First Foray into Tegel Manor

 Written by Carl from our January 3rd, 2021 session.

Continued from The Battle of Goblin Valley.

Just outside the manor proper, we were pretty low on spells (especially healing) after a TOTALLY UNNECESSARY running fight with a community (NOT a family, NOT a village, a whole freakin TOWN) of goblins.  Hopefully this will remind us that we are YOUNG and relatively WEAK!

  After getting out of their territory, we sheltered in some woods near the entry to Tegel Manor proper, hoping for a nice uninterrupted long rest.  

  We searched the surrounding areas for goblin holes, just because we could. We had a discussion of whether or not to go inside to rest or find a spot in the nearby trees.  With only a few hundred feet to go to the manor itself, we decided that we were close enough.

  Syndra sent her horses back to Tegel, figuring they would be safer there than with us. She added a note promising a reward for keeping them safe til our return.

  After we got settled into the tree area, we took a little time to go through the phat lewt we got from the goblins. Phat, of course, is a relative term.

• half pound of nails
• pound of salt
• dead bird
• 20 iron arrow heads
• 4 dead frogs
• maggoty fish head
• another dead frog
• dead bird
• glass jar of honey, sealed
• bundle of 20 wax candles
• one cheap wig, black
• 5 leather belts
• 5 worn Scimitars
• 5 Short bows
• 5 Quivers containing at total of 48 arrows

Reebo buried the dead animals.

  Late afternoon, after a short rest and some food, we decided to wait til morning to actually enter the Manor.  Later on the sun set and darkness descended upon us.

  We built a campfire and set watches through the night, two people at a time.

  Shadowlighte and Syndra     Aefir and Natalie      Aefir and Reebo

  Later, approaching midnight, Syndra spotted movement up by the manor.  One character was being chased by four others.  She woke us up carefully.  The four almost caught the one, but then the one pulled ahead. As they got closer, she could tell that the four were skeletons.  A few seconds after that she could tell that the leader was a mummy.

  She could shortly tell that the mummy was not running, but rather walking rapidly.  It appeared aggravated that the skeletons could not keep up with it.  Finally the mummy waved its arms, the skeletons poofed away in dust, and the mummy kept on going.

  Some time later, Aefir spotted something black moving against the stars to the west. It was large but quite a ways off.  Maybe a manticore or a small dragon. It eventually flew to the east, following the river.

  It came back after some time and seemed to be carrying something. Aefir could not tell for sure what that was.

  Morning came eventually, and we ate in style from our rations.

  "Nice camp" we heard from nearby.  A tall bearded human had approached unnoticed... OOPS.

  Dressed in mottled green, he looked like a ranger. He said, "Good idea to camp in the trees, the black beast was out last night".

  We offered him food, and he introduced himself as Baladar the Ranger. He carried a Longsword and bow. He said he lives 'around here'. He told us that last fall a party camped by the road near here and was never seen again.  Probably that was the remnant of a site we noticed by the road earlier.

  We asked him about the manor and the environs.  He said he had been inside and would probably not be going back in.  Runic Rump left him in a tight spot with a spectre.  Lilly livered coward Rump is, and Baladar promised to kill Runic if he ever ran into the man again.

  We asked about the local area and what we should look out for inside.  Spectres.... 'Stay out of the torture chamber'  There is a back door in one of the courtyards, in an alcove.

  Asked about the mummy, he said it was probably Racy Rawley. Likely it was going to make a another raid on the pirate base. He had done the attacks before a few times.  No known way to get along with him, best to be avoided.

There might be living things inside The Manor, but he did not know for sure.  A butler-ghost thing in front, torture chamber to the left, great hall in the middle (skeletons possibly there).  He did not know where any treasure or armory rooms were located, and did not know of any temple inside.  There were some areas like chapels but he didn't know any specifics.

He told us that Arthane the Druid lives nearby as well.

He offered to walk with us to the front door, but would not go inside. We took him up on that.

  Reebo hid most of our loot during the night, so we would not have to carry it around.

  Arkhelm mentioned some stuff that he had learned from his research before joining us - there is a LICH in a wizard tower behind the manor... There is also 'The Man in Scarlet' whose form is a skull over a red embroidered robe. It is best to leave him alone!!!

  We decided to walk the perimeter of the manor. Perhaps there are some other (or possible other) entrances and exits that would be good to learn about.  Baladar said he would stay with us for the tour, but still would not go inside.

  The entry, at our first approach, was a cobbled path with two statues.  Three mouldering corpses were by the outer door.  The two statues, got a thorough lookover for secret access ways, traps, etc.

One of the statues was a female viking warrior. The other a halfling headed troll with arms outstretched.

Shadow Walker tapped on one of the statues, and a maniacal laughter erupted.  The bodies near the entry animated, walked a few steps and then collapsed again.

