Our heroes are resting in a ruined ballroom having stumbled into a nest of giant spiders which threatened all of them except Ser Adon with certain death. Meanwhile, Ser Alys is setting about putting the town back into order before she can head out after the rest of the party (assuming that they stay away overnight).
Our dramatis personae:
Ser Adon de Rouge of House Starbright (a half-orc Paladin, from a knightly background, with two human retainers and a priest), played by Paul (dr_mitch). Lawful Good. Married to Ser Alys.
Kelwarin (Kel) (a half-elf Sorceror flush with the powers of wild magic, an outlander), played by Graham (First Age). Chaotic Good.
Gaddock Teeg (a halfling wizard and former prizefighter), played by Alex (Doggetay), Neutral Good
Ser Alys de Adon-Rouge of House Starbright (a half-orc Fighter with a soldier background, currently the leader of the town militia of Daggerford), played by Tom (Guvnor). Lawful Neutral. Imagine a slightly greener take on Grace Jones... Married to Ser Adon.
also featuring:
Ireena Kolyana (a human warrior, daughter of the Burgomaster of Barovia, Twice-Bitten reincarnation of Strahd's unrequited love, Tatyana) - upgraded as a sidekick.
with :
Alexei the Vistana (a young human expert, sent to pay off his debt to the party by his Vistani elders after they rescued Arabelle from certain death when Alexei lost her in town. A late teenager who is so taken by Ireena and the excitement of the adventure that he's forgotten he planned to be sulky and surly for his 13 moon exile) - upgraded as a sidekick.
All characters are presently 6th level, including the sidekicks.
5th December, mid morning
With her beloved and her friends departed to explore the ruined mansion, Ser Alys set about her plan to stabilise Vallaki. Plans, order, organisation, they were all part of her strong suit and she recognised that was what the town needed right now, lest its spirit be broken. She started by organising a search for the missing Burghers of the town, leading the hunt for the two missing children herself. She soon found them, piecing together clues like a hair clip, tracks and a fragment of a dress. The kids were hidden in a shed, having seen 'a scary vampire man with pointy teeth and claws' hunting a neighbour. Alys consoled and congratulated them on their skilful escape from certain doom. She also had a sigh of relief that she was in charge of this job; heaven knows what Gaddock would have done with his newfound distaste of children.
Two of the remaining missing adults had also been found, and questioning showed that it was likely that the remaining person, a young man, had run away with the Carnival or perhaps the Market that followed it. They certainly weren't within the bounds of the town.
The second stage of the plan was to put some steel back into Lady Wachter. Not her trusty letter opener (although heaven knows, it was tempting enough with the haughty arrogance that woman shows), but something to inspire her to do her duty by the townsfolk. She went to the Wachterhaus and used her authority to enter and see the noble. Pale, withdrawn and looking tired and old, Lady Fiona was in her study. Her friend was nowhere to be seen. Ser Alys strongly made her case that it was Lady Wachter's duty as a noble and member of the Ring of Five to show tearful but proper decorum and true respect for the honoured deaths of the town guards and the loss of so many townsfolk.
Something in her message seemed to get through, as the entire Wachter household turned out, properly attired and deeply respectful. Prior to the burials, those drained by the vampires were beheaded and staked in their coffins lest they couldn't rest in peace. Those killed by the Strigoi had closed caskets, as all that remained as a drained bag of skin and bones, their insides liquified by the demonic horrors. Nikolai, Lady Wachter's youngest son was turned out like the young heir he now was.
As the funeral service ended and the dead were laid to rest, Ser Alys' love and friends were several miles away at the mansion they'd discovered was named Argynvostholt, scouting around to see best way in. Alys gave a speech at the wake, calling for recruits to the Guard, explaining that it was all that lay between them and the horrors without. Somehow, she managed to get eight new volunteers, including Lady Wachter's son Nikolai. Alys set out guidance for Reisen Munin to train the volunteers, an accelerated programme to protect the town against the potential perils that they could face at the solstice if they didn't complete the tithe.
She also briefed one of the best riders that she had, explaining the perils of the route to Krezk and entrusting them with two messages for the Abbot requesting that it brings Lady Wachter's eldest son back to life in place of one of the party.
Back at Argynvostholt, the rest of our heroes stirred themselves from their rest and started to explore the mansion, reminding themselves to be careful. The ballroom opened into a large foyer with multiple doors exiting off it and stairs going up to a gallery above. Initially, the two chandeliers gave them a start as - through the corner of the eye - they looked like black wrought iron spiders.
They headed east towards the chapel to see whether the figures that they'd seen through the windows were a threat. Kel went into the chapel, through the slightly ajar heavy lead-glass doors which were set between two stained glass windows. he confirmed that it was a chapel to the Morning Lord, and that there were three knight figures kneeling facing the altar. The chapel had spiral staircases to the north and south, with a gallery around, and a roof far above. The eastern wall was dominated by a fresco and stained glass dedicated to the Morning Lord. Kelwarin decided to leave, but Gaddock wanted to know more. He went to examine the statues.
As he looked closer, he saw that they had a leathered skin effect on their exposed flesh, and that their chain armour was damaged and rent in places. As he reached to touch the skin, the eyes on the statue opened and a croaky voice uttered "Desecrator! Spawn of the Dark One! You will die!" and it lumbered to its feet, lifting its longsword in both hands with a dangerous but slow grace. Its two compatriots followed. Gaddock swore and turned and ran, diving through the door which Kel pulled shut and secured as the three creatures tried to open it. Ser Adon helped them to barricade the entrance to the chapel, and matter of factly confirmed that the creatures were undead. They could see them milling around behind the door and through the stained glass side windows which depicted a silvered dragon against the clouds. Deciding discretion was the better part of valour, they headed back out and started to check out the other rooms on the floor.
