Curse of Strahd Solo Run (IC)

[RandomWombat]

The guards bicker back and forth about who has to go on the errand briefly, as the prisoners are led into the cells. Rubbing his forehead, Father Donavich walks over to one of the guardhouse guards and places a hand on his shoulder. "By the Morninglord man, stop grumbling and get these people blankets and some hot food."

Being chastised by the man of the cloth seems to do the trick, and with a groan the lazy guard gets up from the chair, stretching his back and reluctantly stepping out into the storm. The other sits up in his chair and tilts up his helmet to present a modicum more professionalism. The guard dog has no such concerns, rubbing into Kellon's petting eagerly.

"That guy? Izek took him off somewhere. He's the captain of the guard, stays in the baron's place, kinda their bodyguard too," the man says, leaning on the table sleepily. The guards from outside walk back out towards the door after depositing their charges and using some cloth to dry them off.

[Prehysterical]

Once again, Kellon is grateful for the cleric's ability to move the Barovians to action when he cannot.

A sinking feeling drops in Kellon's gut upon hearing the news. "...Really? How long ago was that?"

[RandomWombat]

"Not long after he was brought in. Told us the Baron had already ruled on his sentence," the guard answers, too tired to be anything but forthcoming to an ally of Vallaki.

"What's the usual punishment for upsetting the Baron?" Gweyir asks, looking at the cold people huddled in the cell. "I didn't see him up there with the rest."

"Depends on his mood. The guy insulted the Baron pretty soundly in front of a lot of people, really ticked him off. Could be flogged, or exiled... flogged then exiled," the tired guard speculates.

[Prehysterical]

The more Kelllon hears, the less he likes. It was useless wishing for the past to be different, but it sure would have been convenient to know that before visiting the Baron! Surely, at this hour, the maid would not answer the door twice.

With a sigh, Kellon turns toward the door. "Well, we better be off. No telling when this storm will pass." As he left, he gave Gweyir a look that told her that he had more to say outside of earshot of the guards.

Spoiler: OOC

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Can we get a sticky for the town map in the OOC thread? That way, we don't have to have it up in roll20 to know what is where in Vallaki.

[RandomWombat]

Spoiler: OOC

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Will do, added Barovia Village's map as well.

Leaving the care of the 'dissidents' to the newly motivated guards, Kellon and his party venture back out into the dark, wet streets. The stony pavement glistens in the light of Father Donavich's scepter, which he lights up once more to help them see through the night's gloom.

Rather than stand around outside the guardhouse, Father Donavich begins walking east down the main street, in the direction of the Blue Water Inn - and most other places they may like to go. "So," Gweyir says while they walk, "You were giving me a look. Plotting something?" she asks, flashing Kellon a raised brow.

[Prehysterical]

Kellon nods in confirmation. "Aye, though not anything I'd breathe here on the streets in earshot of the Baron's toadies. We need somewhere more private."

Given that time may not be on the missing man's side, Kellon finds the delay distasteful, but fat lot of good it would do to be stuck in a jail cell because the Baron couldn't handle a little criticism. The group makes their way up the staircase to the entrance to their quarters, skipping the allure of hot food and warm tables on the main floor. Once he is dry, Kellon relays the bad news.

"Our Baron has been keeping secrets... and it's not your usual political side ventures. Spider says that the upper story of the Baron's house is strewn with cat bones, but the Baron denies ever possessing one. Furthermore, there was a thumping noise up above that he absolutely did not want to acknowledge. If I hadn't been negotiating the prisoners' release, I would have pressed him on it, but I knew they would have suffered for my questioning. Then there's the matter of our little raven's mention of the child-like figures and the captain of the guard living with the Baron and making people disappear... Lass, something is very wrong with that place. Nothing new to us, I know, but it can't be ignored.

I need you to use your druidic wildshaping to sneak into the upper floors of the manor and find out what the bloody Hells is going on in there. You'd be able to sense any magic there that Spider might have missed, for I have no doubt that there is something beyond normal happening there. I'm asking you because, well..." The tortle gestures toward his bulky shelled mass. "Not exactly built for stealth, am I. So, what do you say, shipmate? Up for a little nighttime reconnaissance to stick it to our good old friend, the Baron?"

