| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| TaeghenAmalith |
Posted - 19 Jan 2014 : 22:09:01
My respect to all of you ancient and great sages of the Realms. I wonder if you can lead me to knowedge upon the figure of the wizard Mandorcai, his Mansion and all about.
I'm looking for maps, article in magazines or other canon about it.
Your humble novice, Taeghen Amalith, moon elf of Mistledale and Dungeon Master of the Icewind Dale Renegades, DR 1479. |
| 10 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| cpthero2 |
Posted - 26 Feb 2020 : 21:58:57
Master Rupert,
I think your salad bar analogy very much applies here. It is the typical grab what you like, and break the rest kind of approach. It is crap.
Best regards,
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by eldritchtwink
In the new Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus module, we're given the following.
quote:
The only blight in otherwise upscale Bloomridge, this mansion appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the night, taking over a previously vacant lot. Fully staffed with close-lipped servants, the imposing manse hosted a few lavish parties for the Lower City elite, presided over by an eccentric and brooding human wizard named Mandorcai. And then, just as suddenly as he had arrived, Mandorcai shut the manor's doors and vanished from public life. Curious locals who peered through the windows reported a completely empty manor, its furniture looking as though it hadn't been touched in years. Yet soon thereafter, individuals around the city began to receive invitations to visit, written in silver on black paper folded into pentagons.
Those who entered the mansion for the requested appointments never emerged. After a handful of such disappearances, a Flaming Fist squad smashed its way into the building. Only two of its members emerged, babbling about shifting rooms and blood-soaked abattoirs filled with writhing hooks and chains. With no laborers willing to tear the place down, the Council of Four boarded up the doors but left the mansion standing. For decades now, no one has been observed going in or out. Whether the little black invitations that still occasionally appear on citizens' doorsteps are genuine or harmless pranks remains anyone's guess.
In truth, Mandorcai gained occult knowledge and his magical manor in a bargain with the obese twin chain devils Kyrix and Valisog. For years Mandorcai upheld his side of the contract by bringing the fiends mortal sacrifices, until an accidental breach of contract let the devils haul him screaming into the Nine Hells. Since then, the mansion's hungry traps and shape-changing powers have lain dormant. Recently, however, a group of cultists have broken into the house, seeking to harness its fell powers. Though they haven't yet figured out how to commune with the chain devils yet, when they do, it'll likely be without the safeguards Mandorcai managed to negotiate, potentially resulting in fiendjsh disaster for the whole neighborhood.
*sigh* Even when they improve something, they just can't help but retcon stuff for no readily apparent reason, can they?
|
| cpthero2 |
Posted - 26 Feb 2020 : 21:48:56
Master Rupert,
Yeah, I agree, haha. It does really make them all look like a bag of pansies!
Best regards,
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by hashimashadoo
The Flaming Fist invaded the house in response to the disappearences but only two members of the squadron sent in returned, claiming to having witnessed blood-soaked rooms and hearing ominous chants.
This is actually a bit of a let down; I was pleasantly surprised by the rest of that book.
How can a squad of soldiers lose most of their members without seeing anything? And all they encountered was blood and chanting? That's kind of lame... Compare that to this part of the description of Ironfang Keep, particularly the part I bolded:
quote:
In is rumored that in the years following the fall of Netheril, an archwizard of that land came to Ironfang to claim the keep as his own. Legend claims he actually penetrated the keep, but was later found wandering across the wild lands of Thar. He was completely mad, and all he could mutter was the word "green".
Orc folklore from the period tells a similarly disturbing tale. Every decade or so entire tribes of the great Vastar Empire would go missing; the few witnesses describing shadowy abductors appearing totally without warning to capture unsuspecting clansmen in the night.
The gray tuskers were not the only peoples to go missing in the region. For generations, elves, ogres, giants, and even dragons would go missing under mysterious circumstances. Whispers began to surface that the Ironfang Keep was now inhabited by vile “beast experimenters”. Rumors that were seemingly confirmed when strange hybrid monstrosities would occasionally be spotted in the vicinity of the keep.
All of those bits are a lot more sinister than "a couple guys got out after seeing some blood."
|
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 30 Sep 2019 : 17:01:25
Someone's been watching hellraiser just before doing their design work |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 30 Sep 2019 : 16:21:21
quote:
Originally posted by eldritchtwink
In the new Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus module, we're given the following.
quote:
The only blight in otherwise upscale Bloomridge, this mansion appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the night, taking over a previously vacant lot. Fully staffed with close-lipped servants, the imposing manse hosted a few lavish parties for the Lower City elite, presided over by an eccentric and brooding human wizard named Mandorcai. And then, just as suddenly as he had arrived, Mandorcai shut the manor's doors and vanished from public life. Curious locals who peered through the windows reported a completely empty manor, its furniture looking as though it hadn't been touched in years. Yet soon thereafter, individuals around the city began to receive invitations to visit, written in silver on black paper folded into pentagons.
Those who entered the mansion for the requested appointments never emerged. After a handful of such disappearances, a Flaming Fist squad smashed its way into the building. Only two of its members emerged, babbling about shifting rooms and blood-soaked abattoirs filled with writhing hooks and chains. With no laborers willing to tear the place down, the Council of Four boarded up the doors but left the mansion standing. For decades now, no one has been observed going in or out. Whether the little black invitations that still occasionally appear on citizens' doorsteps are genuine or harmless pranks remains anyone's guess.
In truth, Mandorcai gained occult knowledge and his magical manor in a bargain with the obese twin chain devils Kyrix and Valisog. For years Mandorcai upheld his side of the contract by bringing the fiends mortal sacrifices, until an accidental breach of contract let the devils haul him screaming into the Nine Hells. Since then, the mansion's hungry traps and shape-changing powers have lain dormant. Recently, however, a group of cultists have broken into the house, seeking to harness its fell powers. Though they haven't yet figured out how to commune with the chain devils yet, when they do, it'll likely be without the safeguards Mandorcai managed to negotiate, potentially resulting in fiendjsh disaster for the whole neighborhood.
