Session 18: A Bloody Woman and More Exploration

The Adventurer's rest is disturbed by someone or something pounding on the door.

Written by our scribe Carl with a few edits by myself. It is based on our Sunday, March 3, 2022 session. Thanks to Jimmy for taking the screen shots on roll20.

Continued from: Ghosts, Wraiths and Talking Paintings - What Next?

Location:  Inside Tegel Manor.

DOH!  We forgot that we detected a magic arrow we have been carrying, and it is a +3 arrow, carried by Syndra in her pack since the fight at the gazebo.

We were hoping for a long rest, but a figure of an injured woman pounded her way through the door, spikes holding it shut and all.  Looking at the floor, we saw that she was following exactly in the bloody footsteps already in place. It was as if she was on a cyclic route. She did not appear to notice us much, if at all.



Reebo took a closer look, and her wounds appeared most likely fatal. Past the point of bandaging. She was definitely corporeal, not ghostly. She had a leather bag that got Reebo's initial interest, but he let her go on uninterrupted.

Aefir did a Divine Sense, and determined that she was both undead and evil. Gritting his teeth, he let her go on, waiting for her to actually DO something hostile before he attacked.

The woman, leaving some bloody handprints on the wall, walked across the room and tried to open yet another spiked door.

Reebo tried to use his Mage Hand to slit her leather bag, but she noticed and attacked him. So much for letting her get out of our way, but it was probably going to come to this anyway. She seemed to come out of her trancelike state and notice that we are all there with her.

With everyone who was not Reebo waiting to see what would happen, she attacked Reebo again but missed.

Tempting as it was to let her beat on Reebo, we actually engaged her and fought.

Reebo drew his dagger and fought back. Then fled. The fight continued a while, since she appeared to recover some of her damage periodically. We also learned that the blood on her was not just for show, since she could load up her hands and fling blood... which she did.

She went down, and one more radiant attack kept her from recovering anything. She stayed down, hopefully for good.

Reebo dumped out the bag (the source of this feast). A small, finely detailed glass owl; a bag, medium to smallish containing 13 gold, 11 silver, 13 copper; pair of good leather gloves; a page from a journal, torn out of something. Nothing magic.

The journal page read :

Grindwell is a jewel on the shore of the Underwing Jungle.  The spires and domes of the city are a welcome sight as the Emperor’s Gold  approaches the harbor. Even Halldora seems thrilled about exploring a new location,  and she’s still recovering from the excitement of the sea journey and the pirate battle.

I hope Kjallak is ready for us.

No one had any idea why she would be carrying the torn journal page.

Where the hell is Grindwell? 

With the damage we had, especially Aefir limited to a smallish max health, we needed to get to someplace we could actually rest.  Back to town seemed the best move, and there we went.

To spread some money around the village, Natalie and a couple others stayed at Neptune's Trident, a less fancy and less expensive place. Quinta Demetria ran a tight shop, and talked a lot about pirates.

Talking with people around the town, we heard that:

      Long ago there were two brothers at Tegel Manor, both mages.  Ridwik was mostly concerned with life and death. He is responsible for the zombies and other things that should be dead, but aren't, wandering around. He is probably still in his wizards' tower, conducting experiments. Rasping Rashuak wandered yet unseen dimensions, he would travel to the past and future, visiting strange, forgotten realms.
 
     No one knows what eventually happened to him.

and   

  Some of the farmers have been selling goods to the pirates. People say that they pay well.

Friday, April 10th
After a good night's sleep, we headed out to the manor again.  Nearly an hour out of town, we met a group of robed figures. Looking hostile, they were coming out of the swamp. Clubs and a bad attitude, they seemed to be sizing us up. Cultist press gang?

We prepared to fight but did not want to start it. Getting closer, they looked like clerics of some sort. Paraselene didn't recognize their sect. We waved and moved on.

  *** Note to self:  ask in town about who they might have been  ***

A bit later, past the swamp, two zombies came up out of the swamp.  Stupid zombies... Paraselene charged, trying to get in at least one hit before Aefir. With a mighty roar she swung and smote.



