The Banshee of Elacore Manor

The Road

The adventurers travelled along the long road with worry in their eyes.
"Why exactly are we doing this?" The Half-orc said looking up at the bright full moon.
"The money, of course, Himar," Elia said to the brute with a kind of snarkiness in her voice "why else would we risk our lives?"
"For research," "For the lyrics!" "For the company" The rest of the group chimed in.
"All right fine, we also do it for that." She groaned, defeated.
As they travelled farther, the road started to fade and they felt a small sliver of fear almost climb up their spines as if no one had been here in decades.
The night grew colder as the group moved forward, thinking of what the cloaked man said "I need you to retrieve something for me, a package, hidden in the manor, south on the old road" His voice as chilling as the still air.

The dry silence was broken by the bard; Valdos strumming on his lute, testing out lyrics for when they had completed their task.
Most of the party thought it was annoying because almost all of their adventures were mundane problems such as the one time an old man lost his walking stick and they had to retrieve it, but Valdos thought the party needed to have a musician to keep everyone happy and excited.
Unexpectedly Himar tore the lute from Valdos' hands and held it above Valdos, taunting him, laughing his loud, booming laugh.
Valdos jumping and fuming with anger always gave Himar some joy, even if it was a little mean.
Ketrin stifled a laugh as the Tiefling furiously jumped at the Half-orc holding him back so he couldn't reach it.
But was soon distracted by something in the nearby forest.
The faint sound of twigs snapping mingled with a light hiss caught the attention of Valdos and Ketrin and she whirled around to see the body of a huge, bristly spider launch at her.

Valdos saw the blur of the spider tumble over Ketrin, hissing wildly.
Ketrin made no sound, she was too in shock to do anything.
Valdos jumped up and grabbed his lute from the tall half-orc and began swinging it like a sword, whisking through the air.
He hit the overgrown arachnid with a thud and a crack as his lute hit the spider and broke.
The spider turned and faced Valdos making him jump and drop his lute at its hideous fangs, then twice as it sprang from Ketrin to Valdos, the bristles spiking up as it neared his face.
Suddenly it stopped, mid-air, inches away from his face, he leaned to his left to see Elia with a rapier plunged through its side, slowly sliding off onto the ground.
Valdos fell backwards on the ground and sat up, "T-thanks" He said to Elia breathlessly.
"Don't mention it." She said tossing his broken instrument towards him.
A look of terror filled his face "my lute," he whispered "MY LUTE!".
Elia laughed as Valdos freaked out about how he would find another lute as good as his.
Ketrin was rubbing her head "I think we should camp here" she said wincing.
"Not in a million years." said Kaldroth sternly, "We were just attacked by a huge spider, I don't think it wouldn't try again."
Valdos was surprised by how Kaldroth was acting so confident, not like the timid, anxious Dragonborn he met years ago who always was stumbling over his own words.
"That is if Ketrin is feeling okay" He finished with a nervous laugh.
Aaaand he lost it Valdos thought with a mischievous grin.
"He has a point," Himar said gruffly "We should move to a better advantage spot and take turns keeping watch."
Himar was a strategic person and Valdos like that about him, always able to fall back on a strong plan felt reasuring.
The rest of the night carried on, uneventful, which Valdos thought was splendid, having a huge spider nearly rip his face to shreds and break his prized lute was enough for one night.