Day 64: The Ghost Mansion

[Iron Dragoon]

Session Start: Thu Feb 26 10:48:37 2015
Session Ident: #dunes
* Now talking in #dunes
* Topic is 'Hanna(26)Vivantha(25)>Tepen(23)>Muirfinn(21) '
* Set by Kotono on Thu Feb 19 20:14:24
<Kotono> ----
<Kotono> > "A library with several rare books," Tamas confirms, "As well as multiple stocked laboratories. While much of the supplies are our property and we desire to recover them, some aren't practical or worthwhile to move and would be left." Meanwhile Veren gets a strange vibe from him. Almost...cautious, but amused at the same time.
<Kotono> <Veren> "Is there anything additional we should know? Are there traps or spells on anything in the mansion?"
<Kotono> <Lucy> "Ah, I see! Books are a passion of mine, as it happens. I'm favoring this deal if they are a part of it, Mister DeLorian."
<Kotono> > "The various laboratories are enchanted with protections. I'm not certain if those enchantments remain, under the circumstances," Tamas says, eyes sliding to Lucy. "Some books can be left, as we have copies or they are relatively minor, but there are books that must be recovered."
<Kotono> <Moore> "I'm certain it wouldn't be an issue to make copies of them assuming the original was returned?" Moore asks.
<Kotono> <Veren> "Are there any specific commands to deactivate those protections?"
<Kotono> <Lucy> "That doesn't really work with the rarest of books," Lucy says with a frown. "I do wish to ask whether the likes of this offer had been made in any serious manner recently?"
<Kotono> "Not lately," Tamas remarks, "There have been those that have tried and failed. Most have accepted that it isn't worth their risk. But if you feel differently, you're welcome to try."
<Lucy> "The problem," Lucy says with genuine regret, "is that I see no need for a home. My companions clearly do, and that is fine, but what draws me is the lore. Without it, I'm afraid I will have to wish you luck with another interested party."
<Sharm> "Can get a home without ghosts anywhere," Sharm mutters.
<Kotono> OOC: Make a bluff check, Lucy?
<Lucy> roll 1d20+24
<Serith> Lucy roll for Serith < 33 > 12 [d20=9]
<Kotono> OOC: You can aid if you like, Sharm.
<Moore> "It does seem like this may be a bit more than we expected for just a home..." Moore adds.
<Moore> roll 1d20+18+30 if I'm allowed to aid
<Serith> Moore roll for Serith < 50 > 12 [d20=2]
<Sharm> roll 1d20+20 I'm good at bluffing
<Serith> Sharm roll for Serith < 28 > 12 [d20=8]
<Veren > OOC: Can I aid?
<Kotono> OOC: It's usually a cap of two and they hit it anyway.
<Kotono> "Hmmmmm." There's a long pause as Tamas leans back, "If you can procure everything safety, we can work out the lore," he offers.
<Lucy> "I will, of course, make every effort to get as much out safely as possible. I do trust that unfortunate and unavoidable battle damage would not negatively affect our arrangement, Mister DeLorian?"
<Kotono> "I can make certain allowances for the situation," Tamas nods slightly back.
<Veren > "It seems we have an arrangement."
<Lucy> "Excellent! In the interest of saving us time, would you mind sharing what previous interested parties managed to learn about the mansion before their unfortunate demise?"
<Kotono> "Unfortunately," Tamas steeples his hands together, "There is a salient fact in the way of that - those that went in died and thus did not return to tell their secrets."
* Lucy clucks her tongue. "How rude of them."
<Kotono> "Quite," Tamas says with a hint of a smile, "Dying and not having the good graces to have backup plans."
<Lucy> "I think I have everything I need, then," Lucy voices, returning that smile much more brightly.
<Veren > "You said there were protections in place? Do you know of any way to disable them? A pass word or something?"
<Kotono> ""No ,they aren't the sort of protections that need to be lowered," Tamas says, "If they're brought down, it's by dispelling them."
<Kotono> After a beat he replies, "Doubtless, any prepared team should have dispel magic or similar spells at the ready. For obvious reasons."
<Lucy> "Obviously."
<Kotono> Thus the party heads to the manor. It's a rather large thing, a soft purple-pink color. Grassy grounds surround it and an iron fence gates it off from the rest of the world. If not for the grass being overgrown and all the windows dark, you'd think it might look pleasant.
<Sharm> "Could go for worse," Sharm says, looking over the manor. It's pretty far from the shore too, which is a plus in her book.
* Veren inspects the grounds as they approach, looking for anything suspicious.
* Lucy summons ghostly armor to protect her, before taking a closer look with all her senses, mundane and magical.
<Moore> You can never be too sure with appearances, so Moore does a check for magic in the immediate area and will keep an eye out for it as they approach.
