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ings brought the party to the house of the wealthy van lurken family one of the elite merchant dynasties of fanghill yam on instructions from umbral university was to investigate the whereabouts of a promising young illusionist annette van lurken who had not appeared for orientation garvin on the other hand was responding to information from the ravenswing thieves guild it seemed that the van lurken house had been abandoned or so it looked from the outside and the guild wanted an enterprising young fledgling like garvin to see what valuables he could make off with and it so happened that the guild had both a map of the house and a set of keys to the doors within garvin met his contact veronika foxstalker at the witching hour alehouse the gloomy interior of the tavern is familiar to every guild registered thief in hex as the place serves as the secret backdoor to the midnight market at least it does currently the door to the market has shifted over the years the barkeep mortimer croak was a grey one eyed presence behind the bar an ex thief who s somehow managed to stay on the good side of every guild and gang in town the grizzled old burglar was missing an alarming number of body parts including his left foot the pinky on his right hand and his right eye but he d managed what few thieves in hex pull off comfortable retirement from crime garvin made his way to veronika a wiry woman with prematurely white hair rumour claims it turned that way after a job gone wrong in grey hook she slid over a map of the van lurken place or at least its upper floors as well as the key ring this is what we ve managed to get our hands on she said and it came dearly purchased in fact there s a little more to the mission than we d previously let on you see a while back we sent a team in to the van lurken place three men good thieves all of them only one came out and he wasn t right in the head shaking raving about things rustling in the walls and the unclean chair whatever that means he wouldn t speak about what he d seen in there but he had this map and key ring with him he he stank as well smelled simply awful and nothing we could do seemed to be able to get the reek out a few days later he fell badly ill we tried both magic and medicine but it didn t take when we found him dead gods i ll never forget the stink or the way he looked it was like he d been dead for weeks he was so rotten we burnt the remains but that means there are two men unaccounted for still inside they re most likely dead but on the off chance they re not obviously you should try to get them out of there and if they are dead try to find their bodies not to bury but because they were carrying some valuable ravenswing items with them one had the gloves of thief s sight which lets the wearer glimpse what lies behind walls and doors the other wore the boots of wall walking which let the wearer traverse walls and ceilings the guild would like both of these returned and will pay one thousand gold pieces for each garvin nodded mulling the information over is there any kind of automated security inside there may be a few automata and the van lurkens did employ a house guard veronika said but they haven t been seen either the servants are missing as well after discussing a few more particulars garvin took his leave and went to meet some of his companions at the green star to convey what he d learned the party then set out for fanghill in the early evening the richest residential district in hex is fanghill a place of gated mansions and opulent museums and well tended parks the district is built on the slopes of a great hill whose top commands an impressive view of the city the eyes patrolled the streets heavily and many private guards could be seen as well at gates and walls protecting the well heeled nobles scholars merchants and professionals who make their homes here unlike many parts of the city it remained well lit at all times of day or night courtesy of magical lamps glowing with a soft effulgence the party quickly located the van lurken place in contrast with some of the more fanciful houses in fanghill houses made to look like gigantic heads mansions of murkstone that shift and reshape themselves and buildings whose dimensions should be impossible but which magic has granted a tenuous stability the van lurken house was incredibly mundane a three storey house of solid construction baroquely adorned but otherwise quite normal looking the place was certainly dilapidated though the garden shriveled and dead the paint faded the windows were dark and shrouded with curtains obscuring the interior armand and yam both noted that the decay the house exhibited seemed preternaturally advanced while garvin investigated the servant s entrance and the others kept watch armand briefly questioned a servant doing the washing next door who confirmed that the house had been abandoned for some time describing the occasional muffled and uncertain noise from within and noting that none of the guards or other servants had been seen leaving she also noted that jasper van lurken a young man and heir to the van lurken fortune had recently returned from a business trip entering through the side door using the key supplied by the ravenswing thieves guild the party began their explorations in the servant s quarters of the house these were quite empty though there were signs of struggle or hasty departure perhaps interrupted chests emptied clothes and blankets strewn across the floor bloodstains mottled a wall in one of the chambers though there were no sign of any bodies a thorough search however turned up a loose floorboard under which was stashed an impressive quantity of jewellery including a silver necklace set with obsidian a sapphire ring a bloodstone encrusted hand mirror and a pair of exquisite ruby earrings more evidence of violence could be found in the laundry room which contained various buckets presses and other equipment for cleaning garments including a mangle that had been put to a horrid use evinced by the bloodstains and shards of bone clogging its rollers quantities of soap and other cleaning agents were stored here more bloodstains marred the walls including one curious stain which began on the ceiling and then wrapped around to the wall and out of the room puzzled and formulating theories the party also checked the butler s pantry a dusty but untouched room full of expensive silverware before heading into the front hall eerily quiet save for the occasional mysterious rustling from within the walls apart from some confused footprints in the dust there was no sign that anyone had been there for quite some time cobwebs shrouded the ceiling and the walls were grimy and blotched with mould filling the air with a musty stink a huge grandfather clock stood to one side also swathed in cobwebs across from the clock was a large painting of the city of hex obviously painted from the vantage of fanghill in the foreground was a park scene with a picnicking family close inspection of the painting revealed a small black cloud on the horizon made of small dots like a swarm of insects yam noticed that this blotch seemed to be getting slowly larger while no one was looking leaving the painting for now the party next moved to the kitchen this room now absolutely swarmed with creeping vermin maggots flies centipedes cockroaches and other bugs the place was in disarray pots and pans scattered everywhere wood from