Playing Hide and Seek With a Child-Ghost
OR
Poltergeist Bowling
OR
That Time We Fought a Flaming Jack-O-Lantern
Day of the Dying
10/31
A lull in the storm, we leave the inn to head to the old smithy's home.
Redig tells us there's a dwarf named Kogan Smashhammer he wants to visit before we leave since we he may have some information for us.
As Redig had told it to us, Kogan was the town smithy for years, even during the time of the Tashmere wedding. Kogan made everything for the wedding, anything made of metal. Including, I couldn't help but hear, silver cups engraved with all the names of every guest, hundreds in total. All of which vanished.
Redig takes us to the Iron Spike trading post. When he pounds his fist on the old door, it opens for him. As we follow him in, I can see a room occupied by only two people: an old Dwarf with his white beard tied back, hands gnarled with arthritis, and his wife who only appears few decades younger.
As Redig had told it to us, Kogan was the town smithy for years, even during the time of the Thashmere wedding. He made everything for the wedding, anything made of metal. Including, I couldn't help but hear, silver cups engraved with all the names of every guest, hundreds of cups in total. All of which vanished.
Kogan tells us that Tashmere was a great warrior, and that he, Kogan, worked on all kinds of weapons in his lord's armory. Then, as if the world was taking him back to relive a moment, he tells of the time Tashmere let Kogan work on the lord's personal weapon, Sunray. "It was a sword of pure light. When you drew it from its scabbard it would fill the room with light," he tells us, his eyes drifting in thought as he relives that time in his mind, "When Milord would hold it, it would shine so bright you couldn't look at it. But when I held it, the light would grow dull."
I slip behind Kavanath again. His gargantuan form is good for hiding so that I no longer have to engage in the hero worship of a man who brought ruin to a region full of innocent people with his ego. But not engaging didn't mean not listening.
Kogan continues by describing Tashmere's weapon. Something that was interesting to anyone's ears. A light sword about 3 feet long with pure gold and silver, something that could pierce any armor. A "Soul Sword." The sword was never found.
"Is this something that he would have carried around with him?" Thonom asked.
"No." Kogan scratched his chin for a moment with his deformed fingers, a move that seemed to pain him. "He kept it in one of his towers. Are you guys really going to go in there?"
"Unless you're going to talk us out of it." Thonom almost smiled.
"No," Kogan breathed a laugh. "If you're going in there, I'd like to help you."
"Please do," Jemmalie said excitedly. "We will take any help we can get."
"That would be great!" replied Thonom.
"Do you have a map of the place?" Thorick asks, speaking up for the first time.
"I do not," the old dwarf says with a shake of his head. He flips open a hidden compartment and hands a mace to Thorick. "But I do have a few things you might find useful."
He drags out a few other things before we depart. Thonom received an Acorn Amulet and the rest of us received flasks of sun-water.
The rain picks up and there's a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, like something is coming. That feeling is telling me to stay inside where it's safe, but I ignore it. I can't let my friends go into danger alone. I take a breath, and we head out into the storm again.
By the time we get to the mansion, there's a running stream of water down the back of my tunic.
It's about 10 pm when we arrive at the mansion. By now there's a stream of water running down the back of my tunic. My hair falls in stings rain dripping down around my face. Redig gives us the key, offering again to join us inside. Jemmalie, the one who is always up for company, is thankfully silent. She would not invite this man in, despite his eagerness to help. If this is as dangerous as he says, he is woefully under-prepared for the beasts and foes inside.
"Thank you," Kavanath says kindly, his hulking frame blocking the entirety of the doorway as he ducks to enter through the main entrance. "But your village needs you, lest we do not succeed."
I curl my lip to keep from scoffing. I suppose that's probably the truth for Kavanath; a paladin would want to keep people safe from this mess of a storm, but I have difficulty trusting in people. And I'm not sure Redig is someone I want watching my back in an unfamiliar place.
Redig nods courtly, relief crossing his face. He really didn't want to come with us. Then he rushes back towards town, I assume, in hopes of reaching safety before the Dread Storm hits again. I wager he needs to run if he's going to make it in time. But he's no longer our problem; the wind whips between us as we file inside the mansion.
The entrance room is massive three levels high, red carpet darkened with dust and age, covers every inch of the curved staircases. A set for either side of the room, as grand as the room is big, the banister carved in great detail from ancient trees curved up the side of the stairs to the second and third floors. My thieving heart leaps into my chest as I wonder what treasures must lay within this massive home.
Cobwebs fill any nook and cranny and corner, collecting mostly dust and other spiders.
