Post by hubertbartels on Sept 17, 2022 13:14:31 GMT -5
Inspiration III
The debriefing continued at the Unicorn Club as the party members filled in Queen Titania on the events that happened in the Feywild. Mentioning Lord Kamer as a vampire left Titania a bit disturbed – she pulled on summer’s warmth and light, wrapped it into a gem and handed it to Percy. “This is a sunstone – it will help you against a strong vampire – but it has one charge. Use it wisely.”
The next morning, the party decided on their options. From Sir Wildcliffe’s entry in Debrett’s Peerage, Baronage, Knightage and Companionage, they learned of his address. Krenko interviewed the local servants and learned that for the last few years, only a few people ever entered his house. Sir Gorden came late at night. Percy went to his club, White’s, and was told that he rarely ever entered the club.
Lady Edith and Professor Zog visited the editors and publishers along Fleet Street and Pasternoster Row and learned that they were eager for new content – their usual poets and writers were not sending anything in. Interestingly enough, Thomas Love Peacock, a known poet and novelist had come in recently, asking about the same thing.
Percy recognized T. L. Peacock as a long time friend of Shelley’s. The man provided a home for the famous poet in Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire and even watched it after Shelley ran off to Europe in 1818.
That evening, the party went to 13 Old Queen Street and studied the closed up house. They thought about it for a moment before going to the back and entering the house through the stables. It was the work of moments for Lady Edith to open the locked door. They filed through the door and found the stables to be filled with horror. There was nothing left of the horses but the gnawed remains. Going deeper into the house, they found a cook stirring rotten meat into a cauldron while three ghouls watched. Each time a ghoul reached out at her, she would smack it with a paddle.
The party quickly destroyed the ghouls and captured the cook. She told them that the house had about six more ghouls in addition to the house keeper and the butler. Upstairs, the master could be found along with his valet and secretary. Tying up the cook, the party soon hunted down the rest of the staff in the basement before proceeding up the stairs to the ground floor.
The ground floor featured an entry hall to Old Queen Street and a large dining room along the front of the house. On the steps coming down, they ambushed the valet and two more ghouls. All the ghouls bore the remains of servants or maids outfits. On the back side of the ground floor was a dressing room and a great bedchamber. The bedchamber had a coffin with river dirt covering the bottom of the coffin.
Percy had a great idea – the party would take soil from the garden just outside the great bedroom and subsitute it for the soil in the coffin – this would prevent the vampire from regaining his strength while he rested.
Climbing the steps to the first floor, they were able to surprise Sir Wildcliffe, one of the brutish footmen and Sir Wildcliffe’s secretary having a heated discussion in the drawing room. A carpet bag filled with empty glassware jars lay on the table. The party ran into the room and soon destroyed the footman, captured the secretary and left Sir Wildcliffe’s body in the coffin. The secretary told them about Lord Blackthorne’s location in Great Marlow and how he had been using Thomas Peacock’s appearance to hide his true nature. The real Thomas Peacock was being held upstairs in the garret.
The party found Thomas Peacock under the effects of opium and brandy under the eaves of the house. A lessor restoration removed the drug and left Thomas open for questioning. He last remembered being visited by Sir Wildcliffe and a tall dark gentleman a year ago. Then things become blurry. Shelley was still staying at his house and Peacock expressed surprise at the news that the poet had gone to Europe.
With the prisoners tied up and Sir Wildcliffe lying in his coffin, the party decided to call in the constables. The two that Zog brought back quickly said that the discovery of a vampire on their beat meant they needed to call in their captain. When the captain showed up, he asked that the vampire be staked through the heart before he could rise again. Having turned the crime scene over the constables, the party decided to call it a night.
The next morning, the party gathered at the quay alongside the Thames for a quick hour’s trip up the river to Great Marlow. Once in Great Marlow, a local told them how to reach Shelley’s house. Once at the house, the party again decided to enter through the rear kitchen door.
