SixSessionSquad

The party approached the house with Michelly still as guide. Dredhork looked exhausted from the trip in the extreme heat. He approached the goats and the party got him to wait while they made sure the area was okay. Lyrinus used his divine sense and felt nothing from the bodies. Mordrath had Dredhork and Lyrinus ready their javelins to cover him while he inspected the bodies. While Juliote kept watch. Although Lyrinus was supposed to be keeping watch he noticed his boot laces were undone and bent down tied them. Dredhork lowered his javelin wondering what Lyrinus was doing. Juliote noticed that a curtain had moved in the building.

Mordrath came back and explained that the bodies had been partly eaten and that the holes near the bodies were hedgehog-like however the footprints and handprints looked like something humanoid had been crawling on their hands and feet.

With Lyrinus and Mordrath at the front Juliote in the middle and Dredhork guarding the rear the party ended the building. Juliote had her mage hand walk in front of the party on its fingertips. Once at the large double doors. Juliote had her hand hover up and open the doors. Mordrath and Lyrinus scouted the first room. It was dusty but there were no clear tracks that the party could see. There was a circular stairway up into a hallway and 6 sets of armour along the back wall and a door to the right. Mordrath checked the armour to see what it was and if there was anything inside. The armour appeared to be empty. After the room was deemed clear Mordrath waved Juilote and Dredhork inside. While Juliote ritual cast her unseen servant as Dredhork guarded her. Very cleverly he attempted to move an armour set in front of the doors to make a makeshift alarm system. However it opened away from the armour and so Mordrath nailed the door to the right shut to the best of his ability. While Lyrinus scouted ahead into the hallway.

In the hallway there were three more sets of antique armor. It was dusty but no obvious tracks that the party saw. A door on the left at the end of the hallway and to the right a small hallway with two doors and a stairwell. Lyrinus waited in the corner on guard while Mordrath covered his right flank as Lyr was left handed.

Juliote came into the hall and had her unseen servant open the door into the next room revealing a room of 6 couches and a large rug. Mordrath slammed his mace down on the nearest one to test its quality of craftsmanship. It was not well made as it burst into a cloud of feathers, both Mordrath and Lyrinus had to stifle sneezes. Juliote then had her unseen servant hold some feathers and open the next door in front of the party.

Which opened into an unused dining hall the dining table set up with fine silverware set out but no food along the table. The room appeared empty. While Lyrinus scouted ahead Dredhork and Juliote further checked the small room. Dredhork found a trap door under the rug as he noticed the fine craftsmanship of the wood did not match how it was supposed to. Using a crowbar Mordrath helped crack the trapdoor open. Dredhork with his good eyes allowing him to see in darkness went and scouted ahead. 

Lyrinus saw the next room was a kitchen but after being called by Mordrath he guarded the door into the dining hall. Juliote kept watch at the top of the stairs and communicated with Mordrath as Lyrinus wandered off to the kitchen as he was distracted by a noise. This time he noticed the door to his immediate right as he entered the kitchen. Something had been in the cupboards, took something out and went to the door.

Dredhork downstairs found a bunch of single beds. It smells musty and dank like a locker room? At the far end was 6 crates, using his hand axe he cracked a crate open and found a painted vase but in the dark he could only see shades of grey so was unable to see a design. After another search through some sacks next to the crates he found some silverware sets. Dredhork seemed interested in the value of the objects and made a mental note of them.

Juliote was unable to see anything down through the stairs so she sent her unseen servant holding feathers to check on Dredhork, but as he only saw feathers and a faint tug on his arm he waved the feathers away and continued to explore the room. Finding a door halfway between the crates and the stairway back upstairs. With some writing that said either Anger or Danger. It was hard to read in the dim light and he heard some faint scratching

Juliote, now nervous that her servant and Dredhork had not come back, signaled for Mordrath to come. But Mordrath refused to budge until Lyrinus came back unwilling to break line of sight on a brother of the faith. He returned once notified that Dredhork had taken a long time and was worried due to the strange stories surrounding the house. Lyrinus went to the foot of the stairs and looked down and saw with his elf eyes that Dredhork was fine but looking at the wall. It was that moment Lyrinus realized he was the only one upstairs able to see in the dark. And rushed downstairs leaving Juliot and Mordrath in fear so they readyed a lantern and Juilote used her mage hand to float a lantern down the stairs. 

