The dark machinations of Lady Amandine Dartancours had dire consequences for her residence, as consorting with voidsent so often does. The forces of Gridania discovered this when an entire squad of Wood Wailers went missing inside. The noblewoman’s rituals had profaned the site to such a degree that over time the manor became re-infested with the dark spawn of the Void. The Wood Wailers, for context, are an organisation of lancers within Gridania that date back to the city-state’s founding. Garrisoned across the Shroud in watchtowers and settlements, the Wood Wailers extend patrols across the woods to keep the peace and protect the compact between Gridania and the elementals of the Twelveswood. The masks of the Wood Wailers are intended to emphasize their willingness to protect the forest at all costs, even should it anger the elementals, but as any scholar acquainted with the Twelveswood will tell you, the elementals have no need of facial recognition to tell one spoken from another, thus they are largely ceremonial.
The Foyer
The foyer, once well-preserved and orderly in the team’s first exploration of the manor, was now in poor condition. It was a beautiful room, to be sure, and ornate decorations of leaves and flowers present within likely date back to the role of the manor as a home for the Elder Seedseers. Access to the ground floor of the building was blocked off by high barricades of furniture, likely erected by the Wood Wailers dispatched to the area. A small group of these warriors were apparently stationed at the grand stairs in the foyer when the adventuring party arrived to offer them reinforcement, likely hoping to prevent any of the voidsent within egress from the manor and thus protect the vulnerable inhabitants of the Shroud.
The Second Floor
As with the team’s last visit, the second floor had fallen into quite severe disrepair. The walls had begun to decay and the floor was littered with debris, albeit not so much that it made moving about the area difficult. The windows of this upper floor were boarded up, likely to provide privacy either for Amandine’s deeds or to shelter her maimed visage. Various stranded Wood Wailers were found here, some of which the adventurers were able to save, some of which they were tragically not.
The White Hall
This hall was Amandine’s bedchamber, a sad testament to her old life. The mirror found on the dressing table by the research team was shattered by Amandine in a fit of despair after the loss of her beauty in the Seventh Umbral Calamity. The room was in disarray, and a modest desk could be found in the room, likely Amandine’s own.
The Ground Floor Corridors
Just as prior, the research team found all number of rooms within the manor, but the difference was that this time the vast majority of them were blocked off by walls of fel voidal energy. These rooms were offices, banquet halls and impromptu armories set up by the servants of House Dartancours striving to resist Amandine. The voidal corruption of the Manor was perhaps most evident here, from the presence of thankfully no-longer active ‘void lamps’ which let out harmful washes of energy, and the voidal barriers that blocked entry to many of the rooms.
The Red Hall
A rather beautiful chamber, the presence of various musical and small lounge areas in the Red Hall cause this author to predict that this was likely a banquet hall, where Amandine or the other leaders of House Dartancours would entertain guests. The doors of the chamber are decorated with roses, tying into the red name of the hall.
The Cellarage
The Cellarage of the Manor was the site in which many of its horrors unfolded, and seems to have been the epicenter of the void’s resurgence on the property. The basement was accessed by a door painted with a motif of vines. The general structure of the floor was a large square of corridor, with branching off communal cells. Some of these were equipped with beds (doubtless home to Amandine’s victims), some seem to have been used for storage while a few hosted gristly torture devices further testifying to the horrors of the manor.
The Yellow Hall
At the very center of the Cellarage was a large chamber behind a door decorated with a yellow carnation. The rear-wall was lined by small cells, likely host to those directly awaiting the horrors of Amandine’s attentions. Oubliettes, cages, pits filled with water and various torture implements littered the room, evidence of the pain and death that plagued Haukke.
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