2020-11-05 - The Cleaning Crew Pt. 1 Report

General Summary

* Game sessions are now being recorded, so session reports will be more accurate and may contain details that might have been missed when recounting from memory.

** Due to a work schedule conflict, Michael Rounsville (Grim) will not be attending the session. With his absence, we will be running a short low level side quest with the 3 remaining players. This and the next report will include descriptions and quotes from the NPCs from the adventure, Into Ivy Manor, written by M.T. Black, and purchased from DM's Guild marketplace. No copyright infringement intended.

The game begins at the end of the last session.
Our adventurers have just fended off a small party of bugbears, looted and cleared the camp of the corpses, and have completed a night's rest. The time on the road to Longsaddle, the southwest terminus of Logger's Road, is quiet, giving our group a chance to relax and continue to heal from the beatings received from the Orcs, boars, and bugbears encountered the days before. Two days travel, and around the bend in the road, the party sees the low stone walls of the next city.
Longsaddle is a small, walled city; a berg servicing the folks traveling between Unity and Mereysa. The city has many supply shops to help stock adventurers, nearly all items non-magical, but nomadic caravans of peddlers also make regular stops at Longsaddle and may be carrying more exotic goods. Grifters are also common among the merchants, so "buyer beware".
The city is also home to several inns of various reputation and price; some boasting the best venison stew in the realm; some with beds so soft, it would be rougher sleeping on the clouds themselves. Some have food that is barely edible, but a night's stay is a tenth of the normal cost... of course, you might leave with your share of an infestation of fleas. The best known of the inns is the Gambling Golem; where the prices are fair, the food is edible, and the beds are acceptable. The regulars and staff are also friendly to travelers, knowing where their next gold piece is coming from. There is activity twenty four hours a day, you can get a meal at any time, and private rooms are available, if you so desire.
The group has found themselves at the Gambling Golem for a short respite from the road, enjoying a hot plate of food, a few pints, and hoping for a night's sleep where no monsters are creeping in the shadows of the night.
The crowd is cheerful, but there does seem to be a buzz concerning our party. Every now and again, a glance, a loud whisper, a chuckle reaches the adventurers table; and a name is repeated: Harpell.
Kanuni asks the serving wench about the unusual attention that the group seems to be garnering, specifically asking about this "Harpell" person. "Yall are furners", she drawls, her accent not typical of the region, "The Harpells are a fam'ly of extremely rich wizerds. They live in da big manson on the edge of town, and eye-slate themselves from the reg'ler fokes arown her." After deciphering what the wench had said, he orders another round of ale for the table.
While waiting on the drinks, Irthar spots the "sketchy dude in the corner" and slinks over to his table. Nobody follows like a puppy.
Irthar drops a small bag of coins on the table and says, "I can't help but hear this name come up: Harpell. wonder if you would be interested in talking to me for a small compensation."
Nobody bursts out with "Explain" and the other two at the table are unsure which he is talking to. Side-eying Nobody, the man picks up the pouch, shakes it a little; he mentally calculates the contents from the weight and the clink of the coins within.
"What do you want to know?" He asks.
"Who is this Harpell we keep hearing about?" Irthar asks, sliding in to the closest chair at the table, leaving Nobody to stand.
"You are new around here, aren't you? The Harpells are a family that own the mansion overlooking the town. They are powerful wizards, a bit eccentric, and a bit reclusive." Explains the man.
"So, why did our group seem to become connected to the name? What is going on with all the whisperings?" Irthar keeps prodding, trying to get his money's worth of information.
"There is a little help needed at the mansion, and one of the family members are looking for someone to do the job for them."
"How do they pay?" Irthar seeing the coins already stacking up in his mind's eye. Nobody butts in with "How much?" as if to emphasize the question.
The man smiles as he tells Irthar "Well, they are the richest family in the area."
"Wealth doesn't equal good p..." Begins Irthar, but is interrupted by Nobody asking "Says who?" "...pay. Don't mind him, he's special." Irthar finishes, cocking his head at Nobody.
The two converse about the Harpells for a bit longer, with Nobody interjecting his nonsense here and there, but eventually, Irthar feels that he has enough information and returns to the group's table. The man slides deeper in to the shadows surrounding the table
From the table, Kanuni has been listening in as best he can; but as Irthar is returning to the table, Kanuni shifts his attention to the psychic link between himself and Chovi, watching as the bartender grabs three mugs from the back of the bar, and one from underneath. The bartender fills all four from the same cask of ale, and the serving wench delivers them to the table; Chovi returns to Kanuni's shoulder.
Kanuni thanks the server and tries to give her a sly and flirty wink, but the effort is forced and comes off as creepy. The serving maid smiles at Kanuni, almost in pity, and returns to the bar after ensuring that the party doesn't need anything else at the moment.
The group sits, chats, and continues to listen the whispers around them, when out of the blue:
The mug in Nobody's hand sneezes, spewing the contents all over the floor. Nobody looks down and the rim of the mug is moving like a mouth -

