Middle Earth FA63 D&D Game. Fourth Adventure. Journey to Rivendell

Diagram of the house

The house is 30’x30’ and 30’ high at the peak plus the open porch which is 22’x8’. The ground and first floors have 8’ ceilings. The cellar is only 7’ high and the Attic peaks to 11’ with the dormers at 7’. The stairs are all ell-shaped and of stone. Six steps to an almost 4’x4’ landing and 6 more steps to the next floor. They are in the northwest corners. The floors are wooden with great beams of wood, possibly clean white live oak. They have find grave and are in great shape.


Mulligan, Ghân and Miron make quick work of the attic. It is one good size rooms with 4 small dormers some storage areas. The floors are of highly polished wood and have only a little dust. It looks undisturbed. The 20’x20’ room has 8 well made but fairly lightweight wooden chairs in 3 stacks. Ghân finds the house radiates magic of a wholesome sort and several items in the room.

In the peak of the ceiling there is a long silver pole sticking down with three glass globes. The one closest to the ceiling is Red, below it is a yellow and at the bottom of the pole is a large blue globe. The pole and globes radiate magic.

There are three good size cedar chests that radiate magic of two sorts. Each is 2’x3’x5’. They are high gloss and each has a floral design. The have simple latch locks that Mulligan makes quick work of. Inside the chest are perfectly preserved blankets, sheets, linens, children and ladies garments and some very well made woolen sweaters and coats. None of these items radiate their own magic.

There is a toy chest paint white with pictures of children at play. It is not locked and is not magical. However inside are dozens of toys and many are magical. There are brass horns and a magical silver wind-up boats and lead soldiers and orcs. There is a small-wheeled cart and many tops of all sort of material. Three are magic. There are some wooden balls and glass marbles. There are also the remains of some stuffed animals, nothing recognizable at this point.

Every steel shutter appears to have at least three separate enchantments on them.

Of the four angles roofed ell-shapes storage areas in the corners, 3 are empty but one has some old shelves with a variety of junky broken or worn out ordinary items another is for the stairs up. The stairs had another 8 portraits.


Gil-Gandel, Deor and Gwaelur examine the bedrooms and parlor. The Parlor has a tattered ell-shaped bench with a high back against the stairs and each window has a built in bench that was once cushioned. On each side of the angled door to the Master Bedroom are two magical silver candleholders. They still hold non-magical candles. The bedrooms are closed but not locked. Every steel shutter appears to have at least three separate enchantments on them. There is a small statue of a Man and Woman kissing, two portraits and some nice pottery in the parlor. The stairs up and landing had another 8 portraits.

The north bedroom appears to have been the nursery. There is a crib still in good shape and a well-made bunk bed and a rocking chair. There are a few toys about. Nothing is magical in the room.

The southwest bedroom has a large collection of books on well made shelves and the two once comfy chairs with a small table between them. Three books radiate magic.

The large Master bedroom has a large bed with a canopy. It looked like it had rich linens and covers. The bed itself actually radiates magic. The room has a well-made very large silvered mirror on the wall. A large magical Armoire but of cherry wood and cedar! There is a desk in the North East corner of the bedroom. The desk still has inks and fine quills. One quill is magical. There are 2 large paintings of an unknown land in here. There is also a picture of 8 tall white ships on a dark stormy ocean.


Elfstan, Gilraen & Thoroncir make short work of the ground floor. The front hall flows into dining hall and kitchen. It has small statues and the large picture of Eärendil aboard Vingilótë and the smaller portrait of Vanimeldë on the Unicorn. There are three additional pictures of unknown Lords and Ladies. This floor is of course very crowded with horses packed in tight. There is a door under the stair to the cellar.

The Dining room had a large table the party pushed to the side and 10 chairs. The table proved handy for sleeping as several slept on the table and the canines below. There are more portraits in here and 4 more magical candleholders.

The large kitchen fireplace in on the south wall and another fireplace is on the north wall. It looks like the kitchen fireplace is designed to warm the two bedrooms above it and the other warms the nursery.


The cellar is broken into four stone rooms. The first room is bare and clean. It was painted in a lime whitewash that has held up very well.

The southwest room has flours and grains that that are long decayed. There are 4 casks and all four radiate magic. There is a shelf loaded with jars. At least 100 jars and each one is labeled. It is a variety of preserves, canned & pickled vegetables. It seems unlikely that it would be safe to open these.

The northeast room has a variety of odds and ends and 6 bunks. It looks mostly emptied out.

The southeast room is locked off with magical locks and the doors radiate magic.

Nice diagram. I’m afraid I don’t understand the concluding sentence above.

Sir Thoroncir will ask Princess Gilraen and Curunauth to take a look at each of the paintings, throughout the house, to see if they recognize any people or places.

That should have said: … *They have fine grain and are in great shape *…
I don’t know why my fingers type different words than my mind thinks, but they do.

