===== Chapter 2 =====
The Haunted House
When we got to the mansion, Stumpy had already emptied his keg and was in no condition to continue on. He bid us farewell and drunkenly turned around, making his way back to town. He didn't get far as he stumbled off the path into a nearby bush, having passed out from all the alcohol in his system. Octavious wanted to help him out, but we had a job to do and he was probably going to be fine where he was.
Returning our focus to the mansion, we approached the front of the foreboding building. It was rundown and in a state of disrepair, seemingly forgotten and unoccupied by the looks of things. Off to the side, we noticed a giant weasel burrow obscured by some foliage, and Riardon went over to investigate it. Unfortunately, he got too close and caused the burrow's owner to attack us. Once the fighting started, three more giant weasels came out from the brush and attacked us as well. I made sure to keep an eye on Octavious during the engagement, but he seemed to be handling himself all right. After a brief skirmish, the weasels were defeated with the group sustaining minor injuries. I figured I could make use of their pelts, so I piled the bodies off to the side to take back with us later.
We moved to the front porch of the mansion and checked the door. It was unlocked, so we carefully opened it up and peered inside, making sure to keep alert for any hostile threats. If people were going missing around this area, we had to be on guard. Those weasels surely weren't the cause of the disappearances, so whatever was causing them was still around. There were no immediate signs of life and everything was quiet so far, so we entered the mansion and began looking around.
There were several hallways that branched off from the main foyer as well as a staircase leading up to the second floor. Upon closer inspection, I noticed a couple sets of footprints on the ground. The dust had been disturbed which caused footprints to be left behind. We followed one of them into a hallway and entered a room, finding nothing but naturally occurring mushrooms in there. I couldn't immediately identify what kind they were, but they didn't look poisonous at least. I harvested a few of the brown mushrooms and put them in my pack. After that, we moved on to a different hallway and went into another room.
This time, Riardon took the lead, but once he stepped foot into the room, a swarm of spiders came raining down on him from above. The spiders crawled all over him, causing him to freak out as they began biting him. I took one of my arrows and started swatting at them to help get them off him. As Destan tried to help, some spiders jumped on him and began biting him as well. It took a while, but we managed to kill all the spiders that were attacking us. After the two were saved from the spider swarm, we continued into the room to look around. While Riardon was searching around the fireplace within the room, he found a hidden lockbox behind a strange stone that was part of it. I don't remember what was inside it, but it probably wasn't that interesting.
Riardon and Destan were looking pretty bad after their encounter with the swarm of spiders. They had bites all over them which were really agitating to them. Seeing as they couldn't continue without being in a lot of pain and discomfort, we decided to head back to town to rest up. It wasn't like we were in any rush to clear the mansion, so after they had healed up, we'd return to finish the job.
We made our way back to the front of the mansion and began heading down the path back to town. On the way out, I grabbed two of the dead weasels and carried them over my shoulders. I was mostly interested in their pelts, so when I got back to town, I was going to have someone skin and clean them up for me. When we left the mansion, we didn't see Stumpy anywhere, so we assumed he'd made his way back home.
The trip to town was uneventful, and when we got back, we decided to grab a quick drink at the tavern. When we entered, the patrons who knew about us going up to the haunted mansion were surprised to see us back already. They murmured amongst themselves, wondering what unspeakable horrors we might've faced or if Stumpy's stories were really true. We just told everyone that we were still exploring the mansion and hadn't encountered anything out of the ordinary, except for some giant weasels and spiders. They were all disappointed at that but continued to speculate about what else was hiding in the haunted mansion. We just ignored the gossip and sat down to have our drink. Thankfully, Stumpy had made it back safe and sound and was already up to his usual antics. After having our drink at the tavern, we went our separate ways. We planned to meet up the next morning at the Snapping Line tavern again to continue where we had left off.
After breaking away from the group, I took the two dead giant weasels I had been carrying to a local tanner. I handed them over and told him I just wanted the pelts cleaned and tanned. As payment, I offered to let him keep everything else. He wasn't much of a butcher, but he accepted the deal anyway. It was a win-win for the both of us, actually. The tanner got to sell the meat and remnants of the weasels to the butcher in exchange for the pelts, and I got to keep the pelts after the tanner got them ready for me. He said it'd take a couple of days to finish, so I thanked him and left to head home finally.
I still hadn't seen my father yet, so I didn't let any distractions get in my way. It was already evening, so I figured he was already home after having closed up the taco stand for the day. I knocked on the door, and when he finally answered, I gave him a big hug. He was quite surprised to see me and hugged me back, saying how nice it was to see me again. He ushered me inside and we sat down at the dining room table together. I then began to regale him with what I had been up to since our last meeting, which had been at least a couple years. I had sent him letters with updates in the meantime, but I haven't seen him face-to-face in a while. We spent the rest of the evening talking and catching up before I finally decided to call it a night.