They found a kitchen; in an adjacent room were three (good) barrels of Champagne du Stompe, the lost vintage from the Wizard of Wines. There was also the corpse of a dusk elf called Savid who Alexei recognised. He'd been missing since he went searching in this area for Arabelle when she went missing, and appeared to have succumbed to some kind of bit (wolf) and needles fired by the blights that they'd encountered at the Wizard of Wines and Yesterhill, both of which weren't that far from Argynvostholt.
The kitchen itself yielded two surprises. The first was a bat trapped in a cooking pot, which made everyone jump. The second was more mysterious. They were looking out of the windows at the cemetery (confirming three empty graves in the swirling mist) when the bat was found. Gaddock, when he jumped back, realised that the cast iron oven was ever so slightly warm. Looking into it, he saw a lonely ember which seemed to be dancing, reaching trying to pull ashes around it. Curious, he put a stick against it. Quickly, the stick started to be consumed with flames and the ember's fire slowly grew, transforming to the form of a small drake with smoke wings. It grew, glowing blue-white and starting to give off a coldness, Suddenly, larger yet, it erupted out of the oven, perhaps a foot long, trailing smoke and cold flames. Heading out, it went up the stairs.
The whole party gave chase, only stopping as they realised that it had gone up another flight of stairs to the third floor. They talked for a moment and decided that it was key that they checked out the rest of the rooms behind them, just in case.
Returning to ground floor, they found an abandoned study; it had one curio in it, an upright black wood sarcophagus which had the effigy of a Queen carved in it. It wasn't in keeping with the rest of the building, so Gaddock opened it very carefully using a mage hand spell. Opening it, they discovered that it was full of glasses and decanters with expensive looking spirits in. The shelves had clearly been added later, the wood and build was different.
The rest of the ground floor failed to reveal any more secrets, so they headed to the first floor. On this floor they checked out some bathrooms and store rooms. Kel found a statue bust in an alcove, covered with a black cloth. He removed it, only to see Ser Alys' severed head there, freshly cut. Horrified, and aware Ser Adon was just behind, he placed the cloth back and made an excuse for the knight to go further ahead. He told Gaddock what he'd seen, but when Gaddock lifted the cloth, it was just another of the same alabaster busts they'd seen downstairs.
They then opened a door to the east which opened onto a high gallery. Kel checked it out and realised it was the balcony they'd seen in the Chapel below. He couldn't see the creatures, but realised he needed to be quiet in case the creatures realised he was there. That was going fine, right until the post Ser Adon called out loudly asking what he'd found. As they talked the others spotted the undead knights coming up the spiral stairs. Panicked conversations followed; Kel ran and Adon came into the room. He took an oath against one of the creatures; it should have been rooted to the spot in fear but it relentlessly started towards him.
Ser Adon realised that the creature may be a revenant, an especially dangerous form of undead. He charged and engaged the two coming from the north staircase lest they attack his friends. He landed a flurry of blows on one of them, but it didn't stop it. Swinging its longsword with both hands, it managed to land a solid blow against him. Alexei rushed in, his scimitar flashing but unable to penetrate the tattered armour on the creature which was attacking Ser Adon. Meanwhile, the other two undead flanked an attacked. Alexei took two hits to his back, and slumped to the floor unconscious. Ser Adon continued to rain blows down on the same target, assisted by arrows and fire bolts from his friends. Somehow he managed to lay hands on Alexei, who woke from his swoon.
Both Ser Adon and Alexei realised that they were overmatched and that their terrain was not to any advantage, so ran. Adon cleared the room first, followed by Alexei. Alexei tried to slam the door shut as he exited, but one of the creatures was pushing it open. It took Ser Adon and some iron spikes from Alexei's kit to secure both the doors. They were fortunate they did them both, as just as they completed, the lock on the other door clicked open. However, the creatures couldn't get in.
Withdrawing, the party decided to go upstairs and see where the small dragon had gone. They moved forward along the corridor into the third floor and were surprised to see that the dragon was sat on the rubble in the corridor, much bigger, blue-white-ethereal and leaving traces of frost where it would contact the floor. It turned towards them, and said in a quite, mournful whisper that they needed to talk, but not here. The creature took to them into an adjacent room, after taking a lingering look back at a room which was out of direct eye-line for the players...
GM's notes:
Ser Alys aced her skill challenge. The checks were mainly DC15, and she needed 3 out of 5. She succeeded on all of them and managed to intimidate Lady Wachter with a critical. She's onside, and the scene is set for a big change. I like skill challenges, but I hadn't anticipated that we could end up with a roll above 15 for each element of the challenge!
The exploring of the mansion was steady; my high points were the two dragon scenes and the two Revenant scenes. In the case of the latter, the players were genuinely threatened and trying to work out why they couldn't take at least one of them down. Of course, they shouldn't be (and didn't need to be) in that fight. The terrain, the lack of Ser Alys and the general threat of the Revenants put everything against them; the party did over a 100 hit points against one of the creatures in the first two rounds, but took perhaps half that back. It was an attrition rate they couldn't afford, and the enemy got at least six attacks each round. Ser Adon was near invulnerable, but the others were directly threatened.
This is a dangerous location that needs some guile and nouse to survive. Twice in two sessions we've come close to characters being killed; they're deeply threatened and need to be careful how they act. Good stuff.
30 March 2022
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