(Dan: I was reading this and nodding my head in recall when I realized Dave had forgotten a massive battle.  At least as I recall it.  Right after we defeated the wolves and crossed the bridge it started to rain in a massive torrential downpour.  Almost immediately afterward a water elemental attacked us.  Its default attack was to engulf and grapple, with the next action being massive pummeling damage.  Kaladin spent the first part of the fight flying after this creature as it swallowed half the party in turn.  Considering Kaladin has a 60ft movement it's fair to say it was all over the place.  It moved so much that on the 3rd attack I didn't have enough movement to use mobility.  Naturally, since he was hit, he was one-shotted and engulfed.  Water elemental take half damage from most things but for a little while Kaladin's fiery fist did full damage.  The NPC was knocked out early and we played hot potato a few rounds to pull her out of the elemental and then get her away.  Unfortunately, this thing was so large it would immediately swallow most of the people that used their action to escape the next action.  We were pretty beaten up and living on one hit point each, thanks to good berries, when Granny spent an action to turn her knocked-over cart upright and teleported away.  At least we think that's what she did.  After a few more engulfs from the creature and some more good berries, we finally kill it.  Unfortunately, elementals don't carry loot.  After the fight, we had only one hit points for most of the party.  So, even though it was only early afternoon we decided to stop for the day.  We had taken one short rest and the DM clarified that we could take multiple short rests in a day bit NOT a short rest and then a long rest.  I suppose it would be too overwhelming if the warlock got his 2 spell slots back and the monk his ki points before sleeping for the day.  Despite this helpful clarification we did not get attacked during the night.)

We did get that short rest and made it across the bridge without issue.  When we reached the crossroads where we had to decide whether to honor the dinner invitation of Strahd or press on to the city, we found a black coach with two black horses and no people waiting there for us.  We decided to honor our commitment to deliver the NPC first.  Someone made formal apologies to the empty coach and we moved on.  I think there was a raven (familiar?) there watching us.  I can’t remember if anything else happened but we soon found ourselves at the Old Mill.  We then debated on what to do.  Attack, sneak in, walk up, ignore for now, ignore forever, etc.  By the way, a raven was watching us again.  Was that the same one? It was recalled that technically we had the deed for this place from the first adventure, not that it would do us much good out here in the middle of nowhere.  Lord Q sent his messenger into the future(?) and it came back with an answer of “Woe”.  However, since Lord Q was vague about what he asked, this vague answer was even more vague than a normal Augury spell.  Eventually, we agreed that we were justified to “stop by” to make sure she and the kid Walter made it home safely.  And since it was near evening maybe we could ask to spend the night.  We did rescue her after all.  Although she just disappeared when she had to so the rescue was probably unneeded.  That would give us a chance to ask questions, look around and find the hard proof that she was as evil as we thought.

She was polite enough, thanking us for our concerns, but unwilling to let us in.  Lots of discussions, in and out of character, made it all very messy.  Basically, it was the same story.  She was doing a public service, providing dream cakes with low prices, and her baking practices and secret ingredients were her own business.  Thanks for stopping by.  Now go away.  Charismatic Lord Q attempted to play the deed card but to no one's surprise, she was not impressed.  Possession being 9/10s of the law out here.  He then tried to pull rank, using his majordomo Friends spell to gain her favor.  That didn’t really change much.  He tried to muscle his way in but couldn’t beat her surprising strength.  But Kharn helped and they piled in.  Meanwhile, Zolton sent his will o wisp familiar to find a way in upstairs but it found that despite its rundown appearance, there were no holes big enough until the very top where the blades were.  Ambrus cast Invisibility and snuck past in the confusion.  A round or two later, Loki transformed into a spider and attempted to follow him up the walls but since he couldn’t see him, they were pretty much acting independently.  Loki basically saw what he saw, a round later.

So, Granny started to get pissed with her uninvited guests nosing around her operation.  Zolton could sense a foul evil smell from a particular barrel.  On the second floor, we found the mill’s grinder stone which was moving despite the fact that the blades were not.  Ambrus spotted some bones in a pile.  They could be chicken bones.  Loki made a Nature roll a round or two later and thought they were small human bones.  There were two more hags up there, working.  On the 3^rd floor, Ambrus found Walter and two other children in cages.  As he worked on the locks, Granny called her daughters down and initiative was rolled.  One of them used a high-level spell that got our attention.  Lord Q unleashed 3 swarms of ravens and the room got very small very fast.  Then Granny went and all 3 hags disappeared. Arcana rolls were missing and while we were sure it wasn’t Invisibility or Misty Step, we weren’t sure what it was.  We stayed on initiative and everyone spread out, figuring they’d reappear somewhere in the mill or nearby outside.   Granny and one daughter reappeared outside 2-3 rounds later.  When one of them unleashed a doubly upcasted Lightning Bolt (i.e. 5^th spell) which dropped Kaladin and injured others, we knew we were in big trouble.

