Shortly the gate opened and a huge man, towering over all the party, stuck is sad, sleepy face out the gate and growled "Come .... In". Fran led the way through the gate and the group followed, cautiously. Summergale was circling overhead scouting the whole landscape. "This is Orson, my cook and handyman" said Dr. Fran, "Orson, go prepare a meal for the whole group." Orson, dressed in a long gray monastic robe, tied at the waist, secured the gate with a large tree trunk and headed for the two story building inside the compound. Dr. Fran led the group along a gravel strewn path, pointing out the guest house, a separate building, to the east.
Felix shows Fran a tablet and discusses food requirements of some sort. Fran says that all is fine and Felix retires through a door end the west end of the hall. Delphi is immediately drawn to Varrid and starts questioning her about their trip to the island. Varrid is slightly taken aback and mentions the shipwreck.
"Lets take a short tour of the mansion before dinner, shall we?" queries Fran as he heads toward the door Felix used. Before heading out that door though he leads them through a door to the north into a room set with a large table, multiple chairs and bookshelves all around the walls. "Excuse the mess" says Fran, "this is the library where I keep my literary collection, mostly salvaged from various shipwrecks." There is a chaotic collection of books, scrolls and knickknacks littering the room in a hodge-podge fashion. Books have stacked, some stacks toppled, spines broken, scrolls left open and folded. Fran leads the party through a door to the east, back into the hall across to another door opposite. Ralom has a detect magic orison running all through the room picking up two magical auras. The next room is an richly carpeted room dominated by a massive oak table. There is a large chair matching the largest one in the library at the head of the table, with other various chairs arranged haphazardly around the table. The walls are hung with scenes of nature in her violent glory --- hounds bringing down a stab, a hawk snaring a sparrow on the wing, and a hunter being mauled by a bear. The creatures are all well rendered, as if from life, but the human figure is stiff and unnatural. "Who painted this impressive art?" queried Varrid. Dr. Fran proudly puffs up his chest and says "These are some of my most impressive works." The paint stains on the shirt and leggings attesting to his prowess. "I'll show you my studio" Fran says as he open the double doors back into the hall and lead the group upstairs to another chamber.
In this chamber are a number of canvas frames, paints, brushes, a pallet and an easel. "This is my workroom," boasts Fran, "See here are some works in progress." He indicates a clay sculpture of a wolf in mid leap. The model, a dead and (expertly) stuffed wolf, is laid out on a large table against the west wall. A portrait of Delphi in a high necked gown, this is Fran's best rendering of a human they have seen. her high forehead and wide luminous eyes give the painting a strange feeling. And finally a painting, rendered in rushed, brutal brush strokes, of the manor itself going up in flames. The smoke rises and forms into the shape of the bare torso and arms of a beast-headed human. The creature's head looks like a mix of gorilla, wolf and boar; it seem to be exulting in the destruction. "What is the meaning of this painting?" asks Varrid. "It represents a nightmare I have on the few times I do sleep, I have insomnia. The beast emerges and destroys all. Not really surprising given the difficulties of preserving this small island of civilization against the wild and cruel inhabitants of the island." says Dr. Fran. "You better finish your lessons and dress for dinner" Fran says to Delphi and she leaves and enters a door to the east.
"Come I will show you my laboratory and some of the test subjects" states Fran as he leads the group to the west. Entering a doorway they find themselves on a gallery overlooking probably the largest room in the manor. The conical roof towers at least 50 feet above the ground. A heavy wrought iron chandelier hangs from the beams in the ceiling. The chandelier is lit by 100 candles, their light focused by a parabolic mirror above the candles. The result is a glare centered on the lab table in the middle of the room. Dr. Fran leads the group down a spiral staircase to the white tiled floor. The lab table, a long slab of gray slate mounted on a wooden trestle, which can be tilted to any angle. The walls are filled with white cabinets and a small cot is set along the north wall. "This is where I perform all of my experiments trying to a find a cure to the terrible disease affecting the unfortunates on the island. Another door leads to the menagerie, a tall square room with three rows of cages, some empty others not. The cages hold a pair of llamas, five goats, a pair of ferrets, four wild pigs, a rhea, three giant rats and a black leopard. "Hey is that you Leo?" asks Grunyar. Fran says they caught the leopard last night. There is also an empty cage labeled Ursus and a spiral staircase to a balcony.
