The Ghost of Lif
Aleina walked with Volo and the others up the stone steps to the main entrance of the tavern. The door was thick, solid, well-aged, weathered and, unlike the windows and other entrances of the first floor, hadn't needed to be boarded up to keep people out. It had nine rectangular panels with stylized flowers carved in each and a border of winding vines.
While Volo fished a key out of his pocket, the aasimar decided the door would definitely stay when she and her companions moved in. She gave a slight shake of the head and pursed her lips at the thought, realizing she was getting ahead of herself. Before they could think of this place as their own, they had to deal with its former owner.
Who happened to be dead and also a haunting spirit.
Key retrieved - Volo unlocked the door. It required a little muscle assistance from Kuhl to jar it loose and get it to creak open. Understandable for something long neglected. Then the little man in the floppy hat waved for them to go inside. The half-elf hesitated before entering, prompting Sky to badger him.
"Go ahead, Kuhl," the tabaxi said. "It's just the ghost of one little barkeep. He can't be worse than Brysis, right? Or the ghosts of Blingdenstone? Or an ancient elven bladesinger spirit? Nothing to worry about."
Earlier, as they stood at the street corner looking at the dilapidated building, Volo had told them of how the previous owner died of a heart attack years ago, then started haunting the place. During the story, Sky went from disinterested in their potential new home to all eagerness to get inside.
The half-elf paladin breathed a heavy sigh. "I really wish you hadn't just said that Sky."
"Are you surprised?" Fargas asked. "This group is never going to learn to stop saying things like that."
"No," Kuhl said. "Not surprised."
He stepped inside and, one by one, they all followed.
Little daylight filtered through the boarded up windows and, once the door was shut behind them, it seemed eerily quiet. The activity of the city outside suddenly seemed muted and far away, which didn't make sense since many of the windows were smashed and there were gaps between the boards used to secure the windows. Aleina hugged herself as the warmth of the afternoon sun outside also did not seem to penetrate inside. The air smelled of mildew, dust, and abandonment.
"Shouldn't we leave that open?" Fargas asked in a whisper, motioning to the door.
"I'd rather the neighbors didn't know I'm here," Volo answered, voice hushed. "Some of them are quite opinionated about what I should do with the place and very loquacious about that opinion. They weren't too happy to hear I'd bought the place for research purposes rather than to fix it up. Something about the place being an eyesore."
"Hmmm," Aleina said, with an eye roll. "Imagine that."
No one responded to her statement. They were too busy looking around the large tap room. Unlike the exterior, the interior was surprisingly intact. The sturdy wooden tables were a mix of round and rectangular, but also still matched each other in make and design. The accompanying chairs were in good shape as well. A large oak bar dominated the far wall and the north wall had a large fieldstone hearth, ashes of a fire from who knew how many years ago still waiting to be cleaned inside. A layer of dust lay over everything and cobwebs hung in clusters from the ceiling and from furniture.
"Anyone else feel like we are being watched?" Jhelnae whispered.
"Trickster's toes," Fargas hissed. "Of course we all feel that way! How many ghosts, specters, and spirits are you going to have to encounter before you understand what haunted means?"
"Why is everyone whispering?" Sky asked, keeping her voice low despite her question. "It's not like we can sneak past a ghost, right?"
The tabaxi paused for a moment to let someone answer, continuing when no one did.
"Then let's just get on with meeting the ghost," she said, looking over at Kuhl.
The half-elf lifted his hands in a questioning gesture of 'why me?'
"Is anyone else a paladin?" the tabaxi asked. "Does anyone else have a magic sword of light? And is anyone else a half-elf?"
Kuhl shook his head at the first two, a resigned expression coming across his face, but his brow wrinkled in confusion at the last part.
"Just because Lif was a half-elf," he said, using the name of the barkeep given earlier by Volo. "And I'm a half-elf, I'm supposed to have some sort of natural rapport with him?"
