The trees bent and twisted around them as the party pressed forward through the warped landscape surrounding Delphi Manor. The air itself had changed — thick, almost tangible, laden with strange dander and floating wisps none of them had ever seen before. Two realms seemed to coexist in the same space, and the deeper they walked, the more the world around them felt wrong.
Penelope rolled a 19 on her perception check and caught a faint voice whispering nearby. Puck, meanwhile, managed a total of six — he saw and heard nothing. A cold sensation zipped up their spines, and then it appeared: a floating head, disembodied and grinning, hovering right beside them.
"I've got food for you," the head said, before vanishing and reappearing fifteen feet away, beckoning them toward a path through the mist. Against all better judgment, the party decided to follow. "Let's follow the floating head," Anar declared. "What could possibly go wrong?"
The floating head led them over a crest to a small campsite at the edge of the forest. A donkey stood tied nearby. A woman sat alone by a smoldering fire — Orimene Silentvale, a wild magic sorcerer of infernal heritage, and the sole survivor of a previous party that had entered the Alabaster Mansion. Her companions had been killed inside. She was a wreck.
The floating head reappeared: "Orimene, are you okay? Will they help you?" It was Elra — or what remained of her. Before the party could ask questions, Elra vanished again with an urgent "I have to go."
Anar gave Orimene a drink from his wineskin to calm her nerves — a generous act he would later regret when he discovered just how badly the mansion would test his supplies. Puck investigated scattered papers in one of the camp tents and found Elra's notes: Markos's room is on the third floor where he performs rituals. There's a cavernous room underneath the basement. The number four was circled next to the basement note.
The party learned they'd been hired by Gertie of the Delphi family to retrieve a Codex and bring Markos back alive — 150 gold each (or 100 if dead, though Anar insists he negotiated it up to 250). Penelope rolled an 18 on a wisdom check and got the distinct feeling the Delphi family viewed adventuring parties as disposable. Orimene revealed she had Elra's map of the mansion and a command word: Krokulmar.
The party circled the mansion first. No cellar entrance. The building was massive and raised up on an uneven foundation. Through the windows they could see suits of armor, scratched-out portraits, and candles with flames that hovered above the wick. The mansion itself seemed to breathe — a tower growing taller and shrinking back, like something alive.
Penelope climbed onto Anar's shoulders to peer through a window and found the sill spongy with rot. She spotted a hallway with armor and defaced paintings. When Orimene spoke the command word Krokulmar, windows flew open — but then began mutating, sills growing like flesh, frames warping into something that resembled mouths.
Puck cast Mage Hand to open the front door from a safe distance. The D4 wild surge roll altered the environment: the air became thick as water, and suddenly everyone could fly — swimming through the air at their walking speed. They tumbled into the foyer, where an owlbear-skin rug covered the floor and enormous staircases swept upward. The ceiling rose thirty feet, dominated by a chandelier whose candles burned with hovering, detached flames.
Anar charged through the parlor toward the kitchen in search of wine — a man with priorities. Behind him, the suits of armor in the parlor came to life with a terrible metallic clanking. Puck, still at the doorway, rolled an 18 on initiative and found himself face-to-face with animated steel.
The first suit of armor rushed Puck and slammed a shield into him for 6 damage, knocking him prone. Penelope cast Heat Metal on the armor — clever thinking, though with nothing inside the suit, the damage was limited. But the metal glowed red-hot. Puck pulled out his dagger, stood up, and gave Orimene a bardic inspiration die before taking another 8 damage from the second suit.
Then Orimene struck. Rolling a natural 20 with True Strike, she channeled radiant energy through her staff and dealt 6 damage to the heated armor. "This is for Elra!" she cried. Anar burst back from the kitchen — sword in one hand, wine bottle in the other — and hurled the bottle at the glowing armor. The sudden cooling caused it to crack and splinter. He followed with a devastating Dreadful Strike for 13 damage, dark energy crackling up his blade.
Penelope wild-shaped into a brown bear and demolished the first suit of armor with a savage claw-and-bite combo. Puck cast Dissonant Whispers, dealing psychic damage and forcing the remaining suit to flee — he caught it with an opportunity attack for 8 more damage. As the armor stumbled away, one arm falling off, Orimene hit it again with True Strike. Anar lifeted a dagger from Orimenes belt with a sleight-of-hand roll of 26. Finally, Puck finished the last suit with Vicious Mockery: "You think you're tough now?" The helmet crumpled into the chest like a crushed tin can. Six psychic damage sealed the deal.
The party retreated to the kitchen, barricading the door against two animated swords, a clock, a broom and half-dozen other random objects that had come alive from all the spellcasting. Anar, naturally, used this time to fill his wineskins, grab four more bottles of wine, and reorganize his pack. The man had his priorities straight.
They descended through the pantry into the wine cellar — four large casks against the wall, empty racks, the faint aroma of grapes in the air. Anar and Orimene investigated the casks and found handprints in the dust and a draft coming from behind one. Orimene rolled a 23 on investigation and discovered it was a hidden door. They shoved the cask aside to reveal a temple chamber beyond — four wooden pews facing a stone statue, and four purple-cloaked figures muttering and writing on pieces of paper, oblivious to the party.
Elra's floating head appeared, shaking frantically: "Don't step in this room. Why are you here? You're supposed to leave." The party wisely backed off and replaced the cask.
Back in the kitchen, Orimene spoke the command word Krokulmar — and everything went dark. Lights drained from the room. Cold ran up every spine. In the parlor, the sound of objects clattering to the ground could be heard. A shadow peeled away from the corner and a dark hand stabbed Orimene for 8 damage. The wound refused to heal — not with magic, not with medicine. She recovered 4 HP on the short rest, but the shadow's mark remained. Anar took the opportunity to grab more wine.
After their short rest, the party navigated back through the parlor — discovering that filling the goblets on pedestals near the armor pacified them (a DM hint well-received). They passed by the dining room with its mounted deer head (whose eyes briefly tracked Anar), and climbed the spiral staircase in the tower. Cold wind rushed down from above. Through the windows, absolute chaos — thick fog consuming everything beyond the mansion's clearing.
At the top of the third floor, behind a locked door, they heard a female voice — two voices speaking in perfect unison, lispy and repetitive, like the Mouth of Sauron. Anar peered through the keyhole and saw a hunched, disheveled cloaked figure pacing back and forth, reading from a leather-bound book.
Puck cast Mage Hand to snatch the book — and rolled a 4 on the wild surge. The lights dimmed. The figure stopped, snapped her fingers, and dispelled the hand instantly. Then she opened the door.
She was a human wizard, once a friend and colleague of Markos Delphi, now transformed by the eldritch energies warping the mansion. She was honest — Penelope confirmed it with a 23 insight check. Markos was in the basement cavern, trying to summon an eldritch entity using the Codex. The four purple-cloaked figures were performing a stabilization ritual to help him. The entity was a worm-like being from the lowest realm — an avatar of an eldritch god, nicknamed "the Cage." Orimene's infernal knowledge helped her recognize it.
The wizard gave them a password for the secret ritual room door: Farrl Hrak — and advised against using the entity's true name, Krokulmar. Speaking it invoked power. Her own chanting was the only thing keeping the mansion's doors and windows open. She begged them not to kill Markos — he was possessed, not evil. Remove the Codex, disrupt the ritual, and the nightmare might end.
The session ended with the party at the base of the third floor staircase, armed with critical intelligence and hard choices ahead. The Codex was in the basement with Markos. The shadow stalked the halls. The entity waited.