Continuation of Shemshime’s Scary Bedtime Lullaby
Morning 1st of Elient
Chapter 1: The Music Persists
Game picks up with the 3 shades dissipated and “the book” opened. Book title is: Shemshime’s Bedtime Rhyme. The group (plus Varnyn) opened the book cover using a sword point. Book opened to the middle of the book with a pop-up page with 4 scenes. The first three were similar to Gailby’s crayon drawings. One of a dog running off with a woman’s bitten off hand in its mouth. The next is a man with his legs cut off and a woman standing next to him holding a scythe. The third is a figure falling head first into water, a mill in the background indicating water is likely a river/stream. In each of these pictures a ghostly figure is hovering in the background. In the final picture millstone has caught the bottom edge of the ghost and is grinding it. A woman watches cheering on the spirits destruction.
Game starts:
We gather around the table looking at the book and discussing what the pictures mean. The music from the broken music box continues to play. It repeats X3 and then the mechanism seems to reset and start over. We discuss whether we should just hack the book with our swords, remove the music box and repair it and let it finish playing the whole song, or find some other way to release the shade and kill it.
As we talk Inman and Nevil are still hurting and bothered by the earworms and it is evident that at least some of the party and Vanryn the elven librarian are still hearing the tune.
Suddenly Inman leaps over the table and rushes at Vanryn. He has his scimitar drawn and slashes at her for 4 points of damage. Nevil turns and swings her mace, hitting Inman for 13 points of damage.
Atalaya, a look of horror on her face pushes past Nevil and Inman and casts a Cure Wounds spell on Varnyn, mending her slashed flesh.
Inman seems to shake something off and Nevil reaches out to him with her healing hands, relieving (some? all?) of his damage.
The library feels as if it is growing colder.
Inman starts apologizing profusely to Varnyn.
Slowly we become aware that the tune is now accompanied by the words of the song. Boz and Atalaya are hearing the music with its words now.
Chapter 2: Shemshime’s Song
See a mother scything wheat
Forgotten husband sleeping near
With one swing she took his feet
With another took his ear
Does the shadow have a name?
SHEMSHIME
Causes grief, avoids the blame
SHEMSHIME
See a dog that knows how to heel
Never heeds plea nor command
Mother gave it a tasty meal
Dog chose instead to eat her hand
Does the shadow have a name?
SHEMSHIME
Causes grief, avoids the blame
SHEMSHIME
See a son doing his chore
Washing clothes for folk in town
Fell into the river’s roar
Sank to the bottom and drowned
Does the shadow have a name?
SHEMSHIME
Causes grief, avoids the blame
SHEMSHIME
We are only getting the words for the first three verses.
Boz: “I don’t know where the words are coming from. I hear them.”
Nevil pulls out a hair pin (?) and shoves it into the gears of the music box. The music box stops working. No music is coming from the box. But, we continue to hear both the music and the words in our heads.
Cirilli asks Varnyn what is behind the other doors. (to the north and south of the room)
Varnyn says that to the north is a scriptorium that Krinkle now uses to breed the fireflies and to the south a room to repair damaged books.
Shemshime’s Bedtime Rhyme has a dented spine, so we make our way to the southern room seeking a way to repair the book’s binding. Entering the room we investigate it. There is a long workbench with scattered tools and other implements for repairing books. There is a ledger sitting on a chair near this table. There is a stack of books on the workbench. Sorrow and Inman decide that they are going to help Vaz remove the music box and try to repair it. We also decide to have Varnyn call to the people guarding the entrance to this library to find Sufferance so that he can help give Boz directions for repairing the mechanism either psychically or or by shouting through the trapdoor. We also renew our request that they find a cleric and bring him there and any information about the previous outbreak… about the book merchant and the books he brought. We give them the actual name of the book that is causing our problem (Shemshime’s Bedtime Rhyme).
Chapter 3: Findings in the Scriptorium
But first, we take Varnyn and Boz to the Scriptorium door, wanting Boz to unlock it if needed and for Varnyn to explain to Krinkle why we are breaking in if she is in there. The door has a large common padlock on it, and Boz opens it with no problem. He heads back to the repair room to work on the music box. Atalaya quickly scans the room and finds another door in the southeastern part of the room, checks to see if it is locked and what is behind it. The door is not locked and opens easily. Inside is a room full of light coming from many terrariums filled with fireflies. Atalaya closes the door and tells Varnyn that Krinkle is not there and she should try to communicate with the Avowed outside the trapdoor.
We start to investigate the rooms. Cirilli stays in the main room and starts looking at the 3 desks that are there, not finding anything of interest while Atalaya and Nevil enter the breeding area. Nevil almost immediately notices writing carved into the floor. It says, “Finish the song.” Atalaya searches as she has seen Boz do, looking for hidden doors or hiding places in the walls and floor. In the southern corner of the room (room is roughly triangular in shape) she finds a loose stone.
Atalaya carefully works with the stone, pulling it out bit by bit. Looking through the approximately 5 feet by 5 feet opening she sees two skeletons, with apparently human skulls. She calls Nevil over to look. Cirilli hears and joins them. There are moldering fabric scraps and metal belt buckles present, but not other items seem to be present. The skeletons seem to have been here for a long time.
