All is quiet in the town of Jastrey. The moon hangs large and bright in the night sky. Somewhere in the woods, an owl sings a soft song. The sound of crickets chirping fills the air of the warm Summer night.
With a flicker of silver light, a modern-looking manor appears at the edge of the road, a good walk outside of the cetner of town.
Sitting back atop the tavern and relaxing while looking at be beauty of the enlarged moon is Desiderio. His gaze is interrupted by the sound of footsteps, when he spots Rasiri. But then seeing him is interrupted by seeing the strange structure that didn't seem like it was there before. He leaps off the tavern and rolls with the momentum as softly a landing as he can manage, then jogs up to Rasiri and Zwey.
"What the hell is that?" He speaks in a low voice.
As Zwey swings his hammer mightily at the chain, it strikes and shatters as sparks flash from the contact of metal to metal.
Beyond the gate is an uneven cobblestone road with two fountains on either side, both are overgrown with all sorts of greenery. The Yard around the Manor is ill-kept, but filled with multiple Scarecrows that seem to rest almost menacingly on their perches.
Zwey is looking around the courtyard, " I am looking for someone, I have been to this house before. A ghost of sorts, near the door. I believe he went be the title Baron." Zwey holds his glowing hammer up, casting light down the path towards the door. He stops when he gets near the door, waiting to see if the ghost will reappear.
The Manor itself appears mostly overgrown with weeds and vines, almost like it hasn’t been inhabited in years. The front porch has columns that, you’re sure, were once elegant and beautiful. Now, the paint is chipping away, and the wood beneath seems to be rotting. The entire place looks like it could fall apart at any moment.
Zwey looks confused, and he sets the pommel of his hammer on the ground, grasping it just below the head, "The first time this manor visited Jastrey, it was well kept. The ghosts must have abandon or have been exorcized from the place." Zwey then uses his still prime eminating hammer to knock on the door.
Rasiri watches the two angori fly past him on the front stepsand land in the courtyard and sees the Scarecrows turn. Rasiri draws his blade and runs down the steps towards them. then comes up behind one and starts to try to saw one of it's limbs off with his killing blow dagger. "I am not having this. Zwey! help me cut them up and bury them!"
Zwey lands on his pack, crushing it, and sending various crystals, roots, and skins all across the path. Standing and shrugging off the remains of the pack, "I will pick that up later....if I get to." Zwey notices the leering scarecrows, and readies his hammer. He waits to see if the step from their stations.
Cail stumbles across the strange manor as he walks along the path and sees the group gathered at the door. In a flash of light he appears beside Zwey seeing that he had been thrown and says, "Probably want to take a more delicate approach to things like this, eh?"
"Well, SOMEBODY is home." Zwey stands with some aid of his hammer, and shouts, "BARON! WE WOULD HAVE WORDS WITH YOU! WHAT HAVE YOU BROUGHT YOUR HOME TO JASTREY ONCE MORE?" After the shout, Zwey mutters, " I almost wish those Witches would come back, they seemed to have an idea about all of this."
From down the road, Des is listening through the silent night at the not so silent group and hears the word "witches" being said several times. He looks to the side for a moment, then bags the cores of the several apples he has eaten during this time. Then stands up slowly, and keeping to the shadows -sneak- he makes his way out to the gate and peers in.
Then after seeing everything he backs away and heads back to town to report his findings.
"Aye, my first night in Jastrey, this manor appeared. It was in much better repair then. And the scarecrows were attacking us, along with various other undead creatures. Rizzick also was in town." Zwey shudders. Zwey sees that the doornob is not turning, " We should explore the grounds. Maybe answers lay there."
Cail frowns slightly and taps his chin in thought as Zwey spok. "I wonder," he muses to himself. "Lets go try to figure out the Scarecrows. It doesn't seem like we're going to be doing anything productive here." He walks off of the porch back to the figures and stares at them, his hand still on his chin and brow furrowed.
Leofrick walks through the night and notices a group of voices coming from a strange manor that he hasn't seen before but has a familiar feeling about it. He then begins up the path to see the small group trying to enter the manor. "If the knob wont turn, and the windows too far away , why not just hoist someone up to look into the windows?" Leofrick walks over to the wall and looks to zwey. "Zwey, come give me a boost."
