Bard Harder - The Gorgeous and the Grotesque

 With now Richester, House in Pawney and a House in Eden, Arcane Fire contemplate starting a real estate business.

• Arcane Realty Group
• Arcane BnB
• Arcane Fire Retreat

Then they remember they are after some books to gain knowledge to build record players and records, and amplified sound.

In Eden they hear that one of the book may lie in Adaven, which is over the mountains where the mountains join the plains.

The band decide to take a route that bypasses Pawney, so they do not get stuck in a time loop again.

The route was long and treacherous, along the route they spotted on the opposite mountain a gothic castle protruding out of the woods, which seems to be claimed back by nature.

The band with the attention span of a gnat, turn off their path and go to investigate this castle.

As they approach they see that the area is dominated by small villages that form tight-knit communities that are self-sustaining. The landscape is dominated by thick forests exploding with a diversity of wildlife. Tall mountains loom in the distance and snow covers the ground with a thin sheet in this colder part of the world. 

As the band are about to enter the small provincial town of Conquessa, a short middle-aged man comes running up to them. 

He has a thick white mustache that droops down the side of his face and a balding head with patches of white hair around the sides. His clothes are a mess and he emits a foul odor, but he has deep concern in his eyes. He holds up a flier as he cries, “please, please, won’t you help me?!”

He introduces himself as Maury a tinkerer in the town of Conquessa, and a werewolf scrambled out of the woods and stole his daughter.

"We were searching for rare herbs near one of the paths that have long since been abandoned. 

A feral beast, half-man and half-wolf, scrambled out of the Dark Forest and stole away my daughter Emma.

I love my daughter dearly and done my best to raise her alone after my wife died during childbirth, but it is difficult as a single parent and we often just scrape by. 

I tried to chase after the creature, but the sounds of vicious wolf howls nearby caused me to retreat to the town to recruit help, but no one will come to my aid!

Look I am fascinated by tales of myth and the supernatural. Over the years, I have seen dozens of creatures of the underdark, the feywilds, and the elemental planes wandering through the woods. But the townsfolk think I am mad and make stage things.

There is a castle off in the woods - down a path long since abandoned and covered in overgrowth.

If you help, I will give you one of my newest inventions, a "pistol", it is the future of long-distance fighting in the world! Just a bit of black powder and some metal and it can take down even the strongest of foes!"

The band agree and immediately ask Maury to lead the way and head out of town and to the place Emma was taken.

Off the Path

The band are led into the Dark Forest via the primary north road out of the town of Conquessa. 

The road is paved with cobblestone and has a white wooden fence along its edges. Beyond these fences are large, looming trees that reach high into the sky and form a thick canopy that blocks almost all sunlight. 

Two miles into the journey, there is a spot where the road clearly used to split off to the right but is now blocked by a newer fence that is covered in overgrowth. 

Maury leads the band through the brush and down the remnants of this ancient road. Most of the cobblestone on this path has broken apart by plantlife but the way is still clear. 

Maury continues down this path for half a mile before stopping and pointing to a particularly thick-trunked tree and muttering, “This is where the creature took her.”

Gribble spots the path the beast took with Emma, as its paw prints sink deep into the soft ground in this area.

Silme finds a small scrap of red cloth that is stuck to a tree about forty feet away. 

Hungry Predators

As the band are following the path, a set of echoing howls rings through the trees. “Those are the same howls I heard when the beast took Emma! Hungry pack of wolves if I had to guess!” Maury whispers and pulls the pistol out of his toolbelt, loading a bullet into the chamber. The density of the trees causes the sound to echo with no clear source, but it is certainly nearby!

The band are set upon by seven dire wolves.

Gribble is tossed about repeatedly like a dogs squeeky toy

Lemmog and Heironymo charge in trying to fight them

Yomi, Ekam and Silme try to fight at range, with Ekam healing Gribble each time he is tossed about like a rag doll by the wolves.

