The Ruin
We pick up at the ruined estate in The Laurels woods, having just defeated the elk statue. The mansion in the center of the gardens is a decrepit, three-story building with trees and foliage growing on and through it. It was clearly a lovely place once, and seems out of place in the middle of the dense forest.
The party takes a SHORT REST to recover. Ikki attempts to fly overhead to stake out the house, and drops back to the ground as a totem, which Brin puts in his bag. Kor and Brin discover traps at the front door, so the party circles to the back and finds a safe door, which Remy kicks in.
The door opens onto a back hallway. Brin discovers MAGIC BOOTS, which he puts on to attenuate. There are several doors off the hall that the party explores:
- DOOR 1: A cloak room. Nim finds several fancy coats.
- DOOR 2: A supply cupboard. Kor finds gardening supplies (an axe, a ladder, a rope, etc.)
- DOOR 3: A pantry. Dango finds mostly spoiled foodstuffs.
While in the pantry, Brin bets Nim 20gp to open an old jar, which she does. And promptly spills on herself.
Further on, the hallway opens onto the main entrance hall. While it’s clearly a beautiful space, it has grown worn and dirty over time. A grand staircase leads up to a gallery on the second floor, but the staircase has collapsed. Brin lies on the floor to sketch the space and discovers a child’s painting under a table, signed “Laurel”.
Dango & Nim wander down another hallway to investigate and find the kitchen. Grig joins them and the three discover a dumbwaiter big enough for a single occupant.
Off the main hall is a gallery full of portraits, presumably of the family who once lived in this house:
- Several portraits of Joseph Brice, but only as an adult, and often with a fox.
- A painting of Laurel, who is shown painting.
- A painting of the Brice family, labeled as Joseph, Laurel and DAWN (presumably his wife). She is a lovely, pale, dark-haired woman painted staring into the distance.
At the far end of the gallery is a massive mirror (easily 25 feet wide), with a crack. Several party members approach, but Dango is suddenly frozen.
Dango sees a vision of her mother CAMILLE inside the mirror. When she attempts to break away, she finds herself trapped on the other side of the mirror, looking at an identical version of herself in the room with the party.
Nim notices writing around the frame of the mirror in Elvish; she casts a spell and reads it out loud:
“Does Anyone Love Anyone As Much As I Love You?”
As soon as Nim speaks these words, the mirror cracks again, and Dango is back in her own body. The vision only she had previously seen of her mother is now corporeal, and coming out of the mirror after her.
ENCOUNTER: There is a brief skirmish with the mirror!mother, which ends when Grig shatters her. Brin takes a piece of the cursed glass before he leaves.
On the opposite side of the hall is a grand ballroom. There are large fireplaces along the wall, inlaid wooden floors, and banquet tables. As with the rest of the house, there are hints here that the occupants disappeared in the middle of a party or gathering.
There is a small stage area at the far end of the room, and trees and other foliage are growing above it through tall, broken windows. While exploring, Nim finds some old instruments, including a lute; when she plays an obviously-badass riff, the sound wakes nearby sleeping Ents.
ENCOUNTER: There is a hard-fought battle against three Ents, during which Brin is knocked unconscious. Once Kor has him stabilized, the party burns the Ent corpses and takes a LONG REST.
Back in the kitchen, Dango sends Nim to the second floor in the dumbwaiter with a rope. She makes her way to the gallery over the main hall and, using the rope, the entire party makes their way to the second floor.
The upstairs hall is dank and dusty, and leads to several guest and servants’ rooms. Upon exploration, Dango finds a letter from a maid named MARA. She adored Joseph Brice, who was very kind to his staff, and she thought Laurel was a sweet child; however she found Dawn to be distant and aloof, and couldn’t understand why Joseph liked her. She especially disliked the Joseph’s valet, Vickas, who didn’t seem to be very good at his job.
On the other side of the gallery are Joseph Brice’s office/library, the master bedroom and Laurel’s room. Upon entering the den, Nim set off a silent alarm that had no apparent consequences. There were many books in the library about nature, the general geographic area of the town, and some druidic spells. Based on the maps in his office, The Laurels seem to have grown up much more quickly than they should have.
While exploring, Brin discovers a nest inside a closet that is likely Vickas’, and behind that, a secret passage. The passage leads around the perimeter of the house and opens onto the master bedroom. In the bedroom, Brin and Kor open a magical safe, and find: blueprints and plans for the house and lumber mill; a painting by Laurel; a scrap of paper that appears to be attempts to decipher the cursed mirror on the ground floor; and a POTION OF INVULNERABILITY, which Kor takes.
In Laurel’s bedroom, Nim searches for a clean dress her size, and finds a MAGIC RING. She also finds a NECKLACE OF PRAYER BEADS which she gives to Grig.
Back in the library, Brin discovers that Joseph Brice was attempting to cast a spell that would trap someone’s will or soul. He also uncovers a magically concealed staircase that leads up to another floor, which he (and Ikki, still in totem form) of course immediately climbs.
~ end of session ~