Session 18: The Kids Are Alright Report

General Summary

After a few weeks of taking it easy, a mystery lands on the Rat Pack's doorstep. To make things even more complicated, they also deal with a strange haunting, a talking doll, and a hidden room. Surely it's nothing that just a few of them could handle...  

The Last Three Weeks

Over the last few weeks, the party has taken some much-needed time to relax. Renovations were underway at the manor, and most of the party was content with doing nothing. The exception was Kouvian, who spent his time working with a master blacksmith, and Stinkbreath, who found a baker named Pita Parker to teach him his trade.
Over this downtime, both Kouvian and Geasle felt as though something odd was happening in the house. Almost as if someone was watching them from just out of the corner of their eye. Kouvian found a very old doll sitting in a bedroom on the third floor to make matters even more unsettling for them. It gave him very strange vibes.

The Doll's House

The Rat Pack received a summons from Zem Ashforth. He had finished researching the manor's history and wanted to tell them about it. Before they did that, though, Kouvian told them about the doll. The group decided to see this doll that had their mighty paladin feeling uncomfortable before they did anything else.
The doll was sitting there in the corner of the room. Geasle went over and tipped the doll over, and it said in a frightened child's voice, "Please don't hurt me!" Geasle picked it up to put it back, and in a motherly voice, it responded, "Who's been a wicked child."
As this happened, Scraps heard a knocking noise coming from the other room. He investigated and found a swarm of flies that looked to form an angry face. The swarm flew at him and began biting him. Geasle ran over to check on him but saw nothing strange besides Scraps swatting at himself. He brought Scraps back to see the doll speak but nothing seemed to get it to say anything. Finally, as they were leaving the room, it said in a melancholic child's voice, "I hope I don't wake up."

The History of the Manor

At this point, the group was convinced they needed to get to the bottom of the ghost matter. They headed straight for the Ashforth residence in the hopes of getting some answers. Ashforth was pleased to see them, especially Geasle. He had much to tell them about the house.  

Troll Skull Tavern

Troll Skull Tavern was a successful business owned by a human named Lif. He was beloved by the community and treated his staff fairly. It seemed as though everyone loved the man until he suddenly disappeared one day. Murder was suspected, and the staff was questioned. However, although they were all cleared of wrongdoing, public opinion still had them pegged as killers. Because of that, they all left, and the tavern soon went abandoned. The property was eventually purchased at an auction by Kiria Evensong. Despite that, it sat abandoned for the next 30 years.

The Orphanage

Before becoming a tavern and estate, the building was originally an orphanage operated by Matron Valerum. It stood for decades, but when people noticed that kids were going missing from there, they started asking questions. Accusations that Matron was eating the children arose, but before anything could be done about it, she vanished along with the remaining children. It stood empty after that for decades until Lif purchased the property.

The Kidnapping

On their way home from the Ashforth's, the party was met on their stoop by Wembly, the half-orc bouncer for the Havershamble's. He spoke to them regarding the kidnapping of their children, Muffle and Nifflin two days ago. He was trying to help the family find their children without losing everything they had worked for. The group agreed to help and went to meet with the Havershamble's.
The gnomish family was distraught and confused about how anything like this could have happened. A poorly written ransom note demanded 500 PP be left in a box behind Frewn's Brews. Socally Havershamble said that they could pay it and were liquidating some assets to make the payment. They had also hired Vincent Trench of Tiger Eye to investigate the matter, but they were more than happy to have the Heroes of the Rock help.
The party retraced the children's steps the day they went missing. They determined that the kidnappers grabbed them as they left Stickee and Sweet Candies. They also had spoken to a regular at Frewn's Brews named Sal. Sal told them that some Red Masks had been hanging around before leaving in the early afternoon. One of them he knew as Frank.
They were heading home to discuss what to do in the morning when they saw some lights in their second-floor windows. They went in and startled the twins Hughie and Arno Appleton. The two boys asked them if they had chased their ghost away because now it was in the wall of their room. Stinkbreath investigated their wall and discovered some knocking from the other side. A vacant home was joining the back of their house, and Stinkbreath was convinced it was the children.
Kouvian, not completely convinced and not ready to break into a house, went to seek out the watch. He returned without much confidence in their plan and was almost certain that he was going to be arrested for breaking into this home. Regardless, they went in.
Scraps was first and immediately saw signs that someone had been squatting there. Geasle went in next, followed by the others. He went up the stairs and was immediately shot by a crossbow bolt. A fight ensued as Frank and the Red Masks ambushed the party. They were no match and made short work of. Frank surrendered and was bound. Sure enough, they children were there and were relieved to be free.
Stinkbreath took Frank's +1 crossbow, Lucille, and they turned him into the city watch.

The Tunnel Has Brain Activity

That night, Geasle rose from his makeshift grave and was grabbed from behind. An invisible force tried to pull him backward, but he broke free to see nothing was there. He returned to his grave and buried himself. The next morning he went to tell the rest of the group, but they were all surprised to see the common room covered in papers and books. Stinkbreath was looking for clues as to what happened and found a scrapbook with a picture of Lif smiling next to the skull of a troll, under the sign of Trull Skull Tavern.
Regardless of this, they decided to investigate the tunnel in the secret room.
The tunnel took them downward and through a winding passage deeper into the Rock of Bral. They were surprised to see a creature running towards them from the shadows. As it entered their radius of light, they saw what appeared to be a giant brain with four legs galloping right past them.

Rewards Granted

+350 XP to Stinkbreath, Kouvian, Geasle, and Scraps. Lucille, a +1 light crossbow.