Chaos Revealed - Entry 5

Entry 11

We wait until light to investigate the visitors. The tracks I find belong to Worgs. It would appear a pair visited us and they were carrying riders. After circling the camp, they left in opposite directions, at right angles to the Duval estate.

We enter the abandoned grounds and survey the area. In front of us is the large manor house. To the left is the stables/carriage house. Just behind the stables is a large pile of ash, a building that burned to the ground. Surprisingly, there is nothing growing there. Continuing around the outside of the manor house behind the right corner is a guest or servants house, then set further back; what appears to be a hedge mage and set well away from and to right of the manor is a small chapel.

Tristan wants to immediately enter the manor, but Crystal and I both agree that we would feel more comfortable if we could secure the perimeter by clearing the out buildings first. No one argues with us so we head for the stables. The main door is locked and we check the remainder of the building. The chute to the grain silo is open as is a window in the hayloft. There is another door that is cracked open.

Our Sorcerer sends his familiar to the hayloft to look around. Suddenly he is in half a panic as his familiar is caught in some type of web. We calm him and tell him to instruct the hawk to remain as still as he can. The message is successfully relayed.

The dwarves climb the silo and Xander and Ariel follow them. Crystal, Sabin, Hermoine, Gandalf and I go back to the door that is ajar and enter there. We carefully check the stables and find nothing.

There is a ladder to the hayloft, and Sabin climbs it. He is attacked by a giant spider and gets bitten. We are able to defeat the creature and it falls to the ground at mine and crystals feet. Fortunately, it didn’t land on anyone.

Xander has gotten caught in the web trying to free Gandalf’s hawk and the dwarves are finally able to free him. Sabin tries to work his way over to Ariel along the narrow beams but falls. He is uninjured by the fall and Ariel jumps to the floor to heal him from his poisoning.

Our party now back together and the Hawk freed, we continue to check the stable. We find another door. Hermoine listens cautiously at the door and reports that she something that sounds like a fire. Crystal and I enter the room, the others follow.
This is the old carriage room. There is a large buckboard and two ornate carriages in the room. Down one hall is another series of stalls. Near the back wall is a small forge, probably for use by the blacksmith of the estate. It has been stoked and is burning.

Crystal casts her detect evil and notices a distinct increase coming from the hall. We head in that direction.

From two of the stalls a pair of skeletal horses step out followed by a man in robes carrying a scythe. Behind us one of the carriages and the buckboard have come to life and now block that end of the hall.

The hooded figure demands to know why are there. I indicate that Tristan should talk to him.

We learn that the figure was once Creed Lawton the stable master of the estate. He tells Tristan he is surprised he is there, as he would have expected his father to come. He then directs us to go to the house as Tristan’s uncle is waiting for him. Lawton then steps back, opens the barred door and leaves.

The buckboard and carriage attack the members at the rear of our party and battle ensues.

While Ariel, Crystal, one of the Dwarves and I take care of the two horses, the rest take care of the buckboard and carriage.

Once the horses are taken care of, we have an exit out of the stable. Crystal leaves to follow Lawton and is followed by Sabin. I too exit the stable and check for tracks. Lawton headed around the building at a run. I glance at Crystal as I relay this information and we both think the same thing. He’s trying to come in behind us. The three of us follow the tracks.

The two dwarves have now joined forces against the buckboard and carriage. Xander has somehow managed to end up behind the two vehicles and attempts to exit the stable the way we came in. He is met by Lawton.

Sabin is the first to reach the doors of the stable and calls out to Crystal and I to ready our ranged weapons. I hesitate, then drop my long and short swords and ready my bow, Crystal readies her crossbow. When we reach the door, we both take shots at Lawton, who apparently has seriously injured Xander, now on the ground. Ariel is joining the battle from the other side.

My arrow strikes Lawton in the neck and it only seems to give him a moments pause as he looks at me.
By now, the others have Lawton surrounded and I can no longer safely take a shot with my bow. I shoulder the weapon and go to retrieve my swords. When I return, Crystal has destroyed the undead creature and Ariel is tending to Xander. She looks up and slowly shakes her head. She was unable to make it to the Druid in time.

Crystal says a benediction for Xander then we begin a careful search of the stables.

Sabin locates several compartments in the undamaged carriage, retrieves a crossbow, and bolts along with a tube containing several scrolls.

Hermoine, Gandolf and the dwarves begin a check of the first of two rooms we find still secured. Crystal and I check the other.

Inside the second room, I find the ghost of a horse that has been dead for at least the twenty years this estate has stood empty. The stallion’s body lies in a corner covered by his blanket and untouched by time.