"If he were a halfling," Fargas said. "I'd do it. But he wasn't. He was a half-elf. So that, along with the rest of what Sky said, makes you the best spokesperson."
He gave the paladin a little shove toward the center of the taproom to emphasize the point. Given their size difference, it was more of a nudge, but Kuhl stepped forward with a sigh.
"Lif," he called out. "Are you there? We'd like to discuss with you…ah, moving on. To the…um, afterlife."
The response was immediate. The air went from a bit chilly to cold and Kuhl's breath misted with his later words. The hairs on the nape of Aleina's neck raised as letters started methodically being drawn through the dust on a nearby tabletop.
"C-L-O-S-I-N-G T-I-M-E."
"Closing time?" Jhelnae read. "What does 'closing time' mean?"
The next words drawn on the tabletop were scrawled quickly rather than slowly and deliberately. "GET OUT!"
Then a wooden tankard flew from where it had been neatly stacked with its fellows off the shelf behind the bar and at the half-drow. She dodged to the side, but not fast enough. It ricocheted off the arm she'd raised to protect herself.
"Ow!" Jhelnae yelled, but her eyes blazed with fury more than pain.
"Lif…" Kuhl began.
But before he could say anymore, more tankards started flying off the shelves at the companions, forcing them to dodge and raise their arms in defense. Several struck the aasimar hard enough to bruise, but she managed to keep anything from striking her head.
"That does it!" Jhelnae yelled.
A burst of energy crackled across the room in a flash and the barrage of wooden drinking vessels suddenly stopped. The room grew instantly warmer.
Aleina lowered her arms to find the half-drow with an outstretched hand towards the bar. Following the direction of that hand led to a newly created scorch mark on the fieldstone wall behind the bar. A chunk of support for the lowest wooden shelf was also missing, and it tilted precipitously.
"What was that?" the aasimar asked, throwing up her hands.
"What do you mean what was that?" Jhelnae said, also throwing up her hands.
"You're destroying the place," Aleina said. "And since it's kind of supposed to be our new home, it would be best if you didn't do that."
"By all that dances!" the half-drow said. "What did you want me to do? Let him just keep hitting us?"
"I don't know," the aasimar said. "But definitely not destroy the place."
"He'd have run out of tankards…eventually," Sky said.
She was looking around the room, eyes bright and lips smiling, for all appearances having fun. The bottom shelf behind the bar was almost empty of tankards. Only three remained. Good thing as well, given its current instability. But plenty more heavy wooden cups lay on the higher shelf and there was one more filled shelf above that.
"Wow," Aleina observed. "That is a lot of tankards."
"You, see?" Jhelnae said. "You're welcome."
"Oh, this is wondrously good material," Volo said, rubbing his hands together. "I had bought this place, but there isn't much of a good ghost story here. No obsessive unrequited love, no dark pacts, or coming back from beyond for revenge. According to the interviews I conducted, Lif was a welcoming host, a good boss, and ran a well-respected and beloved tavern. I had thought I'd wasted my money. But now I can report how you all went about driving the ghost out, or died in the trying, and flesh out the chapter properly. Actually, if you all did die in the trying, and also became ghosts, that would be very interesting. Very interesting indeed. A chapter on the ghost of a tavern keeper is a little dull, but the ghosts of an aasimar, a drow, and a tabaxi?"
"Hey," Fargas said. "What about me and Kuhl? Wouldn't we count for anything?"
"Halflings and half-elves are not uncommon in Waterdeep," the little man said. "So not much of a selling point. Plus, most of my readers are male. I put ghostly apparitions of these three on the cover, use a little artistic license with some strategically torn clothing, and Volo's Guide to Spirits and Specters will be flying off the shelves. Metaphorically speaking, of course, not literally thrown off the shelf by a ghost, as may happen later in the library."
He gestured to the three female companions and gave Kuhl and Fargas a knowing glance.
"I'm not sure whether to be flattered or insulted," Jhelnae said.
"Insulted," the aasimar said. "Definitely insulted."
"Yeah," the half-drow said. "I'm leaning more towards insulted as well."
