Moldavia Manor
11 Marpenoth, The Year of Twelve Warnings (1494 DR)
Barony of Tanistan, Erlkazar
Bolte arrived to join the three adventurers sent by Baron Henrik Rennet to discover why his wife, Baronness Elenore Rennet, had recently failed to return home from a masque thrown by Count Lebrim Moldavia at his estate a day's ride on horseback from Five Spears Hold.
Bolte introduced himself to the others who did the same.
After two of the adventurers circled the one-story manor and finding nothing of note except a smaller building behind the manor which may have served as a guest house or servants' quarters, they decided to enter the manor.
The wooden doors opened easily into an entrance hall. Dark tapestries, thick curtains, and two suits of armor decorated it. A man holding a dimly lit lantern stood in front of one of the suits of armor. He wore a shredded costume decorated with black feathers. Around his neck hung a long-nosed raven mask. He held a bottle of wine clearly labeled 'Amontillado' in his hand.
He slowly turned to the group as they entered. "Do you know any good jokes? My only wish is to die laughing! Ha ha--ugh..."
Looking around, the others saw a large room beyond the entrance hall. The large room was draped in fine white curtains; the walls were recently painted to match the curtains' colors. Red smears and handprints dotted the walls of the great hall. Chairs and musical instruments lay broken and strewn about. Rotting food lay atop long tables. Three doors led from the main hall.
Five bloody, costumed bodies lay scattered on the main hall's floor.
The group asked the man, who reeked of wine, what happened to the guests. "The beasts in the cellars...do you hear that? Do you hear that ungodsly beating of a heart?"
The adventurers turned to one another.
Strangely enough, all but Tanjarra Greysword heard a strange thumping beating of a heart. To each, the sounds of a beating heart did not match the rhythm of his own heartbeat but rather sounded like a muffled heartbeat as if enveloped in cloth.
Unsure what to make of the strange sound, yet seemingly not affected by it, the group left the man alone who pressed his ear to the suit of armor before him as if listening for a heartbeat.
All four of the adventurers walked around the main hall. The five bodies, two women and three men, all wore costumes. None of them resembled the costume the baron described what the baroness would be wearing: a jeweled gown and mask making her appear as a faerie queen.
Strangely all five had similar raw, circular wounds covering their bodies. Some had more of the circular wounds than others. The wounds looked like it may have been bite marks, but it was difficult to discern with certainty.
Bolte carefully searched one of the dead guests. He found a golden wedding band which he took. You clearly won't be needing this anymore, the rogue thought.
As Bolte let go of the dead man's hand, he sprung back in horror to see the man's eyes snap open!
Like horrific marionettes being pulled up by an unseen puppeteer, four of the five bodies writhed up off of the floor. Hatred burned in their red-glowing eyes.
At the encounter's onset, two of the adventurers were immediately injured when the zombie-like creatures grabbed and raked at them.
Tanjarra, himself hurt, severely wounded two of the of zombies while Bolte who was also wounded skewered the glowing eyeball out of a zombie wearing a torn costume which made him look like an orange-furred ape of some kind.
From the doorway leading outside, Bruno played a loud obscene sound from his lute getting the zombies' attention. At the ghastly sound, all four stumbled towards the bard, their arms raised in front of them.
Tanjarra stabbed at a passing zombie who moments earlier had raked him across his arm. It fell to the floor, writhe once and never rose again.
Nip'hto the ranger shot an arrow into a female zombie wearing a black cat costume as it stumbled past him. The arrow struck the zombie in the neck. It too fell to the floor and never rose again.
Bruno, seeing how he had gotten the zombies' attention, retreated into the darkness outside. He bumped into one of the horses the group rode in. He was thankful the horse didn't kick him.
Looking towards the manor, the bard saw the two remaining zombies making their way towards him, clawing the air while their red glowing eyes filled Bruno with dread...
Session played on April 16, 2020
Plot type
Chapter
Parent Plot
Raven Mask by Publisher's Choice Quality Stock Art © Rick Hershey / Fat Goblin Games
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