1. Mirewatch House

Abandoned Noble Seat, Quietly Haunted

A slumped manor at the marsh’s lip; the house that learned to breathe.

Arrival Read-Aloud (short)

The manor listing over the marsh looks tired of its own weight. Black damp chews the lintels; the roofline bows like an old man. A rust-bled crest cracks above the porch. The wind goes through the place as if it learned how to breathe.

History in Three Lines

1. Built a generation ago as a polite retreat for a minor Asbury holding.
2. Floods, bad harvests, and the march turning mean emptied it; servants left first, then the steward, then everyone but Harl.
3. During a spring vigil, the church bellline snapped; silence fell over the manor mid-prayer. Something old in the reeds kept that silence. It stayed.

Grounds & Exterior

• Weeping Hedge: Willow and alder hedges drip year-round; Survival DC 10 to notice raised plank paths hidden under growth (advantage to Stealth while moving along them).
• Collapsed Coach Shed: Rotting tack, a cracked lantern full of eel-oil (still flammable), hoofprints fossilized in clay.
• Back Yard: Pig fence listing toward a reed-choked cistern well (20 ft deep; a floodgate valve at the bottom can drain/fill the house sump).
• Porch: Heraldic plaque (hammered copper over plaster Investigation DC 12 reveals a loose nail hiding a folded list of tithe arrears.

Interior Overview

• Air: Always a little too cold; breath ghosts even in spring.
• Sound Rule (global): When the party keeps continuous noise (talking, humming, dripping pots, rattles), all Fen-Whisper Stealth checks are at disadvantage and their movement is reduced by 10 ft. When the party goes quiet for a full round, Whispers can merge from walls/floors (see encounter).
• Dust & Damp: Footprints don’t hold; droplets bead on timber where Whispers have passed within the last hour (Perception DC 13).

Keyed Rooms (first floor)

1. Foyer (“The Dry Bell”)

• A bell hangs over the door, clapper rust-fused. Dust rings below are swirled as if stirred by breath.
• Clue: A coil of rattle-string (bottle caps and shells) in an umbrella urn; anyone who strings it gains the noise ward benefits for this room.

2. Great Room (“Low Fire, Long Table”)

• Long trestle table; a chalked count of flood years (six tallies).
• Find: Ledger of Rents in Arrears (named families “vanished to the marsh”).
• Whisper Trigger: If everyone stops talking, a chair scoots with no one touching it.

3. Steward’s Office

• Pigeonholes of contracts and a copper-bound land patent naming the west-bank meadows.
• Secret Drawer (Investigation DC 14): A map strip showing an old ferry stone on the north bend (Aggy knows a matching verse).

4. Pantry & Scullery

• Empty hooks; mold outlines of cheese rounds; a clay water-drip line (pots stacked mouth-to-mouth).
• Use: Start the drip to establish a continuous noise source for nearby rooms.

5. Chapel Niche

• Knee bench, travel icons of Rao and St. Cuthbert, wax stalactites.
• Boon: Ten minutes of humming hymnals grants 1d4 temp hp once/day if the Whispers are present (faith steels the nerves).

6. Servants’ Hall

• Straw mats, diced-pebble board half-played.
• Encounter Seed: A Whisper tries to mimic the clatter of dice; Insight DC 13 to notice there are no dice on the board.

Upper Floor

7. Family Rooms (East Wing)

• Collapsing canopy bed, rain-blackened rafters.
• Treasure: Ashford Signet wedged behind the bedrail (or under a floorboard).
• Hazard: Rot test (DC 12) when crossing to window; failure = floor gives way (10 ft fall, 1d6).

8. Nursery (The Quiet Game)

• Mildewed toys, faded bunting.
• Whisper Trick: A music box that turns without winding only when everyone is quiet.

9. Study (West Wing)

• River-map of the marches, ink gone brown.
• Safe (Thieves’ Tools DC 14) behind portrait: letters from House Asbury’s steward offering stern, unpaid advice; a bottle of aged perry (10 gp to the right buyer).
• Clue: Margin note: “If the bellline fails again, never stop the noise.”

Cellar & Underworks

10. Root Cellar

• Salt sacks burst; leeches in a cracked barrel (harmless, gross).
• Crawlspace leads to a sump (knee-deep, stagnant). Con save DC 12 vs. marsh-ague on extended exposure (flavor fatigue).

