We are in our quarters talking with Thorn who received a similar note. The note had a sketch map and it seems to match part of the layout of the cellars. We agree to head down there together. It’s nearly midnight, no one will be around so we head on out. The kitchens are indeed empty. We pass through and down the stairs. The room indicated on the sketch map contains an altar, drapes, symbols of an evil God – Malloth and a figure. We deliberate too long and he turns round. We rush to attack and he instantly surrenders. Turns out to be Bardolph the priest – he denies that he is a Malloth worshipper and claims that a note was left in his room telling him to come here and put some robes on. Handily, the note also said that it must be destroyed. Behind the drapes on the far wall is a wooden door. We bind Bardolph’s hands and take him with us through the door. It opens into a room with more robes, and some manacles including an unconscious young woman . Nailen and Rufus release her, but Rufus’ legendary first aid skills fail to improve her condition.
We return to the manor house – Thorn rouses Dale and Katherine to report our findings. Bardolph is led away to the guard rooms.
The maiden tells us she was snatched from her bed and then awoke in the cell. She saw up to four figures dressed in similar robes to Bardolph. They occasionally bled her to use her blood in unspeakable acts…!
By this time Sara and Helena have appeared. But they don’t have much to say except to remind Dale that he is due to get married in the morning. Dobry returns from Bardolph’s quarters with a wicked looking knife, blood stains the handle.
We go to bed agreeing to meet for an early breakfast followed by some cellar exploring. We find an oak door that Nailen can’t open, but he feels he could unlock it with a better tool. We ‘park’ it for later (Olsen talks a bit funny sometimes). We head down the corridor past the coven room and the passage turns into a poorly propped tunnel. It doesn’t take long before we reach a rockfall and can progress no further. We head back north to where the encounter with the beast occurred several nights ago. East of that blood splattered room we find a large butressed room with a door. A hefty shove forces the door open. We find a north south corridor with spiral stairs at either end. The passage looks like it sees moderate traffic. We go north and find a room with a huge windlass wrapped in chain. Some careful thought suggests that we are under the gatehouse. Back in the butressed room we head south and find another door, however we can’t force this one open. A passage also heads south. It leads to another door, similar to the other locked one, but again Nailen can’t open it.
Further exploration at the bottom of the gatehouse uncovers a workshop – Nailen finds some scraps of metal which he thinks could help get the locked door open. We head to the door to try it out. We get it open and the room appears to be a crypt of some sort – it contains many hardwood coffins. However, there is a space at one end where a coffin should be. Careful evaluation shows scrape marks heading back out the door we came in, further careful examination of the barrels shows them to be a false door. Duh duh Duuuuuhhh!! Beyond is a corridor, as we advance, Idiot Mahan sets off a trip wire trap and two darts whistle up the corridor. Karma dictates that one hits him in the willy!
We reach a room. On the opposite wall are the crossbows that fired at us. On one side of the room is the missing coffin. Beside it are pieces of a suit of platemail armour and bones, as if someone has been searching in the coffin for something. To one side of the crossbows we find a secret door, which opens easily. Inside is a cupboard containing several different coloured robes, and on a shelf, an amulet with a ruby in the centre and some strange runes around the edge. There’s a corridor off to the right of the main room, it leads us to another door (with some eye holes, at eye height!). It opens into the room where we found the girl chained up.
We head back to the manor house to report our findings, and to join the wedding celebrations. In fact we’re back in time for lunch. There’s a hubbub, no one is dead but something else has been stolen – a chalice required for the wedding service.
The Undercroft at Dragonsfell Hall