Shinju-no-Ie - The House of Pearls

Marie watched in horror as the hideous flying half-women began flying away with Bella, Sandoval, and Zhustin clutched in their talons. Blood streamed from their wounds as the manananggals’ powerful wings carried them into the darkness. Moving quickly, she activated her Freedom’s Call, and rushed to the most central location she could find, praying that her friends weren’t already out of reach of her protective aura of freedom.

They weren’t. Bella, Sandoval, and Zhustin felt the holy aura wash over them, and suddenly found the freedom to wriggle free from the undead creatures’ clutches, where only moments before they had been held fast. Sandoval hit the ground, still woozy from loss of blood, and immediately began singing, even as the creature that had held him wheeled in mid-air to make another attack. It savaged him with her fangs, and raked him again with one claw, but Marie’s protective aura prevented it from clutching the bard again.

Nicki had had a bad feeling about the gloomy house as they had approached, and had turned Invisible before the flying corpses attacked. That had saved him from being targeted by their initial attacks, and he’d watched the blood spurting from the victims they had tried to carry off. He briefly considered staying safely invisible, and watching the battle play out, but he didn’t want to chance being the last man left standing on this island of the dead. Taking careful aim, he unleashed an Empowered, Maximized Fireball that illuminated the entire island in a brief flash. When the spots cleared from his eyes, he saw that two of the flying creatures were badly burned, trailing smoke with scorched holes in their leathery wings – but they were still fighting.

Sawyer charged at the manananggal that held Zhustin, even as he slipped out of her grasp. Suishen slashed at her as Zhustin used his Dimension Step to teleport behind the big fighter; with the air full of flying horrors, he could think of no safer place than in Sawyer’s shadow. Shinjiro activated his ki defense and charged another of the monstrosities, this one farther away near the house’s gate. He delivered a flying kick, but his blow barely seemed to affect the flying torso. He also realized that he’d passed beyond the reach of Marie’s protective aura – he’d have to rely on his own skills to prevent the creatures from bleeding him out and carrying him away.

The manananggals filled the air, their huge bat-like wings beating as they whirled and darted in attack. Marie found herself flanked by a pair of them, shredding the cleric with fangs and claws. One sank its fangs into Nicki, and another did the same to Shinjiro. But thanks to Marie’s holy protection (and Shinjiro’s lightning reflexes), they were unable to grab their prey, neutralizing some of their most dangerous threats.

Recovering from their initial surprise, the party began to marshal their forces. Bella darted behind one of the creatures harrying Marie. It was one that had been caught in Nicki’s Fireball, and Bella barely had to poke it with her rapier to send it tumbling to earth. She had already noticed that even though her attacks did far less damage than she’d expect, her light blade seemed to slice extra deep into these creatures, and she filed that fact away for future reference. Sawyer planted his feet, and launched into a dazzling series of slashes with Suishen. The manananggals were already torn in half at the waist, but when he finished, his target was also sliced in half vertically, and neither quarter was a threat any longer. Marie called on the holy power of Desna, and a wave of positive energy streamed out of her, damaging all the nearby undead enemies. Zhustin launched a volley of Scorching Rays at the creature behind Marie, and Nicki did the same at the one threatening Sandoval.

Sandoval was reeling from blood loss, feeling that he could pass out at any moment. He continued singing, but his voice was growing weak. He knew he had to get to safety – or at least somewhere out of the reach of the fiend in front of him. Using his Jaunt Boots, he skipped away before she could react, then ran for the compound’s wall, hoping to put it at his back.

The manananggals were not cowed. One added more scars to Sawyer’s already-impressive collection, and Marie found herself wounded again. Shinjiro’s foe sank her claws into him, and he felt her trying to slice through an artery, but he shifted his weight and threw her off-balance, thwarting her attack. He continued drawing upon his ki to strengthen his defenses even as he launched into a flurry of blows that all but crushed her chest. She continued fighting, but was coughing up black blood. As she shifted her position to come in for another attack, a volley of Magic Missiles suddenly slammed into her. “You’re welcome!”, Shinjiro heard Zhustin call from somewhere behind him.

Marie drew her adamantine mace, knowing that the others’ weapons were having difficulty with the manananggal’s tough hide. However, her blow was off balance and glancing. Bella’s was not; she had skipped behind the creature as it focused on parrying Marie’s attack, and her rapier pierced its unbeating heart. Another of the beasts was still harrying Marie, and Nicki blasted it with another set of Scorching Rays, leaving it smoking. Marie stepped forward, and slammed her mace down two-handed, crushing its skull.

