Sessions 70 & 71 - Pots, Pans and Puns

Tue 25th July  & Wed 2nd Aug 2023

In-game timeline: UNKNOWN (4th day in the Shadowfell)

Our "Heroes" have managed to get rid of the strange, nightmare-ish creations of diseased rats that attacked them following their carriage crash. Wanting to get out of the creepy mists, they quickly enter the mansion through the open front doors, passing through the veil of fog that surrounds the door and finding that these veils, which surround each doorway within the grand hall too, seem to dispel any magical effects that are ongoing.

They have entered a grand hallway, empty of people, with artefacts on display around the room and a large tapestry depicting a family tree. The artefacts are interesting, with mysterious labels, but their attention is drawn to both an empty case labelled "Necromical" and to a large golden idol that seems to have some missing coloured stones from its four outstretched hands (only one is present).

Sanada investigates the landing, up the grand staircase, and sees four more doorways, portraits of the Graysing family, and Lord Graysing himself within the large mirror. He is confused as to how he got there, and how long he has been there, and seems unable to get out of the room he is in - a reflection of the landing and great hall that the party stands in. Discussing events with Lord Graysing the group conclude that the mansion, and surrounding area, is under the effects of some form of magical enchantment, probably as a consequence of the missing pebbles from the golden idol - the Dreamkin's Idol.

The party decide to enter one of the doors on the landing, which is supposed to head into the children's bedroom according to Graysing. Solveig summons a large ape to open doors for him. He is becoming quite lazy. 

After some discussion, Solveig and Sanada head through into the next room. The other two wait a while outside on the landing.

The firbolg and ninja-monk find themselves in a master bedroom - empty of people but nicely furnished. Sanada heads back out of the door they entered and she finds herself back in the great hall, but from a different door from the one she entered! She heads back onto the landing to regroup with the other two who stayed there, before once again entering the doorway into the bedroom.

Meanwhile Solveig looks around the bedroom. As he heads into the room the furniture seems to come alive and start to come towards him, nudging against his large frame - not attacking, but trying to push him away from the doorways. Solveig spots a figure within the mirror on the dressing table, who starts to call out in a female voice. He ignores this figure for now, and heads instead for the bed, but his approach is cut off by a bedside table. At this point Sanada re-enters the room and is faced with a wardrobe that is trying to drive her, gently but forcefully, into the centre of the room. She decides to head to the second door in that room and exit from that one. Solveig forces his way out of the door they originally entered and finds himself back in the great hall. The group of three decide to wait for a few minutes for Sanada to return before pressing on.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the others, Sanada has entered a very plush library. Immediately after entering she falls upwards to the ceiling and crashes to the roof. Getting up, she sees all the furniture above her, except for a rug that seems to also have fallen to the ceiling. There are three other exits from this room. As Sanada recovers from her fall, she spots four books flying from the numerous bookshelves around the room and head towards her! She quickly jumps out of the door from which she entered, though not before two of the books arrive and smack her with their hard covers.

Hoping to escape the library, Sanada is surprised to find herself back in the library, and still on the ceiling, though at a different doorway from the one she originally entered. She waits only long enough to spot the flying books turn and head towards her new position. She quickly jumps back out of the door she entered, only to find herself back on the landing, opposite the landing door that they originally went through. By this time the other three had disappeared from the landing, so Sanada sits cross-legged on the floor and patiently waits for them to reappear…somewhere!

The other three, having waited a minute or two for Sanada to appear, all headed through the landing door into the master bedroom. The furniture had all returned to its original positions and everything seemed 'normal'. As soon as the group start to search the furniture, looking for lost pebbles, the furniture once again seems to animate and bump into them! They seem to be trying to keep our "Heroes" not only from leaving the room, but also from getting to the bed, which is unusual in that it is not moving. 

Alwaith chats with Olivia Graysing, who is the person in the mirror. It is quite awkward, as the mirror is atop the dressing table which is currently nudging Alwaith towards the centre of the room. Olivia mentions that her children wanted to play Treasure Hunt with the stones from the idol. Alwaith also sees a music box on top of the dressing table, along with two masquerade masks - a swan and a bear. Inside the table drawer is an invite to a masquerade ball.

At this point the bed suddenly lashes out at Solveig, who is leaning over it attempting to pull back the covers. The centre of the bed opens up to reveal a massive mouth, and two appendages emerge from the bed trying to hit the firbolg and pull him into the open mouth. One of them hits and attaches, starting to pull him into the bed. Solveig turns into a bear.

Realising that the bed seems to be some form of large Mimic, Alwaith and Faith try to attack it from a distance. It is hit, but still seems to have plenty of fight left in it, and continues to suck in Solveig into the bed. The druid, despite now being a bear, fails to escape the bed's grapple. After a couple more rounds the bear is almost completely sucked into the bed and the other two see the two bear legs - all that remains of their friend - suddenly stop moving and turn into large Firbolg legs, also not moving. Solveig is unconscious!

