The first half of the adventure is coming to an end and coming quick, as the youths have decided to finally plumb the basement of the haunted mansion. They are on alert since Ned Shakeshaft did disappear down the steps the day before and most likely is waiting for them. They did come to some realization as to what’s going on out here in regards to smuggling – but they got sidetracked as the necromancer and the leader wanted to encounter the potential undead down here – which made them an unaware target for at least some of the smuggler troupe.
Write up follows:
We left Saltmarsh behind us as we trekked south along the remnants of the old road, eventually finding ourselves once again trailblazing our way across the Eider Down Fen. Talion to some degree but Valerie to a larger one kept the party on a clear path through the fall sea breeze; tromping through the swamp for almost 4 hours until eventually they arrived once more at the haunted mansion.
It appeared no different than when we left it yesterday, but we still carefully entered the house through the front door. The main foyer looked like it did earlier, still filthy and cluttered with refuse. The group whispered they were going to head for the kitchen at the end of the north wing and then to the scullery and basement steps beyond. Val took up the lead as the party progressed with care down the hall.
The kitchen was still as wrecked as it was earlier, cabinet on its side, oven missing the door, steps to the 2nd floor broken half way up. A short look in the scullery outside of broken crockery showed nothing new. There was still a heavy layer of mold on the floor and the party was going to use scarves, cloaks, and shirts to block out the spores as they walked in. Val suggested wetting the fabric first so Marcus turned the spigot on the sink – and it busted off in his hand while brown rusty water gurgled out and into the sink.
He soaked his shirt in the filthy water and Val took the faucet handle while the group wondered how the water was going to shut off. But the cistern on the roof eventually ran clear and the water was clean as the group soaked their cloths before the little bit still up there finally ran out. Ready now, the entered the scullery and made their way to the steps. Deja had a candle lit and the Halfling gave the steps a real once over – actually spotting a chalk glyph on the top two treads heading down. Veldryn looked them over with the thief and the two of them were convinced that it was an alarm of some sort that would be triggered if the glyphs were either erased, or the treads were stepped on.
We needed to go down the steps so the party was talking about stepping OVER the 2 treads but Deja wouldn’t make the step. Instead, she tested the wall and then climbed the wall OVER the treads, went around them that way, then them climbed down to the next clear tread. Marcus went next, the paladin making a big step and clearing the hurdle easily. Then Talion and Veldryn followed, the Ranger making the large step, and the priest having Marcus catch her.
But when it was Valerie’s turn, the half-orc druid wound herself up and JUMPED over the two steps.
Hit the 4th one down, the entire structure shuddered, and then snapped right there, collapsing the remaining 7’ to the basement floor.
The group surfed the falling steps and rolled into the dust at the bottom and then looked up and around. 9 of the 11 steps had collapsed down – leaving the two with the glyphs still up at the top of the hole leading back to the scullery. There were the remains of a wine rack covering 2 of the 4 walls in this large cellar chamber, a couple of metal bins on the opposite side of the room. No other doors in or out of here. There was a body though in the middle of the room, clad in platemail, sword at his side, shield on his legs, and a puddle of rot around his corpse. Veldryn assured us he had been dead a few weeks.
While Deja was checking out the racks (finding at least one bottle that had something still in it and sharing it with Talion), Veldryn and Marcus were looking over the body without touching it as Valerie stayed close by. The skin was thin, the body jellifying as it had been here for some time, male human, and his belt pouch was slashed and deflated. There was some talk of seeing if it was animated and in waiting, so they hacked it with her scythe – nothing.
BUT – Marcus did see from the open wound, a white finger width grub like worm poke out, flick around the air, and then burrow back into the body once more. WTF?!?!? He tried to describe it and the group didn’t want to touch the body this time. However, when we did come close to the corpse, we could see the grubs under the skin squirming around seeking out our living hosts. We shot at it, actually splattering the grub! Valerie called them rot grubs and let us know that they could kill anyone they burrow into. Best to leave the body alone and move along.
We looked at the bins, one was empty, the other was filled with refuse, dirt, and …feces. Disgusting. The idea was though that SOMEONE had been down here and not too long ago. With no other doors in or out of here, the party decided to search the south wall. Nothing was found…but there was an odd breeze that let the group know there was something there. Deja took a trip around the perimeter of the cellar and found a lever behind one of the bins, unable to lift it, Valerie came over to give the Halfling a hand – and a 3’ wide section of the south wall shifted over revealing another room.
This was another cellar, and from our estimation took up most of the size of the above mansion. There were sconces on the walls lit with torches, ten beds, fireplace with some open casks nearby, another set of stairs going up, footlockers, table and chairs, some closed casks and a bolt of cloth. And on the east wall were two doors in an alcove, one north and the other east – the east one had a bar across the front and written in chalk on the surface it said “Danger”.
We carefully looked over the chamber while Marcus felt out with Tyr’s presence – gathering there were 6 evil beings beyond the barred door. Deja and Valerie finished their sweep while Talion and Veldryn were talking about opening the barred door. There were 2 casks of brandy, still sealed and a bolt of cloth that was actually silk. The value of them was over 1,000 nobles and on looking it over we saw the same stylized squid marking on the goods. We knew that one of the merchants in town, Iran Hamanar, supposedly had the same symbol. Was Iran stolen from? Part of the theft going on? Smuggling? Something illegal was going on here and from the count, there were 10 people involved. Were the still here?
Meanwhile, Veldryn was big on opening the barred door so we got in line: Deja with her bow to the rear, then Talion with his own bow, Valerie and Veldryn close to the door, and Marcus at the front with his scimitar at the ready. The bar had been removed and we could hear scraping in the next room. And then, the door was hurled open – and six raggedly clothed sword wielding skeletons tried to boil out.
Marcus called out to Tyr and plowed into the room, hacking one of the skeletons and smashing bones everywhere. Both Deja and Talion fired – but the arrows although they hit the skeletons, didn’t do any real damage. New tactics were needed. Talion swapped to his broadsword and Valerie swarmed in, beating one with a club while Ho’rse the giant rat tore it’s leg off. Two down. Then Veldryn finished her cries to Hel and one of the skeletons eyes flared and she gained control of it. She had the skeleton turn and hack at the next one!
The combat raged about and Talion raced in to help, but the ranger was having a hard time getting a blow to land. Meanwhile, Veldryn and Deja were right outside the chamber, the priest keeping her skeleton under control. Another skeleton fell during combat leaving two to fight and then one.
And then Deja screamed as an arrow slammed into her back, knocking her down to 1 hp and tossing her to the ground. Veldryn turned to see what happened and she was shot, once and then again – and she fell to the ground with 1 hp! Her control over the skeleton faded and it whirled around, whittling more hp away from Talion. Valerie ran out of the combat and dove at her fallen friends, tower shield in front of her and teeth bared into a growl. There were 3 men, 2 with bows, the other waving his hands, at the other end of the room just past the beds. And then the call went out and a sleep spell knocked out the druid and the Halfling. Veldryn managed to stay awake, thanks to her elven heritage. She mustered her concentration and the ground inside the chamber exploded with vaporous mists obscuring all vision beyond 5’. The men cursed and mentioned something about “still alive” and “let’s go, tell Sanbalet what’s going on.”
Marcus and Talion managed to take out the last two skeletons and then entered the mists to find Veldryn and her cries for aid, the priest sitting by her unconscious companions.
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