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T HE DRE ADF UL S EC RE T S OF C ANDL E WI C K MANOR

IF YOU LOVE IT SO MUCH
OR, THE CASE OF THE MURDEROUS MANSION
AN UNSETTLINGLY INTRODUCTORY ADVENTURE BY SHANE IVEY
Tere have been many architects in the building,
growth, and disrepair of Candlewick Manor, and
most of them were, or eventually became, insane.
Many of them are still on the grounds, in that part
of the graveyard reserved for favorite retainers and
friends of the Candlewicks.
One of the earliest is still on the grounds, but not
in the graveyard. Not dead but no longer strictly
alive, at once transformed and preserved, he occu-
pies a shape, space and function by which he might
remain in perpetuity with the love of his life. Tat
great romance was Candlewick Manor. To join
with his love forever he built, infused himself into,
became the West Wing of the manor.
Sadly for this former architect, his presence
made the West Wing an uneasy place, leading later
occupants, designers and decorators into strange
modes of thought. Teir grotesque adornments
Revised 2014-01-09. By Shane Ivey, 2012. The Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor and Monsters
and Other Childish Things are published by Arc Dream Publishing and are and by Benjamin Baugh.
and renovations in turn ofended the West Wings
sensibilities, and this in turn lef the place more
uneasy, which meant even stranger designs, and so
on, until fnally a frustrated Candlewick abandoned
all eforts to improve the place.
Tese days, residents of the manor think the
West Wing is haunted. Its not really haunted. Its
just very, very dissatisfed. It has been converted
over from a stately private manor for a singular,
beloved family to a temporary home for hideous,
unwelcome young strangers.
Te last crop of interlopers met with a series
of suspiciously unfortunate accidents. A rogue
member of the staf, now deceased, was blamed; Dr.
Candlewick is confdent that the newest batch will
live in health and some approximation of happiness,
or at least usefulness to his Great Project.
Te West Wing objects to that plan.
Orphans beware! Read no further if you expect to be a player rather than the Game Moderator in this adventure.
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WELCOME! NOW GET OUT
Te orphans are new to Candlewick Manor.
Teyve arrived fresh from whatever orphanaria
or chilly homes fostered them unwillingly. Teyve
driven through town, where townfolk glared and
wondered. Teyve bundled out of the long black car
and taken in the shadowed enormity of the mansion
and grounds. Teyve met the staf and family.
Teyve been told the rules. Teyre nervous and
frightened. Even a delicious meal with Giusseppe
the chef did little to improve their moods. We leave
it to you, their loving game moderator, to detail
their arrival as you like.
Dr. Dravenfrth now escorts the orphans to their
bedroom for the night. He points out in passing a
few of the highlights of the West Wings central hall.
Tere are bizarre, Boschesque statuesneither men
nor animals, or perhaps both blendedand scenes
of torment, madness, and bizarre alien vistas. Dr.
Candlewick himself collected the statues from
around the world in his many travels, and a few of
them he had commissioned.
BOYAR MIZZENRATH
One of the statues, Dravenfrth explains, depicts
Boyar Mizzenrath, the architect who built this wing
of the manor. Its eyes seem to follow them, not just
stern but furiously angry. Or do they actually follow
the orphans, physically turning in stony sockets?
A successful Brains+Notice roll is certain they do.
Dravenfrth will hear nothing of such nonsense.
As the orphans watch the statueor is it when
the statue watches them?the orphans all distinctly
hear a low, groaning moan from the house itself. It
shapes a clear command: GET OUT!
At least, they are certain, dead certain, that the
sound is a word, that particular word in that partic-
ular infection. Dravenfrth smiles, hearing nothing
amiss, and says that the house sometimes makes
strange noises as it settles in the night. He shrugs
of their concerns with vast dismissiveness.
HINTS AND CLUES
In the spirit of dismissing their concerns,
Dravenfrth says the architect Mizzenrath was
known for his devotion to the construction of the
mansion and is in fact buried in the cemetery on the
grounds. Tey can study him further in the family
records in the library, perhaps, tomorrow morning
afer chores. Or are those records in the attic?
