We had a short 90 minute session this week and won't meet again until September due to PAX Prime. Enjoy for now!
Ravenloft Session 2
Our intrepid heroes are still in the dining room, mutilated bodies are piled under the table and gargoyle carcasses lie on either side. Surveying the scene, they hear a groan from under the corpses as a young half-elf crawls out. He’s covered with blood, but doesn’t react to the Quidiana’s holy symbol of the Morninglord. Explaining that he hid under the table during the initial slaughter, he says his name is…
Thenn - Level 7 Half-Elf Thief
Str 9, Dex 17, Con 7, Int 14, Wis 14, Chr 12
HP 18, AC 5, Longsword
Thenn came to Count Strahd begging for alms.
According to Thenn, the slaughter began with gargoyles descending from the ceiling. After the massacre, the Count came in and took a locket from the Burgomeister.
Grayven decided to investigate the floor near the organ for a trap door through which the Count may have escaped. Although he didn’t notice a trapdoor, the organ appeared to be on tracks. Trying various keys, the organ slide away and revealed a secret passage with a dull note. The party decided to rest the night and barricaded the main doors with the dining room table and a dozen bodies. The other bodies were used to block the organ and it’s tracks.
The party gathered around a soft burning lantern, the party removes their armor and decides a watch order of: Thenn, Grayven, Kolbo/Galfonz, Quidiana/Ioana. The party heads to sleep.
During the fourth watch, Qiudiana and Ioana hear thuds against the main set of double doors. It slowly builds in frequency and might as they watch the door buckle slightly with the heaviest blows. Quidiana blesses the party and Ioana braces the door. Neither wakes up the party. Quidiana casts protection from evil. After three minutes, the thuds suddenly stop.
The party wakes up the next morning and decides to proceed through the secret passage instead of the main doors, expecting more gargoyles to be waiting outside. Through the secret passage the party finds an old disused defense corridor complete with arrow slots. Following the cobwebbed corridor, the party finds a spiral staircase leading both up and down.
The adventurers argue a bit about the best course of action. Quidianna reasons that if they want to just escape and survive, up is the better option. Downstairs is probably where the dungeon is.
The party proceeds up and on the next landing find another, similarly disused defense corridor. Heading west, both Quidiana and Thenn both simultaneously stop and look at the north wall. There’s something strange about it. Quidiana searches the wall and finds a hand shaped depression. Pushing in, the wall slides across and reveals Castle Ravenloft’s throne room.
The room is barren, with many of its once glamorous banners and tapestries faded by dust and time. A lone throne sits facing them and a small nightstand on the left side holding a book. Thenn approaches carefully and looks for any traps. He narrowly avoids setting off the pressure plates connects to spikes meant to impale anyone sitting in the chair.
Grayven approaches and inspects the book. It’s a heavy tome covered in black leather with steel studs and binding. Picking it up to inspect, he is unable to read the text. No one in the party can make sense of it until Quidiana makes sense of the works - an archaic mixture of Balok and elven arcane. He begins to read,
“I am the Ancient, I am the Land. My beginnings are long in the darkness of the past...”
Quidiana conveys the horror of Strahd I’s past to the party: Death, victory, love, betrayal. As Quidiana slams the Tome of Strahd shut, the thud echoes throughout the old Throne Room, causing a swarm of bats to fly up from the northern stairs.
Kolbo takes up a defensive position and Grayven steps behind the fully armored dwarf. The half-elf wizard tells the rest of the party to hide behind the throne as he conjures up a fireball. The swarm swoops in, easily deflected by Kolbo but Grayven falls victim to a dozen bites. His arcane energy dissipates - the spell is lost.
The party retreats back through the secret passage but Kolbo is too slow to get through. He takes up a defensive position, batting the bats away while the rest of the party seals the door shut. Grayen readies up the second fireball he had memorized and, as Quidiana reopens the secret portal, unleashes a fiery blast frying the bats.
The tapestries burn and the throne is shattered, it’s melted gold oozing down into the flagstone joints. The party stands victorious against the vermin, but who knows what other horrors might be unleashed…
Session Loot: nil
Session Exp: 1500
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