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Session 3 - Mansion Exploration and the Return of Brandon the Gnome

• Further into their exploration of the dungeon underneath Lord Bleakstaff's Mansion the party encountered a circular room, at its centre was an alter with a blood-stained bowl and a single rusty knife next to it. An inscription on the knife read "fill the bowl"; feeling catious after the other traps within this mansion, Scantlat cast "detect magic", determining that the bowl but not the knife was magical.
• In a moment of genius, Azreal Shackleton poured some of his water from his water-skin into the bowl and to his amazement, the stone door in front of the party slowly opened, revealing a pitch black room.
  
• Baxs Tabber and Azreal entered the room with lit torches; it was a slight drop into a mosaic tiled pool area, filled with the bodies of deceased villages. As the two of them trudged through the room it began slowly to fill with a black liquid (which turned out to be oil), they noticed that there was a lit torch at the far end of the room. If the oil level were to reach the flame then the party would be roasted alive. It was at this same moment that the corpses began to stir.
  
• The halfling and the fighter engaged the zombies in melee combat while the rest of the party provided missile cover. The fight was swift, enabling Azreal to extinguish the torch before the oil level rose high enough. The rest of the party waded through the oil to gather together in front of a winding spiral stairs leading upwards at the end of the oil pit.
  
• Opening the ancient oak door at the top of the stairs, the party were greeted by the sight of a large well let study. Book cases lined ever wall filled with a vast array of tomes, a roaring fire sat underneath a grand mantelpiece and behind an enormous polished desk sat an unnaturally withered old man, stroking a putrefied wolf that stood next to him.
  
• "Ah you have come, well I am afraid that only death awaits you here; madness is on its way. There is no stopping the madness!" whispered Lord Bleakstaff; but before he could say anymore Scarntlat attempted to turn him with holy power. It however only made the wight fly into a murderous rage and attack the party.
  
• The fight was vicious, Lord Bleakstaff melted through part of Scarntlat's armour with a devastating spell whilst the undead wolf almost tour John the Bard in two. Eventually the party emerged victorious and began to search through the deceased lord's possessions.
  
• It turned out that Lord Bleakstaff was a spymaster for a mysterious group called "The Undying Council", he had been documenting all the travel and trade down this route for the past two hundred years. Almost every single tome in the study was an account of interesting personnel who had passed by the mansion. His last letter he never got to send mentioned that the skull with emeralds had finally been sighted and he had dispatched agents to recover them from the scar-faced man carrying them.
  
• Among the various tomes the party picked up three interesting tomes: "An account of The Twelve", "A History of Madness" and "Ancient Elven Civilizations". Also among his possessions was Chardum's Bird of Sending a crystal ball of communication.
  
• Baxs succeeded in activating the crystal ball only to see an eyeless corpse of a man on the other side, sat in an empty courtroom. The sight sent his body into shock causing temporary paralysis. The party chose this time to hide his clothes while he could do nothing about it. When Khun'tt looked into the crystal ball several minutes later, there was only an empty courtroom.
  
• Happy that they had dealt with the curse over the land that was Lord Bleakstaff, Hammond lobbed a lit torch into the oil pit which slowly engulfed the mansion in flames, reducing it to ashes and rubble while the party wandered back to the trade route to continue chasing down Lambert.
  
• The rest of the day passed peacefully; however the next morning John the Bard spotted a wagon going past at a somewhat dangerous speed, riding in the back with his head out of the window was Brandon, the gnome thief and partner of Lambert. Baxs and John the Bard gave chase while the rest of the party rode curiously on to see what would transpire.
  
• Seeing that he was being chased, Brandon encouraged his driver to speed up, however the pursuers caught up with the wagon. John the Bard fascinated the driver causing the carriage to veer off into a field while Baxs leapt onto the wagon and engaged Brandon in a melee brawl; who was somewhat confused as to why he was under attack.
  
• A lucky crossbow bolt from Brandon sent Baxs stumbling out the back of the cart however the Halfling managed to tumble to safety. Brandon's victory was short lived as his fascinated driver ploughed the carriage head first into a tree killing the driver instantly.
  
• Brandon stumbled out of the destroyed carriage covered in blood and after a feeble attempt to fight John the Bard was swiftly knocked unconscious by Azreal.