I told my father I'd be around for a few days then headed off to my bedroom to get some sleep. It was still the same, everything just as I had last left it. I got ready for sleep then moseyed over to bed, laying down and resting my head on my pillow. Not before long, I was drifting off to a peaceful slumber.
#
The next morning, I got up and prepared for whatever the day had in store for me. When I finally left my bedroom after getting ready, the house was quiet and still. Father was probably already up and out on the water fishing. I quickly grabbed a quick bite to eat in the kitchen then left for the tavern. Hopefully Riardon's and Destan's injuries had been taken care of and they were back to normal.
When I got there, everyone was already seated around a table and talking amongst themselves. They looked to be in high spirits, so I assumed they were healthy and able to continue with the mansion job. I made my way over and stood by their table, standing next to Octavious as I greeted the group. They all returned the greeting then stood up, ready to begin the day.
Before leaving town, they wanted to visit a general store to buy a few things, so we headed on over to a shop called Winston's Store which was nearby. Octavious and I were familiar with the place, its owner notorious for being a bit underhanded in his business dealings. The owner, a man unsurprisingly named Winston, was also a Traditionalist, which was something that Octavious wasn't particularly fond of.
Immediately upon entering Winston's shop, he tried to pull one over on us, but we weren't having any of it. We were in need of some healing supplies and needed to buy some Potions of Healing. Unfortunately, the price was too steep for our wallets, so we ended up having to resort to bartering instead. In exchange for taking out a small camp of goblins and retrieving any sellable goods, he agreed to give us three Potions of Healing. The goblin camp had been harassing passing travelers which was bad for business. The City Watch hadn't gotten around to the issue, so he wanted us to take care of it instead. Since we were in no rush to finish the mansion job and in need of those potions, we took the offer and agreed to quell the goblin nuisance. I figured we might as well if the goblins were a threat to passing travelers. After getting the location of the goblin camp from Winston, Destan wanted to take care of a bit of business before we left the shop. He sold some Alchemist Dust he found at the mansion, getting around 16gp for it. Once that was taken care of, we headed out to deal with the goblin problem.
It seemed like there were more threats to Saltmarsh that were being neglected by the City Watch than I thought. Even if they were undermanned, taking care of a small goblin encampment or investigating an abandoned mansion didn't require that much time or manpower. I just grimaced as we walked along, trying my best to keep my frustration to myself.
After a short hike through the surrounding countryside, we spotted the goblin camp in the distance. Before we moved in for the kill, the four of us talked a bit of strategy to make sure things went smoothly. The plan was for Riardon and Octavious to act as a distraction to lure in the goblins into a more concentrated group. Then Destan and I would attack from afar while the other two engaged them up close. I was a bit worried about Octavious being on the frontlines, but he wasn't alone and I'd make sure to keep goblins off his flank.
Once we had the details of our plan figured out, we moved into position and began our attack. The fight started off well enough as we engaged the goblins in combat. One of them got lucky and hit me with one of their measly arrows. The injury wasn't serious, but it still hurt quite a bit. Luckily, I returned the gesture in kind and fired an arrow of my own back at it, taking it out in a single shot. After the main group of goblins were taken out, the last two survivors turned tail and began to run away. I wasn't about to let them get away, so I fired off a couple more arrows and took them both out before they could escape. I didn't need them running off to potentially bring back reinforcements at a later time. Once the area was secure, we took some time to look around the camp.
While the others were gathering supplies to bring back to Winston's Store, I patched up my wound and recovered my arrows. The goblins themselves didn't have anything worth taking, so I left the looting up to the others if they wanted. After the group had gathered what they could, consisting mostly of mundane items and clothing that they placed into crates, we made our way back to town.
Arriving back at Winston's Store, we entered the establishment and dropped the crates down in front of the counter, getting right down to business. Right away, Winston tried to swindle us using his silver-tongue, but Riardon and I caught on to what he was doing and made him pay dearly for it. We negotiated with him, and he ended up giving us four Potions of Healing and five platinum coins for the goods and services we provided him. We divvied out the potions and coin amongst ourselves then left the store, splitting up for the remainder of the day until meeting up at the tavern the next morning.
I still had my injury from earlier to tend to, so I went back home to properly clean and dress the wound. When I got back to the house, it was still just as quiet and empty as I had left it when I headed out that morning. Father was probably at the taco stand serving up some fish tacos. Perhaps I'd pay him a visit to see if the tacos were still as good as I remembered, but for the time being, I just wanted to rest.
