Session 30: Back to the Manor

The Adventurers leave the City State and travel back to Tegel, running into Roughneck Rump the Rotund and his band of Goblins just before they got to the village.

Written by our scribe Carl with a few additions from myself. It is based on our Sunday, May 7, 2023 session.

Continued from: Mugged on Ox-Cart Road.

Location: In the City State of the Invincible Overlord.

We were all set to leave the City State on a ship in late morning. Beneddar needed some bakery goods so a group went to the bakery up the street (no reason to walk alone around here, as we have seen).

Doggie was delivered to Reebo, as well as the barding that he ordered. The assistant from the woodworking shop delivered several boxes for Shadow also.

10:00 AM
Ship ahoy! Say "Yo Ho", for those that remember so far back. It was a nice clear day to travel, the sights should be good.

Our first travel day ended at Brytalin Stream Docks.  We spent an uneventful night as cargo was offloaded and onloaded.

May 1
We pulled out the next morning, headed for Modron.

About an hour into the day's voyage, the captain told us all to move to the port side and to look fierce. Putting on a bad face could keep us from having to fight, and a couple dugouts of Gnolls agreed. They went back to shore.  Apparently this happens occasionally.

As the ship tacked and lined up to dock at Modron, we passed an area of very foul smelling bubbles coming up out of the water. Noone was sure exactly what caused it, but the smell was not abnormal. The crew said no attack had ever come from it.

6PM
Back to good old Modron, familiar land territory. Just in time for dinner and a good place to sleep.  Shops were closed by the time we arrived, but no one needed to buy stuff anyway.

May 2
Reebo picked up one of the dog statues he ordered on our last visit. Aefir picked up his new plate mail, Shambly at Concentric Casings had completed his adjustments over the last week and his new armor fit perfectly.

Off and away, riding and walking back toward Tegel Village.  Brushwood was the first little hamlet to reach, so we headed there.  First night passed uneventfully.

May 3
The second day on the road we came to a group of Rangers (at least they looked like) and some dead giant bugs behind them.  Shadow spoke for the group. The rangers had just put down some bombadier beetles. They had no warnings to pass on.  We parted in peace and went on our way.

We made it to Brushwood, and had another uneventful night...best kind.

May 4
On our way the next morning, enjoying the countryside and the healthy air. We were approaching our campsite from the first day out of Tegel Village, making about the same progress returning as we did going out.  There was another party where we had camped before, a large well dressed group with what appeared to be nobility.

Shadow went to speak with them, and met Sir Shunnar Mekhloufi, and Lord Samir Azoulay, Son of the Duke of Mael.  They had no problem with us camping in the vicinity, and we told them our basic tale.

We sat with them at the campfire and swapped some stories. They were impressed with Shadow's Sabertooth trophy.

May 5
Back toward Tegel Village the next day. In the late afternoon, about an hour out of Tegel, we noticed some unusual movement in the brush nearby.

Goblins!! One person in plate mail with sword and shield that we recognized from a picture in Tegel Manor.  Roughneck Rump the Rotund offered us a chance to drop our gear and surrender.  But then he recognized us too, and took great umbrage at our presence.  He gave a command and the goblins attacked.

At longish range, we traded arrows and ranged spells. Rump charged us, not having prepared any ranged attacks. Ba ha ha ha ha.

Reebo cast the ever popular sleep spell on the group, amped up to 7D8 points, and some goblins decided to take a final nap before the Big Sleep.

Paraselene's mace broke at the handle during the early part of the fight....)(^%^*)(^

A spirited battle ensued, with a couple melee folks on Rump and the rest of up picking off the goblins as best we could.

We had Rump down to an absolute NOTHING of health, but he pulled out a potion of gaseous form and became mist. Aefir hit the gas with his magic weapon and took his last hit points!!!  Rump precipitated out of the mist and fell to the ground, bleeding out.

The goblins went by the boards too, one of them laughing at the whole thing after Beneddar cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter on it.

We took three goblins alive, and hoped to find out where they were laired.  Searching Rump and the goblins we got a goodly pile of loot.

************** Loot ******************
90 gp
7 sp
12 scimitars       
12 shields       
12 short bows                  

Roughneck Rump the Rotund  had
One set of plate armor
One large metal shield
One long sword
*************************************

Questioning the goblins, we learned that these were all the goblins following Rump. We also learned the location of their lair. We had been near it before, it was in an area we were calling Goblin Valley, between the temple of Frigga and the Pirate Base.

Arkelm cast identify and found that Rump had some nice equipment.

The +3 shield went to Natalie.
The +1 plate armor went to Aefir
and Paraselene took the +1 longsword.

We sold the other stuff, and we have taken out a permanent room at Altharontha’s Boarding House for storage.

Shadow was interested in getting a house, and the mayor had three available.  However it would be 1GP per day for someone to guard the place while we were out and about. Shadow decided to think on it for a while, but kept his options open.

May 6th
Resting overnight, we headed back to Tegel Manor...Those ghosts just don't take themselves out.

Nattie left the Greatsword of Vengeance behind, in our vault room.  Broadsword and shield was the new way to go, just eating the -1 penalty.  Maybe someone would break in and take the sword.

The right statue at the front of the manor laughed at us as we approached the manor. Good to feel welcome.

Aefir checked his notes and it looked like there was one area near the front that we had not explored, so we headed that way.  Reebo's new dog did NOT want to enter the manor, really unhappy about it, so he tied it to a tree outside with some food and water. Best of luck to it.

Butler Bertalan appeared and recognized us as we entered, flaming mouth and eyeballs as usual. He did NOT welcome us back... Was it something we said?

Aefir determined that the butler was Neutral Undead, if he had been Evil, our Paladin would be obligated to attack him.

Heading to the unexplored room, we found horrible scenes portrayed in paintings on the walls. Enough so that several people paniced and ran back into the hall, shaking. Those who stayed in were disgusted at the sight.

After a few minutes, people inside saw one of the paintings change.  Instead of a horrible scene, the painting showed a picture of the room itself.  Various items that looked valuable were in the room, but in the changed painting there was a glowing spot under the table in the room. The picture depicted our folks in the room as well.

When Reebo tried to take the picture off the wall and turn it around, a shadow(monster) appeared and attacked.  Reebo retreated, Aefir attacked and the shadow vanished. Not sure if gone or just taking a break for a while. Maybe it just didn't like paladins. Reebo finished turning the picture around.

All the other pictures were just pictures, but we turned them around (one at a time) to be as safe as possible.

The door to the west was a little tricky, but Reebo unlocked it eventually.

He stashed such loot as was immediately visible, but was wary of the table in the center because the picture had glowed in that area.

Reebo used mage hand to get the items on the center table, with no problem. Turning the changing picture back around and letting it update(hopefully) we could see more than we could see with just eyes and senses.  The glow looked like it came from the floor instead of the table.

Aefir and Reebo lifted up the carpet and found a hole in the floor. Inside the hole was a bag of gems.

He stashed the bag and we turned our attention to the west door.

 

Continued in A Balor, a Black Pudding and a Moldy Couch.