Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Soanso's Fireside Chat: Rise of the Runelords (AE)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="soanso" data-source="post: 6252773" data-attributes="member: 6684655"><p><strong>The Misgivings, pt 3</strong></p><p></p><p>[Long time gone- Life is funny like that. Back to retell the adventures of the Heroes of Sandpoint!]</p><p></p><p> “I hear her voice, too,” Shaiira said, as she wandered to a door on the second floor. It led to what must have once been a child’s room, but the horror within was nearly too much. My sister refused to enter; I looked in to see scarred furniture, pillows and bedding torn apart as if by knives or claws, and the heavy stench of deathly rot. A child’s bed was overturned, and a small dresser stood broken in one corner, drawers splintered and their contents strewn and rotting across the room. The whole place was covered in a sick blue mold.</p><p> </p><p>I stepped in to investigate. My head instantly throbbed and my feet gave way beneath me, as I saw my mother, brandishing a torch, defending me from some monster. Once a man, his cyst-riddled face was something from a nightmare. He wielded a wicked dagger, slashing up the wallpaper, furniture, and floor as he tried to kill me.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>He tried to kill me.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Comin’ up to help ya, lass,” Mundin said, and I felt his strong arm at my elbow. As I started to stand, he released his grip. Swimming in confusion, drowning like a pup in a rill, I again turned and reached for the dwarf, who was oblivious to my peril. His eyes were fixed on the child’s bed, and then a flash of sickly blue light tore through the room.</p><p></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>“What is that on your face, Mommy?” </em> The child’s voice had crackled like thunder. Mundin’s skin erupted with horrible boils and cysts, the same type that plagued my haunted vision upon entering the room. </p><p></p><p> </p><p>“It burns, the words, HER words, they burn, scrape it OFF!” the dwarf shouted as he clawed at his face, tearing strips of skin from his visage. I watched, horrified, unable to help.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>C and Noria pulled us from our nightmare; the cleric cast a spell to heal Mundin’s weeping sores. The dwarf refused to move for a few minutes, visibly shaking. I pressed my hand to his shoulder.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Another room, again destroyed by violence. Knife and teeth marks marred every surface. Noria and I entered. The haunts here have targeted me; no doubt a response to my mother and her, I loathe to say, involvement with Aldern. Too much is unknown; Shaiira lingers as just a shadow. She rarely speaks or acts. Her eyes are not her own. If she is bewitched, I cannot tell. </p><p></p><p> </p><p>The room was cold and some of the stained glass windows were shattered, overlooking the surf below. One wall held a portrait, but the subject was turned to the wall. Whispers swirled in the air, quiet at first but growing louder with each passing moment, becoming a jumbled cacophony of violent whispers cutting through the air- <em>why. why, why, why?</em> The question crashed in my head, the sounds of the waves below and the spectral chant drew me more than once to approach the intact windows, a strange progression of an old man seemingly getting older. </p><p></p><p> </p><p>I heard Noria’s axe-blade leave its sheath and whirled around to help face the danger; but it was she.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Why?” Her voice was like gravel on chalkboard, not her usual tone. She held her blade to my jugular. Her eyes were milky white, her pupils filmed over by some terrible curse.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>A voice not mine found me. I was compelled to open my mouth, and I felt the air exit my lungs as the voice spoke. </p><p></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>What did you get into in the damp below?</em></p><p></p><p> </p><p>Noria held her axe as close to my life as I never wish it to be again.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Reflexively I pointed to the painting turned backwards on the wall. From the corner of my eye, I saw Shaiira dart into the room. Her eyes seemed less wild, she saw my motion. My sister turned the painting around.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>It was Mum.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Noria’s hand faltered, and I dropped to the ground, rolled away and drew my rapier, and pointed it at the paladin. Her axe fell, and her eyes lost their milky coating as she slowly gained cognizance of her surroundings. Shaiira slinked off down the hall. </p><p></p><p> </p><p>I had to. I wiped the mold from the nameplate to discover the portrait’s identity.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Iesha Foxglove.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>To me she was Iesha Farateldi, my mother, Mum. Until now. Now, she was something else.</p><p></p><p> *</p><p> “Evil rules this house,” Caramour said. “These windows, they are all necromantic symbols. They entail degrees of supreme undeath, the path to lichdom.”</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Tis Vorel,” Shaiira said. “He rules this house.” Her voice sounded canned, as if she were a marionette played by another. Finding a set of stairs leading to the uppermost level of the Misgivings, we ascended, Noria leading the way. I decided to hang back, and asked Vohoi and C what they thought about Shaiira’s odd behavior.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“She seems normal to me,” Vohoi said. “And I think she’s right about Vorel- the windows’ images are similar to the painting we saw earlier. Are you sore because she deciphered it before you did?”</p><p></p><p> </p><p>My ears burned, and that surprised me. </p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Have you not noticed the slinking about, her vacant eyes, her inability to engage in conversation?” I countered.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Shaiira is herself, from what I see,” said C. “Are you sure you are alright? There seems to be deep scars here that you cannot abide. I can see the sorrow in your soul. Forgive me if I pry, but it is a fair observation.”