#
Once again, I met up with the others at the Snapping Line after leaving the house in the morning. Hopefully there wouldn't be any more distractions so we could finish what we started two days ago. We were all in good health and had the necessary supplies to carry out our mission. When I got there, I met up with the rest of the group and joined them for breakfast. I had already eaten, so I just socialized while they had a quick bite to eat. After everyone had some food and drink in their bellies, we left the tavern and began heading towards the town's front gate.
As we approached the front gate, Claudius, the watchmen we met a couple days ago and the same one who told us about the job board, called out to us. Hearing him trying to get our attention, we went over to him to see what he wanted. He asked us how things with the haunted mansion were going, but there really wasn't much to tell. After giving him an update, he mentioned that another issue had been brought to him regarding the haunted mansion.
There was a couple whose son, a young man named Marcus, had gone missing and hadn't been seen for roughly two weeks. They told him that he had spent his entire savings to go off adventuring on his own, purchasing a set of armor and a sword. The last reported sighting of Marcus was near the haunted mansion, so if we were going back there, he wanted us to keep an eye out for him. We told him we'd do so then continued on our way, heading back to the mansion to hopefully finish the job.
When we arrived at the mansion, nothing had changed. The two remaining dead weasels from a couple days ago were still there, though looking a bit more decomposed and rottener. I thought to myself that I'd just leave them there and forget collecting their pelts. The meat was already bad and I didn't feel like hauling the carcasses back into town.
The front door to the mansion was still open, so we headed inside and continued where we had left off. I drew my bow and led the way again, an arrow nocked and ready to be loosed. I kept Riardon nearby so he could open the doors for me; it was rather hard opening doors with my hands occupied. We went into another unexplored hallway and found an old library of sorts in a room. There wasn't much left there except a pile of books laying messily in a corner. Destan was curious and went over to begin rifling through the pile, wondering if there was anything interesting left. Besides the dirty pile of books, there wasn't much else in the room we were in, so we moved on.
Going into another room in the hallway, we found an office with a desk in it. There was also another fireplace there, similar to other ones in previous rooms we had already gone through. Octavious meandered over to the fireplace and crouched down to look up the chimney, but he only got a face-full of soot.
While Octavious was doing that, Riardon and I were checking out the desk. The drawer was locked, and I tried to get it open but to no avail. Riardon then gave it a shot and managed to get it open using brute force. As he was looking through it, he stumbled upon a secret compartment and found two Potions of Healing. If only we had found them earlier, we could've continued to clear the mansion and not have to do business with Winston. But oh well. At least the goblins we took out wouldn't be harassing any more people. Riardon kept one of the potions for himself and gave the other to me.
After putting the potion into my pack, I noticed Octavious' filthy face and went over to him. I used my sleeve and began to wipe away the soot on his cheek, but he tensed up and promptly moved away from me, his cheeks reddening slightly despite his already red skin. Seeing him become all flustered, I just smiled and let him be.
Moving on from the office, we came to the end of the hallway and found a door leading to a patio outside. Everything was normal until Octavious opened the door and stepped through it. As soon as he did that, we heard a loud, booming voice echo throughout the mansion. We had no idea where it was coming from, and I can't remember what was said exactly. It was some sort of warning or threat, I think. Anyway, Octavious quickly looked around and found nothing of note, so we continued back into the mansion's interior.
We kept our guard up as we walked down the hallway, heading back towards the foyer. There didn't seem to be any ghostly or other-worldly powers at play, so there had to be some sort of explanation for the voice we heard. Perhaps it was some sort of trick or prank someone was pulling on us. Until we found the culprit, there was no way of telling for sure. When we got back to the foyer, we decided to head up to the second floor and took the stairs.
I continued to lead the way and began ascending the staircase, keeping alert for a potential ambush with my bow drawn. As I arrived on the landing, everything was still as quiet and calm as when we first entered the building. There were no signs of whatever was the source of that voice yet. We all continued on and began clearing rooms like we had done on the first floor.
We chose one room at random and started there. While I had my bow trained on the door, Riardon kicked it open, allowing me to enter and swiftly clear it of any hostiles if necessary. Luckily, there wasn't anything there, so after I gave the all clear, the others joined me inside and began looking around. Octavious saw the hearth in the room and went over to give it a closer look. As he was poking around, he found some sort of orb.
