Session 19 - The One With All The Doors
27th Feb 2021 19:15 - 22:30
In-game timeline: DR1489 Elesias 23 - Eleasias 24
Our "Heroes" have managed to escape the stockade by dropping down into the sewers below - literally "dropping" in the case of Kandi. They are keen to get away from the grating they descended from, before their escape gets noticed and they are pursued.
They get their bearings using the map they obtained from Togruk's items. The group then spends a while discussing which way to go. For a group in a hurry they didn't want to be rushed.
They eventually decided to head north. Their first obstacle was a locked door. They easily break the lock and manage to get into the corridor beyond. To their left is a scary cobweb, so they head right - this being the first of many "avoid anything potentially dangerous" decisions made by the group this night. Turning right, they make their way to the sewer river flowing through these caverns. The water flows relatively quickly, and they are not sure of its depth, so Kandi volunteers to walk across the stream with a rope tied around his waist, held by TC and Mahtis.
It’s a shame that Kandi had forgotten just how bad his friends are at holding a rope. The elf loses his footing in the middle of the stream and starts to be dragged downstream by the water flow. This would not normally be a problem, as the party had the foresight to have a rope tied around his waist. But Mahtis and TC were distracted, probably by scary cobwebs, and managed to drop the rope. Luckily Kandi was able to swim quickly to the other side before drifting too far downstream. Knowing now how deep the river was, the others managed to get across with their rope holders paying a bit more attention this time.
Once again using the map, our intrepid adventurers head in the direction they think is towards Chadstone Manor. All of a sudden they all stop and seem to be affected by personal visions inside their head. TC and Kandi come out of their brief trance feeling quite positive, though strangely homesick, whilst Mahtis surprises a nearby TC by running off in fear! Kandi is perhaps even more surprised to find Carro beating him around his head with his fists!
Quick as a flash, TC chases after Mahtis as she flees southwards, wading through the sewer water as she does so. Mahtis gets a fair distance away before seemingly coming to her senses and stopping. Luckily, neither her, nor TC loses their footing in the flowing waters as they ran. They slowly make their way back to the others, wondering what came over them.
Meanwhile Kandi is fending off blows from Carro, but a few of them land. Kandi is unimpressed, but is used to being under the cosh of nobility, though perhaps not quite as literally as he is now experiencing. He tries to calm Carro down, but fails. However, after raining a number of blows down on his fellow wood elf, Carro too seems to come to his senses and soon all four of them are back together, wondering what happened, and swapping stories of their visions.
Worried about a reoccurrence of the visions, and their aftermath, the group proceed very cautiously back towards the manor. They discover the gate containing a crest of crossed hammer and pickaxe which seems to lead to a cellar beyond. The gate lock is broken and they enter the area, keeping to the shadows.
In the cellar they find two humanoids cowering behind a locked gate (who don't spot them) and another locked gate opposite. They also spot some cages, one of which seems to hold some sort of live creature, and some bloodied knives and empty crates. They heroically ignore all of this.
Finding steps leading upwards, they climb up and enter a trapdoor that seems to lead into the manor house itself, entering via a larder room, off of a dirty kitchen. Some of the doors seem to have lights beyond them, so our group of "heroes" decide to avoid all of those and head into the darker area of the manor house.
This area proves to be what Carro identifies as the servants quarters. But all rooms here seem to have been unoccupied for many years. Our group, so far having avoided any and all indications of anything remotely dangerous or exciting, continue to only investigate the dark and quiet areas of the manor house, though they do hear one or two strange sounds coming from the floor above.
After a number of hours spent opening LOTS of doors, only to find empty and dusty rooms beyond, our "heroes" eventually decide to open a door with lights beyond - having found only a naff book of poetry, a diary written in gnomish that none of them can read, and a small key labelled "trapped!" that seems to fit none of the locks they have so far encountered.
The first lit room they enter is a dining room of sorts, though doesn't look to have been recently used as one. By the flickering embers of a recently used fire, they can see more lights in rooms beyond and, partly though their intrepid nature, but mainly through boredom of opening so many empty rooms, they decide to press on into the lit areas of the manor….