With Shava out to complete some business on her own, the rest of our group settled in to spend the first night in our new manor. It had been abandoned for years, so I expected the night to pass without incident. How wrong I was!
It all started when I heard glass breaking on a floor above me. I roused the others and we investigated our way to the attic where we found a broken window. I then heard bottles breaking downstairs. We rushed down while Tobby deftly used the fireplace to descend in order to eliminate that as a possible route for the intruders. When we arrived at the first floor, we encountered a grisly sight. There was a headless corpse attached to a large fishing hook. The eerie glow it was emanating was later discovered to be a type of glowing paint. I can only assume the intruders placed it there to frighten us, but why? We needed answers. Tobby and Jumanji checked the cellar and found a message scrawled in the dirt that read, “Get out.” That door has a nasty habit of slamming shut randomly, so i propped it open with a chair. We then heard noises coming from upstairs. The intruders had slipped past us again! We split up. I took up position outside to watch the exterior while Boaz and Jumanji rushed back upstairs. They discovered that someone had set a bed on fire in one of the upper rooms. Springing to action, they quickly pushed the bed into a fireplace and extinguished it. They likely saved the entire manor with their quick thinking. I continued my survey of the outside of the house, when I spotted a shadowy figure seemingly get pushed from an upper balcony and fall to its death. Shortly afterward, Tobby saw the chair being used to prop open the cellar door move out of the way. The cellar door slammed shut once more. Tobby forced the door open and found a new message written in the dirt. “They’re in the house.” Tobby and I made our way upstairs to inform Boaz and Jumanji of what we each witnessed. Tobby had some ball bearings scattered across the floor of his room and they suddenly moved to form the word attic. We all rushed to the attic only to once again find no intruders. Tobby yanked the cover off of one the the large padded chairs and a rat scurried out from underneath. I had let a rat scurry past me earlier in the night without a thought, but Tobby quickly lashed out and hit the rodent. After the hit, I expected to see a dead rat, but was shocked when it suddenly grew into a were-rat! In a flash of steel, Jumanji separated the creature’s head from it’s body. Markings on its body showed it to be a member of the Shard Shunners. They were likely the ones who put the headless corpse in our house, but we still didn’t know why. We also seem to have a spirit in our house. He seemed to be helping us, and perhaps he may have even been the one to push the intruder from the balcony outside. Perhaps this ghost is friendly. Boaz gathered the ball bearings and asked the ghost some questions. The bearings spelled nothing but insults. So the ghost isn’t exactly friendly.
With numerous corpses in our manor – two missing their heads, we decided to call the watch and come clean with all that had happened. Stagat, who we met in the Zhent warehouse arrived and reluctantly cleared us of charges, but not before he reminded us of the laws and punishments of Waterdeep.
The next morning, Boaz and I went to see Volo. We recounted the night’s events, and he informed us that the ghost likely had been in the manor for over 500 years. He also indicated that it was previously helpful the those that lived there. On our way out, Yagra approached us. She had survived our trip to the sewers! She asked to set a up a meeting with Jumanji, and I agreed to pass on the message when I see him next. While Boaz and I were talking with Volo, Jumanji and the others had returned to the Zhent warehouse to inspect the secret room that Jumanji had discovered there. Tymora bless their bold actions!