Crystal picks up the barding and approaches the horse, which only backs away. I pick a handful of grain and approach. I have always gotten along well with animals, particularly horses and I try to project an aura of calm and friendship as I approach. The ghost approaches me slowly then begins nosing at my hand as he tries to eat the grain.

Crystal steps out of the room leaving me with the horse and I move to examine the blanket.

On it, I find what appears to be a holy symbol of some sort as well as a few names. Rinehart and Riker.

I step to the doorway to ask Tristan to come in and look at the blanket.

I find two new arrivals in a stand-off with Crystal. Tristan comes up and is able to calm things between them. The first is a cleric of Athena, the Goddess that answered Crystal meditations. It would appear he was sent by the Goddess to join us. The other appears to be a half-Orc. They are also accompanied by the elf I met at Kressen’s cabin.

Once the situation has settled down, I ask Tristan and the Cleric to step into the large stall. The cleric identifies the symbol as the symbol of Athena. He states this was the mount of a Paladin of Athena. I examine a cut across the horses neck. It is obvious that whoever killed this horse was known to it, and was not seen as a threat until it was too late.

Tristan identifies the names as Rinehart – his grandfather and a Paladin of Athena / Riker was the horse’s name.

I give the ghost of Riker a final pat and we leave the stall. Neither the Cleric nor Crystal know any method to put Riker’s spirit to rest at this time. I hope that if we succeed in removing the evil that haunts this estate, that will allow Riker to find his rest.

Sabin suddenly calls out that a fire has begun spreading through the stable and we leave hastily.

We watch for a moment as flames engulf the stable, then silently head for the door. The front door will not open and I nudge Tristan forward. As I suspected, it opens easily for him.

We enter a large hall, apparently still decorated for a party. Around the room hang various weapons and pictures. Gandolf casts a detect magic spell and states that several items begin glowing.

(Ariel/Dwarf/Gayland no longer part of group)

To either side of the entryway stand two suit of armor. One full plate and the other half-plate. The full plate appears to be made of mythril.

The half-Orc and one of the dwarves begin to inspect the mythril armor while Crystal looks at the half-plate. Gandolf moves to look at a bastard sword hanging over one of the mantels and Hermoine is drawn to a beautiful group of musical instruments. The other thief reaches up and takes down a silver sword.

Sabin moves around the room checking for other doors. He calls me over when he finds a couple of doors under the large staircase.

As we are inspecting the doors, a ghostly figure moves down the stairs. She approaches the Half-Orc and the dwarf and stand looking at them almost like a mother who has caught her child raiding a cookie jar. They quickly replace the armor on the stand.

Tristan attempts to speak to her calling her Nissa, but she ignores him.

A few seconds later, the bastard sword Gandolf had retrieved flies back into its place above the mantle. I notice the other thief and Hermoine have replaced the items they had taken as well.

After making a circuit of the room, magically clearing away all the dust. The apparition stops at the piano and begins to play. I approach and offer an apology, but I too am ignored.

The spirit finishes the piece it was playing and begins to move toward the stairs. Tristan sits down and copies the musical piece note-for-note. The ghost turns back to face him and begins to speak silently. Tristan studies her face and relays several things.

She was killed by her son, Mikyl.

She points to a dark stain on the carpet as being the spot were she died. Crystal offers a benediction for her spirit.

Tristan explains that we are there to cleanse the house if we able and asks for her help. She allows us to choose one weapon from the hall. After a moments debate we take the bastard sword. Crystal has one other magical weapon in her pack and gives the new sword to the dwarf and her other magical sword to the half-Orc. She keeps her bane sword.

During this time, it appears the Cleric and the Elf thief have left the party. I really wish the group would stay together. The rest of us check the remainder of the downstairs area. Nothing is found. While doing this, we hear crashing upstairs. We finish our check before going upstairs.

We find the Cleric and the Elf attempting to up a door. Once again Tristan is the only one able to open it. Inside a small room is the body of another woman. Tristan identified her as Alesandra, his great-grandmother. Her spirit talks to Tristan and the Cleric and directs us to go to the chapel, she also says that there is history we will need in the other wing of the upper house. She warns us that we must follow the trail in the proper order or we will encounter an evil we will not be able to overcome.

Apparently she comes from another plane as well and a book a great power was taken from her by Mikyl.

Tristan thanks her for her advice and asks if there is anything in the room that might aid us. She tells him what is in the room is for the living—in essence giving us full permission to take what we want.

I find a book under the bed and open it. A spirit snake attacks me and I avoid its strike. The words are nothing but gibberish to me and I correctly assume them to be magic. I pass the book to our sorcerer.

