A Night at Krenshiw Manor

In the city of Omarop, the once great House Krenshiw boasted one of the oldest and most beautiful manors in Southern Moudon. Their family had great wealth and influence as one of the founding families of the city. Their philanthropic efforts were reknowned in the land as the they brought the Reszich Order into the city, held events and balls to support the poor, and even served in the Council of Twelve to bring about some of the golden years of Omarop.
But then they fell.
No one quite knows if it was the actions of one or the downfall of the whole family but the devastation was swift and deadly. First, the lost much of their fortune in first attempt at industrialization. Then, the matriarch at the time fell ill and passed by means that may have been nefarious. Without her guiding hand and no will to be found, the rest of the family fought to gain the upper hand of a dwindling fortune. The good that the Krenshiws once stood for was tarnished by bad dealings and then one by one they all started to die. The wave of death only seemed to stop once the last heir Precilla left the manor late one rainy night and never returned.
It is said that there is a decent fortune and the deed to the huge compound to be found in one of the myriad rooms of the manor. There is more money left in the walls of Krenshiw Manor to make most common people comfortable for the rest of their lives. There just needs to be someone or a team bold enough to take on the challenge of finding it.

Notes for the GM:

This one-shot was designed with the intentions of playing it in 5e but ultimately monsters and checks can be replaced with equivalents based on the type of TTRPG you would like to play with some personal adjustments. It is intended to be used for a party of 3 to 5 players of levels 5 to 7. It is meant to start in media res, so a few moments can be spent to allow players to share their characters with each other so that they can go in functioning like a (semi-)established team.
This one-shot can sit nicely by itself but is still set in Moudon, so groups wishing to delve into other stories set in the world can always use some of the fall out of this to set the stage for an actual campaign.

Plot points/Scenes

Cross' house:

In the early afternoon, a scheming thief that goes by the name of Cross (male half-orc rogue) has gathered the team in his cramped abode to discuss what has been planned for tonight. The group will be rich by the end of the night, if all goes as planned. With all the prior planning, Cross now has a blueprint of Krenshiw Manor and the together the team has gathered some notes and rumours about Krenshiw Manor. He seems a bit jittery and has a bit of a tic in his eye but he tends to get a bit neurotic around the heist time. Perception (DC 20) check reveals that he looks a bit more pale than usual and his eyes a bit dull but if asked he admits that he has not been sleeping well. An old bruise on his arm suggests that there is more to it than that.
You (the GM) can read or paraphrase:

Cross stands in front of the group, everyone gathered around a table with a crude blueprint of their mark. The Krenshiw Manor has been abandoned for more than fifty years now but there is still legends of the treasure of the family that once lived there, squirrelled away by the matriarch who knew she could not trust her children with their dwindling legacy. Cross is trying to be honest when he says: "I know that we have all heard rumours of the dangers in Krenshiw Manor but with my informants tip, we now know that the riches we are looking for are located in the southern basement of the main house."
He points to the southern end of the hexagonal main house. The building is roped in by the four lesser wings around it. All are connected through halls on the main floor but the basement of the main house is separate. There are less details in the rooms there than the rest of the house. The blueprint will only take you so far but each of you has also done some information hunting. The branching wings are fraught with traps. Traps that were not always there. There seems to be someone or something squatting in the manor as of late, and whatever is there is said to be more dangerous than the traps. Some rumours also speak of ghosts haunting the halls; most members of House Krenshiw died within the manor walls. You all take some time to go over points of entry.

A map of the blueprint can be shown to the party. There are two main points of entry that have been narrowed down, as pointed out on the blueprint. Should the team decide that there is another one that they would like to consider, you can choose to either give them a reason why that might not work or use the encounters map to determine what they go though.
Beyond the items that players may have chosen when creating their character, Cross gives the players:

• 2 x 50ft hemp rope

• 1 x lantern

• a bag of ball bearings

• flint

• a set of Cross' 'lucky' thieves' tools

• a crowbar

The group can ask some questions and then transition to the manor.

The Outer Wings:

Outside of the building the high alabaster fence around the compound is easily climbed from a crumbling section on the west. Acrobatics or athletics checks (DC 12) allow for a more dazzling entrance but given ten minutes the group can help each other over the fence. there is a unkempt courtyard around the outer wings. The party has a general feeling of unease the second that they enter the courtyard but a perception check (DC 17) alerts the group to something trudging through the dead bramble and mushrooms. If they linger or seek out the creature. It is a corpse flower, once an exotic acquistion by one of the Krenshiws, and it feeds upon visitors to the manor now. Hanging from it are the nearly fresh corpses of two humanoids dressed in black.
Should the group head straight to the outer wings or escape the corpse flower, it will not follow them into the buildings. They can enter though one of the broken grand windows in the summer (southern) minaret. Among the halls and rooms of the outer wings are ruined but still beautiful freizes of winter (north), spring (east), summer (south) and fall (west). There are traps as indicated on the map and 1d4 ghosts encountered in the halls of the outer wings if explored; roll a d20 (DC 11) for each room they go through. They will chase after group so long as they remain in the outer wings, main floor. If the ghosts are defeated the group is able to recover the Krenshiw Key from the dissapating forms. This key acts as a skeleton key to open the doors to some of the locked off rooms. In each of the locked off rooms of the outer wings, there is 1d6 x 50 gp.
Should the group choose to scale the building from a dilapitated portion of the fall (west) side and run across the rooftops they avoid the majority of the traps but an acrobatics or athletics check (DC 13) to avoid falling though the weakened roof along the way. If they fall through, they will have to either find a way back on top or deal with the main floor. The ghosts still have a chance to appear on roof on a d20 roll (DC 14)

Krenshiw Manor

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Created using Inkarnate. Used for A Night at Krenshiw Manor.

map made in Inkarnate by Spiveystrange.