People finished leveling up to 4^th.  We spent the day resting at the manor so that we could start our journey fully rested.  Unfortunately, we were still suffering from the effects of the dream pastries.  Saves were made but everyone ended up with a level of fatigue but no one was compelled to keep eating them so I’m not sure what we were saving from.  We all had dreams that night which Brian spent time composing but no one could really follow.  The sister brought two big trunks and a carpet bag which Karne put in the wagon.  We headed out and got to the Gallows’ Crossroads.  There was a body hanging that Kaladin said looked like him although only to him, evidently.  We debated about messing with it, seeing as everything in this land is a trap of some sort.  I think he used his fate coin and decided it was safe to cut it down.  However, it turned to dust.  We started to leave when the bones in the near by graveyard started to animate.  3 Wights attacked.  Undead don’t drain levels anymore but they do drain hit points and since we didn’t have access to a Restoration spell yet, that was concerning.  However, Zolton turned them on his first turn and they all failed their save.  The one that was in combat was hit with an opportunity attack and started fighting again.  The other two fled into the mist.  Now that it was all against 1, it didn’t last long and thankfully no one got drained.  Loki attempted to chase after one of the turned ones, figuring he could hit it with a pistol shot and draw it back into the main party.  But he was unable to track it in the misty forest (having disadvantage on the roll from the fatigue didn’t help) and gave up after a round for fear of getting lost himself.  What’s 2 more rampaging undead in this place, after all.

Next stop was the gypsy camp of Madame Eva.  We had dinner and then were summoned.  She insisted that we leave our magic behind which caused some concerns but nothing came of it.  By the way, during dinner a guy told us the story of an epic battle between the archmage Mordenkainen and the Vampire, and the mage lost.  That was certainly a morale booster, not! Madame Eva gave the group a card reading.  If there were clues in that, none of us got it.  It’s in the notes section for our future reference.  It’s the same “destined to kill her and free the land” story we’ve been hearing.  We asked some questions and got nothing of much value in return.  Basically, the only way out is at the deference of the vampire or by killing her.  The only ray of hope was that there are powerful forces opposing her besides us.  I guess we need to find them.  The resemblance between Karne and this lady was noted and it came to light that neither could remember anything before the age of 8.  She used the sending stones to talk to her brother and evidently learned that she was adopted? More to be learned.  We spent the night and headed out in the morning. (Dan: the visit to the gypsies was mostly a waste of time but the DM did say they had any goods under 50 gold at normal prices, so we at least got an explorer's pack and Kaladin got his flute.  He rolled a natural one at the gypsy party that night, so may maybe it should have remained lost)

The next stop was a bridge over a 1000-foot drop canyon.  On it was the Dream Pastry witch, her cart, and a small boy. (Dan: She later swears he isn't being kidnaped and his mother is ecstatic that he is with her.  Those dream cakes make everything easier I guess) They were being attacked by 5 dire wolves.  We started attacking the two on our side.  She and the boy ran towards us and luckily 2 of the dire wolves spent a few rounds trying to get into the cart. (Dan: There were jokes about the cart being more durable than we were, it seemed unharmed by four direwolves attacking it.  it was also on the combat tracker, which was amusing when its turn came up) Karne raged and then turned into a werewolf.  Only Lord Q missed his fear save but since he got knock prone by a wolf before he could run, he didn’t get far.  We all had minuses due to the fatigue but we managed.  Zolton did a lot of damage with some AOE spells.  Karne took a lot of damage after being critted 3 straight rounds but luckily, he was taking half due to the rage.  The witch cast at will Magic Missiles and a Misty Step.  (Dan: Kaladin used the Mobility feat for the first time to flit in and attack, then leave range without incurring an attack of opportunity.  Literally everyone else pointed out that he was moving without being attacked and had to be told about the feat.  Then the next person would point it out because they didn't hear the explanation.  How can they so aware and not at the same time?) The heroes won and no one went out.  We had some debates with her about her pastries but she was unconcerned by our concerns.  (Dan: She acknowledged that the cakes were addicting but thought it was okay to sell them.  Kaladin threatened to set her on fire with his dragon's breath if she brought them out.  Lord Q threatened to attack anyone that attacked her.  Naturally.) We still had very grave doubts about her but couldn’t bring ourselves to attack her.  Since her Windmill was on our way, we agreed (forced ourselves on her) to accompany her.  (Dan: The DM made it clear in-game that she makes a 3 day trip in hours each day.  We hate her but we wanted that magical transportation love.) Maybe we’ll learn more once there.  Still heading to the big city to drop off this lady and deliver the note to the church.  Brian decided to end the night before the short rest and before we cross the bridge.     

