Treasure or Folly

## A Path to Treasure

In the inn known as the *Mote Lantern* at the northern gate of the town of Banor, the party met a man of questionable reputation named Thangus Tribulan.

Thangus had placed a posting in the inn for the last week or two that indicated that for the right price, Thangus would lead adventurers to a hidden manor, deep in the Athro Wood, that was bound to be filled with treasures from ancient times. He definitely wouldn't take less than 200 to show adventurers the path...unless he took 175....or maybe 150 gp.

In any event, a portion of the money was given to Thangus ahead of time, and then the next morning, Thangus and the party headed out. He seemed to be honest in the conversations that he had with the party. There was a certain amount of incredulity that was pervasive in the party, but not enough to truly distrust Thangus' motives. Perhaps Thangus was a bit shifty, but not a completely scoundrel.

As they headed into the Athro Wood, Thangus showed the party his trail symbol as they went, so they would believe him a bit more. And as they progressed, the party did indeed follow his trail. The group encountered some dire wolves one night, but with some clever druidic understanding, the wolves went on their way. Eventually, the group came to the long deserted hamlet of Staeden - once a relatively strong yet small village, but destroyed long ago by overwhelming force. Thangus warned the party as they approached that he and a couple of his hunting friends had run into an ogre here, so they should be on the look out. Thangus and his friends had killed one before, but you never know what you could find in these woods. What the group did find, was 3 ogres, hiding amidst some of the ancient ruins of Staeden. Fierce and formidable the ogres were, but also no match for the party, ever growing in strength.

The party continued along Thangus' blazoned trail, heading south until they came upon a manor built into a low hill amidst the deep and dense trees of the Athro Wood. Here lie whatever was left of a manor, its ancient doors, engraved with griffon and lance, covered in detritus and forest sprawl. Thangus would take care of the party's steeds and extra equipment, while the group ventured in to claim what had not been seen by civilized man for centuries. What would the party find when they entered?

## Inside the Manor

Immediately inside the manor was an entrance hall. The hall images depicting various events in history surrounding the time of the Demon Wars, immortalized in frescoes on its walls. In addition, there was a remarkably well-kept sigil of the manor, that of the Griffon and the Lance, indicating the House of Bandraht. Several doors exited the hall, but the party decided to investigate the first door to the west.

### The Conservatory Area

Heading along a long dark corridor, the party came to a crossroads of corridors and elected to head south into a series of rooms that were overgrown with strange plants. The rooms comprised a music conservatory, a study and a couple workrooms. Although never encountering these plants before, Freya ascertained that these light blue vines that hung about the rooms were known as Valah, a vine more commonly the far north in Frostmark, Rhorden and the Land of the Ur Lords. These plants were susceptible to fire, but also had the ability to drain people of their warmth. Besides the strange blue plants, there was another brown, withered plant on the workroom floor with fronds that swayed to the slightest motion in the air. When Brocktharian was trying to skirt this plant, he found out the hard way that a simple touch to these plants could drain one's vigor almost instantly. The last strange occurrence in the area was that in the conservatory, there was a clavichord in the center, which emanated a tune very quietly even though no one seemed to be playing it.

The party quickly learned that the Valah, although not openly hostile, were very fearful and protective when it came to contact with fire. When Freya began to wave torches near the Valah, contact with them caused the vines to lash out and begin to drain the half-giantess of her body warmth. Fortunately, Freya was able to carefully retreat, and with that, the Valah also returned to their original locations. It was also discovered that the fumes from the burning Valah could cause additional fatigue, which affected a couple of the party members.

Next, after retrieving an ornate cloak, a book, a broken lute, and a smithing hammer from the area, the party continued their exploration.

### Unknown, Unseen, Undiscovered

Next up, the party found a cistern with basins, which probably served the manor with supply of fresh water pumped in from an aquifer or elsewhere. Although the area was searched, it was left with the main spigot of the cistern still running.

The following room was some sort of entry hall. On the northern wall was an ornate door engraved with the sigil of House Bandraht, surrounded by two suits of armor, each armed with ancient martial weapons of the South East nobility, the Falchodiar. Although initially immobile, when the door was approached, the suits of armor came alive and barred the party from venturing forward. The suits of armor were actually Varumvartha, constructs conjured from dead servants who serve eternally those masters they left. Besides being skilled with their martial weapons, the Varumvartha had two other powers which the party had to face: a gaze which caused brief paralysis in those locked eye to eye, and a screech which caused a brief feeblemind condition. Although Zak suffered from the screech, the party was able to deactivate the Varumvartha and clear the way to another part of the underground manor.

