The_Haunting_of_Valentyne_Manor

THE HAUNTING OF

VALENTYNE MANOR

ENTER A HAUNTED MANSION WHERE THE ECHOES OF A GRISLY CRIME
REFUSE TO BE SILENCED.

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Over seventy years ago Valentyne Manor bore witness to a horrible
atrocity. A curse hangs over the site where a family was torn apart.
Every hour their murders are played out by tormented spirits in a

macabre exhibition.

Written by: Ryan Loyal Stueve
Illustrations by: Ryan Loyal Stueve & Ian Hedge
Dedicated to: Jonny Cook, for keeping his own childhood alive while bringing another one

into this world.
Special thanks to: David Franzke, D’mi Whitworth, John Lemon and Alex Evans for play

testing, and Tana Akers for ordering the pizza.

For more RPG fun, go to radbotproductions.com

USING THIS ADVENTURE

The Mystery of Grymn Manor is a horror adventure that is broken up into four sections for
ease of use and digestion: History, Encounters, the Haunt and Maps.

Being familiar with the History section will allow you to intuit which points will have the
most impact to your players as they uncover clues and witness different aspects of the horror
recurring around them. The DM is encouraged to scale the encounters presented in the
Encounters section to best suit the needs of the group, and several suggestions are offered
there. The Haunt contains a general time-line of the events that reoccur every hour in Grymn
Manor. Being familiar with how the Haunt plays out will allow you to draw your players into a
whirlwind of horror, especially if they’ve split up around the manor grounds. Finally, the Maps
section gives a layout of the manor and its immediate surroundings. Clues are noted there for
ease of use, as the heart of this adventure is investigation and discovery.

Getting the players into the house as quick as possible will be a great advantage to the story,
as springing the Haunt once one or two clues have been uncovered will throw the players for
a loop. Consider beginning the first Haunt with the players just in earshot, but out of sight
of the house, so that when the players arrive expecting to see the immediate aftermath of a
battle, they will be jarred by how obviously the manor has been unoccupied for decades.

Though Grymn Manor is a forlorn and horrifying place, it is most of the time silent. Be
careful what you give away, and be listening just as much as you are describing. Be aware
of which discoveries and clues your players find most intriguing, and most disquieting.
Capitalize on that knowledge and punch up the drama to accentuate the unease. Feel free
to alter the floor plan of the manor if you know a specific discovery would better serve the
narrative if it were discovered sooner rather than later. From early clues your players will
most likely be expecting a story of capture and torment at the hands of an undead fiend
especially when hearing the desperate shouts of a man leading an assault on the manor in
search of his lost daughter. Let them think that as long as they wish, the truth will be all the
more bitter for it. Enjoy, and happy haunting!

THE GRYMN STORY

Background saw them for the willing tools they were. With
the help of his trusted household servants,
Centuries ago, Valentyne Grymn, a powerful Valentyne traveled frequently during rainy
vampire of a reclusive nature, settled in the seasons to procure new plant specimens
area where he would one day build his manor. for himself and illicit arcane items for his
Valentyne was an unusual man in life, and contacts. These trips eventually led to his
that translated into an unusual undeath. He meeting Oleander White, the beautiful and
managed to hold on to the greater part of his fey daughter of a prominent cleric in a nearby
humanity and continued his love for cultivation town. Oleander was a natural gardener and as
and herb-lore. Valentyne kept a glass-walled her own womanhood blossomed she became
conservatory in the highest tower of his manor, renowned for her healing and herbalism skills.
where he could grow rare plants through the Due to their mutual interests, Oleander began
winter, sleeping in the crypts by day, caring for to see Valentyne in secret, and in time they
and observing them by night. fell deeply in love with one another. In secret,
Oleander eloped with Valentyne to live in
Eventually Valentyne was able to establish the manor.
a small and secret network of trade, selling
artifacts that he had acquired through Oleander’s father, Hemlot White became
connections with the sort of esoteric dreck furious and grief stricken when he learned
and would-be supplicants that his nature his daughter had absconded. Hemlot was a
seemed to attract. Valentyne had no love for respected social figure and leader of a temple,
these unsavory and fawning pilgrims, but he