After deliberation the wooden block keeping the door from opening was removed. Six skeletons slowly started to rise.

Initiative Order
Mordrath
Juliote
Lyrinus
Skeletons
Dredhork

After a round of combat of peaking in and out of the door the party deliberated on resealing the door but with Dredhork still inside Lyr grabbed him and pulled him back behind the door frame and created a funnel with Mordrath’s shield to allow only a limited number at the party at a time or else the party could be overwhelmed. Fight was in the party’s favour until Lyrinus was stuck and bloodied in a single hit. (brought to 4 hp) He stepped back and a skeleton slipped in. Dredhork used his axe to push the skeleton back and in doing so turned the skeleton to dust. Lyrinus stepped forward and was stuck with an arrow that struck a nearly mortal blow. (He dropped to 1hp) He faltered and slipped back.

Mordrath healed Lyrinus to full health who then stepped back into place. 2 skeletons left and the party continued their campaign. Both Lyrinus and Dredhork took a few more hits.

The skeletons went down and then stood a skeleton in a black hood at the end of the room 20ft away holding a vial of green liquid. Juliote sent her unseen servant to wrest the vial from the skeleton’s hands. It worked at the sacrifice of her servant as when the vial smashed onto the ground the servant was slain. Feathers were sent flying. Lyrinus gripped his sword and charged into the room at the skeleton. The skeleton was greatly injured as he was dealt a critical blow. Dredhork followed up with a good solid hit as well.
The skeleton threw another potion (vial of green liquid)) and dealt bad burns to both of them. Juliote dealt the next blow using her arcane powers to draw up a firebolt. Mordrath summoned his holy powers to bring forth a blast of sacred flame, turning the skeleton to dust.

The skeletons went down and then stood a skeleton in a black hood at the end of the room 20ft away holding a vial of green liquid. Juliote sent her unseen servant to wrest the vial from the skeletons’ hands. It worked at the sacrifice of her servant as when the vial smashed onto the ground the servant was slain. Feathers were sent flying. Lyrinus gripped his sword and charged into the room at the skeleton. The skeleton was greatly injured as he was dealt a critical blow. Dredhork followed up with a good solid hit as well.
The skeleton threw another potion (vial of green liquid)) and dealt bad burns to both of them. Juliote dealt the next blow using her powers of arcane to draw up a firebolt. Mordrath summoned his holy powers to summon forth a blast of sacred flame turning the skeleton to dust.

Once the danger had passed the party went into the room where the robed skeleton came from. The room was an Alchemy lab. Inside was a table with a book laid out – Juliote was pretty sure she could understand more if she was able to study it. The first information she was able to glean from the title and the first few pages was: it was related to the transmutation of lead. [ “She hasn’t delved right into it yet. It would probably take a day to get a better understanding and be tempted to blow herself up like the skeletal acid lobber did.” Hence why Madame Lao was using skeletons. And a remote house so that if stuff went wrong it only affected the side house.] So she took the book while Dredhork was looking around the rest of the room. Lyrinus cleared the table of other items. Mordrath and Juliote searched the area for anything to help the burned party members. They managed to find some bandages, and help relieve the stinging pain of their burns. Dredhork managed to recover a travel spell book (The spells, as Juliote would later learn, included dancing lights, comprehend languages, Tenser’s floating disk, and shatter).

Exited the house and sought shelter on some rocks nearby after redoing the math Lyrinus realized he had miss counted the coins and redistributed the gold. Juliote attempted to give the money back but Lyrinus refused. It’s against his belief that extra gold would not bring him joy but he knows that it would for her as she may be able to buy components for her spells and magic. He would quote “I must kindle the light in others. But thank you.”

[We didn’t get a long rest!!]