Session date: October 30, 2017
Game date: Saturday, January 10, 210
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 6, hp 37, xp 35212/70000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 16989/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 5819/8000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 5071/8000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 3, hp 17, xp 5642/8000
Brother Chase Pike, Cleric 2, hp 11, xp 2604/3000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 405/4000
Debbi, Magic-user 1, hp 6, xp 707/2500
This evening we had a "very special episode" of our campaign. It was the night before Halloween ("Halloweeneen"?) and so we did something a little different. To help the players get in the spirit of things, I told them upfront that they should consider this session to be like the Simpsons Halloween specials, outside the regular continuity, where nothing that happened would have lasting effects. So no one should feel bad if there's a TPK. ;-)
When we left off...
The wand glowed red hot in Caryatid's hand, and then flung itself out of her grip, arcing and tumbling across the courtyard towards the goblins, and then it exploded with an almighty roar, filling the room with light and heat. Goblins screamed in agony in the midst of the flames, and when the fireball dissipated, most of the goblins and the hobgoblins lay on the ground, scorched and unmoving. The surviving goblins and two bugbears ran towards the adventurers, intent on murder.
Then something very odd indeed happened. Back on the wooden platform that held the Goblin Prince's throne, the body of the Prince lay dead with Meat's lethal arrow sticking straight out of his round belly. From the wound there was a bizarre hissing sound, and smoke began pouring from the wound, quickly clouding the air of the room. The remaining goblins stopped and looked around in confusion as the smoke or mist continued to pour from the Prince's body, filling the room. And it seemed like more mist was crowding in at the edges, obscuring the walls surrounding the courtyard. The ground began to tremble, and the torches and braziers flickered and failed, guttering out and leaving the adventurers and goblins in the dark, uneasily aware of the clammy mist.
And then, other torches faded into vision and they found they were in a stone hall, quite different from the courtyard they had been in, more like a large castle. From down a hallway floated the eerie sound of a pipe organ. (I cued up Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor on YouTube.) Four goblins and two bugbears had made the transition through the mists along with the party, and they looked around in alarm and fear.
"What have you done!?" shrieked one of the bugbears in his hollow hooting voice.
"Uh, we didn't do anything," said Gulleck.
"You killed the Prince! You have released powerful and wild magic that has swept us away! All is lost!"
"Okay, calm down there," soothed Gulleck. "You got a name?"
"I am called Gloomvrack," hooted the bugbear.
"Okay then, Gloomy. You can stick with us if you want, and maybe we'll figure out how to get back."
"This is all your fault," grumbled Gloomvrack and the goblins and bugbears nervously followed the adventurers down the hallway towards the haunting organ music.
Torches flickered and scattered reflections off a glistening suit of plate armor that stood in an alcove across from a pair of ornate double doors that hung slightly open, from which swells of organ music boomed forth. The party nervously pushed the doors open wider and peered into a magnificent dining room, lit by chandeliers and containing a large table set with an overwhelming feast. At the far end of the room, a black cloaked figure pounded the keys of a large pipe organ that stood between two floor-to-ceiling mirrors, the reflections of the musician bouncing off one another into an endless army of organists.
The thundering music built to a crescendo and then stopped, the silence hanging in the room tangibly. The figure turned on the organ stool to face the adventurers. He was a older man, elegantly dressed, with a pale aristocratic face that looked as though it held the potential of great cruelty beneath its welcoming smile.
"Ah!" he said in an unfamiliar accent. "I have been expecting you since I was informed of your arrival. My name is Strahd. Count Strahd von Zarovich. Welcome to Castle Ravenloft. Please, make yourself at home. Eat!" He gestured towards the table. Most of the party was nervous and suspicious, but Adrien's ferret Norman tore into a roast goose and devoured it messily.
The pale man watched them with an amused look on his face. "I do not know who you are or where you came from, but it matters little," he said thoughtfully. "You have invaded my home, and in return you shall die. But before that, you will make excellent sport. It will be most amusing to watch you struggle, when there is no escape for you."
The adventurers sputtered and protested, but then man only smiled cruelly. "I am sure we will meet again very soon. Until then!" And he laughed loud and long, a mocking cackle, and then disappeared with a flash. A cold wind howled through the room, blowing out the candles of the chandelier and even causing Simon's magical sword's light to flicker and dim. Then it brightened to its normal state and they found they were alone in the room.
They went over to the organ to investigate the man's sudden disappearance, and found that the mirrors seemed to be angled in such a way to reflect an image from another mirror inside a small vent at the top of the wall. Orin tried to shoot the mirror with his bow, in fear that they were being spied upon, but managed to misfire and snap his thumb with the bowstring. A hollow laugh came echoing from the vent. Orin shot it again and the mirror exploded into glass shards.
