Expedition 77: Getting aHead of Sir Gandar

### Summary

We discover the rest of Sir Gandar's remains as fight them while two of our allies are possessed by ghosts and turn against us. We find three more bodies in a ritual circle in the cellar of the manor and fight off more possessions, but we manage to lay the spirits to rest.

### Detailed Writeup

A light but steady drizzle falls as we travel. Our trek to Gandar’s Settlement is uneventful, but the area grows quite as we near the compound. We decide to check the potter’s shed and barn before entering the manor house. We encounter more signs of violence but no corpses or clues as to who or what attacked. We stop to discuss in the barn, with Uzmir relating possibilities for laying the ghosts to rest. In this case the most likely solution is a proper burial of the remains.

Entering the manor’s foyer, we’re greeted by the severed head of Sir Gandar placed on a small table near the door. The face leathery and falling off in patches from the dry heat of the Badlands. Tolyr examining the head determines that it was removed with a sharp blade, but by an unskilled wielder. Uzmir detects a magical aura in the room ahead, about 8 feet off the ground. Intending to leave investigating the aura for last the group proceeds to the left into what used to be a dining room.

The room is coated in blood and dried gore from decades ago. A few unidentifiable claw marks adorn the walls and furniture. The only bones, from the last meal served here, long ago picked clean by scavengers. The party continues on, in eerie silence, to the kitchen. The violence and chaos encountered elsewhere in the compound do not extend here. There are no signs of struggle, but all the metal pots, pans, and utensils expected in a kitchen this size are gone.

The group backtracks to the foyer and then continues through the door to the left, entering into a study. Books litter the floor, most in terrible shape, though their subjects are mostly concerned with military history and strategy, with a particular focus on the Empire of the South. Continuing into the next room, we enter the bedchamber of the house. All of the textiles, from the silk sheets to the contents of the wardrobe, have been devoured by moths. The only thing of interest in the room is a small locked chest under the bed.

Finally the group enters the final room, the one containing the abjurational and necromantic aura, a central courtyard. The middle of the ceiling is open to the sky, below it is a small pool, only large enough to hold a few medium sized creatures at a time. The source of the aura is a depression in the roof, with some vine covered object protruding from a hole. Uzmir asks Tolyr for his insight, but he only stares off into the middle distance, even when pressed more assertively. Nexrin turns to Yezra and she reacts the same as Tolyr. As Nexrin, Uzmir, and Yugmela attempt to snap the other out of their stupor the aura-ed object falls from the ceiling. The object begins to pick itself up off the floor, revealing it’s humanoid shape. It’s armor is tarnished and dirty, but it’s sword and shield gleam in the limited light of the room. Most disturbing however is where the figure’s head should be instead sits a wire twisted to spell SCRAM. The headless creature steps forward intent to attack. Nexrin and Uzmir turn their attention toward it to engage, but Tolyr and Yezra begin to fight back against their companions.

The fight is chaotic with Nexrin and Uzmir being attacked from both sides and Yugmela being surrounded by her possessed allies. Eventually Yugmela succumbs to their assault and falls unconscious. The possessed Yezra then turns her attention to Uzmir, and would have knocked him down as well if not for the Protection from his Book of Shadows. Meanwhile, Nexrin is able to land the final blow against the revenant of Sir Gandar. The spirits possessing Yezra and Tolyr leave their bodies, but one continues to fight in its incorporeal form while the other flees. Nexrin is is able to dissipate the creature, and the group heals our wounded.

Gandar’s corpse is impaled with a Trueglass epyne wrapped with a wire of Gravebronze, likely leading to his forced reanimation. Gandar also has a key on him that we use to open the chest from earlier. It contains 200 gp and a suit of silvery chainmail later identified as Quicksilver Magemaile. We then make our way back outside the manor and find a cellar door. The Door is chained and locked and the key does not open it. Uzmir uses his masonry chisel and hammer and easily cracks open the lock. Yezra is then possessed again however this time an application of an upcast Protection from Evil & Good pushes the spirit out and Nexrin disperses it.

Within the cellar we find 3 more bodies surrounded by a malevolent red ritual circle that we were unable to dispel. Attempting to cross the circle causes necrotic damage and so we decide to push the bodies out with a 10 foot pole. However during the labor, Nexrin is possessed, but we quickly deal with the spirit, this time Tolyr delivering the final blow. Once the bodies are freed we discover they too have true glass epynes which we remove. We then bury the bodies, finally laying them to rest and hopefully allowing the ghosts to move on.