I’ve also liberally sprinkled enough things in the adventure that are going to have the arc drift from the original published plot to one of my own making. That will continue as they adventure on. As of this time I have 1 or 2 people getting close to going up and we’ll see how that plays out as the group could use some extra fire power for the culmination of the house and especially for the 2nd part of the main adventure.
Write up follows:
Deja took Veldryn with her as they entered the chamber, eyes peeled for any issues as they approached the cabinet. The Halfling was dismayed to find the cabinet was not attached to the wall, a gap of a few inches visible behind it. The rest of the group was ready on the outside as Deja stood behind one door and opened it, using the cabinet itself as a shield. All that was inside was a ragged pair of dried boots and a leather cloak hanging on a hook.
Sure that there was nothing else to be worried about, Veldryn went to take the cloak and Deja the boots. But the inside of the cloak had some nasty yellowish fungus growing in the folds and the spores that leaked out got in the elf’s nose and mouth, causing her to choke and fall back. Deja jammed her eyes closed and managed to shove the end of her cloak over her face just in time.
Veldryn was dragged outside where Magnus took his water skin and washed her face liberally until coughing and gasping; the elf was able to catch her breath. We waited until she was able to stand on her own, a bit woozy and tired but not too bad for the ware. As for the boots, we brushed them off and Talion took them for the time being. Shutting the portal we went on to the last room in the wing revealing what was once a nice bedroom complete with a four poster bed and assorted trash about the room.
We gave it a once over, the fireplace resulting in nothing but dust and grit. Valerie was pleased to see rodent droppings but the druid spied no rats at this time. It was when Deja managed to look under the bed that she saw some scratches on the floor. So three of us lifted the 4 poster bed and moved it to get a better view of what was scratched on the floor and it was a circle, Veldryn letting us know it was a glyph circle and at once point was part of a latent spell.
So the former owner of the mansion already an alchemist of some dubious nature and working on an illegal potion of human domination, was also not above some sort of glyph work on those who would stay at home. We moved on from here and after taking stock, the decision was made to check out the north wing.
Looking down the hall we could see 2 doors on the right and eventually the landing area that Veldryn had climbed up the rickety stairs in the kitchen to check out yesterday. At the first door the portal was stuck and the narrow hall didn’t allow Valerie to get much of a run to force it open. Magnus and his crowbar helped our half-orc to open the room and we had a chance to look around. Damp mold wasn’t helping the chamber and assorted broken chairs and filth abounded. A strained and worn chest was locked under the window in the far end of the room.
Deja hurled a couple of knives at the chest, one striking the surface, the 2nd one actually sinking into the lock! Nicely done by the Halfling. She then picked the lock and once sure it wasn’t trap, opened it. There was paperwork inside which had Veldryn happy. The Deathspeaker was able to let us know it was purchase information the original owner of the mansion had with the PRIOR owner, giving us a peek into the man’s attitude as he was rude, abrupt, and unpleasant in his correspondence.
There was a hollow under the chest, a part of the floor that lifted away and when it was pried up, a leather bag was there. Veldryn and Deja got into a brief scuffle over it, the thief rebuffed for her efforts as the thick leather sack was taken away (heavy and lumpy) and the party peered over it, opening the stubborn knot with care. Deja did see at the bottom of the hollow was a thin folded leather wallet that she lifted and placed inside her surcoat for now.
As for the bag…it held a severed head.
Ugh.
Veldryn was able to let us know the head had been roughly hacked from its torso, had been here for 9 months to a year based upon the amount of rot, and besides the fact that the head was elven and male…it also sported slits in its neck like gills. A sea elf.
We didn’t know why it was here or who put it here and why. But it was MUCH less than the 20 years old the mansion was supposedly abandoned and the bag was not only very nice, but inside sported a burned stamp that looked like a squid. The same sigil that Deja had seen on the wrist bracer the attempted robber had back at the inn in Saltmarsh. Connected? Maybe. We’d have to keep an eye out for it and hopefully get to the bottom of this matter when we arrived back at town.
