The eastern part of the villa is damaged, but the main construction is intact. There are several possible entry points, either through the burnt-out windows of rooms 45, 46, 47 into the bathrooms area or through the side entrance into the welcoming hall (Oecus).
The side entrance of the villa leads into the welcoming hall (Oecus), where the party will encounter The Ghost of Elara. They could also divert northwards to the Bath Area or southwards through the passage into the Atrium.
#TODO - rework connections to main of the house
Th is the bath for the villa, with various rooms whose purpose cannot be easily discerned among the rubble, except for room #TODO 43 which is a somewhat intact steam bath.
In the center of the room is a 1m high column with a large bowl filled with water. The water inside is hot, with small amounts of steam bubbling up.
This bowl used to be heated from a fire underneath (stoked and cared from outside the room), but there is no fire there now, the heat is magical.
If any character reaches for the water, as soon as their hand or an object they use is above the bowl, a hand of water will shoot up from the bowl and grab them and not let go.
It takes a success on physical (strength) to pull the hand away as the watery hand is quite strong. It is also quite hot. A partial success will result in one point of lesser harm, a bad outcome in two points of lesser harm from exposure to the hot steam and almost boiling water.
If damaged, attacked or dispelled with magic, the hand will turn back into water and fall into the bowl. It will recover within a minute or so and grab the next person reaching into or above the bowl after that.
A magical analysis will identify a combination of fire and water magic, and on a full success identify that together with the strong emotions of people burning alive years ago formed into this strange spectacle. The hand grabbing anyone coming close is how the "help, anyone help me" has been encoded into this magical effect.
If the character grabbed does not pull away, the hand will simply hold on, causing more and more burning damage. If an object is used, it will get hotter and hotter over time, until it either melts or bursts into flame.
The kitchen courtyard and the surrounding rooms are somewhat damaged, but much less than one would expect if the fire had broken out here. Indeed, checking the area and a successful mental (perception) roll make it obvious that no, the fire did not start here, and in fact the kitchen and storage area look more like they have been plundered than burnt out.
There is a connection to the pantry here as well.