Between the stairs in front of us is a set of double doors, despite being only doors, they seemed better quality than most.
Tashmere clearly understood the meaning of "grandiose," and he flaunted it. As a thief, a scoundrel, a rogue, I understand the desire, the itch to take. But I have never found it of interest to flaunt or show wealth. That only makes you a target. This place makes me itch, but it also makes me uncomfortable.
As is customary for our group, I see Jemmalie's little gnome form crawl up the side of the wall, and I smile. Her usual post on the walls and ceilings keeps her from falling into a trap or falling victim to surprises, but she doesn't separate herself from the group. That's my job.
Slowly and so silently I can't even hear my own footsteps, I move forward to investigate. Every tendon and muscle in my body moves with specific intent, better than the tiny gears and springs responsible for keeping time and moving hands in the jewel encrusted pocket watch from that pompous, ostentatious merchant that one time. Flaunting wealth makes you a target. My ears are attuned to the sounds around me; if a mouse sneezes on the other side of the mansion I will hear it. But there's nothing.
My body relaxes and I signal the go-ahead to my team. Just as the others come to join me near the middle of the lower level, a young girl appears in front of me.
"Oh!" The sound escapes my mouth quietly, so that only I can hear it, but I struggle to hide the flush of heat that threatens to cover my face.
"Hello!" she says with cheer. "Who are you?"
In a formal red dress with ribbons in her blonde hair, she looks like she's early school-age.
"My name's Cecelia," I say in just as cheery a tone, trying to hide that she genuinely startled me. "Who are you?"
"I am Christina Tashmere. But everyone calls me Chrisi, that's spelled with an -i-" she specifies as if dictating. I smile gently at her, and she continues, "I'm five years old."
"Five-year-old Chrisi," Thonom speaks up with a friendly tone. "What are you doing here Chrisi?"
"I live here," she tells us. Then her tone changes to adventurous, and a childish grin touches her sweet face. "I'm playing hide and seek, do you wanna play?"
"I love playing hide and seek," I say.
I can hear the others also volunteer to play.
Thonom points at me, "She's super good at it." I can hear stifled laughs as I control my own reaction to be one of a modest agreement. "But we sort of came for the wedding?" Thonom's voice rose to a question.
Then the conversation changed from fun, to seriousness.
"Do you know anything about the wedding?" Jemmalie asked, her tiny form appearing like another child, weaving herself through her friends.
I have to try to keep her talking; I know she isn't going to want to talk about the wedding and I suspect we don't have much time with the little ghost. "What are your favorite hiding spots, Chrisi?"
"Oh I hide all over," she answered simply, ignoring my friends' questions. "I hide from my mommy, my daddy and from-" but she looks nervous, and suddenly stops speaking.
I sigh, understanding the feeling of fear, "I know what you mean. Sometimes I hide from scary people too. I understand."
Catching on Thonom follows suit, "I used to hide from my big brother. What do you hide from?"
"I hide from my mommy and daddy," she repeats.
"And where are they?" Thorick asks.
"They're still here," she tells us, but I can see that soon it'll be us she'll be hiding from. She doesn't want to answer our questions. If only we knew what the right question was, but it may be too late. She probably won't answer anything for too much longer. "They're all just hiding. But not for long, they'll all come out soon, you'll see. That's the wedding you talked about."
Then as if she sees something terrifying, she freezes. I look in the direction she's looking, but there's nothing there. When I turn back, she's running away into the wall and she's gone.
I straighten and stare after her. I know better than to chase after a ghost, even a child.
"How do we want to do this?" Kavanath asks. "This is a big place."
"The best way to get through a maze is to always go left," Jemmalie pipes up from her place on the wall, to where she had immediately returned when Chrisi ran away.
"We're not in a maze," Skud reminds her. "We're in a mansion."
"I still vote left," she shrugs.
No one can offer a better suggestion, so we head through the double doors with the intention to head left if the opportunity should arise.
As always, I am the first to enter, only the soft whisper of my cloak brushing through the air makes any noise as I step soundlessly into the room and peer around. Nothing seems amiss in here and so I invite my friends to join me. The room is not quite as grand as the main entrance, but it is interesting and I find that the beautiful carpet draws my eye.
The room was at one point pristinely cared for and decorated by someone who knew what they were doing. There are a couple of tables and a few chairs, and I recognize a lovely sitting room.
I exchange a look and Thonom heads to the door on the left, motioning for me to follow. He puts his ear against the door to listen. Then he motions for me to come over. "Would you check for traps?" he asks when I'm close enough.
