Fear Factor

## Finding the Keys

Having recovered from Zale’s earlier scare, the party debates what to do next. There are three areas they haven’t investigated yet: the second floor, the big door at the end of the first-floor hall, and whatever lies at the bottom of the rusty spiral staircase. They decide to take a look at the big door before going upstairs, leaving the basement for last.

The door at the end of the hall is made of the same beautiful dark wood as in the rest of the mansion. A window takes up the upper middle half, inlaid with stained glass in crimson, blue, and gold. The handle and keyhole are of shining iron, with diamonds bordering the edge of the plate. It’s clear that the emerald, sapphire, and ruby keys will not work in this door. To open it, a diamond key is required.

At the other end of the hall, the ivory staircase curves elegantly up to a balcony hallway. Three wooden doors are set into the wall: one in the middle of the wall, one on the right, and one on the left. This hallway is carpeted, which no one but Aurelius has seen before. Levina takes off her shoes to feel the carpet on her feet, and Yvanna rubs her hands on it.

Against the back wall of the hallway is a rectangular hall table in front of a large painting of several people. On the table stands some crystal candleholders, a silver chalice with some water in it, and some other things. To Zale and Aurelius, it’s clear that these items are meant as some kind of offering. On the chalice, Zale notices a small pendant with a peculiar symbol on it: 🜸

Yvanna investigates the portrait to see if there’s any resemblance to the paintings downstairs. Two figures are recognizable as the man and woman from the study. To Zale, one of the people in the back slightly resembles Andrew.

Meanwhile, Levina uses her staff to push open each of the doors. What lays behind the left door is familiar: a bed, a desk, and a dresser in a simple bedroom. In the middle, all that can be seen from the hallway is a large circular bed. The right holds a small but richly furnished closet.

While the rest debates which door to enter first, Yvanna notices a painting on the wall that calls to her. It’s a beautiful picture of two flowers, using an impasto technique so the petals and stems are raised. She lifts it off its hanging and decides to take it with her.

First, the party decides to investigate the room on the right. Up until now, none of them had discussed what happened before they awoke in the banquet hall, but now they realize that all six of them had seemingly been in the same room, despite being alone. Yvanna points out that this can’t be the room she’d been in, since the door is still on its hinges.

On the desk is a familiar sight: a letter and a key. Uncannily, when compared to the letters some of the party had pocketed, the tear at the bottom edge matches exactly. They’re more than a little unsettled by this, but it seems there’s nothing more to be found in the room.

While in the first room, Levina notices that Andrew looks visibly uncomfortable, and is trying to stick close to her. She gives him a small smile, trying to be comforting.

The middle room is much larger and more extravagantly laid than the first. It appears to be a master bedroom, the unique circular bed taking up one wall, a hearth in the corner to the right of the door, and to the left a small study area with a large desk and some bookshelves. There’s a second, closed door on the back wall in the left corner.

Yvanna immediately runs to flop onto the beautiful cranberry-colored bedding. Levina and Andrew go to look at the spines of the books, while Cordala investigates the desk. Aurelius stands by the hearth, and Zale goes to stand by the second door so he’s as far as possible from the crackling fire.

While Yvanna’s on the bed, she hears the sound of something scuttling in the walls behind it. She mentions to the rest of the group that the house seems to have a rat problem.

As the minutes pass, the scuttling turns to whispers, which turns to panicked knocking on the door closest to Zale. Yvanna looks at him, expecting him to open the door, but he doesn’t react. She asks if he’s going to open the door. He tries it, but the door seems to be locked. Reluctant to leave the bed, Yvanna goes to try the door. It swings open.

Inside is a gilded bathroom. The clawfoot tub has accents of glittering gold, the sink is inlaid with mother of pearl, and even the toilet has gold accents on it. The floor is tiled with marble and shimmering grout.

Yvanna has a feeling she knows what will happen if she steps into the bathroom, but she also knows she’s going to do it anyway. She turns back to the group, smiles, and says, “Take care of my painting.” When she steps inside, the door slams behind her.

Chaos breaks out in the bedroom. Zale begins pounding on the door. Levina lets go of Andrew’s hand and races to the desk, pulling the drawers out in search of a clue; the top middle drawer is jammed. She holds out a hand frantically for a knife, explaining that one of the drawers in her family’s kitchen got stuck like this all the time. Aurelius hands her his dagger. Levina pries the drawer open easily, and finds what seemed to be a lot of random rubbish.

There are rough drafts of maps for the Claguroth festival, old business cards, and a sketch of the key from the very first puzzle, among other things. There doesn’t seem to be anything to open the bathroom door, and when Zale looks, there’s no keyhole.

❖ ❖ ❖

It’s dark inside the bathroom. So dark that Yvanna can’t see anything, despite having dark vision. It’s also silent, save for the steady drip of water from a faucet. No sound penetrates the door.

