Having defeated animated brooms and a shadow, the adventurers take a long rest before departing the village of Sea Side, which is utterly abandoned save the remains of a party of goblins — who appear to have killed each other.
They make their way north along a road that is more like a causeway than a highway. Elevated a few feet above the rocky terrain of the island, they note the craftsmanship of the road — it’s levelness, the fitting of the stones, the evenness of road surface — which tells them that this road pre-dates the Aftermath and may even predate the Age of Sorcery. The terrain is barren, save tufts of sharp grasses that jut out of the rocky landscape. There are no pastures or farms. The emptiness of the island is disturbing, especially to Dani.
They do see a large stone cube wedged into the landscape, which is similar to the one that Maeglin saw back on Grimble’s Isle. It is in far distance, yet clearly visible. It is very large, clearly worked into shape, and apparently flung to where it landed.
As they approach the estate, they come to a barrier where the land transitions abruptly — which they’ve seen happen once before when making their way up the Greater Useless Peninsula. Inside a 3km-wide circle extending around the estate, there is green grass. The sky, also transitions from overcast with blustery, cold winds blowing in from the sea to warm with a cool breeze. The sky is bright and clear.
They are greeted at the Estate by the Day Butler, who calls himself Blank. Blank declares that they have been expected. As they enter the foyer, the door shuts behind them, and Brielle notices that Blank didn’t shut it — it closed by itself. Brielle keeps this to herself until she has a change to take it with the party in private.
The house is opulent. Brilliantly lit by chandeliers and sconces, the rooms and halls brim with artifacts ancient and modern. Some you recognize, others are foreign and strange. There are portraits and landscapes set inside gilded frames, There are collection of weapons, armor, and shields, some of them so exotic that no-one recognizes them. Some of the armor have holes in vital places. There are carpets woven with brilliant and complex patterns. None of the party have ever seen this kind of wealth.
Blank shows them to their meal in the dining room. Their meals are especially prepared for each of them. Maeglin, in particular, is presented with a bottle of liquor called “Nightmare Fuel.”
Shortly after than, they meet the Night Butler, Arthur. He has wild, round, darting eyes framed under the brim of a stove pipe hat and a full mustache and beard — the mustache long, waxed and curled into a spiral and the beard is long, full and pointed at the navel. He wears a red velvet overcoat. Arthur has sewn bat wings into the shoulder of his overcoat. Weird.
Anyway, the adventurers explore the house.
Brielle visits the music room, playing a tune on a lute poorly enough to summon Arthur to ask her to please stop.
In the Library, Dani and Calaena struggle with the verbose and academic books they find there. Dani is seeking out books things Draconic, and finds a general history of how Dragons originated in the planes as the Chromatic dragons and where thereafter countered with dragons originating from material metals. She finds some mention of the creation of the Dragon Born as the draconic answer to creation. Danni also finds a book on Clinamen (or Clinemann or Клынамен), which features the hand-written phrase, “The smallest possible change that makes the largest possible difference.”
Calaena seeks a book on Ubu in the modern section, but doesn’t find one. She turns her attention to the Shadowfell, finding a large tome on the subject. It’s mindlessly verbose and difficult to understand. She struggles with if for sometime, gleaning the nature of the Shadowfell as a kind of reflection of the material. What happens in the material is reflected in the Shadowfell, interpreted in macabre manifestations of the material real. Access to the Shadowfell is typically found deep within the Underdark, in places where the barriers between the two planes are the weakest. She also discovers there are creatures who serve the Raven Queen who were once wizards, and serving these wizards are ravens that have the ability to cross between the planes unlike other creatures — where there are ravens serving the Raven Queen, there is likely one of these transformed Wizards nearby.
Maeglin and Muffins try their hand at billiards, but refuse a wager on a game with Arthur who will trade them three honest answers to any questions in return for Maeglin’s luck (what ever that might mean). After Brielle’s augury spell is inconclusive, Maeglin refuses.
Brielle explores the third floor, finding three doors that don’t seem to open, and a number of smaller access doors in the hall. Convinced the house is haunted or cursed, Brielle insists the house is dangerous with undead. Dani reaches out to detect undead and is nearly overwhelmed with the spell’s response: they are completely surrounded by a very large quantity of undead. Brielle confronts Arthur about Baron Saturday and a curse, and Arthur assures them all that there is no curse, the Baron is good at heart, and his only goal is to save the people of Sea Side.
They consult with Muffins, who has been in a guarded position, like any good lawyer would, in the Parlor. Muffins suggests the weapons and armor through out the place run deep with magic, but they can’t find any particular pieces. Maeglin decides to gather up all of the weapons he can find to make a pile, to Dani’s embarrassment. Arthur asks Maeglin to please stop doing that.
Maeglin steals the Metallic Egg from Muffins.
They retire to bed, where most of the part enjoys the wonders of in-door plumbing and where Brielle dreams of Ogg.
In the morning, Calaena, Muffins, and Maeglin discover when they awaken that Brielle is a stunned condition and Dani is petrified. In Brielle’s room, the mirror shows a message in Brielle’s hand writing, “Use the dog, you silly gurll.” There is soap in Brielle’s hand.
In Dani’s room, they investigate her condition to see if there is any pattern or consistency to explain the two of them. Maeglin uses the dog to smash the mirror. This summons Blank to the room, who asks Maeglin to please stop doing that. Blank mends the mirror. Maeglin attempts to threaten Blank. Blank simply disappears to the floor below, muttering racist remarks about Half-Elves.
Calaena passes Blank on her way to the dinning room, where the table is set for three (not five), so she can stuff her pockets with food.
Around this time, Brielle awakens, and wondering why her hand is soapy, learns of the message she has apparently written to herself, and summons her dog by cast the Onyx Figurine on the ground. A Great Pyrenees rises up from the statue. Brelle casts “speak with animals,” and the dog tells her that “there are two spirits in one body,” and asks her “why did the mopey guy throw me into the mirror?” Brielle is further convinced that the house is cursed and that she is also possessed.
The dog proceeds to the first floor, leading Brielle to a room with “No admittance” written on the door in many languages. Maeglin enters to find there is an interior security gate that is locked. Behind it, in the room, brass cages hanging above glowing glyphs etched into the floor. In the cages, Imps operate the household systems. One Imp heats the water, another operates the pumps for the plumbing, etc.
The dogs sits next to the Lighting Imp, who offers Brielle a deal. Lighting is an entry level position, and he wants a fast promotion to plumbing. If they will “create an advancement opportunity” for him by removing the Plumbing Imp from his cage, in any way they see fit, then in exchange to taking the Plumbing Imp’s place, the Lightening Imp will give them something they want.
The Lighting Imp explains that he has information, since he runs the lights to all the rooms, he hears everything that goes on in the house. He offers as proof of this that the last visitor to the house was Iolanda from Sea Side. She was expressing concern over the Baron’s plan to save the town, but the Baron reassured her that all was exactly as it should be.
Maeglin opens the Imp’s cage, but the Imp can’t yet leave, pointing to the glyph below.
Before anything else happens, a Bearded Imp named Weakchin appears, shouting “What’s all this, then!?”
And that is where we left off, until next time when we will begin with the phrase…
… ROLL INITIATIVE!