THE PENDRAKE ENCOUNTERS: CASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE

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“For centuries, the field of extraordinary zoology regarded grymkin as an oddity. Developments in recent years have caused us to revisit our thinking. With the arrival on Caen of the demigod-like Defiers, grymkin of all kinds have gone from a rare—although dangerous—occurrence to a threat to all who fall within their harvest.”

—Professor Viktor Pendrake, Department of Extraordinary Zoology, Corvis University

Renowned expert in all matters of unusual beasts, there are few individuals who have seen as much of Immoren as Professor Viktor Pendrake—the High Chancellor of Corvis University’s Department of Extraordinary Zoology—and fewer still who survived the experience and chronicled the tale. His foundational work, the Monsternomicon, gives a detailed account of the many unusual encounters he has faced in his journeys across the Iron Kingdoms and beyond. To get the most out of these encounters, you will need a copy of Iron Kingdoms: Requiem and the Monsternomicon.

Background

Lord Castellan Emilio Ŝanco is a man who has turned what might have been a tragedy for himself into a fortune—but at the expense of another. One of the northern Tordoran castellans of Ord, Ŝanco’s family was granted a large swath of territory in the south in the aftermath of a violent upheaval in northern Ord that threatened his familial holdings.

Ŝanco was given half of the holdings of the Thurian Moorgrave Liam Wailhest. Like the division of lands following the Border Wars over three hundred years ago, the castellan settled in Wailhest’s lands, effectively halving the Thurian’s territory.

Ŝanco is a clever noble who maintains close relations with the Mateu trading guild. Using his connections, Ŝanco progressively ate into Wailhest’s land, expanding his claim until the Thurian nobleman held on to a sliver of the land that once was his family’s.

Wailhest could not abide this abuse and set a most unusual plan for vengeance in motion.

The Thurian learned what he could of Ŝanco, looking for weaknesses. After many months spent bribing servants and paying off informants, he learned the lord castellan’s sole point of vulnerability: fine wine.

Ŝanco considers himself a connoisseur of the finest wines in western Immoren, from the ice wines of northern Khador to the fine summer wines of Cygnar. The moorgrave commissioned a cask of wine from a famous vintner in King’s Vine in eastern Cygnar and added a special ingredient all his own: a cask imp.

Ten-Cups

Ten-Cups is a cask imp who has been roaming western Immoren for sixty years. The grymkin enjoyed plaguing the back roads of Ord, causing mischief and mayhem in small roadside taverns, and was enough of a nuisance that local myths about him started to circulate as far as Wailhest’s lands.

The moorgrave spent months tracking down the grymkin. After finally locating Ten-Cups, Wailhest convinced the grymkin to aid his scheme with a description of the castellan’s lavish wine cellar—as well as telling the cask imp about how much the Tordoran lord enjoyed imbibing strong drink.

Ten-Cups is a willing participant in the moorgrave’s scheme. He enjoys dominating the drunken Ŝanco and spends his spare time sampling the fine wines in the lord’s cellar.

Encounter Start

There are numerous ways to get the characters involved in this encounter. Suggested options include:

  • As a nobleman with connections with the prestigious Mateu family, any change in Ŝanco’s behavior would raise eyebrows with his allies. After some time with no news from Ŝanco, the Mateu family rounds up a group to check in on their castellan ally.
  • Lord Castellan Ŝanco knows that something is amiss. He cannot recall his actions each night after having a cup or two of wine. Describing his reckless and dangerous behavior each night, his family and servants have left him alone in his estate. He wakes up sore and covered in bruises. Worst of all, he’s started hearing strange noises from the cellar: slurred muttering and deep belches. Fearing that he is losing his mind, he puts out a call for anyone willing to stay overnight at his estate to relieve him of this woe.
  • Ten-Cups the cask imp was a roadside legend in southeast Ord, and a tavern owner noticed that his patrons drank more—and more expensively—when the little grymkin paid a visit. However, someone has taken the creature away. The tavern owner wants his moneymaker back and has heard rumors of a castellan to the west who’s been complaining about circumstances that sound similar to Ten-Cups’ shenanigans. The tavern keeper is willing to pay handsomely for the return of the cask imp.

The encounter begins when the characters arrive at Lord Castellan Ŝanco’s estate. Read or paraphrase the following to set the scene:

The mansion of Lord Castellan Ŝanco rises above the misty moorlands of Southern Ord. The broad building stands atop a vibrant green hill with topiary animals lining the path to its wide front door.

As you approach the mansion, one of its heavy doors creaks open. With a soft jingling of bells, a gaunt-faced Tordoran man peers out from the interior, a jester’s cap-and-bells askew atop his head.

Despite his attire, the man who greets the characters at the door is Lord Castellan Ŝanco (male Tordoran noble). On a whim, Ten-Cups had the lord dress in a jester’s outfit held over from a masque Ŝanco attended months ago. If a character points out what Ŝanco is wearing, he quickly pulls off the cap and tosses it back into the mansion.

