Session 35: The Dearth Monster of Derfingel Marsh.

The party continues to explore the manor, meeting an old shadow and new wisp. On the way back they meet a druid and the Dearth Monster of Derfingel Marsh.

This write up is based on our Sunday, November 5, 2023 session and was written by our scribe Carl with a few additions from myself. Thanks to Jimmy for the screen shots.  Since we are scattered around the country, we use Discord for voice communications and the Roll20 online virtual tabletop to connect with each other.

Continued from: Giant Wasps, an Intellect Devourer and a New Friend

Location: The Stables Inside Tegel Manor.

Fresh off of one fight, with maybe another on the doorstep.

At least the Ki-rin is OK.

We were pondering the possible visitors were outside the west door, and then Shadow noticed signs of movement in the light coming under the door in the southeast corner of the stable. It was  night, so the shadow movement could have been a light moving or something backlighted while moving.

Reebo found a board and braced the door to the southeast, and locked it as well.

The light source came under the door, and then went back out. A wisp maybe. We decided to move on, and removed the board so we could come back in that way if needed, and then headed out the west door.  As we opened it, we saw a dark shape in the hallway.

The shadow! This thing had been plaguing us for some time, and it vanished again after our first few attacks. Reebo looked out and could see a glow to the south. The Ki-rin decided to join us in its search for its Unicorn friend.

The light was a definitely a wisp, and Aefir could detect its was evilness.

We decided to move north and see if we could get back to town for a much needed rest and recovery.

The wisp went through a wall... or maybe just disappeared, it was hard to tell.

The door in the hallway we were walking north opened onto a short hallway with another door in the northern wall. Aefir opened the door and found the Will-o-the-Wisp. Another battle ensued. The wisp evaporated shortly thereafter.

As we headed off, the Ki-rin pointed out a secret door in the stable, where we met. It is in the south wall, in one of the stalls. It went on its own way as we headed to town.

On the way back we encountered Athrane the Druid. He asked about our looting success, and we said we were contracted to clean the house of evil. He had been in the Manor hoping to find a large magic cauldron, and told us how to contact him if we come across it. He said the cauldron was stolen from his Druidic order by one of the Rumps. It was the Cauldron of  Keridwen. We got a good description, it is about a foot across and was somewhere in the manor.

He told us we should stay away from the woods east of the temple of Frigga - nasty stuff there in the ruins of the old temple.

Saying goodbye to the druid, we headed back to town.

On the edge of Derfingel Marsh near where we had fought the stirges some days ago, we saw a large shadow against the night sky.  It changed direction (it probably saw our lights) and landed nearby.

We had seen the thing before, but had kept a low profile. This time, not so much with our glowing light spells and such. The Large, black, reptilian creature could only be the Dearth Monster of Derfingel Marsh ...sigh.

Benedaar cast his laughing spell, the one that pretty much saved us from the Djinn in the City of the Overlord, and once again it came through. The lizard's laughter was hideous and very disturbing.

Shadow shot it with his crossbow, and it stopped laughing. Attacks continued, with Aefir charging forward as is his custom... And as often happens, that was all it took. He chopped its neck and its head dropped to the ground, a good souvenir.

Likely this will make us a even more popular in the village...

We collected such parts as might be useful (for mages or to sell).

When Reebo opened his pack, the hammer from the blacksmith shop attacked him. It missed, and tried to get away.  A well-placed blanket held it in place. We decided to hang onto it until we could get an identify. Arkelm declined to touch it, so we put it on hold til we find another way. Arkelm did a detect magic, and could tell it was a constructed animated object, essentially a neutral monster equivalent.

Benedaar touched it too, and the hammer attacked as well. Live and learn. We had a theory that it attacked armor wearers. To test the theory, Shadow grabbed it too.... it attacked him and missed. It didn't like unarmored people either.  We stored it securely for another time.

A decent sleep and a Reebo sales-fest, and we were set to resume our tasking. The mayor joined us at first meal, and invited us to the Temple of Thor services. We decided to keep that for later, and headed back to the manor.

Natalie cast Find Familiar on the way, and a now friendly weasel walked up and now rides on her shoulder.

On the way back to the manor, Paraselene asked "Don't dragons, even young ones, usually have a horde someplace?"

That put our walk to the manor on hold, and the search for treasure began. We went to talk to Baladar (local ranger) but he was not home.  The wyrm had been headed toward the north when we saw it.  Some talk and we decided to defer the search. 

Back to the manor instead.

There was one building we had not checked out, assuming it was an outhouse. Completeness sorta urged us to actually look at it and be sure. There was one window in front, shuttered.  A diseased-looking tree was nearby. Reebo could see the graveyard to the south. The door was locked, and silence prevailed in the building.

Reebo unlocked the door (would an outhouse be locked?). Shadow opened it and found a guy who yelled at us. He threw a mug at us and expressed a dislike of elves. He said it was his house and screw the Rumps.

More guff, and while Beneddar failed to charm the man Shadow tried to be friendly. He grabbed Shadow's hand and...well, guess he is not just a man.  Shadow, attacked with a necrotic touch something or the other, screamed in pain and attacked. He missed badly and fell to the floor.

We attacked the wraith.  It disengaged, after taking considerable damage, walked through the back wall and headed off. That back wall was only to another room, and a quick opening led to the final confrontation...Wraith no more.

We found a wedge of old cheese in one corner. There was a hatch in the floor. It opened to a stairway that appeared to lead to a basement.  There was firewood and an axe, visible from the top of the stairs. Aefir just dodged a bear trap at the bottom of the stairs.



That looked like a good place to store stuff, so we rearranged things to hide the trap door best we could, and locked it up.

We went back inside through the carriage house and headed to more completely check out the north part of the manor.

Past a long hallway, up a flight of stairs, one of the doors opened onto a really nice dining room, with the scent of a really good meal... sure, I believe that....

We could tell there was at least one more floor above us. Yet another rat hole was in the southeast corner.  When Beneddar search a pile of debris in one corner, all the food vanished, and a big cabinet tipped over and LOTS of plates and etc fell out and shattered.
 
Something stepped out from behind the cabinet. A mummy, and we concluded that the good smell was coming from it. With our organizational skills and superb coordination, the mummy went to toast before it could even attack.



Reebo collected the plate settings, the bell and candelabra from the table.

Continued in Session 36: The Northeast Tower Completed