The party retreated outside briefly to recover, and found that they had been followed by something or someone hidden, causing them grief. It appeared that this something hidden was also attempting to inflict some sort of disease upon the party. This action awoke the cognizance in the party about what was going on given a note they found in the study near the conservatory...

> Sergeant Walver will have to take care of Adurn.  He must not only be allowed to play in the house again, but it sickens me to say that he must be killed as well.  He was such a great musician, but the rumors of his association with the beast cult are more than likely true.  Twelve people were supposed to have received a disease from him at one of his concerts, and three of the people died that day.
>
>

Adurn was probably following them now, and probably was the one responsible for the music before. Although Adurn could not initially be seen, through the magic and skill of the party, they were able to dispatch Adurn once and for all, even though Adurn called upon Giant Rats to attack the party in his defense. In the aftermath, however, the party would gain control of the *Cloak of Adurn,* and with it, the ability to call upon giant rats themselves.

When the party returned to the interior, they ventured beyond the door where the Varumvartha had been, and discoverd an old salon used to entertain special guests, still equipped with a bar and study. There were also frescoes on the wall which animated when the braziers by them were lit. The frescoes depicted scenes from Southwestern history, but also included a strange fresco where a famed hunter, Harbin Kangkwar, from the Southeast was receiving guidance from the great sage, Arddig Mardwm. In the fresco, there appeared to be an extrusion, a projection of a plate upon which Harbin had placed some entrails to which Arddig responded negatively. The extrusion was identified as magical and that it could also identify some traits or abilities of items placed upon it.

When heading back to recheck areas that they may have missed, the party decided to return to the cistern since the water from the spigot there was slowly expanding outside of the room. Upon entry into the water, Brocktharian discovered that hidden in the water was some sort of strange water demon known as Shikagwash. The creature could hide instantly in any depth of water, but seemed to stay solely in the water, attacking any who it could reach. The fight continued for a while, but fortunately, the group was able to both turn off the spigot and vanquish the water demon who had found itself in the manor's water supply. Why was there a demon found herein?

When the group did revisit the study with the Valah in it, the group was very careful not to disturb them while they investigated the rotting bookshelves and desks in search for anything worthwhile. Several books were found in the shelves, covering history of the Demon Wars, Dark Lords of the South, the Great Learning, the Southern Barons, and a book on the Manifestations of the Guardian Gods focusing on Aluriath.

### Fear and Fortune

When the party continued to the north through the Salon, they found a heavily trapped door which shot out dangerous flames periodically. Racing through at the correct periods, the party ventured into a once lavish bed chamber, probably that of the Lord of the Manor. However, it was still occupied, with a ghostly woman weeping on the bed. Zak approached the ghost and became a bit too familiar for the ghost's liking, and she immediately sent out a scream which terrified several to their very bones - sending several of the party at a full dash back out of the manor at full speed. Meanwhile, Freya fought back the undead lady of the house, using the weapons left by the Varumvartha. Fortunately, Freya was stalwart and victorious and the fear of the lady would never be felt again. After searching the noble bedchambers, the party was able to find one of the grand suits of mail of House Bandraht and a great cloak, also emblazoned with the house sigil, but also capable of healing allies of the bearer.

### Wood, Bones and Slime

After resting up, the party continued to investigate the center corridors of the old manor. Beyond the doors, they ventured to the left and found an audience waiting room in surprisingly good condition. The hundreds of years had not shown their wear on the furniture because the furniture was not furniture at all, rather they were a group of otherworldly Nonesuch in the form of chairs. The Nonesuch were fast and could go invisible at all, but eventually the party had their way with the fake furniture. It was also found that in a desk present in the corner of the room, there was a note written in Lord Bandraht's hand about demons being let out, but there wasn't much more information than that.

Beyond the waiting room was a corridor leading to a destroyed office. On the office floor, small child-like bones were scattered everywhere. It appeared some of the bones had bite marks on them, while others were broken as if they had fought something quite strong. In the broken, deteriorated by ornate desk, the party was able to find a key for yet another room in the house.

