Session 44: Rosienna Rump, Ghouls and Elves

The party fights a flirtatious specter, ghouls and a golem, finally meeting up with some elves who had been beaten by a mannequin.

This write up is based on our Sunday, August 4, 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: Two Rumps and a Water Elemental

Location: Inside Tegel Manor

We were near a bathhouse/elemental room and were looting the body of Raucous Rump. We found 6 gp in pocket change and good stuff to be identified later. He had a long sword and shield and plate armor, quite likely very good gear. 

While checking a door out of the elemental/pool room, Reebo thought he heard some faint and distant voices. It sounded like two people arguing.

We could not hear anything after we went into the N/S corridor beyond the door.

Aefir narrowly avoided falling into a pit trap, but did avoid it. It was 10' deep, and looked empty. Shadow jumped across it and started to secure a piton/rope for safety when a face came through the wall near him. A woman's arm reached out to touch him but he avoided it. It ducked back into the wall after missing.

Shadow backed off and looked down a corridor to the east, seeing a LOT of cobwebs in it.

The lady stepped through the wall on the south side of the pit, and reached out toward Reebo. She smiled flirtatiously and caressed him. OUCH! Her touch drained some of his life force and he felt weaker.

We got a couple attacks in and she ducked back into the wall. She came out again and died for her troubles. Rosienna Rump, we remembered her from a picture before she faded to nothing.

Using the piton/rope safety measure we got safely across and pressed on.

We blazed through the cobwebs and came to another locked door (but not locked for long). There was a bunch of junk furniture piled in the center of the room, as if for clearing out. Some human bones in a few places, but no full skeletons.

When we searched it, giant centipedes came out of the pile. A fight, once again, resulted in us alive and the other stuff dispatched. Reebo had checked a southern door by the time the fight was over.

Steadfast thought he heard a chair sliding on a floor behind another door, and Reebo went to listen as well. As Reebo was putting his ear to the door... the door opened.

A ghoul and some friends looked out at Reebo and Steadfast. Reebo attacked it before it could react. 

Can we never just say, "Hi" ?

We could all hear at least a dozen flabby feet charging toward the door and the battle started in earnest.

When Paraselene got within sight she pulled out her holy symbol and attempted to turn them. Not all of them were affected, but several crumbled to dust.

Luckily avoidiing some friendly fire at times, we put down most of the ghouls in reasonable time. One ran off to the south, we thought perhaps for reinforcements, Aefir got a shot at it as it was opening a southern door, but the ghoul got the door opened and invited a large golem to the party.

The ghoul died shortly after letting the golem out of its closet, but an even more interesting fight ensued as we dealt with the new, and never before seen, opponent.

In reasonable time, the golem joined the ghouls. This was a disgusting kitchen, fit perhaps not even for ghouls. EWWWWWW!

The kitchen had several small rooms, probably storage. Nothing worth our trouble, and certainly nothing worth eating or drinking.

We spread out and examined the room, trying to not gag, when a late arrival showed up for the party.  Rustum Rump the Rabid, a shadow of a big man with a bushy beard. 

Reebo tried to shoot him, but his bow string came loose.

This was not our best start of combat, as Arkelm fumbled his spell and hit Reebo with a Fire Bolt as Reebo attempted to hide. Yep, NOT our best start ever... But we managed to finish him off eventually.

In a larger storage room off the kitchen we found a fine wooden box which had 6 crystal spice containers, some quite nice ones.

In the southeasternmost little storage room there was another door. Steadfast listened and heard some talk in Elvish. He heard comments about how insane the manor was, and that they were not sure they should have come this way. Steadfast, in his usual safe and conservative approach, opened the door onto three elves...

Heavy sigh.

Mutual introductions were in order, since we were all adventurers in the manor. They spoke of insane sewing equipment and being attacked by a mannequin. Something we would not have to deal with.

Shadow recognized the elves as adventurers that he had encountered before. We were well met all around, we shared our information about the manor and they shared theirs. We decided to travel together for a while.

Turns out Aefir was in the army with one of them, it was almost a class reunion.

They told us about a secret door nearby, so we had to learn about that. But first, turned out they had NOT put down everything behind them, so we all gaggled to take care of some more of the denizens of the manor.

They were looking for the Rod of Ragnar, lost long ago and rumored to be in a sitting room within the manor. We discussed that and the door they came through as well as getting away from what they fought. They said they had to run away, unable to hurt whatever it was.

Since they were hurt, we put them at rear guard and prepared to check out the tailor shop and mannequin. The room looked like a linen storage place, with one mannequin, unscathed by the wet filth around the area.

As we approached the mannequin, it did not react. Absence of weapon marks made Steadfast question if it can only be hurt by magic. Good thing we are prepared for that as well as we are prepared for anything else.

Steadfast led off with Ice Knife...mixed results from ones he had cast before...and hit it. This time no friendly fire resulted.

The attacks against us came from tailoring tools off the shelves rather than the mannequin attacking directly.  Not much for weapons, but they hit a couple of seldom hit folks. The mannequin did not move during the fighting. Hmmmmm

When Aefir cut the mannequin in half, it was all over. The tools fell to the ground as the mannequin hit the floor.

We got the elves to show us the secret door they had mentioned, and turned out it was behind the mannequin itself.  We offered to help them find the Rod of Ragnar, but it could be a long search.

We took the mannequin apart to see what made it tick, if anything could be learned. No clue.

Searching the room, Reebo found a box with fur lined gloves, hat and scarf on a high shelf. They didn't look valuable, but we took them to check for magic later on.

We were hurt some and down spells, so we all mosied back to our clubhouse for the rest of the day and a long rest.  We made sure we could find the secret door to get back inside if we ever chose to come back in that way.

Continued in Session 45: Doppelgangers and Goblins