Ah, yes. Greetings regular folk of the privateer profession! I am Tristan Harpell. How do you do? No, don’t answer that. I don’t care.
Do you like gold? Of course, you do. Your kind always like gold. Well it just so happens that I have a sturdy payment for a crew such as yourselves. If you look out the window to the west, you’ll see Ivy Mansion—a magnificent structure, I know! I have recently inherited the old northeast wing of Ivy Manor after my greatuncle Siegfried, um… died... somehow.
Anyways, it’s full of nasty little annoyances that I simply do not have the time or energy to deal with. If you can clear out the nuisances that Uncle Siegfried left behind... hmmm, let’s say 150 gold pieces for each of you? Oh, and a pet bird.
If you are interested in entering into this... um... arrangement, just go to the bar and order a round of Ivy Port.

After a brief discussion, the group orders the Ivy Port as instructed. Once the drinks were delivered, the adventurers cautiously sniffed out the mugs of port; Nothing untoward floating in the drinks, no funny smells - so the team downed their drinks. And, as the last mug hit the tabletop, the world goes plaid around them.
When their vision clears, it is obvious that the party has been teleported out of the Inn and are now in the halls of an expansive mansion... sans one member: Grim Galanodel.
Behind the group are a set of ornate doors with circular handles. A portrait of an older man with aristocratic clothes lies on the floor, as if discarded. Hanging in its place on the wall is the portrait of a younger man, his face exuding snootiness and condescension. The nameplate beneath it reads “TRISTAN HARPELL” - the nameplate on the portrait on the floor reads “SIEGFRIED HARPELL.” Tristan’s portrait begins to speak.

Ah, welcome to Ivy Mansion, ancient home of the Harpell dynasty! Ignore my uncle down there - one of the servants was supposed to hang him in the ballroom.
If my enchantments worked correctly, one of you should now have a pair of keys in your pocket. The brass one opens the double doors to the northeast wing in front of you. The silver one is for the vault to the underground levels. I hear there’s some nasty stuff down there, so please lock it if you get the chance.
Clatter – that’s the name of our caretaker who I’ve just sent inside - has a map of the whole floor. Just ask for it.
I need you to go to each room and clear out anything irritating – do that and you’ll receive your proper recompense.
Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a plump little maid at the Gilded Horseshoe who I promised to share some Ivy Port with.
Oh... in case you decide to back out of our little agreement, I have one of your teammates here. I think you know him as "Grim"? Finish the job, and he will be returned to you, unharmed. Best of luck to all parties, eh?