Not knowing exactly what to do next, the adventurers decided to try to explore the castle in search of a way out. They went back out into the hallway, and decided to ascend a staircase that went both up and down next to the suit of armor. They followed the spiral stairs up, past two sturdy wooden doors, and up on a small landing. Another staircase continued the ascent, across from a metal-banded wooden door. On the far wall was an old dusty portrait of an ugly old man, his beady eyes seeming to watch the adventurers as they surveyed the landing. Gulleck didn't like the portrait's stare, and ordered her new companion to rip it off the wall.
"Gloomy! Go take that painting down!"
"Why don't you do it?" hooted the bugbear balefully.
"Now look, you want to explore with us, you need to contribute to the success of the party. You're big and strong, so you do it."
The bugbear glared at Gulleck, but stepped over to the portrait and reached out to lift it down. Suddenly a strange spiraling pattern seemed to fill everyone's vision, a shape that fascinated and hypnotized them. Brother Chase, Meat, Simon, Gloomvrack, and all four of the goblins spaced out staring at the spiral, and then floated lazily off their feet into the air. Gulleck tried to destroy the malevolent portrait with her axe but missed completely in her panic, and soon she, Debbi, and Orin all lost awareness of anything except the bizarre shapes filling their consciousness, and drifted into the air. Caryatid fired a Magic Missile at the portrait, but then she too succumbed to the hypnosis of the spiraling shape.
All was still for an indeterminate time. Then a dark cloaked figure entered the room. "This pretty one will make for a tasty morsel," he murmured. There was a wet sound, like teeth sinking into soft flesh, a weak sigh, and then all was silent again. The magical pattern faded from the air, and the adventurers collapsed to the hard flagstone floor. They looked around and realized that Debbi was gone! Gulleck and Simon ripped the portrait off the wall will crowbar and sword, and gave it a kick for good measure. Then the slightly diminished party climbed the next staircase, past another door, and onto the roof of one of the castle's towers. It was night, and the sky was overcast with dark clouds from which a damp, chilling rain was falling. A narrow stone bridge spanned a gap between this tower and another tower to the north, smaller and higher than this. They carefully crossed the bridge to explore the turret of the highest tower of the castle. They entered the other tower and saw that stairs spiralled up and down into the gloomy darkness of this cold, oppressive place. Mounted on the walls along the stairs were a number of halberds.
Gulleck and Simon stepped onto the stairs and began to lead the party up the stairs, but suddenly a dull red light flared to life some 50 feet above them, and they beheld the awful sight of a large heart made of glass, pulsing with a red light that shone from within, as a deep bass heartbeat began to throb. The entire tower began to convulse and shake. The halberds were lifted off the walls by some unseen force and began to swing wildly at the adventurers.
"Everybody back down!" yelled Gulleck, and the adventurers hastily retreated down the lurching stairs. Some of them, including the goblins, lost their balance and tumbled off the stairs to the landing below, but fortunately it was only a few feet and no serious damage was taken. The party retreated back across the stone bridge to the other tower, watching in amazement as the tall tower seemed to twist and shudder in the air, mortar and plaster crumbling and falling down and away.
They went back to the staircase and descended to the next level down, and opened the door on the landing. Inside they found a room full of clawed and fouled furniture. Three black cats prowled in the shadows of the room, hissing at the adventurers. A brooding evil seemed to pervade this place, making the adventurers uneasy. There was another door at the other end of the room.
Well, Simon thought he knew all about how to handle cats, so he took out his rings of animal control and grasped control of all three of the cats, which stood rigid and motionless as he occupied their minds. Suddenly, the door at the other end of the room was thrown open, and a number of angry old ladies stood in the doorway. They were dressed in black robes and conical hats, and they had ugly, warty skin of an oddly green cast.
"How dare you barge in here and meddle with our pets?" one of the witches cackled, and they all started mumbling evil incantations. Orin drew his bow, but one of the witches finished her spell and touched him with a gnarled hand that was crackling with bright blue sparks of lightning. Orin's hair stood up on end and he went into convulsions as he was electrocuted. He fell dead in a smoking heap. The battle raged. Simon made the cats attack their owners, but then one witch cast a Magic Missile spell at him, and another gestured towards him with an open palm and he went flying backwards, cracking his head on the stone wall behind him. (Like a Sith force push!) That broke his concentration and he lost control of the three black cats, which pounced on him and literally tore him to pieces. Hobbit blood spattered the furniture.
Gulleck killed one of the witches and then used his own animal control ring to regain control of the cats. Three of the witches had been killed at this point, and the other four retreated back through their door and slammed it shut. Then they tried to negotiate, offering their spell book in return for their liberty, if they were allowed to leave here in peace. There was some back and forth verbal abuse, but in the end the party let the four witches out, and they ran through the room and down the stairs.
