Session 36: The Northeast Tower Completed

The party finishes the Northeast Tower, rescuing a captive and trying a magic stew in the process.

This write up is based on our Sunday, December 3, 2023 session and was written by our scribe Carl with a few additions from myself. Thanks to our mapper Jimmy for the screen shots.  Since we are scattered around the country, we use Discord for voice communications and the Roll20 online tabletop to connect with each other.

Continued from: The Dearth Monster of Derfingel Marsh

Location: Inside Tegel Manor, in a dining room in the Northeast Tower.

We were upstairs in northeast tower, at least that is what we think. A recently re-killed mummy could not offer any confirmation.

There was a hole in the ceiling, sort of a trap door from above, looks like it might lead to a kitchen, since there was a lot of food scraps on the floor below it.

Leaving the dining area, we went down a hallway with a door to the south.

As we walked down, Natalie noticed a secret door to the north, and we investigated. The north one opened onto a library, with a stuffed Smilodon on a shelf. When Arkelm picked up a scroll the Smilodon came to life and growled.  Arkelm responded with a Magic Missile, and the fight was on.  Poor kitty, probably just wanted petting.

Seconds later, all that remained was shreds of what used to be a Smilodon, and loose straw stuffing.

Arkelm cast a Detect Magic, and we put out our already garnered loot for detection as well. We found that the books were mostly light reading (romance, etc) and the other loot we had picked up was also NOT magic.

Someone found a faded wanted poster for Retok Rump the Racketeer, printed in 4265. It looked like it might be valuable to a collector, so Shadow rolled it up and put it in his pack.

Reebo unlocked and Aefir opened a door to the east. Inside there were abstract paintings and easels all over the place. A skeleton in a beret and rotting smock appeared to be painting a picture of a kobold. A rat hole in the northeast corner floor offered another access to the area below.

The skeleton went down briskly. There was nothing of value on it.A large mirror on one wall reflected the chaos following battle.

Looking down through the rat hole we saw a space between the floors, and a hole leading down to the hunting trophy room below. Rat paths we could follow.  Reebo stuck his head down to check out the space between floors, and saw that it went west about 10' and turned southwest diagonally.  Reebo let himself down into the 3' space and explored some.

When he came back up, he said that there was a man chained to the wall in the southwest corner of the floor. He looked like he was still alive, but just barely.

We went into the hallway and checked the southern door. It resisted bravely but eventually was overcome.

Behind the door we saw an empty room with a door to the south. Reebo indicated that the prisoner he had seen should be in that room. We went in and found someone chained to the wall.  It appeared to be a human warrior, clutching a helm surmounted with snarling head of a bear.

Reebo started unlocking the chains holding him.

As the warrior was dying, Aefir 'laid on hands' just in time to keep him alive.

When Reebo released the manacles from the warrior, they animated and glommed onto him.

We cleared the room, and Reebo picked the lock again and dashed for the door before the manacles could grab him again.

The warrior's name was Orsin, part of an adventure party. He was left behind, and it feels like he has been held prisoner for years. He was very tired of bread and water, which just appeared regularly on the floor near him.

We asked him about the manor and his explorations in it, but they had done less than we have and so we learned nothing new.  He looked older than his claimed 35 years, but was happy to be released.  He wanted to stay with us until we left the manor.

Back in the hallway, Reebo opened the last door on the south side. As that happened a zombie came out from the dining room. Good zombie, dead zombie.

The last door on the south side opened onto a bedroom, with a young man (dead) in the bed.  Fungus and stuff grew in the room and on the bed. A desk, a night table with a box and a foot locker, plus one more door.  The box fell apart upon probing, revealing bottles of rotten stuff, mostly.  One bottle was still sealed.

The foot locker had moldy clothes. The desk had just trash, and was falling apart.

An old woman appeared, looked at Natalie and screamed that Nattie had slain her son. She then ran through the east wall.

Aefir did Last Rites for the dead man in the bed.

We decided that, since we had covered most of this area of the manor, we would go upstairs and check out the last part of it.

Up the stairs we went. One door resisted, and Aefir pushed it off the hinges. Rats in a skungy room, with fungus and moss making a virtual carpet. The rats did not last long. Walking through the room was difficult but manageable.

A door opening onto a balcony, surprisingly enough, was unlocked. We tied a rope to Orsin and lowered him down to the ground. He waved, put on his helmet and then started to change. He turned into a bear, and headed off to points unknown. We hadn't realized that the big warrior was actually a druid.

Next room south was a kitchen, and the door to it was flimsy and could not be latched after opening. A pot of something, simmering on a stove, was being stirred by a magic spoon.  A garbage chute in the north had been used to dump garbage, as we had seen from the dining room below. The stew smelled really great, but really? Tegel Manor Special of the Day?

A barrel of bitter ale, some sour wine. The cheese was coated in wax, and might still be good. Taste test later.  Some took a finger sample of the stew, with mixed opinions about the taste.

Next room over had 3 exit doors, and a diadem on the corpse of a girl.  Reebo tried Mage Hand to lift the diadem, but it did not work.  He used his short sword to pry it loose, and prying shattered the skull.  The pieces transformed into moths, which flew away.  The corpse the crumbled away.

There was a wardrobe full of moldy gowns, and other trash stuff.

On to the next room westward.  A gross gooey room.  Skylights were obscured by goop. A slimy pool of decaying organic matter. As Aefir waded shin deep through the mulch he bumped into something, and it turned out to be a greatsword. A black greatsword, not rusty. He did not like the look of it, and that it did not like him. Aefir wrapped it up in one of the gowns from the last room.

A door to the south opened readily to Reebo's skills and Aefir's strength. The smell was horrific, even with an open window.  There was a rat hole and door on the far end of the room, and four large bats...vampire bats. Aefir attacked, and one more time...

When the bats were dead, Aefir was checking them out and stepped on something else. This time it was a key. An engraving on it said: “Dragon Caves — Ruby Throne Room.”
Reebo took the key.

Final room in the tower was a bedroom, nicely laid out.  When Aefir entered he was hit with a Geas by a woman in the room, but resisted it. Seeing him resisting, she turned into an black arrow and disappeared through the ceiling.

After she flew off, we searched (Duh...) and found a box under the bed, a box under a table, a pouch on a table and a robe hanging on the wall.

  The pouch had several silver hairpins, high quality.
  One box had 125 gold coins.
  One box had four red potions. We would have to figure out just what later on.
  The robe had eye-like patterns on it.  Definitely need to identify this one!

Most of the things in this room were in surprisingly good condition.  A fire in the brazier went out when the woman went through the ceiling.

We took some stuff, remembered other stuff to come back for, and went back down to the ground floor.



Continued in  Session 37: More East Wing Adventures