pavel draws his whip and prepares to attack as they come into the corridor, shouting "Move!" at Delg. Delg does so and they both lay into them as they skitter into the corridor. The centipedes swarm onto Pavel but he manages to keep them from biting him. He runs in a panic back into the larder and slams himself into the table, smashing many of them from him.
They swarm over Delg, but he takes no damage.