"Hold on a moment," Kuhl said. "How can you be insulted? Have you seen the covers of the books you two read?"
"They're our books, Kuhl," the aasimar said. "So, yes. But that's different."
"Very different," the half-drow agreed.
The half-elf opened his mouth to say something, then shut it, shook his head, and turned to Volo instead.
"I know I'm going to regret asking this," he said. "But if we did die trying to clear out Lif, how would you write about it? Given you'd be dead as well?"
"Your concern is appreciated," Volo said. "But have no fear on my account. You wouldn't be the first adventuring party Volothamp Geddarm outlived. I am very good at judging when the coin toss will change from the Smiling Lady's clovers to Beshaba's black stag antlers and can be very fleet of foot when I need to be."
"Nice to know we can count on you," Jhelnae said, with a roll of her eyes.
She held out her hand and her abyssal blade misted into her hand.
"Now where did you go, Lif?" she asked. "Show yourself so I can send you into the beyond with my sword. Because dear Aleina has commanded me not to make a mess of this place blasting at you. Even though you are doing that all on your own."
She gestured at the tankards strewn across the floor.
"Oh," Volo said. "He'll pick all this up and put everything back on the shelves. Also make what repairs he can. Many times he has driven me out with a barrage of things, but the place is always put back together again when I return. He still obviously still loves this tavern."
A thought struck Aleina at the little man's words. While she considered it, no new writing appeared on any tabletop and no tankards were thrown, nor did the temperature drop.
"I don't think he is here," Kuhl said. "I think he fled."
Despite his statement, he followed Jhelnae's lead, pulled Dawnbringer free from where she rode on his belt, and ignited her blade of light. Shadows fled to the far corners of the taproom from her radiance.
"Only temporarily," Volo said. "This is his pattern. He hides in other rooms when anyone shows they might be able to hurt him. But he always comes back with hit and run tactics to drive anyone out and absolutely won't let anyone stay long enough to spend the night."
"This doesn't make any sense," Aleina said, giving voice to her thoughts. "He loves the tavern, but his haunting of it is causing it to remain abandoned and the building to get dilapidated? Why would he do that?"
"Who can understand the insane logic of the spirit mind?" the little man asked.
"I guess," the aasimar said.
But she was unsure, and felt they were missing something.
"So he is hiding somewhere else," Sky said, tail lashing. "That means we need to look around and find out where he went."
"Good plan," Fargas said, clasping his hands together. "Well, since only Jhelnae, Kuhl, and Aleina can hurt the ghost, I'll just pop out and wait at that other tavern we passed on the way here."
"Frewn's brews," Volo said, nose wrinkling. "Not a place I'd recommend."
"Is it haunted?" the halfling asked.
"No," the little man said. "But the drinks are not good."
"But not haunted," Fargas said. "So a great place to nurse a drink and wait."
"Do you want in on this place or not?" Jhelnae asked, eyes narrowing.
"Oh, fine," the halfling sighed, staring up at the ceiling. "I'm in, but why do Ront and Surash get to miss out on it all?"
"Because they were smart enough to stay in bed," the half-drow said. "You weren't. Now you're with us. We do it like we always do it. Together. Keep a lookout for any rising tankards or other impromptu missiles. Speaking of which, Aleina and I should conjure our warding armor."
The aasimar gave a nod of agreement.
"Yeah," Fargas said, rolling his eyes. "That will be really helpful for the rest of us."
Behind the bar was a pantry. Rank smells emanated from the leaky casks, stacked crates, and piled grain bags against the stone wall. Vermin had long since gotten in and mostly emptied the crates and grain sacks. Rodent droppings littered the floor. The heavy wooden door leading outside was secured by cross planks nailed to the frame. Pushing past a pair of swinging doors, the companions entered the kitchen.
