Happy Halloween!
It's been about three years since I ran The Zombraire's Estate, so time to dust it off again, this time for a Shadowdark crew....
- Brandon: Halfling Bard
- Matt: Dwarf Priest
- McKenna: Human Fighter
- Mike: Human Witch
- Jema: Elf Knight of St. Ydris (late arrival, see below)
We Rolled For Hats and got moving. I kept to the stock game plan from the module, and had the players hired to root out and purge the old manor of its curse...
The initial four PCs approached the manor. Spotting the skeletons arrayed by the front gate, the dwarven priest approached to give a blessing to the dead. The dead woke up and were having none of that. Stabbing and smashing and failed Turn Undead rolls commenced (even with a luck point - Madeera was not answering calls today).
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The party then circled around the compound, finding the Wrenwald family crypts. As they waffled about checking them out, Luacia the Dryad's raven found them and asked for assistance. The raven recognized the witch with their mouse familiar as a kindred soul. The mouse was sent with the raven to assess the dryad, returning to confirm their veracity. Luacia explained the blight from manor's curse and begged the PCs to help. They agreed. She healed the priest in thanks. Her bless attempt failed though, a sign of her fading powers.
Entering the compound, the fighter checked out one of the animal pens, finding the zombie chickens... After poking a stick at them, she decided that checking for eggs in the coop wouldn't be a good idea.
The witch found the poisoned well, and recovered a magic short sword from the doomed adventurer. The bard took the sword for later use.
More poking around and avoiding the other animal pens and zombie gardeners. This party was way too cautious...
Into the manor, kicking down the rotting main hall door. Stealing silverware commenced. The bard checked out the fireplace and was set upon by the wraith hiding within. Much panicked fighting, and CON drain. But they got some decent gems out of the deal.
Into the kitchen, where nothing of note was found except scattering cockroaches. Oh, and that secret door. Entering the hidden library, they found rotting books and the Temu crystal ball. The bard managed to not be cursed with the head and tail of a donkey... (I moved the scrolls from the adjacent bedroom to this room for the bard to find)
More secret door finding. And into the stairs and secret commode! They pulled the cover off and spotted some gleaming metal. Intriguing. Something didn't seem right, and the mouse familiar was sent down to assess. Yep, lots of crawly things. Mouse retreated with some choice words for the witch.
No one else cared to descend. Cowards.
Up the stairs, where they inspected the navigational equipment and faded maps. Hey, says bard, I have this sleep spell. Think it will work on the grubs?
Back down the stairs. Of course, they take by surprise the elf knight who is creeping around. Who decides they are enemies and attacks. The fighter manages to grapple the elf, and the witch successfully casts hypnosis to let them know they are friendly. PVP violence dealt with.
Oh and the bard's dabbler roll failed. No sleepy rot grubs.
Back up the stairs. They entered the third level laboratory room and came face to face with a cage full of grumpy stirges, err, "stingbats."
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| That's a good stirge: source |
While they negotiated around the cage and mixed random vials together, they were set upon by the Zombraire himself, the undead Justin Wrenwald III. The knight intercepted him as he reached for the stirge cage, slamming him against the wall. The rest of the party was able to bum rush him before he got off a spell.
They recovered some valuable goodies and retreated. Word was, that the local lord's patrol scouted the place a week later, finding nothing but zombies reduced to muck.
DM Notes:
This party really didn't want to go poking into the outbuildings and crypts... no risk - no reward :) But, as the priest had blown all his spells, and everyone burned their luck points trying to help one another with re-rolls, its was understandable. Three PCs were lawful, with Madeera as their deity, but she was clearly too busy to help them out...
Attempting to sleep the rot grubs. Points for that.
Again, fought dumb - The Zombraire should have used his wand of illusion to distract the party while he reached for the stirge cage. That would have been wonderful chaos.
Some more scribbles for Sunday's big session... Trying to make a real challenge and ending... TBD.
OK, off to hand out some candy to rain-soaked trick or treaters and then check out Frankenstein... Have a good one!
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