The Manor

Skeeve says, "Master Darian, thank you so much for your help and showing us around! I want to echo Ealdwig's offer: if there is something we can do for you, please let us know. If you'd like, we will ask Magian to come and pay you a visit before he leaves for a while with his griffons. We will also let the Lady know you are here. Though you have stated you have no desire to serve the new Lady, it is still probably good for them to know you are here. She has been very respectful of everyone we have found so far.

"Also, two others who remain in the Manor from the old days are Witic and the Seer. Do you know anything of them?"

"Thank you, Master Darian, for the tour and for, uh, being a gracious host given your present state. Your willingness to share this place with us is most kind.

"By the way, did you happen to know of a 'Georguy'? We spotted his name chiseled into the stone over near the forge. And speaking of which, would you be alright with me getting the forge working again?"

Thanking Darian for his answer Kaarik will know study a little more the tapestry to see if he can make it work as initially intended.

A couple points to make sure of.

First, there is still a spider on the loose. Unless it is a friend of Darian's, we'll want to get rid of it and its egg sacks. Otherwise, we'll need to recruit it. Either way, we don't want it to be a loose end.

I would still like to use the building as our "home base" unless that is infeasible because of moving games. If it isn't feasible, then so be it and we move on. On the loot, if we are going to use it as our base, he recommends leaving the armor here. If not, we should cash it out. Regardless, let's take the cash. (He has more magical supplies to buy!) For the non-armor items, I recommend that we take the holy symbol and hour glass with us to present as gifts to the Lady as tokens of her family's past. For the price of 50 gp we hopefully garner some more goodwill. We don't mention the armor, though ...

On the way back to the Manor, we will stop by the Carriage House and ask Magian to go talk with Darian. It will probably do both of them some good.

Back at the Manor, we provide a report on the current state of the gatehouse, minus anything about the vault contents. We present the gifts to Sylfir. If it works for the game, we ask for use of the gatehouse. (If not, we don't.) We tell them about Darian still being there, and his condition (can't leave the building, won't move on, not gonna serve). If Witic isn't there, he will make sure to find her and tell her, too.

Finally, Skeeve will check in with the Seer and check in with his progress learning with the dice.

After all of that, it's on to the base to spend the loot!

Also, did we get XP? I have a trait I wanna buy!

I was wondering that myself.
Agreed.
Agreed.
Sounds good to me.
Yeah, I gotta make a decision for Blornvid.

Blornvid emerges from the pulse of light at the Matrix Node and finds himself back in the basement of the Manor. He greets anyone who he encounters there, or on his way upstairs, and explains that he is on his way to the Gatehouse to restore it and get the forge working again.

If he encounters Sylphir or anyone else in charge, he will also state that if the community charter has been formalized to let him know so that he can review and sign it.

Blornvid takes his leave of the Manor and makes his way to the Gatehouse. He takes note of the changes on the grounds along his walk. Progress seems slow. He wonders if any progress has been made on the refugee relocation idea that people back at the base were bantering about.

Blornvid sees the work that the two young ones have done and nods his head in appreciation. "Oh no, they can stay. I don't mind having company. I don't know how social Darian is going to be these days." Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, Blornvid explains, "Darian is the name of the ghost that haunts this place. Have you seen him? He's fine. Just a bit miserable since he really doesn't know how to leave this place. Oh, and I hope you stayed out of the room that has the undead training things. They're scary looking, but Darian says they won't attack unless attacked. Still, kinda creepy to look at."

"As for martial training, I'd be happy to. I think the Manor's gonna need to be able to defend itself someday, preferably later than sooner. And if you two lads pay attention, you might be able to lead the troops someday. By the way, what are yer names?"

The next day, Blornvid gets to work on the forge. He inspects it for signs of any physical damage then examines the tools, comparing them to his own. He then gets to work bringing it back to life. Blornvid smiled at the glowing coals. When the boys come by to check it out, he warns them about the immense heat and what it will do to them. He makes sure to point out the protective gear. "If yer going to be in here, yer gonna have to wear the gear." He then recruits them to help find any weapons in the gatehouse. "Gotta see about repairing them, making them sharp for battle."

With the help of the boys, the upstairs armory is brought downstairs to the forge where items are sorted. Blornvid then gets to work getting the weapons and armor back into fighting shape. When finished and cool, he shows the boys how to polish the armor. To reward them for their help, he starts with the basics of combat: proper stances, movement, how to hold a weapon, etc. He has them train with wooden replicas, promising that when they've mastered these, and grown strong enough to actually carry a blade, they can practice with the real deal.

With the salvaged armor and weapons restored, Blornvid has a look at the ballista again. Rather than take it apart to refurbish the metallic pieces, he decides to leave it until he can get a carpenter or some other craftsman to come in and have a look at making new wooden pieces.

During an afternoon rainstorm, Blornvid has a look at the magic map tapestry. He studies it, trying to gauge how well it still works. He looks for signs of movement. He suggests to the boys to go out and run around the gatehouse. He gets up close to the map to see if he can see them on the tapestry.

Blornvid is proud of the progress the boys are making with training, and he always makes sure to praise their efforts at the end of each training session. "It won't be long before you'll be ready to lead a garrison in defense of this place."

Blornvid makes sure that the woodworker and carver know that he will be paying them to restore the ballista frame. "If you'd like, you can grow the trees here on the grounds of the gatehouse."

Blornvid is pleased to see that the map is still functioning, moreover that he's able to make some sense of it, as limited as it may be. Skeeve will be pleased. I wonder what he can get the map to do." He takes a moment to think about his friends, Ealdwig and Skeeve, and a smile crosses his face. I wonder what they're up to. He starts to feel a bit melancholy, so he grabs a beer from the keg and watches the stars in the heavens.

Blornvid has Danoll over for a pint or two from the keg to discuss plans for defending the Manor. He informs him of the work being done on the ballista.