Here too, the door to the outside had been secured. A pair of heavy iron stoves flanked the sealed exit. Other than the prevalent layer of dust, they looked to be in good shape, though years of neglect had allowed rust spots to form. Some vinegar and scrubbing with a wire brush should handle that, Aleina judged. A large, sturdy prep table stood in the center of the kitchen and the aasimar eyed the block of knives on the corner of the tabletop, expecting their ghostly host to start flinging something far more deadly than tankards at any moment. But the knife handles didn't so much as quiver.
The hearth here, like the one in the tap room, was built of the same fieldstone as the walls of the lower level. It seemed sad and forlorn from its long lack of a fire and the large hanging cast iron cauldron would also need some vinegar and scrubbing. Finding no ghost, they retreated back to the tap room.
"Your attack frightened him," Volo said, gesturing to Jhelnae. "He must have retreated to an upper floor or went through the hatch behind the bar to the cellar."
"I don't know about the rest of you," the half-drow said. "But after yesterday, I've had my fill of underground spaces."
"Let's go up," Aleina agreed. "Where are the stairs?"
"They are back outside," the little man said, heading for the main entrance.
"Wait," the aasimar said. "You can't access the second floor from the first?"
She didn't like that. Not at all.
"I think it was to give separation between the living quarters and the tavern," Volo said. "Although when Lif ran the tavern, he also rented out the rooms upstairs as an inn, so he also probably would have liked it if it was built with an interior stairwell."
"Could the stairs be redirected inside?" she asked.
The little man looked up at the ceiling for a moment in thought.
"Members of the Carpenters, Roofers, and Plaisterers Guild know their business," he said. "I'm sure it could be done."
"You're making remodel plans?" Fargas asked. "Now? Really?"
"Yeah," Sky said, tail lashing. "We're hunting a ghost right now, not planning a remodel. Do that part without me."
"I just want us to be able to come down for breakfast in our night clothes if we want before the tavern is open," Aleina said. "Is that too much to ask?"
"Roll out of bed and stumble down for breakfast without taking time to dress?" the halfling said, contemplatively, eyes brightening with the thought. "I take back what I said. We definitely need to get those stairs rerouted inside."
"That's what I'm saying," the aasimar said.
Fargas smiled and winked. "I don't, by the way, wear any night clothes when I sleep, or anything at all. So something for you all to anticipate."
"Will you be starting your mornings off with Surash's potion, then?" Jhelnae asked. "Or am I going to be a little disappointed?"
She pantomimed something small with her thumb and forefinger.
The halfling gave a snort of laughter and a nod in acknowledgment to the half-drow of a point scored.
"Potion?" Volo asked, looking confused.
"It's not important," Kuhl said, with his own bemused smile. "And, as Sky has reminded us, we're hunting a ghost. But if we're going back out on the street, it would be best if we didn't do it while carrying weapons."
He extinguished Dawnbringer and Jhelnae, following his example, dismissed her abyssal blade back into mist.
Being outside again felt strange. The afternoon sun bathed Aleina's skin, banishing the chill she'd felt while inside, and all around the abandoned tavern, Waterdhavians went about their day, oblivious of the haunting spirit inside.
The stairway to the second floor was off the larger and busier Saerdoun Street rather than the alley the main entrance faced. Aleina decided the place must have originally been built as a manor house and the first floor later converted to a tavern. Likely when the family living there had fallen on leaner times and needed a new source of revenue. She knew all about that. It was the only way she could think that such an inefficient design had come into being.
Part way to the stairs, they were stopped by a pair of muscular men wearing worker's smocks marred by burn marks. Their skins were a picture of contrast, one being red and the other blue.
"Finally deciding to do something with the place?" the red-skinned one asked Volo, face scowling.
"Perhaps," the little man answered. "Things are still being decided."
"You're genasi!" Sky said, tail lashing. "One fire and one water."
Moments before the tabaxi had been focused on getting back inside and back to looking for Lif. But as she pointed to the red-skinned and blue-skinned individuals, she seemed to have forgotten all about the haunted manor. Aleina judged Sky was right, not that it was any great difficulty to guess. She'd met other genasi, people part elemental and part mortal, in her travels and in Little Calimshan back home in Baldur's Gate.
