"Let's go up and clean up the upper level before going back to the first floor," Gavril interjected. "Then we can go and clean up the outer buildings."
"What if there is a lower level in the manor here?" Ciprian queried.
"We haven't seen any stairs down, have we?" Gavril asked.
"Well we haven't been in at least one room yet, so it is still possible," Ciprian stated.
"So lets head up to the next level," Erevel said as she headed to the stairway.
The staircase that led to the attic was dirty, dusty, and draped in thick cobwebs. The stairs creaked and squawked as Erevel made her way. The whole group heard a frightful moan coming from above. At the top a large area was opened up. The attic area had a slanted ceiling supported by wooden trusses, beams, and rafters. The ceiling sloped down from the highest beams in the middle to the lowest on the perimeter, where several ugly, fibrous plants sprouted from clay pots, barely illuminated by a few dormer windows. The air smelled of dust, mold, and decay. There were boxes and crates scattered here and there across the floor.
The frightful moan was louder in the attic and echoed from the north. Gavril stepped in to look around for tracks or any other evidence of habitation. He noted faint tracks that appeared to move from plant to plant and toward the north. He moved stealthily further into the attic which opened up more area to the north. This appeared to be one a large room. There were more plants at the dormer windows, crates and boxes here. He could see that there was more room to the north east but couldn't see where the moaning was coming from.
"Where is my son, Where is my son!" the voice uttered as it modulated through several octaves. "The Sincomakti School is a sham."
The voice continued in a crazy manner, switching topics at random. It seemed to be a female voice but no one had seen anything yet. Gavril moved further to the north, edging along the outer wall. The rest of the party moved up toward the same area trying to stay out of sight.
"Where is Clymes. My damned husband had him killed, I know it," the voice continued. "Where is my son. I will torture him to death as soon as I see him. The damned boy has no respect for me."
Ciprian moved up and looked further into the northeast room. He saw a monstrosity dressed in black, and black veil with tentacles growing out of the body. One eye was missing and replaced with a tentacle. There were mouths on her arms and places where the torso was exposed.
"Don't look at me! Stay away! Don't come near, you can't see me this way!" the "woman" exclaimed.
Gavril took the distraction to chug a vanish potion and moved past the aberration to the far east wall. The party recognized the woman, at least as the apparition that they had fought in the streets of Thrushmoor. She was difficult to hit and seemed to be incorporeal.
"She almost killed us before, we have to be careful here," Ciprian admonished. He then attempted to Intimidate the woman who appeared to be human but certainly crazy.
The diatribe continued against her son, the whereabouts of Clymes, the Sincomakti School and her studies, and her husband who killed Clymes. She continued warning the group to not look at her and to stay away.
Suddenly she flew into a rage and threw magic missiles at Ciprian. Ursina viewed some magic on the woman while Armania blessed the party. Erevel rushed forward to attack followed by Gavril charging from behind. Their attacks hit but did less damage than they expected. Paullus fired arrows which didn't do any damage. The woman stepped backwards and hit Erevel with an Acidic Ray. The party continued to attack, though Erevel seemed a little squeamish at the sight of blood. Ciprian's attack did no damage but Armania hit with magic missiles. Ursina moved up to attack but also did no damage.
"What do we need to hit this creature?" Ciprian wondered while sweating profusely.
Erevel and Gavril seemed to be able to damage the monstrosity, at least to some level and Armania's magic missiles were effective. Then the creature started to grow causing the floorboards to groan under the added weight.
Ursina moved over to a close ugly plant and hacked it off at the stem, toppling the plant onto the floor.
"No!! Leave my plants alone, damn you!" exclaimed the woman. Her arm extended toward Ursina and touched her with a shocking grasp.
Ciprian yelled out to continue hacking away at the plants while Gavril and Erevel kept up their attacks. Shortly the large woman collapsed onto the floor followed by a loud groan from the floorboards.
Ursina found a ring and a belt on the creature's body as Armania was circling the attic destroying all the plants. In one pot she found a folded pouch which contained a finely cut emerald, a silver necklace set with garnets, a pair of black pearl earrings, a gold ring set with a large diamond, 13 freshwater pearls, a jade comb, and a silver-and-amber bracelet. Armania pocketed the loot, "It is about time we found something we can turn into cash to buy some additional items."