I oblige. And as I slowly open the door I whisper, "Chrisi? Are you in here?"
But no one answers me.
The hallway is unremarkable in its aged extravagance. A carpet more expensive than most homes stretches on forever, and the wallpapered walls were once meant to be pleasing and inviting, but the years have yellowed and browned them, making them more sickly than inviting.
As we make our way down the hall, I can hear Skud's skelly-friends enter the room behind us. Their joints rubbing bone on bone, making me cringe just a little.
We come to the first set of doors, and I look back.
"Left?" Jem shrugs.
No one else says anything so I check the door. Not locked, I open it and enter. The floor is painted, big, green and tasteless, a rectangle with white lines. Stranger are the large variety of balls laying all over the floor of this room. I almost don't notice it at first, especially as Thonom brushes past me to get a look out the window to the Dread Storm outside, but all of the balls are moving. Just barely, as if they were slowing to a stop or just beginning to roll down a hill.
Again it's Thonom who draws my attention away.
"Aargh! By Moradin's Beard! Did you see that?" he cries. He throws himself away from the window into the wall, loses his footing and lands on the floor. His face pale and his breath quick.
"Thonom?" I come to his side and lay my hand on his shoulder to calm him. "What is it?"
"It-it was huge!" he stutters. He looks up for confirmation that I saw it too. But I can offer no such comfort to my friend.
I reach for his hand to help him up, but he smacks it away, his pride hurt.
"I'm fine!" he barks and climbs to his feet quickly with a grumble, refusing to look back at the window or at me.
I can hear the rest of my group filing into the room now.
Jemmalie marvels at the self-propelled balls, and as Skud brings up the rear of the group, the balls begin to move more and more on their own.
The large assortment of balls begin to move around more on their own until they are nearly bouncing. "They're under a spell," I say with certainty, stepping for the door. "We should get out before something happens."
From the door I watch at Thonom grips his mace and strikes one of the yellow balls. He jerks his head as if he hears something, but whatever it is, I can't tell.
"Guys," he says, motioning for the others to follow me from the room. The yellow ball hits the wall and bounces back to him, and he hits it away as he steps towards the door. He carefully watches as the balls are oddly missing him and the others as they also leave the room.
Then, in the corner of the room, a set of pins stand themselves up.
Skud beat me to the hallway and Kavanath and Thorick are here as well. Jemmalie scrambles out of the room, crawling quickly along the wall. For a moment I'm worried she's going to lose her footing, but she makes it past the doorway without any missteps.
Despite their rush to leave, Jemmalie and Skud had tried to hit a few of the balls on their way out, though neither with the same success as Thonom.
As Thonom nears the door, he hits one of the balls with his mace again, directing it to the pins. All of the pins fall to the ground. The room erupts in loud cheers and celebration, and the balls that had been bouncing about begin flying haphazardly around the room. Chaos has arrived. Some of the heavier ones seem as though they could really hurt if they hit you.
Kavanath grabs Thonom and pulls him from the room, and Skud pulls the door shut.
Thonom laughs heartily, a little nervousness underneath.
Once I am sure everyone is out of the room and okay, we head to the next room.
"Guys," Jemmalie says, stopping everyone in the hall. "They want us to go back in that room."
I exchange looks with the others then back to her, concerned.
"Yeah," Skud agrees, his lazy tone dragging out the word. "I was hearing some voices too."
"Go back into the room?" Thonom asks disbelieving.
"It was more like 'You shouldn't be here,'" Skud mimicks in a loud whisper, "'Time to go.'"
I shake my head, "We're already in it too deep."
"The storm has us stuck here, whether we want to do something about this place or not," Kavanath says, his usual calm demeanor changed by the circumstances. "We made our choice when we entered the front doors. No spirits can turn my mind by whispering in my ear."
"Well there you go," Jemmalie chirps. "Did you hear that? Can't change our minds."
We head to the next room, and the smell that greets us is like walking into a grove of lemons. The room must have been magically enchanted to still smell like this after 30 years of inattention.
Jem follows me in, crawling across the ceiling. I look up to see if she has any reasonable explanation for the lemon smell, but she seems just as puzzled. I suppose the answer will always turn out to be that someone had too much money.
"Do the walls taste like snozberries?" Thonom asks as he enters, breaking the silence.
"Lick the walls," I suggest dryly, "let me know."
I realize he's trying to ease the tension, and for a moment it works, but then I wonder what a snozberry actually is. I decide I'm not sure I want to know. Then I hear a voice in my ear, a whispering cracking voice. Not malicious, but warning: "Run mortal, run."
