ASE: Session 14

Date: Lapin 19th
Weather: Overcast

Party:
Aria (Priest / Duelist)
Cedar (Warrior / Beastmaster)
Laguna (Elementalist / Healer)

Cohorts:
Jenny
Raymond (Axebeak)
Rex (Wolf)
Zord (Zard)

Summary:
As the party explores the manor, they come to a conclusion: The death knight who keeps following them more than likely has a black candle they need. After finding the death knight, they directly confront him. This results in an exciting duel on the front stairs between Aria and the Death Knight while the painting of the former owner of the house looms over them. Cedar manages to steal the candle off of the knight and tries to run off, but gets trapped in a bone cage! Laguna then uses his elementalist talents to light the candles, causing the knight to boast about how it will take more than that to seal him away! He raises his immense axe and slashes at Aria, a fatal blow that would surely kill her.. Except the magic of the house keeps her soul here, like with everyone else.

Aria shakes off her sudden incorporeality, managing to distract the knight just enough, then manages to possess the magic sword she acquired and plunge it straight into the death knight's heart. Cedar manages to hack his way out of the bone cage and Laguna stabilizes Aria's body. Aria then tries to get back into her body and succeeds, and the party figures this would help Lisbet and Helmut.

Before that happens, they decide to blow up the sarcophagus and subsequently the museum.

Lisbet's and Helmut's bodies are healed up and their souls are reunited, and are both told that as soon as they can move they should leave and never come back here. Both agree. As that's settled, the party moves to the last mystery: The bandaged man who happens to be in all the portraits and even in the mirrors. They slowly tracked him down to the smoking room, watching through the mirror as he's seen slicing off bits of his fingers into a jar, then placing it on the shelf. Laguna then reaches for the jar, and becomes possessed! Dr. Elias Fenwick was now in the bird's body, and he was about to go for a pleasant jaunt before Aria stopped him. A casting of Hold Person froze her in her tracks, but Cedar managed to wrestle him to the ground! He acquiesced to their demands to let Laguna go, but gave them a stipulation: Learn when the next Blood Moon is happening, and bring him there. He then goes back into the mirror world, always a reflection in the bird's eyes.

The manor is now theirs, but they have new problems to face...

Treasure:
-The Manor of Willowby Hall and all its deathly servants

Rumors:
-Odd cultists are gathering in the nearby forest
-A hole has opened up in a large oak tree, with a lot of strange things within
-There's a strange bottle being sold with a sandy coastal beach trapped inside

Crafting:
-Quick-Draw Mechanism for Aria's Sword (Progress: 4/14)
-Hurlant Repair (Progress: 5/7)

Experience:
Aria (lv 3, 9 xp)
Cedar (lv 4, 14 xp)
Celica (lv 3, 8 xp)
Cloud Nine (lv 3, 6 xp)
Firion (lv 2, 4 xp)
Laguna (lv 3, 10 xp)
Mars (lv 2, 4 xp)
Mia (lv 1, 2 xp)
Nanashi (lv 1, 1 xp)

My Thoughts: It's a shame to put this campaign on hiatus right when something like this happens, but life is getting in the way a little too much and I'm feeling rather burnt out. I hope to pick the game back up in the future, but I will be focusing on other things and possibly other future campaigns!