Inside the house, they found everything dusty but neatly packed away. Going down the hallway to the front of the house, they found the drawing or ballroom cluttered with tables. On the tables were vast quantities of occult material, books and clockwork mechanisms. Working on the mechanisms were two clockwork assistants while a clockwork woman, dressed in ancient Greek attire and carrying a cithera, watched. Finally, bent over a table, engraving magical sigils into a scriber, was a man resembling Thomas Peacock.
Professor Zog attempted to let sunlight into the room by using levitate on the window curtains. This started the fight. The vampire let the illusion drop, becoming a taller, paler, more gaunt man with bony claws. He snarled that Shelley was responsible for the methods he used to drain inspiration from people. Shelley was working on a mechanical muse to aid him in his writing and he, Lord Blackthorne, had modified the method to store away the inspiration from the world. It was his hope that draining the world of its inspiration would leave it a bland, colorless, clockwork world. The fey would retreat back into the Feywild, leaving the world to be ruled by vampires.
Lord Blackthorne added that after learning about the method from Shelley, he sent him to Europe while he began stealing the inspiration from Shelley’s friends. But, he swore, the party had killed Xyla, locked his supply of glassware jars in the Feywild and lost him his magical scriber that enchanted the jars to take inspiration.
Percy pulled the sunstone from his pocket and blinded the mechanical muse and Lord Blackthorne. The others piled into the vampire, slamming their attacks until the vampire turned into mist. This did not save him as Percy spell shredded the mist and destroyed him. The clockwork assistants and muse were quickly destroyed as well.
Returning to London, the party met Queen Titania in the dining room of the Unicorn Club. They filled her in on the end of Lord Blackthorne and why he was stealing the world’s inspiration. She thanked them and laid out a number of rewards on the table for them.
One additional footnote – each of the party members who entered the Feywild now receives a fresh apple pie or apple pastry or apple fritters weekly. No telling where they come from or how they are delivered… but they appear on their windows or doorsteps.
The debriefing continued at the Unicorn Club as the party members filled in Queen Titania on the events that happened in the Feywild. Mentioning Lord Kamer as a vampire left Titania a bit disturbed – she pulled on summer’s warmth and light, wrapped it into a gem and handed it to Percy. “This is a sunstone – it will help you against a strong vampire – but it has one charge. Use it wisely.”
The next morning, the party decided on their options. From Sir Wildcliffe’s entry in Debrett’s Peerage, Baronage, Knightage and Companionage, they learned of his address. Krenko interviewed the local servants and learned that for the last few years, only a few people ever entered his house. Sir Gorden came late at night. Percy went to his club, White’s, and was told that he rarely ever entered the club.
Lady Edith and Professor Zog visited the editors and publishers along Fleet Street and Pasternoster Row and learned that they were eager for new content – their usual poets and writers were not sending anything in. Interestingly enough, Thomas Love Peacock, a known poet and novelist had come in recently, asking about the same thing.
Percy recognized T. L. Peacock as a long time friend of Shelley’s. The man provided a home for the famous poet in Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire and even watched it after Shelley ran off to Europe in 1818.
That evening, the party went to 13 Old Queen Street and studied the closed up house. They thought about it for a moment before going to the back and entering the house through the stables. It was the work of moments for Lady Edith to open the locked door. They filed through the door and found the stables to be filled with horror. There was nothing left of the horses but the gnawed remains. Going deeper into the house, they found a cook stirring rotten meat into a cauldron while three ghouls watched. Each time a ghoul reached out at her, she would smack it with a paddle.
The party quickly destroyed the ghouls and captured the cook. She told them that the house had about six more ghouls in addition to the house keeper and the butler. Upstairs, the master could be found along with his valet and secretary. Tying up the cook, the party soon hunted down the rest of the staff in the basement before proceeding up the stairs to the ground floor.