With that, the portrait stops speaking, though Tristan’s visage has a more prominent smirk on it than before.
This hallway has delicate molding along the floor and a spotless carpet. Many mirrors, at least a hundred, cover the walls. They are of every shape and size imaginable. The group can hear the "caretaker" Clatter - an animated suit of armor - coming down the hallway. Clatter turns the corner and stops in front of groups.
Kanuni reaches out his hand and says "I believe that you have a map for us."
Clatter opens the visor of his helm, reaches in to the void, removes the map and hands it to Kanuni. Kanuni can also feel the two mentioned keys in his pocket.
Taking a quick scan of the map, the team can see the various rooms that make up the Northeast Wing; Kanuni decides to take charge and open the doors in the left wall of the hallway with a bit of gusto. Scanning the room from the door reveals a carpeted sitting room with two chairs with a small table between them, a sofa with a coffee table, a fireplace, tapestries and paintings on the walls, a bear skin on the floor, and four potted plants. Seeing nothing moving in the room, he steps in and starts rummaging through the couch cushions. Irthar steps into the shadows just outside the door, ready to support Kunani, if needed.
The couch begins to morph, a large mouth full of teeth and two tentacles stretching out of the sofa.
Before Kanuni enters the sitting room, Nobody heads further in to the wing and finds Siegfried's bedroom. A large bed sits against one wall, and a wardrobe and dresser dominate the opposite side. The dresser has a gigantic mirror attached to it, which is covered with a bed sheet. It appears nobody has used this room in quite some time. The wardrobe and the dresser contain expensive, although eccentric, sets of men's clothes. Nobody jumps on to the bed and after a few bounces, decides to lay down, hands laced behind is head; he scans the room from this relaxed position.
From outside of the sitting room, Irthar hears Kanuni shout "Its a mimic!" and steps in to the doorway with his crossbow at the ready. Spying the sharp toothed mouth and the tentacles of what was once the couch, he takes aim and pulls the trigger; the bolt whizzes by Kunani, and with a solid thud, impales the mimic. The bolt pains the mimic, distracting it from reaching for Kanuni, and grasping at the air.
Within the four potted plants are hiding a twig blight each, and upon the activity of the mimic, they spring in to action, also focused on Kanuni. Clatter seems to be unphased by the melee that has begun in his hallway and starts to wander away, returning to his previous patrol. A mental command from Kanuni and Chovi flies over the left of Kanuni's should, preparing to distract the monsters. The first twig blight to reach Kanuni takes a swipe and scratches him with a claw. Kanuni retaliates against the twig with Burning Hands, releasing a cone of flames. He manages to catch both the twig blight and the mimic in the cone; the twig burns to death in a matter of a heartbeat, and the mimic is severely burned, the smell of putrid burnt putrid flesh filling the room.
A second, third, and fourth twig blight closed the distance between itself and Kanuni; taking a swipe at the wizard. Though he attempted to twist out of the way of the twig blights' claws, Kanuni took a slash across his thigh from one of the foes.
Irthar steps into the doorway with Kanuni and takes a blind slash in to the room, his rapier slicing the air but connects to nothing. He steps back to the hall, and once again tries to blend in with the shadows.
Ignoring the noise of combat from the hallway, Nobody continues to survey the bedroom. He throws a pillow at the desk, then gets up and moves over to the desk to explore.
In the hallway, the fight continues with the mimic once again trying to grapple with Kanuni, who has now has a slight blue glow as he triggers the Shield spell stored in his ring. The mimic is again at a loss trying to find purchase on Kanuni. Clatter continues to patrol the hall, seemingly oblivious to the scuffle but ending up in the middle of it. Kanuni sends Chovi to support Clatter and backs out of the doorway, while casting Dragon's Breath with Chovi as the receiving target.
The first of the twig blights steps out of the room and fails to notice Irthar. With Clatter being the next closest target the twig blight claws at the armored construct only to do no harm. A second twig blight follows and also fails to harm Clatter.
Irthar has had time to recharge the crossbow, so steps back to the doorway from which the two twig blights have emerged and with a sneak attack, lines up a shot at the mimic, this time landing a solid hit. One of the twig blights in the hall is surprised by Irthar and takes a reactionary swipe at him, missing wildly; and with that, Irthar again steps back in to the shadows.
Back in the bedroom, Nobody continues to search the room, now at the dresser with the mirror. He checks the contents of the drawers and looks behind the dresser. He eventually pulls the sheet off of the mirror, to find that the mirror has a large circle cut out of it, and the mirror is reflecting his image back at him, but the image has a maniacal grin. The image in the mirror takes a step forward and appears in the room with Nobody, a mace in its hand and a crossbow slung across its back. It takes a swing at Nobody with the mace, barely connecting. Surprised and a little dazed, Nobody takes three punches at the attacker, landing two. The living reflection recoils from the blows.
The twig blight that was still in the sitting room follows the others out in to the hall to attack the animated armor, managing to get under the armor to the clockwork underneath. A few gears and springs fall to the ground. The mimic follows and sees an easy meal in the bird circling Clatter. It reaches out its pseudopods, snatches the bird out of the air, and tosses it in to its mouth. Being made from magical energies, the bird makes a disappointing dinner as it dissipates back to the arcane ether. Irthar again switches to his rapier and slashes at the mimic pseudopods, once more missing; then, as expected, steps back in to the shadows.
Clatter is still a non-combatant, and trapped in a 10' area at the end of the hallway. With Clatter walking in a circle, two of the twig blights claw at the armor, only to meet the resistance of the metal shell.
Kanuni, managing to corral all three of the twig blights in to the end of the hallway with Clatter, casts Aganazzar's Scorcher but the spell fizzles out, failing to do any damage. The twig blights continue to claw at Clatter, the one that first damaged the animated armor reaching in between the armored plates to grab a handful of gears and springs. The damage is starting to take it's toll and Clatter is slowed a little. The mimic, having failed to find a satisfying meal in Chovy and not seeing another immediate target choice other than Clatter, also turns its attention to the mansion's caretaker; pseudopods ripping parts of the armor away to expose underlying gears, springs and pistons.
Regaining its feet, the living reflection takes another swing at Nobody with its mace, another glancing blow. Nobody retaliates with a flurry of blows, the first doing critical damage, the second is a minor strike that knocks the reflection off its guard, and the third, another solid hit, pushes the image back into the mirror.
Within the mirror, the image regains its feet and steps close to the mirror surface, continuing to grin maniacally. Before the image can regroup and step through the mirror again, Nobody wanders out of the room and pokes his head in to the observatory momentarily, but leaves to explore the kitchen. In the kitchen, he finds a young girl of about 8 years of age tied to a table. He ignores the girl to rummage around the kitchen.
The melee in the hall continues with Kanuni, again, casting Aganazzar's Scorcher at one of the twig blights and the mimic. He catches the mimic with the full force of the spell, severely burning the mimic. The twig blight is just to the edge of the flaming cone, but is hurt bad enough to die from the flames. As the two twig blights and the mimic continue to claw at the animated armor without finding purchase, Irthar sinks a crossbow bolt in to a vital area of the mimic, killing it. Kanuni casts fire bolt at one of the twig blights that are still harassing Clatter, but misses his target.
One of the remaining twig blights manages to get hold of the exposed clockwork, clawing out two hand fulls, as Clatter continues to walk in circles; Clatter now showing serious damage and tottering a bit on its feet. The other twig blight fails to find a target in the unsteady Clatter. Irthar switches to his rapier and slashes at the twig blights, failing to hit either. With his off hand, he draws his dagger and stabs at the blights, again, missing both.
Now in the kitchen, Nobody pulls down the key hanging next to the pantry door. It is a brass key with a tag reading "Pantry". He tries to put the key in the pantry door lock, but it doesn't fit, so without further attempts, he leaves the kitchen with the little girl still tied to the table.
Still trapped at the end of the hallway, Clatter proceeds to walk in circles, the twig blights taking attacks as the armor turns it's back. One blight fails to get under the armor, but the second does get another hand full of gears and springs, this time pulling the clockwork apart enough for Clatter to fall to the floor, spilling the remaining gears, springs, and pistons. With the twig blights still distracted by the falling animated armor, Kanuni casts acid splash at them. The splash hits both twig blights with minimal impact, barely doing any damage to either. The acid splash does get the twig blights' attentions and one charges Kanuni, but in its haste, bungles the attack. Now within rapier range, Irthar slashes at the twig blight and manages to kill it. With his off hand, Irthar stabs at the remaining twig blight, just as Nobody comes around the corner and, with crossbow drawn, hits the twig blight with a bolt. The last of the attackers has died.
The Kanuni found the kitchen and decided to take a long rest to allow every one to recuperate from the battle and for Kanuni to summon his familiar, Chovy. For the first time, someone acknowledges the little girl, gagged and bound to the table. Kanuni removes her gag and asks her name.
"Tathra", she whimpers. He continues to interrogate her, but only can get that she was kidnapped by a "rat" promising to show her the "boogeyman". She breaks down and starts mumbling a rhyme:

