Enter the haunted house.

The entry hall is rather large. Archways lead to rooms both to your left and right, ahead is the broken door, but beyond it is yet another room through a passage on the opposite wall from the entrance. You look to your right to see a flight of stairs leading to the next level. The floor is filthy and covered with debris from the broken walls and furniture. Old end tables are covered with even more debris and webs, but you also spot a small worn painting leaning against the wall atop one of them. You step over, pick it up, and blow off the dust.

It looks old, and you're not sure how accurate it is. They don't seem to have photographs in this world, which isn't all that surprising, though the painting is uncomfortable life-like regardless. It's of an elven woman with short, blue hair and purple eyes. Her hair is braided and clearly groomed to look as lovely as possible for her portrait, and she wears a flowing navy dress. A pair of spectacles also rests on the bridge of her nose.

"She is beautiful," Amara says from behind. "Who do you think it is?"

You put the painting back down and scope out the room further. "I don't know. Maybe the one that used to live here."

Eva bumps up beside you. She stands incredibly close. "Y-You don't think she's still here, do you?"

A vase resting on a nearby table suddenly falls to the floorboards with a reverberant shatter. Eva gasps in surprise, and she grabs your arm to hold tight against her chest. You can feel her heart racing, even through her bust, and she squeezes you hard.

Koblix points his light in that direction, and Niki leans down to inspect the broken shards.

"So ghosts are real in this world, right?" you ask.

"Yeah... Usually it's someone who died, but their soul can't rest for whatever reason," Eva explains. "They haunt the place where they passed away and attack intruders. Though they're usually mindless, like shells of their former selves, drifting around, acting off impulse."

"It looks like a parlour to the left," you say. "The right looks like a dining room to me. What's ahead?"

Niki steps forward and peeks into the archway across the room. "I see books."

The group creeps forwards. As you pass through into the room, you can see that she wasn't lying. There are shelves loaded with dusty tomes, and there's a desk with writing implements scattered about. There's still a quill laying by a flask of dried-up ink. You begin moving pieces of paper around the desktop--skimming through the various documents. "It mentions the Demon King," you mutter as you continue to look. "That's not all it's about though."

"Leave now!" The voice rattles through your bones. It's a feminine voice, but it screeches out like a distant echo.

You grab your ears as the piercing noise burns your eardrums, and you feel a sudden chill in the room, like you've walked into a freezer. The rest of the party reacts in a similar manner, so it isn't just you. Eva stumbles backwards, but Niki catches her in one arm and holds up her shield with the other. Meanwhile, Amara doesn't look afraid at all. She looks ready to fight. Koblix on the other hand takes a few steps back to stand behind your leg.

There's nobody around. The voice seems to have come from nowhere.

"A few people went missing in here, and we aren't leaving until we get them back!" you shout in response.

After a moment of eerie silence, a sudden burst of wind causes the papers on the desk to lift into the air and twirl around in a tornado around the room. You cover your eyes with your arm and struggle to see what's happening. You can feel the rage in the air, even if you don't see what creature is causing it. "I said leave!" it screams again. The wind then settles down, and now the documents have scattered all over the floor. A few of the books have fallen from the shelves as well.

Koblix tugs on your pant leg. He has one of the papers in his hand, and you can see that he's a little flustered. When you look down, he holds it up to you, and you take it from him to read it over.

"Are you really reading stuff now?" Eva asks. "We should get out of this room."

"What does it say?" Niki asks curiously.

You read an excerpt. "A male oni's... penis... is proportionately large, and therefore intimidatingly gigantic. I would not be able to fit one inside me, but that does not mean I have not thought--"

Suddenly, a screaming spirit comes out from the wall. You can hardly make it out in time. The last thing you see is a horrifying, undead visage before it passes straight through you, and like flowing white sheet, it wafts through the air before disappearing once again. You shudder, and drop the paper as you step backwards to bump onto a nearby bookshelf.

"Let's go!" Eva pleads.

"I agree," says Amara. "Our first priority is to find the captives."

You nod and hustle towards them, but you're suddenly stopped by an arm around your wrist. The grip is painfully tight. You're yanked back, and **** to turn around to face Niki. She's standing there, but her demeanour is abnormal. Her stare is piercing, and her eyes are completely white--glowing with a spectral mist. With her other hand, she reaches up and grabs you by the neck.

"Niki... What are you--?" But you can barely talk with her squeezing your throat.

"I do not want to go!" Niki shouts. "I will not let you exorcize me!" Her voice is a strange mixture of her own and somebody else's.