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<blockquote data-quote="Pacio49" data-source="post: 2053943" data-attributes="member: 28472"><p>The next morning, the party heads out with Martha's deceased spirit in the haven left to look over the recovery of Vair. They head west from the haven through the fields and woods of this hilly country of the Taint, and eventually they break through the overgrowth and emerge into the sight of the ruins of Dorecan Manor. Originally several stories high, the building is still large and, in spots, well preserved. The top stories have not fared so well, and now only the ground floor remains in any kind of functional space. </p><p></p><p>Out from the tangled weeds and briar vines comes the sudden reappearance of a wide, paved, and curved road approaching the manor. An old fountain, dried now and choked with weeds, sits before the palatial entranceway to the old manor. A strange motif of winged female humanoid figures without carved faces can be made out over the portico and at the tops of the pillars. To either side of the entryway is an intricate pattern of stained glass, <em>still in perfect condition and apparently untouched by the ravages of time</em>.</p><p></p><p>Marcus makes an excellent observation, that the ruin and decay seem to only have affected anything above the ground floor. He suspects some kind of powerful enchantment, since there is a clearly visible line below which no rot, breakage, or weathering has set in, 15 or so feet above the landing of the portico. Oddly enough, the remaining bases of two squat guard towers flanking the entry approach have not been so well preserved, and look as though the only reason that there is anything left of them is because the walls settled and fell inwards, leaning upon each other for support.</p><p></p><p>The party advances cautiously, and as they approach between the two guard towers several orcs swarm out from the entry and two details of kobolds, one from each tower, also attack. The party is soon into initiative, and although the kobolds' light crossbow bolts are tipped with something, it isn't long before Yovaire and Laeka make short work of the ambush. Upon closer investigation of the bodies, Tanin and Skalar notice that the bucklers of the kobolds have been painted with a random pattern of small red dots with trailing tails behind them. Other than that, there is nothing much of value on them.</p><p></p><p>While the group is stripping the bodies of salvageable weaponry and armor (not much), the rogue Valar and ranger Skalar investigate the dried up fountain. They quickly find the well in the middle that has also dried up, and Skalar uses his skill with ropes to rig a harness for Valar to sit in and ride down to the bottom of the well. Or at least, the length of rope. Valar stops every so often to Listen, but hearing nothing and feeling nothing except the cool dampness one expects from a well, he makes it about thirty feet down and finds the water level. Aside from some crumbling mortar and obvious damage of time and neglect, the well is apparently rather boring. Valar grumbles a bit for a while because of it, thinking that if he were going to go through the trouble of setting up camp in an old set of ruins with a dried-up fountain in the middle of the courtyard, he'd certainly put something interesting at the bottom of it.</p><p></p><p>The party took a more cautious approach to things at this point and did some reconnaisance around the perimeter of the ruins. They found some back entries and other glass windows and stained glass windows as well, but nothing more. Except Skalar, who at three quarters of the way around the building, came across some telltale worg spoor and tracks, and correctly identified them. </p><p></p><p>Gathering their courage, the party ventured forth inside the main entrance, figuring that the guards had already come out and been dealt with. Inside the main door was a vaulted entry hall with a balcony and balustraded grand staircase of marble. The place was in disarray, and from the rotting rafters hung the tattered remains of different pennants and banners, most moth-eaten and faded to fragile nothingness, their devices unable to be deciphered. The stone of the walls and floor was severe black basalt, and pillars of winged and faceless caryatids held aloft the staircase. At the top of the balcony the invisible line of ruin and decay was crossed, however, and a pile of rubble and the debris of nature was visible where the upper storied roofs gave way and let in the elements.</p><p></p><p>Below the balcony two hallways split off, each leading into a different wing of the manor. The scale of the place was colossal, and Marcus proffered a guess that the trappings of the entryway alone spoke of more than just a country manor-house. This was something more in keeping with a king's palace. Marcus predicts that when they investigate further, they'll find that this is more like a palace than a simple manor. (Marcus was right.)</p><p></p><p>There's little more time for talk and speculation, however, as a host of goblins comes teeming out from both side passageways, and another troop comes out from a smaller doorway to a chamber immediately to the left of the entry hall. The party begins to work together to respond to the threat. Marcus stretches forth his hands and summons into being a <em>flaming sphere</em>, while Arien readies her sling and steps into the middle of the party. Laeka unhooks her spiked chains and begins to wade into the goblins, leaving corpses as she goes. Valar positions himself well to be out of the way and begins to look for opportunities to dart into battle and use his sneak attack, while Skalar steps besides Arien and begins to shoot arrows into their foes. Although a couple of times Tanin gives pause from his destruction of the goblins he faces as one of Skalar's arrows narrowly misses hitting the fighter, the party quickly becomes used to the fact that Skalar is an extremely Precise Shot. Tanin swings blindly at one of the goblins near him and misses as the green gruntling ducks under his blade. Yovaire is just about to enter into the fray besides Laeka when a roaring voice is heard coming from a chamber whose entry is beneath the grand staircase. </p><p></p><p>"Who dat knockin' on Jaduk's door?" calls out the filthy giant creature which comes out to confront the party. "Ogre!" calls out Skalar, "Just another filthy giant. Soon to be one less in the world, and good riddance." "How do we kill them?" asks Tanin. "Just stick your sword in him!" replies Marcus, watching as the mighty creature bears down on Laeka and bashes the cleric with a huge greatclub and doing a sizeable amount of damage, leaving the cleric of Povra shaking her head to clear it, and growling.</p><p></p><p>Yovaire finally unfreezes, and changes tactics completely, turning to rush at the ogre, but unfortunately the ranks of goblins are in the way. He quickly executes a double attack on the nearest one, and the little glubgluk goes down. </p><p></p><p>(Hate to pause mid-battle, but such is life. To be continued...)