Castle Xyntillan - Session 10: The Malévol Murders

Marble scraping on marble breaks the silence as the lid of the sarcophagus slowly slides off. A chill rises from the soil within and contaminates the air of the noble bedchamber. Samuel kneels when his lordship arises from his grave.

'More of your kin have been slain, my lord,' he croaks.

Silence overtakes the room again until, finally, the vampire's voice pierces through the darkness like a whetted blade: 'Quel dommage... none of the well-mannered ones, I hope?' 

The hunchback averts his gaze to the cold floor before he answers: 'Your niece, Odile, and Marcel, the one who is... was always hungry.'

With an aristocratic gait the undead lord steps out of his resting place and, from a richly decorated cabinet, takes a carafe and pours a red liquid into a small, façon de Venise wine glass. Having once been of noble birth, any emotion left inside his rotting heart is carefully concealed as he replies: 'They deserve their rest, je suppose, but it should have been my decision. And what of Aristide? Does he simply allow this intrusion into our ancestral home to go unpunished?'

'It would seem, my lord, master Aristide has been quite entertained by their presence. He calls them "his pets."' Samuel answers humbly.

The count sips from his glass ever so gently before replying, a hint of amusement betraying itself in his voice: 'Typique... We will have to deal with them ourselves, it seems. Or, en fait, you will. But... keep some in reserve, we wouldn't want to spoil maître Aristide's fun, n'est-ce pas, Samuel?'

'Certainly not, my lord.' 

Bodo Twofoot - Level 3 Halfling 

Karl Gruber - Level 4 Dwarf

Nei Burr - Level 2 Dwarf

Iosef Mugulu - Level 4 Cleric

Shubert - Level 4 Cleric

Snake (Mouse)- Level 2 thief

Adder Bari - Level 1 Fighter 

This expedition the adventurers encountered not a single monster, but they did find and kill three personalities, two of whom were quite angry family members. 

Rodento Ratsputin 

After exploring the ballroom, which was suspiciously deserted, and a luxurious sitting room, which was promptly looted, the party encountered Rodento Ratsputin, 'Lord of all Rodentkind'. This human-sized rat (not to be confused with a ratman!) was just trying to put his feet up in a quiet reception room at the end of a hallway in the summer wing. Rather characteristic, he immediately started demanding respect for his self-proclaimed royal status, even though he didn't really have the means to back up his threats. So, when the party decided that letting him live wasn't worth the risk, he was killed before he even got the chance to use his dust of disappearance. It appears the rodents of Xyntillan will have to look for a new master...

Ratsputin in a bit of a pickle

Marcel Malévol the Malnourished 

Still inside the reception room, hiding inside a mahogony desk, the party found an interesting document: a land deed that could grant ownership of Xyntillan to the bearer if properly notarised. Just when they were contemplating its possible use, a bone-chilling sound was heard by the adventurers. It was the wheezing skeleton Marcel the Malnourished! An extremely fat skeleton, who is quite hard to picture but even harder to behold. Proclaiming his hunger perpetually, the bulk of bones and plaster dragged itself towards the party, blocking the way out of the hallway. With surprising wit, the adventurers distracted the hungry skeleton with Rodento's corpse, on which it fed eagerly for a minute or two. It's many teeth devoured the rat with the same enthusiasm as a shoal of piranhas, when they strip a carcass of its flesh. While Marcel was distracted, the party quickly went around it, freeing themselves of their trapped position. Taking the slow movement of the massive skeleton to their advantage, the party attacked the thing with ranged weapons, falling back every time he got too close. After several minutes of continuous missile fire, the thing collapsed. Victory was sweet and the party rejoiced!

Player map, showing the exploration in red and the return voyage in blue. R=Ratsputin, M=Marcel and O= Odile.

Odile Malévol the Odious

After some more exploring the party found itself inside a room seemingly belonging to an old lady, some tea and an unfinished knitting work being the telltale signs. No old lady to be seen though, yet. In a large closet, Bodo found a mummified head, full of knitting needles and pins, which he stashed away carefully. The rest of the party searched the room, but their search was suddenly interrupted when the door of the room swung open. At once, they stood face to face with a terrifying wight, dressed in old ladies clothes and brandishing a broken parasol!

"You scandalous bastards dragged your filthy boots across my home!" Odile complained. 

The rude adventurers were not to be left unpunished, and the harridan immediately attacked. A short but dangerous fight followed, and the wight managed to drain Shubert the priest of his constitution just before the undead matron was turned. After that, the fight was one-sided. While the rest of the party were bashing in old lady brains, the halfling saw his chance to examine his mummified head a bit more thoroughly. Though it could have been timed better, his effort wasn't in vain: stuffed inside the mouth, Bodo found an expensive-looking necklace!

Finally finishing a quest!

Even though his wounds were cured, the priest was still drained of his energy. Yet, the party decided it was not yet time to turn back. They quickly found themselves in a large room, which was evidently used as a laboratory. Here they found a large collection of strange ingredients kept in jars, two potions and a silver knife stashed away in a desk, and, most importantly, an old tome titled Le Sommaire Philosophique by Nicholas Flamel. The party had heard of this book, as it was requested by the rather friendly ghost named Merton Malévol, who they met in the entrance halls. Luckily for the adventurers, they still found him reading in his sitting room. The ghost, even though he forgot about it soon after, was very glad to be reunited with this long lost tome. To show his gratitude, he gave the party another book, called Wise Sayings and Aphorisms. At first the adventurers were a bit disappointed with this seemingly lousy piece of "literature", but gave it to Shubert anyway. The cleric was very invested in the book though, skimming through its pages with such fervour that his companions were afraid the book would turn him stark mad. But, after the cleric finished the book in a mere matter of seconds, he was changed for the better and his wisdom seemed much greater than before. 

The profit:

• 12 cups worth 20gp each
• 12 tapestries worth 300gp a piece
• A silver necklace worth 1350gp
• A fake ring worth nothing at all (belonging to the Lord of all Rodentkind)
• A golden spindle worth 5gp
• A silver dagger worth 25gp