Gulleck and Caryatid investigated the witches' lair while Adrien stood guard in the hall to make sure the witches didn't come back for revenge. It was lucky she was on watch, because eight hideous undead things came walking down the stairs, and the air grew cold and Adrien could feel her very soul straining to leave her body in the presence of the fiends. She darted into the cat room and slammed the door. They barricaded the door with the furniture. Meanwhile, Gulleck and Caryatid found a small room with an evil-smelling cauldron bubbling away, and a book open on a stand. Even the look of writing in the book seemed unholy and disturbing. Caryatid tried to pick the book up but as soon as she touched it, she felt incredible pain shooting through her hands. She took 16 points of damage and dropped the book on the floor. It appeared to be bound in an unfamiliar but disturbing sort of leather. Gulleck thought it might be worth something and carefully tried to touch it through a burlap sack. This generated only a very uncomfortable feeling, so she doublebagged it and Caryatid put it in her backpack.
The undead monsters were still scraping at the door, but luckily Gulleck and Caryatid noticed a trapdoor under a table, which led down to the landing with the portrait. So the entire party (minus Simon and Orin) squeezed through the trapdoor (the bugbears complained loudly) and they escaped that way. They went down the stairs to the next floor, and opened the door. That led to a short hallway with another door, but on either side of the door was an alcove containing... some kind of shadowy malevolent figure. This scared them, so they closed the door and went down another flight of stairs.
The next door led to an office or library and a very surprised little man. He was scratching away at a scroll with a quill and seemed to be working on financial records. He also seemed to be chained to his desk. A rope hung down from a small hole in the ceiling, apparently a bell pull. They conversed with the man, who seemed reasonably friendly. He told them his name was Lief, and he was the Count's bookkeeper. He didn't seem to mind that the adventurers were wandering around.
"I expect the Count will finish you off soon enough. He enjoys playing with his prey, like a cat with a mouse."
They noticed his chain and offered to break him loose, but that made him very upset, and he threatened to ring the alarm bell and summon help. Under no circumstances did he want the adventurers interfering.
"It may not be the best job in the world, but it's better than what's going to happen to you! At least I get square three meals a day, and I get to manage the wealth of one of the richest men around these parts. He just happens to be an undying, blood-drinking monster. Could be worse, all things considered."
They asked Lief what lay beyond the door on the other side of the room. He told them it was the throne room, so they left him and went to explore there. The throne room was enormous, draped in cobwebs and dust. A large broken window, full of jagged glass and twisted lead dividers, looked out over the castle courtyard. A high-backed throne stood on a platform. Adrien poked around behind the throne and found a old tarnished sword hilt lying on the dais behind the throne. As she picked it up to examine it, her own sword began to throb and vibrate, and suddenly the hilt leaped from her hand onto her sword in its scabbard, somehow replacing the existing hilt. She drew forth her sword and found that it had changed! The blade was now made of something like crystal, and glowed with a dim blue light.
Excited by this new discovery, the party descended a grand staircase at the far end of the audience hall, and found themselves in the very room in which they had arrived at the castle. But standing across from them was Count Strahd von Zarovich himself. His eyes narrowed as he saw the sword in Adrien's hand.
"How can it be?" he gasped. "The Sunsword... I think our little game has gone on far enough. Now it is time to end this."
He stared Gulleck in the eyes and murmured, "Come join me at my side." Gulleck felt a momentary disorientation as her gaze was caught by his, but she shook it off and her mind cleared. She drew her magical axe and swung it at him, and the rest of the party drew weapons and joined the battle.
From the shadows above them, eight creatures came swooping down on leathery wings. They resembled statues, like the gargoyles on the Great Cathedral back in Idalium, but they swooped down at the adventurers at lashed at them with their claws. Caryatid was viciously slashed across her throat, and crumpled to the floor, blood fountaining from her severed carotid artery. Brother Chase ran to help, but he was run through by the sharp horn on the head of one of the gargoyles and expired collapsed over his employer's body.
Count Strahd pointed a finger at Meat, who was momentarily beset by odd thoughts of eating cheese and running away from cats, but the wobbly moment passed as he successfully made his saving throw versus spells. And then all the surviving players decided to roll the Big Green d30 for damage. Gulleck slammed her axe into Strahd for 26 hit points, and then Adrien wielded the Sunsword, which was glowing fiercely, and plunged it into the Count's heart for 27 points.
Strahd staggered backwards, anger flashing in his eyes. "We shall meet again, and next time I shall not be caught unprepared!" And then his body seemed to crumple inward and dissolve into a thick cloud of mist that drifted rapidly out of the room. The gargoyles were still swooping around above, but before Gulleck, Meat, or Adrien could turn their attention to this threat, more mist seemed to pour in from the periphery of the room, until the walls and floor could no longer be seen. They felt a strange disorienting sensation of falling, and then the flapping of the gargoyles' wings was suddenly replaced by silence, and the mist began to clear...
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