Hasken's Manor
DM Name: Abbassia
Participants:
Myr, Level 6/8 Changeling, Abyssal Battle Sorcerer
Rosalyn Aglaie, Level 5+2/7+2, Half-Fey, Cleric of Tamara
Shiari, Level 7, Pantheri, Ranger/Deepwood Sniper
Voss, Level 6, Duergar, Beguiler
Challenges:
See each session for details…
Experience:
Rosalyn: 2,781 XP
Shiari: 3,200 XP
Myr: 3,213 XP
Voss: 2,063 XP
Treasure:
All: One Magical Item within the magic item limit (within reason and ops approval)
Voss: 1,275 GP + 4 Bottles of Vintage Assassin Grapevine Wine (worth 200 GP in total)
Everyone Else: 5,475 GP
Quest Summary:
See sessions for further details.
Loose ends:
Genna the Hag: The hag was part of a hag coven being hunted by a Paladin of Bahamut, though the Paladin was able to eliminate the rest of the coven, Genna and her bodyguard giants were able to ambush and kill the paladin, looting his equipment. The Paladin was later resurrected by his party and had set out again to hunt Genna, the latter found refuge at Hasken's Manor, killing the hobgoblins who were encamped there before coming into contact with our heroes. The Paladin had only just reached Haskenport and is delighted with the news, offering you a reward for the Hag's demise (and the return of his gear) in addition to the reward for clearing Hasken's Manor. (reflected in the rewards already)
The Lockbox: Still very much missing, it seemed the hobgoblins may had something to do with its disappearance but with them dead, that cannot be known.
The Manacles of Freedom: the Manacles, along with other artifacts were transferred to the temple of Sol Invictus, who were pleased to retrieve the Manacles and offered to allow you to keep any of the other items you found in the vault or exchange them with something equitable from the Temple's own vaults.
Haskenport Mushrooms: Gram remembered to get some, refusing to accept any reimbursement in any form other than the edible meal, paid over time.
The Shore Nymph: still in distress.
Hasken's Manor
DM Name: Abbassia
Participants:
Myr, Level 6, Changeling, Abyssal Battle Sorcerer
Rosalyn Aglaie, Level 5+2, Half-Fey, Cleric of Tamara
Shiari, Level 7, Pantheri, Ranger/Deepwood Sniper
Voss, Level 6, Duergar, Beguiler
Challenges:
1x Annis, CR 6
2x Hill Giant, CR 7 <1 retreated>
Experience:
Rosalyn: 1,800 XP
Shiari: 1,800 XP
Myr: 2,063 XP
Voss: 2,063 XP
Treasure:
Each: 1,275 GP
Equipment found so far:
On the dead Annis <What's left of her anyway>:
-A small box containing religious scripture affixed to a leather cord
-A Greatsword <appears to be magical>
On the dead Giant:
-A greatclub
Quest Summary:
Answering Brother Gram's call, the little Mouseling Paladin explains that he is on a mission to retrieve a hidden lock-box from the Manor of a Paladin named Raynard Hasken who had retired to the old estate over 30 years ago.
Soon, our adventurers find themselves aboard a trading cog, by the name of the "Pike", northbound to the Rimvast Bend and destined to the lands of Northermost beyond, there the cog's cargo would fetch a handsome price. The journey is one that promises equal shares of both riches and danger as it will take the Captain and his hardy crew dangerously close to wild Rimevast and notorious Lichthamner, two landmark sights of the many the wild North has to show.
Though for our adventurers, their destination lies nowhere as far, as they intend to depart the ship at the mouth of the lower of the Eastern Summer rivers, the ship's quartermaster, a Mouseling relation of Gram's who goes by the name of "Ounce", convinces the captain on behalf of his kin to allow the party to commission one of the ship's longboats along with a capable seaman for their river trek.
Before the group leaves the Pike, just a little short of reaching their intermediate destination, the ship comes into view of a fairly recent but somehow regular occurrence; On an isolated coast lies pieces of wreckage once belonging to the trading cog, the "Barger", upon it stands a maiden of fetching beauty who calls out to all passing ships over the sound of crashing waves. While the crew takes to enjoy the eye-pleasing sight, on allowance provided by the good captain, who in turn tells the party the story behind the so-called "Lady of the Coast"; apparently, unlike the more colorful and sometimes risque stories of the crew, the maiden turns out to be a cross Nymph upset over the unsightly wreckage on her beach and her home and is hollering at the passing ships to "Clean up their mess!".
Though the captain and crew remain contented to live and let live, admiring the sight of the nymph and be off on their way, the party seriously considers how to help the Nymph, but finding little means at their disposal and their drop off coming shortly, they decide to attend to the matter later, for now they leave the Pike and head to Haskenport.