*sigh* Even when they improve something, they just can't help but retcon stuff for no readily apparent reason, can they? |
| eldritchtwink |
Posted - 30 Sep 2019 : 15:27:52
In the new Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus module, we're given the following.
quote:
The only blight in otherwise upscale Bloomridge, this mansion appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the night, taking over a previously vacant lot. Fully staffed with close-lipped servants, the imposing manse hosted a few lavish parties for the Lower City elite, presided over by an eccentric and brooding human wizard named Mandorcai. And then, just as suddenly as he had arrived, Mandorcai shut the manor's doors and vanished from public life. Curious locals who peered through the windows reported a completely empty manor, its furniture looking as though it hadn't been touched in years. Yet soon thereafter, individuals around the city began to receive invitations to visit, written in silver on black paper folded into pentagons.
Those who entered the mansion for the requested appointments never emerged. After a handful of such disappearances, a Flaming Fist squad smashed its way into the building. Only two of its members emerged, babbling about shifting rooms and blood-soaked abattoirs filled with writhing hooks and chains. With no laborers willing to tear the place down, the Council of Four boarded up the doors but left the mansion standing. For decades now, no one has been observed going in or out. Whether the little black invitations that still occasionally appear on citizens' doorsteps are genuine or harmless pranks remains anyone's guess.
In truth, Mandorcai gained occult knowledge and his magical manor in a bargain with the obese twin chain devils Kyrix and Valisog. For years Mandorcai upheld his side of the contract by bringing the fiends mortal sacrifices, until an accidental breach of contract let the devils haul him screaming into the Nine Hells. Since then, the mansion's hungry traps and shape-changing powers have lain dormant. Recently, however, a group of cultists have broken into the house, seeking to harness its fell powers. Though they haven't yet figured out how to commune with the chain devils yet, when they do, it'll likely be without the safeguards Mandorcai managed to negotiate, potentially resulting in fiendjsh disaster for the whole neighborhood.
|
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 20 Jan 2014 : 20:33:16
quote:
Originally posted by hashimashadoo
The Flaming Fist invaded the house in response to the disappearences but only two members of the squadron sent in returned, claiming to having witnessed blood-soaked rooms and hearing ominous chants.
This is actually a bit of a let down; I was pleasantly surprised by the rest of that book.
How can a squad of soldiers lose most of their members without seeing anything? And all they encountered was blood and chanting? That's kind of lame... Compare that to this part of the description of Ironfang Keep, particularly the part I bolded:
quote:
In is rumored that in the years following the fall of Netheril, an archwizard of that land came to Ironfang to claim the keep as his own. Legend claims he actually penetrated the keep, but was later found wandering across the wild lands of Thar. He was completely mad, and all he could mutter was the word "green".
Orc folklore from the period tells a similarly disturbing tale. Every decade or so entire tribes of the great Vastar Empire would go missing; the few witnesses describing shadowy abductors appearing totally without warning to capture unsuspecting clansmen in the night.
The gray tuskers were not the only peoples to go missing in the region. For generations, elves, ogres, giants, and even dragons would go missing under mysterious circumstances. Whispers began to surface that the Ironfang Keep was now inhabited by vile “beast experimenters”. Rumors that were seemingly confirmed when strange hybrid monstrosities would occasionally be spotted in the vicinity of the keep.
All of those bits are a lot more sinister than "a couple guys got out after seeing some blood." |
| hashimashadoo |
Posted - 20 Jan 2014 : 19:09:01
quote:
Originally posted by TaeghenAmalith
So the only canon on this topic come from FRCG 4ed and Murder in baldur's Gate? OUCH!
And what about homebrewed content?
Do a google search. Some folks incorporated the mansion into homebrewed LFR campaigns. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 20 Jan 2014 : 17:43:09
4th ed campaign guide, pg 95
Mandorcai’s Mansion: This fabulously appointed manor is located in the Bloomridge district. It is named for the owner, a tiefling who purchased the grounds from a rival merchant’s heir the morning after the rival was found dead under suspicious circumstances (all the corpse’s blood was missing). |
| TaeghenAmalith |
Posted - 20 Jan 2014 : 16:28:52
So the only canon on this topic come from FRCG 4ed and Murder in baldur's Gate? OUCH!
And what about homebrewed content? |
| hashimashadoo |
Posted - 20 Jan 2014 : 16:14:06
Mandorcai's mansion appeared suddenly out of nowhere in the Bloomridge district of Baldur's Gate next to the Seskergates mansion three days after the land was purchased out from under the merchant who previously owned the plot.
Mandorcai himself was an eccentric tiefling wizard and after the initial supposition about the sudden appearance of the mansion died down, several Baldurian nobles tried to make friends with him and gain his spellcasting services. Rather quickly, Mandorcai became a recluse. The only contact from him came from invitations sent to various individuals written on pentagon-shaped black paper in silver ink, though none who recieved such an invitation ever came out of the mansion.
The Flaming Fist invaded the house in response to the disappearences but only two members of the squadron sent in returned, claiming to having witnessed blood-soaked rooms and hearing ominous chants.
The Council of Four have tried to get the building torn down, but no labourer is willing to touch the place and since nothing happens as long as no one goes inside, the dukes have not sought outside help. However, those black invitations still show up on people's doorsteps and the owner of Seskergates, Imbralym Skoond, claims to still hear strange sounds coming from the adjacent property.
That's all I could get on the subject - everything else is homebrewed. Hope it helps. |
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