Yes, Dravenfrth emphasizes as distinctly as is
necessary for your players to take the hint: Details
about poor Mizzenrath are in library. Or if not in
the library, then surely in the West Wings attic. And
of course Mizzenraths grave is on the grounds in the
cemetery, because he was an honored retainer.
Ten the orphans quite distinctly hear a higher-
pitched whining drone that sounds for all the
world like words. Whichever orphan has the lowest
Guts+Couarge total is absolutely, unquestionably
sure that the statue mouthed the words Kiiiill
yooou. (If theres a tie, break it in this order: Guts,
Courage, Notice, Brains.)
Dravenfrth chuckles and says the wind does
sometimes make strange noises at night. Words?
Of course those werent words! Imagination is a
fne thing, he assures the orphans, but it must be
restrained and governed by self-discipline for the
good of ones mental health.
And the fact that the statue suddenly pointed
straight at the orphans as it glares? Dont be silly. Its
always held the same pose. Its just a statue.
To the orphans, theres no doubt. Tis isnt just
another unpleasant statue. Tis statue is alive and it
wants them gone.
Dravenfrth sees them to their dormitories and
points out the attached lavatories where they can
clean themselves and get drinking water. He bids
them sleep well, gives them a stern warning not to
wander or sneak around or make noise, and locks
them in for the night to make sure they dont.
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WANDERING MONSTROSITIES
Te orphans might want to get to the bottom of this
situation without waiting for permission. If they
dont, the mansion changes their minds. See Te
West Wing Comes to Death, I Mean Life, later.
Te locks are not particularly secure; fddling
with one with a bobby pin and a Hands+Shop roll
opens it up. A Feet+Kicking roll forces a door open.
If theyre caught sneaking around, Dr. Dravenfrth
promises them gruel for for a month.
THE LIBRARY
Teyll have to elude Ms. Silverdale using
Brains+Out-Tink or a stealth-related creepy skill.
It takes one success for the whole group. If she nabs
them, one of them can try to distract her with a
Face-related roll while the others sneak past.
Te family histories say Mizzenrath died in a
cave-in while shoring up the foundations of the
West Wing. His body could not be recovered, but he
was given a grave on the grounds for his devotion.
His journals were kept in the West Wing for study.
THE CEMETERY
If the orphans dig up Mizzenraths grave, they fnd
an empty cofn with a weird symbol carved on it
whose geometry is abnormal. (Studying it with
a Brains+Notice roll causes a headache that does
Width1 Shock damage to Brains.) First they
must elude Groundskeeper Grooner. Tat means
distracting himhe knows everything that happens
on the grounds unless hes in his drink or otherwise
occupied.
THE FOUNDATIONS
Beneath the mansion there are locked galleries and
cellars and doors that lead enticingly to terrifying
tunnels that groan with the weight of the mansion
and its memories. Tere are also foundation stones
that all have strange designs of abnormal geom-
etry. Studying them too closely hurts the brain like
studying the cofn; and in fact one of them is an
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exact match for the one on the cofn. Cracking open
that stone reveals Mizzenraths broken skeleton.
Destroying the bones does nothing usefulthey
were broken alreadybut Mizzenraths spirit is
powerfully present here.
If the orphans try to apologize to or argue with
Mizzenraths spirit here (see Overcoming the West
Wing later), they get an advantage. Each roll gets
either +1d (making it more likely to succeed) or +1
Width (making it more efective if it does succeed);
the player decides which when declaring.
THE ATTIC
In the attic of the West Wing the orphans can fnd
Mizzenraths own journal of the wings construc-
tion. Its a giant book covered in dust and mold, with
crumbling plans and maps folded inside it, pages
full of weird formulae and brain-hurting geometry
and sketches and rambling theories.
Gradually in the text Mizzenrath comes to
lovingly speak of the mansion as alive, then as Her,
then as things like My Truth and My Always.
He becomes increasingly erratic and resentful of
perceived slights to the Great Purpose of the
place. He is desperate to protect Candlewick Manor
and sees threats in every newcomer. He grudgingly
tolerates only those who have lived there a while
without breaking anything important.