From down the road Nasher approached the manor on his way beack to his cabin. "What's this? Manors? For Nasher!" the goblin called. He watched as the group tried to breach the door, only to be tossed about to the scarecrows. "Well, you's OBVIOUSLY need a goblin touch!" Nasher proclaimed as he made his way to the door. He shot the scarecrows nervous looks as he walked by them. The goblin pulled out a lockpick and an old screwdrived he had and tried the pick his way through the door. -Sabotage-
"Hmm, yes a goblin's touch," said Cail as the little green man landed. "You might want to refrain from touching things so you don't get hurt again." He straightened up and looked at the others as he asked, "So what do we know about these scarecrows besides that they attacked you? WHY did they attack or what did you DO to make them attack?"
The snow elf walks up to the manor, with little ice shards dancing around him. He sees everyone and in excitement, he runs up to the front door. "Hey everyone!!!" Seren turns to look at the door, then he looks at the goblin. "Im guessing Nasher tried to break it, huh?" Seren begins to analyze the door to see if there are any noticeable markings.-Decipher Script-
Nasher lets out a loud "Umpf!" as he hits against the base of the scarecrow. He looks his green head up to see the scarecrow looming over him. He lets out an intelligle sputter as he scampers quickly away from the thing, running behind the tall Emperyean. "Nasher don't like that house, not at all!" the goblin proclaimed. After regaining what little courge he has, the goblin slowly creeps his way over to a scare crow, -Inspecting- it for whatever secret might be behind the creepy standups.
"I dont think we can get past the vines that cover the house Leofrick." Zwey walks around the yard, past the scarecrows, to the fountians. He shines his hammer over the vine covered water features, attempting to remove of the vines with his Angori might. -----breach on the overgrowth- "Oi, King Nasher, come help me with this, I need your ill gotten talents. Seren, come and see if can recognize any script. And can someone look to see if any magic is contrained here."
As Seren looks around the Manor for several minutes, it becomes safe to say nothing can be learned.
As the goblin begins inspecting the Scarecrow, it turns a straw filled head in his direction, lerring ominously as it raises it's arms.
When Zwey strikes at the vines surrounding the water fountain, a large gush of water, black and putrid, plumes out to him, knocking him to the ground again and covering him in filth.
Quiet footsteps are heard then approaching the group, arms tucked behind her back as she smirked a bit as the party of individuals was tossed and spat on by the ghostly manor. She chuckled a bit. "Quite Jastrean of you lot to beat upon things that aren't seen every day." She said, though in good humor. "What have we here then?" She glanced along the scarecrows, and the manor, and the grounds. She let her eyes fall shut and fell silent, her hands remaining folded behind her back. She took in a deep breath, and quieted, seeming to focus internally. (Inspect magic and commune spirit).
Akon's eyes slowly pealed open again, as if removing herself from another range of senses. "Hmn....no spirits, at least none that are making noise..." She said, half to herself. She then rummaged around in her pouch and pulled out a small circular orb. She held it in the palm of her hand, then looked back towards the manor door. She seemed then again to be focusing upon it, and then glanced swiftly back towards the orb, hopeing to gain some brief glance of what may lie beyond the closed doors. -Scout-.
As Akon pulls her crystal ball out towards the door, she briefly disappears in a black, swirling mist. To those viewing this, it seems as if she's just diasappeared.
To Akon, the mist feels like a warm, soft welcoming at first. As she attempts to glimpse through the doorway, a powerful magic, centuries old, envelops her every sense and repels her backwards to the ground almost back to the gate.
A flash of light is seen when Zwey uses some of the prime to burn the filth from his clothes, "Leave it to an adventurer to think an overgrown fountain is special. I suppose it serves me right to get doused in....immortals know what." Zwey chuckles when he sees the broody warlock Akon thrown from the building. He shouts, "The house isn't terribly friendly!" Zwey then walks back to the gates," the house could just be repelling them randomly strait back, but perhaps it is trying to tell us something. " Zwey remembers the proper manner of the Baron, and drags the iron gates shut.
Akon coughs and sputters a bit, gathering herself to her feet and brushing off her robes. She tucked her crystal ball back into the folds of her garmentry and frowned. "No..it's..there something more..." She seemed focused. "Obvious as it might seem, there is something wrong....I just can't quite place it..but I can feel it...well..felt it...briefly." She said, still seeming intently focused on the manor and its grounds.