Leaving via a side door there was an open courtyard of hard-packed earth with some ivy climbing the 10 foot walls. "This is where I bring the goats and llamas when the carnivores are being fed" says Fran. Going back into the manor house Fran directs the group to the library while he goes up to dress for dinner.
In the library Ralom immediately looks for the magic items, a metallic skull which shone with a rainbow reflection and a pile of scroll sipped and shredded paper. Drovic and Arvien started to look at the skull while Ralom sifted the papers. On the wall a framed map of an island was studied by Varrid and Baru.
"This appears to be a map of the island" said Varrid. "Where are we on here? A little searching soon identified the manor, Broken one encampments, Abandoned Villages, Ruins and Sunset bay, probable site of the wreckage. Also "Great Stone Men" and "Evil Monks", what could these refer to? Meanwhile Grunyar found a large number of surgical and anatomy texts dealing with both humans and animals, mostly correct from his view. They were written in a variety of languages (Elvish, Gnomish, Dwarvish, Common) and heavily annotated, entire sections underlined ( usually on comparative anatomy) and others crossed out with "Rot"written in the margins. Seglun found a badly damaged copy of Volo's Guide to Waterdeep, with what looked like teeth marks on it, a water stained version of Aurora's Catalog, missing the last twenty pages, an encyclopedia of common knowledge, in five volumes, all so severely water damaged as to be useless. A cover plate purports the volumes to come from Palanthas. After studying the map Varrid and Baru start searching the remains also. Baru uncovers a large number of children's primers, ranging from thick cardboard books (warped and torn) with colorful pictures, to nursery tales, to grammar books teaching the correct use of Common, An atlas labeled Guide to the Known World, with maps of Varisia and Golarian. Varrid found The Wisdom of Lord Toede, as transcribed by Bunniswot the scribe, a book of bawdy illustrations with the accompanying test assuring the reader they are really a manual for good government.
Ralom, after searching the debris, finds three cure light wounds scrolls and a cure disease scroll, which he leaves hidden in the pile. Arvien touches the metallic skull which suddenly speaks "In case of danger, glee praxo minta jagavo, or else certain death", which no one seems to understand. Trying again she hears "When overrun with waves, pardu fingo alsimor, and drown." Several more tries reveal similar incomprehensible statements. "The wood of these walls are spruce, fir and other trees not normally found on tropical climes, they are more representative of high altitudes" Drovic points out, "the flora of this island indicates that it has been "moved" at least once." On the desk is an large leather bound book, damaged by a candle dripping wax over its open pages. This journal written by Rudolph van Richten contains information about a monastic group known as the "Order of the Guardians." The Order is a semi-secret reclusive organization dedicated to protect the greater world from artifacts which are evil, destructive, powerful or all three. Each monastery or retreat is dedicated to a single powerful magical device, relic or artifact. The brothers dedicated their lives to researching, understanding and comprehending the device they guard and ensuring that it does not find its way out into the general population. The Brothers will lay down their live, fanatically, to prevent their Order's artifact from being spirited away. Each monastery or retreat is an independent unit, rarely communicating with each other. The symbol of the Order is a monk in blue robes, with a high necked collar that gives him a sinister appearance. The monk is shown holding a closed box in his hands, both presenting it and holding it securely.
"Dinner is served" say Fran as he sticks his head in the door. He is now dressed in huge black robes with a white stole and white gloves. Delphi is there in a long flowing gown and she grabs Varrid and says please sit next to me. Dr. Fran sits at the head of the table with Delphi to his left and Varrid on Delphi's left. The rest of the party sits around the table. Orson and Felix enter with a tray laden with fruits, breads, and a great side of roast beef, cooked to a bloody rare. Felix carves, expertly, offering wine ( a medium red) and inquiring if each guest wished his or her beef au jus." Delphi passes on the beef as do Varrid and Drovic. Arvien digs in with utter abandon but Ralom is more cautious doing a Detect Poison before tasting the meal. Orson and Felix retire from the room as Fran launches into another treatise about the weather, painting and managing the small scrap of civilization. Which induces his insomnia but that allows him to use the evenings to pursue his work. In addition to all else he is trying to raise Delphi as a proper young lady.
