Plus, the hobgoblins have been a blast to role-play.
Write up follows:
The thought was to check out the roof line before proceeding further through the Manorhouse, but with no way to the roof from here, it was up to Bad Tom to give Shim a toss-up and then join him up there. The roof of the Manorhouse was empty but we did notice three ladders had been stacked at the south end. This was also an explanation for the strange divots on the ground over there. However, we wanted to be able to get out if need be so we dragged one of the ladders back to the courtyard, and lowered it before climbing down and then dropping the ladder to the ground here.
We listened to the doors in the area again just to be sure. The South door that lead back to the entrance hall was quiet but we had taken the key out of it. The other south door with the rabbit dropping about the area seemed quiet and undisturbed. The door to the shed was still wire wrapped closed and we could hear a horse banging around within. (A check of the muddy ground showed it was a much smaller animal than the plaster casting of the warhorse hoof print we had). And finally the door to the north that lead further into the manorhouse was still quiet.
Bad Tom was voted to open the door. So we drew up, weapons at the ready, and the hobgoblin shouldered the door open and rolled in and to the side, broadsword flashing.
It was a hallway, door at the end maybe 15 paces away.
We gathered into the hall, drew up together, and Bad Tom hit the next door hard, rolling again but this time without the yelling or battle cry as per Brading. Another hall, shorter, two doors at the end, one on the north and south wall. So slow burn candles were in here on sconces and have been burning for some time. The door to the south smells faintly of cigar smoke and beer. We heard nothing at either door but figured we’d check out the north one as it should lead us to the stairs going up to the roof.
Once again Bad Tom did his roll and rise to show another hall that went some 8 paces and turned to the left, set of steps going up. We checked to make sure it was sealed closed and was going to make our way back when Eoghan was staring at the west wall. When pressed for why, he said that this manorhouse was tight with its space and room, but there was a wasted area here almost 8 or 9 feet wide that had no room behind it. It might be a secret door.
We looked about and eventually discovered a section of the wall that would open and a cleverly hidden keyhole. Taking the key we had taken from the other door, Eoghan stuck it in and turned it – but the key didn’t turn and instead he pulled his hand back and was nursing his finger which had a pin hole in it.
Brading had Heimdall show him any poison and sure enough, Eoghan was stuck and the poison was spreading. A Delay Poison was going to give us 4 hours to find a solution and an antidote we hoped but for now, the room was closed and sealed.
We looked in the south room, a meeting room that was used often but currently not. With nowhere else to go, we went back to the exercise yard to discuss our options and where to go next. We figured we’d go back through the way we came and head off to the entrance room. So we opened the door back to the hall with the dead dogs..and there were dead dogs there. We tested their deadness with some thrown axes and then moved to the next door.
Pickle and preserve room. Dead guys here, stripped. Ok, door closed. We opened it again…and Bad Tom had a spear in his chest, and went down hard from a spring loaded trap in the ceiling.
Damn it.
We hacked it out of him and then after he passed out, a sprinkle of fizzstone in his nose had him wake up. We healed him up and took a look. The hall beyond had the bench against the far door now, two pedestals and busts pressed tight to its side, blocking the door. But when we went in to look it over we stopped and backed out of the room carefully. The carpet had been liberally doused in oil – another damned trap.
Ok – this wasn’t going to work. So we were going to instead go back to the exercise yard and see about going through the front door.
However when we climbed up to the roof and looked down by the front door, there was a half-ogre zombie standing there ready to skewer anyone who came through. Damn it again.
Ok – another new plan. We go through the south door in the Exercise yard back to the main entrance and hit it hard, knowing that we’re most likely going to have to run a gauntlet of people. We wanted to try and fake out Ixitch’s people, so Barb and Elsa Ire took one of the dead guys, got him dressed in some of her cast off clothes, stuck a pole through the back of his head and the two of them used him like a marionette to hopefully get some attention.
We drew up and got ready to go in and then unlocked the door and shoved the dead guy through. Crossbow bolts slammed into him and we saw a dead guy in here. Barb and Else charged in, getting hit a bit from some bolts coming from down the long hall towards the kitchen. We charged in and tried to cover the distance, returning fire as we went. Brading just made the entrance and fired off a turn undead at the zombie just before it hit us, and it turned and started making for the front door.
