Kharduum Steepmine (Hill Dwarf Cleric)
Roza Chance (Tiefling Sorcerer)
Ront Axbrekka (Half Orc Monk)
Lizzie the Dragonslayer (Halfling Bard\Cleric )
Growbeck (Mountain Dwarf Fighter)
We find ourselves standing on an opulent lawn, looking up to a grand manor house, we search our minds, but none of us have any recollection of how we got here, everyone is dressed in absolute finery, with Growbeck in spectacular, full military dress. Everyone at least, except me, I’m dressed in a grubby apron and rags, wearing a belt of cooking utensils. Lizzie no longer feels like this parasite is going to burst out of her.
We feel the pull of the mansion, “Solve it, Save her”.
Ront says he will align his mind with the place and be able to tell us if something particularly strange is afoot, he knocks on the door, and we’re greeted by an ostentatious butler called Bendel, “On behalf of the Arch-mage Mizzie the Elder, we welcome you” apparently we’re here for the mages birthday party, Ront steps inside, and a choral voice magically rings out “RONT!” in a beautiful tone, he asks us to step on the welcome mat, as Ront does, a glow drifts from his feet up past his end, every fiber of his being left crystal clean.
One by one, we enter, Growbeck as it turns out, is a Justicar, and the guest of honour, he makes a particular point of stepping over the mat, one by one we enter, our names ring out, until we reach me, a low baritone “STAFF!” echoes out, “Kharduum, what were you doing outside, get back to the kitchen!” Bendel says.
Growbeck starts haranguing Bendel about getting back to Outpost, but Bendel has no idea what he’s talking about. Suddenly memories of a life he didn’t live start flooding into Growbecks mind, he sees money changing hands, a wife and child threatened, sadness and opportunity.
I retreat to the corner and try to commune with Moradin, reaching out to my God, but I try and try, and yet cannot feel his presence, in my entire life, I have never felt this empty. Hollow and wounded, I shuffle off to the kitchen, Ront trailing behind, while the rest of the party go to the palour, following Bendel and the sounds of a party.
The walls are almost see through, projecting images of beautiful rolling fields, illusion magic, Roza reaches out a hand as a butterfly passes through it, leaving a glittering trail.
They are introduced to a number of important partygoers, Mr. Montgomery, the Mayor of Mortel, the local town, and Lady Gwendolyn of the Grandland Manor, Roza recognises the names, but they aren’t real places, they’re from fairytale stories.
Growbeck sees silver trays of canapes being paraded around the room, but his advanced paranoia and this peculiar set of circumstances don’t mesh well, he backs off and hangs onto the illusionary wall to ground himself.
Ront and I have made our way to a bustling kitchen, it’s well stocked but a mess, spectral hands are trying in vain to keep on top of it, I rush over to a huge pot of broth, boiling over, and my instincts kick in, I desperately bring it back down to a simmer, noticing that the back of my spoon in engraved with the symbol of Moradin, looking down at the gentle pot, I take this as a sign and try to commune once more, but no avail, am I alone here?
Ront heads to the pantry and starts making up some Orcish delights, he knows his way around a kitchen, when Bendel the butler suddenly appears, I assure him it’s under control as he looks around in dismay, he notices Ront and asks why on earth I’m getting the guests to work, I assure him that Ront wanted to, and who am I to deny a guest? Ront declare that cooking is his passion, Bendel begrudgingly leaves as I say I’m about to start on the mains.
Back in the parlour, Lizzie is talking about playing, but an ornately dressed mage says that perhaps we should wait for the master, Growbeck asks who they are, “Well, I am Agatha, the protege of the Master”
They start talking about their adventures, about traveling to the Shiverpeak mountains, and battling giants, Roza can sense that they’re desperate to talk about their exploits and gently suggests they carry on as Lizzie starts accompanying their tales with music.
A series of cloaked pedestals are presented, Agatha gets carried away and starts pulling them free and revealing the contents, a silver breastplate that wraps around the torso, made from a fraction of a giants belt, there’s a giant pearl earring, as big as an apple, recognised as a globe of modify memory, and a pair of Rams horns, they allow people to communicate over great distances if they hold one each.
I suggest to Ront we head out with a tray of amuse-bouches as cover, and investigate upstairs while we aren’t being observed. I grab a frying pan and a cooking pot, to use as an improvised hammer and shield in a pinch.
