Fistandia's Mansion and What to Do With it?

[Hussar]

Cut and pasting this from Discord:

Open Questions about the Mansion
1. If we are going to use Fistandia’s home as a base, being caretakers and house sitters, where will we sleep? I figure the 3 guys who need sleep can turn the attic into dorm room and Strix can use the Mistress's bedroom. TC can stand around wherever he wants.
2. So I am a bit worried about Coriander, now being more alone then before. I think the Mansion is now safe enough for it to wander the first and second floor (except for secret study with the cranky bookcase) and expect it would like having more area to clean and look after? I would take it around, showing it the 7 book and stating those should never be bothered with, no matter what.
3. Could we get a apprentice Avowed assigned to us? I figure they could come into the Mansion regularly when we are not around to chat with Coriander and stuff? If we had one assistant, we could show them just where is safe. It would also be nice to have a point of contact with Candlekeep.
4. As a downtime activity, I wish to befriend the 2 draconic beings in the garden. Once we can talk to them, should we ask them if they want to leave?
5. So, how many cats now own me? I expect I'll spent time when in the Mansion talking to them all. Yes, I am now that crazy cat guy.
6. Mr Toad. I vote we just lock him in his room and ignore him for now.
7. There seems to be two labs here, one for Professor Geco and one for Strix? Figure the Professor is not going to leave the specimen collection alone but the basement lab has those homunculus projects which will interest Strix so you two can figure out who using what labs or just share them.
8. I'll be interested in the studies, I expect I will spend time in the secret study reading some of the chained up books there.
9. Where is Fistandia & Freyot? As a long term downtime activity, I want to research them, see if we can figure out where they have gone. Only thing we have now is that they have left here to go look for H. Expect that I have a murder board in the secret study that I'll add clues too, if we ever find out more.

Overall, I want to bring the Mansion back into it's prime so if Fistandia & Freyot do just pop back in, they not be too upset that we been housesitting.

These are all good ideas, and I just wanted to keep them here for later reference.

[Hussar]

Here's a map of the three levels of your mansion. I'm using a slightly less atmospheric version than the original.

Attachments:

[Hussar]

More from Discord: (Stormwarden/P. Geco)

I'm not worried about housing arrangements. We have rooms in the house of rest as well. Plenty of room for everyone. I can take Matreous' old room. Since I always put up Alarm before sleeping and can put it up again when we leave to wander the keep, that room can be an early warning for anyone trying to come in.

I assume there are wards against Candlekeep books leaving the premises. I wonder what happens if you take one into the mansion... Also, is the mansion considered part of Candlekeep or someplace else? Meaning, do the rules of Candlekeep apply inside the mansion? Do the Avowed have say there? I would assume not since this is Fistandia's place granted to her by a god, but it's a little muddy.

Player knowledge: I seem to recall there's a way to control slaad. I'm intentionally not looking it up (though it's soooo tempting). I'll do some research on that in the game and see what we can come up with.

We should probably find a way to lock the summoning room. Just in case. I should also do a lore check on Mr. Toad to see if I can identify what it might be. I wonder if it's a familiar for Fistandia or Freyot. There's probably something in their books that will give us a clue.

The Candlekeep folks were going to go through and neutralize the swords and armor and stuff. Did they deal with the chained bookcase, or at least figure out a way to use it safely? Did they do anything with Mr. Toad?

[Hussar]

Answering things in order:

1. If we are going to use Fistandia’s home as a base, being caretakers and house sitters, where will we sleep? I figure the 3 guys who need sleep can turn the attic into dorm room and Strix can use the Mistress's bedroom. TC can stand around wherever he wants.

Well, considering Strix is an owl, I'm not even sure most of you could even tell Strix's gender. And, I doubt most of you would even think about issues of privacy and whatnot. Note, you could certainly bring in some beds or whatnot and rearrange things as well. The Training Room, for example, is 15x20 and could easily hold a couple of beds. Or two bunk beds if you were concerned about it, and that gives you 5 beds. Plus, as was mentioned, the attic runs the length of the house. That's 90x20 (ish) so, that's certainly an option. You could easily put up a couple of curtains and make lots of rooms.

2. So I am a bit worried about Coriander, now being more alone then before. I think the Mansion is now safe enough for it to wander the first and second floor (except for secret study with the cranky bookcase) and expect it would like having more area to clean and look after? I would take it around, showing it the 7 book and stating those should never be bothered with, no matter what.

Coriander is not really a "being". It's a construct, albeit one that can talk. It doesn't really get lonely. It wasn't wandering because it was dangerous. It wasn't wandering because cooking and keeping the kitchen is it's instructed task. If Fistandia had told it to stand in the corner for eternity, it would do so happily. Yes, it won't mess with the books because Fistandia told it not to. And, it probably wouldn't have a problem with housekeeping.

3. Could we get a apprentice Avowed assigned to us? I figure they could come into the Mansion regularly when we are not around to chat with Coriander and stuff? If we had one assistant, we could show them just where is safe. It would also be nice to have a point of contact with Candlekeep.