[RandomWombat]

The quiet warmth of the late night tavern below seeps up through the floorboards as their group settles into the inn room, the others setting aside wet extra layers of clothing. Father Donavich sends for towels, which one of the serving girls (though not Tanya this time) delivers. At this time of night even the drunks have gone to sleep, with only a few late night regulars present and a skeleton crew staffing it.

They dry themselves off, and Gweyir uses one of the towels to dry Spider off, the arachnid leaning into the motion and rubbing back and forth against the towel. She breathes steadily out of her nose as she listens to Kellon's list of the Baron's suspicious activities. "Cat bones? We could try asking around about missing cats, but-" Kellon speaks her own thoughts on the importance of timely action, and she nods in agreement.

"That sounds like the workshop of a novice necromancer," Father Donavich comments, sounding tired both physically and mentally after the long day.

"Or aspiring serial killer," Sokol adds.

Amid the gloomy faces, Spider chirps hopefully, "Maybe the Baron is just a messy eater!"

"City people don't usually eat cats. They keep cats around to eat the mice."

"Well if they do not want their mice, I will take them."

Chuckling lightly at Spider's strange view of things, Gweyir kicks off her boots and pulls her legs up on the bed, tossing the towel she'd been using to try Spider off over the footboard. "Sure. I can go do some poking around. Just give me a minute to rest my legs." She stretches and looks at the pouring rain outside of the window. Taking out a few leftover bits of dried food, she munches on them as she works up the inertia to go back outside.

Eventually she manages to get her boots back on and give Kellon a salute, before heading out. Kellon and the boys are left behind, in the late night inn. Father Donavich does not seem keen on sleeping with the wonder of what Gweyir will find hanging over them, but at a reminder from Sokol that the zombie will be up all night the priest relents and gets some rest. Curled up in the upper corner of the room where a growing cobweb has formed, Spider sleeps like a baby.

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Spoiler: OOC

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Added Gweyir's stats and currently prepared spells to the How to play a Spider document.

The backyard of the Burgomaster's mansion is occupied by a small personal garden, where patches of cabbages and rows of small fruit trees sit opposite a small walking path to the back door. Gweyir walks the path, rain soaking through her hood and wet strands of hair hanging out on either side of her face.

Cracks and holes line the outer walls of the house. Those that would peek through to the interior have been plastered over from the inside, but a stick or tip of a sword with malicious intent could easily bust through the seal and create a hole for a small animal to fit into.

[Prehysterical]

Despite Sokol's advice, Kellon cannot bring himself to rest. After all, he was the one who had requested her to go in on her own. If he could not be there with her physically, then he would in spirit. In the meantime, Kellon takes the opportunity to get some food in him. All this running around has him feeling a little malnourished...

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Seeing the patchwork repairing, Gweyir decides not to press her luck with her weapons. Instead, she grabs a stick from the nearby shrubbery and starts working on creating an entrance for herself.

Spoiler: OOC

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I just realized... Are Gweyir's spells based off of Maori or Hawaiian?

[RandomWombat]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Spoiler: OOC

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Google translated Hawaiian, roughly related to the spell name or function. Anton's were similar, but mainly with Latin, and the only named spell incantation Donavich has right now is Sunlight Spears for his Scorching Ray.

Retrieving a stick from among the nearby bushes, the noise drowned in the pouring rain, Gweyir brings it to the wall and crouches down. She slides it in and jabs at the plaster patchjob, until it is busted open. She flicks it to and fro against the sides, pushing away the broken plaster.

The hole is small, but a tiny animal could pass through.

[Prehysterical]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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After a moment's consideration, Gweyir decides that a spider form might be best for her. She prefers being a cat, but the ability to climb on ceilings and walls might be more important than smell.

Her clothes and weapons disappear into her new eight-legged form as she squirms her way through the newly opened breach in the manor wall.

[RandomWombat]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Transforming into the form of a small, hairy tarantula, Gweyir crawls inside through the newly made gap. Inside, she shakes herself like a dog to throw off the now rather huge water droplets that splattered her shell before she could get under the cover of the wall.