Atalaya returns the stone to its place in the wall and the three return to the main room of the scriptorium, closing the door on the fireflies. Atalaya looks around, investigating for other hidden spaces while Cirilli and Nevil continue to look through the shelves and desks. Pushing the decaying wall tapestry aside, we find the words of the first 3 verses of Shemshime’s song carved into the wall. Nothing else of note is found in this room. We leave the room, closing the door, but not locking it and planning to head to the repair room.
Chapter 5: Commotion in the Stacks
As we (Nevil, Cirilli and Atalaya) open the door to head out we hear a big commotion in the library stacks near the steps to go up to the trap door. The catwoman, K’Tulah is arguing with Varnyn and the men saying that she “can’t take it anymore,” and that she “wants out right now!” She is not listening to anything that Varnyn says about why that isn’t possible. She is trying to pull Varnyn out of her way so that she can get on the stairs to head out. Sorrow is trying to pull her off Varnyn.
Nevil approaches K’Tulah trying to reason with her and then trying to distract her. She asks K’Tulah for her help, since her people are so good at riddles. She asks if she knows or can figure out what the final verse of the song we are all hearing is.
K’Tulah, driven beyond endurance by the repeating music and song, turns on Sorrow and attacks him. He grabs her wrist and starts murmuring to her, as if to calm a child. “It’s all right. It’s all right. Everything will be fine. Calm yourself, etc. He tries to use his charisma and charm to persuade her to be calm. K’Tulah continues to struggle.
Nevil starts talking to her about the book. …. Cirilli gazes at the stacks and then asks Varnyn where the adventure books or maybe even some adventure books with a love story in them would be kept. She heads out to the area Varnyn indicated, quickly pulls out three books with interesting titles and covers and takes them and K’Tulah to the table and gets her to pick one. Cirilli and K’Tulah take turns reading them, skimming through the book looking for the “spicy” scenes.
Boz gets a crazy look in his eyes as he starts singing the song. He pulls out his sword and moves into Nevil’s space. He swings at her with his sword. He is unable to stop himself as he swings at her, hitting her and causing her 8 points of damage.
Inman sees Boz’s face twisted in horror and unable to decide what to do holds his action, hoping for a clearer indication of what is needed.
Nevil senses that Boz is not exactly possessed but under the influence of a type of charm and that he is not really into what he is doing.
Atalaya, also sees the look on Boz’s face and hoping to knock him out, swings her longsword twice, hitting him on his head with the flat of the sword twice for 7 and 15 points of damage. Boz remains standing.
Sorrow uses his Vicious Mockery spell, hoping to incapacitate Boz, but Boz simply shakes it off. His muscles tense as he readies to attack again.
Nevil, yelling, tries to persuade the spirit to release Boz as she sprinkles the holy water she pulled out of her belt pouch onto Boz and the book. “Get thee behind me, Shemshime!”
Boz suddenly sinks to his knees, his hands holding his head. “It’s gone. It’s gone. I’m so sorry. …”
Nevil looks around and sees a shadow go into the book.
Boz: “I'm so sorry. I wasn’t in control of my body. Oh god, my head!”
Nevil uncorks the holy water vial again and starts sprinkling the book. “You come out and fight fair or I will consecrate the shit out of this book and the library!”
The library is actually kind of quiet at the moment, except for the sounds of Cirilli and K’Tulah reading in the center of the room.
________(?) tells Varnyn to tell her Avowed compatriots that it is a demon spirit that is causing all the problems down here. She runs off to do that. When she returns she tells us that Sufferance is here. Boz goes up with the book and his tools and tools from the repair room and listens to Sufferance explain what to do to repair the mechanism.
Chapter 6: Gailby’s Problem
As Boz is working on this, Gailby runs up into the library and over to the group waiting for Boz to return. “I’m in so much trouble. I had to hit Kringle. I’m in so much trouble. … I knocked her down… I’m in so much trouble.
Nevil starts to head down to the kitchen but Atalaya says that no one is going off alone. Atalaya joins her and they make their way through the long hall and into the kitchen. Kringle is there, standing up, with a bit of blood on her head. Using a variety of voices she answers Nevil’s questions telling us that she “doesn’t know what happened. This is scary.”
Nevil tells her that, “Yes, it is.”
Krinkle says, “I wonder if that book…?
Nevil:
After Atalaya and Nevil have talked to Kringle and calmed her down some, Atalaya suggests that focusing on something besides the music can help to lessen her distress. She suggests that Kringle should cook something. Maybe start making lunch or cooking a complicated recipe that will require her attention. Kringle decides that this would be the perfect time for a snack and that bacon and tomato sandwiches would be perfect. She starts to gather the necessary items.
Atalaya and Nevil return to the library. As we do, we hear maddening whispers in our heads.
Vasilya has returned with the book and continues working on it. We see a black shadow swirling around the book. Boz says that he is getting close. Finally we hear a click and the book trembles in his hands. The mechanism stops and whirls and goes back to the beginning of the song. We hear the music both from the box and in our heads. And the words. This time we hear the entire song.