The fire genasi's eyes narrowed and he cast a look at Volo.
"Who are they?" he asked.
"What my husband means to say, is," the water genasi said with a serene smile, "He is Embric and I am Avi, and we are pleased to meet you."
"I'm Red Sky In The Morning," Sky said. "I've never met a genasi before. Can you really make fire and water?"
"We aren't street performers," the one named Embric said, but his husband cut him off.
"He can make fire," Avi said. "And I can control the flow of water, not create it. Are you all doing something with the manor?"
"We might move in." The tabaxi answered before any of the others could. She shrugged. "But we have to deal with Lif first."
"If the ghost can't be dealt with, they should burn the place down," the fire genasi said. "A controlled burn under the supervision of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors. That should get rid of the ghost and then something new can be built. A building shouldn't just be left to fall into ruin in this neighborhood."
"But then it isn't our decision what is done with the place," Avi said with a sigh. "Come along, Embric. Let's get that overdue lunch. It was nice to meet you all. I do hope we become neighbors. May the peace of Eldath shine upon you."
"Burn it down," Embric advised as he was led away by the guiding tug of his spouse. "The place has a dark history anyway. Start fresh."
With that, the pair walked away down Saerdoun Street.
"And that is why I close the door behind us when we go inside," Volo said, leading them once more towards the stairs to the second floor. "Embric isn't even the most vociferous of the neighbors. They own a weapons and armor making shop near here."
"What was the dark history he mentioned?" Sky asked.
"Oh, a big disappointment," the little man said. "The manor was previously an orphanage for a time. But it was actually being run by a hag who terrorized and corrupted the children. The Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors destroyed her. I had hoped the haunting was somehow related to her but found no evidence of that. Lif ran the place for decades and not one complaint from any patrons during all that time. Too bad too, because the orphanage story is far more intriguing. Unfortunately, I had to regulate it to the backstory, set the mood as it were, rather than the source of the haunting."
Sections of the railing of the stairs were missing and the boards to a few steps as well. What was left of the staircase creaked ominously as they ascended. But they all managed to make it up without mishap and through the sturdy door Volo unlocked at the top. The aasimar got a brief glimpse of a large common room and registered how cold the room was. Then a bedsheet billowed down from the ceiling, funneling its contents on top of the gathered companions. Her warding armor flared, deflecting most of the debris, but others weren't so lucky."
"Trickster's Toes!" Fargas spat. "I think one of the tails went in my mouth!"
He spat several more times.
"That was gross," Jhelnae yelled.
On the floor, all around them, were the dead vermin and birds that had fallen on them like a deluge. Even though her magical protection had stopped almost all of it from touching her, Aleina's skin crawled. As she watched, dead rats, mice, and birds rose from the ground under ghostly power and started swirling in a maelstrom. Small, desiccated corpses pelted against her flaring wards.
"Gross, gross, gross," Jhelnae yelled, even though, like Aleina, she was magically protected, and little was actually getting to her.
Sunlight flooded the room as Kuhl ignited Dawnbringer and the storm of dead vermin ceased their swirling and dropped in a rhythmic drumbeat of bodies hitting the floor. The room grew warmer.
"Lif!" Jhelnae yelled, holding out her hand and summoning her blade. "Get back here and fight us like a proper ghost."
"You see the problem?" Volo asked. "He knows when he is overmatched and then resorts to harassment to force people to leave."
"Well, it's going to take more than throwing a few dead rats at us to get us to leave," Aleina said.
"Easy for you to say," Fargas said. "Did any of the disgusting little things even touch you? I probably caught some kind of disease."
He spat again.
"And you say you won't leave, but you're not thinking it through. You can't even rest and relax. He probably is just waiting for us to let our guards down so he can shove one of these into our mouth."
He gestured to the strewn little corpses on the floor.
"Ewwwww, Fargas," Sky said. "Gross."
