Post by gavmeister on Dec 29, 2016 17:33:17 GMT
Session 1
Welcome to Barovia. Welcome to… Death House
Ricken and Pankus volunteer to track down and rescue a village boy named Kellen, kidnapped by werewolves. Mists close in and they awake in a gloomy pine forest with three other lost adventurers, Theodorus, Bran and Giselle, all from distant lands. The densely packed pines are not the same trees that surrounded them when they fell asleep las night.
An unnatural enervating fog presses in, forcing them on. Ricken is immersed and begins to sicken as the fog drains him of energy. The adventurers are forced further down the black-pooled, muddy track. After five hours they arrive at the gates of Barovia. Headless statues stand guard. The gates swing open.
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A huge swarm of malevolent bats emerge through the gates and attack. Swords taste bat blood; Ricken casts Burning Hands, blasting thirteen of the creatures out of the sky. A swarm attacks Theodorus and is incinerated by the warlock’s Hellish Rebuke. But Giselle is covered in bites from the creatures and faints with pain. A Healing Word from Ricken puts her back on her feet as the swarms change tactics. A bat snatches Ricken’s ceremonial knife in its claws and flies off. Pankus looks surprised. The other swarms fall in behind to provide cover and the great mass flitters back through the gates. The ground is covered in twitching bat corpses.
After a meal of grilled bat, the party stride through the gates. They make camp for the night. During Theodorus’ watch a skeletal rider passes by, seemingly looking for a way through the fog and out of the forest. It hands him a blank dream journal and rides on in its fruitless search.
In the morning they head deeper into the Svalich Woods. Giselle smells death and follows the stench to a wolf-savaged corpse. A letter clutched in the body’s hands, written by the Burgomaster, Kolyan Indirovich, warns them away from Barovia. He tells of how his adopted daughter Ireena has been bitten by a ‘vampyr’ who has cursed this land for four hundred years. Wolf howls strike fear into their hearts and they flee, abandoning the corpse.
The land opens out and they follow a gravelled track to the village of Barovia. The fog presses in behind them once again. They spot two children standing in the street, who claim to be Rose and Thorn Durst. The children seek help in ridding their house of a monster in the basement. Their parents (Gustav and Elisabeth) cannot be found. There’s a baby (Walter) on the third floor. The adventurers agree to help. The door slams shut and locks behind them.
Death House
They explore the mysterious house, abandoned but seemingly intact. Murals on the walls reveal disturbing and ambiguous images. A heraldic image with a windmill motif is commonly seen. They are unable to find any access to a basement level and head upstairs. A portrait of the Durst family shows the father holding a swaddled baby, which the mother regards with scorn. They find a library with a large key in the desk drawer.
Giselle is certain she can smell acrid smoke and a distant scything sound. None of the rest of the party sense anything.
The third floor is drafty, dusty and cobweb-ridden. The floorboards creak and groan. Bran and Pankus investigate a pristine suit of black plate armour, but are disappointed when it animates and attacks them. The party beat the thing down. Much to Bran’s annoyance the party loot a jewellery box found in the master bedroom.
They enter the nursemaid’s room, and open the creaking door to the adjoining nursery. The spectre of the skeletal nursemaid rises to attack, clutching at Pankus’ heart. He almost succumbs, but resists the apparition’s chilling touch. Eventually, they beat the spectre off.
Theodorus explores the nursery. His skeletal Mage Hand unwraps the baby shaped bundle, but finds it empty.
They find secret stairs to the attic. The nursemaid’s skeleton is found in a trunk in the storage room, carved by multiple violent stab wounds.
They unlock the padlock on the chains barring the children’s bedroom, and find Rose and Thorn’s pathetic skeletons on the floor. The little boy’s bones have been gnawed after death.
The children’s emaciated ghosts appear and plead with the adventurers not to abandon them. They show off their doll’s house to the adventurers – a perfect replica of the real house. It reveals a secret room behind the library, and a set of stairs leading from the attic to the basement. The adventurers promise to return for the children but Thorn is unconvinced. He succeeds in possessing Pankus, who immediately becomes anxious and weepy as he clutches Thorn's stuffed toy for comfort..
The party investigate the secret room behind the library. They find necromantic rituals ascribed to the ‘Cult of Osybus’. A skeleton of a former adventurer is found skull down in a chest with three darts embedded in it. They loot the chest and find deeds to the house and windmill, and a will leaving everything to the children. A letter from Strahd von Zarovich is found mocking the Dursts and their pretensions. It reveals that the Dursts led some kind of death cult. The family fell into rapid decline after incurring Strahd’s wrath, and after Gustav had sired a stillborn baby with the nursemaid.
They camp in the main bedroom overnight but sleep uneasily. Giselle swears she can hear rats scrabbling in the walls.
Theodorus studies the cult’s ritual books and concludes they are fake. He dreams of a visit by the spirit of Tenebrous, offering him greater powers. In the morning he finds an account of the visit inscribed in his dream journal, seemingly by his own hand.