We starts heading up the stairs, when Bendel dashes down past us, he’s in such a daze he doesn't even notice us, we carry on up, to see what spooked him so much, and see the door to the master bedroom ajar.
Bendel rushes into the parlour and straight up to Growbeck, “She’s dead! You have to find who did it.”
He turns and locks the parlour door, then proposes arresting the whole lot of them, but he hears a voice in the back of his head “Is this your final decision?” No it’s not, but he takes to the stage, to instill fear into the partygoers, that he find the killer, as Roza backs him up, brimming with fury.
Ront and I enter the master bedroom, we see gaudy decorations, colourful paintings depicting meteors, lots of large purple wizards hats, an illusionary ceiling, the works. On the floor lies a body, bloodied and very dead, she’s a halfling, she looks like Lizzie, but with a long, flowing and very real beard, she’s been stabbed multiple times in the back, and it isn’t fresh, she was definitely killed more than 12 hours ago by our estimation.
Lizzie appears behind us, Growbeck let her out to come and help, on the wall is a large portrait of Mizzie, and behind it, a safe covered in arcane symbols, we relay this back to Growbeck, who immediately accuses the butler, he’s distressed though, he confides that there is no money, that Mizzie owes thousands to the town, he only remains out of duty. So who else could have killed her? Someone she owed money to? Bendel whispers to Growbeck, tells us to watch out for the those around Gwendolyn, he says that her mental faculties aren’t quite there and the master was hoping to convince Gwendolyn to leave her wealth to them.
I ask Roza if there is any way to decipher the arcane symbols on the safe, she says that they’ve been dispelled, but the mechanical lock remains, we get the code from the butler and open it, there’s document inside, a will.
Roza flicks through it, it says that Mizzie is going to leave everything to pay off her debts, except the contents of the box, which she leaves to Lady Gwendolyn, but the box isn’t there.
Roza decides to head to the Library while Growbeck continues his interrogations, Mr. Montgomery approaches him “How long is this going to take?” Growbeck insinuates that maybe he’s happy with the death, maybe it was him, which is why he’s in such a rush.
Montgomery’s face flushes with anger, he says he sees what Growbeck is doing, that he has no real plan, that he’s just going to brutishly accuse everyone, but he’s not going to stand here and be insulted, but Growbeck won’t stop pushing his buttons, he gets more and more flustered, and pulls his rapier, but Growbeck is far too quick for him, he pulls the rapier from his grasp with the ease of taking candy from a baby, Montgomery goes white, he starts blubbering that he inherited debt from his predecessor and the arch mage, but he had no idea of the will.
The rest of us have entered the trophy room, we see the glitter of gold gilding, dozens of artifacts, with the finest on pedestals in the centre of the room. There’s a cracked crystal, a beautiful dagger, an amulet of suggestion and a black iron circlet labelled “do not touch”, from this Roza hears grim, evil noises, whenever she looks at it, it grows louder, the lights dim, the sign sounds right, although Ront seems to hear something different, maybe the circlet is a little prejudiced.
When I look at the cracked crystal, I feel tremendous anger well up inside me, and with the absence of Moradin’s presence, it screams louder than any rage I’ve ever felt. Just then, my memory flashes, the Godshard, the temple of Moradin, recognition from this worlds lost memories.
The dagger is called ‘Spell Render’, it has the ability to cast counter spell, and dispel magic, once per day each, and both have been used. I cover the Godshard, but the moment I do, I feel immense sorrow, maybe I can find something from this, so I take it. Roza takes the amulet and Ront takes the dagger, it certainly looks like this could have been the murder weapon, the counterspell used to get the jump on Mizzie, and the dispel magic to unlock the safe.
We leave the room and head to the library, it smells musty, with books of all ages and reams of notes, authored by the arch mage herself. Lizzie and I find a diary pertaining to the Godshard, Mizzie led an assault on the Temple of Moradin, killed her way through the clerics, murdering them where they stood, I feel a flash of recognition, I was there too, as child, hiding, the last survivor, I look at my cooking utensils, one of my knives could have easily been used to kill Mizzie, but without my power, could I have killed her? Probably not, but with “spell render”, I could have done, did I seek vengeance, working here to give myself the opportunity, could I be the killer?
We find more and more of Mizzies note, detailing her daring exploits, but one thing we notice is that her apprentice is barely mentioned, he’s a mere footnote, could jealousy have been the motive? Growbeck starts interrogating once more, but Agatha is annoyed, “Why would I kill her when I still have so much to learn, I’ll write about my exploits when I go off on my own”.