the hearth strewn across the floor there was a stairway in one corner leading down into darkness erring on the side of caution the party opted to leave the room undisturbed and proceeded into the dining room the dining room was laid out with gorgeous silverware and crystal this fine cutlery was wasted on a spoiled feast it looked like the pantry was emptied but all the food was rotten covered in mould and flies mixed in with the decomposing food were what looks like human body parts at the head of the table was a macabre chair fashioned entirely from bones seated upon it presiding over the table like a patriarch at a family meal was a grotesquely swollen maggot like creature with thin vestigial arms and legs dangling from its bloated pale body shoveling morsels of carrion and decaying fruit into its mouth the thing did not look up but continued to listlessly gorge itself with putrid sustenance garvin noted a bowl on the table that did not seem to be tainted by the corruption angling themselves around the maggot horror the party debated a course of action vespidae acting with typical insectile directness attacked the creature with a javelin and it instantly leapt up scattering plates and body parts as it surged towards the waspkin who took to the air horrified and disgusted armand and yam engaged the creature with spells pelting it with balls of fire garvin retreated avoiding the thing s blows and it turned launching itself at armand between them however the party was able to destroy the creature engulfing it in arcane flames armand made sure to destroy the osseous chair completely while garvin and yam investigated the bowl discovering that it bore a glyph from the city of nornhold a monastery city of silent ascetics food touching the bowl seemed to be restored to ripe purity experimentally yam took the bowl back to the front hall carefully cut the still growing insect swarm from it and placed the scrap in the bowl magically the dark blots on the painted canvas disappeared at this moment something could be heard moving around upstairs tracking footprints in the dust the party ascended to the next level they first investigated a large games room decorated with the heads of beasts hunted in the nearby tangle hippogriffs owlbears wild boar and even a wyvern a large musket also hung on one wall a heavy crossbow on another and a spear on a third also on one wall was a huge painting of a hunting scene in the tangle depicting several of the van lurken ancestors and their hounds the painter had included several clever details including some small fairies hiding in the underbrush and twisted tree branches and an enchanted pool reflecting some of the mortal hunters as otherworldly elfin figures in the middle of the room was a billiards table spattered with blood a corpse sprawled on the table amidst the billiard balls his neck ripped open his stiff fingers still clutched a broken pool cue which was curious since he was also armed with a short sword and hand crossbow judging from his dark clothing and half mask he was a burglar of some description close inspection of the corpse revealed a thief s mark and a ravenswing broach as well as the gloves of thief s sight which garvin carefully took these could be used to look through walls and doors to see what lay beyond enabling the thief to scout the next chambers noting the pool cue yam immediately surmised the possibility of vampires and took the improvised stake next the party went to the music room a beautifully furnished baroquely decorated chamber filled with instruments a flute dulcian chalumeau violin bass viol viola pomposa hurdy gurdy sackbut and harpsichord the instruments were beautifully enamelled and made from precious metals and exotic wood the party helped themselves to several but avoided the macabre looking instrumments placed amongst them a flute fashioned from a human femur covered in abstract etchings and a set of drums made from two bisected human skulls whose open tops were covered in flayed human skin armand disgusted and alarmed by these objects broke them apart and burnt them with fire bolts yam s player s annotations garvin used his newly acquired gloves to investigate the portrait gallery but recoiled from a scene of dismemberment and death let s just avoid that room he said and moved on to the study noting its large window ornate writing desk strewn with papers and numerous bookshelves on one wall was a map of the city of hex while on the other sprawled a map of the known world including the nearby lands of new ulthar nornhold sempiternia teratopolis tetractys verdigris and erubescence and other places more distant the city states and kingdoms such as the vassen empire blodvinter purulence ganglion finchport and xell the map even included more mysterious realms such as the distant continent to the east across the blushing ocean and the entropic wastes to the south the study also included a large bust of master melchior famed enchanter archmage founder and still living president of master melchior s school of thaumaturgy enchantment and another bust of keziah elderwold founder of the metamorphic scholarium and mother of modern alchemy the two busts stared at one another from either side of the room the party first investigated the papers on the desk which proved to be the diary of leopold van lurken mazeday 10 th of the month of crones jasper set out for erubescence today nicolet is fretting of course but the boy is old enough to begin taking an active hand in the business and now that things have settled down between hex and the crimson lands the time is ripe for trade the sanguine lords and ladies have skill in necromancy to rival the finest of the académie macabre but they lack technological know how they ve relied so long on undead labour they re centuries behind the things gnomes are building now in hex between that and the sap we should make a fortune i m sure jasper is fit for the job and besides there ll be plenty of more experienced men with him here at home annette has sent off her application to umbral university she s tried her hand at a few cantrips to great effect she ll make a skilled illusionist even if i would have preferred if she d chosen master melchior s school of thaumaturgy enchantment or the metamorphic scholarium even fiend s college something useful illusion is just so frivolous i suppose it makes a good school for a daughter on the marriage market however not that we re in any urgent need of a match i expect that every penniless noble for leagues will be battering down our door soon enough in hopes of getting their manicured fingers on our money goatday 16 th of the month of snails jasper returned today after some weeks in erubescence and is full of strange tales of the bone giants and the tower of teeth of the nurseries and the grey matrons of the blood church and its great rival the cult of the pallid worm who finds some small favour here in the guise of mordiggia the charnel goddess he has brought back with him much gold and contracts for further trade signed with various nobles and merchants in the crimson lands and objects also for sale here in hex these include a number of mysterious crates which he has insisted we store in our own cellars jasper claims the contents are far too valuable to leave in our warehouse in the swelter the boy seems invigorated by his journey and full of an almost feverish excitement though truth be told he is somewhat pale and thin of cheek this is perhaps no surpri...