Feral Druid
The Gang had just defeated the Needle Blights. Several hundred feet away in the tall grass, a man popped up and gestured wildly towards the Gang “You Killed my pets!! You killed my pets! Must return for more!” He was speaking in Druidic and was clearly unhappy. He cast a spell and sped at an unnatural pace. Sometimes running and sometimes crawling on all fours. He was soon out of sight in the tall grass and was last seen travelling in a southward direction off the road.
Kids at the Crossroads
The Gang managed to recoup some hit points and powers from a Short Rest but lacked the benefits of a Long Rest. So some of them were still suffering the exhaustive effects from the poisonous fog. As the gang set out along the road that led into the open grasslands, rolling thunder was heard and fat drops of rain began to fall.
After traveling about 20 minutes, two small figures were seen ahead. Yor and Roos approached the pair which turned out to be human children; a girl around 7-8 years old and her younger brother. The girl, Rose, did most of the talking, while her brother, Thorn, mostly whimpered at her sister’s side.
“There’s a monster in there!” She said pointing towards a gravel road to the north. This path intersected the road they were currently on, and it led to a tall stately manor that was surrounded by a five-foot-tall stone wall. Seeing that Yor and Roos were safe, the rest of the group joined the conversation.
Rose was made nervous by the motley party (a Kenku, Drow, Goblin, Elf, Human surrounded by a cloud of spores, and a Dragonborn), but she did her best to answer their questions.
Yes, there was a monster, but they didn’t know what it was. They could only hear its howls.
Their parents, Gustav and Elizabeth Durst, kept it trapped in the basement.
You had to go up to the top floor to get down into the basement.
Their little brother, Walter, was in the 3rd floor nursery.
Skarther the Goblin scrutinized the children’s responses and determined to the best of his abilities that the kids believed what they were saying.
Approaching Durst Manor
The tall brick house would’ve been a welcome sight, if wasn’t for the warning of a monster within its basement. It was a three leveled house plus an attic within its A-framed roof. Warm lights could be seen glowing behind the curtained windows and the house was surrounded by a five-foot-stone wall with an open iron gate.
The Gang went through the gates and Skarther took a walk around the house. He found some windows in the back and peaked through the gaps in the curtains. As far as he could tell, inside was a dining room with a full meal set upon the table. Apparently, it was ready to be eaten because he could steam rising from the food. Not much else could be seen because of his limited vantage point.
Entrance Hall
The Gang decided to enter the house. Inside the front door was a foyer. Portraits of an aristocratic man and woman were hung on a side wall. “That’s our parents,” Rose admitted. Between the portraits was a shield with a windmill engraved upon it. At the other end of the entrance hall was a pair of doors with stained glass set within them. Yor decided to make some noise and kicked in the glass, luckily avoiding any injury. The loud crash elicited no response.
The children refused to enter the house despite the party’s attempt at persuasion, so Yor decided to stay behind with them while the rest of them explored the house.
Main Hall
The Gang walked into a large room from the west with doors in the eastern wall, stairs spiraling up to the south, and another door in the western wall. The wall to the north had a fireplace with a longsword hung over it. The sword had a windmill engraved on its hilt. One of the PCs took the sword. The paneling on the walls were ornately sculpted with vines, flowers, nymphs, and satyrs.
They found a cloakroom in the east with black cloaks and a top hat. Someone took the hat.
The Dining Room
The Gang took the northern door in the eastern wall and walked into the dining room. This was the room that Skarther spied on from the outside of the house. Eight high-backed chairs were set around a long mahogany table. On top of the table was a delicious feast for eight people: including venison, turkey, duck, yams, stuffing, etc. It all looked recently prepared and ready to eat. The wood paneling had pictures of deer among trees.
The Gang went around closely inspecting the room and someone discovered that the paneling had wolves hiding from behind trees that were hunting the deer and twisted faces were depicted in the bark of the trees.
Skarther decided to transform into a wolf to perceive more, specifically from his sense of smell. The food indeed smelled like food. Okay check. Could he smell humans? Beyond the familiar odors of his companions, no other creature was perceived. Okay that’s weird. He went back into the Main Hall. Smell of humans? Nope.
The Kitchen
The Gang took the eastern door in the south and discovered the kitchen. There was everything that one would expect in a kitchen: Stove, prep table, cooking implements etc. Skarther the Wolf smelled around and could not detect any odor of food in here. Considering that there was a fully cooked meal in the next room… something wasn’t adding up. A dumbwaiter was discovered in the western wall, possibly large enough for a small creature to fit in. Skarther transformed back into a goblin and tried his best to squeeze into the dumbwaiter but failed. The Gang retreated into the Main Hall.
Moss took a turkey leg and offered it to the kids, and they ate it. Yep, these are the heroes we got. (The DM may just give up and allow Moss to change his Alignment to Evil.) Roos decided to babysit the children and Yor was allowed to explore with the rest of the group.
The Den
The Gang returned to the Main Hall and took opened the door in the western wall. This looked like ye old man cave. Mounted above a fireplace was a stag’s head with two padded chairs facing it. Between the chairs was an oak table with a small cask of wine and two wooden goblets. A lit chandelier hung above. Three stuffed wolves were placed around the room. There was a cabinet in the north wall and a locked cabinet in the east wall.
Roos managed to persuade the children inside and everyone was finally together.
Somebody unlocked the cabinet. The Gang found a heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and a hand crossbow with 20 bolts for each weapon. They also found playing cards and an assortment of wine glasses.
Roos stayed in the den with the kids, while the Gang went up the stairs.
Upper Hall
The stairs were lit with oil lamps hanging from the wall and the Gang reached the landing on the second floor. This Upper Hall was the same size as the Main Hall. Four standing suits of Ring Armor stood in each corner of the room. There was a fireplace in the northern wall with a Durst family portrait: Gustav, Elizabeth, Rose, and Thorn. Gustav held a swaddled baby in his arms, while Elizabeth was portrayed as giving the baby some side-eye. The doors were carved with dancing youths. A cold draft could be felt coming down the stairs from the 3rd floor.
They decided to take the stairs up to the 3rd floor.
Reaching the Third Floor
The Gang trudged up the lit stairway to the 3rd floor landing and that’s when things took a drastic change. Upon hitting the 3rd floor landing, the lights went out.
Downstairs in the Den, Roos was plunged into darkness as the windows to the den were bricked up, canceling out the natural light coming through them. Also, he spotted the children Rose and Thorn turn to piles of dust on the floor. Roos rang a warning bell (he keeps one on him for occasions such as this) and made his way upstairs using his superior Darkvision.
Upstairs, Wildthorn cast light so that folks could see. This room was like the Main Hall and the Upper Hall, but it was roughly half their size. The wooden paneling was now dried and cracked and depicted scenes of trees, falling leaves, and tiny critters. A layer of dust covered everything. On the opposite side, was a suit of full plate armor.
Yor approached the armor and was surprised when it animated and attacked. The Gang quickly dispatched the thing, and it fell to pieces.
END SESSION
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