Te last entry says Mizzenrath has found a way
to join with the mansion forever, not as a meager
ghost but as living stone, as foundation and brick!
With this last secret he can ensure that the mansion
will be honored by the Candlewicks and protected
from strangers as long as the mansion stands. His
fragile bones will rest in a foundation stone, the very
one marked by the sign found on the cofn in his
false grave. And now I go, he concludes. Now I
join with My Epiphany forever!
OTHER SOURCES
What happens if the orphans dont go on a research
expedition? Ten, kind game moderator, you must
improvise. Find a list of the key clues below and
choose alternate ways to reveal them.
Dreams: As the orphans lay down for the night,
or when they are put to sleep by the Rooms of Ruin,
they might dream of the West Wings construction
and its crazed architect. Tats just before theyre
awakened by such nuisances as bedsheet strangu-
lation, fying cricket bats, and inexplicably open
footlockers snapping closed on dangling feet.
Te Staf: Giuseppe the chef may feed the
orphans clues about their surroundings while he
feeds them the nights simple repastwhich is of
course the best meal of their short lives.
Te Candlewicks: Keep Dr. Candlewick too busy
and important to help the kids with their project at
frst, unless they take dramatic steps to engage his
attention. And Miles, while willing, is likely too
forgetful to ofer insights. But Wisteria in her malice
might share all kinds of tidbits about the West Wing
meant to terrify the newcomers.
Te Voice of the West Wing: If all else fails, the
enraged voice of Boyar Mizzenrath, hissing from
everywhere and nowhere in a mad monologue, may
tell the orphans what they need to know.
THE CLUES
Here are the key clues about Mizzenrath and where
theyre found. Jot down your alternatives.
He died in the foundations.
(Library):
His empty cofn was buried in the family
graveyard.
(Library):
His unwholesome obsession with the West
Wing led to a plan to merge with it.
(Attic):
Te same symbol was carved on his cofn
and the foundation stone where he died.
(Attic):
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THE WEST WING COMES TO
DEATH, I MEAN LIFE
Te orphans soon fnd fnd that their new living
quarters dont much want them to live, let alone
live here. It might be OK with them in quarters. Te
West Wing wants them dead before they can stain
the rest of the home with their wicked ways.
Te West Wing awakens when the kids go to
sleep. Or if they go snooping around without going
to sleep, it awakens when they set out to explore the
Attic. Tey can sneak around the library, the ceme-
tery, etc., without trouble from the West Wing, but
as soon as they say out loud that they plan to explore
the attic, or when they lay intentful eyes on the attic
stairs, things get ugly.
Te West Wing is kind of like a gigantic monster.
Each location in the wing is a monstrous hit loca-
tion with its own dice pool and abilities. Its attacks
do Shock damage.
ROOMS OF RUIN, NORTH (BOYS DORM), 4D
Attacks: Strangling bedsheets, smothering
pillows, pummeling footballs and cricket bats.
Useful: Dont you feel like lying down for a nap?
Sleepiness stuns an orphan for Width1 rounds.
Sweet: Te nap efect lasts Width in rounds.
ROOMS OF RUIN, SOUTH (GIRLS DORM), 5D
Attacks: Devouring footlockers, smashing
mirrors, shockingly unfriendly bedframes.
Spray: Two sets can attack per turn.
MAD SCIENTISTS LAVATORY, 6D
Attacks: Cleaning solutions arent supposed to
explode and eat away at fesh and clothing! And why
is the plumbing trying to strangle you?
Defends: Its slippery in here.
Useful: Tat slipperiness can gobble dice from
any action, not just attacks.
Spray: Two sets can act per turn.
LINEN CLOSET OF THE LOST, 5D
Attacks: Towels and sheets (and scissors) snap
and bite.
THE HALLWAY TO HECK, 4D
Useful: Te gallery that runs the length of the
West Wing suddenly seems to go on forever. It can
efectively immobilize people for Width1 rounds
because they seem to go nowhere. Tey can make
movement rolls such as Feet+P.E. to proceed, but its
roll gobbles dice from one or two victims rolls. An
immobilized orphan is a prime candidate for abuse
by statues and rats and hungry shadows.