The Cleric checks the body and finds a small quartz amulet containing a single hair. He carefully removes the talisman and places it around his neck. A concerned look crosses his face and he removes the gem. He asks Alesandra what the amulet is. She explains that it an Amulet of the Diviner. It focuses her skills as a Diviner, but at the cost of a –1 point to her strength. The negative effects goes away as soon as the amulet is removed. It also gives a +5 bonus to search and sense motive.

He thanks her and pockets the gem.

We proceed to check the rest of the rooms in this wing, finding very little. In one of the rooms, apparently a woman’s dressing room, we find the bridal gown and another fine gown. On a small vanity are two different earring and necklace sets. This would appear to be the room where the bride and her mother where to get ready before the wedding.

We move to the other wing. As we are crossing the balcony, I hear a door open and close in the downstairs area. Crystal takes up a guard position by the stairs and I move to the corridor leading to the rooms. From here I can see Crystal and keep an eye on the party.

The group splits up this time. In one of the rooms, the cleric finds a packet of letters from Wilheim Terissian that concern the wedding agreements as well as the promised dowry. It would also appear that an agreement was struck that Wilheim and Larissa would be named as the only heirs to the Duval estates. This would have cut the other children out of the inheritance.

The elven thief finds numerous jewels and quickly pockets them.

The cleric also finds two sets of ledgers that show several debts to the Duvals marked off, but not actually paid. These debts were owed by the Usenders. The same family as the major of Duvshire. It also appears Mikyl was skimming money from the family accounts.

Hermoine closely checks a chest she found in Mikyl’s room and finds a false bottom, unfortunately she unleashed a stinking cloud that overcomes several of the party as well as a pack of zombie and skeletal rats.

Most of the creatures are beaten in the room, but Hermoine makes her way out of the room with two of the beasts still clinging to her. I grab one and Sabin grabs the other. Together, we beat them against the wall then drop and stomp them.

I move back away from the rooms to check with Crystal and she calls out that a goblin just vanished through a doorway under the stairs. I glance at Sabin and we both remark, “the center door.”

I relay the information to the group that there would appear to be goblins in the house in a basement area. We all agree that we cannot leave this threat at our backs and immediately proceed down the stairs.

Crystal and I lead the group down the basement stairs. We move see movement behind some boxes and quicken our pace as we have to cover to use. The little bastards greased the stairs and we both slip and slide down the stairs, dislodging several of the boxes. Fortunately none fall on us.

As we are recovering, more goblins are discovered behind some barrels flanking the stairs. Our party fans out to confront the creatures.

We make short work of them, although four manage to move away. The dwarf moves out of the light and reports movement in the shadows to the right of the stairs behind us. Seems the battle is not over yet.

The elven thief and the cleric move to an open hallway and begin down it. Sabin and I move to keep watch on the area now behind us, where he saw several of the Goblins vanish to and heard the sounds of movement. Crystal joins us and Gandalf and Hermoine move behind us with Tristan.

From the hallway, the sounds of battle can be heard and Morg and Thalin join Jorell and Daymen. Crystal and Sabin move toward the hallway and I hold my position.

From a hidden door to the right of the hallway, two large Worgs and their riders emerge. Crystal engages the first while the second on moves toward me.

I immediately engage the Worg dealing it two serious blows. He is able to strike me with his claws. A shadow moves behind the Worg, Sabin is moving to strike. I strike at the Worg again, again wounding it. This time the Worg sinks both its fangs and claws into me and I fall.

I lie on the ground, my blood flowing like a crimson river and I shudder as my heat bleeds off into the stone. I hear Sabin yell as he attacks the Worg and rider, I also hear Crystal yell out to me to hold on. A moment later, Tristan is kneeling beside me, placing himself in danger as he cannot defend against an attack from the Worg or its rider. I cough as he pours a warm liquid down my throat. I feel a slight warmth go through me as the healing potion stops the bleeding and I feel a some strength returning. Tristan grips my shoulder and picks up his blade. I grasp both my blades and roll away from the battle seeking the shelter of a group of crates.

Sabin and Tristan take down the Worg rider, the Worg takes off, followed by the second creature and it’s rider.

Sabin moves to check the hidden room and announces that it’s clear. He then vanishes into the room. A large group of goblins comes out of the darkened area blocking Sabin into the room. A remain where I have some protection and immediately open fire with my bow. Gandalf casts a sleep spell rendering most of the goblins helpless. The two Worgs return, the one that attacked me has a new rider guiding him.