We started at the front door of the local lord’s manor.  We noted that the exterior was even more damaged by wolf claws than was the church.  The lady who answered, directed us around back to talk to the guy.  We told him our tale without omission.  He didn’t seem too shocked but was concerned that they’d need a new village priest.  He invited us into his sitting room.  Brian had turned on the point of view feature which made it hard to navigate the map.  When there were no seats left, Lord Q ventured into the main hall to find the lady (the guy’s sister) praying at an open coffin.  Excusing himself, he rejoined the rest.  Turns out that was the local lord, recently died from all the stress of the nightly attacks.  And age.  So, our guy was actually the new lord although they wanted to bury him first.  Zolton said he thought he could help, based on the clerical correspondence book he picked up at the church.  The lord asked us to look into the zombie problem.  We started debating that when someone showed up, concerned that her father was very sick.   

None of us had medicine but we came along.  The sister made some rolls but he passed.  And transformed into a zombie and attacked.  Since it was greatly outnumbered and newly formed, Brian agreed we could vanquish it without rolling initiative.  Ambrus noticed that he seemed to have been watering his wine.  His daughter thought it was to save the family money.  He leaped on this clue and we headed to the well.  Even before looking down it, we could tell it had rank odors coming out.  The bucket was lit up with a Light cantrip but all we could tell was that there was some sort of chamber down there.  Loki volunteered to be lowered down to take a look.  It was a 35x35 room with the middle being water.  Nothing was seen but when he swung onto the ground, 3 zombies emerged from the dirt and attacked.  Loki got hit twice and lost a quarter of his hit points and was then pulled back up.  We debated what to do.  Some were still down from the vampire battle earlier in the day so maybe it could wait.  Kharn cut that short, raged, and jumped down.         

So, everyone climbed down as their initiative dictated.  There were about 8 of them total as they kept emerging.  They did two slam attacks and if both hit, they got a free grapple and a free bite.  Their AC was very low but their “to hit” was good and their damage was high.  It was Loki’s turn to get racked.  He was hit 3 times in a row and dropped with a final crit.  Zolton brought him up with a heal long enough to get one attack and then he was knocked out again.  Kharn kept getting missed.  The rest, somewhere in between.  The last issue was that when they went below 0, they got a CON save to keep going.  So, it took a bit extra to finish them off.  All and all, we got battered but survived.  We took a short rest, pulled the bodies out, and burned them.  Zolton did a purify water ritual (or 10) and we reported back. 

Once again, we were thanked.  Loki asked if he could spare a short sword or two.  Others made requests and we were able to get some supplies, clothes, trade some weapons, etc.  Good thing since all we’ve earned in the town are some books for the Cleric and some coppers from the well.  We hung out at the manor and got cleaned up.  We stayed for dinner.  There was talk about Strahd and the world that mostly flew past the half of us that haven’t read all these books.  We agreed to escort the sister to the next town where we hoped to talk to this old wise woman Kharn keeps talking about.  Maybe she’ll have answers.  Hopefully, we can get a long rest before we go.  So next game in two weeks.  Still 3^rd.