The ground floor featured an entry hall to Old Queen Street and a large dining room along the front of the house. On the steps coming down, they ambushed the valet and two more ghouls. All the ghouls bore the remains of servants or maids outfits. On the back side of the ground floor was a dressing room and a great bedchamber. The bedchamber had a coffin with river dirt covering the bottom of the coffin.
Percy had a great idea – the party would take soil from the garden just outside the great bedroom and subsitute it for the soil in the coffin – this would prevent the vampire from regaining his strength while he rested.
Climbing the steps to the first floor, they were able to surprise Sir Wildcliffe, one of the brutish footmen and Sir Wildcliffe’s secretary having a heated discussion in the drawing room. A carpet bag filled with empty glassware jars lay on the table. The party ran into the room and soon destroyed the footman, captured the secretary and left Sir Wildcliffe’s body in the coffin. The secretary told them about Lord Blackthorne’s location in Great Marlow and how he had been using Thomas Peacock’s appearance to hide his true nature. The real Thomas Peacock was being held upstairs in the garret.
The party found Thomas Peacock under the effects of opium and brandy under the eaves of the house. A lessor restoration removed the drug and left Thomas open for questioning. He last remembered being visited by Sir Wildcliffe and a tall dark gentleman a year ago. Then things become blurry. Shelley was still staying at his house and Peacock expressed surprise at the news that the poet had gone to Europe.
With the prisoners tied up and Sir Wildcliffe lying in his coffin, the party decided to call in the constables. The two that Zog brought back quickly said that the discovery of a vampire on their beat meant they needed to call in their captain. When the captain showed up, he asked that the vampire be staked through the heart before he could rise again. Having turned the crime scene over the constables, the party decided to call it a night.
The next morning, the party gathered at the quay alongside the Thames for a quick hour’s trip up the river to Great Marlow. Once in Great Marlow, a local told them how to reach Shelley’s house. Once at the house, the party again decided to enter through the rear kitchen door.
Inside the house, they found everything dusty but neatly packed away. Going down the hallway to the front of the house, they found the drawing or ballroom cluttered with tables. On the tables were vast quantities of occult material, books and clockwork mechanisms. Working on the mechanisms were two clockwork assistants while a clockwork woman, dressed in ancient Greek attire and carrying a cithera, watched. Finally, bent over a table, engraving magical sigils into a scriber, was a man resembling Thomas Peacock.
Professor Zog attempted to let sunlight into the room by using levitate on the window curtains. This started the fight. The vampire let the illusion drop, becoming a taller, paler, more gaunt man with bony claws. He snarled that Shelley was responsible for the methods he used to drain inspiration from people. Shelley was working on a mechanical muse to aid him in his writing and he, Lord Blackthorne, had modified the method to store away the inspiration from the world. It was his hope that draining the world of its inspiration would leave it a bland, colorless, clockwork world. The fey would retreat back into the Feywild, leaving the world to be ruled by vampires.
Lord Blackthorne added that after learning about the method from Shelley, he sent him to Europe while he began stealing the inspiration from Shelley’s friends. But, he swore, the party had killed Xyla, locked his supply of glassware jars in the Feywild and lost him his magical scriber that enchanted the jars to take inspiration.
Percy pulled the sunstone from his pocket and blinded the mechanical muse and Lord Blackthorne. The others piled into the vampire, slamming their attacks until the vampire turned into mist. This did not save him as Percy spell shredded the mist and destroyed him. The clockwork assistants and muse were quickly destroyed as well.
Returning to London, the party met Queen Titania in the dining room of the Unicorn Club. They filled her in on the end of Lord Blackthorne and why he was stealing the world’s inspiration. She thanked them and laid out a number of rewards on the table for them.
One additional footnote – each of the party members who entered the Feywild now receives a fresh apple pie or apple pastry or apple fritters weekly. No telling where they come from or how they are delivered… but they appear on their windows or doorsteps.