Zwey slaps his hands together to rid them of rust and grime from the gates, "I can feel nothing, but I have visited this place before. Rather, this place has visited Jatrey. You seem to been in tune witht he dead things, Can you feel anyone? Anything? It does not make sense for this place to just appear again unless it remembered us and wants or needs help. "
As Akon begins speaking as the gate closes, a voice booms thunderously from the Manor saying "CLOSED FOR BUSINESS!"
As the voice finishes speaking, a loud, nauseating crack can be heard from Zwey's direction, as both of his legs shatter (MAIM- can not be countered) and he falls into a whimpering heap at the gates.
"What the-" Cail begins to say as the voice is heard. He places a hand upon his sword hilt at his belt and walks over to Zwey briskly keeping an eye on the scarecrows at the same time.
"Who are you and what do you want with us," Cail calls out loudly to the air. "We mean no harm!"
Cail draws his sword at the Scarecrow's movement and says to Zwey, "Im gong to teleport you on the other side of the fence. I don't want to hear any arguing either, so either wait for us to get out, or get to town and get help anyway you can."
Cail mumbles under his breath an casts a spell at Zwey making him disappear and reappear just on the other side of the metal gate. "Now everyone else needs to get out as well. I think it best if we leave this fight for another time," he said turning towards the straw-laden figures.
Akon watched Zwey cringe as his legs crumbled beneath him. She still seemed oddly perplexed and didn't really react to the utter pain Zwey was in. "Currious.." She said, watching the manor still. "It's not dead.....at least not that I can tell. What ever is doing this is among the living..." She cocked her head to the side and cautiously remained close to the gate, but a respectable distance. She then summoned up a small amount of dark energies from within herself, and let it float from her palm in a non-offensive manner.
Cail walked forward, towards and then past the scarecrows with a wary eye. He walked towards the front door again looking for anything he might have missed. He looked to the small Elf that stood beside the threshold and said, "Have you looked through all of this greenery on the door and not just the door frame? Maybe there are some runes or something that you missed."
Cail sheathed his sword so he could use both hands to hold the vines back to look over the door thoroughly. -What do I see?-
As the scarecrow lifted its arms above the goblin, he quickly scampered away, releasing a flurry of obscenities as he scurried away. As he was getting to the large angori Zwey to "heroically guard his rear," the booming sound came from the house and both his legs maimed themselves infront of the goblins eyes. "Nasher don't like this house! No sir! Nu uh!" the goblin squealed. He attempted to drag the large angori away, but decided it was too much work and left him there. The goblin looked for an exit but decidely could not find one. Again the voice sounded, but this time the scarecrows all raised their arms. The goblin looked panically before stopping suddenly and falling backwords as if hit in the head by a large rock. -Feign-
A gnome in a tattered hat comes running down the road toward the mysterious manor, his piecemeal armor clanking as he hastly dons it.
"ZWEY?!? I heard screaming!" he calls as he approaches.
"BY THE IMMORTALS!" he exclaims when he sees his fallen brother outside the gate, "It-it's gonna be ok-okay br-brother... We'll get you patched up as-as soon as pos-possible. There's bound to be a healer--or SOMEONE!-- in the Crack! I'll take you there!!"
With loud grunts and much effort, Beiro tries his best to pick up Zwey, but settles for dragging Zwey back into through town.
Leofrick watches thevents unfold around him, giving a slight wince when Zweys' legs. "Thats' gotta hurt. But I guess we are stuck in this courtyard, walls all around, a door that will not open, scarecrows that stare but not attack and a gate that is barred shut, sounds like we're in quite the hole aren't we?"
As Cail moves the vines aside, a large window is revealed. It is boarded almost- completely shut, save for a small flicker of candle light that can be viewed glowing inside the Manor.
On the door, an old, metal door knocker hangs ominously. A thing cord seems to rundown from the ceiling, just to the left of the knocker.
Cail looks through the part of the window that isn't boarded up to try and see the source of the light then backs away to look at the knocker and cord. He stares for a long second then decides to grasp the knocker and hits the door three times with it, saying nothing as he did so.
The candle flickers inside the house and is prompty put out and a set of windchimes begin to sing a sweet melody from inside the house. For a while nothing happens, and then an eye presses up against the glass between the wood panels.