and he was a proud and self-righteous man, where they beheaded Valentyne and burned
but it would be years before he would find out his remains.
where she went and with whom.
In the manor, Oleander gave the baby to a
In the years that followed, Oleander and nursemaid who, taking the secret key from a
Valentyne’s love grew, but Oleander’s wish for a bust on the second floof landing, then ran to
child became a lingering burden for Valentyne, the top floor to hide the boy in a secret room.
who could not help her to conceive due to his Oleander confronted her father on the landing
undead physiology. He turned to the occult in of the third floor, only just then realizing who
hopes of cheating his nature and ravenously it was that was attacking her home and family.
bought up arcane texts and frequented the When Hemlot heard the crying of a baby from
town’s university, tapping his contacts for somewhere on the floor, he became even more
any and all avenues of research. This would unhinged as the pieces fell into place in his
become his and Oleander’s undoing, as Hemlot mind. Unable to force the secret door, he had
White became increasingly unhinged during his men wedge it with iron nails, blocking it
his investigations into the disappearance of from being opened again, and scrawling a
his daughter. He never gave up on the mystery, divine ward to prevent unclean spirits from
and the closer he came, the more it stank of passing and performing a spell meant to kill
dark forces and appeared to be entangled in the vampire child, Bertold. Instead, being half
the underground network of arcane trade that vampire, it’s soul was blasted from its physical
had been growing in the surrounding areas. body and prevented from leaving the room or
Eventually he intercepted a shipment of texts the prime material plane by the wards
bound for Grymn Manor and apprehended set there.
the brokers of the deal. He also discovered a
letter in the shipment from one of Oleander’s Oleander was harried to the conservatory
childhood friends, Rynne Anne, the only turret where she was harangued by her father.
one to whom had been confided the secret of From the conservatory window, she saw the
their marriage. This letter was addressed to smoke coming from crypt door and knowing
Oleander herself. her husband dead, and believing her child so
also, she called down a terrible curse upon her
The discovery ignited a massive witch hunt father and his men before jumping from the
in which Hemlot had Rynne Anne, members of window to her death.
the arcane trade network and several faculty of
the university burned at the stake. In his rage, That curse, fueled by her grief, was so
he led a superstitious and blood hungry mob potent that her father and his men never left
to seek out the manor, intending to destroy the the manor grounds. Every time they tried to
vampire and return with his daughter. leave, they found themselves mysteriously
turned around and heading back into the
In the meanwhile, Valentyne had found manor grounds again. They became prisoners,
success, and using a form of blood magic he slowly starving and going insane, witnessing
was able to do the miraculous and father a the ghost of Oleander replaying their shameful
child with Oleander. The babe, Bertold, was moment, then searching endlessly for her
just weeks old when the mob stormed the gates child until, one by one, they each perished and
of the manor. joined the ghastly reenactment.

A horrible drama played out that day as In Grymn Manor, the last horrible scene of
Valentyne slumbered in his crypt in the Oleander’s life continues to play out every hour,
graveyard. Sneaking onto the grounds and on the hour, over and over, day and night.
positioning themselves to raid the building
from front and back. They awaited the toll of Over the days that followed, the nursemaid
the bell signaling one o’clock, when the full remained trapped in the secret room with the
light of the fall sun would be bearing down disembodied spirit of Bertold, listening to the
on the grounds. The mob stormed the manor, tortured souls repeat their damnation over and
hunted down and destroyed the manor servants over again, hearing Oleander’s tormented spirit
(both alive and undead) placing holy wards perish and rise, searching and keening for her
and destroying Valentyne Grymn’s arcane lost baby, in between haunts, yet somehow
protections. They made their way into the crypt never finding him. The nursemaid perished
there and her body yet remains.