At dawn, we were allowed back into the tavern.  We had breakfast and spent some brain cells trying to figure out the money system.  Eventually, Zolton just spent two gold for everyone’s meal although Lord Q insisted on paying for his own.  We consulted the Message of the Day and tried to figure out what to do next.  It was clear we wanted to go to the next town but the debate was whether to try to do some good here first.  Then the son of the local lord came in, to thanks us for destroying the monster the night before.  Eventually, we agreed to look into the disappearances, starting at the house of the last one.  Evidently, the people that have gone missing were the old or weak who lived alone.  No clues were found in the house other than no signs of forced entry followed by a struggle.  We then questioned some of the neighbors.  (Dan: It was like watching the 3 stooges interrogate a nun.  We were investigating the missing old man but the party started to question her about every crime in the city and even accused her of kidnapping the children.  Yes, the ones wh we already dealt with their kidnapper last game.  We ended up having the door slammed in our face after Zolton asked her how such an old lady could possibly have a newborn.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.)  At this point, we got tangled up in the various plot thread and the names of the participants in particular.  It was not smooth and I won’t try to summarize it two days later.  (Dan: People kept bringing up the missing children.  Brian and I kept reminding them that we had found and killed the creature taking the children last game.  It was weird.  There was only one thing left to do in the town, aside from figuring out why everyone is turning into zombie, but we spent a ridiculous amount of time arguing about what to do.  We have clue how to find out why the zombies are happening so so there was literally only one thing to do.  Usually, we mock Brian about leaving no clues on what to do next but this was all the player's fault.)  Ambrus had an underlying suspicion of the town priest and the church.  Any church in such disrepair and little use was suspect, in his mind.  When the dream pastry lady said she saw someone dragging a body-sized bag in the direction of the church the night of the last disappearance, we decided to go there and at least ask some questions.  By the way, evidently, these dream pastries have a “secret ingredient” that she makes outside of town at the mill.  Now no one is certain about anything we eat.  (Dan: Yeah, that was me.  I think it probably contains human remains ground up into the pasties.  Borovia is just like that.  Considering she lives in the Mill that is located three days away, yet commutes here every day?  Yeah, she's evil.  Good thing my character isn't human or I might feel bad.  Gulp, chew, chew, swallow!)

So Ambrus had gotten a blanket that belongs to the missing girl from her mother.  He was hoping that Lancelot could identify one of the recent graves behind the church as being hers.  Despite the fact that we’re pretty sure she ended up at Durst Manor where we picked up the dog.  So, he and Loki and Kaladin would go there.  Meanwhile, Zolton would distract the priest with questions about the book he had borrowed.  Kharn and Lord Q would go with him.  However, when they entered the church, they could hear moans from one of the rooms.  “Please father.  I’m so hungry.”  So, while Zolton talked, the other two started opening doors.  They did not do too well with the stealth rolls but Zolton managed to cover for them for a round or two.  They found a barred and locked trap door in one room and the moans were coming from there.  At this point, the priest noticed and became upset.  Kharn’s logical argument about hearing the moans and wanting to help worked pretty well.  Then Lord Q used his majordomo to announce his greatness which had the effect of a Friends cantrip.  He began to confide in Lord Q.  Evidently a wizard came to town and gathered up the revolutionary-minded for a meeting in the woods.  Only his son returned but he was “afflicted”.  His hunger could only be sated by the “living”.  Lord Q promised that we could help which the priest took to mean we’d feed one of our friends, preferable the big barbarian, to his son.  They headed into the basement.  Kharn would not go before the priest and the priest would not go before Lord Q so he led the way.  Zolton ran to the back door to alert the other 3 who had been forgotten at the airport.

Lord Q was attacked as he walked down the stairs.  The vampire got a free grab with his bite attack plus the not so insignificant damage.  Plus, a claw attack.  Lord Q was hurting pretty quick.  Kharn tried to get down to help but despite his rage strength, had trouble getting past the priest.  Lord Q tried to get away but he had a low STR and DEX so it was tough.  He did manage to roll well once but then the attack of opportunity hit and he was automatically grappled again.  The priest cast a couple of spells and Lord Q managed to stay alive long enough for Kharn and then Zolton to get down there.  After a few rounds, the other 3 were allowed a perception roll and moved down on their initiative.  As usual, Lord Q was in favor of fleeing.  This time, one could hardly blame him from the damage he had taken.  But when others attacked, he charged as well.  Only his magic warlock weapon (and not the silver weapons) was doing full damage.  The priest went out pretty quickly and then it was 6 against one.  The damage was spread amongst the heroes and only Kaladin was knocked out. (Dan:  Seems to be a monk thing.  For a melee class they sure go down a lot.) Ambrus made the killing blow with a sneak attack, removing its head.  (Dan:  The priest incidentally died.  I think I blinked because I had missed this since I was out watching the dog pee on graves during most of the fight.)