Awesome x4: It can fip two dice afer rolling.
Bigness: See below.
Spray: It can immobilize targets with two sets per
turn.
ABOUT BIGNESS
Te Hallway to Heck has a Bigness rating of 2.
Bigness is detailed in the Monsters and Other
Childish Tings sourcebook Bigger Bads.
When fghting the Hallway, the orphans gain:
Wicked Fast.
Awesome when attacking, defending, or
doing tricky things with their smaller size.
When fghting the orphans, the Hallway gains:
Tough.
(If it attacked them directly, it would also
gain Gnarly and Splash.)
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THREATS IN THE HALLWAY
Going from one hit location of the West Wing
to anotheror from any location to the Attic
requires covering three Farness steps in the Hallway
to Heck. Farness is detailed in the Monsters and
Other Childish Tings sourcebook Bigger Bads. In
a nutshell, its an abstraction for how far of things
are in an action scene.
Farness:
1 Up in your face.
2 Just out of reach. (Te default Farness
rating in the West Wing.)
3 A stones throw.
4 A long shot.
5 Way out there.
6 Going.
7+ Gone, baby, gone.
Standard powers and ranged weapons can attack
anything at a Farness distance of 2. Anything thats
strictly hand-to-hand must be at Farness 1. A char-
acter can move one Farness level without a roll, or
Width in Farness with a movement roll.
But the Hallway doesnt make movement easy. It
rolls its dice pool to thwart the orphans movement
rolls. Each set that it rolls gobbles Width in dice
from the orphans movement sets. To gobble a die,
the Hallways roll must have equal or greater Height
and Width than the orphans set.
If an orphan manages to cover all three Farness
steps in a single round, he or she is safe in the next
location. (Well, maybe not exactly safe. Most of
the locations are a lot of things other than safe.)
Otherwise, in the next round the Hallway again
tries to thwart the movement rolls and now a Treat
emerges. Pick your favorite.
(Treats are detailed in Bigger Bads. In a
nutshell, it acts a lot like a monsters power and
hit location. A Treat always declares its action
frst each round, but it gets to use every set that
it rolls. It can split sets among separate actions if
it declares multiple actions and takes the usual
penaltyotherwise each set does the same thing.
Orphans can attack the Treat with physical attacks
or whatever skills or creepy skills seem appropriate,
reducing its dice pool. When a Treat is reduced to
one die or fewer, it crumbles or retreats or is other-
wise overcome.)
THREAT: CRAZY-MAKING STATUARY, 5D
Te statues are even more horrid than before! All
those eye-twisting, brain-breaking angles and
unwholesome depictions whose details you cannot
and must not remember! Once they awaken, they
pursue the orphans with shocking ferocity.
Defeating the Treat: To defeat them you must
destroy them. You can escape only if you outrun
them with a movement roll that has Width greater
than their attack.
Attacks: Tey try to clobber, skewer, and terrify
you. On an odd Height the damage is physical; even,
its psychological.
Useful: Tey make you crazy! Te GM gets to
declare your actions for Width in rounds.
Awesome x2: Tey love to attack from surprise.
Spray: Multiple statues can act at one time.
Sweet: Te crazy-making Useful quality lasts
Width in rounds (rather than Width1).
THREAT: HUNGRY SHADOWS, 7D
In the dark of the awakened West Wing, angles and
gravity are all skewy and screwy.
Defeating the Treat: To defeat the Hungry
Shadows you must have strong light. Fire works
great. Otherwisewell, when was the last time you
got in a fst fght with a shadow and won?
Attacks: You fall and bang your head when you
thought you were walking on a level foor.
Useful: You fall and tumble into a black shadow,
emerging from a shadow in some other part of the
West Wing. If a friend comes in afer you and the
West Wing has a spare set to use, your friend winds
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up somewhere else! Te West Wing uses this Treat
to keep the orphans from escaping to its beloved
Central Wingthe dining hall, library, chapel and
infrmary.