The Setup The graves are final resting place to servants
and friends of Valentyne Grymn, the vampire
Whether lost or looking for an adventure, the who once laired here. Most recently, the wife of
heroes happen upon a dilapidated manor. The Valentyne was buried here by Vincule, the last
manor grounds must be entered to move into servant. A single, child-sized grave lies open
regions beyond, whether because you decide and empty, its headstone reads “Bertold”. The
it is cradled in a mountain pass, choking a bodies of the Hemlot and his mob are in a mass
ravine or in a clearing in dense woods; once grave beyond the graveyard.
the grounds have been entered, adventurers
are cursed to remain there until the mystery The interior of Valentyne Manor was once
is solved or they become one of the revenant opulent, but dust now covers fine woodwork
spirits that haunt its halls. and furniture. Paintings of landscapes and
still lifes of flowers mildew and fade on the
The walled grounds and the three-story walls. Woven tapestries and rugs crumble to
manor residing upon it are forlorn, crumbling dust where they lay. The evidence of the raid
and silent, yet something stirs within. Every is visible everywhere. Both the front and back
hour a mournful bell tolls from above the doors are smashed in while glass lies on the
front gate of the grounds and soon after, for a floor from shattered windows, statues and
handful or horrifying minutes, can be heard vases. Books and documents are scattered
ghostly sounds of shouts, battle and finally the about, some partially burned, chopped or
wail of a woman that abruptly ends. Then the shredded by hand. Tables are knocked askew,
silence returns. chairs toppled on their sides. In more place
than one old stains appear suspiciously like
Anyone who enters the gates to the manor blood.
grounds and attempts to leave again soon finds
themselves inexplicably turned around and There is an uneasy silence that permeates
facing the chill breeze issuing forth from the the manor in between haunts. A hushed
yawning gates of the estate. If the adventurers foreboding that feels loaded with unseen eyes.
want to leave they must enter the manor and Sometimes a sob can be imagined to be heard,
uncover the horrifying secrets it holds. or could those be pensive footsteps in the hall?

The Manor

Valentyne Manor was once a
beautiful and stately home with
well tended grounds and gardens.
Now it is crumbling and in
disrepair, its gardens overgrown
and choked with weeds. It sits
on 16 acres of ground walled in
by a 12 foot hight stone wall.
No animals willingly enter the
grounds and none make their
home there.

Above the front gate a large
clock with a large bell is set
into the stone arch. Forever it
reads one o’clock, yet the bell
still chimes once every hour,
on the hour.

There is a stone-lined path
leading up to and around
the manor. To the rear of the
house is a servant’s house,
tool shed and a graveyard. In
the graveyard a crypt towers
over the tombstones with its
gated door wrenched open.

ENCOUNTERS

The Spirits

The spirits haunting Grymn Manor are Specters while Hemlot White is a Wight. For higher
level groups, consider upgrading the Specters to Wights and Hemlot to a Wraith. For ease of
reference, we will call them all “spirits”.

The Haunts in which these spirits appear is described later. Treat every Haunt as an encounter.
When a Haunt begins, two encounter groups of 1D6 spirits each will appear, one at the front gate
and one at the back gate. Hemlot White also appears at this time in the group appearing at the
back gate. At the beginning of every subsequent combat round add 1D4 spirits to each encounter
group for every character in the party.

Once an encounter group has created at least 5 spirits per Player Character in the party, do
not continue to roll for more. Keep track of how many of these spirits the characters destroy with
magical weapons and spells as any that are destroyed in this manner will not return to participate
in the next occurrance of the Haunt as their souls have been vanquished from this plane, though
their voices will still be heard during them.

The spirits will not attempt to harm the characters and will take no notice of them unless they
are directly in the route that the Haunt takes them or a character attempts to interfere with how
the Haunt plays out, in which case all spirits in the immediate vicinity will attempt to kill the
interfering characters, confusing them for the vampire’s household staff. Characters killed by
spirits will return as participants of the Haunt themselves, howling in confusion and anguish as
they are swept up in the blood lust.

Vincule

Vincule is the grounds-keeper of Grymn Manor. For all intents
and purposes he appears to be the only living, breathing inhabitant
of the manor. In reality, he is also a spirit. Vincule was not affected
by Oleander’s curse, yet his spirit is bound here due to his own
everlasting shame at having hid in the servant’s house while the
original tragedy of Grymn Manor played out. He killed himself shortly
after seeing Lady Oleander and the staff were dead and before the
mob returned to the manor after their first unsuccessful attempt to
leave it. He remains on the manor grounds in undeath, having buried
Oleander, the staff and the attackers as a spirit, as well as several
other groups of adventurers who have perished on the grounds in the
subsequent years.

While the Haunt is not occurring, Vincule can be found in the
graveyard where he is constructing a number of coffins equal to the
number of characters in the party. He is not malicious or evil, but
if asked he is upfront about the coffins being for the characters to
occupy after their inevitable death. He is resigned to having to at
some point bury every living being that enters the grounds. He also
freely admits to being a coward and hiding during the attack, which
he is eternally ashamed of.