"I said, CLOSED FOR BUSINESS! We're renovating!"
Cail blinks a couple times as he see's the eye through the wooden slats and says, "I apologize for the intrusion, sir, but we're not here on business. We just happened to see the manor and the grounds appear. Curiosity is, needless to say, one of our town's traits, you see? And being the curious people that we are, I wish to ask, what kind of business are you renovating exactly?"
The eye vanishes from the crack between the wood and furious hammering and sawing can be heard from inside the manner. A few minutes later, the door opens just wide enough for a small sign to be slid through the crack and placed on the porch next to the door that reads "Closed for Business. Help Wanted, Landscaper."
Cail watches as the sign is slipped out of the door. He reads it then says, "Perhaps we could speak face to face instead of through the door. Maybe we could also help with the renovations inside." The whole while Cail spoke he had been eyeing the cord that ran to the ceiling. He took a hold of it and thought about what he wanted to do. -PREDICT on pulling the cord-
Cail hears Zwey yell and before pulling the cord, teleports to the gate and casts the same spell he did before causing the large Angori to pop up right beside him. Cail then pops right back to the porch and hearing no reply from the man inside, pulls the cord waiting to see what happens.
As Cail reaches and pulls the cord, a loud bell tolls inside the Manor.
After a few minutes pass, the door swings open and a Butler appears. "Hello, my good sirs and ladies. Have you come to inquire of the service position? My, there are a lot of you, but I believe accomodations can be made."
Cail raises both eyebrows at the appearance of the Butler and gives a half smile at the apparent change of behavior. "Ah, well I for one would like to know more about the position and what it entails, but my first question would have to be 'what brings you to Jastrey'? Your... stately manor just popped up here on the edge of town."
Cail is mildly taken aback at the "it's been here for quite some time" remark and decided not to press the issue, but he did say, "Well what would I, or we if we so choose, be doing as a service to the manor? The sign says you would like a Landscaper and I can certainly see why, but what 'exactly' would we be doing?"
"Again, no time for dallying. Renovations are a must!" The butler closes the door, then reopens it a few minutes later. He sets a rake, a pair of hedge clippers, and a bucket of white paint on the porch at Cail's feet. "The leaves need raking, the hedges need trimming, and the porch needs a fresh whitewash. Do you accept?"
Akon listened a slight distance away from the group, drawing her dark power back within her and keeping to quiet observance. She seemed keen on the words 'the manor has been here for a long time' and her brows creased. She then looked up to the night sky, seeming to be searching there for something.
"Well that makes two volunteers." Cail looks over the rest of the faces and spies Akon with an upward gaze. He walks over the grounds to her and with a low voice he says, "I don't suppose you have any insight into what this Manor is really about do you? I've bought us some time in trying to figure it out by offering our help, but I don't know how long that will last. Maybe we can snoop around as we... clean."
Nasher looks up from where he was laying to see most of the group working on yardwork and seeming to enjoy it. He walks over and grabs the whitewash off the porch, mumbling something about "Not being shown up by the Horney Heads." He walks to the ffence, being sure to make wide circles around any scarecrow he encountered and began sloppily painting the fence, leaving many bare spots and uneven paint everywhere else.
Akon looked back to the grounds after some thought, then glanced back to where Jastrey could be seen near by. "No, I've reached no conclusions yet. We are still definitely in Jastrey, or the outskirts there of. Which is perplexing seeing as this manor claims to have always been here....It is unlike any unnatural phenomenon I am directly familiar with. However, I can tell you something is very very wrong....moreso than just visual observation. I can -feel- it....there are massive dark energies at work here." She said, looking to Cail calmly.
"Hmm," mused Cail thoughtfully. "Well, we'll just have to play it by ear then wont we? But in the mean time, we can certainly make the place look a little better." He turned and headed back towards the porch as he called to Nasher. "Hey! Little goblin fellow. He wanted the Porch painted, not the fence. How about you bring that bucket and brush back over here so we can finish this up?"
"Nasher wants to paint the fence. Therefore the fence needs painting by Nasher," the goblin shrieked from across the courtyard. He had only gotten about half way through painting and what he had painted was splotchy at best. If one were to look at the goblin, theyd see he's almost got as much of the paint on himself and his clothes as he had the fence itself. The goblin continued along with what he was doing, content with what little he was doing to help, mumbling something about "White hairs jealous of all the fun Nasher was having."