<Sharm> Sharm goes to open the gate, their first obstacle!
<Kotono> OOC: Any of you doing anything else?
<Kotono> OOC: Nevermind! Didn't scroll.
<Kotono> The gate is opened easily enough. Meanwhile, Moore and Lucy look things over. There's no magic, but the distances involved with detect magic means you aren't getting a whole lot of the manor.
<Sharm> And then into the garden, home of all manner of threatening foliage! Drawing her sword just in case, the orc advances towards the main doors.
* Lucy follows just a few steps after Sharm.
* Veren palms his Ghost Strike dagger as well, moving through the area as quietly as he can as he shadows Sharm and the others.
<Kotono> OOC: Perception, all.
<Lucy> roll 1d20+23
<Veren > roll 1d20+14 Perception
<Serith> Lucy roll for Serith < 37 > 12 [d20=14]
<Serith> Veren roll for Serith < 21 > 12 [d20=7]
<Kotono> OOC: Also, stealth as well, Veren. Roll that after everyone rolls perception.
<Sharm> roll 1d20+1
<Serith> Sharm roll for Serith < 11 > 12 [d20=10]
<Moore> roll 1d20+14
<Serith> Moore roll for Serith < 15 > 12 [d20=1]
<Veren > roll 1d20+25 Stealth
<Serith> Veren roll for Serith < 43 > 12 [d20=18]
<Kotono> roll 1d20+15 Jetina
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 21 > 12 [d20=6]
<Kotono> roll 1d20+10 woof
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 16 > 12 [d20=6]
<Kotono> roll 1d20+10 Little
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 26 > 12 [d20=16]
<Kotono> OOC: Strike that, forgot to adjust the mod for Little.
<Veren > OOC: 43 stealth in case it got lost there >.>
<Kotono> It's Lucy that notices something - a rustling in the grass near Jetina.
<Lucy> "Not today!" Lucy cries out. Her wings appear, and the area just past Jetina is assaulted before the paladin can so much as make a surprised face!
<Lucy> roll 10d6 wings of flurry time
<Serith> Lucy roll for Serith < 31 > 12 [d6=1,3,1,3,4,3,5,3,6,2]
<Moore> "Eh, wha--" Moore stammers at the sudden outburst because wow! What the heck!
* Veren instantly moves to ready himself for a threat from that direction, scanning the area for whatever it was that he missed!
<Kotono> roll 1d20+5
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 14 > 12 [d20=9]
<Lucy> OOC: If that was the save, it failed and takes full damage +dazed one round
<Kotono> It rises up - a long, thick, green vine. It's sliced to pieces, falling into a heap at Jetina's feet. She stares dumbly for several moments, before SCREAMING and leaping a good 10 feet back.
<Lucy> "Hmph."
<Sharm> "Tangling vines? Not very supernatural..." Sharm says suspiciously.
* Veren is duly impressed by the swift killing, and unimpressed by the shriek.
<Moore> OOC: Can I K:N on the possibilities besides the obvious?
<Kotono> OOC: Sure.
<Moore> roll 1d20+14
<Serith> Moore roll for Serith < 18 > 12 [d20=4]
<Kotono> "Qupan!" Jetina says it like a swear, "Gah,. gah, gah gah gah gaaaaah!" She spazes a few moments, hand to her chest. "My heart's pounding!"
* Veren raises an eyebrow at this.
<Kotono> It's an assassin vine, Moore thinks. A sort of predatory vine that ambushes creatures to eat them. Annoyances to seasoned heroes, but deadly to normals.
<Veren > "Problem with plants?"
<Kotono> "Problems with being scared out of my wits!" Jetina says, "I reflect a moment to Qupan, then the next thing I know, it's magic and chopped up vines at my feet!"
<Lucy> "I am undecided," Lucy voices. "On the one hand, you should stay close to me so that I could protect you. On the other, it would just make you a target once the enemy realizes I am a wizard. A conundrum." To Veren, she says with a shrug, "Vaguely phallic plants, at that. Anyone might shriek in surprise."
<Moore> Moore rubs his chin. "It's probably just an assassin vine. We shouldn't have any trouble if we run into more of them."
<Veren > "You really should be used to this by now."
<Lucy> "Perhaps, but this is the first I actually remember seeing."
<Sharm> Since that's been dealt with, Sharm resumes her advance towards the doors.
<Kotono> "I do need to focus,"  Jetina admits, slowly rubbing her eyes. "You're right."
* Veren continues along with Sharm.
<Kotono> Little just stays high in the air, flying around.
* Lucy keeps back for now, staying by Jetina.
<Kotono> The party reaches the front door. The windows have curtains, making seeing inside difficult. The door's well made but plain and has no visible lock.