But from down the hall some enemy spellcaster shot off a spell, and the door to the exercise yard blocking off Thalin, Shim, and Darius from the rest of us. Damn it!! The three of them tried the door which was held magically before going to the ladder and lifting it in place to climb up to the roof – they were going to head for the south end of the compound and down to the ground to take the fight through the front door.
Meanwhile Bad Tom was getting shot again as we tried to clear the hall, but Eoghan, Will Murder, and the rest of the group returned fire, dropping one and then a second crossbowman…meanwhile the others moved back and a magic missile shot into the party as the zombie opened the front door – and was attacked by the other zombie outside. Another turn undead had that one running as well as we gathered together and pulled bolts from Bad Tom – and sent more arrows flying down the long hall.
Outside Shim and Darius had made the roof when they heard crows coming, larger than normal, fat, and flying fast, they dove down out of the sky and aimed for the group. Arrows and stones flew knocking the crows down while Thalin was still in the courtyard before the sky was cleared and they can all cross the roof together and climb down to the ground below and enter the Manorhouse where we all gathered together.
From down the hall the 2 dwarven crossbowmen and the supposed mage retreated into the gloom of the kitchen and disappeared. We tended to our wounds and took stock of our situation. We had a chokepoint here and wanted to set a deterrent for them to follow. So we used some chalk, made a 10’ wide circle and pentagram, some incense and a candle, even used a burned out Manastone.
And while this was going on, a dead zombie human wandered in to the front door, held up its hands, and said in a disembodied voice, “Wait, wait, wait, I just want to talk. This has gotten entirely out of control.”
Someone was talking through the zombie. And we realized it was not only the necromancer on premises, but Ixitch Barrowman as well. We hit the zombie in the legs so it was forced to fall over, but it did see what we were doing and tried to talk to us about going our own way. Still suspecting we were representatives from Big G O, and referring to Darius as Isilwine Goldsmith (the same name he used in Paxian), we went back and forth for a while, while pretending to do a spell to ward the circle we made.
Eventually we grew tired of the conversation and hit the zombie a few times until it stopped moving and talking.
Ok. It was time. There were 2 other doors on the north wall here, one in front of the circle we made, and another further down. We checked the second one out and it was a barracks for 6 people to stay and sleep along with some personal belongings – but that was about it. So we tread carefully to the end of the hall and the kitchen.
No one was here. We did find the steps going up to the roof (ok, that was all 3 stairs up we’ve found) and a hall going north that eventually turned to the west. A large slowburn torch was lit at the corner. We extinguished it and then heard the sound of a door closing down the hall. Ahhh, another fire trap that we just interrupted.
We walked with care to the end where we smelled oil on the floor but now there was no issue. Door on the north and the smell of food, door on the west, most likely led to our enemy. So we all drew up, gathered together, Thalin began casting and then we tossed the door open to show 2 dwarven crossbowmen, a human, and another mastiff.
And our fighter mage put them all to sleep with a handful of rose petals and a blast of arcana.
We trussed them up quickly and took a look about. We were in the Manorhouse’s main great room. Door led to an armory, another led north to a private bedchamber that Will had to pick to open. It ended up being Ixitch’s private bed chamber. We looked around. Horseshoe collection, some bottles on a shelf, nice desk. Looking over the papers most had to do with his job as an enforcer for King Seljack, some had to do with his dealing with Big GO. Found hidden in desk a leather satchel with 20 doses of Scratch, a key we assumed was for the locked secret room we found earlier, and a messenger leather folder with a page torn out of a journal in it. About something called the Desmondia Diamond and where it might be and who has it.
Nice.
It was while we were reading it over that Barb felt and itch from the Ravenstone she was carrying and eventually hidden letters on the page were revealed to show even more clues where to find the Desmondia Diamond and that apparently Ixitch was going to go and send his people to look for it and soon.
By this point in time our charges were waking up and we gathered back to the Great Room to ask questions and then decide on where and how to find Ixitch.
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