Heironymo frightens one of the wolves with the image of him shoving Gribble up the wolf where the sun don't shine.

This ends up being the last remaining wolf, which flees from the band.

Between Silme and Gribble they continue to follow the path all the way to Pentival Castle.

Gargoyles at the Gates

The band see a beautiful yet foreboding castle looming ahead of them. An eight-foot-high stone wall surrounds the entirety of the property which is considerable. A spire rises up on both the west and east sides of the castle, but the eastern spire has collapsed. The band can make out the front entrance to the castle itself, a set of beautiful wooden doors that still seem pristine in a juxtaposition to the rest of the castle’s state. The band can also see a small lake, a set of hedges that have overgrown from years of neglect, and a stable whose roof has collapsed. One of the two wrought iron gates at the main entrance has fallen off its hinges, allowing easy entry. Two gargoyles sit perched on either side of this gate, their features worn and weathered.

Maury decides to wait on the outskirts of the castle. There may be great danger within, and he is not exactly made for fighting, especially in his old age. He wishes the band the best of luck and starts working on erecting a tent. 

As the band approaches the front gates, one of the gargoyles turns to look at them and crys out, 

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you!”

The other gargoyle then turns to look at them as well, speaking in a gravelly voice, 

“Yes! Those who value their lives would flee from here!”

The band question the gargoyles and gather the following information.

• The castle is inhabited by a werewolf and yes he brought a young woman back with him recently. 
•  The castle is abandoned except for the werewolf and the former Lord of the castle - Lord Jorlen Pentival. 
• The creature was once a young man named Xavier, son of Lord Jorlen. 
• The family sought out a healer to cure his lycanthropy and afterwards there was a night of screaming and death. 
• The gargoyles are not sure what really happened in the castle on that night for they are forbidden from leaving their post at the gates of the castle, but none have come or gone in years except Xavier. 
• As far as they know, Xavier is lost to the rage of his affliction. 
• He frequents the nearby forest and hunts down creatures for food, but he never speaks and often runs on all fours. His mind seems to waver.

Into the Castle

The band then make their way up to the castle. A path leads from the front gates all the way to the massive, beautiful double doors that open to the main foyer. 

Gribble (The nominated cannon fodder) pushes open the front doors and the band are presented with a breathtaking entryway. 

A 30-foot square rug is laid out in the main area, its brilliant red colors faded from years of neglect and covered with muddy paw prints. 

A dazzling chandelier hangs over the center of this room, crystals still glistening from the light of ever-burning torches in the area. 

Off to the back-right is a piano covered with a dusty white cloth. Along the outside of the room are numerous suits of armor bearing the symbol of the house - a large red rose. 

Forty feet in front of the door, a large staircase ascends twenty feet before breaking into two smaller staircases that flare out in opposite directions to the second level of the structure. 

To the left and right of the room are arched doorways that lead to other areas of the castle. 

The castle is completely silent except for the occasional creak of wood as the foundation settles. It is quite disturbing to see such a large place with absolutely no movement. 

As the band enter, Lemmog and Heironymo step onto the red rug in the middle of the room, the suits of armor around the edge of the room start to come to life along with some of their weapons and even the rug itself! 

Armored Assault 

The rug tries to smother Lemmog/

A Floating sword tries to skewer Heironymo.

Four suits of Armour start attacking the other band members.

When the animated armour, rug and floating sword are all defeated, there is a moment of silence before it is interrupted by a voice, “What is all of the commotion!?” it cries out from the top of the stairs. 

Eparius, Dedicated Protector

Another sword appears and begins hopping down towards the band. It does not float like the others they just fought, but hops along, lightly driving its point into the wood with each jump. 

The upper half of the blade is stained a deep crimson as if it were covered in blood and never cleaned. 

As it rounds the corner, there is an audible gasp as the sword speaks again, “Guests! And strong ones at that! Wait right there! I won’t harm you!” 