Gweyir finds herself inside of the pantry. In all her experiences with human nobles, they hoard all of the food and wealth for themselves while the people go hungry - it is, then, a surprise to see that the Baron's store of food is as modest as most well-off Barovian commoners if the coffinmaker is anyone to judge by. He possesses a few jars of dried fruit and vegetable, some bushels of herbal tea leaves, a single clove of garlic, and a sack of cake flour. The one luxury item he seems to have retained is set against the opposite wall of the dusty shelves: two barrels of what smells like wine, stamped with RED DRAGON CRUSH and a logo for Wizards of Wine Winery.

A wooden door leads further into the house. There is no light from the other side. She might be able to squeeze underneath the door, or find another crack or hole into other parts of the house.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Gweyir can attempt Athletics to squeeze through the door gap, or Investigation to find other paths.

[Prehysterical]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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For now, Gweyir is content to explore the house to get a better feel for the layout before going into nooks and crannies. She tries to shimmy under the door.

Athletics: (1d20+2)[21]

[RandomWombat]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Squeezing beneath the doorway, Gweyir finds herself in a kitchen, dim light coming off of the dying remains of a fire in the hearth. The countertops and prep stations are wiped down and clean, awaiting the cook's return the next day.

Two rooms to her left lead further into the first floor of the house, which she may be able to squeeze through the same way. At the other end of the kitchen there is also an unadorned servant's staircase leading up, with some boxes piled underneath. Some of them lack lids, revealing them to be empty save for a few paper lanterns leftover from the festival decorations the townspeople were putting up.

[Prehysterical]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Remembering Kellon's words about the remains hidden upstairs, Gweyir opts to climb up to the servant's quarters. Rather than simply taking the stairs, however, Gweyir clings to the ceiling. No sense in accidentally bumping into the servant lady.

[RandomWombat]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Crawling upon the ceiling, the world spins around upside down. It's a disorienting enough experience, without everything also being vastly larger. Stopping a moment to get hear bearings, Gweyir crawls up onto the wall above the stairs. Though they do not lead where expected.

The staircase climbs to a ten-foot-wide gallery that stretches almost the length of the mansion. Breathtaking paintings of landscapes line the walls. Two separate, narrow hallways lead away from the gallery to the north. At the end of the gallery is a landing above the main stairs, where red drapes cover an arched window of leaded glass.

Spoiler: Perception

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Down one of the hallways, Gweyir notices a dim light beneath one of the doors (marked with Yellow on the map).
Further down the same hallway, she can hear someone sobbing.

[Prehysterical]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Gweyir's concern for others overcomes her caution of stealth and she heads down the hallway to investigate the source of the sobbing.

Spoiler: Stealth

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(1d20+4)[23]
Add another +2 if her current Dex is actually 17

[RandomWombat]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Spoiler: OOC

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She does use the Dex of a spider instead while wild shaped, yes.

Crawling down the hall, Gweyir moves with the absolute silence of something so small one would need to enhance their hearing with magic to hear her footsteps. For a moment, she peers under the doorway of the lit room. The man inside does not notice the tiny spider poking its head under his door, nor her tiny gasp.

Dolls. This room is full of pretty little dolls with powder-white skin and auburn hair, some of them dressed
beautifully, others plainly. Some of the dolls fill a long bookshelf, and others are arranged in neat rows on wall-mounted shelves. Still others are piled atop a bed and a heavy wooden chest. What's most odd is that all of the dolls, apart from their clothing, look the same.

Spoiler: Gweyir Insight

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The dolls all bear the image of Ireena Kolyana.

Seated on the bed is a towering, bald-headed man clad in loose-fitting bedclothes. A suit of hide armor and a battleaxe are hung on a rack near the door. He is holding one of the dolls and staring at it intensely, with fierce, dark blue eyes. His right arm, the hand caressing the doll, is misshapen. Its flesh is a devilish red, covered up the back of the arm in black spines, with long, sharp claw-like nails. Under his breath, Gweyir can hear the fearsome man muttering what sounds like a nursery rhyme.

