Session 3

## Session 3: The Horrible Truth

Having found the wreckage of the animated armor downstairs covered in Equuleus’s puke, Reffins decides to leave the scattered armor as it lies, returning to his companions upstairs.

Equuleus and Brig enter the northern room and are greeted by a hanging lifeless body, with a noose around its neck hanging from the chandelier above. This seemingly is the master bedroom. The body, holding a note clutched in its hand, is read to be a suicide note.

They discern the body to be that of Gustav Durst, the father of the household. Leaving him be, the two investigate the room, where Brig finds the balcony and Equuleus finds Gustav’s journal under the master bed and Elizabeth’s journal in the closet.

She then looks under the rotting rug in the room to find bugs scattering for darkness, to which she collects a maggot to throw at Brig.

Brig promptly jumps on the bed and runs full speed into the mirror in the closet and successfully crashes into it, breaking the mirror into shards and rendering it effectively useless with his body and wounding himself in the process.

Reffins rejoins the party upstairs and goes to the south most room, but before he enters, he hears a soft humming coming from within. As he enters, the other two join in behind him to see a floating specter of what appears to be a woman in a nursemaids outfit. They discern this to be the woman in the journals, nursemaid Anya.

Speaking with her, they find that she has scattered memories, she doesn’t quite remember or know that she’s dead, she remembers she’s angry at Elizabeth Durst, she’s confused, but she wants the trio to be quiet for her child is resting, just born yesterday. Reffins attempts to go towards the door that connects to this room only to be stopped by Anya’s insistence that the baby is sleeping in there.

Brig and Reffins recall old memories, Brig having studied occult, remembers reading about specters and Reffins encountered them on his journey. They both remember that specters regain power and memories once their spirit and bones are together.

Brig steps towards the East to have the specter face him, away from the other door to which they believe the baby Walter is resting in. Sparking a conversation to distract her, Brig keeps Anya distracted while Reffins and Equuleus sneak into the nursery. Inside they find a crib draped with a black cloth, and under it a bundle of cloth wrapped around something. Reffins goes to lift it and finds nothing inside. Carefully wrapping it back up, they exit, and as they go to leave, Equuleus notices a crack in the wall.

Pushing against the crack, the wall opens to reveal a staircase leading up. Ascending, they reach a dusty old hallway with several rooms. Brig goes to the southern room and Equuleus and Reffins head to the northern one. The northern room is padlocked but Reffins produces a key he obtained from the secret room in the library, which unlatches the lock.

Brig enters the room and finds what appears to be a pretty standard spare bedroom, with a porcelain doll at the southwest windowsill. Brig places the doll on the bed and tucks it in. Equuleus joins in the search to see if she sees anything out of the ordinary in the spare room Brig is in but finds nothing. Though she does see out of the corner of her eye that the doll is no longer tucked into bed.

Sensing danger, Equuleus rejoins Reffins at the unlocked door. Brig takes the doll with him as he also joins Reffins.

The trio enter the room to find two children beds, a toy chest, a dollhouse, and two skeletal remains of what appear to be a teenage sized body and a child body. As Reffins goes to the bones and attempts to pick it up, the spectral bodies of Thorn and Rose appear. They appear much more translucent and pale skinned.

As the party speak to the kids, they realize that they are fully aware of their situation and their deaths. The party go to touch the toy chest and the dollhouse but are stopped by thorn and rose respectively. Reffins convinces them to let them take their bones to lay them to rest. Reffins questions them to find out if they know how to get to the basement to which Rose points to the dollhouse.

This prompts Brig to say “Ahh so the staircase is in the dollhouse.”

Equuleus notices that the dollhouse is a perfect replica of the house they’re currently in and lightly un-assembles a part of it to find that there’s a secret staircase connecting the top floor to the basement.

As Brig goes to leave Thorn tugs on his pants and holds on to him. Rose approaches Equuleus in the same manner. Reffins and Brig offer to take them with so they can lay them to rest properly without being alone. Thorn and Rose attempt to pass into Equuleus and Brig, to which they willing let themselves be possessed.

Taking the nursemaid’s bones back to her, her memories flooding back, she remembers that she was murdered by Liz shortly after having given birth to Walter, and that Walter was taken downstairs to be sacrificed. Brig incorrectly recalls Gustav’s name several times as Jig-gispachio and such. She requests the trio find Walter’s bones so that they may rest together peacefully.

Returning upstairs, they find the hidden staircase in the storage room and venture down to the basement. Descending, they hear chanting but are unable to discern it’s location of origin. The group travel through to find several rooms with cots and such and come across crypts belonging to the Durst family.

Trying to move the stone slabs in front of Thorn’s crypt, they each individually fail for a while but manage to finally get a hold of it and move the slab, revealing a coffin for Thornboldt Durst, to which he leaves Brig and fades within the coffin.

Same happens with Rose, the team remove the slab to Rosavalda Durst, and as they lay the bones to rest she leaves Equuleus and waves goodbye as she goes to rest.

The party then levels up to 2.