Following Piddlewick
Curse of Strahd
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Session 69 – 2022-08-27
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We are inside the room with the brazier and the seven cups with different color gems, two statues, and 3 doors. Kassamir and his Dusk Elf friend are moving up the stairs behind the middle door. Misty has a potion that will restore one first level spell. She offered it and neither Snoggly nor Zanfyr needed it. Dain could really use it to inflict greater damage on Strahd so Misty gave it to him and he drank it. I never heard of such a potion. We need to buy a lot of these in future campaigns. There is a brief discussion about which door we should take. Ismark, though he understands Kassamir’s need to find and restore his sister, is really only concerned with saving Ireena. Rinn tries to tell him that Ismark’s weapon will not hurt Strahd. To engage him is to die. Only we can hurt him. Ismark asked for a weapon to hurt him but we do not have any magic weapons other than the weapons we are using and will use to destroy him. Kyanna asked Piddlewick which way we should go. He points to the first door. She then asks him if there is anything in the castle that he knows about that would hurt Strahd. Piddlewick thinks for a moment and shrugs to indicate that he doesn’t. The decision is to follow Piddlewick. Rinn opens the first door. A 60 foot staircase to a landing is revealed. We start hearing voices in the distance, behind us. Rinn closed the door behind Kassamir‘s route. Dain gently closes the door behind us leading into the room we are standing in. We pile into the first staircase and close the door behind us and begin our stealthy ascent.
At the landing, Rinn checks for secret passages and finds none. The staircase continues east to a dead end. Rinn moves to the dead end and checks it for secret passages finding one that was not hidden very well. He starts to open the door when Piddlewick moves up quickly and loudly behind him. Rinn stopped to look at him. He starts making motions that indicate someone may be ahead. We played charades and listed off several types of creatures that might match his movements. Rinn finally figured out that he was indicating Rahadin. Piddlewick does the superiority dance, pleased with his performance. Rinn messaged down the stairs that we might be about to encounter Rahadin. Rinn cracks the door slightly and peaks in. Rinn sees a shadowy room in perfect order with a table with an inkwell and a quill set carefully in place. Lances, swords, and shields with the Barovia crest hang neatly on the dark oak panel wall. Rinn moved across the room and listened at the next door. He doesn’t hear anything. We searched the room and founds nothing useful. Meanwhile, Misty tried to open a chest and instead, triggered a mimic. It grappled her. Initiatives were rolled and a battle ensued. This mimic looks a little more demonic than normal. Being nine against one, we made short, but noisy, work of it. Kyanna did a mass heal that helped a lot.
Rinn moved to the door, listened and then opened it. Dain and Rinn moved into the next room, a 30 ft by 30 ft room with crushed tables no chairs, and bones scattered about. Armor and weapons are also scattered about with some of the armor and weapons buried into the wall as if driven into the wall by some tremendous force. There is a door to the south and a dark archway in the east wall. Rinn checks out the archway, peaking around the corner. There is a dark passage with two alcoves on either side of the hallway and another archway leading to stairs going up. The ceiling, between this archway and the stars is covered in a yellow moss like fungus. Rinn moves down to the southern door in this room and listens, and hears nothing. Rinn threw a firebolt at the ceiling in the hallway burning away the fungus. Snoggly joined him and they made short work of it, clearing a path to the stairs. Piddlewick moves to the southern door and begins pulling at it. Misty and Zanfyr notice it and call out to them others that maybe we should try the door. Rinn takes a last peak up the stairs before he heads back down. Misty listened at the door and didn’t hear anything. Rinn sees the stairs go up another 20 feet to a landing with some light. There is also some sort of tube going up and out of site. He heads back down to join the others at the southern door.