11. The Sump & Valve

• Stone basin with a rusted floodgate; a stubborn wheel controls the old drainage to the stream.
• Athletics DC 15 to turn; success drains water (and wakes slumbering Whispers failure sprains a wrist (disadvantage on Str checks 1 hour).
• Hidden Box (Perception DC 14): Waxed tin with five rattle-strings and a note: “Keep them going.”

Social Play & Ownership

Harl “Harry” Anshon (at the Bog & Barrel)

• Will sell a letter of transfer for the price of ale and bravado. Morning after, he claims he never sold it (Whispers press on memory).
• If shown the signet, he sobs with relief or fury—your call—then either signs again soberly or flees the tavern to “face the house.”

Curate Waldere (Cuthbert)

• Will bless rattle-strings (1 sp donation) granting +2 vs. fear inside Mirewatch for one expedition.

Old Aggy (marsh-witch)

• Knows a reed-song that counts as continuous noise for two rooms’ distance (cost: a favor).

Captain Roanik (Borderers)

• Recognizes the patent; will witness transfer if asked and expects the new holder to host scouts during storms.

Hooks & Mini-Scenes

• Buy It for a Bottle: PCs acquire the manor for a pittance; now they must make it livable (repairs, wards, dealing with Whispers).
• Bellline Restoration: Re-string the manor’s bellline (simple pulleys + kettles) as a skill challenge (3 successes before 2 failures; Tools/Nature/Acrobatics). Success imposes a permanent noise field in the foyer/great room.
• Missing Families: Names in the ledger match three cottages on the south lane. Are they in the marsh—or in the walls?
• Sump Valve Dilemma: Draining the sump washes strange silt-letters into the stream; Roanik doesn’t like it, Aggy loves it.

If the PCs Restore Mirewatch

• Repairs: 20 gp timber, 10 gp nails/rope, 3 days labor = safe lodging (no random night checks) and a stash room.
• Upgrades (pick 1 per tenday):
• Bellline: permanent noise ward in 2 rooms.
• Shutters & Gutters: halves vermin encounters; improves comfort (party gains +1 hp on short rests while here).
• Borderer Bunks: Roanik sends two cots and a checklist; gain free rumor each stay.
• Shrine Freshened: chapel grants Bless (1/day) for a single social check in town.

Who actually owns what?

• The fief (soil & rights): Within your setup, Anshan/Anston sits on the marches of House Asbury. The Viscount of Verbobonc holds ultimate lordship; Lady Elinor Asbury holds it in fee from the Viscount.
• Mirewatch House & meadows: Part of Asbury’s demesne formerly entrusted to the Ashford family as life tenancy / stewardship, now effectively escheated (reverted) due to failure of service and abandonment.

What Harl’s paper really is

• Harl’s “letter” = a Quit-Claim of Occupancy. It grants no feudal rights. It can help prove possession (e.g., keys, knowledge, signet on site) but needs a lord’s charter to become lawful.
• Treat it as a hook—evidence the PCs can carry into a proper court, not a deed.

Who can lawfully grant the place?

• Minor regrant (custody, reeve, life tenancy): Lady Elinor can do this herself as liege over Asbury lands.
• Major elevation (recognizing a true manor, collecting rents, holding court, or renaming the thorpe): Requires letters patent from the Viscount (often issued on Lady Elinor’s petition).

Gameable legalization paths

1. Custodial Writ (fast, local):
2. Elinor issues a Writ of Custody & Stewardship: “You keep Mirewatch habitable, maintain bridge & patrol trail, host Borderers on need.”
3. Grants use of house & meadows, right to repair, right to harvest for maintenance. No tax farming, no court rights.
4. Costs: an oath, a bond (e.g., 50–100 gp or equivalent service), and quarterly reports to her steward.
5. Life Tenancy (service for land):
6. After the PCs clear the infestation, Elinor enfeoffs them for life (not hereditary) in exchange for named services (bridge upkeep, militia call-out, tithe to St. Cuthbert).
7. Comes with a Seal of Asbury and a tally-stick for toll exemptions on the Penwick road.
8. Full Regrant by Patent (slow, prestigious):
9. PCs (or a chosen local) petition through Elinor to the Viscount’s Chancery.
10. Requires proofs: stability of the thorpe (Borderer captain’s affidavit), church support, and demonstration of public works (e.g., palisade segment finished).
11. Reward: Letters Patent naming a new lord-reeve with narrow manorial rights (market day, low justice). This is a political arc.