This key would come in handy as the main audience room would be unlocked by it. The audience room was long, with a slimy, black pool in the center and a dais with a throne at the end. After a brief investigation, the group was surprised to see the pool expand and assault them. Some sort of formless, demonic wonder now inhabited the main audience room and was not pleased to see it invaded by outsiders. The party fought bravely and eventually the demonic creature was disposed of, leaving its demonic eyes behind. The party was also able to find a pair of ornamental, yet magical, glaive-guisarmes by the throne, and two teleportation stones as well for quick access to the front of the manor and the overgrown stables.

### Time, Iron and Knowledge

Opening a lock on the right side of the main hall led the group to a room whose walls and ceiling was covered in stars, and a large brazier placed in the center. The group surmised that this might be related to the scroll for binding and summoning a time elemental, but they were not ready to deal with that. They did, however, find a secret passage off of the starred room, and the passage led to a private library guarded by some sort of iron golem. The iron guardian was strong, but the party was stronger, especially once Freya had grabbed *Hrongmar*, the Great Spked Hammer of Dwarven Lord Theiban Front. In the library, many valuable books were still in considerably good condition. Perhaps when the party got enough time to rest and relax, they could take advantage of the content therein, but for now, they would just have to see what they could find and bring it out of the secluded manor.

### Time to Eat

The next wing of the house to be explored included the Main Eating Hall. The room was furnished not only with chairs & tables and also with skeletons of long perished, and guarding these remnants was a large greyish semi-transparent brain covered with mouths and tentatcles, namely, a Fihyr. The Fihry had the ability to cause *feeblemind or paralysis* for a short period of time, and it also could hide quite easily no matter how much light was present in the room. Nonetheless, the party was able to dispatch the Fihyr and restore a couple of the party members after the combaty was done.

The first room off of the dining hall to be explored was the Servants' Workroom. A large hearth against the eastern wall offered a transit path for the strange multi-kingdom creature known as the *Pybra*. These half-plant half-snake creatures were no push over and were capable of infecting Brocktharian with several infectious bites. Fortunately, Aterian was capable of healing the paladin so he wouldn't become a plant.

Off of the workroom were the servants' quarters. In one room, the servants had been lost to some demonic power, turning them to some sort of intraplanar sand beast, which could form one or two sand demons, wielding multiple falchodiars at the same time. A difficult foe, but the party was able to break the binds that formed the sand into a creature. The other servants' quarters was occupied by undead versions of servants. Fortunately, they did not attack at first from their locked room. When they saw the sigil of Family Bandraht on Brocktharian's armor, the wights paused and momentarily obeyed Brocktharian's commands, giving Zak enough time to relock the door on the wights, locking them in for another few centuries.

### The Kitchen is Last

The main kitchen was the last place on the main floor of Bandraht Manor that the party needed to search. The first room was the servants' dining and relaxing hall. Although no servants were present (or undead versions thereof), there was an evil construct known as a *Manster* present. These creatures are constructed to haunt and guard a location that a creature capable of summoning and binding demonic slaves can muster. The *Manster* was dangerous in combat, but could also spit acid clouds around it. It also could regenerate and turn invisible at will. A nasty beastie, but the party was able to handle this evil construct.

Beyond the *Manster* was the main working kitchen, now inhabited by the strange *Zanth* worms. The turquoise-black *Zanth* has a large 2' head with multiple rows of small teeth, and it also has a strange song that can stun and paralyze creatures if they're not careful. Fortunately, Aterian was able to cast a dust devil in the room to attack the pack of Zanth en masse, making it easier for the party to dispatch them.

## Downward and Below

Near the main corridor, there was a side passage which led to stairs leading to the lower level. The lower level presented the party with a single wide main corridor running straight north to south. The corridor was partially caved in with dirt and stone, but there were other strange features to it as well. First thing was first, what was in the room with mushrooms all around the door?

### Food, Wine and Fungi

The party opened the fungi-covered door and in it was an old food cellar, complete with newer mushrooms to augment the decaying food. For the fungus, however, the decay seemed right. Broken hogs heads and crates covered the room, topped with large mysterious fungus. The fungi were edible, but they were also consistent with what would be found in a lair of some sort of *Myconid*. Not wanting to disturb the plant creatures, the party left the food cellar as they found it.

The next room had used to be a wine cellar, but the racks and bottles where broken everywhere, making it difficult to navigate. Also in the room, however, were a few large spiders, yet no webs to speak of. The spiders did have some sort of disease that they inflicted upon the party, but the party nevertheless rid the manor of their kind. However, when the spiders were terminated, they transformed into some sort of fading, humanoid. It was later determined that these were some sort of undead witch akin to *Huecuva* who had been again been brought here to guard the manor from the creatures of this plane. Fortunately, the party remained on this plane and found some *Boots of Expeditious Retreat* as well.