Lock the door, blow out the light; The hungy Oni haunts the night. Hide and tremble, little one; The Oni wants to have some fun.
Hear it scratching at the door; See its shadow cross the flow. The sun won't rise for quite a while; 'Til then, beware the Oni's smile.

Getting nowhere with the little girl, he casts "Detect Thoughts" on her, only confirming that she is a very frightened little girl. He gives up and begins the ritual to summon Chovy, leaving the little girl bound on the table
Irthar rummages through the bodies of the twig blights and the mimic, coming up with a small handful of change. Nobody has moved in to the library to explore; he begins to examine the books on the desk.  One book in particular has been defaced with crude markings in the margins, and words and passages scratched out.  Nobody finds a spell book, and being unable to read the contents, returns to Kanuni with the book.
As they pass in the hall, Irthar follows Nobody to the kitchen to find Kanuni in mid-ritual to summon his familiar, Chovy.  Nobody, drops the book in the middle of the components that Kanuni has spread out as part of the ritual, and ask "What is this?"  Breaking concentration on the ritual, Kanuni looks at Nobody annoyed and exasperated,  picks up the book and examines the pages of arcane text.  He tells Nobody that it is a spell book and tucks it away in his supplies.
Now that Irthar knows where the others are, he returns to the hallway and goes to lock the double doors leading to the rest of the mansion.  As he heads back to the kitchen, the rest of the group join him in the hall; Nobody has the bound little girl slung over his shoulder.  They debate where to take a rest, and since Nobody has explored more of the wing than the other two, he points to the bedroom.  Kanuni asks if Nobody had been in there and if he has cleared out any "obstructions"... Nobody hesitantly says "Yes".
The group enters the bedroom, Irthar slumps down in to a chair, Kanuni leans against the wall next to the door, and Nobody plops the girl down at the dresser (in front of the mirror), before sprawling out on the bed again.
The four reflections of our group grin back from the mirror with death in their eyes.

This is where the game session ended

Created Content

The town of Longsaddle.
The Harpell family.
Ivy Mansion - Northeast Wing (map to be posted)

Campaign

Ombre Unfolding

Protagonists

Irthar Black

Kanuni of the Black Sands

Stex (Nobody)

Report Date

11 Nov 2020

Primary Location

Ombre

Secondary Location

Algermon

Related Historical Events

• 2020
  2020-11-05