We approached the front door and tried to gain entrance. There was a lock, and Nim tried everything he could to pick the lock to no avail. I cast a knock spell and even that did not open this un-openable door. Our strongest members tried brute force as a last resort, doing no more than tiring their muscles. Strangely, ice-blue eyes could barely be seen peering out of the glass beside the door but the creature who the eyes belonged to did not interact with us in any way. Looking for an alternative, Tetsuo climbed a wall which revealed an outdoor pool area with some ancient skeletal remains and something shiny near the scummy pool. Ornate paned glass doors opened from the pool area into the building proper.
Just as we had decided to climb the wall and gain access that way, the front door opened of it's own accord, or perhaps at the behest of the blue eyed creature within. We quickly moved to the front door and entered into the foyer of the manor house. The entry area showed the sagging signs of age in the walls and floor. A somewhat macabre interior decorator must have had the idea that having two monstrous gargoyle statues flanking the steps leading deeper into the house was a good idea. Of course they would come to life and attack us as soon as we all entered, to no ones surprise.
Our brave warriors met the Stoney skinned creatures with axe, staff and blade, while the rest moved back to cast spells and use ranged attacks. Fey Blasts and Divine Power ripped into the creatures from Janlynn and I, while Akkiir and Uphir met them blow for blow and Tetsuo and Nim dashed in and out of the battle. Both monsters were given the killing blow from Uphir's enchanted great axe. Soon nothing remained of the gargoyles but piles of rubble. We ventured onward, deeper into the house.
Next we encountered a once comfortable sitting area with a fireplace and old rotted furniture. Another rather ugly, rotting doll was found sitting on a small couch and Janlynn decided she would pick it up to bring with us. Soon we found ourselves moving down into a wine cellar area, which had about half a foot of grimy water flooded upon the floor and it was easy to determine that the many cracks in the foundation were letting in the foul marsh water. There was a couple of empty wine racks, a mostly destroyed desk, several barrels, and a low table with a grey cloth draped over what obviously looked like the form of a body.
Well, of course this room was in desperate need of investigation, so we all moved into the cellar and began to look around. Of course, as soon as we all entered, the door slammed shut and locks could be heard clicking into place. On the back side of the door could be seen an apparatus with 4 gears which were winding down into position. The numbers by each lock made no sense and there was no way of knowing how to get through that obstacle. To top it off, the room started to fill up with a greenish gas. It appeared we had little time to figure out this puzzle and escape before being overcome by the gas.
Looking under the cloth on the table verified that there was a corpse there, but it was both in remarkable condition as well as some disrepair - it's hands and feet were missing, as well as the brain from it's skull. The barrels contained a macabre assortment of dismembered body parts consisting, of course, of various hands, feet, and brains - all with numbered tags attached to them! Our confusion about this lasted only a moment before a strange paper was found on the desk. This paper was a diagram of a human body, with hand written notes written in the margins. It seems as if someone were working out some sort of code.
Based on the evidence found on the paper we wracked our brains and figured out the patterns of the numbers. We rummaged through a disgusting assortment of brine and body parts, seeking out the numbers requested to solve the puzzle. The gas was continuing to rise, soon it would be over the heads of we shorter folks. Janlynn stitched the body parts onto their rightful place upon the corpse and we deduced that turning a crank on a strange device near the head of the corpse would charge energy into the thing. We cranked....and we watched....and the corpse sat up on the table - it was alive!
It jumped off the table and ran over to the door to quickly twist the gears of the locks into the proper position, opening the door. The large flesh golem slowly made it's way up the stairs, touching everything it came across as if seeing it for the first time. We quickly searched the basement for anything of value and discovered a magical bag which could hold a lot of weight but still remained light.
We followed the golem around, trying to interact with it, but it barely noticed we were there in it's fascination with it's surroundings. Janlynn made a stark discovery when trying to have the golem interact with the doll - when the doll sits up it's eyes open and when it lays down it's eyes close. This was not the strange part however, as she noticed that the eyes of the doll were the same pale blue as the eyes that were looking out at us from behind the door. Janlynn quickly stuffed the doll into a sack and into a backpack. A golem as well as a haunted doll.... this is too much.
The golem went outside and we followed. Some thought that the golem might lead us to something important; some thought that the golem may be the body of the Master of the Marsh himself. I was dubious - the flesh golem just seemed like a newborn babe experiencing the world for the first time, he did not seem to be reliving any memories. After some discussion we decided to go back in and investigate the house, leaving the golem outside and somewhat restrained.
Exploring further we came to a den area with nothing much of interest, but we did find a secret door leading to a hidden part of the manor. Investigating some other rooms, we eventually came to a dining room with a broad oaken table. Sitting around the table were an assortment of important looking ghostly people on ghost chairs. They could be heard communicating with each other, but it was as if we were hearing it from behind a thick door, the long distance between the living world and the dead. A stern looking ghost stood at the end of the table and we all thought that he must be the ghost of the Lord of this place.
I feel I must sheepishly admit here that my curiosity got the better of me, such was my excitement to see if we could interact with these ghostly beings, I reached out to touch one of the ghostly guests and all of the ghosts turned to look directly at me as if noticing me for the first time. The apparition at the head of the table came charging at me shouting "You are not supposed to be here!". Just before crashing into me, the ghosts all vanished and we stood in an empty, silent room with it's battered great table.
Beyond that we came to a great ballroom with glass doors at the far end that open up into the pool area. Just as we were beginning to explore, more ghostly apparitions appeared before us. This time it was only two - a beautiful woman in a flowing black gown dancing with a younger version of the angry ghost from the dining room. We could hear them talking and she addressed him as Laslow. Their conversation made it sound as if this woman was his mistress and their affair was secret. Also, it seemed as if she was in possession of an army of undead which she was almost ready to use for some nefarious purpose. Just as quickly, they disappeared back into the ether. We were told Ulric was the last lord of the marsh, so this ancient Lord must be a relative from the distant past.
Turning our attention to the glass doors leading to the pool area, we could see what Tetsuo had described before - a large scummy pool, some skeletal remains, and an air of tension about the area. As Nim moved forward towards the shiny object that was spied, I could not help but think about trout fishing in the rivers of my homeland, and how some would put a nice shiny lure on their hook to catch the best fish. The knot in my stomach told me that this could very well be the same thing. Unfortunately, my gut feeling turned out to be correct.
A huge, scum dripping, tentacled orb began rising out of the pool. It had one massive milky central eye just above it's cavernous tooth filled maw and resting atop several tentacles writhing atop it were several smaller eyes looking in every direction. It was easily the most frightening thing I have ever encountered in my life, or even in my worst nightmares. I cast forth faerie fire upon the monstrosity even as I backed away back into the ballroom.
The monstrosity targeted Nim first, as he was the closest, or perhaps his size would make him a satisfying appetizer. The creature snatched him up into it's maw before anyone could react.
The rest of the group launched themselves at the thing, intent on destroying it before it could hurt any more of us. Everyone's attacks struck true with deadly effect, and once again Uphir's axe split right through the central eye of the monster, spilling forth it's milky goo as the thing crashed back into the pool, splashing scum all over the area. They had defeated it before it could do any serious injury to anyone! Nim was alright and took his much earned prize - a fine looking rapier, and the rest of us fished out the undead creature and took several of it's teeth as our prize. They were of considerable size and Uphir agreed that she could use her scrimshander skills to create beautiful works of art out of them.
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