Operation Parameters
| Date |
1492 DR, 22 Flamerule
|
| Soldiers |
- Lucius
- Triste
- Tide
- Aceso
- Vyrlen
|
| Status |
|
| Casualties |
None |
Operation Details
Following the conclusion of the last status report, additional information was gathered from Axo in regards to the pixie in the manner. Given that we are unaware of the Marquis (Vampire Muse's) allegiances, returning his home to him may or may not be the best option, but if we must enter his manor to gain further information on himself, an interaction with the pixie would be likely.
Here are the general guidelines provided by Axo. These may be useful to all members of the fort for any interactions with pixies or other fey creatures:
Appeal is very important when interacting with a fey
Never accept a gift from a fey creature cause it means you have to give something back in return or worse
Never accept help from a fey for similar reasons
Never tell a fey your name
If your ever handed something, read all fine print
Always remain calm, don't show emotion
Important to pay attention to time, watch for time dilation
In a final note, this was the evening when a team of adventures arrived at the camp, and the Kobold, Skitter, provided ominous warnings. The experiences by their team may or may not be advantageous to this missions. Going forward this report will refer to them as the "Skitter Squad".
Status Report 2:
On the start of the next morning, the mission team gathered. We initial approached the "Skitter Squad" that arrived the prior evening. In the information provided to the team, they detailed having an interaction with a vampire muse, but it was the mysterious young child who was with them, Cora, who had taken it out before the they arrived. Despite this, they were able to provide the following information about vampire muses:
cunning
deceiving
can put you under a spell that screws with your head - some sort of charm, which doesn't break via damage
Upon asking for details on the pixie, or fey in general, they provided similar guidance as Axo:
Don't make deals with them
Following this interaction, we entered the shop to see if there was anything available to help aid in our missions. The Jim(s) and owner were still asleep, but the young Cora was present. When asked if they remembered how they beat the vampire muse, they seemed confused and unaware of what happened, so we didn't ask any further.
Despite repeated requests by Aceso to not do so, Lucius made the decision to dual with the Lt. Tel in the morning before we departed for our mission. This decision had the potential to put our mission at risk if he ended up hurt, tired or exhausted from the pointless action. He even paid 10G to have Lt Tel fight them in their constructed makeshift arena. Given the recent information provided by the "Skitter Squad" about vampire muses ability to affect a person, Aceso had a suspicion that Lucius may be under the affects of the Muse, but no further actions that day indicated as such.
The team then assembled to meet up with the Vampire Muse. We attempted to ask several questions to gain further information about his intent, and to determine if he was telling the truth, but he was hard to read and vague. He also became reluctant to answer questions. The following is the information and claims he made:
The city shifted to the material plane was Karador. He mentioned a blue breath of change, and the fact that the city has a portal to the Fey within it, but he is not allowed in by the Summer Court
The summer court are fey who kidnap torture at whim; Marquis has a bad relationship with them.
His title of Marquis is self-proclaimed, and he is his own man and makes his own decisions in relation to his actions [but as indicated in the last report he also said people didn't listen to him]
After some deliberation, the decision was made to go to the manor of the Marquis in the hopes of getting him further from the camp to increase safety, at least in the short-term, legitimize his story to some degree, and possibly gather evidence on his allegiance. Before we could depart, Triste became ill, and we returned with her to the camp, but we were able to find Vyrlen as a replacement. Upon attempting to set off, the Marquis made the decision that he didn't want to join us, and we were unable to persuade him. We attempted to gain information from the Marquis about his manor and possible traps, and were provided with a limited set of information:
The stairs are dangerous, avoid those
Has a 2 pets, but be kind and they are friendly
Do not hurt her servant - Smee
Recommended we do not go to the second floor
Was concerned that the pixie could have invited other creatures into the home
The muse asked that we do not ruin his home, but we made no guarantees given the pixie, and dangers involved. We did say, we would minimize it as much as possible.
Made our way south, following the same path as before. The chasm continues to be highly dangerous in crossing for certain members of the party. I would request a possible makeshift crossing be constructed when possible, if we plan to have continued missions to the south. The delay, and noise involved in crossing will continue to be a risk to missions going forward.
After spending the time crossing the chasm, we noticed something scurrying around us. Vyrlen was able to determine the location of two fiends in the area. They only moved when we moved, and seemed to be attempting to approach us from both sides in a pincer formation. At further inspection, we could tell they were mutated dogs, but given our proximity to the manor, we were unsure if they where the pets described by the vampire muse, and killing them without provocation could have repercussions depending on what was discovered about him. Unfortunately, these creatures where hostile, and while we were able to overcome them, it did take a considerable toll on our party. As a note for other soldiers who come across them:
Then approach in a pincer formation
They only move when you move.
