Session 38: Meeting Ram and Rodark Rump.

The party meets two others of the Rump clan and Aefir gets swallowed by a slime creature as the party continues exploring the Manor.

This write up is based on our Saturday, February 3, 2024 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: More East Wing Adventures

Location: Inside Tegel Manor.

We just met a new character, Ram Riparian Rump.

Natalie chatted with him and introduced him to Shadow Walker. He was one of the Rumps in the line of secession for ownership of the Manor. He had heard that we killed Roughneck Rump the Rotund, his cousin, who had been third in line to inherit the manor. He had tried to rob us on the way back from the City State of the Invincible Overlord.

As he has done several times before, Shadow talked and got us out of a potential fight.

Shadow talked for a while with him and learned about 'the true master of the manor' Ridwick of the Relic, most often found in the wizard's tower (Southeast portion of the manor).

Shadow asked about other people to evict, and we got pointed at Ruang Rump the Ripper, an assassin (another cousin...are there ANY white sheep in the Rump family???).

He gave us a message to take to 'our benefactor', Sir Runic: "Tell him I am still alive."

We heard a scraping coming from the north part of the corridor we came in from.

Shadow said his goodbyes and we closed the door to the hallway and proceeded to the door in northeast corner of the plant room.

As Aefir stepped into the next room, a pair of fire beetles came out from a pile of rotten vegetation. Reebo cast sleep and they both went down. Walking around we disturbed others that were sleeping in the mulch, waking them up.

The room was quickly secured from bugs. Reebo's sleep had put them all down for a nap, so cleaning was just a matter of finding them one way or another. Arkelm recovered glands that would help with spellcraft.

A closet off the beetle room was empty.

We went back out the way we came, and northward (where we heard the scraping earlier).

Benedar found a pit, about 10' deep. Feather fall helped him stay unhurt. It was the same pit that Aefir had fallen into earlier. The scraping sound we had heard was the pit trap resetting.

Seeing no new doors nearby, we backtracked and went westward down a hallway.

We came to a room to the south that had a shadowy figure of a man sitting in a nice chair, reading and contemplating the world. Aefir sensed he was a very evil undead, and proceeded accordingly. Coulda let the guy just read, but NOOOOOOOOOOO.

Paladins.



As the fight started, a desk drawer opened and several balls flew out. Not knowing what was what, we attacked them too. They were spinning in the air as if someone/thing was juggling them.

The balls fought on after the wraith was dispatched, so balls to the wall with them. They exploded into  shards out and about when destroyed.

A bedroom to the east of the wraith room looked strange, the design not really making sense to us. Some of the stuff in the room looked out of place, and it may have been looted some time in the past.  Arkelm got a pillow.

At the end of the next hall, we opened a door onto a ghost with a clipboard (met it before). It ignored us this time, like last. Moving on to a room we could not reach before, it seemed pretty normal. But....since we went to all the effort of getting there we searched the *()(*( out of it.

We found a book:

   The Ill-Fated Endeavour of the Knight: The Complete Volume. It was written in Common Speech and was an account of Najjar Belloumi’s life written by Maebhe Ghoo in 4213. It was very plain and unadorned and was in good condition, especially considering it is 220 years old.

Benedar found a bottle in a desk. Mariner’s Bottle. A rough-blown bottle filled with sand and bits of coral.

Just after he found it, all the furniture in the room started sliding to the south, as if the room was on a ship and the ship rolled in the seas.

As the bottle was tilted, the furniture shifted. Not the floor, just the furniture sliding around.   Taking the bottle to another room removed all effects.

Benedar found a small chest. It was empty but looked useful, so he stuffed it in his pack.

The next room looked like everything was trimmed in gold, but it turned out to be gold paint. There was a low, murmuring chorus of gruff voices chanting, “Betwixt the meadow, Under the bone; Are scrolls of wonder, Beware the Clone.” The sound of the voices seemed to emanate from the southern wall, but we did not find the source.

Rodark came up from the south hallway. A name from mythology and legend. Looked like some sort of undead, with the stench of decay (think of dwarf breath first thing in the morning)

Para chased it away with a holy symbol of a different mythology and legend. It would not return for one minute, but no guarantee beyond that.

We all moved into a small room and closed the door. The door to the south was, like many in this part of the manor, tough to pick. It held an empty room except for the cobwebs.

After that, we went back west toward the torture room, to continue filling in our map of the manor.

We came to another fake-gold room.  Arkelm found an actual gold comb. Shadow found a bag of raw silver chunks and put it into his bag of holding.

We were briefly disturbed  by the sound of a rattling chain as we entered the torture chamber.

Checking the exits, we found several doors, a rat hole and a pit. Lots of ways out.

One door to the south led to a room that had a big puddle of oily something which oozed toward people as they entered. First thing it did was engulf Aefir completely. He could not see as he fought to escape and get air.

Fortunately, Shadow hit it and wisely used his Ki points to smack the bejabbers out of it and free Aefir.

About then, the Rodark found us again, entering through one of the southern doors. It swung a sword at Reebo as it stepped into the torture chamber. SMACK!!!

Paraselene chased it away again, but in spite of her yelling to not attack it, combat ensued. Turned out that was a good thing, and we put the creature down with extreme prejudice.

No loot.

In the torture room, wondering what the heck that thing was.... We later learned that it was one of the Rump clan.  Probably Ram's cousin also...

Continued in Session 39: The Torture Chamber and Mimics