A Sign of Troubles

A character looking at the mansion can attempt a DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) check. Success reveals the Ŝanco family crest above the door—a raven with a coin purse in its beak—is newer than the surrounding stones and a poor fit for the plaque it sits on. A character who notices this can attempt a DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check to see a different family crest on either side of the double doors: the Wailhest crest of a boar with three arrows beneath it.

Drinks in the Parlor

Ŝanco greets the characters and invites them into his parlor, complaining of a hangover as he leads them into his home. As he guides them, read the following:

The spacious interior of the manner is dark and dusty. Other than your echoing footsteps, the only sound is the deep ticking of a clock in the entry hall. The castellan noisily clears his throat. “I apologize for the condition of things. My servants have decided, to a man, to take their leave of me. Along with my wife and children. Come, this way.”

Ŝanco takes them into a side sitting parlor and pours himself a generous glass of wine before flopping into a chair and inviting the characters to do the same.

Roleplaying Lord Castellan Emilio Ŝanco

Dark skin. Thinning hair. Sunken, dark-ringed eyes. Ŝanco is dressed in a sweat-stained jester’s outfit that hangs loosely from his thin frame. He has a habit of smacking his lips loudly when he is not drinking, and his hands tremble until he wraps them around a glass of strong drink. Despite his hangover and addiction to alcohol, Ŝanco is capable of shrewd observations and can accurately take the measure of someone after only a few moments of conversation.

Quote: “Morrow’s dragging arse, I could use a drink.”

Use the following information to guide a conversation with Ŝanco.

  • The castellan’s fortunes have recently taken a downturn. He has no memory of it, but his servants and family have described his increasingly erratic behavior.
  • He suspects that some ne’er-do-well has broken into his home and taken up residence in his wine cellar. He cites unusual noises coming from the cellar—one of the reasons his servants took flight.
  • Ŝanco cautions the characters not to interfere with anything in his private collection, particularly his cask of King’s Vine Cabernet. He describes it as a recent gift and peace offering from a troublesome rival.
  • If asked about the different crests outside, Ŝanco gives a short and one-sided version of the friction between himself and the Wailhest moorgrave. He explains that the Wailhests once owned this mansion, but it was gifted to him by King Baird after the Claiming. If asked more about the Wailhests, he makes a dismissive gesture and suggests that they’re off in one of their summer homes.

Ŝanco is willing to answer other questions but has limited knowledge due to frequent blackouts. When their conversation ends, Ŝanco leads the characters down a flight of stone stairs into his cellar and the door to the wine cellar beyond.

Ŝanco’s Wine Cellar

Ŝanco’s well-stocked cellar remains the castellan’s pride and joy. Barrels and bottles of strong drink from across the Iron Kingdoms and beyond are stored in the cool, dimly lit space. Ŝanco’s servants once kept the cellar clean and free of grime or vermin, but since Ten-Cups’ arrival and the flight of the castellan’s staff, the cellar has fallen increasingly into disrepair.

General Features

The cellar has the following physical features.

  • Ceilings. The cellar’s ceilings are 8 feet high.
  • Doors. The doors in the cellar are made of stout oak with iron handles and fittings. Doors within the cellar are unlocked except for the entrance door leading to the rest of the cellar. As an action, a character using thieves’ tools can make a successful DC 14 Dexterity check to pick the lock on a locked door, or a character can try to force a door open, doing so with a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check.
  • Floors, Walls, and Stairs. Floors, walls, and staircases are made of thick, mortared stone.
  • Light. If a location has light sources, the text says so; otherwise, the area is unlit.

1. Entrance Hall

The entrance hall is a long narrow corridor that leads to the wine cellar. Once the characters enter the entrance hall, Ŝanco locks the door behind them. He sends them off with a final bit of encouragement:

“When you’ve dealt with the rascal in my basement, knock thrice on the door. I’ll be waiting here with the key!”

2. The Low Wines Chamber

Beyond the normal cellar, a wooden door opens into the low wine chamber, where Ŝanco stores his cheaper and more common drink—perfect for serving guests of whom he thinks little. Read or paraphrase the following:

Across the threshold of the entrance hall, you enter a cold and damp room of fitted stone. A honeycomb of shelves on either wall contains the fruit of years of labor, pressed and bottled into green glass and labeled with the names of a hundred different vineyards. Scurrying across the floor, a line of rats with barbs growing from their spines create a irregular and weaving motley of shapes.

The low wines chamber has two doors set opposite each other, one leading back to the main cellar and the other leading to the fine wines. Racks holding wine bottles line the remaining two walls.

Drunken Rat Swarm. A swarm of devil rats inhabits the low wine chamber. Ten-Cups has been amusing himself with an experiment of leaving ales and wines out for the swarm to sample and then controlling them once they become inebriated. To entertain himself further, the cask imp has tailored little uniforms and dressing gowns for the rats, letting them teeter and stumble about in a bibulous revelry like a gaggle of drunken nobles. The rats hiccup, belch, and titter in a loud cacophony. Because of the grymkin’s reality-warping touch, swarms of bubbles emerge from a rat’s mouth with each burp, echoing with smaller belches as they pop.