The Head House:

Heading to the main wing, those that have followed the roof make it into the second floor of the main house though a broken window. Otherwise the party can get through the main doors of the head house by picking the lock (DC 18) or with the Krenshiw Key. Destroying the lock by force: consider AC 13, HP: 75. Inside, the main foyer is a collection of traps as indicated on the encounter map. Those with a passive perception of 14 or higher note that they periodically hear something that sounds like the tinkling of metal against metal. In the foyer and the hall beyond it that leads to the ballroom, there are old pictures of the Krenshiw family. One of the largest is of an arrogant looking man, he is a bit burly but good-looking with a fire in his eyes. He holds a gilt falchion in his right hand. The plaque under the painting reads "Garlion Krenshiw".

Krenshiw Manor: 2nd Floor

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Created in Inkarnate.

Map made in Inkarnate by Spiveystrange.
On the second floor the group sees a shadowy figure stumbling out of the room they are coming into, dragging something behind it. A stealth check (DC 15) must be passed to sneak around this humanoid person. Those with darkvision see it is a fairly burly man wearing tattered finery and a masquerade mask decorated to look like a horned devil. Within this first room they enter, the group can see bodies in varying degrees of decay pinned to the walls. Each face is contorted in abject fear, the eyes are blank. On a medicine (DC 120 check, the bodies appear to have been killed by a deep wound to the jugular or carotid. Any attempt to engage the creature that left the room will lead to a fight with Garlion Krenshiw (Relentless Slasher), the last 'owner' of the manner who sold and perverted his soul to gain the upper hand in life. He could not pay his due however.
Provided the group has managed to get past the person, heading down the stairs into the basement attracts Garlion to the party. They can stand and fight or attempt to flee long enough to find their prize. There is shelving a furniture that the group can use to try and slow Garlion. Falling shelving can do 1d6 bludgeoning damage provided Garlion fails to dodge it.


In the stores and rooms of the basement, the group finds a painting in a forgotten corner. It depicts a young family with a father whose expression barely hides his disdain and a young teifling so shrugged into a corner that you could almost forget them if not for their unusual purple skin. The woman in the picture smiles happily but on an investigation (DC 15) check the group sees that her eyes glint like jewels. Pressing on the stones there, a door to a small room opens. Inside is 1500 gp in a open chest that sits on top of a table surrounded by five desicated bodies, propped up in chairs. One of the bodies is holding a Rod of Retribution and another wears an amulet of health. There is a letter on top of the table written in clean script.

"Tsk, tsk. Stealing is bad. I suppose you can try and be sufficed with this but know that any coins you take will allow me to find you and punish you for not leaving the dead alone."

Beldris

A history check (DC 20) tells the group that Beldris is the head of a gang known as The Jackals and owner of the High Roller's Casino. Beldris is not someone to cross.
The team can escape with what they have found, even possibly without fighting Garlion. Either way they have found what they were intended to.

Conclusion:

Provided that the team makes it out safely with the gold, Cross asks about if a deed was found with the gold. He is disappointed to be denied what he really wanted but he allows the team to keep the gold in exchange for the Krenshiw Key if it was found. Otherwise he asks for the gold but is willing to let the party keep the magic items. If they deny him or fight him, Cross is not willing to take no for an answer and his smooth facade cracks under the greed. Cross is a Dybbuk with the Relentless trait, giving him +10 HP and if he takes 14 damage or less that would reduce him to 0 hit points, he is reduced to 1 hit point instead. This can occur twice per short rest. Some later investigation will reveal that Cross was killed during his recon and the Dybbuk took him over.

Plot type

One-Shot

Related Locations

• Krenshiw Manor

The first floor

The second floor

Krenshiw Basement true

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Created in Inkarnate.

Map created in Inkarnate by Spiveystrange.

Garlion Krenshiw
The last head of House Krenshiw.
Garlion, during his life, was known for his outward resentment of the classic Krenshiw ways. Straying from the political and philanthropic work of the past, Garlion saw a profitable future for the family and himself in the first industrial revolution of coal and oil. His greed and bad business deals after the death of his mother led to the financial ruin of the house. Desparate situations and an increasingly insatiable appetite for the profane led him to not only dissolve his house but also sell his soul in pieces to any fiend that would offer him an ounce of power and asset. On the record, he died almost penniless and stabbed to death by a debtor. Off the record- Well his body was never found.