Taking note of the troubling sight, Gweyir crawls back into the hallway and continues, seeking the source of the sobbing. At the end of the hall she peers under one more door. The inside of this room was once a walk-in closet. It is featureless save for the manacles and chains hanging from the three other walls. Two of these sets of manacles are occupied:

Henrik van der Hoort, the treasonous coffin-maker, is chained to the wall. His head droops down, long hair no longer tied back and now shrouding his face. His chest rises and falls, but if not for this he would appear dead. The man wears only his undergarments, and the wall behind is bloodied by wounds upon his back from a lashing.

Beside him, another, younger man is also chained to the wall. His medium-length brown hair is a mess, and his left eye is swollen and bruised. He looks to be in better condition than the coffin-maker, but has clearly suffered beatings during his imprisonment. This man is awake, and trying to choke back sobs as tears run down from his eyes, a thin streak squeezing out of the corner of his bruise.

[Prehysterical]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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The sight of all the dolls is enough to make one wonder if Ireena traded one abhorrent admirer for another... In the prison cell, it seems like they have found their missing man. Her heart goes out to him, but knows that releasing him from shackles (even if she could) would be folly with the strange-armed man still wide awake. Besides, the coffinmaker might blow her cover... Much as Gweyir hates to admit it, she needs help from the others.

Gweyir inspects the other rooms from below the doors, checking with her arachnid darkvision to see if there are any more gruesome surprises hidden away.
Perception: (1d20+6)[12]

[RandomWombat]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Doing her rounds of the other rooms on this floor, Gweyir finds...

Across from the improvised prison cell, a bedroom. This handsomely appointed room contains a canopied bed, a low bookshelf, and a full-length mirror in a wooden frame on the wall across from the door. Set into the north wall is an arched window of leaded glass. Nothing here seems unusual, apart from that the bed is empty and doesn't seem to have been so much as sat on recently. A portrait hangs above the bed: the baron and baroness, looking younger than they are now, alongside a young boy with a mop of dark hair. Vargas' son, the baronet, to whom this room must belong.

Across from the devil-armed man's room is a personal study. Floor-to-ceiling shelves line every wall of this windowless room in the heart of the mansion, and the number of books contained here is nothing short of astounding. An unlit brass oil lamp sits atop a large desk in the center of the room. The chair behind the desk is comfortably padded and has the symbol of a roaring bear stitched into its back cushion.

Moving into the next hallway, she finds a bathing chamber near the servants' stairs into the kitchen. An iron tub with clawed feet stands against the back wall, in a style that reminds Gweyir of the one in the Durst house. The two noble families must have had them made by the same craftsman. Neatly folded towels rest atop a table near the door. A second door leads into another room.

And lastly, she peers into the master bedroom. Time has faded the grandeur of this master bedroom.
The furnishings include a writing desk, a reading chair, and a wooden dresser; all of them have lost some of their color and splendor. A short pull-rope hangs from a wooden trapdoor in the ceiling. And another door appears to lead to whatever is between the master bedroom and the bathroom.

The baron and baroness lie in bed, asleep. A second powerful guard dog is curled up on the floor breathing softly in slumber with them.

[Prehysterical]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Satisfied with her analysis of the second floor, Gweyir began making her way to the staircase to the top floor. The bones that Spider had seen must be up there. Given her experience in the Durst house, she wondered if she was going to meet the ghosts of more children...

[RandomWombat]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Crawling in another circuit around the second floor, Gweyir finds no good places to ascend. There are no stairs leading up to the attic, only the trapdoor in the ceiling of the master bedroom, above the guard dog which looms over her spidery countenance.

But a thought does occur. She is approaching problems like a humanoid, when she should be approaching them as a spider. Thinking back to the Durst house, she remembers the similar architecture, and the way the fireplaces of each floor connected into one another in a single chimney.

With no fire lit, it is simple enough to slip into the sooty tunnel and climb upwards. If Gweyir's little spider lungs could cough they surely would be. She passes by a grate on the second floor, peering out of iron bars into a humble boudoir. This room smells of powder and fine perfume. A vanity with a mirror stands against one wall next to a faceless wooden mannequin wearing a white bridal gown. Mounted on another wall is a full-length mirror with a gilded frame. The room appears to be between the master bedroom and the bathroom, with another door in the corner.