The party navigates up river with little trouble and arrive at town, upon hearing of Gram's mission to investigate the old manor house, the port guards guide the adventurers to the temple of Sol Invictus, where they learn more about Hasken, the late Paladin who retired to his old manor long ago, since then town formed up nearby due the discovery of a delectable local mushroom variety. Hasken died naturally nearly a decade ago and has willed his manor to the temple, but the local priestess has been unable to maintain the high upkeep of the manor and have instead transferred the more valuable possessions to the temple at town. The Priestess asks from the party to help a local parishioner and Hasken's kin, Stiles Hasken, reclaim his inheritance. At Town Hall, however, the party learns that a druid had spotted a group of Hobgoblins moving into the manor and the mayor is anxious to have them cleared out.
Wasting no time, the party heads to the manor, finding it in a severely dilapidated state. The Manor was a two story structure built on a cliff overlooking the river bank nearby. Voss and Shiari stealthily infiltrate the structure by a broken window under the cover of invisibility, while Rosalyn, Gram and Myr force loudly open the front door alerting all within to their presence. Inside, they find a tall woman warrior who introduces herself as Genna, a woman from the northern tribes who had been on the run from bandits.
Genna had found the manor and decided to use it for shelter, instead finding a bunch of Hobgoblins already within, Genna slew the monstrous squatters and tossed their corpses over the balcony into the rotting dock below, she pointed out the corpses to Myr, but even as Myr leaned over to spot the corpses, Genna sprung her trap, revealing herself to be an Annis and grappled Myr and flung her over the balcony.
What Genna did not count for was Rosalyn's magic, the cleric promptly switches places with the Battle sorcerer, then uses her wings to fly up and do battle with the Annis, who has summoned her two hill giant bodyguards from the kitchen. In a double ambush, Voss and Shiari spring their own attack, surprising and disabling the Annis's bodyguards. After a struggle, the party emerges victorious with both the Annis and one of the Hill giants were slain, while the other had used the confusion to escape to the forest.
Though successful against the hag, Gram reports that the lockbox is nowhere to be found upstairs as the secret compartment appears to have already been opened and its contents taken, but far more pressing; loud sounds seem to be coming from the basement, indicating that their troubles may not be over just yet.
Hasken's Manor
DM Name: Abbassia
Participants:
Myr, Level 8, Changeling, Abyssal Battle Sorcerer
Rosalyn Aglaie, Level 7+2, Half-Fey, Cleric of Tamara
Shiari, Level 7, Pantheri, Ranger/Deepwood Sniper
Challenges:
1x Astral Construct, CR 4
3x Adult Neogi, CR 4
4x Neogi Swarms, CR 3
1x Neogi Great Old Master, CR 6
Experience:
Shiari: 1,400 XP
Myr: 1,150 XP
Rosalyn: 901 + 80 = 981 XP (Extra XP for healing fleeing Skum)
Treasure:
Each: 4,200 GP
Consolation reward: Voss: 4 bottles of Vintage Assassin Grape Wine (worth 200 GP)
Quest Summary:
Descending into the manor's basement, the loud noises that drew the party had ceased abruptly just as they arrived at the aftermath of a decidedly single sided battle; the loser, a fishlike humanoid figure recognized as a skum, lay face down and bloodied on the floor, dying. The menacing assailant, nowhere to be seen, had apparantly berzerked through the steel door outside to the watery cove beneath the Manor, an offshoot from the nearby river.
Despite some unspoken reservations by the party of the usually evil skum, Sweet Cleric Rosalyn was quick and unhesitant to stabilize the skum and ward off the embrace of death. Now awake, the skum -called Kadre- told the party that he and three others had sought Hasken's manor in search of the artifact called the "Manacles of Freedom", pleading to the party to recover the item from the vault, now open and its stone guardian gone.
It would be an easy task for the party to retrieve the artifact from the vault without any difficulty, save for a weathered psionic trap which summoned an Astral construct, catching Voss and Gram off guard and knocking the two outside the room and unconscious. But it was clear that the trap's intensity had dissipated somewhat over the course of time and the weak construct was easily dispersed back to the Astral plane, barely a suitable challenge to Myr's deadly claws. Though the mouseling came to soon after, the dwarf was apparently still out and it was decided that Voss would be safe in the Manor's bedroom upstairs until he recovered.
With artifact in hand, the party pondered whether to grant it to Kadre, asking for his story, the skum explained that he, a skum with the arcane gift, had long sought out the manacles for his own freedom, even before his original Aboleth master bartered him and others to the cruel cave-dwelling Neogi, who used them to expand their lair in the watery caverns nearby the manor. Kadre and his companions had recently took a chance and escaped, but seeing the cruelty of the Neogi made them determined to seek the manacles and free the others, entering the manor without the knowledge of Genna nor the Hobgoblins, though they did not count on the guardian of the vault, however.
