Session 34: Stop right there, commoner scum!

General Summary

Are we the baddies?

The Wandering Apocalypse has set out to make good use of Strahd von Zarovich hospitality, exploring Ravenloft. They first come upon the castle's chapel, in which they find a corpse with a black mace, as well as a statue illuminated by a beam of bright light for which the corpse is grasping. It is here that they find an platinum amulet in the shape of a sun, set with a large gemstone. They pocket this, hiding it away in Gix' waterskin, before continuing. Up the stairs of the main hallway they go, through the audience room, where they find both a secret door, as well as the castle's accountant in an adjacent room filled to the brim with paper and tomes. They chat for a bit, he seems to be aware of the old location of the Tome of Strahd, yet not of its newer one. He does mention the Hall of Bones, which he believes to be somewhere upstairs.^{Insight checks are a rarity.} They wish the shackled man good luck with his accounting, and continue on. After totally falling for an amazing trap and a mockery, they return to the secret door.
The secret door leads to a cobweb filled corridor in the inner walls of the castle. Arrow-slits give some vision of the wet cobblestone on the courtyard. A spiral staircase lies in one end, and two rooms that were seemingly former guard posts in the other. It is here that they find a large cocoon amidst the webbing. As one does, they set it on fire, and before long a man falls out screaming. They quickly put it out, and heal him up, which seems to stop the screaming at least. With clearer eyes, the man asks them what happened to the others and the wizard, before starting to doubt their allegiances. With his new-found and suddenly disappeared pitchfork and stick, he makes a break for it. He gets punched in the shoulder for it, but manages to pass by. It is then that Ansgar Tyr however tries to charm the man, forgetting that the average commoner is not quite as sturdy as the average adventurer of monster. As such, the raving man is charmed to death, and they leave the corpse there.
On they go, up the stairwell in the hidden hallway, and they end up on the walls, leading back into the tallest tower in which a crimson heart of crystal lies beating in the top. They quickly got out of here, into adjacent hallways and soon into the study of Strahd von Zarovich himself. After some more mockery and Strahd shifting through the floor, they set their eyes upon the room with a good amount of books, a roaring fire, and a painting above the hearth.

Report Date

21 Mar 2019

Primary Location

Ravenloft