Carrying on upwards, Gweyir reaches the attic level of the hearth's ducts. In another flashback to the Durst manor, she sees an attic storage room. This large attic is full of old, forgotten things draped in white sheets. Piled around them are barrels, crates, trunks, and old furnishings covered with cobwebs and dust. A clear footpath snakes its way from a door just to her left, through the maze of forgotten relics of mundanity and up to a wooden doorway at the other end, beneath which soft light glimmers.

Someone has carved a large skull into this door. Hanging from the doorknob is a wooden sign that reads "ALL IS NOT WELL!" in clear mockery of the Baron's mantra. From inside, a young man's voice can be heard chanting in what Gweyir clearly recognizes as arcane incantations - but they sound sloppy, and unpracticed.

[Prehysterical]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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She needs to shapeshift more often... Upon finding her way to the third floor, Gweyir sees no sign of the cat bones that Spider reported. Instead, she is treated to signs she is well-versed in from her younger brother: the acting out of a rebellious teen. Worse, it seems like the baron's son was practicing some form of arcane magic... Hopefully, the house will not blow up while she is still inside. Gweyir creeps forward toward the skull-carved door, wanting to get a better look at what sort of ritual is being performed on such a dark and stormy night.

[RandomWombat]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Crawling across the attic floor, the little collective clumps of dust more like grass and undergrowth at her current size, Gweyir reaches the door. Squeezing her small spider face through the gap below, she peers inside.

Someone has taken old, mismatched furniture and created a study is this dusty, lamp-lit chamber. A makeshift bed of blankets and pillows is assembled in the far corner. Tables are strewn with pieces of parchment, on which strange diagrams are drawn, and a freestanding bookshelf holds a collection of bones. A dusty rug covers the floor in front of a pine box, on which lounges a skeletal cat. Several more skeletal cats skulk about. Most unnerving of all is the sight of three small children standing with their backs to you in the northeast corner of the room, two of them staring out of the window.

Spoiler: Stealth

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None of the undead cats notices Gweyir poking inside.

Spoiler: Perception

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Gweyir notices that the children are standing on small, circular wooden platforms... which merge into their bare, wooden feet... These are not children at all! They are small mannequins dressed up in clothing.

In the center of the room, perched on a stool, is a rail thin young man with a premature streak of gray in his dark hair. He cradles an open leather-bound book on the table between his arms, reading it intensely as he chants. Sitting on the table, at the center of a circle drawn in chalk and surrounded by candles, is another cat's skeleton. The boy clasps a black stone in his hands, which softly gleams with a purple light from inside, reaching tendrils out towards the feline remains. One of the undead felines wandering the room brushes up against his leg, imitating the motions of a real cat.

"Os et filum, pupa mortis. Os et filum, pupa mortis."

[Prehysterical]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Those children seen in the window weren't ghosts at all! It was the mannequins! Gweyir wondered why the baron's son dressed them up so, especially since it seemed like they had nothing to do with the ritual. Was he just lonely?

He must be, considering that he is dabbling in necromancy to bring back the cats. It wasn't the Baron hiding skeletons in his closet, but this young necromancer in training. The little tarantula hairs on Gweyir's body stand up in disgust. Gweyir feels the strong need to lecture the young man, but her concern is first and foremost for the young man imprisoned downstairs.

Doing her best to withdraw quietly, Gweyir goes to inspect what she expects is the boy's bedroom before heading back down to the pantry on the first level.

Stealth: (1d20+6)[9]

[RandomWombat]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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As she withdraws, one of the skeletal cats perks up its head and lunges down, scrabbling its tiny bone feet against the bottom of the door. Gweyir, of course, is already beyond reach. She can hear the boy quickly start from his table and scurry over to the door, leaning up against it. "Father? I told you not to disturb me in my... studies." The boy's voice is a mixture of indignation and fear of being discovered. When his father does not answer, he opens the door just enough to peer out.

An empty attic greets him, save for a little spider scurrying away. He slips back inside and locks the door behind him. There is a slight magical gleam to the skull pattern upon its face before the door returns to its normal, dusty brown.

