1. Cellar

Any exploration of the manor grounds finds it deserted, but with plenty of tracks leading to a stone staircase just off the empty ruin of a large kitchen. At the bottom of the stairs stands an unlocked door with a cellar beyond. When the characters open the door, read the following: The door opens onto a five-foot-wide landing fifteen feet above a large cellar, with stone steps descending to the floor in two short flights. Another door stands beneath the stairs to the north. A large stone cistern occupies the western part of the room, whose walls are lined with kegs and barrels. This room appears to be a large storage cellar, exactly the sort of thing one might expect to find beneath an old manor. The Redbrands want to keep their base of operations hidden, so other than the barrels filled with fresh provisions, nothing in this room gives away their presence. The barrels contain salted pork and beef, flour, sugar, apples, and ale. Moving barrels around to thoroughly search them is a noisy activity that attracts the attention of the Redbrands in area 2. Cistern. This rectangular reservoir is clean and filled with cold, fresh water. It is 10 feet deep with a rim 2 feet higher than the surrounding floor (so that the bottom of the cistern is 8 feet below the floor). Drain pipes from the roof of the old manor above fill the cistern with water. A waterproof satchel hangs from a submerged rope attached along the south wall of the cistern, about 2 feet below the surface of the water. It's not visible from above the water, but can be found with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check or automatically by a character probing the cistern with a pole or jumping in. The satchel contains some valuable items (see the "Treasure" section). Secret Door. A secret door is located in the southwest corner of the room and leads to room 8. DEVELOPMENTS No monsters or villains are found in this area, but the ruffians in area 2 take notice if the characters make a lot of noise here.

They creep into the room, gaining surprise if the characters don't hear them (see "Surprise" in the rulebook).
If the ruffians fight in this area and two are defeated, the last ruffian might reveal the secret door by fleeing in that direction.

TREASURE The satchel hidden in the cistern is waterproof and contains a potion of healing, a potion of invisibility, 50 gp, and a clean set of ordinary travel clothing. (This is a getaway kit that Iarno keeps here in case of an emergency.)

Parent Plot

Redbrand Hideout

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