"I'm just saying," the halfling said. "I'm understanding now why this place has been abandoned for so long."
"Well let's get back to finding him," Jhelnae said. "No one pelts me with dead rats and gets away with it."
There were hooks on the wall for coats and a metal boot rack bolted to the floor. Mounted oil lamps were on the walls at regular intervals. A floor mat was just in the entry with the word 'Welcome' woven into it, but it had been positioned so that the word would be upside down to anyone entering. A dusty patterned rug lay at the center of the room now also decorated by fallen rodent and bird corpses. Comfortable looking chairs and a settee faced a stone hearth accompanied by end tables. If you could imagine it with a fire in the hearth and without the layers of dust and vermin bodies, it was a cozy space.
"The door to the south leads to the stairs to the third floor," Volo said. "If you want to see the rest of this floor first, we should take the door to the north."
This led to another large sitting area. Through the gaps in the slats securing the windows, Aleina caught glimpses of a wood railed balcony. Not that they could access it since the door leading out to it had also been boarded up. The other side of the hearth from the previous room was here and dusty furniture was positioned all about. One corner of the room was rounded in the shape of the turret and chairs were set to take advantage of the view. At the moment, however, they faced only boarded up windows.
"The hallway behind that door leads to the bedroom on this floor," Volo said, pointing across the room.
When the door was opened, they found exactly that. A long window filled hallway with a door on at the end and another doorway leading to another balcony running along most of the western length of the manor. Once more the windows and doors were secured with boards.
"Alright," Aleina said. "Now I'm getting really mad. You have this beautiful balcony and all these windows, and they face a hallway? What a waste! This wall here should be taken out and then all of it would be visible on entry. A big open space."
"That is what you're mad about?" Jhelnae said. "That?"
"Yes," the aasimar said.
"Because I kind of thought you'd be more upset at what the ghost who has pelted us with tankards and vermin bodies had written here." the half-drow said.
She gestured to the floor and Aleina noticed the writing on the dusty wooden floor on either side of the carpet runner.
"GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT…"
Over and over, it was scrawled.
"Fine," she said. "That makes me a little mad as well."
She motioned for Kuhl to proceed, and he moved down the hall, Dawnbringer leading the way.
The bedroom at the end of the hall, like the other rooms of the manor, was furnished. All linen, of course, had been stripped of the four-post bed and only the mattress and frame remained. A small hearth was on the eastern wall with sitting chairs before it and there was a writing desk and dresser. Another message waited for them in the dust on a hanging wall mirror.
"LEAVE! NOW!"
"I wonder if he wants us to leave?" Kuhl asked with a sigh.
"Look," Sky said, pointing at the south windows. "A green house."
The windows were boarded, like everywhere else, but the gap between the slats was bigger. Probably because there was no balcony under them, and a glass greenhouse across the alley from the manor was indeed visible, fogged windows only giving a hint of the lush vegetation inside.
"No Lif," Jhelnae said. "Third floor?"
"Third floor," Kuhl agreed.
They retraced their steps back to the entry room and through the south door. The wide hall before the set of decorative metal railed stairs leading up had a large oak table and chairs that could seat a dozen. Of course, without a kitchen up here, all the food would need to be brought up from the downstairs tavern and without an internal stairwell, carried around the building to do it. Aleina resolved to at least get one of those pulley systems where trays could be loaded and cranked up or down if they couldn't get the stairs redirected inside.
"There is a small bedroom here we should at least check before going upstairs," Volo said, going to a door in the south wall.
The room contained only a narrow bed, a writing desk and its own hearth. It did, however, have its own balcony, inaccessible now of course as the door had planks nailed across it. With no sign of the ghost, not even a scrawled message, they headed up the stairs.
"Let's see," Volo said. "Privies there and there. Library ahead and two bedrooms. The stairs up lead to the attic level."
The landing they stood on also included chairs and small tables and doubled as a small sitting area for the third floor.
"I vote, we look at the privies last," Fargas said. "I don't even want to think about what traps Lif might have for us there."
