Thread: The Hook Mountain Manor Mistake [Desril and iridium248]

The day had not been kind to Tialyn Luxora. While she wasn't the strongest member of her band of would-be heroes, she was still a contributing member, but today was the day that she would truly discover why only the very brave or very stupid, but never well-adjusted took to a life of adventuring and monster slaying. Things started normally enough. Word that the various ogre tribes in the Hook Mountain region had been acting up and growing more bold reached Tialyn and her group and they all agreed to go and see what they could do about it. That was easy enough. Ogres and their inbred offspring were a threat in numbers, but if the group was careful they could take down quite a few of the monstrous giants. They even had some initial success, finding a run-down farmhouse in the woods not too far from the town of Turtleback Ferry occupied by a group of ogrekin known as the Grauls. Their luck wasn't that great, however, for after the initial engagements, killing several of the ogrekin, the Graul clan matriarch and a couple of her children escaped to the north. Against the wishes of some of the more level-headed members of the party, Tialyn's group gave chase, hounding the ogrekin for the rest of the day before the need to rest won out over a desire to see them stopped, but come dawn the hunt resumed. Eventually, the party of ogre-slayers tracked the surviving Grauls to a sight that left them stunned. At the very edge of the forest, where woods met mountain, was a stunning mansion built into the very side of the stone. Or at least, it was stunning in scope, and perhaps it was magnificent at one point, but now...now it was dilapidated, worn down, ragged holes in various walls, planks of wood or some times even whole tree trunks roped or nailed to mostly seal them, shattered glass in windows up the upper floors of this four story manor, even some of the gargoyles and statues that rested atop battlements and pillars were broken down. Run down as it was, it was still obviously inhabited, and the decision was made to go in and clear it out. The Grauls must be in there, and who knows what treasures might have gone undiscovered in a place that was clearly once opulent. None of you thought to question why you'd never heard even the briefest mention of this manor, or why you felt a chill wind that made your hair stand on the back of your neck despite it being a toasty day in late Erastus, and that proved to be your undoing. The moment you set foot inside the manor, things started to go wrong. Talren , the shy paladin who did his best to keep his composure around the four luscious women who made up the majority of your party, faltered and suddenly lunged forward toward Setsuna , taking the wrappings that comprised of her top and violently ripping them off. The others managed to restrain him long enough for whatever had come over him to wear off and he apologized profusely afterward, but there was nothing that could be done for her clothes and after redressing she was wearing what amounted to a single strip of bandage wound around her only once, barely concealing her nipples. The more your group explored, the more things seemed to go from bad to worse, but you never saw any sign of the ogrekin you chased here, not until you ascended the stairs to go up to the second floor, then the only other male in the group called everyone to a stop, saying he'd heard something. You were in front at the time, at the very top stair, and the last thing our noble hero remembered seeing is the look of fear on the faces of her comrades behind her before she blacked out. Then Tialyn awakens. With a throbbing headache she reaches up to check her wound only to find her left hand meeting with resistance...a knot of rope tied around her wrist, effectively leashing her to the grimy bed she finds herself laying on, though the knot isn't complicated enough to make it incredibly difficult to escape from with her free hand. Taking a moment to look around the room, she sees it's in decent condition, given the rest of the house. There is no window, but the floorboards are intact, and while there is dust and cobwebs across all the walls and the dresser. The desk next to her, however, has a few spots that seem more recently used, as there is a bowl of steaming something sitting on it. It smells putrid, but looking into it it appears to at least be edible, though you have nothing to eat with and it's only barely within reach of your free arm. At the very least, Tialyn still has her clothing and armor, though a quick inventory reveals that her pockets have all been emptied and her weapons removed. There are many questions to answer...what happened to her? Why was she taken here? What happened to her friends? But most importantly what was she going to do now, alone, unarmed, and in this nightmarish mansion?