Tough: Actually this counts as Tough x2 against
most attacks, but it doesnt apply at all against fre
or against any attack done in a powerful source of
light. (Not just turning the lights on; something like
an electric spotlight.)
Wicked Fast: Tey dont creep like normal
shadows. Tey fit and change and suddenly appear
out of nowhere like not-normal shadows.
THREAT: RATS IN THE WALLS OF SLEEP, 5D
Groundskeeper Grooner prides himself on
rendering extinct every rodent that dares twitch a
snout in Candlewick Manor. He doesnt know that
hes had help in the West Wing, where many mice
and rats disappear into the timeless void. When the
West Wing is angry, it lets them reappear into the
timeful here and now.
Defeating the Treat: You can defeat the rodents
in the usual way. Boots and well-swung shovels help.
Attacks: Tey gnaw and chew!
Useful: Getting gnawed by rats causes orphans to
trip and fall and run around in panic.
Awesome x2: Teyre everywhere!
Splash: Teyre everywhere! When they start
gnawing on one hit location, they also gnaw on the
one next to it.
Tough: Its not that individually theyre all that
hardy, but theyre just everywhere!
OVERCOMING THE
WEST WING
Te orphans dont have it easy. But do they ever? But
they do have two routes to victory: destroying the
West Wing or making peace with it.
OPTION 1: PROPERTY DAMAGE
If the orphans are especially violent, they could
beat the West Wing into submission. Destroying
the dorms and the hallway banishes Mizzenraths
lingering spirit. Of course, that means demol-
ishing a large part of Candlewick Manor. Surely Dr.
Candlewick wont mind too much, will he?
OPTION 2: MAKING NICE
Te orphans could try to come to terms with the
West Wing and the animating spirit of its archi-
tect. Te West Wing believes the newcomers are
polluting the purity of the Candlewick name and
the purpose of the house. Tey must convince it that
theyre genuinely friendly.
Once the West Wing is fully awake, the orphans
must make their way to the statue of Boyar
Mizzenrath and address it. (Or they can confront
his bones, or meet him in a dream, or just yell at the
West Wing itself by Mizzenraths name; whatever
works.) Tey must convince it that they will love the
mansion and honor it and so forth. If theyre really
convincing, the West Wing stops to listen.
If they make a good case for their honoring the
mansion and wanting to uphold its traditions, the
statue of Mizzenrath shows just the faintest hint of
acceptance in its demeanor of insanely protective
pride. Tey have made peace with the West Wing.
If they just start yelling, Leave us alone, were
nice, thats probably not good enough. Tey should
frst do their research and learn that theyre facing
the architect himself, immortalized in his creation.
Tey must get the long-dead madman on their side.
If they fail, they face a lot of skepticism from the
staf and a lot of future torment from Mizzenrath.
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HOME, SWEET HOME
However they quiet the West Wing, Dr. Candlewick
appears aferward with the rest of the staf in
tow, looking around the destruction. He is a little
nonplussed and he seems sternbut then he always
seems stern.
Te orphans may assume he is about to kick them
out or have them arrested. Tey have good reason
for making that assumption, since Dr. Dravenfrth
is apoplectically advising Dr. Candlewick to Kick
them out and Have them arrested.
If the orphans try to apologize or explain them-
selves, Candlewick listens. In fact, if they are just
dejectedly waiting for their fate, Candlewick sofens
and asks them to explain.
If they are dishonest and weaselly, on the other
hand, Candlewick grows yet more stern and orders
them to tell the truth. Even a strange truth is better
than a lie, he says. Sternly. Make them sweat it out!
Let them think their futures are about to be dashed.
Once the orphans tell him about Mizzenrath
and the haunting of the West Wing, Dr. Candlewick
smiles kindly. Of course he isnt going to banish
them. He even flls in any gaps in the story that the
orphans didnt get from the clues. His family home
has always been rather cantankerous, he says. Te
West Wing has needed some work for a long time.
Perhaps they can help with the rebuilding when
their studies allow them the time.
I suppose this means youll be with us for a
while, he says, smiling kindly. Youve certainly
made yourselves at home.
Te orphans now number among Te Dreadful
Secrets of Candlewick Manor.
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