David Green
Ravenloft Game 16 - 04/23/21 - The Riotous Dead
We started at breakfast at the Blue Water Inn. There was only one other patron who seemed to be watching us. Given our species makeup, you can’t really blame him. As Loki mixed some gunpowder, a finely dressed young man entered. He was the local accountant who helps many of the local merchants keep on top of their tax responsibilities. He offered his services to us however since no one ever pays us to all these good deeds we do, accounting for our profits has not been an issue. We asked him a few questions about the local merchants but nothing much came of it. We all agreed that returning the Saint bones to the church and restoring its protections was top on our list. However, Zolton wanted to visit the armorer next door first. He commissioned a shield/book and a chain shirt that opened like a vest so that it might not look so much like armor. We were all confused by his descriptions. Basically, he wants to look like an unarmed Wizard but still have the AC afforded a dexy Cleric. He had the half-up front money but will have to borrow to finish the work. Ambrus went to the local leatherworker to commission a holster for his Immovable Rod. (Insert 10 minutes of “rod” jokes here.) It wouldn’t be a problem. There were other shopping and miscellaneous city tasks to do but we managed to get back on track and head to the coffin maker.
He lived in the poor part of town. His house/shop was all boarded up and closed. After knocking, we were told to go away. After trying to convince him, Ambrus picked the lock with ease and we entered. Basically, Ezera used his holy stink eye to get him to confess. Some woman whose name I can’t recall hired him to get the bones. They were upstairs in his bedroom, awaiting pick up. However, she left several vampire spawn up there to guard them. He was scared out of his wits. Most believed him although Lord Q believes nothing. Zolton had started casting Detect Magic during the interrogation, hoping the bones were magical, and when we went upstairs, he could see magical wards on the doors. We attempted to avoid them by coming in through the windows but they were warded as well. We decided to use the carpentry tools to cut a hole in the ceiling. Unfortunately, the rattled coffin maker blew his spacial awareness roll and told us to cut in the wrong place in his own house. When the hole was big enough for Kharn to see several feet watching his progress, one of the spawn attacked, free grappled, and pulled him up the hole. He turned into a werewolf, managed to free himself (with an inspiration die) and jump back down. One came after followed by several others. They were tough. They got a claw with a free grapple and a bite with a free hit point drain. That drain not only reduced your max hit points (and thus your current hit points) but healed them as well. It was looking very dire. We faced one spawn in Barovia in the church 1 level ago and it was dicey. Now we’ve got 5?
A couple of rounds later, several of us were hurting and only one of them was damaged much at all. Despite some fun shield bashing from Ezra. It became clear this was yet another fight we couldn’t possibly win. Brian said as much however it was clear their intention was to grab the bones and run. And there wasn’t much we could do about it. Except for our invisible wild card, Ambrus. He had Misty Stepped up the hole on round one. He managed to follow the lead spawn and could see him about to jump out the window with a sack of bones. He delayed and used his invisible mage hand sleight of hand skill to swipe the bones as it jumped. A moment of glory that took advantage followed by 3 inspiration dice to get a roll above a 5. But he had the bones. Except that the spawn just Spider Climbed back up that same round. Two others surrounded him including one Zolton had turned downstairs. Ambrus managed to beat a grab with a nimble acrobatics roll and when his turn finally came, he Misty Stepped out the window and started running to the church.
We then transferred to another skill-based chase scene. Brian had set up 3 challenges from here to the church, each of which could be bested by one of 3 skill checks of 15 or 12. Along with the usual arguments about using powers instead. It was easy for some and not so easy for others but we all ended up at the church with two spawns on our heels. (By the way, we could hear the city folk panicking from the spawn running amok. 50 years, vampire-free and we show up and the next day, vampire attack. Sorry.) Combat restarted but again there was no real point to it. The head vampire lady (i.e. the devil herself) crashed through the ceiling, grabbed the priest, and demanded the bones. Her appearance ended the possibility of winning via combat and put us back to winning via plot. Ambrus ignored her, ran the bones into their camber thus restoring the protections. She killed the priest, tossed him aside, and fled. The 2 spawn in the church turned to dust and we won. Sort of. There are probably spawn still on the loose since the protections end at the church door. We also sort of left the coffin maker’s house on fire due to a Flaming Sphere. So, plenty to do. We think the hit point maximums will recover with a long rest, whenever we’ll get one of those. We made 5th. And destroyed the city.
