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Scanlan's Magnificent Mansion

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“
When people keep repeatin’,
That you need a place to sleep,
When everybody starts retreatin’,
But you need a really cool keep,
Let Scanlan open the door!
Let Scanlan open the door!
Let Scanlan open the door, to your heart.
”
– 
Scanlan parodying Let Love Open the Door by Pete Townshend, while casting Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion.[1]

Scanlan's Magnificent Mansion or Château Shorthalt is a dwelling inside a pocket dimension created by Scanlan when he casts Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion. It was often used by Vox Machina as a safe place to rest for the night or take cover during battles.

Description[]

Upon entry, visitors arrive inside an incredibly lush foyer, with a 25 to 30-foot high ceiling made of marble and dark woods. A two-part staircase splits off onto a second-tier floor where living quarters are located, and soft music can be heard playing in the distance.[2] Much of the furnishing and decoration inside the mansion is opulent and extravagant. During his year away from Vox Machina, Scanlan put up many counterfeit art pieces up in the mansion.[3]

The mansion also has a kitchen with at least three pantries, a parlor, a game room, a music room, and a winery. There is also an all-purpose room which holds the basics required for Percival's smithing.[4] Scanlan made some changes to the layout of the mansion as he thought of them, like the addition of a library.[5]

Each member of Vox Machina has their own bedroom. In each room is a circular bed, with a mirror hung above it on the ceiling. The two rooms closest to Scanlan's are reserved for Pike and Kaylie, with Kaylie's room being locked until she visits.[6] Pike's room is blue and silver, and holds a small prayer area with a little statue of Sarenrae, which when pulled opens a secret door that only a gnome could fit through leading to Scanlan's room.[7]

“
Everyone is standing shoulder to shoulder like a family above a mantel, and it is grotesque. Horrifying. You (Pike) look like perhaps the Trickfoots had been keeping the bloodline strong for a very long period of time. Droopy face, one eye sinking below the other. You don’t even have the right number of fingers. You see Grog in the back, who is as wide as the rest of everybody, is behind them, this giant wall with this tiny little head, with a tongue lolling out to the side. It looks like he has one finger as a thumbs-up and the other one’s up his bum. In the front, you see Vex and Vax, the twins, are furiously making out in a really horrible display, clutching each other. It’s terrifying. Keyleth is currently clutching the side of a tree happily, and as she does, her eyes are going in different directions, and the tree itself is trying to push her off the branch. You see Percy, who is extremely tall with this squat, thin head with these giant glasses that make his eyes bug-eyed and strange. You see a little bit of scruff on the chin that’s actually turning into this long, awful, matted dingleberry mess of a goatee, and he has both of his guns pointed at his head. Next to that is a perfectly defined, unchanged portrait of Scanlan Shorthalt.
”
– 
Matt describes the portrait of Vox Machina done by Garmelie.[8]

Scanlan's room is at the end of the hall, and slightly bigger than the others, with 50-foot high ceilings hung with drapery. His room has a water bed with black satin sheets. He later added more mirrors on the ceiling of his bedroom, for a total of three.[9] Scanlan's room is connected to all the other bedrooms by secret passageways that only he knows about.[10]

The basement is a large training area, containing a sand pit surrounded by brick, which Grog usually sleeps in.[11][12] There are a series of wooden training dummies and various training equipment, like chains and ropes hanging from the ceiling and muscle-up bars. The walls can also be climbed. Two racks are lined with basic weapons and basic armor, respectively.

The dining room is decorated with a portrait of Scanlan in a smoking jacket, standing in front of a fireplace with another portrait of Scanlan in a smoking jacket above it. Pike later requested a family portrait of Vox Machina from Garmelie. The result was a an extremely well-detailed charcoal portrait making grotesque fun of the entire party, except Scanlan, who looks perfectly normal.[13] The portrait was hung above the mantle. On top of the dining room, there is also a breakfast nook.

The mansion's menu was once exclusively waffles and chicken,[14] as well as alcoholic beverages such as mimosas and wine. However, during the time Scanlan shared the mansion with his daughter Kaylie, she got sick of chicken after the first two weeks, and declared that a vegan diet would be better for Scanlan. Since then, only vegan salads are served.[15]

Servants[]

The mansion and its occupants are tended to by a hundred spectral servants. They can accomplish any task requested by the guests of the mansion. Some of them have specific jobs assigned by Scanlan; five of them play music whenever he or his guests want, and fifty of them are assigned to Scanlan personally.

History[]

"The Family Business" (1x47)[]

Scanlan cast Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion for the first time in order to house Vox Machina and the Fire and Air Ashari present in the ruins of Pyrah. Although they were reticent at first, the members of Vox Machina were amazed by the mansion when they entered. Grog attacked the first spectral servant he saw, believing it to be a ghost. To show off that the servants could do anything they asked, Scanlan ordered one to braid his chest hair.

"Passed Through Fire" (1x69)[]

Vox Machina built a blanket fort in the kitchen, set Percy's body on the table, and all slept in the same room together.

"Vorugal" (1x71)[]

Pike prepared a Heroes' Feast for the group, their first non-chicken meal in the mansion. Later, the mansion was strategically utilized as a safe zone during the battle against Vorugal.

"Where the Cards Fall" (1x75)[]

Vox Machina unsuccessfully tried to lure Ghurrix, a pit fiend, into the mansion to fight him out of public view. However, they were able to use the mansion's door as a strategic retreat during the ensuing battle in "Brawl in the Arches" (1x76).

"Dark Dealings" (1x112)[]

When Vex accidentally removed Vox Machina's cover from Vecna's divination magic by entering the Ethereal Plane, the mansion's position was revealed to their enemy. Delilah Briarwood arrived shortly after and Dispelled the mansion, ejecting all of its occupants.

The Legend of Vox Machina[]

Scanlan used a key he took from Umbrasyl's lair to create a magnificent mansion he called "Château Shorthalt" for the party to rest in after their adventure in the Hells of Despath and battle against Vorugal.[16]

Trivia[]

References[]

  1. ↑ See "Unfinished Business" (1x100) at 1:57:39.
  2. ↑ See "The Family Business" (1x47) at 00:17:18.
  3. ↑ See "Unfinished Business" (1x100) at 02:05:00.
  4. ↑ See "Into the Frostweald" (1x48) at 1:36:17.
  5. ↑ See "The Echo Tree" (1x63) at 1:25:56.
  6. ↑ See "The Family Business" (1x47) at 0:21:07.
  7. ↑ See "Into the Frostweald" (1x48) at 1:26:31.
  8. ↑ See "The Feywild" (1x59) at 2:38:55.
  9. ↑ See "Unfinished Business" (1x100) at 2:33:09.
  10. ↑ See "The Ominous March" (1x109) at 0:54:23.
  11. ↑ See "The Family Business" (1x47) at 0:56:19.
  12. ↑ See "A Name Is Earned" (1x49) at 2:23:20.
  13. ↑ See "The Feywild" (1x59) at 02:37:00.
  14. ↑ See "The Family Business" (1x47) at 1:12:58.
  15. ↑ See "Unfinished Business" (1x100) at 02:15:00.
  16. ↑ See "The Frigid Doom (LoVM)" (LVM3x05).

Art:

  1. ↑ Fan art of Scanlan's Magnificent Mansion, by Lap Pun Cheung (source). Used with permission.
  2. ↑ Screenshot of Scanlan's Château Shorthalt from "The Coming Storm (LoVM)" (LVM3x06). This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.
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