Vincule is confused about the passing of time, still thinking that the
attack on the Manor happened sometime within the last 24 hours. If
pressed about it or attacked, he will become agitated and disappear.

If asked about the small, empty grave next to Oleander’s, he will
ignore the question. If pressed further he will again become agitated
and disappear.

If the wandering Oleander appears in the yard, he will cower,
scream and disappear.

Oleander

Oleander uses the rules for Banshees, except that her Wail attack
may be performed once per hour and does not affect hit points and
does no damage, rather causing the Paralyzed condition for 1d6
minutes to targets that fail the saving throw.

Oleander’s spirit still wanders the grounds in between Haunts,
searching endlessly for her baby. She cannot enter the secret
room where her child’s spirit is trapped and seems unaware that
the child is there, due to the holy ward scratched on the door in
charcoal. She is not evil, nor an unclean spirit, and before her
death she knew of the secret room’s existence, but the fury of her
father lingers in that ward and blinds her spirit to the
room’s contents.

When not participating in the Haunt, Oleander can be randomly
encountered in various parts of the Manor and its grounds. Any
time the party enters a new room or the back yard, roll a D10. If a
1 is rolled, Oleander’s ghost is there, searching for her baby. She
is frantically looking from place to place, pleading “where is my
baby?” After a Haunt ends, these rolls occur again as if characters
had never been in rooms they had previously entered.

She will not respond to characters, and seems only vaguely
aware of them. If attacked or interfered with, she will perform her
Wail attack (as described above) and immediately disappear until
the next Haunt. She cannot be restricted or bound by any means.

13 9
10

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6 78

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VALENTYNE MANOR

First Floor & Immediate Grounds

1. Foyer: Front door is smashed in. Fine woodwork and and in barrels and crates. A tight spiral staircase leads up.
paintings line the walls. Above the double doors leading
into the Dining room is a woodwork crest of a skull 6. Servant’s House: Spare and well organized. The remains
surrounded by roses. A landing can be seen above. of Vincule’s corpse hang from a noose next to his bed.
While the haunt is not occurring and Vincule’s spirit is not
2. Drawing Room: The room is in disarray, books and in the graveyard, ghostly sobbing may be heard here. DC
papers scattered. The turret corner of the room looks out 10 Investigation Check reveals Vincule’s diary on the
over the lawn. DC 12 Investigation Check reveals a writing table describing the horror of the raid and how he
portrait of a couple among the paintings lining the walls. hid under his bed to survive. As penance for his guilt he
A pregnant young woman with a sad smile sits in front of buried the dead he found, but the holy wards on the secret
a tall, melancholy pale man. DC 15 Investigation Check room refused his entry due to the stain of his dark pact with
reveals a letter from one Rynne Anne to Oleander wishing his master, Valentyne. He hanged himself in shame soon
her love and informing her that her father has uncovered after he was sure the nursemaid had perished.
an illicit arcane smuggling ring and has been on a warpath
in their home town. She expresses her love and worry for 7. Tool shed: Nothing but rusty tools.
Oleander’s safety.
8. Garden: Mostly lost to weeds. DC 12 Nature or
3. Dining Hall: Shattered glass covered in dust lies on the Medicine Check reveals some surviving plants are of
floor where the back double doors once stood, but they medicinal value.
have been smashed in from outside. The table is askew.
9. Graveyard: Vincule is here if the Haunt is not occurring
4. Kitchen: Stains on the floor appear suspiciously like old or if Oleander is not in the yard. He is making caskets for
blood. Stains of what used to be food lie on the counters. the player characters. DC 12 Investigation check reveals a
child-sized grave lies open and empty. The headstone reads
5. Pantry: Food has long mouldered to dust on the shelves “Bertold Valentyne”.