Ravenloft Game 15 - 04/09/21 - Attack of the Tentacles
We started by getting Kharn caught up. He made it to the Vestoni camp where he parked the wagon. This camp was run by a young man rather than a Madame Eva type. They had an expert bowyer elf traveling with them. As Kharn changed his clothes in an effort to look less Vestoni, he was approached by a man. His teenage daughter had gone missing. Evidently, she often snuck into the city, sometimes spending the night. But she hadn’t come back for a couple of days. She had recently befriended a local fisherman. Kharn promised to look into it, adding it to our growing list. Next, he had to get into the city. He went through the same process and other than the smartass out of character remarks by him and the peanut gallery, he had no problems. He was at the west gate which happened to be near the orphanage so we ran into him without any issues. Speaking of lists, we summarized ours on our way to the Blue Water Inn. The hour was getting late. At the top was the missing bones to restore the protections of the church. That meant talking to the coffin maker to whom they were sold. There were also 3 orphans who had gone missing, probably due to the demon we vanquished last time. The bones seller had hired someone to look for them. We also wanted to visit the toymaker to inquire about the dolls that looked like Kharn and his sister. And we still had that sister with us who felt safer with us rather than an unprotected church.
The inn was more of a bar that served stew with rooms upstairs. They only had 8 beds, spread into 3 rooms but luckily, we were the only out of towners. Lord Q insisted on his own room so a bed was moved from a small room into the big room. The NPC would room with the raccoon. But there was no rest for the heroes as we started talking to people and getting more tasks. The owner’s wine had run out and he asked that if we went out of town, to check on the Wizard Winery. We ran into the wolf hunters who had been hired to find the orphans. They were “working on it” and if they had any leads, they did not share them. It just so happens that the missing girl hung out here and played with the inn owners’ boys. She sometimes slept in the shed which had no clues. That drunk fisherman was named Bluto. Local Ezera knew where he lived. Kharn also mentioned that he’d heard that some dark elves were in the city so that went on Ambrus’s list. And some more. The more we heard about this girl, the more worrisome that story sounded so it moved to the top of the list. We searched his house and found nothing. The only other lead was that he could be fishing on the lake to the north. Ezera asked the guards and they said he did leave recently, with a big bag of squirming “bait” about the size of a young girl in a sack. Some guards. The gate was closed due to the late hour so we went over the wall and to the lake.
So, the lake encounter started as a “skill challenge” which never quite works in the system. People have somewhere between a combined 4 and 6 skills but dozens of powers. (class, subclass, race, feats, spells, artifacts, etc.) So, everyone wanted to act with powers but instead we had to wait for the scene to be set. We saw the fisherman in the middle of the lake throw a wiggling sack into the water and could see it start to sink. And we could do nothing. And then it was an athletics roll to row out there, perception roll to find the sack, medicine roll to save her, etc. No one could go twice but with our big party, not everyone got to go. The upshot, although it was a painful process, was that she was brought back to shore and revived. (Dan: Karn rolled first to row the boat close, then Zoltan rolled perception to target the sack, then Q rolled swimming with advantage to reach the girl... and failed. This failure resulted in the sack getting targeted by the fisherman with an oar hit. So Kaladin flew out and rolled acrobatics to intercept the fisherman's oar strike. Apparently, a failure would have knocked him out but a success meant it was just a glancing strike. Then Karn's sister and Zoltan rolled medicine to device the girl.) Not that she was that grateful. She didn’t seem very concerned about the whole thing. Unfortunately, Lord Q had chosen to stay in the lake to try to decoy Bluto so when the Water Demon emerged and started attacking, we couldn’t run for dry land and leave him for dead. This was a high-level ancient god sort of thing with legendary actions. One of those actions was an enthralling attack which Loki failed his save. (Dan: Q got enthralled first. He failed and was promised a fun time down in the lake depths. Tentacle sex jokes ensued. Fortunately, it seems a short-lived effect since you make a save each round) So, when Lord Q finally got back to shore, we still couldn’t run because Loki was trying to join him in the water. He transformed into a fish to do so but Lord Q hit him with collateral damage from a Green Flame blade. Since a fish had 1 hit point, he turned back into Loki. Then Ambrus hit him with a Laughter spell. Then Kharn grabbed him and the rescued girl hit him with Hold Person. Somewhere in there, he was also diseased by the demon. (Dan: I remember it was just before you got enthralled. Still, the good news was this was the first monster in ages that didn't take half damage. It just had incredible hit points, 4 attacks per round, and a +9 to hit.) So, he was jacked up to a new record level. But the beast was half dead and about the time we could start running with Loki in tow, it just sank back into the depths. (Dan: You make it sound like he was running like a sissy but we were actually thinking that after all that damage he took and that we took, he was still half alive and we were wondering how to effectively run away ourselves.)