While the ranged made their attacks, Aefir moved up to melee also. As they fought, one of the zombies exploded, smacking Aefir in the face with a chunk of dead meat. EWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Gotta wonder if the green-robed cultists and the zombies are coincidental, or not...

Back into the manor through the window of the ale hall, coming to be our preferred method.  But while we were away, the big room had been cleaned up. The zombies we killed previously were gone. Aefir and Syndra spotted another zombie on the far side of the room walking our way, and let us know as the rest of us climbed in through the window.

When Syndra fired at it, she could hear clanking - like coins in a pouch.

It went down fast.  Reebo went up to search it. It was a very fat zombie, a gold coin lay on the floor by it. Its pockets were FULL of gold and silver coins. (68 GP, 10 SP).



Approaching the southern door out of the Mead Hall, the singer we had been accustomed to hearing must be on break, no singing here this time. Some growling coming from the south, but no singing.

We entered what looked like a maid's room, probably had been ransacked before. A woman's hat was on the table. Moving east from there, we had to try and kick the door down, since it had a completely unpick-able lock (or so Reebo said).

Pretty much the same, another maid room with dust and garbage... EXCEPT a chest, untouched by dust, was in the middle of the room. Reebo approached slowly, checking for traps all the way.

Suspecting a trap, Reebo opened it with his Mage Hand, ready for action just in case. It opened to revel a heaping helping of nothing, probably looted by whoever trashed the room. Checking for hidden compartments, Reebo found one in the lid.  It opened to reveal a whistle, very nice with delicate craftsmanship.  An inscription read,  "Canis Minor Movens". Whoever looted the room must have missed the compartment with the whistle.

Going south down the hallway, Shadow Walker heard a giggle further on.  Moving slowly ahead, we saw nothing but hallway and doors. Reebo unlocked one of the doors and we checked it out.

In the room was an ancient crone, sweeping.  A pink cloak and white slippers were her garb of choice.  She asked a couple of nonsense questions, looked confused. We left her to continue her sweeping.

The next room had a red skull asking a stream of questions but not giving any answers sitting on a chest. The carpet was cleaner than we were used to, and looked worth a lot of coin. A candle that appeared to stay lit without burning the wax was in one corner - we took it, and it went out as soon as Reebo stepped out of the room.

Reebo reached in with Mage Hand, and as soon as he touched the skull it flew toward us in the hallway and we closed the door before it got out. Aefir, still inside, told us the skull sat back down on the chest.  We went back in and put the candle back - the candle did NOT relight itself.

Aefir pulled the sheets off the bed and draped them over the skull, which bounced around. Aefir wrapped the skull up in the sheet and pulled it off the chest. Opening with Mage Hand,  GONG!!!! came from the chest. A big wind came up and the door slammed shut on Reebo and Aefir. In the hallway we could hear a howling, and the two in the room were smacked up against a wall.
 
When the chest was closed, the wind stopped.  Reebo and Aefir went out and let the skull out of the sheet, back into the room and it relighted on the chest.

At the end of the hallway, another door, with the sounds of a fire behind it. Opening it, we found a nursery room. A cradle, a table with two child size chairs, and a fireplace which warmed the room and lit it up...and crackled.

Searching the room, Reebo noticed rungs above the fire, like a ladder up to the next floor inside the chimney

Seeing nothing of interest, we left it be.

The north side of the hallway also had a door, and it opened to the hall with the paintings. We went back eastward, to unexplored territory.

A door to the north opened to an already looted room. Dust was thick, so it was not us or any time recent.

To the south side of the hallway, we found a room with a rat hole. An interesting, but not valuable rug was on the floor.

To the east, as Reebo tried to unlock a door, we heard the clanking of platemail coming toward us (seemingly). It came into view slowly, some kind of soldier readying a mace as if to attack.



Continued in: A Purple Worm and Count Radu Rumpula.