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16
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13 ! 15 ! 20
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Second Floor Third Floor

10. Crypt: The grated door is wrenched open. Stairs go 18. The Laboratory: A magic circle is inscribed on the
down to a small crypt with an open coffin. A warding circle floor in silver. Various magical books stock the shelves,
is scrawled on the floor and the floor is charred and ash lies though many are burned or slashed beyond reading. DC
within it. These are Valentyne Grymn’s final remains. 12 Investigation check will reveal a scroll with one
random 2nd level spell. DC 15 Investigation check reveals
11. Landing: Looks over the first floor foyer. Continues Valentyne Grymn’s personal diary. He describes having
around to stairs leading to the third floor. A bust stands on first seen Oleander on a business trip to collect arcane
a wooden plinth, it has a skull for a face and carved roses on items for resale and how he fell in love with her gentle
vines curl about it. DC 15 Investigation check reveals the nature, how he found a kindred spirit in her and how they
mouth is hinged and open with a space carved out on the eloped and learned to overcome their melancholy natures
tongue in the shape of a key. The key is missing. together once she’d absconded from her sycophant father.
How he built her gardens for her to continue her love of
12. Recreation Room: Card and board games are here. herbalism. It describes his labors to find a way to overcome
his vampiric affliction to live a mortal life with his beloved
13. Master Bedroom: Decorated with a feminine flair. wife. It describes his eventual partial success in that he was
DC 15 Investigation Check reveals an unfinished draft able to cheat his nature and father a child, Bertold, with her.
of a letter addressed to one Rynne Anne. It appears that
Oleander wanted to request that Rynne journey to the 19. Storage: Various boxes filled with inventory from
manor to stay a season so that she could share a wondrous Valentyne’s arcane trade network and a ledger detailing
surprise with her. his transactions. Players may each make one roll on the
Individual Treaure table and the Treasure Hoard table
14. Nursery: Baby toys and clothing are in a chest and for challenges 0-4. See pages 137-138 of the Dungeons
on the shelves. DC 8 Investigation check reveals a small Master’s Guide.
swaddled bundle in the crib. If opened a doll is found.
20. Secret Room: DC 10 Investigation check reveals the
15. Guest Bedroom: A once luxurious bedroom. door. It is at the top of the spiral staircase and a magical
ward is inscribed on it barring the passage of undead
16. Upper Landing: Various books line the bookshelves in or their minions. DC 15 Strength check or DC 12
this large and open room. Intelligence check to open the door. On opening the
door, players feel a cold wind and hear spectral laughter of a
17. The Conservatory: The turret window is smashed child. Inside are the remains of the nursemaid and Bertold.
open where Oleander plummeted to her death. The room The missing key from the bust on the landing (11) is on the
is filled with dead and rotted plants in planter boxes and in nursemaid’s corpse.
pots around the room and on shelves. DC 10 Investigation
check reveals labeled bottles. Many are broken but there
are still d6 potions of healing and an Oil of Etherealness.

THE HAUNTING to the crypt carrying tools and lanterns, while the
remaining stream towards the dining hall’s
Every hour the bell above the back gate tolls one back door.
time, regardless of the hour of the day or night.
Immediately after the bell sounds, the spectral yells In the sitting room, sharp intakes of breath can be
of the raiding party can be heard. The yells sweep heard. As the beating on the door begins, a woman’s
through the front and back gates, the sounds of frightened voice says, “Hide!”
smashing wood ring out. As the noises approach
the manor and the crypt behind it, shadowy forms PHASE 2
appear and become more apparent. At the crypt, Hemlot and his squad reenact breaking
The specific timing of the Haunt is abstract and the grate away from the crypt door and enter. These
should be left up to the DM as to how strict the structures have been long since broken, but the
time-line is and whether each phase takes moments echoes of their initial breaking ring out.
or minutes, turns or rounds.
The manor’s front and back doors are pounded on
PHASE 1 and assaulted by the Specters.
The front gate encounter group heads directly to the
Manor’s front door. At the back of the manor, the glass doors of the
The back gate encounter group splits up. Hemlot dining hall are first to be breached. Sounds of glass
White and the first five Specters to appear head and wood splintering as spirits rush in. Screams
in the kitchen, sickening sounds of murder as staff
appear, only to be cut down and trod upon.

On the front stairs, two sets of light, running feet
can be heard going up. If successfully followed, they
end in the secret room on the third floor.