Sawyer continued slicing away with Suishen, hacking away ever larger chunks from the manananggal facing him. Bella swooped in from behind, stabbing her rapier up into the thing’s hanging guts, and it collapsed with a piercing cry. Shinjiro launched one final flurry against his opponent, slamming her already-broken chest again and again, until her ribs were protruding from the skin. Before he could finish her off, Sawyer charged in and stabbed Suishen’s flaming blade into her throat, cutting off her death rattle.

The group stood unsteady on their feet outside the compound’s walls, listening for the beating of any more leathery wings in the darkness. But all was still, and at last they relaxed their guard. Besides their other wounds, those who had been grabbed by the things had lost a lot of blood. Marie rummaged through her pack for a pair of Scrolls of Lesser Restoration that she used to revive Zhustin and Sandoval, while Bella gulped down a potion of the same. Marie then began doling out as much healing as she could, until the group felt healthy enough to proceed.

Throughout the noisy battle, there had been no response from dark villa at the top of the hill. The compound was surrounded by a plastered brick wall, but the gate was slightly ajar, and Nicki crept forward and pushed it open to peek in. Inside was a large courtyard. The walls of the compound were lined with small outbuildings, with a larger central building that was the main house. The outbuildings mostly had solid walls and doors, but much of the main house was comprised of sliding panels, called shoji, made of translucent rice paper over a wooden lattice. “Looks like that would burn real nice!” Nicki whispered eagerly, but Sawyer silenced him with a glare.

Bella began making the rounds of the outbuildings, checking each for hidden dangers (or treasure). She found several storerooms stocked with mundane household items, all clean and in good order, but unusually sparsely stocked with foodstuffs. There were two stables, one at each end of the courtyard, but they held nothing but moldy hay. At the southern end of the courtyard was an ornamental garden, now unkempt and overgrown with weeds.

Three of the rooms appeared to be servants’ quarters, and in these she made a gruesome discovery. Each held a pair of dead bodies – or rather half-bodies. They were the lower halves of womens’ bodies, each ripped in two at the waist. These were presumably the lower halves of the creatures that had attacked them, and Bella hacked and stabbed each of them repeatedly, just to ensure they were truly dead.

Having searched the perimeter areas of the compound and found nothing, the group now turned their attention to the main building. Bella quietly slid one of the shoji panels aside. Inside, a corridor ran along the perimeter of the building, with another large shoji-paneled room in the center and several smaller rooms with similar panels along the outside. She quietly crossed the hall and slid open one of the panels to the central room.

Inside was a large open room, its floor covered with tatami mats. A lantern hung from the center of the ceiling, filling the room with a dim yellow light. Under the lantern stood a traditional shogi-ban table, with two pillows for players to sit upon. The shogi pieces were arranged on the board as if a game were in progress, but no players were evident. Marie cast Detect Magic and the shogi-ban radiated strong auras of Illusion and Necromancy magic. She relayed this knowledge to the group, and Zhustin nodded. “Obviously a trap,” he said sagely, and the others saw no reason to disagree. They slid the panel shut and left the large room untouched.

Bella again led the exploration of the perimeter of the main house. Most of the rooms appeared to be guest rooms, small, sparsely furnished bedrooms. One was a master bedroom, larger and better furnished than the others, with a small wardrobe containing a man’s kimonos and other clothing, but nothing of value or interest. There were a pair of baths, each containing a wooden tub full of cold water, and a tea room furnished with low tables and seating cushions. Adjacent to the main room with the shogi-ban was a smaller room, likely used for receiving visitors or private meetings with the villa’s owner. The room was empty save for a large number of playing cards strewn on the floor in one corner. Marie did another Detect Magic, and when the cards showed as non-magical, the group lost interest and moved on without investigating. At the end of the corridor a set of stone stairs led downwards into darkness. Bella activated her Wayfinder to provide some light and without hesitating, the group followed Bella down into the unknown.

At the bottom, they found themselves in a large room hewn into the rock. The room was cool and moist, and smelled faintly of alcohol. Shelves stood in each corner and along the west wall, containing scores of ceramic bottles, glass vials, and small casks of various sizes and shapes. Sandoval recognized the containers as likely containing sake, and opening one and taking a sniff confirmed his suspicions. The containers were covered with thick layers of dust, like you might find in a wine cellar, but Sandoval found that odd; from what he’d learned of sake in his short time in Minkai, unlike wine, sake only stays good for a few months. No one wanted to taste any to judge its quality (although Sawyer was sorely tempted), so they left it for now.

