Brelich Shadowdark Session 4

We ended our last session with the party making their way over to the island in the Rime River to explore the Windler House…a house to which Markus has the deed (carried by Liesl for safekeeping). Borrowing one of the old, beat up boats near the Hooked Fin, they reached the old dock on the island. In an eager haste, Markus leapt from the boat to the dock and crashed through the partially rotted boards of the dock! He plunged into the water, churning up mud and disappeared below the surface. We pick up with this after the break.

Everyone was in attendance for this session. There will, obviously, be spoilers for Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow from The Merry Mushmen. My GM comments, as always, are in italics.

77th of Summer

• Markus does not re-emerge again as quickly as the rest of the group might like. The water were he fell in is churning and very muddy. A grappling hook attached to a rope is tossed down to hopefully snag him.
  • Snag something it does. Dieter pulls with all of his might only moving the boat closer the pilings of the dock. He jumps on to one that looks sturdy and pulls hard again. Still stuck.
  • Then the rope goes slack. A moment later a massive catfish bursts out of the water with Markus sticking out of its mouth and the grappling hook hooked on its lip.
  • The catfish mumbles something before spitting out Markus and then asks for the hook to be removed as it flops up on the shore. Marlena removes the hook.
  • The catfish, who eventually introduces himself as Natazo, is quite miffed that some icky tasting human jumped in his mouth just as he was rising up for a tasty snack he had spied.
  • Apologies are offered all around. Said apologies are not quite enough to mollify Natazo and so he asks Markus for his (Markus not Natazo) greatest trait. Markus mentions it is looks.
  • Natazo curses Markus such that those who would find him attractive no longer will.
    • Natazo says he will remove the curse if Markus can convince the catfish’s wife, Nazata, to take him back. Turns out that she kicked Natazo out a week or so ago.
    • Nazata lives in their home at the Sunny Island in the Gloam Wood.
    • Natazo does not know why he was kicked out or what he did to deserve such. It might have something to do with him possibly forgetting his wedding anniversary.
  • With that all settled, Natazo shimmies back into the river and disappears beneath.
• The island is quite overgrown and all of the plants still seem to move as though they are in a breeze that no one can feel. A path…not quite as overgrown as the rest of the island…leads up to the Windler House.
• There is some discussion of scouting around the island, but no one seems to keen on wading into these odd plants. This is especially true after Liesl shares that there is something definitely off about them. She’s just not sure quite exactly what it might be.
  • Before heading up the path, Liesl does concoct an herbal remedy for Rat-Goblin and administers it to him. (Rachel had forgotten about being able to make an herbal remedy to remove disease in the prior session.) Rat-Goblin stays with the boat.
• A bell with a frayed rope hanging from it was at the front door of the house. Markus rang it and, a moment later, a skeleton dressed in a fine suit “phased” right through the door. It inquired as to the reason for the group’s arrival. An appointment, some weeks later, was set for an audience with the head of the house and the skeleton passed back through the door.
• The bell was rung again and the “butler” appeared again. The group claimed that it was the day of their appointment. The butler had no idea what they were going on about. He had no appointment on his calendar. The butler was berated a bit for not being able to remember the appointments it made and it screamed (causing a bit of damage to all the PCs) and disappeared.
• The front doors were locked, but Markus was able to pick the lock.
  • An entrance foyer lay beyond the doors. There was a staircase leading up and another opening leading deeper into the house. Lots of Rat-Goblin tracks going every which way. The windows and various hanging paintings were all covered with grime. Dieter set about cleaning a window to let in more light as the others started to clean paintings to see the scenes.
    • The paintings are portraits of, most likely, the line of Windler heads of household.
      • Markus gently lifts one of the paintings away from the wall and notices a thin wire attached to the back and leading into the wall. He warns everyone not to touch the paintings as he lowers this one back down.
  • The next chamber has a large fireplace with about a dozen metal pipes leading up, away, and around the room. Most pass through the ceiling at various locations. A number of chairs are scattered about with piles of books around them. There are also more windows and an archway to another room.
    • Dieter eagerly goes to clean windows.
    • The others start to examine the books. They are on topics such as biology, metallurgy, and alchemy with titles like The Ecology of the Newt, Steel Yourself, 101 Uses for Chicken Albumin, Lead to Gold…Why?, and Gravity…Myth or Reality?
  • Markus starts to check out the next room. It looks like the remains of a dining room with a large damaged table and chairs. The walls are covered in mirrors and wires crisscross across the ceiling. The floor is covered in numerous crystal shards embedded in it. The room is dark beyond the party’s torch.
    • When he steps in, some crystal shards fly out from the darkness and strike him. Markus backs away.
    • The whole group comes closer and their torchlight shows a massive crystal chandelier hanging above the remains of the table. The wires across the ceiling appear to attach to this chandelier and its crystals look much like the shards in the floor and those that struck Marcus.
      • After some experimentation, the group determines that the mirrors are made up of dozens of smaller mirrors that track movement in the room and help target the firing of the chandelier shards at said movement.
      • The group decides to explore elsewhere for now and head upstairs.
  • Another window is cleaned to provide light on the stairway’s landing. (Dieter definitely has an occupation as a window cleaner if decides to retire from adventuring.)
  • At the top of the stairs is a long hallway with various doors. Rat-Goblin tracks are scattered all about just like downstairs. There’s another window at one end of the hallway so Dieter heads for it.
    • Markus listens at one of the doors and hears a noise similar to a hissing of some kind. Not an animal, more like water or steam. Opening the door, the room within is a rather large bathroom with ceramic tile walls and floor. Some spigots stick out of the walls and a large tub dominates the middle of the room. A brief exploration shows that a number of venomous snakes are within the tub.
    • Heading to another door across the hallway, Markus does not hear anything. Beyond is a large bedroom with two smallish beds, a thick green shag carpet, a ticking clock in an alcove on the opposite wall, and dozens and dozens of toy figurines scattered about the floor.
      • Dieter makes his way to a window to do his job. Liesl and Marlena make their way to the beds to examine them. Everyone is quite careful to avoid stepping on any toy.
      • Markus drops to the floor to examine one of the toys a little more closely. It has an axe and a wind-up key.
        • He takes it out into the hallway and winds it up. The toy starts marching down the hallway away from Markus until it is about 20-30 feet away. It then starts to raise a horn to its mouth.
          • Markus rushes down the hall and tries to knock the horn away. Unfortunately, it is attached to the toy and then…

That’s where the session ended as RJ will be missing the next one. The rest of the party is still in the bedroom and are not sure what just happened. I’m going to have to figure out what happens to Markus to account for him not being there next session…players can be such a pain, right?