The sounds of metal clanging can be heard as Taklinn is seen walking up the path towards the gathered people. He stops and looks at those standing about and says "Hoot, have ye got yer slaves busy at work buildin' ye a Haunted house? It just goes to show ye that ye get what ye pay fer, the House looks like the Pit Threw it up!" he says with a laugh.
"As you wish, but make sure you've got enough left to do the porch. I'd hate to see those scarecrows angry again." Cail chckled a little at his words as the Dwarf approached and spoke. Cail stopped in his tracks and turned to face his direction. "I'd be careful with what you say about the mansion, Sir Dwarf," he said with a friendly tone. "The Butler is a little touchy about the subject."
"I seem ta remember scarecrows similar to these, but there were witches around and not house servants. Did Akon kill the witches and lay her claim to this home? Why with a couple of dead corpses around an' a few more of ye lackeys to do her biddin' she could settle right in!" the surly dwarf says sarcastically while looking over the grounds and home from a distance.
Cail raised an eyebrow at Taklinn. "Lackeys? I daresay that none of us are considered such. We're all here helping out... a neighbor," he said with some hesitation on the word "neighbor". "Perhaps you'd like to lend a hand seeing as you think the place could use some improvement."
Nasher looked down into his bucket of paint, seeing that only a quarter of what he started with remains. "Hmmm.. Nasher needs to paint fence and porch... Not alots of paintses lefts..." the goblin mumbled to himself, scratching his noggin with the paint brush as he thought. "NASHER GOT IT!" he yelled, white paint covering half his face. He quickly went to every post that was left and just put a single stroke on each one, not coming close to covering the posts. He then walked to the porch, leaving i dripping trail of white paint in wide arches around the scarecrows. Turning the bucket upside down, Nasher dumps the rest of the contents oonto the porch in one medium sized puddle in the very middle of the porch. "Nasher done!" the goblin shouted for all to hear, obviously proud of his work.
cheri ignores all of the commotion, trying to focus on how to reach the top of the bushes. she hops and with every leap she cuts a little at a time but still not able to get the top. she stops to think, then her face lighting up with excitment as if she had knew what to do she runs off to the woods not far from were the tavern is and comes back with a small steping stool and starts to cut the rest.
"Me bones would rot and me soul would be reforged into another dwarf afore I'd fix this lot! And even beacuse ye are consortin' with hoots, but because this rag tag bag o' slag couldnt be made inta anythin' fittin' to use! Why ye got the Goblin wearin more paint than yer fence or the porch! Ye got the shortest of ye trying ta cut the bushes. The giant Angori ye got stoopin' to rake and gather, and yer foreman is standin around lookin at it! Meanwhile yer Investigatin' Hoot be starin into the stars like some lovestruck elf! Nay lad, ye can numb a Giants brain with a boulder to the head, but ye cant fix Foolish!" he bellowed back incredulously.
"Well it's nice to know that you think so 'highly' of us Master Dwarf. However, you can't fault them for their own choices. She chose to trim the hedges, and he chose to rake the leaves. The Goblin, well, I try not to argue or help the ones who's rationale is so distorted that the right side of up looks upside down and backwards, if you catch my meaning. But if you'll excuse me, I believe I'll go finish what that little green man has... started." Cail then turned his back to the dwarf to head towards the porch.
The sound of an old, creaking door emerges throughout the courtyard. The Butler shuffles out, take a long view of the entire grounds, then shakes his head and grumbles something under his breath. He announces "Alright, Alright, off with you all. Thank you for the assistance, but please take this Goblin off my property before he fixes anything else. We're close for business now, and we'll re-open tomorrow evening. Have a decent evening." The Butler grumbles again and shuffles back inside the manor, slamming the door behind him. A few seconds later, he pops back out, removing the Help Wanted sign, then slams the door again.
Nahser poofs his chest out with pride as he walked off the porch, leaving white foot prints. "You hear that? Nasher painted the everything soo good it doesnt match all yours shotty work! One day, you'ns might achieve Nashers level!" the goblin proclaimed as he walked his way out the gate.
Rasiri, who had been out on a nightly walk, sees the large house and starts to walk towards it.