Bolstered by a Protection from Evil, Loki made his save. Ezera used his lay on hands to cure the disease. We delivered the teen back to the camp outside of the city. They were grateful but had nothing of worth to reward us with. Kharn did inquire about a strength bow that Brian said was possible but he needed time to think about it. We snuck back into the city and finally went to bed and got a long rest. Brian then delivered to each, another dream sequence. They seem to be getting a little more defined. A little more linkable to our various backstories. We’re still 4th, awaiting resolution of the bones storyline. Assuming we don’t get waylaid by something else
Ravenloft Game 14 - 04/02/21- The Demon Child
The big news was the welcomed return of Andy. He replaced his Wizard with a Human heavily armored, sword and shield, classic Holy Paladin named Ezra. (That’s not right. It started with an E and was Biblical but I can’t remember.) Several theories were offered up as to the reason for the change before he returned from dinner. Andy stated that the Wizard “wasn’t working as he’d hoped”. In particular, the subclass power tree, while powerful, was completely negated if the target made that first save. Regardless, it was good to have him back and a Paladin will certainly be useful in this place.
The snow finally abated and we start back on the road to Valackea. As agreed, Kharn took the wagon over to the Vastini camp and would make his way into the city via another gate. Good thing, since the entrance criteria was extensive. First, we had to swear we were not Vastini and were not under the influence of the Devil. Only then, would they open the gate to really start the process. (I’m sure I’ll forget some.) We had to jump over a waterskin, allow a silver piece to be placed on our forehead and touch the wooden threshold. We had to answer some questions for their records. Point of origin was a little tricky for some of us but the guard didn’t really care as long as he got something on the form. They stopped short of a full search but all weapons had to be declared and recorded. That included Loki’s claws and Kaladin’s teeth. Lastly, we were given an extensive list of rules. It was mostly the usual, don’t make trouble, ones but with a couple of unique ones. The Devil’s true name could not be mentioned. Everyone must participate in the weekly festivals. And everyone must be happy at all times. Even after all that, we were not invited in. Only allowed to enter.
Our destination church was on the other side of the city so we went through the heart. Of note, this city was a bit more lively than the boarded-up ghost town we came from. There were actual shops with actual goods although we didn’t stop at them. We watched a puppet show put on by a half-elf that the kids particularly enjoyed. A passerby bid Ambrus a GOOD DAY with a forced smile which we took as an encouragement to stay happy. Loki remarked that perhaps they think the happiness will keep you know who at bay. The half-elf noted that it was working. We made it to the church without issue. As we entered, any always-on magic we had, turned off. E.g. Lord Q’s servants popped out of their cage, Loki’s claws got smaller, Zolton’s eyes looked normal (for him), etc. We could hear the priest telling a sick-looking young man to go home and rest. Like the rest of the city, the church was in good shape. We got to business, with Zolton doing much of the talking. We need to drop off the kids. There’s an orphanage next door. Our NPC needs sanctuary. She can stay in the woman’s dorm room that is currently unused. We dropped her stuff there but she agreed to stay with us until the kids were seen to. The bad news about the priest in Barovia. He’d contact the bishop. How did he die? Er… uhm… There was a vampire spawn in the church that we took care of. Meanwhile, Ambrus searched around the church, missing stealth rolls as he went. When he found no chained undead, he declared that he had a good feeling about it. The priest asked a Paladin by the name of Ezra to show us to the orphanage and help us get settled into the city.