Immediately after Octavious took the orb and began inspecting it, another swarm of spiders descended from above and began attacking both him and Riardon. Riardon was not happy at being attacked yet again by spiders and was freaking out. As the spiders began crawling towards me on the ground, I started stomping away, crushing several underneath my boot. Unfortunately for me, I lost my balance and twisted my ankle as I tried to stomp on another group of spiders. I was rather embarrassed at that, and putting pressure on my injured ankle hurt pretty badly. I didn't think the others noticed, so I played it off and tried to hide the limp I then had. After the spider situation had been taken care of, we moved on to the next room.
I was still in the lead and did my best to hide my limp, but it was more trouble than it was worth. I eventually just dropped the act and shuffled my way down to the next room. After I cleared the room, I noticed that the floor was unstable and notified the others. Octavious came in and spotted something across the room on the windowsill. I cautioned him about going over there, but his adventurous side got the better of him. He made sure to keep to the good side of the floor as he carefully inched his way over there. Eventually, he successfully makes it over and finds a normal-looking lamp. He gave it a closer look and didn't find much of anything else. He placed the lantern back where he found it then returned to us before moving on.
The next room we encountered was locked, but we conveniently found a key right in front of it on the ground. We found it odd but decided to try the key anyway on the door. Surprisingly, the key was a fit, and we managed to get the door open. Inside, we found man lying in the far corner of the room. He appeared to be bound with rope and wearing nothing but his undergarments.
Seeing him all helpless, Riardon rushed in to see if the man was all right. He quickly undid his bindings and helped him up. The man's name was Ned Shakeshaft, a merchant from Setin who was on his way to Saltmarsh to do some business. He was taking refuge in the mansion to get some rest before he was ambushed and captured. Being the generous and helpful person, Octavious took off his shirt and handed it to the man to wear until we could find him clothes. Since the man said he was captured, I figured we were dealing with a more secular threat than a spiritual one, so that was a relief. After looking around the room, we continued on to clearing the mansion with Ned following with us.
We continued on to another hallway and opened up the first room, but there wasn't much to see there. Octavious found a disgusting, soiled mattress and an unassuming chest. Inside the chest, he found nothing but old clothes, much to his disappointment. Ned went over to it and picked out some articles to wear, handing Octavious back his shirt.
The next room we came across was a storage room of sorts. After I made sure the room was safe, Ned came barging through and began searching around for his things. He eventually found them and changed outfits once again. While looking around, Octavious found a sack of socks and wanted Ned to carry them for him for some reason. Ned, of course, didn't want to, but Octavious kept heckling him to just take the sack. Seeing an opportunity for some fun, I stepped next to Ned and put on my "intimidating" face. I then looked him dead in the eye and told him to carry the sack, almost threateningly. Unfortunately, Ned didn't seem to buy my act and declined once again. I glared at him for a brief moment then turned away, giving Octavious a shrug. I guess I had grown a bit soft since leaving the marines.
As I began looking around the room, the air of levity from before was quickly deflated as I looked upon a grisly sight. There was blood on a chair and on the floor directly in front of it. The chair also had restraints on it which didn't bode well for whomever was unfortunate enough to find themselves seated in it. Whatever was going on in that house, I was dead set on stopping it.
Moving on, we found two staircases, one heading down and one heading up. We decided to finish the floor we were on before taking the staircase leading downward. Checking another room, we found a wardrobe inside. Octavious and Riardon went over to it and carefully opened it up, just in case there was an enemy lying in wait there. Inside, they found just an old coat and a pair of boots. Since the coat was musty and smelled bad, Destan used some magic to make it smell like huckleberries; he also colored it pink for some reason. Finding it amusing, Octavious took the coat and tried to make Ned wear it, but he declined. Octavious continued to harass Ned playfully while the rest of us looked around the room.
The next room we came across was just a bedroom with a large bed. We didn't find anything interesting, so we moved back to the staircase that went down to the first floor. At the bottom of the stairs, we entered into a small kitchen, the very same place Ned said he got ambushed in. There were signs of a struggle and a bit of blood on the floor. We carefully secured the room then opened one of the doors we found. It seemed to lead down into the cellar, so we decided to hold off going down there until we finished scouting the first floor.
It didn't take us long to finish clearing the first floor. Octavious found a door leading out to the backyard, but there was nothing out there, so we went back inside. Then we found another room, but there was nothing of note in there either. Having finished going through the first floor, or at least so we thought, we took the staircase down into the cellar with Octavious in the lead.
As we were descending the stairs, we heard a frightening shriek. The others didn't seem as affected by it as much I was, but I didn't let on that I was somewhat startled. I wasn't expecting it and I nearly lost my balance on one of the steps due to my limp. We continued to the bottom of the stairs and scanned the room for any potential enemies.
