Silly Plots 4: It's not particularly silly, is it?

[bc56]

Forman House

"If all it can do is shout at us, I think we're fine." Saramond continues behind Krayger into the next room, which is, of course, a kitchen. "THIS IS NO PLACE FOR THE LIVING" A wispy, translucent shape of a person forms on the far side of the dusty, disused kitchen. It reaches out and confirms Krayger's worry about poltergeists, as a block full of rusty knives lifts into the air and throws itself at the two explorers, the blades spreading out from the attack. Saramond quickly ducks behind the door as several knives thud against it.

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

Krayger ducks back behind the door as well, reaching into a pouch he carries by his waist. He brings out a small marble and hurls it at the manifested ghost. When it hits something solid (like the cabinet right behind it) it bursts into a blast of electricity. Not terribly likely to hurt a ghost but more likely to do something than an ordinary bullet. And some spirits don't like electric fields at all. Krayger swings open the cylinder of his gun and starts changing ammunition.

[bc56]

Forman House

"It wants to kill us. That's not much of an improvement." With the blast of electricity, the spirit disappears, but the unnatural chill remains. It seems likely it will be back soon. "As long as we're prepared for it, I don't think it's much of a threat," Saramond assesses. "But it'll have to go before anyone can move in here." He doesn't seem discouraged yet. He searches through his tools for his own pistol, not a very fancy or powerful one, but a weapon nonetheless.

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

"If there's a salt shaker in the kitchen, take it. Spirits often don't like running water, salt and iron. I'm no expert though so I can't tell if this one doesn't. We'll probably have to find its remains or whatever it is that it's bound to." Krayger might know how to enchant bones, but he's no necromancer. Ghosts are beyond him.
Once his bullets are swapped out he'll likely want to go to the west wing with his client. Maybe the ghost wanting to keep them out means that's where whatever's binding it to the world is.

[bc56]

Forman House

Saramond does as bidden, searching through the kitchen for a salt shaker. He finds one after a little bit. Meanwhile, Krayger checks to the west. The room looks like an old-fashioned larder. Mold and mildew have claimed any food that might have been stored there, and unidentifiable brown stains drip down from the ceiling. "Ugh, that smells bad. Going to need a lot of bleach to clean that out."

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

Krayger snorts. It stinks to his client and it’s only worse for him. That’s what he gets for having such a massive nose.
”Looks like we might have to check the upstairs.” He’ll check the north door first though, just in case. Might as well since it’s right there.

[bc56]

Forman House

"Looks like it. Whatever it was isn't pleasant." Saramond looks up at the ceiling worriedly. But he's not scared enough to call it off yet.
Behind the north door is a broom closet. There's a couple broken brooms lying on the floor there, along with other basic cleaning supplies that need a good cleaning.

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

Krayger nods. Nothing. He gestures to Saramond and heads over to the stairs to the second level. Hopefully there’s carpet on them. He hates climbing smooth stairs. At least this place is too old to have them be polished stone.

[bc56]

Forman House

The stairs are creaky, but they are carpeted, although it definitely needs to be replaced. And up the stairs they go to the second floor. This floor has doors east and west, to the two wings again. Saramond looks west. "If it's protecting the west side of the house more, we should go that way." He looks at the door, unsure of whether to open it himself or not.

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

Krayger nods. Reasonable logic. He pushes the western door open with his foot and looks inside, revolver at the ready. This house isn’t terribly big. Hopefully whatever it is, it’s here. He doesn’t want to have to start digging around the foundations for this thing.

[bc56]

Forman House

The door opens into an ordinary, if decrepit, bedroom. A sagging four-poster bed sits against one wall, and there are a few old cabinets and dressers, along with a writing desk. "I don't see anything. You?" Saramond asks. It doesn't look like there's anything out of place, but maybe it's more hidden than that?

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

Krayger is unconvinced of the room’s innocence. He saw the stain.
”Look around. Be careful.”
The minotaur goes over and checks under the bedsheets, and then under the bed itself. Saramond can go through the drawers.
He’s still not sure why anyone would want this place. It’s boring, dirty, and haunted. But he’s being paid, so...

[bc56]

Forman House

There's one reason to want it that Krayger's forgetting. It's cheap. Plus Saramond wants a house that's a project, not one that's already finished. He likes to work on things.
Saramond looks through some of the drawers. "Old women's clothes. Practically falling apart." He looks around the room. "Something seem off to you?" Depending on Krayger's spatial awareness, he might. They're above the dining room. But the kitchen, west of the dining room, had a room above it visible from outside. But there's no door leading west from this bedroom. "Something about the layout here doesn't make sense."
There's nothing in the moldering bedsheets, but under the bed, if Krayger can see well, he might see a small concealed lever built into the wall.

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

Spatial awareness is one thing Krayger is indeed gifted with. He’s very good at mazes and is not embarrassed by it in the slightest.
”Mhm. There’s a room unaccounted for on this side.” he mumbles as he bends down and flicks on his light to see under the bed. “Gotcha.” he reaches for the lever. His huge arms might have some trouble but he can just lift up the bed if he has to.

[bc56]

Forman House

Click.

A door-sized section of the wall next to the bed creaks a little and slides back as a secret door unlocks. "Aha. That's probably what our spooky friend is protecting." Saramond seems impressed. "It doesn't seem like too complex a mechanism. I'll take a look at it later. You lead the way?" He gestures to the secret door. "This place seems normal. What could be hidden here?"

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

Krayger stands up and pockets his light. Easy enough.
The secret room can’t be that large. Unless it goes underground somehow it can’t be much. Once again Krayger nudges the door open with one hoof and advances into the room with his gun ready. He expects their spook to make at least one more appearance.

