Session 32: A Shambling Mound and a Temple

 

The Adventurers continue their foray into the Manor where they encounter a shambling mound and small but hostile dragon statue. They finish exploring the northeast corner of the manor.

Written by our scribe Carl with a few additions from myself. It is based on our Sunday, July 2nd, 2023 session.

Continued from: A Balor, a Black Pudding and a Moldy Couch.

Location: Inside Tegel Manor

 
So many doors, and ten minutes or more each to do it right.  Not a waste of time, doing it right.

Locked ones take longer, but trapwise this hallway looked pretty clean.

We found a room on the east wall!!! Quick exit option!  

We found some candle sticks that looked valuable.

The next room east looked like a jungle, shafts of light came down from gaps in the leaky roof. A big bunch of the vines attacked Aefir.  We took exception to that and fought back. It was a Shambling Mound, it was tough to damage, but not impossible.



We went back to the hallway to set our minds at ease about other rooms before we pressed on. We found what was basically a walk in closet with another door to the north.

The north door led us to a room we had seen from outside. The walls were covered with rows and rows of chronicles of the Rump family (deeds of daring, clearly a fantasy collection).

Two sets of armor and a painting on the wall behind an intricate chest. The chest looked valuable.  Reebo picked the lock and opened the chest.  It contained a red dragon statue that flew out and flew toward Reebo.

Unsure of what it intended, Reebo cast invisiblity on himself and we waited to learn its intentions.  

The statue declared its intent by attacking Bennedar. Well, we gave it a chance... A couple spells and a sword whack and all we had to loot was a melted puddle of cheap metal and some gold paint flecks.

The chest also contained a crystal jar sealed with bee's wax. Looked like it contained small blue flies, maybe metallic, maybe dead.

The painting was Rarin the Rearguard, we avoided interacting with it.

A door in the northwest corner opened into a closet. Searching for secret doors revealed nothing, but our basic map of the manor indicated there was another room(s) to the north so we gave it a look.

Back in the hallway (N/S) the northern door to the west had two northern doors and a rat hole. The hole went down about 10' to an E/W passage. Rodent smell, just like mom used to cook.

Reebo could hear a dripping sound from the western of the two doors to the north. RED, all over.  A reddish rug crawled across the floor, and blood (maybe) dripped from the ceiling. A door on the west wall.  

The other door appeared to be a closet.

Aefir fired arrows at the crawling rug, and it melted into the floor. Suspicious... The floor felt spongy when poked with an arrow.  We tossed a chair in, and it got blood all over the chair but the floor stayed intact.

Aefir used the chairs to form a makeshift walking path to the door on the west wall.  He opened the door onto another hallway with another door, and we went over that way.

On the west side of the N/S hall Reebo could hear harp and organ music through one door. We could hear more music after opening the door, with several worn down instruments playing by themselves, and some scrolls and sheets of music to be played scattered across the floor.

More rooms, always more rooms.  To the south we could hear a woman singing a lullaby.  A cradle rocked slowly, but noone could be seen.  The singing seemed far away.

Reebo found a Silver locket in the bedding.

In the next room Aefir found a horrible fresco, sanity blasting and animated.

Further on, we heard a gnawing or growling sound in the hall.

A door lead to an office area, rat hole included. Some of the items on the desk flew at Aefir.  He ducked.  The desk radiated EVIL, and Aefir, being a paladin does not go for that stuff.

However, after enough smackdown we all left the room. The desk can take care of itself. 

Reebo grabbed a book: Masters of Blood: A Natural Philosophy.

Backtracking to complete the area, we found a bedroom.  A small woman thanked us and turned into a pile of dust.  I hear that Aefir has that effect on lots of women...

There was a bracelet in the ashes.

Another room with an exterior wall and a window.  We knew Shadow was outside nearby, but we could not see him from there.

We found a secret door that led us to the northeast corner of the manor, completing this area of the ground floor.

Another rat hole!!!!  Plus, smell of exotic flowers and music came from the room.  Floating above the floor was a pillow, and there were many paper dolls of feathered serpents hanging from the ceiling. The room also contained an altar of Quetzalcoatl.

Flames burned on the altar. This temple is for the god in one of the calmer and kinder aspects. Not evil, which was a good thing.

Some of us took a paper doll, for luck.  Some didn't.

One more secret door filled in the last gap in our map. It lead to a closet with decayed and rotted stuff, with a little blood seeping in from the bloody room.

Out the last window we found, and around the corner for convenience.

 

Continued in Session 33: Plant Goblins, a Hearse, and a Temple Full of Ghouls.