Chapter I: The Archaeologist

We start in Idreah, a small logging village on the edge of the forest where our four soon to be heroes start their journey. Arriving to the city with an invitation in hand from someone who only refers to himself as the Archaeologist, asking them to join him for dinner at his manor. Among the group is:   Bink: A gnome bard traveling the land to learn more of what burned down the village he and his parents were passing through when they died.   Aire: An Elven monk from Ghandon monastery who is investigating a vision he has of magical energies and beasts coming to the land   Shen: A human wizard also from Ghandon monastery who followed Aire on a whim and is accompanied by a flying monkey who unknown to the rest is his magical tutor of sorts.   Xarlasar: A bronze dragonborn fighter. While they studied music, spiritualism, and magic, he studied the blade. He comes from continent far away where it is under constant siege from Oni and other demons/devils.   They arrive in town and head to the local tavern to ask about their invitation and the host. There they meet the Innkeep Ellis who informs them that they are not the first foreigners invited to his manor. Those who had come before has gone in and never come out. No one had seen the Archaeologist since he built his manor nor does anyone know his name. The only one who has been inside and been able to leave has been her food runner Remy. When they talk to Remy he is very timid and reluctantly tells them that he used to take a large basket of food to the manor and was to leave it on the kitchen counter and the next time he would come with a new basket the old one would be empty waiting for him with his pay lying inside. When asked how he was able to get in he says that he was given the spare key. The party convinces him to lend them the key and they head to the manor. They go inside where in the entry way they see paintings of the family seemingly in progression of time as members are added, yet the last one is just the man who is defaced in all the portraits. One things stands out among the paintings and its the daughter holding bunny ears over the sons head.   As they venture further in they see that there is a rug on the floor on the entry hall with an I and three doors in the manor with II, III, and IV. A book on a table in the center, a statue, a piano, and a fireplace. Reading the book on the table a little bit of background is given and a riddle. The riddle refers to fire, the party looks at the fireplace and sees a letter board with one letter tile on the mantle. Solving the riddle using the fireplace they open the room labeled II which is the kitchen. In the kitchen they find a larder, the center island which has a basket of now rotten food, hanging pots and pans with a skull hanging among them, and a 3 on the wall written in blood. A burning sensation is felt on the one holding the journal and another riddle forms. They believe the answer to be an egg to which they search the larder to find 7 eggs and begin to break them all. Inside one of them is a key with an inscribed III.   They open the related III door to enter the dining hall containing a large table and rusty decorative swords on the walls. Each of the 12 chairs is filled with a skeleton with the ones at the heads of the table different from the rest. One is looking over the table holding up a 5 as if praying over the table and one is missing a head. They retrieve the skull from the kitchen and place the skull on the skeleton that when placed correctly is looking at a particular area on the wall. When pushing on the wall a drawer pops out containing a tile with a letter on it. The journal starts to burn again with a riddle. They quickly find the answer to be related to the candles on the table, light them, and continue to the last room.   The last room, the game room, has a billiards table with a single ball on the table being a 3 ball. The journal begins to burn with another riddle. They need to put in the missing date on the statue in the Great Room. They correctly enter 2353 and stairs begin to raise to the second level.   On the second level there are two sets of armor and three doors, one of which is open. When the armor is inspected they see that they are a dark almost black finish on them and one of them is missing a sword. Xar rushes downstairs to pick up one of the rusty swords of the walls and places it in the armor stand missing the sword. They hear a noise downstairs from the dining hall and go to investigate. Two skeletons had come to life, pulled swords off the wall and attack. Making quick work of them and Shen showing his magical abilities they go back upstairs to the open room.   The room is a study with a bookcase, a desk, an end table with a bust on it, and a couple display cases with some artifacts in them. Xar inspecting the artifacts sees that one of them is an old longsword with a black finish on it that is of the military that travels this region between the two forts north and south of Idreah. On the desk they see another journal with an eyepiece/lens on top of it. Bink looking in the second journal sees nothing, then looking through the eye piece sees a strange glowing text in the journal which start off normal at first then transition to the ramblings of a madman. Around the room is more text written on the walls, handprint on the bust which they find blood on the bottom of, and a handprint on a particular book on the bookshelf. When pulling the book out they hear a click from the end of the hall. Another door has opened.   Inside is the children's room with a rug in the center littered with toys, an empty toy chest, two beds, and an old grandfather clock. Bink sees children playing with toys and hears them say they need to be ready for bedtime. Bink passes the eyepiece to Xar and Aire who see the same thing while Shen refuses to look. They then hear footsteps coming up the stairs and a woman's voice saying "Bedtime children!". The party quickly puts the toys away and get into bed all except for Xar. The party tries to convince Xar to get into a bed as he refuses a Wraith opens the door, sees him not in bed and lets out a shriek. Bink through the eyepiece see's the lady from the portraits. They fight the wraith and it flees back downstairs, when they look they can't see where it went and the last door opens. Before leaving the room the journal burns with a riddle to which they look under the rug to find another lettered tile.   The last room is a master bedroom containing a four poster bed, a crib, an end table, a mirror, and a closed locked door. Searching the crib they find another lettered tile. Bink looks into the mirror and sees the room exactly the same put notices the end table has a bust on it, the same one from the study room. When looking through the lens at it he sees a shadowy figure and the woman he saw as the wraith, the shadowy figure uses the bust and smashes it over her head knocking her down. Shen runs and grabs the bust and runs back to put it in place. The door to the bath room unlocks. Inside they see a bathtub full of blood and another lettered tile.   The ones who used the lens at least once start to hear the piano playing a slow somber tune and they go back to the Great Room. Bink looking through the lens sees the shadowy figure playing the piano and as he approaches the figure turns around playing a single key and stares at him. Bink goes and sits next to the figure and presses the key to which it lifts up and they find the last tile underneath. They place the tiles on the fireplace mantle letter board to spell out 'RETURN' and a trapdoor opens next to them leading to a basement.   They climb down and are in a stone tunnel to which Bink looking through the lens see's "Burn them" written on the wall. They walk into an open area where they see an adult skeleton chained to the wall and two smaller skeletons nearby with two fire pits in the corners. The wraith reappears and attacks. The combat ended with Bink being hit unconscious but stabilized. They burn the bodies of the children and the door opens a stone archway to another room looking like a second study but in more disarray.