Chapter Two: Into the Mists
Chapter Two: The Mists...and a Totally Not Haunted House
Cast of Characters
Agnak Stonestalker Monekekali: A seven foot Goliath and walking EEO complaint. With an axe.
Solomon Hawkins: The haunted human monster hunter. He makes brooding an art.
Gilphine: The feral half elf. She likes trees. More than she likes you.
Sheen: The bongo wielding dwarven bard. He likes everyone. He really likes you.
Despite all clear warnings to stay on the road, it takes our adventurers about five seconds to go "Ooooh! Shiny!!!" Shiny, in this case, being potential werewolf tracks. Sheen, being apparently the only one with the sense his momma gave him, declares that he will wait on the road while the others explore. He is quickly goaded into joining them in pursuing their certain doom.
(Editor's Note: As I mentioned. Sheen is a first time player. This explains the fact he still has something vaguely resembling a self-preservation instinct.)
As the intrepid adventurers veer further off the path, Solomon recognizes that the thick billowing fog rapidly surrounding them might pose a problem in navigation. Wisely, he ties a rope around a tree and lets it out gradually as a lifeline back to the road. Gilphine notices that the overhead tree canopy seems to be closing in, and there is something inherently unnatural about this fog. She advises the to turn back, immediately. Following Solomon's lead rope, they make it back to the road... except it is no longer the road they had left, and Solomon's life line is no longer tied to a tree, but instead to an imposing hitching post with a skeletal horses head adornment. On the post, a single raven watches them. It regards them carefully, then takes flight.
After some discussion of which way is north, and debate over which side of trees moss grows on, the group decides to travel in a direction they believe to be north, the raven having unhelpfully traveled west.
After some time, the party reaches an imposing set of huge iron gates. Two headless statues flank the gates, their heads lying in the dirt. As the party approaches, the gates swing open in a not at all ominous way. The party enters and the doors swing closed behind them. Again, not at all ominous.
(Editor's note: Stock image. Who is that guy on horseback? Not one of us, that's for sure.)
The group makes their way through the woods, sticking close to the path. They catch the smell of death and follow it to a corpse lying in the underbrush at the side of the road. He appears to be a commoner, his clothes raked with claw marks. Gilphine immediately recognizes these to be the mauling marks of wolves. Big ones. And yet.... the body has not been eaten by anything other than the crows that have made a meal of the poor soul's eyes. Eeewwwwwww.
The group stands puzzling over why wolves would kill but not eat. They come to the obvious conclusion. Werewolves! (Where wolves? There wolves.)
The corpse is also holding a letter. The letter... seems oddly like the one given to Agnak and yet... different. While Agnak's letter was "blah blah blah come save my daughter!" This letter is essentially "My daughter is hosed. Turn back. Save yourselves. We're all doomed here." Even someone with as little perception as Agnak can recognize that the letters bear the same name, but the handwriting is different. So which one is really from the Burgomaster? And who wrote the fake? Any why? Our first mystery!
The group wanders into the town, where they immediately hear the sounds of a child's sniffles. "Awww... crap," remarks Agnak, who is beginning to reveal an unexpected weakness for children.
(Editor's note: This weakness will not at all be exploited mercilessly by the DM. Muahahahahaha)
The girl appears to be about ten, trying in vain to shush her seven year old brother as he clutches a ragged and creepy looking doll, sniffling. She looks at the group who ask what's wrong. After wondering why the golem is talking, and puzzling over Gilphine's ears, she tells them that there is a monster in the house. They point to a tall row house that was probably a grand estate... once. Now it just looks creepy. And not at all haunted.
The group interrogates the children and get a strong sense of, as Agnak put it, "Nope." Until the girl tells them there's a baby in the house too. In the nursery. The monster is in the basement. The children refuse to go past the porch and plead with our heroes to go in, stop the monster, and get their baby brother. The group... being heroes and knowing a plot hook when they see one, obliges.
The first floor of the house proves uneventful enough. An entrance. A main hall with some wood paneled walls, carvings of nymphs and flowers and satyrs and... if you look closely, serpents and skulls. Other than that, it's a completely normal hall for a completely normal hunter who really digs windmills and hunting.
