Chapter 1: The House of Lament

"Did we choose correctly?" he asks a little too loud as he covers his ears to block the worst of the scream.

Removing his hands from his head, he moves to the gnome and hunches down to see him more closely.

"Okay, friend? Not too bad, at the very least?"

Knobby is unable to speak for the moment, blood trickling down from his nose. He massages his temples and forehead, then says with a wheeze through clenched teeth, "Bad headache."

Tom winches at the shriek but does his best to remain on guard. His eyes constantly scan the room for any sign of an ambush. His focus is shot when he sees the cracks in the windows that very clearly outline the shape of himself and his companions. Why did we agree to go ghost hunting? Tom asks himself. What he wouldn't give for a good ol' fashion raid on a bandit camp right about now. A simple problem that can be solved with force. That is all he is good at.
Tom's eyes widen once more as he watches his friend stagger about, clearly in a considerable amount of pain. He curses himself for not knowing any method of helping him. "I've had just about enough of this," Tom grumbles. In a fit of anger, Tom rushes across the room and destroy the glass that holds his outline.

*Rubbing his ears, then shaking his head, then wincing as he tries to recover from the shriek he looks at each one of you carefully before his eyes fall upon Knobby. He walks over and reaches his hand out to assist Knobby in getting up*
This is way more dangerous than I thought it would be. I have one more spell I can use if you would like me to use it to ease the pain a little. It is only a little though I am afraid.

Knobby gladly takes the hand to get to his feet. He waves the offer of magic away. "I'm good," he says, though his tone of voice belies a hint of desperation. "Between me and Zuri, though, I think we could use a breather. Don't suppose anyone knows if ghosts take holidays?"

"Yes, a short rest would suit, I think!" he chuckles as he speaks, as if the need for a breather was obvious.

"A moment to gather our thoughts. What do we know?"

Zuri's idea was not a bad one. Oberon stars a fire, in the fireplace. Once it is going and takes out the doll. He tossed the doll into the fire and watch it burn.

Tom breathes a sigh of relief. He hates to admit it, but smashing things is a good way to take out your frustrations.

He couldn't agree more with Zuri's suggestion to take a short rest. He has reservations about taking it in this room though. "The ballroom has already proven dangerous. Should we take the rest back in the parlor?"

His eyes go wide when Oberon tosses the doll into the fire. He rushes forward to see what happens.

It might be wise to rest back where we started. Where our two... *friends* are. One would think they would have joined us on this little exhibition, this is what they were here for, right?

Davin does not sit to rest. He stands guard and keeps an eye out on things while his friends are resting. Davin asks Tempus for his guidance as he keeps watch over his compatriots.

"Yes. Curious to see how they react to our… discoveries thus far." he rubs his tender ribs as he says so!

"Warn them, if needs be. Or see why they didn’t warn us, if… you know!"

We have found an entity, properly a ghost, who blocks the stray way in the tower, with strong winds. We have found an entity, properly another ghost, in the Conservatory. And another one in the Ballroom. We also found depictions of ourself and that is a bit unsettling. I found a doll looking like myself. And Zuri found a stainless window with his likeness. He smashed the window and I burn the doll. They can be used for some sympathetic magic and that is dark stuff.

Tom gives the two men a good "hmph!" Did they seriously not hear anything that was going on? He is really starting to not like their hosts, but he knows never to turn down a meal. Especially when you don't know where the next one will be coming from. He sits down and starts digging into the food, but does not contribute to the conversation for the time being.

"And you hadn’t tried to climb the stairs up then? I took a nasty fall when I made my way up.

Well, a fall might be too generous a word for it!" Zuri said, as he tucked into his meal too.

It seems that this used to be the home of a Lady Silvra. The ghost said we could join her or proclaim the justice of Danzorg. We chose Lady Silvra which was seemingly not the choice the ghost wanted to hear as Knobby here was given quite the headache.

As he says this he looks for any signs of recognition of either name from the hosts

Tom decides this is the place to cut in. "I cannot argue that the spirit was upset at our choices, but I do not believe that was the reason for Knobby's headache. The way I saw things, the four us were were marked as enemies by our figures being cut into the glass" he indicates Davin, Zuri, Oberon, and himself. "Knobby was his usual self and dodged the question all together. That seems to be why he was psychically attacked. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up getting off the lightest in the long run, though. Who knows what the spirit has in store for the four of us who openly challenged it..."

We can continue to explore the house, but I don't see how we could have been more cautious. That we find our imagery (doll and window) is a bit unsettling.

"Is there anything more of Necromancy that you could impart to me? A scroll or spell perhaps? We may need to speak with spirits before the day is through!"