### The Source of Child-Bones

The next couple sets of doors down the hall were curious. To the right, there was an empty room save a large pentagram which read *Bring forth our food to keep us alive so that this miserable earthly domain shall forever be in our power*. Across the hall from this room was another set of iron doors, but these had large stones leaning against them. Using the strength of the half-giant Freya, the party moved the stones and opened the doors, unleashing an exodus of more than 20 small demons called *Rabisu*. The little furtive creatures immediately attempted to escape their confines, rushing out of the room as fast as they could. The party destroyed many of them, but they were both fast and clever and capable of hiding so easily it made it difficult for the party to contain them. The party even used the teleportation stone they had found in the main hall to quickly head back to the entrance of the manor to attempt to head them off. While most of the small demons were destroyed, a few were able to escape into the woods and to who knows where. As it turned out, the *Rabisu* were probably being summoned as food for something...but for what or whom?

### Door Unopened and Door Unneeded

The next set of doors on the passage offered different obstacles for the party. To the left, a set of doors could not be budged. Even with Wubba's *Knock* spell the room behind could not be entered. The doors were opened for sure, but behind them were slabs of stone, immobile and currently impenetrable.

Across the hall, however, the door was unneeded, for an ethereal apparition came out and through the walls to accost the party, draining life and strength from its members. Fortunately, the party was careful to handle the unholy inhabitant of the manor, and although the spectre traversed back and forth at various locations across the corridor, the party would be able to send it back to the grave where it belonged. In the room where the spectre had been, however, was a halberd named *Yowkai*, who has the ability to grant its wielder waterwalking. In addition, Yowkai granted the wielder the ability to ignore 64 hit points of max hit point lowering from life draining abilities.

### The Assembly Area

There were more cave-ins along the main corridor, but the group determined they should go beyond for now and see what was at the end of the main hallway. Once the doors were opened, they beheld a large room with a massive binding circle in the center. The walls and floors were covered with ooze, but more ominous was the large bulk of a creature coming towards the group, *Aagantular*.

This demon brought here varied in shape over time. In a large oozing black form, *Aagantular* had a large mouth and 2 massive claws, with the ability to seep acid in bursts all around it, and a black aura emanated from it, causing all around it to suffer disadvantages for attacks whether by melee, missile or spell. Then the creature would transition through a semi-transparent state, causing a blast of cold wind to shoot out, bludgeoning foes and pushing them aside. Finally, Aagantular would take on a more transparent humanoid shape where missiles and range spells could not affect it, save fire attacks. The battle with the beast was harrowing, but the party again remained victorious, and were awarded with another set of demon eyes.

### The First Dig and More

When Wubba was trying to determine what magic was around after the spectre, it was determined that there were magic items behind the stone wall across the hall. There were also magic items north and north west from where they were, yet there were no doors on the corridor there because there had been cave ins.

Brocktharian had dug for a bit and finally found signs that under the cave-in, there were corridors leading out from the main hall. Aterian then wild shaped into a giant badger and took care of the main digging for the party. First he found a room just north of the spectre's room which had a set of magical arms, armor and jewels consistent with the magic Wubba detected.

The party then dug across the hall, finding a room with very small passages leading out of it - no bigger than 18" wide by 2'-3' tall, smaller even than Wubba could make it into. Cooper, the pigeon, attempted to venture in, but he was dispatched by something hiding within.

The party then began to dig. Aterian, in badger form, began to dig from this room towards where they thought the room would be behind the slabs of stone. Meanwhile, Wubba summoned a spider as a familiar, and had it investigate the small corridors. The corridors were a complex maze of small tunnels inhabited by small humanoid creatures no greater than 2' in height. There were many in there, but they didn't seem to be aggressive towards the party, just poor Cooper. Through the spider's reconnaissance, it was determined that the small tunnels went to many of the rooms within in the lower portion of the manor, and even to the surface as well. The little humanoids had collected various shiny coins, but not much more than that in their underground home.

Aterian did finally dig to the blocked room and the arms and armor therein were gained by the party. The party, however, decided to let the little humanoids alone for now, and so they and the few other creatures remaining would have run of Bandraht Manor for now.

## Links

Previous, Visit to Canthur

Next, Vance and the Order