"That is sound advice," the little man in the floppy hat said. "I've heard stories…"
He trailed off and Aleina decided she didn't want to hear those stories.
"Library?" she said.
"Library," Sky said, smiling. "A house with its own library! Imagine that."
"I don't need to imagine one, Sky," the aasimar said. "I grew up in one."
"Yeah, you keep telling us your family was so poor, but you had your own library," Fargas scoffed.
"We were poor," Aleina said.
"If you say so," the halfling said, rolling his eyes.
The aasimar forced herself to bite back a retort and headed for the door in front of them.
No light came from the large stained-glass windows on the far side of the library. These had been completely secured by planking across them with no gaps and were still intact. One held glass rendering of a turned up crescent moon over a mountain range with the moon and stars also reflected in water below. The symbol of Waterdeep. The other window depicted a beautiful waterfall plunging into a still pool. Pretty as they were darkened, the aasimar was sure they would be glorious with the light shining through them. There were a number of bookshelves, mostly empty, and a pair of writing desks against the north and south walls.
"Would you believe when I first bought the place," Volo said. "There was a signed copy of Volo's Guide to Cormyr just sitting on the shelf. As well as a book on the behavior of nymphs by a less well known, but talented author. Quite valuable finds."
"But couldn't you just sign the copy of your book?" Fargas asked. "So, for you it doesn't really matter if you found a signed or unsigned copy, right?"
"But it was signed," the little man in the floppy hat said. "That made it much more valuable."
"I see…" the halfling said, in a tone indicating he actually didn't.
"Lif doesn't seem to be here," Kuhl said. "Let's take a look at the bedrooms.
He led the way to the north one first.
"Look at that little nook," Jhelnae said when they entered, pointing to the turret shaped northwest corner of the room. "That is so cute. With the windows unboarded it would get a lot of light. You know what I'm thinking, Aleina?"
"Reading nook?" the aasimar guessed.
"Reading nook," the half-drow confirmed. "Where does this ladder lead?"
She pointed to a ladder mounted to the wall that went up to a hatch in the ceiling.
"That goes up to the turret peak," Volo said.
"It has its own little turret sitting area above?" Jhelnae said, voice excited. "That's amazing. Let's see, its own fireplace and…by all that dances! This bedroom has its own private bath! Look at the size of that tub!"
In the tiled room that could be seen through the far door to the room was a large pedestal bathtub made of well crafted glazed ceramic.
"This is our room!" the half-drow said.
"Hold on a moment," Fargas said. "Why do you get a private bath?"
"I didn't say my room," Jhelnae said. "I said our room. Me, Aleina, and Sky. There are three of us, so we get this room."
She motioned to the large, striped, four-post bed.
"We'll have to get this bed out of here and get three smaller ones," she said. "Three smaller dressers rather than that one. Our sitting area will be the little turret nook."
"Why do I always have to room with you two?" Sky asked. "There seems to be a lot of bedrooms in this place. I could take one of the smaller ones."
"You don't want to be our roommate?" the half-drow said, looking surprised and perhaps a little hurt.
"You two like to talk," the tabaxi said. She brought up two hands facing each other and mimed chattering. "All night long. Whisper, whisper, whisper. A cat needs her sleep."
"Well," Jhelnae said, looking thoughtful. "I suppose if we renovate the place, we could reorganize the rooms so we each get our own."
Aleina felt herself panicking. The nightmares of the Underdark had receded, somewhat. But there were nights when they came back, particularly the twin gazes of Demogorgon. When that happened, she didn't want to face the long night hours alone.
"But this room could be ours, Jhelnae," the aasimar said. "A cute little reading nook, a deck turret above for nice days, and our own private bath."
The half-drow smiled. "Yeah, it will be a really great room."
She walked past the bed to get a closer look into the bathing room. The moment she left the main circle of Dawnbringer's radiance, the dusty throw rug beneath her feet flew up and enveloped her.