Rinn looks at Piddlewick and asks what’s in the next room. He points around this room as if indicating something like maybe more of this destruction. Rinn opens the door and see dark stains covering part of the floor, large oak tables scared and damaged lay scattered like toys across the room. Replacing them is furniture made entirely of human bones. The walls and ceiling are decorated with bones laid out in a morbid fashion, giving the room a cathedral like quality. Four enormous piles of bones are stacked in the corners of the ossuary. Garlands of skulls extend these mounds to chandelier bones that hang from the ceiling above a long tale constructed of bones in the center of the room. Ten chairs, made of bones, surround the table. Resting on top of the table is an ornate bowl made entirely of bones. The doors north and south are sheathed in bone. The steal band doors to the eat are not. Rinn, looking for any movement doesn’t see any but does see a lot of booted foot prints around. The traffic is all around but seem to primarily go though the steel doors In the east wall. Piddlewick messes around with the bones. Rinn listens at the steel doors and hears nothing.He hawks Piddlewick which door we should proceed through. He indicates the steel door.
When asked what is behind the door, he indicates a hunchback creature, possibly a servant. Trying to discern what he is indicating is sometimes, challenging. Once everyone is in place, Rinn opens the door. We see a hall, deadly silent, heavy beams support a sagging ten foot high ceiling. Fog clings to the floor obscuring everything that lies less than three feet above it. There are a couple of doors in the north wall and a door in the south wall. On the far eastern side, there is a barred door. Kyanna had a brief discussion with Piddlewick, trying to see if he was taking us to Strahd. She let him know we aren’t quite ready to find him. Dain ask, then where are you taking us. Piddlewick pointed to Ismark. “Ah, so you are taking us to Ireena?”. He nodded in affirmation. Dain said, “That means we are going after Rahadin!”. Rinn steps into the hallway and hears something scurrying around under the fog. It sounded like rats or bugs, nothing too serious. He listens at the first door and hears nothing. Moves to the next door and hears some very faint clanging and clinking noises, and the smell of some good food, maybe a stew or something. He moved to the south door and listens and hears nothing. He returned to the first door and once everyone was ready, he opens the door.
It’s a 20 foot square room filled wall to wall with clutter. There is a long sagging bed later a writing table. Rinn searched the desk and finds writings between the resident of this room and and a someone named Cloven Bellview at the Abby of Saint Marcovia. The contents are replies from Cloven to someone named Cyrus. Cloven’s letters say something like, “My brother, it is good to find you well.“. There is writing about bringing Ireena (Tatyana) to the castle. He refer to the marriage. Another one asks about them status of the Abbott and the bride he is making for Strahd. There is also some correspondence about us. Something about, some adventurers came by, they seemed unfriendly towards the master, he doesn’t know why, cause the master is just trying to help. We sees, as he’s reading through, that Cyrus is trying to give him information about Strahd and Strahd’s status, state of mind. Some of the things he’s been doing, he’s been going into Vallaki to see Tatyana under the disguise of someone named Vasili, an accountant. As Vasili, he was able to gain Tatyana’s trust and then revealed who he really was, and then was able to charm her and eventually bring her to the castle. There are also references to Fiona Whachter was a suck up to Strahd. How she thought he was the greatest, how he can go into Vallaki as this Vasili character, and how he is loved and adored in the town. Fiona knows who he is but the townsfolk just think he is a guy that run’s an accounting firm. It seems that this Cyrus character is funneling information over to the Abby.
We move back across tot the southern door. Rinn opens it and we see an area that Haldar spent a little more time in but Rinn recognized it as well. It’s the spiral staircase leading down to the flooded out rooms where the weapons were. The stairs going up here go Mack to the main floor. Piddlewick indicates that we should go to the stairs and go up. We do that. We climb back up to the main floor and up further still. We pass the floor above the main floor where Misty had gone earlier during the battle. We keep going up the stairs. Wes climb to the top of the stairs to a landing where there is a closed door. Rinn listens at the door and hears nothing. They prepare and Rinn opens the door. A door with delicately engraved steal stands at the west end of this Short hallway. The door seems to shine with a light of it’s own, untouched by time. There are two alcoves flanking the door. Rinn moves down the hallway and gets a view of the alcoves, they are empty. Rinn listens at the door and doesn’t hear anything. The glow concerned him so he asked Piddlewick if it was safe to touch. He indicated that he didn’t know. Rinn uses his mage hand to open the door. We are hit with the sweet pungent smell of decay. There is a long oak table set with fine china and silverware, covered in dust. Above the table is a web shrouded chandelier hanging from iron chains. There is a window in the south wall covered with heaven curtain. Standing quietly in the southwest corner is a harp, shrouded in cobwebs. Rinn looks through the curtain and see’s a window that opens out to a walkway and a parapet, on a dark and stormy night. We don’t see any indications of air battle that was going on a while ago. Rinn moves back to the door to the north and listens at it, hearing nothing. Rinn’s snuck over and listened at the either door as well, hearing nothing as well. Dain whisper for Piddlewick and asks, which way. Piddlewick indicates the north door. We prepare and then open the door.