It hops to the bottom of the stairwell and seems to regard each of the band members, at least as well as a sword can. “I am sure you are all wondering what is going on here, yes?” 

The gleaming steel sword sways and wobbles in ways that shouldn’t be possible given its materials - displaying human like qualities that are quite unsettling. 

A masculine voice seems to come from the blade, though there is no discernible mouth from which the sound escapes. 

“Master Xavier, the heir to House Pentival, was afflicted with the curse of lycanthrope many years ago. 

When his father - Lord Jorlen Pentival - heard, he immediately began to study to find a way to end the curse and sent runners to find the greatest healers in the land to aid his son. 

Eventually, a wizard arrived, claiming he had been experimenting with magics that should be the curse to an end. Lord Pentival in his desperation agreed . . . but it had disastrous effects.” 

“Xavier, rather than being freed, was permanently trapped in the form of the beast. He slaughtered many of the staff and even his own mother in the hours after. Poor lad still has bursts of humanity and realizes what he is, but is a prisoner in his own body. 

Lord Penitval sent the others away and had many objects in the house enchanted to serve to keep others away and to take care of Xavier - but the magics have started to fade over time. Some simply stopped working; others fight rather than help. 

Lord Pentival keeps himself locked in his secret laboratory most of the time now. He still thinks he can find a cure . . . but I rarely see him. During the last burst of humanity from Master Xavier . . . he begged that I kill him and end his misery. I was . . . unable, but perhaps you can!”

The sword then apologies for his manners and introduces himself as Eparius, High Protector of House Pentival. 

He explains he was mortally wounded while protecting Lord Pentival from his son’s attack. Rather than pass from this world, he plead with the wizard that had botched the spell and asked that his soul be bound to his own blade so he could live on and protect the family. He has been here in the years since, watching and waiting for the opportunity to set things right as Jorlen Pentival - Xavier’s father - has been locked away in his laboratory for years in search of the cure. 

"I fear Jorlen has perished as he hasn’t appeared in months, but I can’t be certain."

The band agree to help aid Lord Pentival.

Library

Eparius leads the band to the library of the castle. He informs the band that the hidden entrance to the laboratory is somewhere in the room, but even he is not certain of the method as it was kept secret from all staff and he doesn't have much dexterity in his sword form. He begged for years to know the secret in case something happened to go wrong, but Lord Pentival was quite stubborn on the matter. Hell, even if he knew it, he might not be able to open the damned door in his current form.

The room contains shelf upon shelf of beautifully preserved books that cover every single wall except for one. On this wall, there is a massive glass window that overlooks the backyard of the property. A fine wooden desk sits just in front of this window, decorated with many fine carvings and sculptures of animals scattered across its surface with light cascading down over them. There are a few sitting chairs scattered through the area as well as a massive rug that covers almost half of the hardwood flooring with an intricate red, white, and orange design. Lanterns still sit on hooks scattered around the room, but nothing here screams secret entrance to the band.

As the band get close to the desk they notice that there are 6 statues on the desk and Yomi moves to search it, the notice how fine the quality of these creatures are, that they are all sitting in small indentations carved directly into the wood of the desk, and that there are a few empty indentations as well. 

There are 6 statues in total 

1. A lion, 
2. a snake, 
3. a dragon, 
4. a wolf, 
5. a weasel, and 
6. an eagle. 

They are all crafted of wood, but they have been painted to have realistic features that have held up through the ages. They are all resting on identical rounded bases of marble. 

There are 4 slots along the left side of the desk, 4 along the front, and 4 along the right side of the desk. There are 4 statues sitting along the front, 1 on the left, and 1 on the right. 

Yomi searches through the drawers of the desk, and finds that tucked inside one of the books is a small note with the following text: 

“Four on the left, five at the front, and six on the right.” 

“Only the first matters: 1-6 | 7-13 | 14-19 | 20-26”