The head was burned in the furnace upstairs.  Bodies were found in the basement but no hard evidence to tie them with those missing.  Although we were new in town so that was a tough ask.  Nothing of value was found although Zolton took a couple more books.  The vampire and the priest were buried.  The latest body was exhumed and sort of sounded like the old man who had gone missing.  Lancelot identified no graves but peed on a few.  There was some debate as to what to do.  Just walk away or report to the guy that hired us.  Since that guys sounded “anti-vampire” we decided to report to him although there are some concerns that word would get back to Strahd.  At that point it was late so we decided to put off that conversation until next time.  As a cliff hanger, we knocked on the manor door, and the lady guard who answered looked very much like Kharn. (Dan:  Brian said that but none of us were buying it)  No treasure or wealth and still 3^rd for now.     

So, we proceeded in getting our ass kicked again.  This thing had Darkness it could put up at will in which it could see fine.  Zolton’s item allowed him 10’ of blindsight but that was it for the heroes.  It did 2d10 plus extra cold damage twice per round.  Kharn got critted and then dropped with the second attack.  (Dan: my guy flew up.  Somehow got hit and taken out.  Maybe it had reach?  I felt bad that people were scrambling around trying to stabilize me but it seemed everyone was scrambling to stay alive.  I was doing normal damage with my fiery fists but finding it in the darkness was a losing proposition.  Zolton's directions were "It's 20 feet in front of me"  In game and out of the game we were like "Where the heck is that?  I don't even know where you are, let alone where you are facing!"  He did get slightly better). Most of us, wandered around in the darkness at half speed, hoping to run into something.  It did a Cone of Cold and put us on the ropes.  It was all we could do to keep people from dying.  When it did a second Cone of Cold, we were all dead. (Dan: I was 40ft in the air when that happened.  Good thing it was part of the adventure.  I never thought it would be so dangerous to be in the air.) What fun.  We were then visited by a ghost/god who told us that she could allow us to fight it again, in ghost form and she’d stay here and guard our bodies.  Evidently, she had tried to defeat this thing and failed but she hoped we could succeed.  (Dan: She killed its body but it returned to pseudo-life as a Fiend.  Because Ravenloft.)  So, armed with ghost powers including the all-important ability to see in the darkness, we went to its camp and attacked again.  It still instantly dropped Kaladin with a crit and a hit again but we took it out in a couple of rounds.  The last blow was made by Loki who grabbed the sword from the material plane that Zolton had been Mage Handing around.  (Dan: Zolton tried to treasure the child we rescued but mostly ended up terrifying her.  For a short time it seemed he was going to kill her... accidentally of course.  He finally got her to calm down.) We returned to our bodies, watched the spirit happily fade away, and escorted the child back to her mother. (Dan: The father had died from massive head trauma.  The DM kindly reassured Zolton that healing would not have worked and it would have required a revivify even if we had tried to heal him before running off to save the child.)  The heroes were greeted with barred doors and the tavern so we took a short rest in the street.  And stopped there.     

(Dan: As we left the house we made 3rd level) As we took stock of our escape, we were introduced to Zeb the Paladin.  He claimed we had encountered him on the way out.  All assumed he was a character for Brian to play to give him a voice in the action.  Plus, we could use all the help we could get, especially with some extra healing.  He was welcomed with suspicious arms. Next, we encountered Madame Strahd, leader of the land.  She welcomed us and made everyone nervous by the amount about us that she knew.  (Dan: We initially ignored her as we discussed what to do with the loot and the children's bones.  It was strongly hinted that this was the wrong thing to do so we shaped up and gave her our attention). She gave everyone a gift, as the mansion collapsed onto itself and then left.  (Dan: The gifts were a picnic basket and a lot of fancy clockwork toys that revealed that she knew more about our background than we did.  She mentioned my grandfather who was a silver dragon and Ambrus' people who she had personally forced to the edge of extinction... in this corner of the Shadowfell at least.)  Since the common theme of our visions before coming here we about freeing the land of her tyranny, we weren’t sure what to make of it. (Dan: She also gave Karn a rather obvious bite on the neck, even leaving bloody bite marks.  Karn being the lady's man he is, didn't notice.  Everyone else did but it didn't rile anyone up.  The undead paladin Zeb was okay with it too.) But that was a common theme so we just moved on.  We debated about what to do with the bones and decided to take them to the church in the village we were heading for.  We had a breakfast of Good Berries and headed out.  At some point, Zeb slipped away.  Evidently, he was a doppelganger and once he realized we weren’t going to camp before reaching town, he gave up his evil plans.  So evidently, he was there to amuse Brian. (Dan: The predicted 3-day ride was magically reduced to 4 hours.  Karn told us he believed it was due to the goodwill of the Countess, who we haven't pissed off yet.  By some miracle.  Before we left we checked out loot and most of it had changed into rotten mulch.  Weapons, armor, and magic items remained usable.)

