A Dread Mist: Session Two

A Dread Mist: Episode Two

The deed is done. And it comes anon:
True to the roll of the clock-faced moon,
True to the ring of the spheric chime,
True to the cosmic rhythm and rime,
Every point, as it first fell out,
Will come and go in the fearsome bout.
See! palsied with horror from garret to core,
The house cannot shut its gaping door.
                                   -George MacDonald

Expectantly, you learned the faces of the Durst family suspended on the wall of the foyer of their old manor house. Before entering the main hall, you cast to the floor their windmill-emblazoned family crest.

The foyer doors gave way to a large main hall with a magnificent marble staircase spiraling up into obscurity. As you got a fire going in the gaping maw of the fireplace, you heard harpsicord music lilting clumsily down from above. You started up the stairs, but an uncanny gust of wind erupted out of nowhere to extinguish all your lights. Then the scraping noises began at the room behind you.

Shera opened the door, dashing to the side, as a great black force pulled Zenbis into the room. He fought a foul-smelling beast with flashing teeth and red eyes, while the party struggled to break down the door. When at last you broke through, you found Zenbis standing over a shredded taxidermy wolf.

You acquired three crossbows from inside a locked cabinet and a cask of "Purple Grapesmash No. 3" wine. When the stuffed wolves move behind your backs, you quickly put them all to the knife. Satisfied with the massacre of the mounts, you proceeded up the marble staircase into the dark.

Hearing the sounds of labored breathing and a woman in pain, you opened the door to what appeared to be the servants' quarters -- barren of everything but neatly pressed uniforms hanging mutely in a cabinet. Reaching for one of the uniforms triggered a vision for Shera. Blood soaked the bottom of the bed, a woman's cries echoed in her head, and throes of childbirth consumed her.

Moving on you entered the manor's library and encountered a downy owlbear cub with a beak like a sailor trapped in a circle of salt. Damakos offered to free the fella if it became his feathered familiar, and a deal was struck.

Scritch revealed a bookcase hiding a secret library and a previous visitor's skeletal remains. You discovered letter from Karrn von Zarovich berating the Dursts and accusing them of luring people to their deaths on a hidden altar in their basement. You claimed a lodestone from a rock collection, deeds to Durst Manor and a Windmill, a will, and sheet music as well as three spell scrolls.

Harpsichord playing then drew you to the house's conservatory. Underneath a table you befriended a terrified dog named Lancelot. Surprising even himself, Zenbis masterfully played the sheet music from the library and summoned a ghostly promenade overseen by the grim-faced Dursts. As the last notes faded, a door opened above.

Following the sound you arrived at end of the great marble staircase and were attacked by an animated suit of armor. You encountered a spectral nursemaid keeping watch over an empty cradle. Shera drew her wrath and you slew the spirit. You also found a bag of holding stuffed with skeletons.

After blasting the hidden stairwell with an eldritch warning shot, you ascended the stairs to the attic where you found the remains and met the ghosts of Rose and Thorn Durst. You tried to exit the house to put the children to rest, but the house itself prevented you from escaping.

With no other choice, you asked the children to lead you down to the basement. In the attic, they reluctantly showed you a hidden spiral staircase draped in cobwebs. Down into the dusty depths you descend...