A peek into the other room upstairs reveals no bedroom. This dusty, twenty-foot-square room has a high-pitched ceiling that reaches its peak twenty feet above. The wooden rafters are shrouded in cobwebs. Except for an old table with an unlit oil lantern on it, and a trapdoor in the corner with a folding ladder built into it, the room is empty. The downstairs bedroom was untouched for a while, so the boy must just sleep locked up here with his skeletal cats - an act of protest, or rebellion against his father?

Whatever the answer, it seems the secrets of the Baron's manse have now been uncovered. Another abhorrent admirer to Ireena, prisoners in a closet kept off the record, and a budding young necromancer in the attic. Gweyir is about to return to the chimney when she turns around to face a grinning skeletal face of sharp feline teeth, bared in a silent hunter's growl. As cats do, it begins by toying with its prey, taking a light swat with its claw that only scratches Gweyir's back.

Spoiler: OOC

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Normally this would be a swatting contest of a 1 hp tarantula vs a 2 hp cat. But given the scale of the encounter, we will have Gweyir use the stats of a Giant Spider (with the usual wild shape rules) vs a Leopard.

Spoiler: Combat Log

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Skeletal Cat acts first, dealing 4 damage with a claw attack.

Gweyir is up!

[Prehysterical]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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Death and rot! She had been noticed! Thankfully, the boy himself didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but now one of his awful creations was making her into a scratching post!

This undead thing would care nothing for sharp fangs or poison. Gweyir needs to get out. With a skitter of her hairy chitinous legs, Gweyir scurries back down the chimney toward the back door of the main floor.

Spoiler: OOC

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Gweyir Disengages and gets as close as she can to the crack she made in the back of the house.

[RandomWombat]

Spoiler: Gweyir

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As the skeletal feline's bony paw comes down, Gweyir leaps out of the way on her eight legs and flees towards the fireplace. Clattering bones upon wooden floor follow closely behind her until she slips through the grate of the hearth and begins the descent down the sooty walls, reaching the second floor.

Cats are slippery creatures, and that's when they have flesh on their bodies they have to squeeze. It soon slips through the grate itself and then, realizing gravity has taken control, yowls silently as it falls past Gweyir onto the grate of the second floor hearth.

The sound of a dog barking sharply pierces through the silence of the night, coming from the next room over, the master bedroom. The Baron's hound scratches at the door.

Time now short, Gweyir dashes down the chimney chute past the cat, suffering another swat of a claw upon her backside. But the dog's barking has startled the undead feline, which now tries in vain to scrabble back up the wall of the chimney it fell down rather than pursue its playtime with the little spider scurrying for safety. With her pursuer now occupied, Gweyir slips beneath the door of the pantry and then out the mouse hole.

The welcoming dousing of the outside rain greets her, rapidly soaking her arachnid body and choking her tiny air holes. But it means that her task is now complete...

Kellon's sleep is disturbed by the sound of the door opening, in the small hours of the morning. It's only been a couple hours of rest so far and his body still feels groggy, his power still drained from the day prior. Gweyir has slumped back into the room, once again dripping wet from the rain outside, and begun to wring her hair out into a wooden wash basin on the table.

[Prehysterical]

That was fast... which was either a good or a bad sign. Groaning as he rubbed at his eyes, Kellon tried to keep his voice down as he asked, "Well, what did you find?"

[RandomWombat]

After wringing her hair, Gweyir starts to sit down on the chair, then grimaces as she feels the squelching of her wet clothes against the seat. "I'll have to ask if Dart has any bathrobes she can lend me until my clothes dry," she grumbles, before filling Kellon in on all the things she'd seen in the house - the good and the bad.

"At the very least we can rest easy knowing there are no children kept in the attic," she says with a relieved sigh.

[Prehysterical]

Well, comforting as it was to know that there were not more ghosts of children... There was more bad news than good. Kellon scratched at his shelled shoulder in thought, his troubled expression clear even with his beak.

"So, if the lad is indeed locked up in the Baron's home, he might be fortunate to leave on his own two feet... Do you reckon that we might be able to blackmail the Baron into releasing him? Would it be better to do that in private or spring it on him during the festival tomorrow. And, uh... should we tell Ireena that she has another unwanted suitor?"