At the orphanage, we met the stern tired-looking headmistress. She was accepting a small coffin. Evidently, a child had fallen from a 2nd story window. That, of course, triggered our paranoia. Which in this place, is just good common sense. Ambrus questioned a couple of kids. They seemed happy enough. We filled out some paperwork while Ambrus went upstairs. He ended up in the attic where he found an odd child, whittling. We got a bunch of plot threads which lead to some investigations. It was the usual chaos as different groups of characters went in different directions and then intersected randomly. The dead kid was new and had a silver locket. When examined, it had an X scratched onto it. Zolton did a detect magic and then an identify. It was some sort of vessel to hold an extra-dimensional creature. Now empty. We found evil runes, carved into the beds of some of the children. Some kids had recently run away. Ambrus and Loki re-questioned that kid upstairs. He managed to out intimidate Ambrus, mostly bad rolls, but the fact that an 8-year-old boy could even try was noteworthy. The sick grave digger from the church lived here. He was very sick and had runes on his bed. Several of the girls seemed to recognize the NPC. When questioned by Loki, one of the dolls in the dollhouse looked like her. A search also found one that looked like Kharn. Evidently, it was a standard doll in this city, on sale at the toy store. Eventually, we decided to get everyone out of the house and into the church, hoping whoever was possessed would be revealed. However, when Lord Q went ahead to give the priest a heads up, he found that the protections had stopped. The altar boy had recently told the gravedigger of the sacred bones that were interned under the altar. They were now, gone.
We still moved everyone over but then Loki noticed the odd boy was not there. We left Zolton’s familiar at the church and searched the house. The bones were not in the coffin nor the gravedigger’s room. Nothing was found until we got to the attic where first in line Ezra saw a shadow demon emerging from the boy. Initiative. The attic was bigger than we thought and Ezra could not move and attack so he empowered his Sacred Weapon. Ambrus moved and delayed. Unfortunately, the demon then crawled onto the high ceiling and advanced out of everyone’s reach. That was going to be a problem with our hand-to-hand heavy group. Loki got up there and started blasting away with his guns and did very well. Kaladin flew up but kept missing. Jon reasoned that there must be supporting rafters to hold up the roof. Brian agreed so Ambrus climbed up and attacked but missed. Ezra only managed a hand axe throw. Lord Q cast his own spider climb. But ultimately, the demon missed a bunch. It was attacking with 10-foot reach claws and a mind-control magic but didn’t hit. Ezra tried to use Protection from Evil to break the connection to the kid which didn’t work however Zolton did manage to break it and the PfE kept him from repossessing him. About then, it was vanquished and went back to its home plane.
The kid didn’t remember anything. The gravedigger regained consciousness. Under the authoritative glare of the Paladin, he confessed to stealing the bones and selling them to the coffin maker in order to pay someone to search for the lost kids. We decided to leave those loose ends until next time as we’re sure they’ll lead to more quests. We’re still 4th although Brian said we’d probably make 5th next time.
Ravenloft Game 13 - 03/19/21 - Are We There Yeti?
We started encamped on the road between the Old Mill where we had killed the dream pastry peddling Granny Momo and our destination city of Volockea. In the middle of the 3rd watch, the log Zolton was sitting on (it had to be Brian) suddenly rose up and reveal itself as a Yeti. Not a normal 9-foot Yeti but a legendary one. Initiative. Since Zolton and the missing Ambrus were on watch, they were the only ones awake. Brian allowed everyone to roll into action pretty fast (I don’t think anyone sleeps soundly in this land anymore) but those with armor beyond leather were deemed unarmored. I think that only affected Lord Q though. Luckily the fast-acting Yeti merely roared on his first action. Everyone else charged into action, guns a blazing. As is typically the case, its AC was low but its to-hit, damage, and hit points were high. He got 2 claws and a chilling stare that, on a failed save, did a lot of damage and cause frozen paralysis. Someone got hit with that early but I can’t remember who (Dan: The monk was first. One-shotted again. His fiery fists caught his attention. Fortunately he wasn't flying when he was paralyzed.). It did not like fire but didn’t seem to be taking any extra damage from it (Dan: it caused it to attack with disadvantage but with a +11 to hit this wasn't that much of a hindrance. It was the raccoon ranger who made a very high survival/monster lore roll to identify this weakness). It merely targeted those who were wielding it. As an added complication, it rose up next to the horses who started to drag the wagon into the forest (Dan: The children were in the wagon and got mildly tenderized).