Upstairs we find a book acting as a lever for a hidden passage way, but we decide to finish looking upstairs first. Heading to the staff rooms, we find three, Agathas room contains a diary, they were considering leaving as there was no longer any money, but nothing to suggest they’d attempt murder, they clearly knew there’d be nothing in it for them.
The middle room is shared, one half spartan and clean, the other side a cluttered mess, the room I shared with Bendel, I find my diary, it appears I did come here with vengeance in mind, but I’d since put this out of my heart, this wasn’t Moradins will, instead I was going to steal the Godshard, and take it home. I hold it tight and cast mending, the cracks heal and it is hold once more, but yet, I still don’t feel the presence of my God…
Lizzie has a room, and she has a letter from Mizzie, but she looks distraught and uncomfortable reading it, we ask her what it says, but she can’t bear to let us see it, before we can protest, Roza sends the letter up in flames, protecting her close friend.
Back in the parlour Growbeck has a flash of memories, it isn’t Mizzie holding his family hostage, it’s the mafia, they instruct him to take care of Mizzie and his family goes free, he did come here with murderous intent, but arrived too late, Mizzie was already dead when he arrived.
We decide to head down the secret passageway, it’s leads down to below the kitchen, to a laboratory. There’s an alchemical smell, bottles everywhere, only some are labelled, and a large, ominous door in the corner, Ront and I find a way to dust the dagger for prints, but it’s clean. It’s not surprising though, the doormat cleans people and what they’re wearing, someone could easily clean up any evidence using that.
Roza magehands open the door, there stands a nine foot tall, mechanical golem, a strange sigil on its chest, suddenly we hear a voice in the back of our heads, “time is running out”.
Growbeck is still in the parlour, speaking with Lady Gwendolyn now, she’s found a ring that slipped behind the sofa, he recognises it as the “Ring of Truth”, we have one more room to search, then maybe we can use this to start asking some more questions.
The rest of us head to the Dining room, it’s long and ornate, with a huge portrait of the Arch Mage, shooting lighting out of two wands, Ront pulls it off of the wall, and we start looking closely at it, in the background there are images of her greatest exploits, but then we notice something particularly strange, Mizzie standing with a double, with Lizzie, hand in hand, Lizzie starts backing off, memories flooding back into her head, she falters as we start asking questions and runs.
We give chase, asking her to calm down, but she reaches the lab and stands in front of the Golem, Roza tries to reason with her, saying that something is wrong and she’s being controlled, Ront heads upstairs to get belongings from her room, something to ground her.
She’s doubling over, in pain, flickering in and out of existence, her image vibrates and splits in two, one of them morphing into a six foot tall, slimy Slaadi. It turns to Lizzie, “Mother, love me, we can be together!”, “Billy..” she replies, she places her hand on the golems sigil and it whirs to life, raising its sword.
At that moment Ront appear, he’s getting bad vibes… Roza casts erupting earth under Billy to pull him down, but catches Lizzie, “Careful mother, I will protect us” he spits a glob of acid at Roza, who responds with Hellish Rebuke, burning him. Lizzie starts pleading with Billy, saying he needs a timeout. I raise the mighty spoon and call upon Moradin to try and banish Billy, but it has no effect.
Ront runs in, lashing out with water whip, knocking him back, the Golem grabs him at Lizzie’s command, “Watch out mother, I will protect us” and starts spewing poison, but with the Golem bearing down on him, only Lizzie is caught in the blast, she reels backwards “That’s enough Billy, go to sleep” she casts ‘sleep’ and we watch it take effect, the Slaadi rendered unconscious in the arms of the Golem, they put him in the Golems containment cupboard and lock the door.
At that moment we see light coming in through the windows, the walls start breaking apart, this world fades into light around us and we awaken once more, Pro’bass is standing over us, his out outstretched and sweat on his brow (can his sweat, or is he just particularly glistening today), he says that should stop it.
Lizzie struggles to her feet, the pain has gone, but somewhere in the back of her mind, is the faint echo of Billys voice.
This entire experience was inside her mind as she wrestled for control of her own body from this parasite, a world Pro'Bass helped establish so we could help. But without memories and within the fracturing of her sense of self, it wasn't easy. Let's hope we've seen the last of Billy.