Session 16: To Assez Manor!

 

Continuing on to Perrin, the group found a town under siege. It was nearing nightfall, but the streets were too quiet. The houses were shuttered, and while there was light peeking out from under the shades, the voices were muted. Guy scouted out the town, but found no one stirring, so the team moved immediately to Assez Manor. There, the walls were starting to crumble for lack of maintenance, and the proud iron gate that bore their words "Assez Bon" was rusting, and one of the doors was off its hinges. The grounds inside walls were in bad shape, the small family vineyard severely overgrown, and not a sound came from the cooperage or the barn. The party moved up to the manor house, and started towards the large, battered oak doors when Barth noticed something on the roof. Two of the gargoyles, gargoyles Remi had assured them were decorative, were moving to attack.

Barth stood in front of the party at guard, but the gargoyles showed a marked preference for gnome flesh, swooping towards Gnick and staying out of the reach of the dwarf's axes. Gnick found it difficult to retaliate, but Clooney was able to hurt the beasts with magic missiles, and Ash threw flames when he wasn't healing Gnick. Barth moved to guard Gnick more closely, and was able to land some opportunistic strikes, and the party eventually felled the beasts and moved into the manor. 

The foyer had been the scene of a battle, with bloodstains and broken weapons littering the red-carpeted floor. The door leading out were intact, but open, and the party went into the ballroom to the west, leaving the spiral staircase for later. The ballroom still showed some of its old charm, with marble walls and and elegantly carved wooden frieze above the fireplace depicting the Assez family. But the floor was littered with broken furniture, apparently cannibalized to barricade the windows of the room. Ash examined the fireplace and the frieze, but found nothing. Barth searched the floor and found a menuki, but also disturbed some rats that had been sleeping peacefully. Annoyed at having their slumber disturbed, the rats immediately attacked!