No one can identify any of the other portraits but Gilraen speaks on the one with the 8 tall white ships. "This might represent the faithful fleeing Númenor. Though that would be odd as it is fairly well known that they fled in 9 ships; four were Elendil’s, three were Isildur’s, and two were Anárion’s. I never heard they were white in color. This might have some meaning to the Elves of the Havens or even Gondolin.

So… do we preserve this as an archeological site or do we stand by the tradition of adventurers everywhere and have a go at getting into the southeast room? Yeah, thought so. :wink:

Assuming everyone reports back on what they have found, I think we could keep our mages going for weeks trying to identify all this magic.

I’m sure Deor would be interested in the orbs in the attic though and the three books in the study.

I doubt mundane methods will open the door in the cellar but it may be worth a try, failing that either a keyword or magical opening spell will probably be required.

For some reason, I don’t feel the urge to take any of it, but just find out what it is. :slight_smile:

The 30’ by 30’ ground floor must be crowded with all our mounts!

Packed extremely tight I would say. As I said the table and chairs had to be pushed against a wall and I might still be pushing things. The canines are under the table. I’m sure the packs and tack went upstairs or in the cellar.
Let’s see what the rest of the party says about additional exploring or what to do. Don’t forget that when the storm dies down the tower needs a bit more exploring. (That would be after 4am.)

I agree. I doubt there is very much here that would be useful to take away in any case, and since this seems to be as homely a house as I ever heard of, it would be a great shame to spoil it.

We should get some sleep and do our tower-exploring in the daylight, after the storm has passed. The Kingdom of Gondor might have a fair claim to ownership of the house and its contents, I’d say, and for the sake of history I don’t think we should just pillage it.

I think the Elves might disagree with you there Thoroncir.

The tower on the other hand, is fair game. Searching it in the morning is a good idea though :slight_smile:

Sounds like the party is leaning against doing anything further to the house. It would be a good time to start talking about how to explore the tower.

Was Deor going to do any IDs on the house, items in the house or items already retrieved from the tower? Anything further on the books? Lorliana is still slowly pouring over the non-magic ones.

If Gilraen can assure us that the books aren’t trapped (and in a place like this, we’re probably pretty safe), Deor will start reading them looking for hints to the secrets of the place. Can he ID the books as a lot? If not, do they have titles or anything to give us a hint as to what’s in them?

Of the three magical books none were trapped. Each would have to be ID seperately.

One looks incredible old and is in Quenya in Tengwar. Lorliana says it is an ancient annal of one of the old families of Númenor and it appears the magic is probably to preserve the book.

The second magic book will not open and neither of you understand the writing on the spine.

The third book is a magically locked book of spells!

Bingo!

Deor will use his magic as necessary to try to open the spellbook. He won’t spend time on the second book unless someone here can read the language on the spine.

Once that’s done, he’ll happily try a Knock on the door downstairs if the burrahobbits don’t manage the lock.

What spells does Deor have memorized after his sleep?

It takes a Knock to open the spell book. Once opened he can slowly index the spells.
They are mostly cantrips and utility spells. There are some very long confusing spells that seem to combine magic use and alchemy together. This book might require some long and careful study. It does not have any standard spells in it however and apparently no combat spells from the looks of it. On the inside back cover are some magical writings that would require the read magic spell.

1: Knock, Identify, (Open slot)
2: Detect Invisibility, Levitate

I’ll Knock that new spellbook open and have a look. Will I be able to take this book with me, or does Gilraen’s prohibition on taking magic items from the house extend this far?

For the spells, Knock is a second level, so lose either Detect Invisibility or Levitate and add another 1st.

Gilraen to Deor, "I’m not sure, the house itself might just tell us but I think you can take it. It is not part of the house. I am also only making a request about the house. I am just one member of this party, but honestly I think the King might be very excited by this find and may offer a nice reward for discovering this ancient stronghold of our people.

There is something odd though, we are stumbling upon an abnormal number of monsters here. I am wondering if something is somehow directing this and against someone in this party. I trust Gorbo and don’t believe he is purposely leading us into danger and I agree with him that this storm would have been too dangerous for the horses in even an old oak grove.

So is something or someone after a member of the party itself or perhaps an item being carried?"

I’ll drop Detect Invisibility and pick up Read Magic and Comprehend Languages. Knock that spellbook, and then use a Comprehend Languages to read the second book, the one in a foreign script.

The writing on the spine of the second book says, “This book will learn you all my knowledge but it is not meant for those that don’t know already know the ways of magic. It will open if you read this aloud.”

Deor’s ready to go ahead and read this- surely he qualifies as “knowing the ways of magic.” He’ll make a point of not telling anyone else what the book says inside, as instructed. We can continue this in PM if necessary. He’s also willing to try his hand at Knocking the door in the basement- any good treasure hunter knows that the best stuff is often under lock and key!