Welcome to Barovia. Welcome to… Death House
Ricken and Pankus volunteer to track down and rescue a village boy named Kellen, kidnapped by werewolves. Mists close in and they awake in a gloomy pine forest with three other lost adventurers, Theodorus, Bran and Giselle, all from distant lands. The densely packed pines are not the same trees that surrounded them when they fell asleep las night.
An unnatural enervating fog presses in, forcing them on. Ricken is immersed and begins to sicken as the fog drains him of energy. The adventurers are forced further down the black-pooled, muddy track. After five hours they arrive at the gates of Barovia. Headless statues stand guard. The gates swing open.
A huge swarm of malevolent bats emerge through the gates and attack. Swords taste bat blood; Ricken casts Burning Hands, blasting thirteen of the creatures out of the sky. A swarm attacks Theodorus and is incinerated by the warlock’s Hellish Rebuke. But Giselle is covered in bites from the creatures and faints with pain. A Healing Word from Ricken puts her back on her feet as the swarms change tactics. A bat snatches Ricken’s ceremonial knife in its claws and flies off. Pankus looks surprised. The other swarms fall in behind to provide cover and the great mass flitters back through the gates. The ground is covered in twitching bat corpses.
After a meal of grilled bat, the party stride through the gates. They make camp for the night. During Theodorus’ watch a skeletal rider passes by, seemingly looking for a way through the fog and out of the forest. It hands him a blank dream journal and rides on in its fruitless search.
In the morning they head deeper into the Svalich Woods. Giselle smells death and follows the stench to a wolf-savaged corpse. A letter clutched in the body’s hands, written by the Burgomaster, Kolyan Indirovich, warns them away from Barovia. He tells of how his adopted daughter Ireena has been bitten by a ‘vampyr’ who has cursed this land for four hundred years. Wolf howls strike fear into their hearts and they flee, abandoning the corpse.
The land opens out and they follow a gravelled track to the village of Barovia. The fog presses in behind them once again. They spot two children standing in the street, who claim to be Rose and Thorn Durst. The children seek help in ridding their house of a monster in the basement. Their parents (Gustav and Elisabeth) cannot be found. There’s a baby (Walter) on the third floor. The adventurers agree to help. The door slams shut and locks behind them.
Death House
They explore the mysterious house, abandoned but seemingly intact. Murals on the walls reveal disturbing and ambiguous images. A heraldic image with a windmill motif is commonly seen. They are unable to find any access to a basement level and head upstairs. A portrait of the Durst family shows the father holding a swaddled baby, which the mother regards with scorn. They find a library with a large key in the desk drawer.
Giselle is certain she can smell acrid smoke and a distant scything sound. None of the rest of the party sense anything.
The third floor is drafty, dusty and cobweb-ridden. The floorboards creak and groan. Bran and Pankus investigate a pristine suit of black plate armour, but are disappointed when it animates and attacks them. The party beat the thing down. Much to Bran’s annoyance the party loot a jewellery box found in the master bedroom.
They enter the nursemaid’s room, and open the creaking door to the adjoining nursery. The spectre of the skeletal nursemaid rises to attack, clutching at Pankus’ heart. He almost succumbs, but resists the apparition’s chilling touch. Eventually, they beat the spectre off.
Theodorus explores the nursery. His skeletal Mage Hand unwraps the baby shaped bundle, but finds it empty.
They find secret stairs to the attic. The nursemaid’s skeleton is found in a trunk in the storage room, carved by multiple violent stab wounds.
They unlock the padlock on the chains barring the children’s bedroom, and find Rose and Thorn’s pathetic skeletons on the floor. The little boy’s bones have been gnawed after death.
The children’s emaciated ghosts appear and plead with the adventurers not to abandon them. They show off their doll’s house to the adventurers – a perfect replica of the real house. It reveals a secret room behind the library, and a set of stairs leading from the attic to the basement. The adventurers promise to return for the children but Thorn is unconvinced. He succeeds in possessing Pankus, who immediately becomes anxious and weepy as he clutches Thorn's stuffed toy for comfort..
The party investigate the secret room behind the library. They find necromantic rituals ascribed to the ‘Cult of Osybus’. A skeleton of a former adventurer is found skull down in a chest with three darts embedded in it. They loot the chest and find deeds to the house and windmill, and a will leaving everything to the children. A letter from Strahd von Zarovich is found mocking the Dursts and their pretensions. It reveals that the Dursts led some kind of death cult. The family fell into rapid decline after incurring Strahd’s wrath, and after Gustav had sired a stillborn baby with the nursemaid.
They camp in the main bedroom overnight but sleep uneasily. Giselle swears she can hear rats scrabbling in the walls.
Theodorus studies the cult’s ritual books and concludes they are fake. He dreams of a visit by the spirit of Tenebrous, offering him greater powers. In the morning he finds an account of the visit inscribed in his dream journal, seemingly by his own hand.