Curse of Strahd by hiiamtom (Inactive)

Game Master hiiamtom

The children begin crying softly and fade away.

"Feh, what a waste of time. The crying dead, indeed. Come, let's head for this hidden area in the basement."

"Well that was a bit harsh, but not entirely unwarranted." Balandusk looks around the room and says to no one in particular, "Thank you for showing us the secrets of the house."
He makes to follow the others to the basement. "Maybe we could put the spirits of the children to rest if we head to this basement."

Urrnir Charisma Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15
Balandusk Charisma Save: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (12) - 1 = 11

The two children appear before the first two leaving the room and say in unison, Don't leave us too! before plunging into the bodies of Urrnir and Balandusk.

Urrnir grits her teeth and shouts for the ghost to leave and the ghost of rose is thrown across the bedroom only to float over the bed. Balandusk, however, is flooded with emotion. The shadows round corners grow longer, and the house seems larger and alive. The walls seem to quiver like flesh, and you can see jagged shadows in the doorways.

Fear fills Balandusk's mind, and while he is strong enough to act normally for the most part the constant threat of fear gnaws at his mind.

Updated Map

Holiday is over, finally got time to do this! Hopefully things can pick up a bit.

Balandusk! I'll not have ye die too!
Emron tackles Balandusk to the floor.
Get out of HIM!

Bazim places his hands on either side of Balandusk's head and intones a prayer, while also attempting to coax the spirit to leave the dragonborn.

Bazim finishes his prayer and nothing happens. Rose floats silently in the corner of the room.

"If you want our help your brother needs to leave our friend's body...now. If you are innocent and trapped, I will do all I can to free you from this place. You have my word...but we need your help to do this."

But this room is safe, it's dangerous out there...

Balandusk feels an overwhelming presence of fear enter his being. His body being held down by one dwarf and his head by the other, the fear begins building stronger. He struggles to free himself from the dwarves, his eyes wide in terror.

Snap out of it, Balandusk!
Emron turns his head towards Rose.
Yea, its safe in here. Because yo'r brother possesin' Balandusk is safe!

Emron Intimidation: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

Emron threatens the ghost in Balandusk and soon the crying form of Thorn retreats from Balandusk and fades into nothing. All of you an hear his continued sobbing even if you cannot see him.

Rose also fads away silently, leaving only Thorn's cries ringing in the silent home.

Balandusk, ye okay?
Emron looks triumphant at dislodging Thorn, but he also looks worried for his companions.

Balandusk feels the fear drain from him, and the exhaustion of his encounter with the adult female angry ghost hits him hard.
"I am feeling alright, though I would feel much better without Emron holding me down, though."

Oh.Emron lets go and stands up, offering Balandusk a hand.
Just glad that ye're okay.

OK guys, let's make a move...

Emron moves down the hall, and opens the door on the left.
(the one with the weird things inside)

Emron opens the door to another dusty room, but this one is filled with objects covered with thick white linen tarps. To the right, he can see an iron stove is the only thing that is uncovered as far as he can tell.

The floors in the area creak and groan underfoot, even when no one in the party is moving.

"Perhaps we should steer clear of this room...I distrust those floors..and what might be under them. Lets move on to the secret room."

The paladin wishes to spend as little time in this place as possible, so is wanting to get to the hidden areas fast!

That is the room with the secret door inside.

Oops..sorry....figures though..lol

Re-examining the room, Bazim realizes that this is where the secret door is located.

"My apologies...with everything happening I must have lost my way. I suppose we do have to get through this room...any suggestions?"

Can Bazim use his knowledge of architecture and building (as he has taken mason tools) to examine the strength of the floor?

Bazim tears a weak plank and examines the floorboard construction. The wood is aged and worn, but is much straighter and free of imperfections than Bazim. It looks like the planks are smaller than the ones he is used to, but they are bound together with nails and interwoven much tighter than he has seen before. By all accounts the floor needs a good sanding and oiling, but the construction is some of the finest he has ever seen. He doesn't suspect any possibility of it giving way.

As he announces his conclusion, he hears something fall in the room with the covered objects.

With his renewed trust in the flooring, Bazim crosses the room to where he thinks the secret door might be located.

Bazim Intelligence(Investigation): 1d20 ⇒ 3, Bazim Disadvantage: 1d20 ⇒ 4

Bazim spends some time trying to find the mechanism to release the secret door, but can't find anything. He steps back and scratches his head and only receives the yelp of warning from a surprised Urrnir as the bloody specter from the rooms below lashes out against Bazim.

Melee Spell Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24, Melee Advantage: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 -> Yikes!
Life Drain: 6d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 3, 6, 6, 4) = 24 necrotic damage
Bazim Constitution Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7 -> failed
Lingering Injury (Critical): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
Lingering Injury (0HP): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

The force of the specter crashes into Bazim, the pressure crushing his chest against the wall behind gim. The claws of the woman's hands enter Bazim's skull, and his eyes begin to bleed. The blood trickles from his nose and mouth, and as she pulls her hands free of Bazim he falls to the ground pale... and dead. Bazim's maximum HP has dropped to 0HP and he has had his entire live drained from him.

Urrnir and Emron may act!