* Veren does a quick check for traps before opening it.
* Sharm steps back to let the expert work.
<Lucy> "I see no obvious magic, so we should just try to get it opened and beware an immediate trap in retaliation," Lucy muses, staying well back here.
<Kotono> OOC: Perception, Veren.
<Veren > roll 1d20+14 Perception
<Serith> Veren roll for Serith < 32 > 12 [d20=18]
<Kotono> No traps. It looks like a mundane, unlocked door.
* Veren reaches up and opens it, letting it swing open and trying to keep clear so Sharm can do her job if something happens to be waiting.
<Kotono> There's a long, loud creak as the door opens. It opens right up into a wide open foyer. It's immaculately decorated and a coat of arms and crest (of two birds with crossed swords behind them)  is engraved into the floor. There's no stairs going up, but there's doors ahead as well as less grand doors on the sides.
<Moore> "Should we just see if we can get the master of the house's attention before we look around?" Moore inquires to the others. "It might save us time."
<Sharm> "Sure," Sharm says, stepping into the foyer and raising her voice. "The DeLorians are nothing but sons of mangy whores and fuckers of goats!" she shouts loud and clear.
<Kotono> Macaron sniffs the air about, looking around.
<Kotono> OOC: Stop right there. You got attention.
<Kotono> roll 1d20+20 CMD, Sharm?
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 36 > 12 [d20=16]
<Sharm> OOC: 26
<Kotono> roll 5d6 damage, DR applies if you have any
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 24 > 12 [d6=6,5,3,6,4]
<Kotono> Before your eyes, Sharm is lifted up and slammed into the ground over and over. She bounces half a dozen times before being let go, bloodied and with her shoulder screaming bloody murder at her. Probably something broken in there by the pain.
* Veren eyes the bloodied orc.
<Lucy> "Impressive."
<Veren > "Perhaps a more... diplomatic approach?"
<Kotono> Jetina quickly runs to Sharm, "Hold on," she murmurs, a prayer to Qupan following. OOC: CLW incoming.
<Moore> Moore puts a hand to his face in surprise. "Well that's.... one way to go about it..." Moore says meekly. "But at least we know he's... er... here?"
<Sharm> "Yep..." she stands up, grabbing her shoulder and shoving it back into its socket. "Felt that one," she says, manifesting touchsight on herself.
<Sharm> OOC: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/touchsight.htm I can feel everything, not even darkstalker can hide from this.
<Kotono> roll 1d8+5+10 plus fast healing 6 for 9 rounds.
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 17 > 12 [d8=2]
<Lucy> "Would you be amenable to discussing what lies past death, Mister DeLorian?" Lucy asks politely.
<Kotono> Hm. Whatever did that isn't around, Sharm notices. However, there is a hidden door on the left wall that she does notice - it's hidden by an unremarkable tapestry.
<Veren > "We've been hired by your cousin. We'd prefer to do this as... peacefully and easily as possible, despite our friend's... colorful attempt to gain attention."
<Lucy> "Is that a no? I did venture to the very edges of this world, so we could exchange valuable information!"
<Sharm> "Hidden door over here," Sharm says, going over and shoving the tapestry aside. "Whatever grabbed me isn't physically present, must've been a spell or intangible."
<Moore> "Well, if they don't want us going around then I would expect them to make themselves manifest." Moore says as he flies over with Sharm.
> "Should I check out the door?"
<Sharm> "Knock yourself out," she shrugs, a little smile at the irony considering her fresh beating.
* Veren tries to slip in and move towards the hidden door, trying to keep ready for anything.
<Kotono> In the meantime Sharm's wounds finish healing. Veren slips behind the tapestry. It's a bland, uninteresting door on a glance. OOC: Perception. Your injury is finish healing from fast healing, Sharm.
<Veren > roll 1d20+14 Perception
<Serith> Veren roll for Serith < 18 > 12 [d20=4]
<Kotono> It's not locked or trapped.
* Veren tries to stealthily open the door.
<Kotono> The door opens stealthily enough. It leads to a small hall with a stairway going down at the end of it. A bit of greenish fog clings to the stairway.
<Moore> Moore looks at the fog to see if he can identify if it's magical in nature or if he knows something else about it!
<Sharm> OOC: can I feel anything in the fog? (60ft feeling upness)
<Kotono> OOC: No, just the stairs until you lose line of effect due to the floor getting in the way.
<Veren > "There's a fog here. Green. Lucy, any ideas?"
<Sharm> Sharm heads down, "Probably just to look spooky," she says, heading into it without fear.
<Moore> "Woah, wait a second! You don't know what it is!" Moore cries out! He hasn't even had a chance to figure it out yet!
Session Close: Thu Feb 26 14:20:26 2015