The party stands on the 3rd floor landing outside Room 8C, confronting the cursed wizard Zala with her spider-like spine and insectile features. Initial negotiations begin.
Zala discloses that Markos Delphi is a hemophiliac with magical blood, not a true wizard—without his Codex, he is vulnerable and weak. He is posessed by the entity is known as "Old Crow," a fragment of the name "Krokulmar."
Zala lends her personal spellbook (9 spells, each usable once), heals Orimene with a scroll (7 HP restored), provides a permanent-flame hooded lantern, and grants protective black dust (+1 AC for 1 hour).
The wizard asks the party to retrieve the Great Snake Constellation Map from the basement—essential to breaking her curse. She confirms the eastern guest room is safe; warns the western room contains an eldritch rift.
The ghost butler manifests in response to the party's clap and guides them to the first floor, floating through walls with imperial detachment. He confirms Zala's directions about the safe room.
As they descend, Anar (Perception 14) and others detect faint, growing music from the second floor—ceremonial hymns with gospel-like qualities. Puck identifies it as ritual music (Performance 19+5=24).
The eastern guest room manifests beds, linens, and a shelf of fine spirits. The room appears semi-sentient, responding to occupants' desires. Winston fades as the door closes behind them.
Anar grasps a bottle of spirits easily but discovers it will not leave the room. His hand becomes caught between bottle and doorframe despite a Strength check of 17. The room refuses to release the treasure.
A suctioning, wet sound erupts. The chandelier drops from the ceiling, revealing a Gibbering Mouther—Jeremy—wild-eyed, frothing, his tentacles snapping frantically. He slaps the bottle from Anar's hand and shatters it.
Tentacles slam the door shut from inside. Anar stands alone with Jeremy. Winston's ghost appears ineffectually, commanding Jeremy to sit. The creature ignores the ghost's pleas.
The rest of the party breaks through the door, tumbling into the room together. Wisdom saves ripple across the party—Anar passes (17), Puck passes (20), Penelope passes (10), but Orimene fails (3) and is frozen in place momentarily.
Puck addresses the mouther with empathy (Animal Handling +5), calling it "Jeffrey" and swearing they will not harm it. Jeremy's agitation lessens slightly, his attention shifting toward the party.
Penelope and Orimene (Medicine 17 combined) realize Jeremy is not malicious but suffering from a severe allergic reaction. His gibbering is anguish, not aggression.
Puck recognizes the drifting pollen matches the exterior mansion pollen. The room, sensing the party's fear about Jeremy's allergies, manifested the allergen itself—a semi-sentient trap.
The party focuses mentally in unison: the dust is gone, it does not exist, there is nothing here. The pollen slowly fades. Jeremy's eyes clear. His writhing ceases. He begins to calm.
Jeremy speaks, and his psychic gibbering cascades across the party. Wisdom saves required (DC 10): Anar passes (17), Puck passes (20), Penelope passes (10 barely), Orimene fails (3)—she takes 5 psychic damage and becomes confused, walking toward the wall.
Anar hauls Orimene away from the wall (Athletics 16 success). The party exits the room. The door slams shut. Through it, Jeremy's agitated sneezing and shuffling can be heard.
Winston reappears, apologetic yet fondly detached. He reveals he raised Jeremy from a tadpole. Jeremy is not intentionally dangerous but erratic when suffering from his severe allergies—a tragic creature bound by his own physiology.
Marc discusses Puck's gnome clockmaker family origin in Dim Forest. Chris DM incorporates Greyhawk lore—Anar comes from a fallen, unnamed civilization far to the south. Both characters realize they come from the same fractured region.
The party decides to explore further before confronting Markos Delphi. The ritual music from above has ceased, providing a window of opportunity. They seek items and additional information.
The party enters an L-shaped portrait hallway on the 1st floor, lined with paintings of Delphi family members. The walls watch silently. Orimene speaks the name fragment "Hrolfrak"—a distant shift occurs in the basement below.
Anar taps methodically against the walls near the dining room and detects a hollow space—something hidden, patient, waiting behind the stone. His ranger's senses have found a secret.
Orimene approaches the dining room with the hooded lantern and observes scratch arcs around a mounted deer head (~5 feet 6 inches high). The marks form a perfect circle—evidence of something large striking repeatedly.
Anar, acting without hesitation, throws his net at the deer head. The fibers wrap around it. The deer head reacts with violent purpose—its mouth splits wide open, revealing a spiky-tongued body of writhing chitin. It is a Mimic.
Initiative rolls: Penelope (19), Puck (12), Orimene (4), Anar (1 fumble—vomits wine on himself), Mimic (14). Combat erupts in the dining room. The net is destroyed in a single blow.
Anar, in his panic and drunken stupor from the nat 1 vomit fumble, vomits wine upon himself and the Mimic. His composure shatters momentarily, turning the encounter into a crude farce—at least for a moment.
Anar recovers and rips a curtain rod from the window, using it as an improvised weapon (Acrobatics 15 success). He jams the rod into the Mimic's mouth and steers it around the room like a grotesque game of hockey.
Orimene (Arcana 14) recognizes the scratch marks as a sliding mechanism. The deer head is not merely a trap—it is a lever built into the stone, a key to something hidden.
Penelope pushes the deer head/plaque with her staff. Stone grinds against stone. The wall slides inward, revealing a hidden chamber behind. The secret is exposed.
Anar (Acrobatics 14 success) maneuvers the Mimic one final time, accidentally driving the curtain rod completely through its tongue, pinning it from both ends. The creature cannot escape. Combat effectively ends.
Penelope, Orimene, and Puck step through the revealed door into the secret chamber. Anar remains at the threshold, still holding the impaled Mimic on the curtain rod, a sentinel guarding the entrance.
The party discovers a dusty chamber lined with hundreds of books, candelabras with dying flames, and three interlocking magic circles on the floor. Jars containing preserved specimens—a head, a hand, four tadpole-like creatures in rubbing alcohol—line one wall with notes in Deep Speech.
Orimene (Arcana 12) feels the magical current within the three circles—something binding or summoning in nature. The circles are dormant but active, waiting for a catalyst or key.
Penelope (Arcana 13, with Lucky reroll) identifies the pattern as a binding or protective circle—the kind designed to contain or summon forces of great power.
Puck (Arcana 18) reads the geometric complexity with bardic precision. The three circles form either a summoning ritual or a banishment spell—the magic could pull something in or cast it out to the void.
Penelope, driven by curiosity or fate, places her feet on the first circle. A tingling sensation erupts—static electricity made manifest. Her hair stands on end. The circle glows faintly beneath her feet.
Puck follows, placing his feet on the second circle. Both circles ignite. The candles strengthen, their flames doubling in height. The chamber brightens.
Orimene joins them on the third circle. All three ignite at once. The candelabras blaze with forearm-length flames. The circles hum—a frequency felt in bone and blood. The chamber is filled with ancient, terrible power. Session ends here.