One of us then spotted a body lying on the ground. It was clad in plate armor and had a longsword on the ground beside it. The body matched the description of the missing person Claudius told us about, so we went over to investigate. Destan used some magic to light the nearby fireplace to give us some light. Riardon was first to arrive at the body, and as he was giving it a closer look, two swarms of Rot Grubs emerged from the body and attacked us. Surprised by the sudden attack, Riardon tripped and fell backwards, breaking one of his Potions of Healing in his pouches. The rest of us quickly came to his aid and thwarted the Rot Grubs' attack.
Once the area was safe for the time being, we began looking around. The body was indeed the boy Marcus, but there was nothing else we could do for him. He was already dead, so we figured we'd just leave his corpse there until we were ready to leave. Destan found a set of footprints and followed them, but the trail went cold after it led him straight into a wall. He gave the wall a closer look and found a secret door. Curious, he opened it up and was promptly ambushed by three assailants that were inside the room, which had been converted into a living-quarters.
Hearing the commotion, we all prepared for a fight and went to help him. I drew my bow and fired at the closest enemy to me. Meanwhile, Riardon rushed ahead and engaged one of the bandits, taking him out with a flurry of punches. Octavious got into the middle of the fray, but he was outmatched by his opponent and went down. Seeing him in need of my help, I immediately changed targets and began firing at the one that he was fighting, taking him out with one of my arrows. The last bandit was charmed by Destan and neutralized, thus ending the fight.
After the fighting had ceased, I hurried over to Octavious and knelt down, holding him in my arms. I caressed him gently and gave him one of my Potions of Healing to get him all healed up. While I was taking care of Octavious, Destan went over and began talking to the bandit archer he had charmed. While the archer was talking to Destan, I couldn't help but overhear her, clenching my teeth together and doing my best to control myself. I listened as she talked so casually about all the horrible crimes she committed, things ranging from theft to murder. I just wanted to take my dagger and gut her right there and then, but I was too busy tending to Octavious' wounds. Once Octavious was feeling better, I let him be and retrieved the arrows I let loose earlier.
Since we were out of healing supplies and injured, we decided to call it a day and head back to town. We found Marcus, saved Ned, and captured one of the bandits alive to hand over to the City Watch. Not wanting to take any chances, the others began tying up and restraining the bandit, which caused the charm magic to wear off. We prepared ourselves then began heading back to the front of the mansion. Destan was escorting our disorderly prisoner while Riardon and Ned carried Marcus' body. I still had a slight limp, so I was in no condition to do any of the heavy lifting.
Just as we got to the stairs, we heard lots of movement coming from somewhere else in the cellar. We were in no condition for another fight, so we hurried up the stairs and exited the kitchen, closing the door behind us. Destan handed the bandit over to me to watch before using his magic to freeze the door shut. Since I was limping, Octavious took the bandit from me to look after instead. During the commotion, Ned up and disappeared, but that couldn't be helped. We had more pressing matters to deal with like getting out of there alive. While Destan was finishing with the kitchen door, the rest of us began heading for the front door.
We heard more footsteps coming from our left down the hall, so Octavious used the bandit as a human shield and was rather forceful with her. Just as Destan was about finished freezing the door, more enemies appeared from the side hallway and entered into the mansion's foyer. One of them fired off a spell and caught Destan out in the open, knocking him down to the ground. Seeing his friend get hit hard, Riardon dropped Marcus' body and hurried to his aid. At the same time, Octavious took the bandit he was using as a shield and kicked her in the back towards the group of bandits. That allowed me a bit more time to hurry to the exit as he covered my retreat. I fought through the pain in my leg and did my best to get to the front door with the others. Riardon got to Destan and picked him up, moving towards the exit as well. He got there first and made it out with Destan on his back. Octavious came over to me and helped me the rest of the way, getting me out of the building as well.
Exiting the mansion wasn't the end of our predicament, unfortunately. Closing the front door only delayed them for a few moments as we struggled to put some distance between us and them. Riardon was carrying an unconscious Destan while Octavious was helping an injured me. The bandits made it outside in no time and began attacking us once more. Octavious was the first to go down as a spell caught him in the back. Without my crutch, I almost went down with him but managed to keep standing. As I tried to drag him along, Riardon was cut down by an archer's arrow, falling to the ground along with Destan's unconscious body. Finding myself as the last one standing and slowly becoming surrounded by enemies, I drew my dagger and lashed out at the closest one to me. My injured leg didn't help me any and I stumbled, missing my attack and opening myself up for an easy counter. The las thing I remembered was seeing everyone lying on the ground motionless before everything went black.