There were two passages leading out of the room, one to the east and one to the north, and both were shrouded in darkness. Following Bella unquestioningly, the party trooped down the eastern passage. A short flight of crude steps led down to a rough-hewn tunnel, its ceiling so low that even Bella had to walk stooped over. The tunnel curved to the northeast and continued for nearly half a mile. The group tried to guess where they might be heading, but didn’t have their bearings well enough to judge. Finally the tunnel came to the end, with a rough ladder leading up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.

Motioning the others for silence, Bella climbed the ladder and listened as well as she could at the trapdoor, but heard nothing above. She cautiously began to lift the trapdoor to look out, but found that a rug or something was covering the opening, blocking her view. She pushed it a little farther open, and reached out to try to pull the covering aside so that she could see.

Suddenly the rug was torn away and the trapdoor wrenched open. Bella found herself staring up into a snarling skull. The creature had webbed claws and feet, and a row of spines like a fish’s fin sprouted from its backbone. Its skin was green with moss and seaweed and it bared tusk-like fangs as it let forth an inhuman screech, almost beyond human hearing. It swiped one claw at Bella, and she narrowly ducked out of the way.

It was a Lacedon, an aquatic ghoul. Bella recalled that Yugureda was a pearl merchant, and wondered if she was looking at one of his pearl divers. She was tempted to yank the trapdoor shut and run, but the creature was standing on the door, eliminating that option. Instead Bella shouted a warning to her friends and pulled herself through the opening, tumbling like an acrobat to avoid the ghoul’s grasping claws. She found herself in a ramshackle hut. The furniture was covered with mildew and the hearth was cold and empty; whatever lived here had long ago stopped caring about heat and light. The door hung from its hinges, and through its opening she saw half a dozen more lacedons running her way, summoned by their companion’s call. She drew her Nine-Fold Spirit Sword from her handy haversack, and activated one of its rings to give it the Undead Bane ability; she was going to need it.

Downstairs, the rest of the party was bottled up in the tunnel. Marie said a quick Prayer as the others jockeyed for position. Zhustin cast Haste from inside the tunnel, grateful that for once everyone was close enough together to all benefit from the spell. Sandoval began singing as loudly as possible, noticing that the cramped tunnel had excellent acoustics. Nicki was the first up the ladder, avoiding the lacedon’s claws by sheer luck. He, too, saw the other ghouls charging, and tried to Command Undead on the nearest, but the spell had no effect.

Shinjiro called upon his ki once again, and used his Abundant Step ability to teleport out of the tunnel. Indeed, he came up completely outside the hut, standing in front of the broken door. One of the lacedons was about to rush through it, and nearly collided headlong with the monk. Shinjiro tried to use his Stunning Fist on the creature, but both of them were so off balance that his blow missed. Sawyer was next up the ladder, and Suishen cut into the ghoul standing atop the trapdoor. But its blade didn’t cut as deeply as normal, and its flames seemed to have no effect at all.

The charging lacedons converged on the hut, and Shinjiro and Bella found themselves surrounded by biting, clawing abominations. As their filthy claws raked their flesh, they felt their muscles tighten and seize up, and suddenly found they were incapable of movement!

Sawyer recognized their frozen postures. “Shit! They’re paralyzed!” he screamed. Marie heard him, and for the second time in an hour issued her Freedom’s Call. As the holy aura streamed forth, Bella and Shinjiro felt their cramped muscles release, and they could once again defend themselves.

Nicki could see that the ghouls’ mossy skin was impervious to Suishen’s flaming blade. Thinking fast, he cast a Scorching Ray, twisting the spell’s rays into acid with his Elemental Spell ability. The acid splashed against the target ghoul, and Nicki laughed to see its skin blister and run. Zhustin clambered up out of the hatch, and Summoned a large earth elemental behind the lacedons outside the hut. “That should give something else to worry about,” he muttered, as he tried to shrink back into the farthest corner of the hut. Sandoval charged up behind him, sinking his sword into the back of the lacedon at the top of the ladder. As it turned to face this new threat, Sawyer hacked off its head, then stepped over its body to stab Suishen completely through the lacedon in the doorway. Despite the grievous wound, the undead ghoul simply snarled and kept fighting.

The PCs earned 4,114 XP for the night, putting them at 287,662 XP, with 315,000 required for level 13. We won’t meet next week because of the Super Bowl (go Panthers!). In two weeks, we’ll be at Leo’s, but Rich and Joette will be in Hawaii.