With a concentrated attack, we are able to defeat the Worgs and their riders. The sounds of battle continue to echo in the hallway. While Hermoine delivers the killing blow to the sleeping goblins, we move toward the hallway.

Jorell and the others have managed to defeat several goblins, including a Shaman in another large room. While they were finishing them off, another party has entered through a back door into the basement of the manor. A backdoor that it appears was never spelled to limit access to members of the Duvall family only.

Another Cleric of Athena has joined us – following the rumors that another member of his order came to the estate following a Paladin who claimed Athena as a patron; yet one he had never heard of.

Between the use of our healing potions, Crystal’s Healing Touch and the Clerics spells we have recovered most of our strength before settling down for a rest.

Checking both of the rooms we have cleared, we find an altar – dedicated to some evil deity in one. Crystal is adamant we will not rest in that room, so we move to the other.

As everyone is settling down to rest and I prepare to take the first watch with Sabin, I spend some time trying to meditate. I have been in this world too long and away from the familiar gods and goddesses Rhysia. My soul misses the quiet whisper of Frayrith in the forests. I reach up and stroke the pendant of natural armor I found, shaped in the form of a Unicorn, the holy symbol of Frayrith. I close my eyes and drop my hands to my lap, my left thumb resting lightly on the silver tattoo on my right wrist.

As I sit there, I let my mind drift back to the clearing I had claimed as my own before Frayrith visited me. The soft rustling of the trees and grasses fills my ears. I hear squirrels chattering and Smoke snorting softly. The musky scent of Smoke mixes with the smell of Shadow’s coat and with the warm perfume of the flowers and earth.

My mind casts about for a name and I think of Frayrith and Artemis. Artemis; the name given to me by the Elven Assassin stalking Tristan and I. A name I can’t truly prove or disprove as belonging to a comparable goddess to either of those I follow.

In my concern about the assassin and this mission, I never exercised any common sense in researching Artemis and her affiliations. Still I focus on the forest and woodlands I know and hope to reach a sympathetic ear. It has been too long since I have done this, I feel an emptiness in my heart that longs for the woodlands and my home.

As I reach deeper into my memories and feelings, I see a shadow move in the trees. Presently, a young woman steps toward me. She is carrying a long bow and is surrounded by several different animals. Her long blonde hair is pulled back in a ponytail, yet is untamed as wisps of it escape from their confinement. Her smile is warm as she kneels down in front of me.

She holds out her hands and takes mine in them. “My Blessings on you Daughter of another world. I have felt your loss and I want you to know you are not alone in this world. I am Artemis, and my sister in your realm has asked me to accept you as one of my children while you are here.”

I bow my head and mutter my thanks. She reaches out and lifts my chin so that I have to look directly at her. With care, she kisses me softly on my forehead then stands. The gray wolf at her feet trotted over to me and touched his nose to my left wrist and a silver tattoo of a wolf appeared there.

Artemis looks around and her gaze seems to rest on someone or something that is not visible in the clearing. She smiles again and turns back to me.

“Kyrianna, do not let those who hurt you in the past cloud your perceptions of the present,” she said before vanishing.

As the vision fades, I see a small child, a girl running between the hedges of the maze. Suddenly she vanishes into darkness and all that is left is her scream.

The echoing scream brings me back to the world around me. I take a breath as I look around. Sabin is watching me; it is time for our watch to begin.

As he is removing his armor to inspect it, I notice the unusual tattoo on his arm. He explains that it is a slave brand and only the Gnome knew about his past. I promise to keep his secret. He then promises that he will not fail to protect me again. I am uncomfortable with this pledge, as I believe he is wanting more from me than I am willing to offer. I remind him that he has his own future to think about and he pauses then says he hasn’t thought much about his future, that he has been a thief and a smuggler most of life, primarily concerned where his next meal and coin were going to come from.

I start at the mention of his being a thief, instinctively I knew he was a rogue, but I had ignored that fact prior to this. With reluctance, I ask if he is a member of a guild. He states he is the head of the Thieves Guild for this region. The Head of the local Guild! I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I turn and walk back to my gear.

I hear hurt in Sabin’s voice as he asks me what’s wrong. I ignore him. He becomes insistent and reminds me that he told me about his past. I think about the last thing Artemis told me about not letting my past cloud what I think of those I come to know in the future. I tell him about what the Thieves Guild did and how my mentor set me up so they could gain leverage over my father. For several minutes, he doesn’t reply. When he finally does all he says is, “I understand.” I turn my attention to repairing my gear, and mutter a quiet “Thank You.” The rest of our watch passes uneventfully.