"Jhelnae!" the aasimar yelled.
Despite her earlier admonishment about the half-drow blasting the place, flame sprung to her raised hand. But she couldn't cast it, not with the half-drow trapped inside the rug. Kuhl ran forward and Dawnbringer blazed brighter. He slashed around the area of the enveloping rug, but it was already releasing its prisoner. She came out sputtering and spitting.
"Lif!'' she yelled, waving her abyssal blade so wildly that the half-elf stepped back out of the way. "I'm going to kill you! I will skewer you into a dozen spectral pieces!"
"How do you skewer something into pieces?" Fargas asked.
"Cut, slash, whatever!" Jhelnae said, spitting again. "Bastard shoved that dusty old rug into my face and mouth."
She wiped away the residue of the attack from her face with her free hand.
"He doesn't appear to like you planning on moving into the place," Volo said.
"Are you hurt?" Aleina asked, extinguishing the flame and approaching her friend. "Do you need healing?"
"No," Jhelnae said. "He pinned my arm and shoved that rug in my face. It was disgusting!"
"That's it?" the aasimar asked.
"That's it?" the half-drow raged. "That was enough. Stand there for a moment and let me shove it in your face and tell me how you like it."
But she didn't bend down to pick up the rug and carry through with her threat and spit again instead. Even if she actually had tried to shove the rug in Aleina's face, she would have met little resistance. The aasimar was lost in thought.
"We came in here, and Lif threw tankards at us," she said, now thinking aloud.
"Yeah, those hurt," Fargas said. "The bruises are already painful."
"Hurt us," the aasimar said. "But they weren't going to kill us."
She looked to each of the companions, but it was Kuhl who nodded.
"In the kitchen there was a set of knives," the half-elf said. "He didn't choose to ambush us with those."
"You noticed that too," Aleina said.
"That is because I scared him with my blast," Jhelnae said. "Scared him so much he fled upstairs."
"Is that what happened?" the aasimar asked. "He obviously knows this place much better than we do. Why wouldn't he just wait for us in the kitchen, skip throwing tankards at us, and surprise us with the knives?"
"Oh, oh," Sky said, tail lashing excitedly. "I see what you are saying! He wants to scare us, but not to really hurt us. The dead rats and birds were meant to scare and disgust us."
"Well, it worked," the half-drow said. "I was thoroughly disgusted."
"But most people don't have Dawnbringer, or Jhelnae's magic, or yours, Aleina," the tabaxi continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. "He could keep torturing them until they left. Even when he attacked Jhelnae just now, he focused on shoving the dusty rug into her face rather than hurting her."
"Dust, must, and mildew," Jhelnae said. "And completely gross. What is your point?"
"He doesn't want to hurt us," Sky said. "But the question is why?"
"He really doesn't like people in his space?" Fargas ventured.
That didn't make sense. In life the man had owned a thriving tavern and ran an inn above it. Not the kind of person who wanted his privacy. Only one possibility came to the aasimar's mind.
"Lif," she called out. "Are you trying to protect us? Protect us from whatever killed you?"
For a time, nothing happened. The companions and Volo stood there, basking in Dawnbringer's light. Then writing appeared at the top of a hanging mirror.
"I found her sanctum by accident. The door never fully closed again. At moondark she is free. Free to roam the Trollskull. My fault. Want no one else to be her victim."
"Who?" Aleina asked. "Who is free at moondark?"
"The ghost of Granny Nightheart," the spectral hand wrote.
"Granny Nightheart," Volo said. "That is a hag name. The name of the director of the orphanage who the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors destroyed."
"Well, it sounds like part of her survived," Kuhl said.
"Where is the door to her sanctum?" the aasimar asked.
"Cellar," the answer appeared on the surface of the mirror. "Free the spirits of the children?"
Anger blossomed in Aleina as she read the last word.
"Well, Volo, you got your wish," she said, steel in her voice. "It looks like this haunting does link back to the orphanage. Let's go meet whatever is left of this Granny Nightheart."