Fighting panic, Yvanna feels her way to the tub. She sheds her cloak and climbs in. There’s a puddle of water on the bottom, and ripples spread from the drops falling from the faucet every few seconds. Yvanna closes her eyes and tries to breathe.

A vision of an opalescent drop of water falling from the faucet enters her head suddenly. She opens her eyes but still can’t see anything. Moving closer to the faucet, she can hear the water dripping into the tub. She places her hands below the leak and tries to visualize a key materializing like quicksilver in her hand. The water drips into her palms, but nothing else happens.

Taking a deep breath, Yvanna focuses on all that has happened to her and those she’s teamed up with. She visualizes Aurelius trusting the creature to heal him, Zale taking deep breaths on the floor while fire rages in his head. She sees the faces of the people she’s come to think of as almost friends. A fire lights in her heart, and with resolve she bangs one fist against the faucet. Something falls out. Yvanna grabs it from the water and clambers out of the tub. As she makes her way slowly towards the door, vision begins to come back to her. The sound of scuttling, then whispers, then a pounding on the door filters in. She places her hand on the handle.

❖ ❖ ❖

Yvanna stumbles out of the dark bathroom and collapses onto her knees. Zale immediately kneels to check on her, and she leans on him for support. Cordala grabs some sheets from the bed to warm her up. Aurelius races over to put a hand on her shoulder, and Levina crouches to make sure Yvanna isn’t hurt. With a shaky smile, Yvanna holds her hand out. In her palm is a small key with an opalescent pearl in the handle. Levina puts a hand over hers and squeezes, smiling back.

When Yvanna has gotten her breath back, the party moves to the last room on that floor: the closet. It’s wallpapered in textured crimson. A clothing rack stands against the far wall, and three mirrors each on the left and right walls create a disorienting effect.

Levina, holding Andrew’s hand, stands on the threshold and leans in to see. Out of the corner of her eye, one of the mirrors seems to ripple. But the wariness she feels at that sight is overcome by a feeling of homesickness when she notices a beautifully woven cloak on one of the hangers.

She—with Andrew in tow—enters to see it closer. It’s a landscape scene of her home island, Perrus. The seasons with their different colors of foliage blend into each other. A pasture in the distance has white blobs of grazing sheep. On one end is a glimpse of the sea beyond a rocky cliff. Levina feels a pang in her heart as she looks at this rendition of the place she loves most in the world.

Andrew is interested in the cloak, too. He runs his hands over the intricate weaving, an expression of curious awe on his face. Levina mentally measures the cloak against him, and finds that while it would be a bit short on her, it would fit him. She places it on his shoulders. When both of them go to fasten the ties at his throat, their hands touch briefly. The tension between them makes everyone in the room look away.

As Levina admires how well the cloak suits Andrew, she notices something in one of the mirrors behind him. She leans around him to see better, and is startled to find her favorite sibling, Marin, staring blankly out of the silvered glass. Before anyone can stop her, she’s approaching the mirror and placing her hand on the cold surface. As soon as her fingers meet the mirror, she vanishes.

Levina is standing in a room. There’s only a small table and two chairs, in one of which Marin was sitting. She takes the other seat, and the room begins to change. The walls become rocky and slick with moss. The distant sound of the ocean and the dripping of water somewhere deeper in the cave meets her ears. It was dark. Levina feels dread drop like a stone in her stomach when she realizes she knows where she is.

❖ ❖ ❖

*When she was eight, she had begged three of her sisters to take her swimming with them. It was a hot summer day, and Marin—her usual babysitter—had gone into town to be with their friends. With a smile young Levina didn’t recognize as sinister, Marica, Larya, and Lena agreed to let her come along, but first they would show her their secret hiding place. Only the bravest could enter.*

*When they reached the mouth of a beach cave, Levina hesitated at the sight of the small, dark space. But she was eager to prove herself, and entered at her sisters’ urging. By the time she noticed the large rock they’d moved over the entrance, it was too late. The darkness threatened to swallow her, and the rock muffled her cries. When the three sisters had finished their swim, they went back to the house, leaving their baby sister in the dark. It was hours before Marin arrived to free her.*

❖ ❖ ❖

At the sight of the cave that has haunted her nightmares for most of her life, Levina begins to panic. The sight of her sibling, who usually has a giant grin on their face, pale and terrified, drives her further into panic. The vision changes, and Marin is tied up against the cave wall. There is no rock over the entrance; instead, a magic film seals it. Levina tries to untie her sibling, but the knot is expertly tied, and her hands shake with a mixture of cold and terror. She blinks tears out of her eyes.

The vision changes. Instead of Marin, she sees herself as she’d been on that day. Her petrified younger self is curled into a ball and crying softly. Levina sits down with her knees hugged to her chest and weeps.

