Kestrel House
Blue water glows beneath the stairwell while four painted faces turn to watch you enter.
Kestrel House was once a respectable manor built over a sealed spring that the family believed could preserve the dead. Its rooms remain furnished, but the house now rearranges sounds and shadows around the presence of its last master. The central hall connects the upper floor, basement, shrine, library, and sealed family chamber.
Cold dust hangs in the air, mixed with the sharp smell of old lamp oil and damp stone. Floorboards creak without wind, distant pages turn by themselves, and a faint blue light seeps upward from the basement stairwell. Every room carries the stale sweetness of dried flowers left too long on a grave.
☠ Threat
Teren Kest, the manor's dead master, survives as a spiteful household spirit anchored to the spring beneath the basement. He cannot yet leave the house, but he can command doors, books, bells, and preserved corpses. He wants living bodies brought into the family chamber so he can complete the ritual and return to flesh.
History
Kestrel House was built by Teren Kest after laborers drained a mineral spring from beneath the hill. The spring had been used by local healers, but Teren believed its waters could preserve a dying child. He converted the house into a private shrine and library, then sealed the family chamber below the upper stair. The preservation rite failed, killing everyone inside and leaving Teren's spirit bound to the house.
Encounter Table
CRA dead servant carries a ring of keys and repeats fragments of old household instructions.
A mud-coated hound with mineral teeth follows the scent of living blood.
Loose pages whirl through the halls, forming a snapping swarm of paper edges and ink-black eyes.
Rumours & Whispers
People say Kestrel House was emptied by a fire, but no one remembers seeing smoke or flames.
A shepherd swears that blue light shines from the upstairs window whenever someone dies nearby.
An undertaker claims the manor's dead master offers gold to anyone willing to bring him a fresh body.
The old spring beneath the hill supposedly cures illness, though everyone who searches for it returns with wet footprints on dry ground.
Quest Hooks
Quest giver: Oru Pell, a soft-spoken grave keeper from the south road
A local undertaker reports that three recently buried bodies vanished from locked graves, and wet blue footprints lead toward Kestrel House.
Thirty gold pieces, a silvered dagger, and the right to keep any recovered burial goods.
Quest giver: Ketta Vorn, an angular archivist with ink-stained gloves
A scholar wants a ledger from the manor library, believing it will prove that the drained spring still exists beneath the hill.
A healing draught for each adventurer and access to a rare map collection.
Quest giver: Bela of Tarsun, a young shepherd who has seen the blue window light
A child claims a kindly ghost speaks through the upstairs window each night, asking for someone to bring back his family.
A family heirloom signet worth 40 gold pieces and a favor from the nearby village.
Corridor Notes
A narrow runner carpet bears four dark stains that servants once claimed came from spilled wine. The stains are actually old blood, scrubbed but never fully removed.
The central stairwell is wrapped around a carved wooden post showing a family tree. One branch has been hacked away, leaving splinters and a smear of black resin.
Cold drafts rise through cracks between the boards, carrying whispers that repeat the last words spoken in the library.
Small brass bells hang from the ceiling at irregular intervals. They ring only when someone carrying stolen property passes beneath them.
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