[bc56]

Forman House

The room behind the secret door looks out of place in the old house.
It looks like a shrine.
A small altar is erected in the center of the room, upon which are two items, neither of which appears touched by time. The first is a golden tattoo needle. The second is a scabbarded sword, its hilt and scabbard decorated with purple-tinted metal and gemstones. But there's something else in the room, something which smells awful and is probably the origin of the annoying ghost. It's a corpse. A dead woman with a twisted black knife stuck in her back, slumped against the wall. As they walk in, the ghost materializes again. "NO! THESE ARE MINE! YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM!" She shrieks and swoops at the heroes. Saramond ducks away.

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

This time Krayger is prepared. He points the gun at the specter and fires. These are hollow point rounds, the hollow cavity housing fragments of sheep bone Krayger enchanted with energy. The energy doesn’t even really do much of anything but it does give the round enough of a magical charge to be more than a simple piece of lead.
It also makes a terribly loud noise as Krayger is firing it indoors.

[bc56]

Forman House

The bullets penetrate into the ghost, which shrieks in pain and swoops around through the wall to strike at the heroes from behind. Saramond stumbles away from it into the room and ends up leaning against the altar. This seems to infuriate the ghost more. "GET AWAY FROM THOSE THEY'RE MINE!"
It rises up and swoops at Saramond, who has nowhere to run. Desperately, he reaches back and grabs the sword off the altar to defend himself, awkwardly pulling it from its sheath and pointing it at the ghost. But as he does so, there's a flash of purple light that envelops him. The ghost recoils.

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

Krayger staggers out of the way of the ghost. Blasted bloody- oh look his client went and touched the clearly magical artifacts. Well. He has to hope that light is a good thing or he’s not getting paid. He would hate to find out his client just got replaced with something nasty.
But first order of business, a recoiling ghost is not a ghost that’s dodging. While it’s standing in place Krayger levels the “handgun” and fires again.

[bc56]

Forman House

The ghost is shot again, and this seems too much for it. With another shriek it flees, flying towards the east side of the house, and giving Krayger time to see to his client.
Who has been replaced. But hopefully not by something nasty. Where Saramond was, there's now a woman. She's wearing a suit of elaborate purple armor, has very long wavy hair the purplish-red color of wine, and bright purple eyes. She grips the hilt of the sword, with its bright purple blade, tightly. "Uhhhhhh." She groans.

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

Krayger blinks.
”Yo. You still know your name? How many fingers am I holding up?” he asks casually, waving a three-fingered hand as he replaces the three spent cartridges of his oversized pistol.
Magic. He’s a mage himself now and he still can’t trust it.

[bc56]

Forman House

Is this a trick question? She knows her name. And how to count. "Saramond. And three." Funny, she thinks, that name doesn't fit her so well as it did before. Krayger might notice that Saramond hasn't seemed to notice anything amiss. "I feel odd. What happened to that ghost?"

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

"Well after that I'd be more concerned if you felt normal. I'd suggest you put that sword back in its scabbard unless you like looking like that. The ghost ran off. If we want her to stay down we'll probably have to bury the body or something. That's usually how these things go." Krayger doesn't normally deal with ghosts, but he has once or twice. And he has seen movies. So burying the body seems like a good thing to do.
How'd she get stabbed though? You'd think someone who would murder the owner would have taken the treasures she was coveting so much.

[bc56]

Forman House

"Looking like..." Saramond glances down at herself and gives a little gasp. "Iteus' fins!" she swears, "How did that happen?" She quickly follows Krayger's suggestion and slides the sword back into the sheath. No change. Saramond is still very purple and female. "It didn't work! There must be some way to undo it!"

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

"Well, that's one reason you don't go snatching magical items off altars without an expert. You sure you didn't hear any voices or messages? Because it looks like you got more of a Chosen Hero package than a 'You stole from me so here's a curse' sort of deal. You might as well take the sword with you so someone can look it over." Krayger just assumes that the needle is also magic so he lets Saramond approach the shrine.

[bc56]

Forman House

"I was desperate! That thing was going to kill me!" Saramond protests. She does take up the sword, finding the place where its scabbard buckles onto her armor. "I don't hear anything weird. But I don't know." There's definitely something afoot. She feels disturbingly comfortable, despite wearing armor of a sort she's never even touched before and having a completely different body than usual. "Maybe there's some clue how to turn back somewhere in the house?" She hopes that's the case. She doesn't want to stay like this!

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

"I dunno, maybe you have to use the needle? I know about enchanting bones not...whatever that is. Here, let's bury this poor sap and then we can look around the last part of the house." Krayger takes one of the rotten bedsheets and tries to use it as a body bag so he can carry the corpse outside. He's no priest but he can manage some basic last rites.

[bc56]

Forman House

Saramond nods. "We can play with the other artifact later, but we need to get rid of the ghost now. I can help you carry that." She grabs the other end of the wrapped-up corpse, and the two of them can carry it out down the stairs and to the yard. They'll need digging tools. But when they set the corpse on the ground outside, Saramond says, "Wait." She reaches down and pulls the black knife out of the woman's back. "Do you feel that? This thing is... wrong. Like someone tore a hole in the world."

[Deathkeeper]

Forman House

Krayger has already withdrawn a shovel from his satchel. Hm. Six feet might take a while. Hopefully nothing tries to kill him while he digs this.
"Well, if there wasn't a ghost running around I might have figured it was morganti or something. No offense, but that sounds like something above my pay grade. I'll keep my hands off of it if you don't mind." At least with his strength and the size of the spade it won't be as long to dig a hole as a human would need.