Characters
Dario Diego Durant, swashbuckling swordsman
Doctor Anastasia Nadya Strahov, a gun-priest who says strange things about blood
Johanna Albrecht, a lycan bard with a particularly keen nose
Ulu, the party's urska mom
Varro, a young snow elf bearing a magical sword
Events
The Charnel Hounds arrived back at Kaul House to the annoyance of finding that they were once again hosting a party of uninvited visitors. This time, it was both of the Rue sisters, Crispin Telimov, and Aivra Williams--the latter being two-thirds of Braelin's town council. They had come to ask the Hounds to act as an impartial third party to decide a matter of seemingly little importance: a farmer had a sheep killed by another farmer's hound; the hound was killed in revenge. Aivra thought the matter should be at an end, and that the two parties should swear a blood oath to let the matter lie; Crispin figured that the dog was worth more than a single sheep. Ultimately, the group agreed with Aivra. Morrigan ushered Aivra and Crispin out of the house, but Pandora Rue remained behind to broach another issue.
Pandora explained that she had another matter she wanted the Hounds to involve themselves in. She explained that two years prior, the house of local businessman Tilney Raab burned to the ground, and that the fire claimed the life of Thomas Aldritch, his valet. The house was rebuilt, but had since been plagued by strange phenomena: dresses and paperwork burst into flames, the sound of clanking chains was heard, and Patricia, the daughter, was plagued by horrible nightmares. Pandora wanted the group to investigate the haunting and put an end to it. She also stressed that this was a test, of sorts: she believed that the characters were up to the delicate task, but Morrigan thought them blunt instruments who were ill-suited to the kind of jobs the Rues could occasionally offer.
The group accepted, and Pandora told them to venture to the Raab house in the morning. The Raabs would be expecting them.
Before heading to the Raab house, they stopped in to see Sister Eliza at the St. Vionka shrine. Eliza told them that one of Thomas's leg bones was missing at the time of his burial.
At the house, the Hounds met all three members of the Raab family. When asked if he had any enemies who might have been responsible for the house fire, Tilney Raab listed four people he had some enmity with: Embrelle Fairchild (because he didn't buy the alcohol for a party he threw from her), Kole the blacksmith (because Kole had been telling people he was never paid for work he did for Tilney), Aivra Williams (because she was not invited to Patricia's birthday party), and Crispin Telimov (because Tilney demanded his money back after not finding the garment the tailor had made him pleasing enough). Before the interview concluded, Tilney mentioned that they had a guest at the house: the famous artist Belladonna Pietra Sangino.
After the family left the sitting room, Dario and Anastasia interviewed a maid named Nelly because they had heard that she was involved with Thomas. Nelly couldn't name anymore who had it out for Thomas, but she admitted to their love affair. She also mentioned that she was not present the day of the house fire because she was sent to attend to Angel and Patricia Raab as they visited family elsewhere.
Varro wanted to see the items that had burst into flames for himself, and he got the young, attractive, and flirtatious Patricia as his tour guide. (Not that he noticed any of those qualities.) She showed him the burn holes in some of her party dresses. While in her room, Varro noticed a strange man approaching the house; he was dressed like a man of means, but from his rough looks and demeanor Varro guessed that his origins were from among the lower orders. Varro rushed downstairs to listen at the door while the newcomer, whose name was Colstan, met with Tilney in his office. What he overheard sounded suspiciously like Colstan demanded more blackmail money from Tilney over an unnamed and nefarious act.
Varro also asked Patricia if she had been sleeping with Thomas, which earned him a slap across the face.
Johanna and Ulu went to find Belladonna; she was busy working up a background for one of her paintings on the south lawn. Johanna had seen Belladonna before because the artist had painted her father when she was a child; oddly, Belladonna didn't look a day older than Johanna remembered her from years ago. During their conversation, it became clear that Belladonna was excited to paint the ghost. She also gave Ulu a little instruction on how to paint trees, letting her also work on the same canvas.
Anastasia made a quick run into town to pick up her order of silver bullets from Kole, who proved to be one of the cauldronborn. When asked what work Tilney had commissioned, Kole said that Tilney had him fashion an iron manacle--but hadn't paid him for it. Tilney had ordered the manacle right before the house fire.
When the group reconvened, they traded information and came up with a hypothesis: Thomas was sleeping with either Angel or Patricia, so Tilney and Colstan conspired to chain the valet to something within the house and then burned him alive within it.
To confirm their hypothesis, Ulu, Anastasia, and Johanna interviewed Angel while Dario and Varro went in search of Colstan. Angel claimed she hadn't had an affair with Thomas, but she also painted a sad picture of her marriage--it was clear she had very little economic freedom and was entirely dependent on her husband. As the party pondered why the family didn't just move from their haunted house, they settled on the idea that maybe the family couldn't actually afford to--despite their wealthy pretensions.
Varro and Dario got Dr. Ilsa's permission to break Colstan's legs, if need be, but it didn't come to that. (Colstan used to be one of her ruffians, but had left her employ after coming into some money two years ago.) They found Colstan drinking at the Wolf & Rose. Dario approached him and successfully greased the man's palm to find out where the manacle had gotten to. Colstan gave them the location: it was buried in the Raab's stables.
That night, the Hounds made the Raab family and all of the servants leave the house so they could try to communicate with Thomas's ghost. Ulu and Dario dug up the manacle, which had fused to Thomas's missing leg bone. At the same time, the rest of the group had a confrontation with Thomas in the music room. The burning ghost lit the piano's keys aflame, they made Varro's clothes combust. Belladonna Pietra Sangino sketched Varron on fire with great glee. When they were able to reason with Thomas's unquiet spirit, he told them they must shackle Tilney with the manacle.
They didn't even need to go in search of him: the Rue sisters were waiting in the entryway with a cowering Tilney, who now sported a black eye. He begged for his life, but the group chained him as requested. Tilney immediately burst into flames and was incinerated. Then the ghost departed, satisfied.
It turned out that the Rue sisters were already well aware of Tilney's guilt--this was all just a test to see how the group would handle themselves.
Ulu had a few words with Belladonna before leaving the Raab house. She requested the sketch of Varro on fire, as well as a painting of Varro. Belladonna also gave Ulu the finished painting they had both worked on. The treeline was still there, but Belladonna had added Ulu sat before the easel, painting.
Anastasia found Angel and Patricia Raab; she didn't tell them everything, but she did let them know that they were now free to live their own lives now that Tilney was dead. She also paid a visit to Ulysses, the town's sheriff, to drop a dime on Colstan over his involvement in Thomas's death. However, the next day Ulysses paid the group a visit at the Kaul House. He told them that when he found Colstan, the man had been drained of blood and had puncture wounds at each wrist. The Hounds now suspect that the Rue sisters are vampires.
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