Once in town, we went to the church.  It was battered and beaten with massive claw marks on the doors.  The priest was helpful and the bodies were interned.  The spirits inside Lord Q and Arlo were finally put to rest.  We did a Detect Magic and Identify on the stuff we had and took the rest to the only store in town.  On the way, Lancelot, the dog, eagerly identified his home.  The lady inside told a sad tale about her missing daughter.  Loki cast his Speak with Animals spell but all he really got was that she had left.  Lancelot was asked to lead us to her and started back to what we figured was the mansion we had just come from.  So that led nowhere.  When questioned, the mother implicated the son of the local Baron somehow.  Back to the store.  He’d sell for the usual half worth but his prices were 10x normal.  This offended all but he was the only game in town.  There was talk of finding a black market or going to another town however we had the money and had the need for basic stuff like backpacks and such and so most just ended up paying.  He did not carry weapons, however. We then went to the local tavern.  Kharn flirted with the 3 owner ladies.  Zolton got a lead on a job, escorting the sister of the son of the local baron to the next city. 

We were allowed to bed down for the night in the common room (our only option) and we did so.  (Dan: Karn slept upstairs with the 3 sisters.  What happened up there cannot be spoken of... but at least it didn't keep anyone else awake.  Dave made a pretend fort to sleep in, made out of the benches and slpt in it alone with his servants).  Those with fatigue were finally allowed to recover.  In the wee hours of the morning, Arlo heard a scream, and being the heroes fated to heal the land that we were supposed to be, we leaped into action.  We ended up 3 blocks over.  A lady’s husband had been killed and her daughter taken by some monster.  We gave chase, catching up to it outside of town, by a small stream.  We stopped there. (Dan: We did actually see it was a Fiend.  It was late and we didn't want to start a fight.)

We decided to forgo a long rest and press ahead with completing this level on a short rest.  We encountered two swarms of centipedes in the family crypts but found nothing of value.  The plastered over door we found last time ended up being stairs up, exiting at a trap door in the den with the stuffed wolves.  We then encountered a powerful ghoul of the lady of the house.  She was a tough fight but we prevailed.  From that, we got some treasure and miscellaneous supplies.  I think there was a cloak of protection in there.  Next, we went down into the next level. (Dan: We entered from the side secret door in the prison so we had plenty of time to look around.  Brian scared us with a skeleton in the prison that did NOT animate and attack us but we tossed cantrips from a distance just to be sure.) That ended up at an underground chamber, filled with water and the same mist we saw outside and an altar in the middle.  (Dan: the ghosts demanded a sacrifice.  I thought a rat would work and went looking in the adjacent prison.  One successful roll and one failed roll got me able to hear the rats but not see them.  Just as well, I doubt I would have been able to catch them.  It would have been worse if we had realized FG wasn't rolling the exhaustion like it was supposed to). Eventually, we triggered the shambling mound demon thing. (Dan: no way was that a Shambling Mound!  It had godly stats.  Brian said the mist vanished but when I asked for clarification he doubled down with we only knew the mist in the room vanished and we had no way to tell if the mist outside the house trapping us here was gone as well.  So we weren't even sure we could run.) It’s first round, it cast fear as a free action, at a high DC, and set two characters running.  It then knocked out another character (Dan: the half-dragon monk) with a double attack.  Its attacks and AC were super high and by round 3 it was clear we were meant to flee, not fight.  The conscious grabbed the unconscious and we transitioned to a chase escape.  We each took turns justifying a skill to aid in the group's efforts to exit, followed by a skill roll.  A couple of rounds later, after grabbing the stuff we left at the front door, we piled out into the courtyard.  It was a very Call of Cthulhu conclusion.

So, we awoke in the kid’s room in the mansion.  Those that missed a CON save started with a level of exhaustion.  (disad on all skills) There was talk of going back into the mansion to retrieve food from the downstairs kitchen.  Zolton was eager to use his new purify food and drink spell.  But we decided that we had successfully gathered enough shelf-stable food from their last game to get by.  Most everyone was eager to get on with it.  So, down the stairs we went.  We started in the well room that we ended at last time.  Ambrus started carefully opening the chests in the alcoves off that room.  The rest tried to keep out of the way while that was done although some were less successful at that than others.  Various bits of wealth were found.  In addition, we found a ledger which seemed to be a record of who was captured, how they were tortured, what was learned, and how grisly was their death.  This all happened 200 years ago.  Also found were two silvered short swords.  Loki and Ambrus both wanted them so each took one.  I think there was an eye patch with a gem on it too.  We did not take the time to detect magic or identify anything.