Solomon peeks into the den where he finds himself surrounded by snarling wolves. He makes short work of the nearest wolf with a blast of fire. Verily he does brave combat with... a beautiful work of taxidermy. "Hey guys.... someone lit this wolf statute on fire.... wasn't me!" he is heard to remark from the darkened room. The group finds some crossbows, but other than that, nothing much other than dust and more creepy where's waldo find the creepy images works of art. A kitchen. A dining room. A dumbwaiter too small for even Gilphine. No basement stairs. Much to Agnak's frustration. He does, however, notice a place where the wall seems to be hollow. A secret staircase?
Onward and Upward! Suits of armor with wolf head helms decorate the upper hall guarding a portrait of the family. Two parents. Two kids. And a baby. The father holds the infant, but the mother seems to sneer down at the child. A library with... more creepy art reveals a secret door to a.... secret room. The shelve are packed with ritual books and a skeleton lies draped over a once trap rigged chest. In his hand, he clutches a letter with an elaborate wax seal, presumably belonging to Strahd von Zarovich... whoever that is. Whoever he is, he does not seem impressed with the master of the house. And wait... stillborn baby? But... but....
The secret room also holds a few paltry items of treasure, a deed to a windmill, the deed to the house, and a signed will gifting the house to Rosavalda and Thornbolt Durst. It is signed by Gustave and Elisabeth Durst. (Hey! Look! The kids have names! Also...Rose and Thorn? Really? Could be worse. Could be Khaleesi.) The group proves themselves to not be nearly as sticky fingered and loot happy as I am generally, and does not take these documents.
A conservatory that... oddly does not have a creepy organ. More creepy paneling. And... a suit of animated armor. That almost murders everyone.
And then there's the nursemaid's suite inhabited by one terrifying specter of what used to be a rather attractive woman. (That also almost murders the party... this does not bode well). One black shrouded crib that... does not hold an infant. Hmmmm... could the baby have been a ruse all along?
But.... no way to get into what Agnak is now certain is a secret staircase. Only solid wall... unbreakable even by his might axe! There is, however, a secret staircase going *up.* (Because why would you want a non secret staircase leading up to the attic where you keep your kids? And who keeps their kids in the attic?)
Up we go, into the attic where we find a locked from the outside (not at all sinister) rather charming nursery with a dollhouse that appears to be an exact replica of the house... and two tiny skeletons, one of which is holding the little boy's creepy doll. After briefly poking at the dollhouse, the adventurers hear a voice. "I don't like it when people touch my toys."
"Awwww crap," says the group because... you guessed it. It's the little girl. In ghost form. This little girl, however, has no idea why these intruders are in her home. She certainly didn't invite them. Wait... if she didn't... then who was that outside? She doesn't know. She just knows that mommy and daddy kept her and her brother, also now here in ghost form, locked in their room while they had their parties. And to keep them safe from the monster. Eventually they forgot about them and they did not have anything to eat or drink. Then they went to sleep. Forever. they don't know how long they slept. Or what day it is. Or what time. The windows are all boarded up. Agnak gallantly asks if they would like to see outside, and swings his mighty axe at the offending window boards. He misses. Spectacularly. And breaks the porch of the girl's dollhouse. She starts to bawl. He starts to bawl. Solomon takes out his thieves tools and fixes the dollhouse which... on close examination... reveals the entrance to the long sought after secret stairs to the basement and certain doom...er... probably just a water heater and some old tires. Nothing to see here.
However, it couldn't be that easy. As the group prepares to leave, the children seem to grow agitated. They don't want their new friends to leave. They've been lonely for so long. The group, however, has a mission. They leave.... and the ghost children mysteriously vanish...but something seems a bit off with Agnak and Sheen.
Now, having finally found the long awaited secret entrance, the party, plus two mental hitchhikers, manages to make its way down into the basement to face "the monster."
Tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion of "Death House."
Next: Chapter Three. Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law and One Half of the Party
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