</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Caramour was correct. Every minute trapped within these walls brought a screaming subconscious alive that I did not know existed. Something tried at every turn to push me out, suppress me, cause me pain so that I would leave. Something breathed a single word into my inner ear with each step I took; but I could not forgive myself if I acquiesced.</p><p></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>Escape.</em></p><p></p><p> </p><p>I would, but not without my family. I steeled myself for the third floor.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="soanso, post: 6252773, member: 6684655"] [b]The Misgivings, pt 3[/b] [Long time gone- Life is funny like that. Back to retell the adventures of the Heroes of Sandpoint!] “I hear her voice, too,” Shaiira said, as she wandered to a door on the second floor. It led to what must have once been a child’s room, but the horror within was nearly too much. My sister refused to enter; I looked in to see scarred furniture, pillows and bedding torn apart as if by knives or claws, and the heavy stench of deathly rot. A child’s bed was overturned, and a small dresser stood broken in one corner, drawers splintered and their contents strewn and rotting across the room. The whole place was covered in a sick blue mold. I stepped in to investigate. My head instantly throbbed and my feet gave way beneath me, as I saw my mother, brandishing a torch, defending me from some monster. Once a man, his cyst-riddled face was something from a nightmare. He wielded a wicked dagger, slashing up the wallpaper, furniture, and floor as he tried to kill me. He tried to kill me. “Comin’ up to help ya, lass,” Mundin said, and I felt his strong arm at my elbow. As I started to stand, he released his grip. Swimming in confusion, drowning like a pup in a rill, I again turned and reached for the dwarf, who was oblivious to my peril. His eyes were fixed on the child’s bed, and then a flash of sickly blue light tore through the room. [I] “What is that on your face, Mommy?” [/I] The child’s voice had crackled like thunder. Mundin’s skin erupted with horrible boils and cysts, the same type that plagued my haunted vision upon entering the room. “It burns, the words, HER words, they burn, scrape it OFF!” the dwarf shouted as he clawed at his face, tearing strips of skin from his visage. I watched, horrified, unable to help. C and Noria pulled us from our nightmare; the cleric cast a spell to heal Mundin’s weeping sores. The dwarf refused to move for a few minutes, visibly shaking. I pressed my hand to his shoulder. Another room, again destroyed by violence. Knife and teeth marks marred every surface. Noria and I entered. The haunts here have targeted me; no doubt a response to my mother and her, I loathe to say, involvement with Aldern. Too much is unknown; Shaiira lingers as just a shadow. She rarely speaks or acts. Her eyes are not her own. If she is bewitched, I cannot tell. The room was cold and some of the stained glass windows were shattered, overlooking the surf below. One wall held a portrait, but the subject was turned to the wall. Whispers swirled in the air, quiet at first but growing louder with each passing moment, becoming a jumbled cacophony of violent whispers cutting through the air- [I]why. why, why, why?[/I] The question crashed in my head, the sounds of the waves below and the spectral chant drew me more than once to approach the intact windows, a strange progression of an old man seemingly getting older. I heard Noria’s axe-blade leave its sheath and whirled around to help face the danger; but it was she. “Why?” Her voice was like gravel on chalkboard, not her usual tone. She held her blade to my jugular. Her eyes were milky white, her pupils filmed over by some terrible curse. A voice not mine found me. I was compelled to open my mouth, and I felt the air exit my lungs as the voice spoke. [I] What did you get into in the damp below?[/I] Noria held her axe as close to my life as I never wish it to be again. Reflexively I pointed to the painting turned backwards on the wall. From the corner of my eye, I saw Shaiira dart into the room. Her eyes seemed less wild, she saw my motion. My sister turned the painting around. It was Mum. Noria’s hand faltered, and I dropped to the ground, rolled away and drew my rapier, and pointed it at the paladin. Her axe fell, and her eyes lost their milky coating as she slowly gained cognizance of her surroundings. Shaiira slinked off down the hall. I had to. I wiped the mold from the nameplate to discover the portrait’s identity. Iesha Foxglove. To me she was Iesha Farateldi, my mother, Mum. Until now. Now, she was something else. * “Evil rules this house,” Caramour said. “These windows, they are all necromantic symbols. They entail degrees of supreme undeath, the path to lichdom.” “Tis Vorel,” Shaiira said. “He rules this house.” Her voice sounded canned, as if she were a marionette played by another. Finding a set of stairs leading to the uppermost level of the Misgivings, we ascended, Noria leading the way. I decided to hang back, and asked Vohoi and C what they thought about Shaiira’s odd behavior. “She seems normal to me,” Vohoi said. “And I think she’s right about Vorel- the windows’ images are similar to the painting we saw earlier. Are you sore because she deciphered it before you did?” My ears burned, and that surprised me. “Have you not noticed the slinking about, her vacant eyes, her inability to engage in conversation?” I countered. “Shaiira is herself, from what I see,” said C. “Are you sure you are alright? There seems to be deep scars here that you cannot abide. I can see the sorrow in your soul. Forgive me if I pry, but it is a fair observation.” Caramour was correct. Every minute trapped within these walls brought a screaming subconscious alive that I did not know existed. Something tried at every turn to push me out, suppress me, cause me pain so that I would leave. Something breathed a single word into my inner ear with each step I took; but I could not forgive myself if I acquiesced. [I] Escape.[/I] I would, but not without my family. I steeled myself for the third floor. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Soanso's Fireside Chat: Rise of the Runelords (AE)
Top