Unfortunately, it was a maze down there so there was no clear direction to go.  We went a way.  The halls were narrow so it was single file which made it hard to keep everyone engaged.  Kharn took the lead since he wasn’t fatigued.  He walked into a pit trap that evidently was beyond his passive perception.  Brian allowed his danger sense to give him a save for half but he still fell in.  While the fairness of this was debated, Zolton took it upon himself to go through some sort of dining room and get to the crossroads on the other side of the pit trap.  He was then surprised and attacked by 3 more ghouls.  There were the usual complaints about Brian triggering an encounter but we would have encountered it soon enough.  Since we leave no stone unturned, everything will be triggered eventually.  He was quickly knocked out and drug off.  The pit wasn’t much of an obstacle, but the narrow halls and initiative order were.  People engaged and contributed as they could.  These monsters continued doing a lot of damage for 1^st or 2^nd level characters.  Kaladin managed to make a medicine roll to revive Zolton but he was knocked out again before even getting up.  They were destroyed but damage was taken.  Loki revived Zolton with a cure wounds and then Zolton cured Kharn.  And we pressed on.

We passed stairs down from which we heard eerie music but decided to try to finish off this level first.  The next room had skeletons hanging from the walls that looked a bit like us.  (I suspect the raccoon looking one was a giveaway.)  There was also a statue of a lady that held an orb.  Kaladin also noticed a secret door behind the plaster.  But Ambrus decided to grab the orb first.  3 shadows emerged from the wall behind the skeletons and attacked.  They were easy to hit but were resistant to nonmagical damage.  Once again, they did a crap ton of damage and they drained STR.  Things were dicey but then Zolton stepped in and used his “turn undead” power which for a Light domain Cleric did area effect radiant damage which these things were vulnerable to.  He took them out.  As we debated on how to get that STR back, 4 more emerged and we started over again.  Multiple characters were knocked out and most took some STR drain.  That was most hurtful to the Barbarian. 

Arlo, who was still held back by Casper the scaredy ghost inside him, attempted to flee by way of what he assumed was a secret door into the last room.  However, that turned out to be a Mimic who quicky knocked him out.  Lancelot the dog came to his rescue and crit a couple of times.  Despite that additional threat, we managed to live through it.  And then we hit the to rest or not to rest debate.  We had only been fighting for 30 minutes but were seriously depleted.  Arlo thought the STR would return in hours, so not on a short rest.  We decided to go back to the dining room to at least take a short rest in a room that was less disturbing.  Once in there, a Grick attacked.  More damage.  The last of our spells used.  We stopped there, without the rest.  We’ll have to debate that question next time.  Short or long and where.  This is an old school dungeon with a trap or monster in each room.  It’s going to be a grind that’ll take multiple rests.  Luckily, they’ve all been dead for 200 years so there’s no hurry? Hopefully, someone will feed Kharn’s horse?        

Despite coming together on level 3 to fight the armor, we ended up spread out again.  Luckily the house was relatively small so we could rally if needed.  Brian had us roll initiative again so that we could take turns doing things out of combat.  Arlo searched the library, starting with the desk.  He found some useful things like a flint and steel and an iron key.  Next, he grabbed the empty footlockers from next door and began filling them with books that he thought were interesting or valuable.  He found one that he had to read.  (Missed a Will save.)  Evidently, it was so offensive, he was compelled to burn it in the fireplace.  Lord Q joined him in there at some point.  Loki, Kaladin, and Ambrus searched the music room and examined the dog.  They were convinced the dog was real but didn’t find anything else of note in there.  The dog seemed to not like one particular cold corner but we could not find a reason.  Kharn went back up to the 3^rd floor and searched the room the ghost was in.  The ghost did not reappear but he did notice a secret door behind a mirror.  It was the stairs up to the attic that we were looking for although it was filled with spider webs.  He grabbed a torch and headed up.  Loki joined him, feeling the music room was a dead end and having no interest in the library.  At this point, we were in two groups.  Level 2 and level 4.