......crap
Bazim!
Seeing Bazim die, Emron's eyes are filled with rage.
Activate Rage
Longsword: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
Spend inspiration to gain advantage
advantage on attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
damage: 1d10 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Emron's broad sweep with the magical longsword cleaves the specter in two, the body of the spirit shocked at a weapon that so directly harms it. You see the nightmarish image change back into the pale woman, you see her smile and shed a red tear, and then collapse into a swirling puff of mist that quickly disperses.

There is an audible click in the wall by Bazim's body as a hidden door pops open. A disembodied voice says, Please, kill Gustav... he lies in wait below...

Bazim suddenly coughs and groans while laying on the ground.

You have all have reached level 2!

Sorry for the inactivity, had stuff going on

Balandusk seems to be in a fog, the removal of the spirit must have been more jarring than he thought. He sees the spirit of the woman attack Bazim and fall to the floor. This snaps him out of his stupor and he scrambles to his feet, his claws making a scraping noise on the floor. As he reaches the room, he is greeted by Emron cleaving the spirit, which revived Bazim. He rushes over to Bazim to see if he is alright, feeling a bit helpless at not being able to reay the help the dwarf showed him but a few minutes before.

"Are you ok?"

"I was...dead?"

The dwarf struggles up off the floor and looks around in a daze.

"What happened? How did you get the door open? Last thing I remember is that...spirit....it...attacked me??"

Bazim moves and feels an incredible pain in his side. He recognizes this pain from previous training and battles, several of his ribs are broken making it difficult to exhort himself - but not impossible.

You all see a hideous darkened skin around where the specter touched plunged her fingers into Bazim's head.

You must make a consitution check or lose your action in a round and be unable to make reactions until your next turn. The scarring is jarring, but has no mechanical effect.

Con Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

You only need to make a save when you attempt an action under a time crunch. It doesn't affect you otherwise mechanically.

Oops..ok, sorry..was a bit confused!

It takes all of Emron's will power not to rush through the door.
Bazim! Thank Moradin ye're okay!
Emron keeps looking through the door.
Now lets go!

Bazim follows the others out, his wounds still painful, but bearable.

OK, so what's going on? Are you going through the door and down the stairs?

I think that was the plan, yes...sorry thought that was what Emron meant when he was saying Let's go.

Emron goes in. Whispering to Bazim, he says:
What exactly happend' Was it all numb, or did ya feel like ya fainted?
He scans the room for enemies and movement.
Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20

Balandusk follows the others through the door and down the stairs.

Will level him up once I can find my PHB

Basement Map

The wooden spiral staircase from the attic ends in a narrow tunnel stretching southward before branching east and west. Immediately the echoes of eerie, incessant chanting is reflecting on the hard surfaces all around you. Even with Emron on high alert he is unable to tell from which direction the chanting originates. There is no light and no wall mounted torches down in these dank halls.

Several crypts have been carved from bare earth in the initial tunnel. Each is sealed with a stone slab, except for the crypts labeled A and B. Crypt A is both empty and has a blank stone slab set next to the door, while Crypt B is empty but has the name "WALTER DURST" carved into the stone slab by it. The other stone slabs are labeled as well:

• C is labeled "GUSTAV DURST"
• D is labeled "ELISABETH DURST"
• E is labeled "ROSAVALDA DURST"
• F is labeled "THORNBOLDT DURST"

North of Bazim sits a plain wooden table with chairs of average quality. The furniture appears well used but without the age of the upper levels of the house. It is free of dust and cobwebs.

West of Emron is a much more grisly sight. There is a large wooden table similar to the one Bazim has seen, but with bench seating for a much larger crowd. Looking closely, Emron sees bones of humanoids - mostly human - strewn haphazardly on the ground. Rotting cooked meat fills his nostrils, and mold grows on the exposed bits of flesh left on the bones.

Balandusk, you gusy need to take a short or long rest to level up.

"There is evil here, I can feel it. I would not open any of those crypts unless we are forced to...disturbing the dead never ends well. Lets take a look at this room behind me. Looks like someone has been using it, and recently too."

Tha thing that attacked ye, Bazim, said that "Gustav lies in wait below".
Emron points the longsword at Guatav's crypt.
Give me a good reason why I shouldn't tear this crypt open.

"No. Tear it open."

With a curt nod, Bazim agrees with the other two. He readies himself to possibly face some sort of undead creature coming from the tomb.

So Emron and Bazim will force the crypt open? FIne with me, but be ready for something nasty!

Emron Strength(Athletics): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14, Emron Advantage(Help): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

The stone slab slides quickly and quietly to the side, exposing a small chamber with a pine coffin sitting on top of a stone bier. The coffin lid is pushed aside and the coffin sits empty.

Bazim goes quickly on the defensive, his hammer and shield up and looking around for any clues as to where the occupant might be.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17

Bazim feels like the coffin lid was pushed aside from the inside, but otherwise sees no evidence of what happened here.

"The creature must be loose somewhere down here. Lets continue to the room with the used furniture and search for this beast!"

A wooden table and four chairs stand at the east end of this room. To the west are four alcoves containing moldy straw pallets. To the north is a small hallway and a set of stairs leading down into more darkness.

Emron searches around for any clue that Gustav was here. Investigation: 1d20 ⇒ 9