A2: Ch1:Mattias Veys

The party is walking to the old manor in Idreah with The Ritter, Daxius, Leander, and Rydel. Along the way he tells them that his men had run ins with the undead inside the manor but were able to dispatch of them. Once inside the manor, The Ritter closes the door behind them and tries to inform the party that a war is brewing. Being very unperceptive and upset that they destroyed the items inside the manor while they were away, the party belittles him even though he is trying to help them. He says they helped the village so they will always be welcome here even while the humans reignite the war against the western elves. The Ritter leaves and the party with Daxius and co go to the basement to look at the teleportation circle. The Sylvan letter code for the manor is YDH which Daxius connects to his tower in Galren with the Sylvan letter code ADJ. Daxius is convinced by the party to send Leander through the portal to warn the city of the imminent war that is about to start.   The party then starts their travel to Silarion. The first night Daxius and Rydel invite them into their tent to share stories as that is how they became good friends. Everyone shares where they came from and little bit about themselves. Rydel shares a little bit about his time in the War of Severance. The next morning Daxius and Rydel set off to their separate destination. They are off to see an old friends of Daxius' names Belramo that used to watch over one of the stones the party is seeking and are hoping he may have information. The party continues their journey and along the way come to a human fort that is very active and in preparation for the war to come. As they try to go off the road to avoid them they are seen and asked to stay on the road. Shen greets them and successfully distracts them with Pazuzu and declines an offer to join the army as a paid entertainer. They agree to stick to the roads and are allowed through the fort. Nearing the end of their journey while camping for the night, Aire sees a flash of purple light but can't discern which direction it came from. A strange small red flying creature with a scorpion like tail attacked him and he counter attacked, gravely injuring it. Two more then dropped their invisibility and attacked Aire, one puncturing him with it's tail and poisoning him. He screams for help before falling unconscious and Bink and Xar make quick work of the rest of the imps. Aire was poisoned for most of the journey from then on but overcame it when they finally entered Silarion.   Upon entering the village they notice that one side of the river has been rebuild while the other is still burnt and falling apart except for one manor atop a hill which looks untouched. Decided to go to the manor immediately they are stopped by two monks guarding the bridge. They warn them of the danger inside the manor, but wish them luck when the party insists on going. Shen stays back while the party goes toward the manor and he disguises self in front of the guard into the guard and waves. Frightened, both of the guards run. Inside the manor they are hit with a rancid decaying stench. Going into the main room the see two Lemures. Attacking them and killing both before a Bulezau jumps down and enters the combat. Once the Bulezau was dead, Shen took some of the pus from a boil then Xar dragged the body outside.   Looking around the house they go into the master bedroom and kids room first. In the kids room Bink takes the children book of the story of Galren. While this was happening, Shen finds the scales in the back on the dining room and pushes down one side with his hand causing the floor beneath him to drop down 20 ft which he falls after causing some damage. Trying to open the door to the artifact room, Xar finds it's locked and busts it down. Inside he finds a couple more suits of armor and 3 artifacts sitting on pedestal. There is a black lacquered sword and a stone tablet that Xar takes. Reading the inscription on the stone there is a list of Names and titles and names underneath each titles name that have no title. Among these names are three familiar to him: Daxius the Archmage of Arruce, Leander (The Owl that Daxius the Archmage of Galren has), and Belramo (Whom Daxius mentioned he was going to visit). The last artifact was a broken sword, the hilt looks ornate and has a red ruby set in the pommel, the about inch of blade still attached looks like there used to be an inscription. Bink takes the sword and they check the last room which was blocked from the other side. Inside they find a kitchen and a body of someone who had written on the wall in their blood "Tip the scales". Going back over to the scaled they put one of the smaller weights on one side to lower the platform slowly.   In the lower level they find themselves in a room filled with statues with inscriptions on them in ancient dwarvish. They are all missing an items presumably among the items on the table in the center between all of them. Bink deciphers the names and finds they are the titled names from the slab. Looking upon the supposed statue of Daxius, they find a bearded, very human looking man with no indication that the statue was altered in any way. Placing the correct items on the statues connect light to the one facing the opposite wall and when placing the last item in her hand shoots a beam of pale light to the wall opening a new room. The light in the new room goes into a pillar which shoots it back out. There were three lenses, red, green, and blue which could be raises and lowered using levers. The entire pillar could also be rotated. The walls each has ancient dwarven inscriptions which translated to Maerin, Celrin, and Faerin which represent the Demonic, Celestial, and Fey stones respectively. The party figures out the color codes being yellow for the fey, purple for the demonic, and white for the celestial. In each room lay a statue with pedestals around topped with mirrors. Each room must have the light reflected in a pattern to open up a study room beneath each room. In each room they found a map tracing where Mattias tracked down each stone to a location. They also found the beds had a secret device that when turned caused something to happen.   Each rooms statue corresponded to each stone, a Pegasus for the celestial, Devil for the demonic/devilish, and giant bear for the fey. When the party entered the fey room, the fey stone began to vibrate. Bink took it out and when opened up a burst of energy flew from it into the what seemed like a giant taxidermy bear. The bear woke up, yawned, and sat down. Shen had Pazuzu speak to it to find it was put here by someone and helped him realize that he doesn't have to fear Shen and it would be fun to mess with him. After getting Shen to apologize and swear to be better, Pazuzu tells him the answer to the riddle that the bear knew. When they got to the basement they found what they expected on the map: a trail leading to Galren where they found it. When they turned the last bedpost they unlocked a secret room that can be accessed from the statue room. Going in they were in an empty tiled room with a chest. All throughout the house they saw a symbol which is the path they would need to take to get to the chest. After one of them fell into a put they followed the path and got to the chest. Inside they found the Book of Platitudes, Poleaxe of Fallen Leaves, and Boots of Soft Landing and upon inspecting the chest found that it was bigger on the inside. They took their items including the chest out of the room and on their way out led the giant bear outside to let it free.   Outside and attempting to cross the bridge they are stopped by four monks who tell them the monster (Shen) was seen transforming into one of them and they cannot pass unless they give him up to be arrested. After some arguing Shen agrees to go with them and drops his items off with the party. Snapping Pazuzu away without them noticing they lead him to the jailhouse. The party then argues with the remaining two monks about magic, how they solved their issue with the house, and the eminent threat to the world. During this, Shen brings Pazuzu back who unties him, he then ritual casts unseen servant and commands him to take the bindings through the tiny barred window and escape. The guards, obviously confused run after the floating bindings while Shen disguises self into the Guard who chased. The second guard opens the door to find his friend who just left, in the room. Shen escapes and turns himself into an old man he saw when entering the village and pretends to be by the river while eavesdropping on the party. The party decides to pack up their cart, buy rations, and leave back to Idreah or the Fractured Burrows. Shen goes to a general store to also buy rations and being perfectly disguised as a local is able to get some at the discounted price. He goes back to the cart and reveals what he did to the party and they set off. They go a couple days of travel without incident but on their 3rd night Xar sees a flash of purple light and shouts for everyone to prepare. They are attacked by two Spiked Devils and finish the battle quickly and return to the road the next day.