See a mother scything wheat
Forgotten husband sleeping near
With one swing she took his feet
With another took his ear
Does the shadow have a name?
SHEMSHIME
Causes grief, avoids the blame
SHEMSHIME
See a dog that knows how to heel
Never heeds plea nor command
Mother gave it a tasty meal
Dog chose instead to eat her hand
Does the shadow have a name?
SHEMSHIME
Causes grief, avoids the blame
SHEMSHIME
See a son doing his chore
Washing clothes for folk in town
Fell into the river’s roar
Sank to the bottom and drowned
Does the shadow have a name?
SHEMSHIME
Causes grief, avoids the blame
SHEMSHIME
Last verse
See a daughter grinding grain
Wish the spirit’s time was through
Trap set for the shadow bane
Her millstone killed it true
Chapter 7: Vanquishing Shemshime
As the song plays shadows burst out of the book and form into a humanoid figure. When this happens the final picture in the book, of the lady with the millstone is changed into a picture that includes all of us, standing ready. The woman and her millstone have disappeared. The words of the final verse of the song form in our minds.
Nevil quickly casts Bless on us. As she does that, Atalaya asks Sorrow if he can use his illusion spell that allows him to make an illusion that can actually damage the person seeing it, to make a millstone grinding apparatus. Sorrow says that regretfully no. That will not work on an undead being.
Shemshime uses that moment of discussion to attack Boz and Inman with a psychic scream. Boz is particularly vulnerable to psychic damage and takes 12 points of damage and turns and attacks (Inman?) with his shortsword, causing 7 points of damage.
Atalaya draws her longbow and shoots two magic arrows at the Shemshime. The first arrow hits causing 13 points of damage. Turning too quickly to follow the shade’s movement she trips on a loose floorboard and falls to the ground as she attempts her second shot, stunned.
Varnyn runs to the table.
Inman activates Blade Song and moves past Boz to attack the Shade. Boz does not attempt to attack Inman as he passes him. His scimitar swinging, Inman attacks with two blows causing 7 points and 6 points of damage to the Shade respectively.
Shemshime is flittering around the book.
Atalaya lays on the ground and groans as she struggles to shake off the fall.
Varnyn stares at K’Tulah and Cirilli uncertain as to what to do. (Hold turn)
Boz shakes his head. He moves to flank Shemshime with Inman. With his shortsword he hits Shemshime causing 16 points of damage to the shade.
Nevil, using her morningstar and casting Divine Smite. Her first smack with the morningstar causes 23 points of damage (10 radiant) and her second smack causes the shade 17 points of damage.
Shemshime dematerializes and gets sucked into the book. Then he comes back out. He is thinner than he was before, but it is still fluttering around.
Cirilli sends K’Tulah and Varnyn downstairs to her room. Then she quickly moves 30 feet closer to the others and shoots 2 arrows at the newly reappeared shade. Her first arrow misses, but the second hits causing a total of 11 points of damage.
Shemshime screeches at Atalaya. She hears him, but she is able to shake off much of the scream’s effect, taking only 9 points of damage.
Inman makes a decision, yells that he is going to drop the stone book onto the table and takes off running towards the stairs and goes upstairs to the balcony, as far as he is able to on a dash.
Atalaya stands up, grabs the book, runs to the table and places it there (as far towards the middle as she can easily reach/push it) and dashes towards the stairs. (Shemshime has followed the book)
Boz runs 30 feet towards the table and then shoots at Shemshime. The shot misses the shade.
Nevil moves upstairs to Inman and casts Bless.
Cirilli takes two shots at Shemshime. Both hit causing 10 points and 16 points of damage respectively.
Shemshime casts Howling Babble at Sorrow, causing him 9 points of damage.
Sorrow tries to return Shemshime’s malice by casting Hideous Laughter on him, but Shemshime is able to shake off the effects.
Inman quickly assesses the chains holding up the stone book sculpture for placement and strength and then casts Shatter at the chains near the point they attach to the ceiling, wanting to drop the stone book, not shatter it into a million pieces.
We hear a loud boom and crack and one of the chains snap. The sudden shifting of the sculpture breaks the other 2 chains and the book crashes down onto the table and Shemshime’s book on the lower floor. The table cracks. The stone book breaks apart as it crushes the pop-up book. There is around a thousand pounds of rubble lying on the table. Rubble and dust is everywhere.
Sorrow: “Holy shit!”
We do not see Shemshime. We do not hear the music box. The music in our heads is gone and we are not hearing the words of the song any longer.
Boz: “It’s gone.”
Nevil: “I don’t think we will get our deposit back.”
Atalaya: “They should be paying us.”
Nevil heals Boz for 23 points
Nevil asks Varnyn when we can get out of here.
Atalaya is more than ready to go to the Hearth for something beside pastries to eat. We discussed whether or not we should return here to sleep at the end of the day. No firm decision is made. Nevil points out that we have already removed the problem from this place.
Atalaya sends Cirilli down to our room to get her backpack and her own stuff and she leads Varnyn and the cleric who has finally showed up to the scriptorium to show them where the bodies are buried.
?????
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