In a desperate attempt to recover their friend without approaching the bed, Faith casts Banishment to send the bed into a different plane. It's a risky move, as the bed has almost swallowed Solveig, but it works - the bed disappears and Solveig remains, though he appears to be unconscious on the floor. Alwaith quickly revives him with a healing spell from the ring of spell storing. Solveig is conscious, but still exhausted.

The group decide that getting out of the room is the best option, though they spend some time looking around the room - under the rug, in the chest etc. They find some fine clothing, but no coloured stones. Unfortunately the furniture, which was trying to keep them from getting near to the bed, are also trying to stop them leaving the room. Alwaith manages to get out, but Faith kept being held back in the room and made slow progress. Suddenly, as the mimic returns from its Banishment, the three of them manage to leap out of the room, following Sanada's exit quite a while earlier.

And so they all appear in the library and immediately fall up to the ceiling, taking some falling damage in the process as they all fall on top of each other. They scan the room, much as Sanada did earlier, and spot some books flying towards them. Solveig moves to the rug on the ceiling, looking for evidence of Sanada's progress through here. The rug is, unfortunately for the druid, not as it seems and it immediately rises up and attempts to wrap itself around Solveig. At the same time, the other two are accosted by some flying books!

As the dwarf fights off the books, the half-elf runs over towards another exit, and takes some useful swings at the rug on the way. The firbolg is unfortunately swallowed by the rug at this point, and responds by turning into a bear again. Alwaith manages to finish off the rug with a Toll the Dead and the rug falls away from Solveig, and falls up to the floor above! Alwaith then ducks out of the nearby doorway. Faith and Solveig follow, with Faith using his word of radiance to cause some harm to the flying books on the way out.

And they appear in a kitchen, though they do crash to the floor upon entry from a ceiling, but they benefit from knowing that this may happen. They hear a woman's voice coming from the pantry opposite. Alwaith heads towards the pantry door and all are surprised when the stove door opens and a large belch of fire emerges and incinerates a large part of the room, catching Alwaith in its area for significant fire damage. At the same time, some pans are flying towards the group in a menacing manner. With no sign of Sanada in here, the group quickly escape via the other door.

This time they appear in a ballroom, with instruments being played by unseen hands, people seated at tables around a dance floor and a group of three dancers moving slowly in time to the music on the large, marbled dance floor. What is strange is the appearance of the people in the room - the dancers seem to have faces matching each of the "Heroes" who have just entered the room. Stranger still, each of the occupied tables seem to have three people who are known to each one of the "Heroes" - Alwaith recognises Dwarrowsteel, Drogan and Devon. Two dwarves and an elf sit at another, who Faith seems to recognise, and at a third two firbolgs and a human seem to give a spark of recognition in Solveig. All seem to be looking at the group as they entered.

With no sign of Sanada, our "Heroes" immediately walk to the door nearby, and exit the room immediately. This exit does take them back into the hall, where they are reunited with a meditating Sanada. They compare notes and experiences, and try to formulate a map of this strange place. Discussions ensue and a plan is formulated. Then more discussion and the original plan re-formulated. Still more discussion and the original plan stands. Eventually they back to the bedroom.

In the bedroom they are once again accosted by annoying furniture. They are prepared for the aggressive bed and start to attack it from a distance immediately. Solveig has not learnt much from his previous experience of nearly being swallowed, and runs up to the bed and, still in bear form, bites and claws at it. With the help from attacks from Alwaith, the mimic is brought down and fades away, though the actual bed reappears in its place.

Brushing off the heavy-handed 'nuzzling' from the other pieces of furniture, the party do a thorough search of this room - finding only some nice clothes and the items on the dressing table that were there originally. Alwaith plays with the music box, though the tune it plays is not exactly musical.

They leave the room and return back to the hall. After more discussion they try a different door and end up in the kitchen again. And here our "Heroes" decide to make a stand, rather than continue to run through lots of doors. They avoid the fire from the stove and battle the pots and pans that fly towards them. During the battle they realise that the pans are not only trying to hit them, but also to shove them towards the burning tables, and within range of the belching stove. Not only that, but more flying pots and pans seem to come at them regularly. They battle long and hard - bringing down some of the pans, but also sometimes being pushed into the fire. Solveig's bear form dies, bringing the firbolg back in the room. Faith stands behind the others and focuses on spell attacks and Spirit Guardians that does significant damage to the pans before they can get too close. They are surprised when the roasting pig on the spit bounces off from the rotisserie and attacks Alwaith!

In the end they start to focus attacks upon the stove, and start to damage that. It takes a while, especially with actions needing to be used to drag others out of the range of the belching fire, but they do finally destroy the stove. Its fire goes out and hot ashes spew out from the grate. The pots and pans are still flying around, but there is no longer a risk of being exposed to belching fire.

As they head for the safety of the pantry - where they previously heard Poppy's voice, and where they can hopefully close the doors to stop the pans from reaching them - Faith spots something in the ashes of the stove - it's a coloured stone! He picks it up quickly and with the others runs to the pantry. As they get to the storeroom and close the door against the flying utensils, they hear Poppy's voice coming from behind them…