Delphi interjects "Where are you from?" To which Varrid answers Port Peril and others with Corentyn. Varrid queries Delphi on how long she has been on the island. "Around twenty years" she says. "I rescued her from a shipwreck when she was barely five, her parents unfortunately did not survive" says Fran. "The weather is terrible this time of year, and storms can brew up in no time at all. The beaches are often swept clear of debris and entire stands of trees evaporate in the strong winds. This is why I suggested using the guest house instead of the beach." About the savages he opines, "They call themselves "the broken ones." They are little more than beasts with limited speech capacity. The disease may be magical, since it malforms those so affected into man-beast forms. It could be a variant of lycanthropy, though it has no lunar cycle or other hallmarks of that disease. The purpose of the lab and menagerie is to try and seek a cure for those poor, savage outcasts. I have had little success thus far."
"Do you have broken ones where you come from?" Delphi inquires. Varrid assures her that the broken ones are unknown in Varisia. "Do you have books?" Delphi asks. Ralom and all assure her that books are available to many in the known world. "Speaking of books, what are the children's primers used for?" asks Baru. "I use them with Delphi to help her become the educated young woman I want her to be" says Dr. Fran. "On the map in the office is a map" says Varrid "What are the Great Stone Men and the Evil Monks?" "The great stone men are heads and partial bodies buried in the sand of the north shore" says Fran "I have no idea what they represent, they were here when I came to the island. The Evil Monks are a group living in the southern cliffs. Maybe they are the origin of this plague. And while were talking about the clerical profession They rely on their spells and the will of the gods but they haven't sought out the root causes of disease, the vectors by which it spreads. If not for the over-reliance on faith over knowledge, there would be human communities instead of ruins on this island." "Religion is all rot" interjects Grunyar. "Are the priests as dangerous where you come from as they are here?" asks Delphi. Baru assures her that "Good" priests outnumber the "Evil" ones in Golarian. "All of it is bunk" says Grunyar feeling the affects of the wine.
Arvien finally raised her head from her plate and inquires about dessert, "I hope it is a wonderful as the rest of the meal." Dr. Fran rings a silver bell at his right hand and Orson and Felix enter with coffee and pastries (which are excellent) according to Arvien. "So can we build a boat?" asks Drovic. "I could certainly lend you some materials and tools for boat building, it will take several weeks, but I understand your desire to leave the island. My conscience will not permit me to leave while hope remains that I might be able to help the unfortunate victims of the curse. I am a healer and physician and a skilled server. The lab I use for examination but primarily for dissection of animals. Occasionally I engage in vivisection, ONLY to advance the cause of science. The suffering of the lower creatures is outweighed by the benefits which may be obtained from them. After all, none at the table have complained about the cow who died to produce the beef they ate!"
As the evening wore on the conversation lagged and Dr. Fran suggested looking at the guest house. Before everyone left the dining room he invited them to dinner the next evening and every evening after.
The guest house is a one story building constructed in the same manner as the main house. Inside was a common room with fire pit and chairs to sit on, and sleeping quarters. The accommodations were limited, a few tick mattresses, chairs, a table. "I apologize for the lack of amenities but guests are few and far between. The windows are shuttered with no glazing and the door is left unlocked. After Fran leaves, the party decides to take a walk around the interior of the stockade. In the rear they find gardens and a small enclosure with cows and sheep. The manor has only two rear entrances, the courtyard and a door on the west that may correspond to where Fran pointed out the kitchen or servants quarters. Windows in the front of the manor are open and the party can see Dr Fran sitting at a desk and Delphi brushing her hair and watching the guest house dreamily. After a while Delphi closed her shutters and douses her candle; the old doctor closes his shutters a short time later but the light remains on.
Past midnight, there is a horrible scream from the house, rousing everyone in the guest house!
DMs Notes: The party earned 500 XP for the night's adventures and now have 800 XP with 2200 more needed to reach 2nd level.
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