The door opens to a room with a blazing hearth that fills the room with red and amber light. The walls are lined with ancient books and tomes. The leather covers well oiled and preserved with careful use. All is in order here. The stone floor is concealed beneath a thick and luxurious rug. In the center of the room if a large oak table, waxed and polished to a mirror finish. Even the poker and it’s stand near the fireplace is polished. There are large, overstuffed divans and couches are arranged about the room. Two chairs of burgundy colors wood and leather seats face the hearth. A huge painting hangers over the fireplace. It is a exact likeness of Ireena. There doesn’t appear to be anyone in the room. As Rinn enters the room, he has a sudden realization that he has been here before, Misty and he to be precise. This if the room we originally appeared in when we went through Mordenkainin’s door. The door to the bedroom was in the western wall. Piddlewick goes to the western door. Rinn listens at the door and hears nothing. The group prepares and Rinn opens the door.
Sweet smells waft from this delicately lit room. There is a great arched window along the west wall. Covered by heavy red draperies, There are three candelabra’s spread about the room, lighting a large bed, canopied by silk curtains with a carving in the headboard of a large “Z”. Lying among the velvet and satin sheets is a young woman in a wedding dress. Piddlewick jumps up and down, pointing and smiling. Ismark moves in and whispers to the woman on the bed calling out for Ireena, Rinn moved in with him. He reaches out and touches the woman. We hear her beginning to stir. Rinn reaches to cover her mouth to keep her from screaming out. As he reaches for her, he sees it is not Ireena, but instead, Gertruda. From various part of the room, we are set upon. We rolled for initiative. The initial attack came from Vampire Spawn. The woman in the bed is warm to the touch so Rinn lets go of the her saying, ”shhh”. Rinn then casts Protection From Good and Evil” on himself, draws out the sword and lights it.
Kyanna fires at one and misses. Another vampire spawn attacks Dain and hits with line attack. Haldar enters the room and fires on one of them and hits it twice. Misty moves to one of them and tears into it pretty well. Number 3 attacks Rinn and hits him once. Zanfyr casts Protection From Good and Evil on himself. Ismark sticks his sword down into Gertruda’s face and screams at her, “Who are you and where is Ireena?”. He doesn’t hurt her. Snoggly came into the room and casts magic weapon on Haldar’s bow, then he follows up with a fireball. A couple of them save and a couple of them don’t. Another figure enters the room from a secret passage and seeing the light from the Sunsword, hisses and goes directly at Rinn. She does manage to hit Rinn but for only a little damage. Another spawn attacks Rinn and hits. Ezmerelda casts a firebolt and one of them. Dain casts Protection from Good and Evil on himself.
Rinn attacks the main hot vampire and hits her for 30 radiant points. Kyanna activates the Holy Symbol of Raven Kind and casts Hold Vampire. All of the spawn succeed on their saving throw but the hot vampire failed and is held. Haldar continues firing on number 2 spawn. Misty continues her assault on number 4. Number 3 attacks Rinn and misses. Zanfyr the main Hot Vampire, hitting it. It doesn’t seem to provoke a reaction. Snoggly magic missles number 1. Hot Vampire fails her save. Rinn is attacked by another spawn and is missed. Dain attacks number 4 finishing it off.
Rinn attacks the hot Vampire and hits her for 30 more points again. Kyanna attacks the main hot Vampire chick for a little chick on chick action. She uses Channel Divinity doing a lot of damage but she still stands. The DM indicates there are two points left. Haldar continues attacking number 1 and takes it out. He takes his next shot on number 3 and takes it out. Misty moves to the main Vampire chick and finishes her off. Gertruda sits up scared and after getting everyone to clear away from her, looks down at her clothing and asks, ”How did I get into this!”. She looks around and asks, very excited, “Am I getting married!”.
The end!