So as usual, things were looking pretty dire. Then Zolton hit it with a Whispers spell which caused it to run away. As it left, Lord Q crit it with an opportunity attack and hit a ton of damage. He had his hex blade and a hex going. So, it was now pretty damaged. Next to go was Loki but it ran so fast, it was no longer in 'long range' of his pistols. So, he started to unload the tent in case it came back. The enraged werewolf Kharn charged after it, pulling out a longbow. Lord Q did the same. With its next round, it saved and started coming back. It critted Kaladin with a claw, then finished him off with another. And it icy stared Zolton at long range and paralyzed him and knocked him out. The next round, it took out Kharn. Somewhere in there it also did a cold breath weapon. Luckily that never recharged. The upshot was that we went from having it on the ropes to having 3 players out. However, the NPC aided Zolton, Loki got Kharn a good berry and then Kharn got one to Kaladin. Armed with 1 hit point, they continued the attacks and it was taken out. All told, it took 6 rounds. Loki skinned it as we figured it might be worth something. We took a short rest, since we had just had a long rest, and pressed on into the snow.
During that journey, the NPC cried out and started talking about returning to Barovia. She had been talking to her brother via the Sending Stones. Evidently, the whole town was hooked on those pastries. We sorted of knew that since the kid’s parents had sold them to get more. However, beyond everyone getting sick, evidently, people were rioting, searching for any remaining pastries (Dan: Out of the 3 sisters in the tavern only one is known to have survived. No one cared, even Karn who spent the night with them). The NPC blamed herself for not foreseeing this and at least warning her brother. Those damn pastries. (Dan: She noticed that Brian was a cleric and started confession. The book Brian had read 'The Cleric's Correspondence School of hard Knocks' had covered this so he faked his way through as she confessed her guilt over the situation. Then he blew it all by interrogating the girl about exactly what a priest/cleric was and how they were different than a wizard. It was awkward.) A couple of skill rolls and mentioning the kids we had in our care managed to get her back on track. Lord Q explained what happened (i.e. children’s bones et al) via the stones and Ismark said he’d try to get the situation under control there. We pressed on (Dan: Despite blowing all our heals, spells, and recovery dice because we had just had a long rest) however the snow got worse. And then a half dozen dire wolves attacked. They had their pack tactics and free trips however it wasn’t too tough. Towards the end, one tried to grab the prone Lord Q but only came away with a boot. With that, it headed into the woods and the others followed. That struck us as odd but we could not stop it before it disappeared into the mist. We took out the rest. Kharn, who can evidently understand wolf, said it was evident from their talking that they were on a mission to get a possession from one of us. A high arcana roll by Zolton confirmed what the players suspected. It would aid any scrying attempts. But we can’t go into the mist so that was that.
The snow was so bad, we had to stop. We began to think that someone didn’t want us to get to this city. The NPC asked Zolton to hear her secrets (i.e. confessions) since he was a priest. That didn’t really reveal anything but it allowed him to pursue his wizard vs cleric backstory some more. That night, we all got another disturbing dream. They seem to tie into our backstories, sort of, but it was hard enough to figure out our own, let alone understand everyone else’s. Kharn had one about going a picnic with his twin sister, the NPC, and an older brother neither of them remembered. Paul roleplayed some discussions with her, trying to get more meaning out of it. To no real avail. Zolton’s was about his Mind Flayer storyline. We talked some about that but since we’re not high enough level to stop it or reverse it, it’s pretty much going to happen or not. Short of killing him. We stopped there, still on the road to the city.