Shadow Walker noticed a possible hinge on one of the arms.  He examined it closer, looking for an opening part.  He moved the arm and the mouth of the statue popped open, revealing a scroll.  Shadow retrieved it with his dagger, and carefully unrolled it.  It was a Sleep Spell Scroll.  

  Reebo checked the bodies, but they had been looted already. Just some scrap swords, which Reebo set aside. He took the precaution of chopping one leg off each of the bodies.

  We looked for arrow slits and other defensive aspects of the manor as we walked around.

  There were some shuttered windows about 6 feet up. Shadow Walker made a step with a piton and looked in.  We all heard a groaning sound when he put the piton in, as if the manor itself cried out.

  Baladar left us at that point. So much for walking the perimeter with us....BAH!!!

  Some areas of the manor looked really run down, but some looked pretty well maintained, perhaps even some recent repairs.

  Most of the rooms we spied were just rooms and stuff, but one had some zombies in it. We could hear some sound coming from the window. Maybe singing??

  A giant rat was in one room. Looks like the place is fairly well 'inhabited'.

  One window Shadow Walker cleaned off revealed a man looking back at him. The man unlatched the window and asked who we were. He looked human, not undead. He said his name was Ruang and he lived there. Shadow asked how to get to town, and he told us the way.  Shadow then asked if there was a place to relax, and could we rest. Asked about the entrance, he told us to go to the front.

'Go to the front entrance, speak to Bertrand, make an appointment'. 'You should have talked to Sir Runic in town'   He got a bit annoyed and said to go see Bertrand.

After we left him, around the corner Aefir noticed cracks in the stonework that appeared to be the outline of a secret door.  We looked a bit, could not immediately figure out how to open it.  Knowing that we could in time get in, we moved on examining the perimeter.

  Further on, Shadow saw the decaying remains of an orc shackled to the ceiling in one of the rooms.

  We found an actual door, in a vestibule. A rock garden with some plants and three ugly foo dog statues.  The door was unlocked, and we decided to open it and look inside.

  Shadow Walker carefully and slowly opened the door, ready for action.. Then Aefir stepped in and there was a loud crash like a thunderclap. It was as if lightning had struck, but only the sound of it.

Aefir used his Divine Sense to 'see' undead and celestial beings. It was no real surprise that he detected one, this place being as it is. Aefir told us there was an undead to the north, and he moved that way. He told us one was approaching just a around the corner, probably wondering where the sound came from.

Some combat ensued, and the 'whatever it was' vanished. Dead? Teleported away?

There was also a whistling sound coming from down the hall. We all entered, and decided to go south, away from the whistle.

  Shadow opened a door, and entered the room. Syndra followed, heading for a dresser in one corner. Giant rats were in the room, unnoticed til the two came in. Syndra took the brunt of their first assault.

  Aefir and Syndra took care of the rats.  Reebo went to check out a trunk, and noticed a big hole going down about 10 feet and then turning sidways. Likely a rat hole.

  The trunk had nothing of value. The night stand had a letter opener, and the bed had been slashed (likely with the letter opener). There was an empty bottle and a candle holder on the dresser.

  Shadow opened another door. Reebo picked up the candle holder. Syndra rolled up the rug, but there was only floor under it.

There was a door on the south side of the room and Aefir opened it to reveal a room. There was statue in the room behind the door. There was a hole in the floor with a corroded looking area on the floor around it, with black tarry substance in the hole.

As Aefir went toward the next doorway, Reebo went to look at the statue. Suddenly the black stuff reared up and took a swipe at Reebo.

Syndra yelled for us to all come in, and we tried to comply, but there was much confusion.

Running past the thing, Reebo opened the door into the hallway, as those with a line of sight fired away at the black 'whatever the flock it was'.

The thingy sent out another pseudopod at Reebo, but missed. More combat ensued, and Shadow Walker got slammed by a pseudopod.

Somewhere from the ozone, Natalie's voice echoed, "We should know when to NOT fight things here, we are young".

  Syndra, undaunted, put down her unicorn spirit totem.  Reebo went down shortly afterward, hit by a crushing blow and burned with it's acidic secretions.

  Paraselene came into the room, to the rescue once more. Channel Divinity at least got Reebo off the floor, and Shadow feeling a little better. Arkhelm came into the hallway door and attacked as well.  

  Some of the floorboards in the room creaked as we walked around.  The Pudding had clearly affected some of the underflooring.

With some luck and distancing from the pudding, we managed to kill it shortly.

We checked the room out carefully, making sure to watch out for loose floorboards. 

Reebo went over to examine the finely detailed bat-winged female statue that was was the room's main feature.

Continued in The Armory is Discovered.