Its all in the Cards.

Jerinvar runs to a nearby house and pulls the half boarded door open with a heavy yank.
After a quick search, it appears clear and safe.
The inside of the old, dilapidated house is a haunting testament to time's relentless decay. Floorboards creak underfoot, and the air is thick with mildew and rot. Dust motes dance in the weak light filtering through cracked windows, while peeling wallpaper reveals crumbling plaster. Cobwebs hang in corners, and the ceiling shows ominous water damage. The living room's moth-eaten armchair sits by a cold fireplace with a forgotten faded portrait on the mantle. The kitchen is a chaotic jumble of rusted pots and broken cabinets, and upstairs, rickety beds and moldering clothes fill dim bedrooms.

"Good job! I suspect daybreak will bring some calm"

Exhausted Crow sits…

"I am Dr. Crow. I’m sorry we didn’t have a chance to meet under better circumstances "

Eye of the Storm hardly responded as he woke up. He wasn't in his own mind, really. The large cat-man stared ahead, far into the distance, not seeing anything. He heard no sounds, nor did he acknowledge anyone speaking to him. Meekly he let himself be led away from the mansion that had cost him companions and sanity, stumbling in a haze. It was not until they were safe and he was sat down in a corner that the horrors that held a vice on his mind receded and some semblance of life returned to his eyes.
"We have to get out..." He whimpered.
"We have to get out."
"We have to get out."
"We have to get out."

Blinking slowly, it takes the paladin some time to remember what happened. The second the memories hit, that foreign feeling slams into her body. Fear floods her as her eyes widen. Her best fairy friend collapsing on her shoulder brings a modicum of comfort and protective urges again, yet shoots back from the person who, after a moment realizes, is the one that healed her. "Th-thank you," she stutters before cringing at herself. This emotion isn't who she is!

After assessing that her group all made it out and giving them all a gentle squeeze on the shoulder in affection, she carries Briar and tries to wake her while standing awkwardly in the living room, afraid to sit on anything. "We met under the best circumstances possible, at least for us. I'm Alyria and this is Briar," she adds as she nudges the fairy again, muttering in her ear after about her needing to awaken as there may be loot in their rundown hideaway.

Looking back at the new adventurers, she asks cautiously, still a bit fearful, "What brought you all here?"

Between consciousness and oblivion, nestled with her face in the hair of her paladin friend, Briar mumbles some self-soothing statements reminiscent of things a child would hear from a mother. She perks when she is introduced to the newcomers and sheepishly wiggles her fingers in a meek salutation. "Thank you," she nods to Dr. Crow. "You saved us."

The fairy’s still-mangled wings twitch excitedly as Alyria points out a new space to explore for prizes. She whispers quietly, "You know just how to make the day better," and begins to scan the surroundings, listening to the conversation to unfold.

Dr. Crow though tainted by dark bargains is pleased he was able to help. A rare opportunity given his patron.

"Glad I could help." A genuine smile and nod Crow finds a restful corner a closes his eyes.

Bella keeps watch over Crow, a tiny invisible spider in a dark corner.

Looking amongst her companions, she asks, "Should we go back and make sure that thing won't be an issue ever again?"

Fidgeting with her still rash-covered hand, Briar looks up to the paladin with sad eyes. "How do we do that?"

With a soft smile, she tells her, "In the morning, I’ll prepare a detect magic spell to make sure nothing there still contains any magical abilities close to the surface."

"We certainly must finish seal that thing forever. I’m inclined to burn that whole house and raze it the ground. I’ve no desire to set foot back in there, but we cannot in good conscience allow that house to stand with innocent folks nearby."

Jerinvar looks to Alyria and bows his head as he responds, "As unbelievable as it may sound, we found ourselves in an unnatural mist that seemed to have the power to sap our energy. In that mist were wolves who, rather than attack us, herded us back, away from it. And in our efforts to escape that mists and the wolves within it, we wound up here."

The party secures the house for the night, finding it a safe haven amidst the chaos. They hunker down for a meal, discussing their harrowing experiences in this foreign land. With watches decided, they relax as the eerie moans of undead shambling around town create an unsettling lullaby. A few hours before sunrise, the moaning ceases, leaving an eerie silence. As morning breaks, the party awakens, ready to face the challenges of the new day.

"We picked up a job to go deal with a group of traveling merchants. They overstayed their welcome on the edge of town, people were cranky about their music and fights starting up in their camps. Oh, also the ladies." Briar's eyebrows wiggle suggestively as she mentions the women before her thoughts flit quickly to her spoils of the camp.

Excitedly, she pulls a strange hourglass from her bag which contains sand that drifts upwards from the bottom half to the top. "I got this really cool thing!" She reaches into a different pouch on her waist and produces a strange glass coin filled with quicksilver; it is covered with strange ritualistic imagery and appears to have been created without any seams. "Also this." She looks at it curiously, then recalls the story she had begun.

"They told us that they had to leave their homeland because their prince is cursed and he stopped being a good leader and became a jerk. They asked us to come see if we could help lift the curse, so we got in their wagon and the road was creepy and foggy and wolfy. We got some cards read to us and then we set out to try and figure out what is going on here."

"Then we ran into two really sad kids who had left their house because their parents went into the basement to deal with a monster. They asked for our help because their baby brother was still inside. Obviously, we had to help them! That turned out to be super scary and everyone was dead and then we all basically died getting out of there." She shivers, recalling the events of the mansion and the nonstop dark chaos. "Things went really bad and we ran away but it was a super close call. And then we met you and you saved us!"

The fairy sets her trinkets down beside her and folds her hands in her lap, looking to the newcomers like a child ready for storytime. "So how did you get here?"