❖ ❖ ❖

In the closet, Andrew freezes as he stares at the spot where Levina was. Zale goes to him and asks if he’d seen anything before she disappeared. Yvanna starts smacking the mirror lightly, careful not to shatter it. Andrew snaps at Zale, who leads him to the wall so he can sit down and hands him a pillow. Then he joins Yvanna in looking at the mirror.

Cordala, meanwhile, has seen a ripple in one of the mirrors. Trying to convince herself they aren’t crazy, they walk up to it to make sure. Zale and Yvanna try to stop her, but it’s too late. When Cordala looks away from her reflection, the room is empty.

❖ ❖ ❖

Wiping tears from her eyes, Levina stands. There’s no telling how much time has passed while she’s been there, but she knows that to get through this, she’ll have to do something.

When she touches the rock in front of the cave entrance, she finds that she can move through it. Outside, she sees her sisters debating whether to let her out or not. Though she knows this did not happen in her past, she stands by and watches as they attempt to move the heavy rock. It seems to be caught on something and it doesn’t take long for them to give up. Something falls from one of them into a tide pool. When they’ve gone, she drifts to the pool and looks in.

A pendant on a leather cord lays at the bottom among the urchins and seaweed. She reaches into the cold water and pulls it out. Upon closer inspection, the pendant has a symbol etched into its smooth surface: 🜸

She loops it around her neck and drifts back into the cave. The space at the back ripples. Before she leaves, she pats her younger self’s head and reassures her that someone is coming. Then she steps into the ripple.

❖ ❖ ❖

As Levina reenters the closet, she finds a tumultuous scene. Cordala seems to have an expression of blank panic on her face, and is acting as if she can’t see anyone around her. Andrew is huddled in a corner, hugging the pillow. Zale and Yvanna are standing near Cordala, watching her cautiously. Aurelius has stepped inside the room, and the door has shut and locked behind him.

Now having had to face their own fears, the group had come to the conclusion that not much could be done for Cordala, though watching her suffer pains them. Levina sits next to Andrew, who shies away from her new pendant.

“Where did you go?” he asks in a hoarse whisper. Levina shook her head.

“A place from my past. This was in a tide pool,” she replies. Seeing as he doesn’t seem to like the pendant, she takes it off. Zale, who has been keeping an eye on her, notices that she’s holding something and walks over to ask what it is. When she holds it out, he recognizes it as the same symbol that was on the chalice. Aurelius also approaches, and realizes the symbol is from the Celestial language, which he could read. It’s a symbol for protection.

As they begin to discuss this, they’re interrupted by a war cry as Cordala charges one of the mirrors.

❖ ❖ ❖

The empty closet is silent. The door was slammed shut, seemingly of its own accord, and no amount of banging or pushing on it had forced it open. Now, Cordala watches the mirrors. When in the ‘real’ world Levina reappears, a mirror ripples. Cordala looks into it from where she stands. What appears there ignited rage. Their mother is there, as put together as always. An expression of disapproval is on her face.

With a cry of fury, Cordala charges the mirror with clenched fists. It shatters easily, breaking the illusion.

❖ ❖ ❖

Levina tries to shield herself and Andrew as Cordala breaks the mirror. Bits of silvered glass rains down on them. A scroll tumbles out of the space behind the mirror. When Levina’s finished picking glass off of herself and Andrew, she reaches for the scroll. It’s written in a strange language, one she can’t read. Aurelius identifies it as a spell scroll for Foresight written in Aquan. Levina hands it to Cordala, who’s being comforted by the others.

The door to the closet is no longer locked, and everyone’s eager to be finished with the haunted house. They file out and down the stairs, heading finally for the spiral staircase. Levina slips the pendant into her boot to hide it from Andrew.

## What's in the Basement

At the bottom of the spiral staircase is a small room with a door. On the door are four keyholes: one ruby, one sapphire, one emerald, and one pearl. Levina hands the sapphire key to Andrew and inserts the ruby key herself. Yvanna jabs both of her keys into the keyholes at the same time.

On the other side of the door is a large room. The opposite wall houses a large painting of a beautiful man in a field of wheat. He wears no shirt, but an ornate black cloak slips off his shoulders.

On the left wall is a table adorned with offerings of food, water, drink, and other objects.

Yvanna, Aurelius, and Cordala all go to investigate the painting. Upon feeling below the gilded frame, they realize there’s a draft coming from behind it. Yvanna lifts it from the bottom and tips it onto them. The canvas tears over their heads.

Beyond the painting is a room with five candles lit in a circle. As they all gaze into this room, a wet squelching sound comes from behind them, along with low, manic laughter. Everyone turns to find a grinning incubus in place of Andrew.

“Thank you so much for solving those little puzzles, my dear,” he says to Levina, tilting her head up by the chin. “No thanks to them—” he casts a look at the rest of the party—“but you triumphed nonetheless. Now, if you all have any hope of escaping this place, you had better put up a good fight. I do so love to be entertained.”

With that, the battle with Andrew begins.