Ravenloft Game 12 - 03/05/21 - The Mind Flayer God
So, at Brian’s suggestion, the other Brian allowed the not attending Kharn and the unconscious Kaladin to switch places (in mill, within melee) and hit points (full and out). That helped. And evidently, the Brian’s had had an email conversation about unleashing his heirloom power. Time stood still as his father’s image appeared to him. It told him that in order to unleash his true power, he needs to eat whatever he found in his pocket watch. In there he found a centipede-like larva which he dutifully ate. He began to radiate goodly light with faint traces (rays?) emanating from him. However, Ambrus saw something different. Once we pieced it together later, he saw the image of a Mind Flayer although he didn’t know what it was. Regardless, Zolton transformed, got extra hit points, extra Int, and several powers. Among which were True Strike and Vicious Mockery at will, a 10d10 physic blast cone that also stunned, a tentacle grapple, and a brain munching big attack as well. Needless to say, a game-changer. He charged into combat and missed. Everyone else did their things. Loki fired from the window and while he hit often, everything was half damage. Kaladin’s fire fists also did half damage as did Ambrus’s sneak attacks. Only Lord Q’s pact blade did full damage. Meanwhile, the hags continued to break out high-level spells including a 6th level Eyebite that took out Lord Q but thankfully she lost concentration the next round, an upcast Hold Person that targeted 4 but only Kaladin missed the save which caused him to fall from the sky, and several upcast Lightning Bolts that wreaked havoc. (Kaladin one-shotted again)
We were losing people left and right and not doing much to the 3 of them until Zolton got Granny with that physic cone blast and put her on the ropes. She became the focused target and was dropped soon after by a raven swarm of all things. Next to go down was one of the daughters. That last daughter disappeared with a handful of hit points left. All told, we used 5-6 Good Berries so there was a lot of unconsciousness, death saves, rescues, and 1 hit points. Someone finally made an Arcana roll and we determined they were traveling to the Ethereal plane. Zolton got 2 tuning forks (focuses) off the two bodies. The 3rd hag never reappeared and we had no way to follow her. Later, Ismark said that two girls with those names had disappeared years ago from the village. Their whole families were killed and they were gone. (Dan: So a pyrrhic victory since we know that one hag is enough to restart the cycle in a few years) The first order of business was to get a short rest but then everyone had a long list of “but firsts”.
The children’s cages were opened. Zolton cast Detect Magic and found that the evil barrel was magical. He used his Mage Hand and pulled out a small minor demon. New initiative, however other than a noxious cloud with an easy save that everyone made, it didn’t do much. Out in two hits. We searched. The hags had magic pouches and magic gems but they were evil nontransferable things that were no use to us. So, they were burned with a the of their stuff. We did find a pile of gold. The kids were from the village but after a brief debated on whether to take them back home or press on, it was noted that we were a day from the city and a week from the village. We decided to press on and hope they could get back home with the new priest we were supposed to be getting. Eventually, we got that short rest. Most wanted to burn the place down but since it was evening, it was decided to stay the night in it and burn it in the morning.
The next morning, we cleared some brush so that we wouldn’t burn down the whole forest when we lite it up. But first, we all had dreams. But first were the saves from the dream pastries. Unbelievably, some are still afflicted. (Dan: Cry. Between this and death house the party spends more time with disadvantage than not. Once we are done with the withdraw we'll doubtless feel we are too OP when we roll normally... until the next time we are all with disadvantage due to some weird mechanics.) Brian wrote a dream for each but it was Zolton’s and Ambrus’s dreams that got the attention. It was becoming evident that they were linked somehow. Once the Mind Flayer was fully described, Zolton realized it was the image of the hated foe of the Gith. (Will his character risk using that power again?) Evidently, MF's are created by getting others to eat larvae. (Dan: The process of changing into a mind flayer is only a few days. So we'll know soon if Brian is going that route or it's a weird hybrid thing where he needs to eat multiple times.) Ambrus asked to examine his pocket watch and he could feel its power in his key tattoo? But Zolton could feel his link to the watch shifting so he snatched it back. It was all very complicated and I’m sure I’m missing stuff. We did burn down the mill and got on the road a bit late. A couple of hours later we saw a demon talking to a skeleton but since they seemed happy enough with each other, we decided to leave it alone. (Dan: Another DM plot thread successfully avoided. Yay.) We stopped to camp on the road in the snow. Evidently during watch 3, a Yeti? noticed our presence and the log Zolton was sitting on stood up. We stopped there. (Dan: I am still not sure what happened but I'm sure it will work itself out.)
Ravenloft Game 11 - 02/26/21 - Drowned
(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 3rd 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. 5th spell) which dropped Kaladin and injured others, we knew we were in big trouble.
Ravenloft Game 10 - 02/12/21 - Invincible Wagon
People finished leveling up to 4th. 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.
Ravenloft Game 08 - 01/15/21 - An Ocean of the Dead
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 3rd.
Ravenloft Game 07 - 01/08/21 - Sacrificed
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 3rd for now.
Ravenloft Game 06 - 12/29/20 - Dead Again
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