Gram the paladin pointed out, however, that the manacles lawfully belonged to the temple of Sol Invictus, as per the the last will and testament of Paladin Hasken, and that it was his duty to return the manacles to the chapel in Haskenport, this seemingly hypocritical statement did not sit well with the party however, especially Myr, but Gram was wisely quick to iterate the proposition that they should go with Kadre -especially given the tragic demise of his companions- and aid him in seeking the freedom of his people, the elimination of the Neogi threat and ensure the return of the manacles once all is done, certainly a much more acceptable position for the party.
Kadre, properly healed and armed with the manacles led them with renewed vigor through an underwater passage at the back of the cove, Rosa helpfully providing both light and water breathing, navigating the tunnels, they finally come to the Neogi lair deep within, only to find a similar aftermath from before; Neogi and Skum alike lay bloodied as the stone golem somehow found its way to the Neogi lair and wrecked havoc among them.
As Gram stayed behind to help the dying Skum -Rosalyn's clerical healing abilities providing much help as she passed- the rest of the party pushed onwards with Kadre, coming in sight of the Skum remnants finally overcoming the golem. Though badly injured and barely able to fight, the Neogi ordered their thralls to advance on the heroes, who were reluctant to attack those who they sought to liberate, sensing this hesitation, a Neogi moved forward as well, seizing the chance to enslave Myr under its vile influence.
However, what the Neogi did not contend with was the Manacles of Freedom, a determined Kadre stepped forth and invoked its power, invoking its command word; "Freedom!", he cried out in common as he pulled his arms apart, and just as the chains broke with a brilliant and loud spark, so did the enchantments over the Skum who, now suddenly free for the first time, wasted no time in making their escape through the tunnels and the underwater cavern passages.
Of course, also freed was the none too pleased Myr, who cut down the offending Neogi where it stood, another was gunned down by the intrepid Shiari, while the last fled deeper into the caverns, the party pushed onwards battling their way through swarms of Neogi Spawn, they finally came to chamber of the Neogi Great Old Master, a bloated abomination of an old and senile Neogi, where the last Neogi made its desperate last stand.
In its poor judgement of the fey's immunity to Mind affecting enchantments, the Neogi foolishly attempted to enslave Rosa (Darn you, Jenni :P), for its mistake, it would pay dearly as Myr fell on it, tearing it to shreds. Though even as she did so, the rest of the party had to contend with the constant spitting of spawn swarms from the Great Old Master.
Eventually, the party overcame the bloated monstrosity, bursting it open as it covered them with Neogi fluid and undeveloped spawn, they had emerged victorious and earned full rights to the possessions of the now dead Neogi. True to his word, Kadre returned the manacles, now a chain link shorter, to the Paladin, who'd have something to show for his quest after all. Kadre bade the party farewell as he led his people to a new beginning, knowing all too well that his original master or his kind of the aboleth will not be pleased.
You find the following notice posted on the bulletin board at the Arcadia Inn, the letters are scribed out in an insular script, but is of a somewhat small size, the notice had just been posted by Dave the bartender, it reads:
"Attention, Adventurers;
A paladin of Sol Invictus requests to hire an adventuring party of three to six qualified adventurers, who shall act as escort on the journey to the riverport hamlet of Haskenport and aid in the paladin's mission to investigate the outlaying structure known as Hasken's Manor.
The hamlet of Haskenport is located in the northern Summer Country, some distance north of Wilder and roughly more than midway from the Eastern Panoceana to the Kudurru Range. Passage has been secured aboard the trading cog, The Pike, which will provide coastal transit, the party will then travel up river by boat to Haskenport.
Adventurers are advised to provide their essential and non-essential supplies before undertaking this journey, as there will be little opportunity for outfitting along the way.
Those interested please apply at the local Temple of Sol Invictus or inquire at the Arcadia Inn"
At the foot of the notice are a number of scribbled doodles for those who cannot read; among them is a scribble of a boat at sea, an arrow up to indicate north and a crude depiction of a manor house, along with a mark that has been used to indicate an adventurers assignment.
Even below that still, some extra writing is scribbled and though equally small, they are clearly in a different handwriting, the post script reads:
"Haskenport is well known among the culinary ("Cooking") circles for its Alba madonna (That's the local mushroom). I would happily pay a good rate for a sizable amount of them to be delivered, please check with Hannah at the Arcadia for details."
Below this is scribbled the crude diagram of a mushroom.