I try hard to control my outward reaction, but I'm shaken. The hairs on the back of my neck and arms are standing straight up, and I have goosebumps that have crawled all the way down my legs. My heart is pounding in my chest and in my ears. I am the one who sneaks. I do not get sneaked up on. I take a shaking deep breath and repress the natural 'what the fuck' that wants to escape my mouth.
"Cecelia?" Kavanath asks noticing. "Are you okay?"
I only nod uncomfortably, and swallow the lump in my throat, "something definitely wants us out of here."
"Right," Jemmalie agrees, then with less gravity, "Next room!"
I nod in agreement.
The next room is yet another game room. This one has tables for card and dice games and a chess board set up mid-game.
Thorick walks over to look at the chess board. He reaches out to make the next move for the white pieces. But he can't move it. "Maybe it's not their turn." He reaches for a black piece, but it also doesn't move.
"Maybe someone just doesn't want you to interrupt their game?" Skud suggests.
"Or the right people have to play," Jem pipes in.
"Chrisi?" I hear Thonom asking quietly.
Just then a ball bounces through the wall, and we're all a bit alarmed to see it. Chrisi follows quickly after trying to catch up to her ball.
"Oh!" she says, surprised to see us. "You're still here."
"Chrisi," I say just as surprised.
Her eyes fall to her ball and I watch as Thonom stoops to pick it up. He passes it from hand to hand; it's a real ball. Then, seeing her watching him, he tosses it to her underhand. She doesn't try to catch it though, and it passes through her, bouncing against the wall and rolling away on the floor, forgotten.
"Who are you?" she asks pointedly. "Are you with the Pumpkin Man?"
"We are not with the Pumpkin Man," Thonom replies with emphasis.
"Good!" she answers quickly. "I don't like the Pumpkin Man, he's mean."
"Is that you you hide from?" Thonom asks her. "The Pumpkin Man?"
She nods, her innocent face marred with fear. "Daddy says it's 'cause of the Pumpkin Man that we're here."
All happiness and cheer washes away from this child's face and a shadow of darkness falls over her as she talks about the Pumpkin Man. Then the same darkness falls over the room.
Coming through the wall as if it weren't there steps a creature that makes my skin crawl. A Hellishly blazing Jack-o-Lantern for a head atop a twisted vine-formed body, knot-formed hands. The creature wears a gentleman's tailored suit, but is clearly no gentleman.
A high-pitched scream fills the room, piercing to the deepest parts of my ears. Chrisi's scream catches me off guard, nearly as much as the sight before me. I reach out to her to protect her, not thinking that she is a specter. Before my hands can ever pass through the air where she stands, she runs from the room. I'm glad she's run away to safety.
The Pumpkin Man steps forward to follow her, but I take a step into his path. I can see Thonom's mace as he raises it, ready for the coming fight. Wishing I had something more clever to say I simply tell him, "I don't think so."
Thonom moves forward his mace up, a battle cry erupts from his mouth.
Even if Chrisi is already dead, I'm not going to just let him continue to chase and torment some poor little girl's soul. She's terrified of him, and has been hiding from him for 30 years. It's time she didn't have to hide from him anymore.
Jemmalie shoots her Sacred Flame spell from the ceiling in the hallway, using the doorway as cover.
The Pumpkin Man whips it's vines at Thonom, and it uses a spell from within it's eyes to hit the druid as well.
Thonom looks pale, having not expected such a heavy first strike. His dwarven body shifts and changes, growing in size, doubling and doubling again until his head is almost brushing the ceiling. His skin becomes covered in white fur, and his face elongates into a muzzle and sharp teeth. His hands and fingers are now massive paws and claws. He roars angrily at the Pumpkin Man, and the room shakes in response.
I stab the Pumpkin Man with both my rapiers, but I can see that they are doing very little in the way of damage. The only thing I can think of is how difficult this is going to be. Thorick's divination had said we needed to kill the Pumpkin man. This is going to be much harder than I had expected.
Thorick swings his Mace of Destruction. The room is bathed in bright radiant light and he connects with the Pumpkin Man, though I cannot tell if he is doing any more damage than I.
Jemmalie crawls along the ceiling until she's directly above the enemy and casts her Spirit Guardians. I smile, knowing Jemmalie would not put herself in harm's way without something good up her sleeve.
And it pays off.
Seeing that he cannot escape or fight against this attack, the Pumpkin Man dissipates.
After evaluating ourselves we head back to the hall. Thonom remains a bear as we reach the end of the hall. A door on the left and a hall to the right. We will of course go left.