If a character other than Ŝanco tries to enter the deeper areas of the wine cellar, Ten-Cups takes control of the swarm and has it attack. The swarm is similarly hostile to any creature that tries to harm it or interrupt its drunken party.

Rats Aren’t Human

Normally, a cask imp can only use its ability to dominate drunks on humanoid creatures. The ability to influence the rat swarm seems to be unique to Ten-Cups and could be worth further study, for groups who are interested in such pursuits.

Treasure. Aside from several racks of lower-quality wine in bottles, Ten-Cups has dressed several rats up with rings he had Ŝanco take from his wife’s jewelry box, worn like bracelets and crowns by some of the fancier members of the swarm. All of the ornaments are worth 13 gp combined.

3. The Fine Wines Chamber

Past the chamber containing the low wines, the cellar opens up to one storing finer wines that Ŝanco reserves for individuals he respects—even slightly—and for his daily drinking. Read or paraphrase the following:

From the chamber that held the wines of lower quality, the cellar opens up into a wider space. It has the air of a library or cathedral, with hundreds of bottles organized by their vintage, their type, and their age, all reflecting invitingly in the gloomy light of the cellar. Despite all of the expensive libation on display, the chamber has the faint and unpleasant smell of an unwashed latrine.

Ale-ementals. The chamber containing the finer wines has a pair of unusual inhabitants: the offspring of Ten-Cups, after a fashion.

As an older cask imp, Ten-Cups has developed abilities spawned from the telling and retelling of his story in taverns across Ord. What started decades ago as an off-color joke about a short man relieving himself while standing on a bar gradually turned into Ten-Cups’ ability to animate liquid waste.

The ale-ementals look like transparent yellow lizards made of liquid. These foul-smelling creatures dart between the shelves of the chamber, leaving stinking tracks of spattered fluid with each passage.

The liquid creatures consider the fine wine chamber to be their territory. They attack anyone trying to take a bottle or cask of wine from the room, and they will fight to protect their creator.

4. The Private Reserve

This chamber contains Ŝanco’s finest collection. Within it are rare libations collected from across the Iron Kingdoms, including a vintage taken from the wedding of Queen Kaetlyn to her Ordic spouse, bottles of trollkin-brewed liquor, vyatka from Khador’s oldest distillery, and more.

In a place of honor is a cask of King’s Vine Cabernet, where Ten-Cups dwells. Read or paraphrase the following:

Doors from the previous chamber enter into a modest, hexagonal room. Like the pulpit of a church devoted to inebriation, at its center stands a dais under glass, pinned down in a pool of golden light emanating from a narrow shaft in the ceiling. Within the glass box is a cask of white oak, charred with the symbol of the King’s Vine vintners of Cygnar. The cask’s lid is slightly ajar, and something deep within hiccups and giggles with a croaking, malevolent tone.

The Glass Box. The cask is locked within a glass case. A character can shatter the glass, which is AC 10 and has 10 hit points, or it can be unlocked with a successful DC 14 Dexterity check made with thieves’ tools.

Ten-Cups. The imp is within the cask, resting from a long night of puppeteering Ŝanco. However, if the glass case is shattered or if the imp notices someone trying to open or interfere with the cask, he pops out in a spray of claret.

Ten-Cups is malicious and playful. He enjoys watching mortals under his spell act as fools and get themselves ever-drunker. After using his Inebriating Belch to get as many of the characters possible inebriated, the cask imp attempts to force them to consume ever more alcohol on their turns.

Characters can imbibe a number of drinks equal to their Constitution modifier without too many ill effects (other than becoming drunk and having a nasty hangover after they finish their next long rest). However, a character who consumes more than that amount must immediately make a DC 12 Constitution save or become poisoned for 1 hour on a failed save. The DC of the save increases by 2 for each additional drink beyond this number.

Ten-Cups tries to defeat the characters through alcohol and domination but uses his claws to fight if desperate.

In His Cups

If Ten-Cups feels he is in danger, the cask imp pulls an ace from up his sleeve: the alcoholic Ŝanco. After dropping to fewer than half his hit points, Ten-Cups assumes his liquid form and controls Ŝanco to have the nobleman enter the cellar and wildly attack the characters. Due to his state of inebriation, however, Ŝanco has become poisoned.

Conclusion

The encounter concludes when the characters defeat Ten-Cups. Assuming he survives, Ŝanco’s mind begins to clear immediately once the cask imp is no more. The lord castellan quickly puts two and two together and realizes that the gift he received was instead a trap and might ask the characters for assistance in dealing with the unfriendly moorgrave.

However, the Thurian will eventually catch wind of the characters’ actions. He might come to them and make a case for their help in throwing the Tordoran invader out or to help convince Ŝanco to abandon his claim on the Wailhest family’s land.

No matter what, the characters will draw the attention of the nobility—and grymkin—of Ord, which can lead them on to all manner of new adventures.

 

Insider, Iron Kingdoms, News, Pendrake Encounters, Uncategorized, Web Extra
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