A Tegel Manor in Marquisant
I have briefly mentioned the dragon belt in a previous post, and even if this part of the broader setting is suffering a bit from a hiatus, the world it exists in and the system I playtested with it are still seeing a lot of use at my table (the rules are in a state where they are almost publishable, barring for the lack of bestiary and magic items). Since the annoucement of the WARP game jam I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to showcase a little bit of the setting while talking about Tegel manor and how I integrated it to Marquesant.
Marquisant is a small french outpost lost in a jungle beyond the fringe of reality. The land is dotted with forgotten ruins from the hollow moon, the church worships a set of rules known as the principles and show a strange obsession with music. This is a place ruled by the nobility and faith, musketeers acting as their armed hand. To complicate things further, floating down from the moon are the technologically advanced selenites coming to reclaim their land lost thousands of years ago.
Tegel Manor is a judge guild module published in 1977, it describes the eponymous dungeon, its four underground layers, the small village of Tegel and the surrounding lands. It is a terse module with a surprising amount of neat details (and a lot of blanks to fill in). I'll give a brief overview of what I will tinker with to blend this strange place to Marquesant (beyond just setting the module in the middle of the jungle and call it a day).
-The Rumps : the legal owner of the manor, most of them are now undeads living in their decayed halls, except for Runic, the cowardly paladin.
-The underground ruins of Tegel : written as a blend of catacombs or gonzo tunnels (with sentient rats warring in a network of caves).-The Cult of Sarthogus : a group of frog obsessed cultists living in a temple east of Tegel village. They own a magical cauldron that can raise an army of zombies.
-The mayor and militia captain : the only evil characters of the village (one lawful, the other chaotic). They are powerful and each has a magical weapon, which might make them troublesome if their interests clash with the character's.
-The NPCs : four potential allies lurking around the village, their help will be more than welcome to overcome the perils of the manor.
Now that we have all the necessary information, let's tackle each of these one by one.
The Rumps obtained the manor centuries ago. Count Rumpula saved the king's life when a moonbeast attacked him during one of the royal hunts. Rumpula Initially aimed for the king, but his terrible eyesight saved the king and doomed the beast. Most of the advisors knew of his treacherous nature and arranged for the rumps to be relocated around the region of Tegel. It coincided with the discovery of a set of Selenites ruins, a large decayed city of which only a large temple and a complex of catacombs remained fully intact (the temple of Sarthogus and the underground layers of the manor). Most felt that the construction of the manor was a benediction for the backwater region, with a proper count and riches to discover, surely the village would become prosperous. Unfortunately the Rump's terrible management (and their obsession with the dark secrets of the underground) led to a serie of events which forced most of the inhabitants to leave the place. The Rumps then bonded with a moon god which caused their undeath curse. Among them, Ridwick of the Relic slowly tries to unravel the secrets of the selenite to finally become a divine being and escape the curse of lichdom.
The underground ruins of Tegel were part of the the city of Sad'oth, a funerary complex and home to the blind oracles. Walls are smooth and white, aliens carvings and remnants of broken stone structures of unknown purpose are found everywhere. Animated statues encountered above in the manor are actually disguised automatons found in this complex by the Rumps and used as a defence system. The place holds a focal shrine that may be used to ascend to godhood (a very crappy and precarious one) Ridwick of the Relic is still trying to figure how it works, the initial activation resulted in spectacular failure and cursing the whole bloodline. The actual ritual involves the "black cauldron" of Sarthogus, harmonic device found in the vaults of the monastery and the heart of a powerful creature (more than 6 HD).
The monastery was built a few decades after the Rumps arrival, when rumours of undead presence started to circulate (due to the Rump's meddling with the focal shrine). It is a bastion of the fifth company of musketeers, zealots of the principles. The monastery is a large building with an underground vault protected by an harmonic door (the rattle of a specific rosary is needed to unlock it). The presence of company five did not help much, most of them were obsessed with the recovery of selenites artifacts from the manor (officially heretic material, but the church reverse engineer most of their findings to their own ends). The living conditions are spartan, priests follow strict rotation so at least one is always singing in the domed chapel, the echoes of their voice resonating in the whole structure (most undead can't approach the place, the harmonics of the song repels them). Lately the musketeers have been busy investigating the cultists of Sarthogus and repelling adventurer's attempt at breaking into the vaults, they do not like newcomers and consider unsupervised intrusions in the manor a blasphemy.
Manpower and treasure: thirty level 1 fighters and three level 3 fighters equipped with muskets, swords and leather armor, they may turn undead as level 1 priests (level 5 when inside the monastery). The vault contains 5000gp in artifacts, two nightingale blades (their vibrations harm ghosts) and an old selenite automaton (as living statue) with its control tablet.
The cult of Sarthogus is led by an archeologist fraud named Lucine who accidentally entered in a communion with a dragon saint's corpse (selenites ascetics who attain enlightenment through dragon's mimicking). Her poor understanding of selenite culture convinced her that the entity was some sort of frog god. She found the lens of Hah'dess, normally used to communicate with spirits of the dead and fumbled her way to success by horribly misusing it and raising zombies (mistaking the now blackened lens for some sort of cauldron). None of her follower have any idea of what they are doing but consider that the shambling corpses around them are the proof that they're right.
The mayor and the militia captain are in an uneasy alliance. The mayor, Ternelmor, wants to see the manor emptied from its in-occupants to claim it and its secrets. His plan involve getting adventurers into his clutch by blackmailing or promising them hefty rewards. Should they prove too troublesome, he's ready to denounce them to the fifth company for trespassing into blasphemous grounds. The militia captain, Mordacity Maghoula is a brute, former coroner and doctor of the fourth company of musketeer. He loves to dissect selenites bodies (the fresher, the better) and takes a cruel pleasure ordering the militia around. His fascination with selenite history and artefacts could put him in hot water with the fifth company but Ternelmor still has some use for him (but plan to denounce him as soon as he has outlived his usefulness).
The four NPCs each have their ties to the region :
-Enar the proper a copperhorn (my fancy tall dwarves) is a big hearted bandit. He used to be a company two musketeer but was disgusted by the ruthlessness and lack of chivalrous spirit. Disappointed, he deserted and decided to right the wrongs. When he heard about Tegel manor, he knew he had to do something, and company five interdiction to interfere will not discourage him (he hates them the most).
-Afring and Hrinar are two brothers from a distant land. One is tall and brutish, the other small and cunning. They frequently get involved in duels with musketeers from the five companies and always win (more or less honourably). Their true goal is to climb up the dragonbelt to reach the moon, they hope to find clues in the surroundings of Tegel (and maybe in the manor itself).
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Here it is for Tegel manor. This may not be the most original setting to use the module in, but I have a lot of fun playing with the terse description and vagueness of the module to bring forth the peculiarity of the setting... And that's why it gets a rating of "Try it", it's a really fun adventure.
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