D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Changeling Assault on Mist Manor

# Investigation# Intrigue# Social# Arcane# Wilderness

The opulent Mist Manor, a beacon of civilization amidst the wilds, has become a den of paranoid whispers. Trusted servants are found mimicked—perfect copies murdered and replaced by porcelain-faced doppelgängers. But the true rot is deeper: the estate's long-dead butler, Lazarus, made a pact with a primordial Wild Magic entity to 'preserve' the estate forever, birthing chimeric beasts that now stalk the grounds. Two factions now clash in the shadows: the desperate House Vane, who will sacrifice anything to reclaim their ancestral home, and the Circle of the Verdant Pact, who believe the manor must be consumed by wild magic to heal the land scarred by its construction. Players must unravel the mimic plague, navigate a web of alliances, and decide the fate of the estate and the surrounding wilds.

Chronicle Prelude

The players arrive at the fog-shrouded outer gates of Mist Manor, summoned by a cryptic, blood-stained invitation from Lady Vane. The immediate grounds are eerily pristine, but the air hums with a faint, discordant magical resonance. The village of Briarwood at the base of the hill is rife with rumors of vanishing trade caravans and strange, bestial cries from the manor woods at night.

Environmental Traits

The core crisis is a magical contamination war. The manor's foundations are a nexus of stolen wild magic, causing reality to fray. Mimics (the Butler's 'Changeling Preserve') blend seamlessly with the terrified, real staff. The surrounding Thornwood is twisting into a hostile, semi-sentient jungle of Wild Magic-Beasts. The players must stop the cycle before the manor either assimilates all life into mimicry or explodes in a wild magic cataclysm that scours the region.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Lady Elara Vane
A regal woman in her late forties, dressed in severe, practical riding clothes. Her face is drawn with exhaustion and grief, her eyes hard as flint. She carries the weight of a crumbling dynasty, her knuckles white on the hilt of a ceremonial dagger she keeps close.
Theron of the Verdant Pact
A tall, gaunt man with bark-like skin and hair woven with living vines and small blossoms. He moves with a slow, deliberate grace, his eyes holding a serene, unsettling light. He smells of damp earth and new growth.
Lazarus, the Fused Archivist
A horrifying fusion of a withered human corpse, twisting green vines, and cracked porcelain mimic-shards. It moves with a jerky, puppet-like gait, multiple overlapping voices speaking from its throat. Its chest cavity is open, revealing a pulsing green nexus of roots where a heart should be.
Silas, the Self-Aware Mimic
A nervous, fidgety footman who looks perfectly normal at a glance. Under close scrutiny, his shadow sometimes lags a half-second behind him, and his blink is a fraction too slow. He sweats profusely and avoids eye contact.
Beastmaster Roote
A powerfully built human covered in ritual scars and tattoos that mirror the patterns of the thornwood. He is draped in beast pelts and bones, and a large, six-legged wolf-like beast with crystalline fur pads silently at his side.
Captain Garrick
A grim, scarred man in battered House Vane livery, his armor scratched and dented from recent skirmishes. He stands ramrod straight, his hand resting on the pommel of a notched sword, his eyes scanning for threats with cold efficiency.
Widow Maren
An older woman with deep-set, weary eyes and calloused hands stained with herb pigments. She tends a small, defiant garden behind her cottage, stubbornly growing mundane plants amidst the encroaching wild magic. Grief hangs about her like a shawl.
The Chorus
A grotesque, three-headed amalgamation of mimics fused together at the torso, their forms a nightmarish blend of polished wood, stretched leather, and glassy, unblinking eyes. They move in a horrifyingly synchronized, jerky dance, their three mouths opening and closing in perfect, discordant unison.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Stolen Light of Snow-Owl Peak

The Silent Symphony