PHASE 3
In the crypt, ghosts spill down the stairs. Hemlot
White is shouting prayers. The sound of Valentyne’s
coffin lid crashing to the ground echoes loudly in
the small, stony chamber. The sickening sound of
hammer on a wooden stake driven into flesh can
be heard, then dragging, then the kindling sound of
fire. An inhuman screech fills the air, seeming to fall
through the earth, keening into an immeasurable
distance, “Oleander!” it screams. Then a hushed
silence, broken by Hemlot’s baritone, “May you
continue to burn… in hell! Come!” as he leads his
group back above ground.

In the servant’s house, the sound of a man sobbing
quietly can be heard from under a bed.

At the front door, the crack of the lock ripping free
of the frame. Incoherent shouts. A struggle, a man’s
scream as the butler tries to fight off the intruders
and is overwhelmed. Doors opening. Spirits
rummaging in closets, looking for hiding victims.

PHASE 4
On the ground floor, Hemlot White enters the house
through the shattered back doors. One of the spirits

reports to him that they slew all, but cannot find awaits you now, and purifying fire. You are my
the girl. He enters the foyer and shouts her name, daughter no more!”
imploring her to come out, that all is well now and
she is safe from the vampire’s clutches. Oleander backs away from her enraged father,
towards the turret window, where she looks over her
Oleander appears on the third floor landing, looking shoulder to see smoke pouring out of the crypt door.
down. “Father…?” she asks in a scared voice. She knows Valentyne is destroyed. She believes that
they have breached the secret room and killed her
PHASE 5 child. Her sorrow turns to a deep and fiery hatred
On the third floor back stairwell, unknown to as she calls a curse down upon her father and all the
Oleander, one of Hemlot’s men has crept up and invading men,
grabs her. Oleander pleads and screams, as Hemlot
ascends the stairs. “No love have you known in your life, father! Not
for my mother, nor for me! Not even for your god
Hemlot arrives on the third floor landing. The have you known love, but for only the esteem of
two argue. Oleander, incredulous, distraught and men have you ever given thought. May your god
pleading, Hemlot joyous at finding her, but growing look down on you now and know that you are a
wrathful as he realizes she is under no spell but is ruiner of love and vanquisher of light and beauty!
here by her own free will. Hemlot hears the muffled Long have we worked and pined to bring into
cries of a baby from the secret room. His face twists this world the token of our love, that you have
in rage as he understands. Oleander is thrown into murdered! Never again may you know anything
the conservatory, under guard, as Hemlot and some but the hour in which you found the bottom of your
of his spirits try to open the secret door. Unable to rotten soul! Not until I am returned my own heart’s
force the door, they eventually drive iron nails under desire! May your god forsake you all!”
it, ensuring no one will be able to pry it open by
hand. He inscribes a ward on the door and curses With that she then hurls herself out the
the occupants. conservatory window.

Everywhere else, the remaining spirits disperse and Everywhere, all the spirits, including Hemlot White,
roam the grounds looking for victims and plunder. scream in agony as they are consumed by a ghostly
flame, going wherever they go to await their next
PHASE 6 ghastly reenactment.
On the third floor, Hemlot returns to the
conservatory in a fury while the others remain to THE HAUNT ENDS
guard the secret door. The grounds are eerily silent. During the time
outside of the Haunt the characters may encounter
“You are a witch and a consort to demons! Your either Vincule in the graveyard or the spirit of
vile offspring is dealt with and now you shall return Oleander. See their encounter profiles for
home to stand trial for your wickedness! A stake further information.

ENDING THE ADVENTURE

If the secret room is opened the spirit of Bertold will be free and will seek out his mother.
Both will be grateful to the players, but Bertold is feral after decades in captivity and knows

no language, though he is calm and happy in the presence of his mother.

If Bertold’s body is buried in his grave beside his mother the bell over the gate will
immediately break and the curse is lifted. No spirits will haunt the grounds and all will move

on to what awaits them in the afterlife.

If a Haunt begins before Bertold can be laid in his grave, the spirit encounter will become
aware that something has changed and Hemlot and the spirits will seek out Oleander and
Bertold to destroy them, If they are successful the spirits will be freed and move on to their
own personal hell’s. Hemlot, however is forsaken by his god and his corpse will rise from his
grave in the graveyard as a Revenant. He will blame the players for his state and they will

become the target of his Revenant Vengeful Tracker rule.

Permission granted to photocopy for personal use. Ryan Loyal Stueve 2019.