9.2nd.9.842 A.T.E: House of Horror

Yesterday, nothing was worth mentioning, we just traveled back to town. We got back here this morning. It was quite an eventful and tiring day filled with combat. Finally, I had a chance to really show my combat prowess.

To begin with, we made a return visit to the current mayor of Ragnarok. Through some ‘persuasive’ conversation by the goliath, the mayor admitted that Count Crisco retired because his wife had died, and became obsessed with her death and bringing her back.

So, we returned to the Count’s Manor with Asmodean disguised as the captain of the guard, and were greeted with a familiar face, the butler. After brief accusations of who was at fault for killing and attacking whom, we broke our way in and fought the creature again. This time, he had the help of some ghouls, lesser versions of a ghast. On his corpse we found a pair of glasses, which allowed us to penetrate the magical darkness permeating the room. I was the one to wear them, since I was the one leading the pack though this place. Upstairs we found some lanterns, which we first assumed were magical since they penetrated the darkness upstairs, but when we took the lanterns downstairs, they were unable to brighten the room.

Off to a side room, we found a room full of skeletons chained to a wall, and what appeared to be a torture room. Asmodean also broke a hole in a wall that led outside, thinking there might be some sort of secret chamber. In the torture room, we saw a man chained up and gagged. I went to go and cut him loose, but was ambushed by three of the ghasts. I was clawed by one of them and my muscles froze stiff, but the group managed to come to my rescue, including the chained up man. He is apparently some sort of warrior mage, and was also apparently a visitor at Joseph’s Tavern a few days ago. Each of these ghasts also had a pair of magical glasses, allowing each of us to see in this darkness.

While exploring around the mansion, we managed to find a trap door underneath a carpet in the main room, leading down to a room with several zombies on tables. We quickly dispatched the lumbering beasts, and turned our attention to the side rooms. One was the resting chamber of Count Crisco’s dead wife, contained in a glass coffin, the other was a bedroom. During our search of the bedroom, a couple of us made out two forms dashing toward the stairs up, and we caught up with them. Apparently, these were vampire spawn, created when a vampire kills a weak individual or something. One of the spawn Max recognized as the corpse dragged out of the pile of diseased bodies. During our fight, which took place in the doorway, limiting our maneuverability, we spied a man concealed within white robes wielding a scythe coming down the stairs. Asmodean leveled his ‘crossbow’ at the man, who froze, while we finished off the creatures.

Apparently, the robed man’s name is Numa, and he was from our caravan. He wasn’t there as part of the guards or merchants, but simply tagging along for the protection. Well, we decided we should enter the final room, figuring that Count Crisco, who was likely a vampire, would be behind it. I prepared myself to the best of my abilities, and we opened the door to find Count Crisco slaving over an alchemy lab. Much more impressive, however, was the large creature chained to the center of the room. The creature was one of the beasts that attacked our caravan, and somehow it had been captured. The beast was obviously very upset with its condition, and slightly injured with blood seeping into a drain in the floor. Count Crisco saw us and shouted for Ghasley, or something like that, saying he promised to keep him safe. The Count tried to escape, but a pair of skeletal arms rose from the ground to grab his ankles. A cloud of vapor floated near the large beast for a moment, and the chains restraining the beast came undone. With a single bite, the beast ripped Count Crisco in half and then turned to us. With no better option, we made a hasty retreat towards the staircase that lead out of the basement.

Numa cast a spell at the beast, but it was completely ineffective. While he did that, I made a quick assessment of the beast’s combat prowess. I informed my companions that if we all worked together, and managed to get an adequate tactical advantage, it was probable that we could slay the monster. With renewed determination, we made our way to the top of the stairs, occasionally taking shots at the thing with our ranged weapons, and then made our stand. We surrounded the stairs and used the height to our advantage. For much of the fight, the creature focused its attention towards me, until Asmodean connected with a solid blow to the creature’s flank. This serious injury convinced the thing that Asmodean was more of a threat than I, and shifted his focus appropriately. My inspiring words were barely enough to keep the goliath from succumbing to his injuries. Fortunately, both Numa and the warrior-mage hit the thing with rays of dark energy that sapped its strength, while Max hit it with a ray of ice, which while not injuring the beast managed to slow its movements. We even had a skeleton come up the stairs behind us to aid us. After a grueling combat, we managed to kill the monstrosity, my sword striking true and piercing its black heart.

With a quick search though the premises, we discovered a cure to the plague, and returned to the town with both a couple of vials of the cure, and the large beast. The mayor thanked us for what we had done, and purchased the corpse of the monster from us.