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pacio49, post: 2053943, member: 28472"] The next morning, the party heads out with Martha's deceased spirit in the haven left to look over the recovery of Vair. They head west from the haven through the fields and woods of this hilly country of the Taint, and eventually they break through the overgrowth and emerge into the sight of the ruins of Dorecan Manor. Originally several stories high, the building is still large and, in spots, well preserved. The top stories have not fared so well, and now only the ground floor remains in any kind of functional space. Out from the tangled weeds and briar vines comes the sudden reappearance of a wide, paved, and curved road approaching the manor. An old fountain, dried now and choked with weeds, sits before the palatial entranceway to the old manor. A strange motif of winged female humanoid figures without carved faces can be made out over the portico and at the tops of the pillars. To either side of the entryway is an intricate pattern of stained glass, [i]still in perfect condition and apparently untouched by the ravages of time[/i]. Marcus makes an excellent observation, that the ruin and decay seem to only have affected anything above the ground floor. He suspects some kind of powerful enchantment, since there is a clearly visible line below which no rot, breakage, or weathering has set in, 15 or so feet above the landing of the portico. Oddly enough, the remaining bases of two squat guard towers flanking the entry approach have not been so well preserved, and look as though the only reason that there is anything left of them is because the walls settled and fell inwards, leaning upon each other for support. The party advances cautiously, and as they approach between the two guard towers several orcs swarm out from the entry and two details of kobolds, one from each tower, also attack. The party is soon into initiative, and although the kobolds' light crossbow bolts are tipped with something, it isn't long before Yovaire and Laeka make short work of the ambush. Upon closer investigation of the bodies, Tanin and Skalar notice that the bucklers of the kobolds have been painted with a random pattern of small red dots with trailing tails behind them. Other than that, there is nothing much of value on them. While the group is stripping the bodies of salvageable weaponry and armor (not much), the rogue Valar and ranger Skalar investigate the dried up fountain. They quickly find the well in the middle that has also dried up, and Skalar uses his skill with ropes to rig a harness for Valar to sit in and ride down to the bottom of the well. Or at least, the length of rope. Valar stops every so often to Listen, but hearing nothing and feeling nothing except the cool dampness one expects from a well, he makes it about thirty feet down and finds the water level. Aside from some crumbling mortar and obvious damage of time and neglect, the well is apparently rather boring. Valar grumbles a bit for a while because of it, thinking that if he were going to go through the trouble of setting up camp in an old set of ruins with a dried-up fountain in the middle of the courtyard, he'd certainly put something interesting at the bottom of it. The party took a more cautious approach to things at this point and did some reconnaisance around the perimeter of the ruins. They found some back entries and other glass windows and stained glass windows as well, but nothing more. Except Skalar, who at three quarters of the way around the building, came across some telltale worg spoor and tracks, and correctly identified them. Gathering their courage, the party ventured forth inside the main entrance, figuring that the guards had already come out and been dealt with. Inside the main door was a vaulted entry hall with a balcony and balustraded grand staircase of marble. The place was in disarray, and from the rotting rafters hung the tattered remains of different pennants and banners, most moth-eaten and faded to fragile nothingness, their devices unable to be deciphered. The stone of the walls and floor was severe black basalt, and pillars of winged and faceless caryatids held aloft the staircase. At the top of the balcony the invisible line of ruin and decay was crossed, however, and a pile of rubble and the debris of nature was visible where the upper storied roofs gave way and let in the elements. Below the balcony two hallways split off, each leading into a different wing of the manor. The scale of the place was colossal, and Marcus proffered a guess that the trappings of the entryway alone spoke of more than just a country manor-house. This was something more in keeping with a king's palace. Marcus predicts that when they investigate further, they'll find that this is more like a palace than a simple manor. (Marcus was right.) There's little more time for talk and speculation, however, as a host of goblins comes teeming out from both side passageways, and another troop comes out from a smaller doorway to a chamber immediately to the left of the entry hall. The party begins to work together to respond to the threat. Marcus stretches forth his hands and summons into being a [i]flaming sphere[/i], while Arien readies her sling and steps into the middle of the party. Laeka unhooks her spiked chains and begins to wade into the goblins, leaving corpses as she goes. Valar positions himself well to be out of the way and begins to look for opportunities to dart into battle and use his sneak attack, while Skalar steps besides Arien and begins to shoot arrows into their foes. Although a couple of times Tanin gives pause from his destruction of the goblins he faces as one of Skalar's arrows narrowly misses hitting the fighter, the party quickly becomes used to the fact that Skalar is an extremely Precise Shot. Tanin swings blindly at one of the goblins near him and misses as the green gruntling ducks under his blade. Yovaire is just about to enter into the fray besides Laeka when a roaring voice is heard coming from a chamber whose entry is beneath the grand staircase. "Who dat knockin' on Jaduk's door?" calls out the filthy giant creature which comes out to confront the party. "Ogre!" calls out Skalar, "Just another filthy giant. Soon to be one less in the world, and good riddance." "How do we kill them?" asks Tanin. "Just stick your sword in him!" replies Marcus, watching as the mighty creature bears down on Laeka and bashes the cleric with a huge greatclub and doing a sizeable amount of damage, leaving the cleric of Povra shaking her head to clear it, and growling. Yovaire finally unfreezes, and changes tactics completely, turning to rush at the ogre, but unfortunately the ranks of goblins are in the way. He quickly executes a double attack on the nearest one, and the little glubgluk goes down. (Hate to pause mid-battle, but such is life. To be continued...) [/QUOTE]
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