Down in the library, Lord Q found a secret door behind a bookshelf.  In there were a couple of bookshelves with magical type tombs including, I think, some rituals.  I don’t think we’ve found any magical inks though.  There were also the skeletal remains of what we figure was an adventurer type.  Evidently, he had opened a chest and gotten spikes in his head for his trouble.  He did have thieves’ tools on him and some other gear that Ambrus took. He used an abundance of caution and searched.  The thief had a letter in his hand we figured he had grabbed from the chest.  It was from Lord Straud himself basically telling the head of this house that his adulterous ways had brought the curse on to him and his household.  He would be getting no aid and will reap what he sowed.  In the chest were 3 blank spells books, 3 cleric scrolls that for some reason our delusional wizard Zolton could read, the deed to the house and a windmill and a will leaving everything to Rose and Thorn.  Their searching was then interrupted by combat upstairs.

On level four, the first room had a padlock in it.  We could hear the eerie sounds of children playing but the iron key and Rogue were downstairs so Loki moved onto the next room.  It was a guest room full of webs and spiders.  Since they were small, he got the torch from Kharn and reopened the door.  However, the spiders formed into 2 spider swarms and attacked.  They did 4d4 of damage and had their usual resistances.  3 of us took significant damage (good thing we got those extra hit points).  Those below came up to help but the fight was over before they could do much.  The locked room was opened with the iron key.  It was a room for the kids.  The window was bricked shut.  When we started looking at stuff, their ghosts appeared.  One merged with Arlo and one with, I think, Lord Q.  They wanted to be put to rest i.e. their skeletal remains buried outside the house.  There was also a dollhouse of this house.  It was detailed enough to see that there was a spiral staircase from the 4^th floor down to the basement.  Since they were affecting two players, we decided to take care of that asap.  Their bones were put into their toy box and we headed down.  With a bunch of debate about whether to do other stuff along the way, we ended up at the front door.  However, that evil mist had engulfed the whole house and we decided we needed to deal with the basement before going out of the house.

We then spent a bunch of time looking into everything we’d left behind.  The first-floor den was searched.  The stuff wolves moved to watch us but never attacked.  We found two pistols and supplies that went to Loki, a shotgun over the fireplace that, with much debate, went to Kharn, and a deck of cards.  The kitchen was searched more thoroughly and any edible food was taken.  The books from the library were taken and carried somehow.  The hanging corpse was searched but no one made a decent roll so if there was anything worth finding, we didn’t find it.  The body was taken down and wrapped in a sheet for future burial.  I don’t remember if anything else was done or found.  The rest of the 4^th floor was searched.  If anything of note was found, I can’t recall. 

So, then we were finally left with the stairs down.  It was more of a dungeon than a basement and certainly larger than the house footprint.  There were multiple corridors heading in various directions.  Kharn and Loki attempted to sneak ahead a bit.  (Ambrus was still poisoned and had disadvantage on all rolls so he hung back.)  In one room, we were attacked by 3 ghouls, emerging from alcoves with rotting sleeping mats.  They had a claw that did paralysis or a bite.  Both did 10+ damage which is significant at 1^st level.  Kharn raged and was crit like 3 rounds in a row.  Luckily it was half damage and he managed to save.  Loki blasted away with his pistols so further sneaking was out.  Arlo was compelled to hide by Thorn although he was out of 1^st level spells anyway.  The next room had a well and some more alcoves.  A big ghoul emerged from it and managed to shove Kharn into the well.  Good thing he saved or that could have been dicey.  It did more damage but again, no one missed that save.  It was dropped and Kharn was pulled out.

At that point, it was approaching 1 AM.  No one was out but most everyone was below half.  We agreed to a long rest but where? We still couldn’t leave the house.  We decided to hold up in Rose and Thorn’s room which had one door and no windows.  I think we locked the door from the inside with the padlock.  We set watches but weird things kept happening right when we started to sleep.  We got the long rest and Ambrus finally recovered from the poison but everyone had to make a CON save or take 1 level of exhaustion (disad on all skill rolls).  Ironically Ambrus, after suffering through the poison all night, was the only one that saved.  However, Arlo used an inspiration die and saved on that reroll.  Ambrus gave his inspiration die to someone else (Kharn or Kaladin?) and that person also saved.  Zolton will have to save next time.  Luckily the skill-heavy house search is over and it’ll mostly be combat from here on out so maybe the exhaustion won’t be too bad? We did make it to 2^nd level.  Next game is scheduled for 3 weeks.