Session 14

We set out to follow the Zombie trail, walking for about 2 days. The trail leads in a north-north-easterly direction and gradually narrows as if the zombos are sand people hiding their numbers.

Eventually, we find a decrepit Manor. We camp a good ways off. During his watch, Suleiman thinks he sees...things moving around the windows. He doesn't wake the party, and they don't appear to leave the house.

In the morning, we approach the house. It is definitely a ruin. Suleiman opens the door, and BOO! a ZOMBIE!

We fight the Zombies, and after the battle Knot notices that these appear to be the villagers of Quench.

Exploring the House
While Xanie casts Detect Magic, the others explore. (Nevermind, she cancels it) The manor clearly was a very nice place at one point in time, though no longer.

Suleiman finds a silver locket in a chest under some rubble. The area it is in appears to have been servants quarters.

Knot finds a door that despite being nearly rotted through, it doesn't budge even against Suleiman's strength.

Xanie reads some notes and papers scattered in one of the rooms and finds that the previous owner of the manor was...maybe not on the right side of the law. It mentions a "Jester's Cap"?

Suleiman attempts to break down another door, and only succeeds in breaking some bits out of it, allowing the party to see through. The other (magical?) door is visible through the gaps.

We explore the tower to the southeast. It was not attached, as it had appeared from the distance, except by a corridor on the ground floor. Upstairs is little beyond a table with what appears to be dried blood. Downstairs....more Zombies!

It appears to be a storeroom. Or...is it? There are two side-rooms that may have once been hidden, each with a cage approximately large enough for a big dog or a person. Knot believes that it was a dungeon.

We head up to the 2nd floor. Xanie finds a LIBRARY...study...thing but it is devoid of books, much to her disappointment. She does, however, find a small golden KEY.

Knot finds what was probably at one point an armory. Nothing useful appears to have survived, but Knot takes a broken bit of sword and stashes it in his pack.

We find some bedrooms, with broken beds and bloody mattresses---but all quite old. With nothing else up here, we head back downstairs to try the key.

The key works on the door Suleiman partially broke...with some effort. We explore the room, and find a staircase down that appears to have been hidden by a now-destroyed bookcase until very recently. Suleiman charges down the stairs...right into more Zombies.

And also a necromancer! While Beans and Knot deal with the Zombies, Suleiman wrestles the Necromancer to the ground and starts beating the shit out of him.

Loot

 * 160 gp
 * A JOURNAL!
 * A Scroll of Dimension Door

The Journal
The First Page

"My master has finally given me a grand quest! I have begged for years for Baphomet's guidance and he has delivered! I have been tasked with retrieving an artifact of great value which was taken from him by his rival. Finally my patron has spoken and I shall be rewarded! I shall become Baphomet's greatest living servant with this task. I shall be the architect of his vengeance!"

The Final Page

"After near a decade of searching I believe I have finally located the artifact! I shall rally the forces of undeath to take back my master's prized possession! Belaal's servant may have stolen it from my master's vaults, but I shall see it returned to its rightful place."

Continued Exploration
We find the object of the Necromancer's search in the nearby coffin: a corpse wearing a Jester's Cap.

Suleiman speculates that the Necromancer may have had a bit of an inflated ego...

The party starts the trip back to Bilge City.