After some healing was doled out the party set off for the first floor. Erevel again led down the stairs into a room whose walls were lined with ceiling-high bookshelves laden with bound tomes, parchment scrolls, and stacks of paper. The shelves are stuffed full and sag under the weight of their contents. A dozen amber-colored crystal lamps are fixed to the walls, and three more lamps stand on two central tables and a desk. The most foreboding item in the room was a female head and torso flapping through the air on bat-like wings, her fanged face a hateful mask.
Gavril immediately jumped to the attack slashing away with Red Destiny. He noted that his light weapon did extra damage to the creature. Ursina followed with a Bless and Erevel rushed to attack, but didn't flank with Gavril. Her weapon did not seem to cause as much damage.
Ciprian identified the hideous thing as an Manananggal, an undead which could separate from its body. It could also cause Constitution damage with its grab ability. He then started a Bardic Performance to enhance the parties abilities.
Armania broke out Flaming Sphere as the creature attacked Gavril and Erevel with its claws. Erevel ended up grappled and felt her constitution draining away. At the sight of this blood Erevel again choked on the bile rising in her throat and several of the party felt their sanity start to drain away again. Finally Paullus trundled down the stairs and fired away with an arrow which failed to damage the monster. He also felt his sanity drip away as he surveyed the scene.
Gavril kept moving around the creature doing extra damage with Red Destiny, while Erevel managed to pull her dagger while being grappled. The monster held its grapple on Erevel draining more constitution, it once again missed its grab on Gavril but hit him with its bite. Ciprian moved up and attacked with his silver dagger which shockingly did full damage, even the extra from it being a light blade.
While Ursina cast Disrupt Undead, Armania continued with the flaming sphere which actually bounced up to inflict damage. Paullus decided to move up with his razor but found it did little damage. More rounds of battle occurred no new grabs or constitution drains, just damage with light silver blades and Disrupt Undead finally finished the Manananggal off.
Ursina began searching for magic and found something on a table, a thin metal plate with some kind of writing on it in a language she did not understand. Beneath the writing was an obvious place for a name or something akin, which was empty.
Elsewhere the room held many widely known books on common areas of knowledge. Many of these titles related to matters within Ustalav, but others detailed subjects from throughout the Inner Sea region. In two crates near the fireplace were several copies of two books authored by Count Haserton Lowls IV, A History of the History of Versex and The Stars Are Not Among Us: An Undeniable Refutation of the Works of the Doomsaying Pseudo-Scholar Dr. Henri Meirtmane. Among the more mundane works were a number of research books regarding dreams and how to manipulate them. These books discussed methods by which an individual can choose to appear in someone else’s dream; one even included an overview of the Dreamlands. Notes and marked pages indicated that Lowls was using dreams as a method of research, wherein he would project his consciousness into the Dreamlands to meet with people and creatures there.
Among these books on a table was a collection of Lowls’ journals that contains a Dreamlands excursion occult ritual. On top of one of the crates was a letter to Lowls.
Count Haserton Lowls IV,
It seems that the Mad Poet you met in your dream journey was right. The book you seek, the Necronomicon, is located in a special collection called the Mysterium in the Qadiran city of Katheer, though it is written in Necril. If you can find a way to retrieve it and bring it to me, I can certainly help you translate and research it. I look forward to seeing you again, my old friend.
Miacknian Mun
"Ah, this explains the map with a route to Katheer indicated," stated Gavril.
"And Miacknian Mun supposedly lives in Cassomir, also on the map," added Ciprian. "I recall seeing that city on one of the invoices."
While traipsing around the room several of the heroes saw a ridge about five feet square under the rug. Gavril yanked the rug off of the area and they saw a trap door in the floor. It had a keyhole and appeared locked. Rummaging through the keys they found the Assassin's key ring held one that unlocked the door. Beneath were steps going down.
"Well there is an under cellar after all," exclaimed Gavril.
DM's Notes: The party earned 1066 XP for the nights and now have 29,563 needing 5,437 to reach 7th level. The Manananggal was the third blood sucking opponent found so far in the manor.
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