They did ask you if they could come and go, with your permission of course. They are basically treating it like a hotel room. Anytime the House of Rest gets too full, they whack up Mord's Mansions for guests anyway, so, this isn't too much of a stretch. And, yes, there will be Avowed coming to see you any time you need a book anyway. Remember, you are not allowed in the Library proper.

4. As a downtime activity, I wish to befriend the 2 draconic beings in the garden. Once we can talk to them, should we ask them if they want to leave?

Cool, I like this idea. I'm not entirely sure how long that takes or whatnot. Give me a bit to think of a better answer. Basically they are two faerie dragons that live in the arboretum.

[Hussar]

5. So, how many cats now own me? I expect I'll spent time when in the Mansion talking to them all. Yes, I am now that crazy cat guy.

I believe there's about a dozen cats in the house. I imagine the mimic kept the numbers down over the years.

6. Mr Toad. I vote we just lock him in his room and ignore him for now.

Probably when the Avowed check out the house, they will tell you that the toad is a quasit and likely, unless you have any objections, they just banish it back to the abyss.

7. There seems to be two labs here, one for Professor Geco and one for Strix? Figure the Professor is not going to leave the specimen collection alone but the basement lab has those homunculus projects which will interest Strix so you two can figure out who using what labs or just share them.

Technically, there are three "labs". There's the practical lab in the basement, the more "theoretical" lab on the second floor near the star gazing room, and the specimen lab in the basement. Just as a thought, Strix might be more comfortable sleeping in the planetarium. It feels like being outside.

8. I'll be interested in the studies, I expect I will spend time in the secret study reading some of the chained up books there.

I'll try to come up with some interesting reading material for you.

9. Where is Fistandia & Freyot? As a long term downtime activity, I want to research them, see if we can figure out where they have gone. Only thing we have now is that they have left here to go look for H. Expect that I have a murder board in the secret study that I'll add clues too, if we ever find out more.

Thank you for the heads up. I'll see what I can do about that.

[Hussar]

Replying to questions from Stormwarden/P. Geco

I'm not worried about housing arrangements. We have rooms in the house of rest as well. Plenty of room for everyone. I can take Matreous' old room. Since I always put up Alarm before sleeping and can put it up again when we leave to wander the keep, that room can be an early warning for anyone trying to come in.

Note, the entrance to the mansion is in Matreous' old room. It can't be moved. So, yes, you guys will be using Matreous' old room as well as the mansion. Unless someone knows the password, no one can open the front door of your mansion, although, to be fair, that password is pretty commonly known among the Avowed. Anyone reading The Joy of Extradimensional Spaces can learn the password to get in. Granted, at the moment, only you five know the password to get out.

Player knowledge: I seem to recall there's a way to control slaad. I'm intentionally not looking it up (though it's soooo tempting). I'll do some research on that in the game and see what we can come up with.

Now THAT'S something you could certainly do here.

We should probably find a way to lock the summoning room. Just in case. I should also do a lore check on Mr. Toad to see if I can identify what it might be. I wonder if it's a familiar for Fistandia or Freyot. There's probably something in their books that will give us a clue.

As I said above, someone from the Avowed would recognize it as a quasit and banish it if you wish.

[Hussar]

I assume there are wards against Candlekeep books leaving the premises. I wonder what happens if you take one into the mansion... Also, is the mansion considered part of Candlekeep or someplace else? Meaning, do the rules of Candlekeep apply inside the mansion? Do the Avowed have say there? I would assume not since this is Fistandia's place granted to her by a god, but it's a little muddy.

Yes, you are not allowed to remove books from Candlekeep. And, yes, there are rumoured wards to that effect. However, since the entrance and exit to the mansion is only through Candlekeep and the House of Rest, and the fact that they use Mord's Mansions fairly regularly, I can't see it being an enormous issue for you to take books into the mansion. Yes, it's considered part of Candlekeep.

Now, as far as "do Avowed have say", well, they don't have much to say about anything really. Don't fight, don't steal, and don't copy the entire works. That's about it. This is a library, with pretty good security, but, it's not like it's Fort Knox or a prison or anything like that. It's a monastery, for all intents and purposes. You are free to leave whenever you like, and do pretty much whatever you like so long as you don't bother anyone and don't hurt the books.

We should probably find a way to lock the summoning room. Just in case. I should also do a lore check on Mr. Toad to see if I can identify what it might be. I wonder if it's a familiar for Fistandia or Freyot. There's probably something in their books that will give us a clue.

The Candlekeep folks were going to go through and neutralize the swords and armor and stuff. Did they deal with the chained bookcase, or at least figure out a way to use it safely? Did they do anything with Mr. Toad?

As mentioned, the Toad was just a quasit. They'll banish it unless you say otherwise. The flying swords in the study can be neutralized as well. The bookcase will only attack if you try to remove a book. Otherwise, it's harmless. The books on it are another issue. They are pretty rare and deal with some pretty esoteric bits of knowledge. They could probably neutralize it too if you like, although, I think the vote there was to leave it alone.