In this case, they were in a pack of 2
They have extremely strong fire breaths that comes out in a cone in front of them
Bite
These creatures do significant damage
After locating a relatively safe position just within the fog that surrounds the manor, we were able to rest for a short period to recover from the fight. As we completing this quick rest, we heard large foot steps in the fog. We attempted to have a familiar investigate from a distance, but the fog seemed to completely obscure the creature.
As the team approached closer to the manner, we entered a slight depression that lies just before the hill that the mansion sits upon. In this dip lies a marsh that our fellow soldiers in the area should be wary of. There is something in it's waters that ate through our shoes, and while not doing damage to us directly, does cause damage to equipment.
Once through the swamp, we arrived at the base of the hill that the manor sits upon. Attempting to find a way up the hill, we initially traveled right and discovered that the hill got steeper. The team did notice that all the stones seemed to be placed with an almost purpose in this area -- almost like a joint. An investigation of the rocks didn't reveal anything specific, but it was odd.
Backtracking, and then travelling left from our starting position at the foot of the hill, allowed us to approach the door of the manor, which was incredibly fancy. There was dim candle light present outside the house, and candles within.
At this point a familiar was used to attempt to scout the layout of the manor from the outside:
- In the center north room on the first floor was a library.
- In the north-west on the first floor was a kitchen, that included a blood stain leading to a door
- On the west side of the house was a bedroom, but at this point two knives proceeded to fly out the window, and destroy the familiar.
- While suspected to be the pixie, we would later be informed by the Marquis that this was likely his servant
While the familiar was being used for scouting, another event occurred. A candle outside the manor suddenly became bright, and the door of the manor opened. Vyrlen also smashed the ground with his hammer at the same time, but we are unsure if it was related.
- We assumed this could be the work of the pixie, but was unsure.
- As a note, in a discussion with the Marquis upon return, he *claimed* that this was likely the work of the pixie. By opening the door in such a manner, without us knocking, it would have setup the traps within the house to be aggressive.
Upon entry into the home, we saw a hallway leading north and south, and a central hallway heading west into the house. Upon entering the central hallway and heading east, a trap was triggered.
- Two statues and one rug became animated
- The two statues didn't deal significant damage, but where hard to hit for the party
- The rug immediately wrapped around Aceso, restraining him and causing him to be unable to see and have a hard time breathing. This limited his ability to assist in the fight for a period of time.
- A note from Aceso, any force or slashing based damage done to try to take out the rug with a person restrained within it, will also take some damage.
- While Aceso failed to escape himself, he was able to escape with the assistance of another member who was able to pull him out of it.
While we were able to destroy the two sets of armor and rug, it almost entirely exhausted our party, and left us with minimal magic energy and health across our team. At this point we assumed the the pixie was well aware of our presence within the house. While talking about our next steps, Vyrlen purposely mentioned the possibility of a wager or bet with the pixie, and it immediately started speaking to us while invisible. It mentioned the following:
- house is extremely dangerous
- the library we hoped to enter to gain more information on the Marquis' allegiances was indeed dangerous
- was willing to sell the house for millions in gold/gems/items/etc.
- Or potentially in our "essence"
Given the warnings provided by the resident expert in our camp, Axo, along with confirmation from a member of the "Skitter Squad", we knew that no deals should be made with the pixie.
- The pixie asked if we wanted to make wagers in a dice game
- It also offered information about the house or information on the vampire in return for our "essence".
- We turned down this offer given the warnings provided to us about deals, and the fact that we couldn't guarantee if the information would be credible from the fey creature.
Despite our exhausted state, we made one final attempt to gather information about the allegiances of the Marquis by accessing the library in the house. Lucius and Tide attempted to enter the library, but were hit with another trap that dealt damage to them upon interaction with the door, and discovered the door was bolted shut. As a last ditch effort, we attempted to force entry using magic, but the door was incredibly solid. These attempts shook the entire house, and given the state of the party, and the perceived dangers (pets and servant of the Marquis, traps at every turn, and the pixie), we decided that returning with the limited information we had gained was of more value than the likely outcome if we continued.
Luckily our journey back was fairly uneventful. Crossing the the chasm was once again treacherous, with two of our members coming close to falling.
As we approached the camp from the south, we stopped at the Marquis' camp to inform him that we were unable to procure house back from the pixie. At this point he did inform us about the traps present throughout the house, and claimed the pixie likely the reason the first trap was triggered by opening the front door for us (we didn't knock on the front door). He said he was disappointed we couldn't help, but would look for help elsewhere. The Marquis began packing up to leave, as we made our way back into the camp.
Overall, the mission was unable to determine the allegiances of the Marquis of Alaron. Any further interactions with Marquis (Vampire Muse) by soldiers should be done with the utmost caution, and should be avoided.
Further investigation of the Manor may be possible, to gain further information, but without the express or implied permission of the Marquis, it may been seen as a hostile action by the Marquis.
