Elmo gave the place a good once over, walking back and forth in front of the Moathouse. The banks by the water were waterlogged and unsteady, the place stunk, and the bog had to be deep enough to suck anyone’s feet in. There was a drawbridge down that we could risk crossing, but the party was unsure. Ophelia called to Athena and the goddess of law gave her the ability to sense evil.
And she did. SIX spots of it! 2 in the nearest pool and 4 more by the drawbridge.
A further refinement let him know that 1 in the pool and 1 by the drawbridge had a larger evil signature. We discussed options and settled on coaxing them…if they were evil frogs…out of the pool. So Elmo hunted for a large log he could toss, took aim…and hurled it!
And two of the frogs emerged! One of them was the size of a small dog…and the other was closer to 6’! Sling stones flew and we decided NOT to enter the bog. Albert summoned a goblin which he named Ronnie…and Aredhel hurled a globe of acid at the amphibians, melting the skin off of them. They closed and we combated them, stabbing and slamming hard. And the combat seemed to go well as the smaller and then the larger one was slain.
“That wasn’t that bad,” Albert noted. The party was feeling pretty good so wanted to get right on the next group. So we went down the short road to the drawbridge and Elmo tossed another log in. This time 1 frog came out and he hit it lightly, scaring it back to the pond.
And then all 4 of them emerged – 1 really big one and 3 smaller ones. Quickly the combat got away from us, with Rowan and Ophelia getting multiple hits from the frogs. The cleric and druid were knocked back, hurt bad. Another one made a 25’ leap – landing right by the gnome, Pestle! And tried to eat her! The wizard dove low, just getting missed while the Cleric Opehlia was tossed into the mud, Rowan following. Magic Missile and another blast of acid followed and Elmo’s Axe helped clear the way, the ranger struggling to block any more attacks on the druid and the cleric.
Pestle had to dive again, just missed getting swallowed as Albert called out another summon spell – getting a kobold! Naming it “Jimmy”, he ordered it to shred the larger frog, blocking it from getting another attack on Pestle. “I eats?!?” it asked pointing at the frog, getting a bemused nod from the wizard.
And low and behold, Jimmy got a series of lucky blows, tearing the frog’s underside open. He reached in and started eating the guts as the frog was croaking and dying. More stones flew and Elmo dispatched another, with more acid being hurled. Finally Ophelia and Rowan were back in the fight and the last of the frogs was slain. We were dirty, but we grouped together and Pestle used her natural gnomish gifts, blowing all the dirt off and mud off of us, sending it in a 10’ diameter around us before it slipped down and fell into the mud.
We approached the bridge, where Elmo got low and we noted that someone…someone booted, had crossed here before. Given the moist ground, it had to be in the last day – and the prints went into the keep. Weapons ready, we crossed the bridge slowly and one at a time. It groaned beneath us, but no issues. Once through, there were 2 doors here, one wedged in place, the other open freely.
The courtyard beyond was empty…maybe 40x 50’. A set of stairs was to the northeast and went up into the moathouse proper. There was a tower on the southwest corner and the walls on the west side of the courtyard were in poor repair, slipped into the water outside. Elmo also pointed out that more than one set of tracks had gone into the manor proper, we could see them across the courtyard. The thought was that a few of us would check out the area and Albert, Pestle, and Aredhel would look into the tower. If it was safe enough, the 2 wizards would hope to get some of their spells back.
The courtyard showed signs that mules or ponies had been tied up here in the past. Not now, but spoor and stray hay and feed gave testament to it. The west wall had collapsed outward, taking at least a 10’ section of it down in the past. And the stairs? They went up to a door…but the door was not 100% closed. There were at least 4 windows we could see, narrow almost arrowslit type.
As for the tower, it was in poor condition. The upper floor had collapsed some time ago, crashing down to the lower floor, leaving only wreckage on the main level and open sky maybe 20’ up. Albert noted a few sparkling coins and they entered with care, scooping up 3 copper pieces they found in the dirt and rocks. “Neat!”
And then a 15# pale white Huntsman spider the size of a big cat dropped down from above, reared back, and bit the wizard on the neck! Who screamed, fell over, and began convulsing as the poison ran through his veins. “Help!” The group was running back at Albert who was spasming in agony.
“It killed my brother!” she hollered back. Ophelia was on her knees casting some magic on the fallen wizard. “Let me stab it!”
“No. I can’t let you.”
“If that THING comes near me at any point, I’m going to stick my rapier in its guts.”
He rubbed its head and cooed, “Don’t worry, Winter. She won’t hurt you.”
“You named it?!?”
Albert was not happy but was awake and alive again. We decided to rest here for an hour to allow Pestle and Albert to get some spells back. While that was going on, the group managed to scour the tower where they found over 70 copper and almost 40 silver nobles. In addition, there was an Ivory box here as well! It was empty but we divided the coins and put a small handful in the box for a party fund if needed later.
It was about 2:30 when we finished our study and went up to the main house. The stairs led us to the door where we opened up to see the main foyer. It was sizable with 2 large halls going south and west to the other wings. There was a door on the northeast section of the room and we could see a set of stairs going up to the 2nd floor, but were impassable due to the collapsed 2nd floor.
The hall south had a few doors and there was something far down there moving about, wild animal? To the west they instead saw a pantry area with the squeal of rats..and a cool breeze coming through it. Maybe a set of stairs down? But it was the door to the northeast that had the group gather. There were voices behind. At least 4 or 5. All talking common, but their voices were pitched too low to identify what was being said. “No one should be here,” Elmo muttered and the group wanted to rip the door open and confront them.
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