We then went to the last room on the right and it was another ruined bedroom also with a chest near the window. But there was a bundle by the door that Ned was excited to remark was his missing clothes and affects. He got dressed and rejoined the party as they gathered around the latest chest. Ned had grown quiet with our searching, looking around us as we explored, eyes pensive as if he was getting sad. Valerie was given the honors to open it after Deja had picked the locked and declared it safe to do so.
A pale yellow light came out and we shut the chest swiftly. Then we opened it again, more light coming out. The glow was coming from a large mass of glass like crystal sitting on top of a pile of priestly vestments. While we took out the gem and Valerie held it, the color shifted from yellow to a cool green. She passed it to Magnus and the color went yellow. Then Veldryn took it and the color had a blackish quality to it. Finally Talion took it and Deja touched it as well, the gem taking on a reddish hue.
The feeling was that it was reflecting each person’s divine conduit color closest associated with their god. Magnus suggested it might me a God’s Tear, a piece of the Bifrost Bridge and most likely a holy relic on some level to someone. The thought then went to have Magnus and Talion touch it at the same time, Tyr and Loki. The glass was touched, there was a flash of light and a crackling sound and the glow ended.
Crap.
Magnus was pissed and after thinking about it, realized it was a foolish idea. Veldryn meanwhile was looking in the gemstone and magic book and found the passages on God’s Tears. If it was touched by two competing divine casters, the gem would short out but in the sunlight would be recharged to work again.
As for the rest of the stuff in the box, the belongings were those of a Heimdall priest, vestments, slippers, robes, shawl, beads, symbol. Magnus wanted to take them all and when we got back to Saltmarsh, see if we could find any priests who might have gone missing.
From here we moved on to the second floor landing, a massive hole in the north east ceiling where the attic stairs ended after 6 steps. A few dried leather wing backed chairs were here, the stuffing torn from some of them and the entire place filthy and sporting a thin layer of mold.
Deja and Talion opted to go and check out the Attic. The thief climbed the 6 steps and then using finger and toeholds pulled her way just to the edge of the Attic’s floor. Talion took a different tack, positioning himself at the edge of the steps he jumped, reaching for the floor above. His fingers nicked the edge, tore off a length of wood, upset Deja from her perch; he tumbled forward and rolled to the floor with a crunch, and then slipped over and fell AGAIN, this time DOWN the next flight of steps to the 1st floor and kitchen where he rolled to a stop at the sink. Deja herself did fall as well, but dropped to the Landing floor and twisted her ankle instead.
At the bottom of the steps, Talion had made so much noise that two giant rats, the size of big cats, crawled out from the space under the sink and swarmed at the ranger’s feet, trying to bite him. He was yelling and beating them back trying to hit them with a hastily drawn knife and Valerie from above was yelling at him to “Stop! Don’t hit them!” as the half-orc druid tried to run down the stairs. Talion meanwhile managed to climb up to his feet and ran UP the stairs, the two of them meeting in the middle of the flight.
But the rickety stairs could not support both their weights and it collapsed beneath them and Talion fell under the steps while Valerie was trapped up to her armpits in the broken steps. The rats grew wroth and one crawled under the steps to claw at Talion while the other ran back beneath the sink. Valerie was still screaming at Talion to not hit it while it clawed and bit at his thigh.
Finally the druid was able to turn around after crawling out of the broken steps and called on Frey to Charm the animal below. The rat’s eyes took a greenish swirl and then it just looked at Talion who was threatening it with a knife. She then called to Frey to allow her to talk to animals and the rat’s squeak became to her the angry voice of a pissed off giant rat.
She managed to talk the rat down from his desire to eat Talion, the rat complaining about his mate who ran away and the three rat kids they have that just never give him a moment’s peace. She offered to take him with her and he went back under the sink where he and his rat wife yelled at each other. Then he came to Valerie and she coaxed it to ride her shoulder, learning his name was Hor’se. Talion was helped out of the hole while the rat was staring at him with its beady eyes and a foul expression on its rat face.
We all went back up the landing to heal up when the group realized Ned Shakeshaft was missing. No one could remember exactly when he disappeared but his absence did have the group on edge and upset.
No comments:
Post a Comment