GM Niles' Curse of Strahd (Inactive)

Game Master nilesr

Gail glares at the man, the cheek of it! Perhaps he was right though, they had never seen the like of these before...

Relieved that Valen was out of the vampires clutches, she turns to the one Talus has been fighting. She beseeches Sylvanus, "Oak father, we must treat this abomination with fire!" Apparently he agreed, for a shimmer of super-heated air washed over the filthy spawn!

Gail casts Sacred Flame. DC 13 dex to negate.
Radiant Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 6

Round 8

Talus glances at the storyteller with irritation, then keeping the spawn at bay with his spear, steps back into the sunlight, a mocking look on his face.

Now bathed in the warm sunlight, his eyes narrow and an impluse of his psychic strength flashs out...

Thought Spear, Touch Attack, Int Save DC 13 or damage: 1d8 ⇒ 5

Valen stumbles slightly as he moves back toward his allies and the newcomer, he presses a glowing hand to his temple and suddenly surges with renewed vigour.

Lay on hands himself for 10.

Malthorn, thankful Talus has backed away sends a blast at his former attacker.

EB: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
Dmg: 1d10 ⇒ 1

Malthorn sends a blast at a vampire, but he misses.
Gail 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22 casts a spell, but the monster dodges it.
Valen heals himself and moves toward his friends.

Round 9
Talus backs away AoO: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13 and the vampire swipes at him ineffectually. Talus attacks the creature's mind 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14 but it resists.
Vampire Spawn all wait, not wanting to be fried by the sun.
Rictavio casts a spell and points at the southern Vampire Begone1: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25 Searing Light: 7d8 ⇒ (5, 2, 5, 3, 7, 1, 8) = 31 the creature is turned to ash. The Carnival Master says Fire! Fire and Sunlight and stakes to the heart!
Malthorn
Gail
Valen

Round 10
Talus
Vampire Spawn
Rictavio
Malthorn
Gail
Valen

Watching Rictavio's spell blast the undead to ash, Gail mutters, "Good riddance!" She turns around, and trots north till she can see the vampire slinking away from the light! She whispers "Oak father, we'd best burn this one too..." and suddenly a flash of heat washed over it!

Radiant Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 4Gail casts Sacred Flame. DC 13 dex to negate.

Moving ahead of Valen, "Fire and stakes, sorry no stakes this will have to do." Malthorn once more speaks the gutteral language of the demons, before streaks of fire fly from his staff.

scorching ray (1): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Dmg: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 4) = 6

scorching ray (2): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Dmg: 4d6 ⇒ (4, 5, 3, 6) = 18

scorching ray (3): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15
Dmg: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 3) = 4

aiming for blue in the corner, can't update the map Niles working off my phone. Out of town for the weekend"

Valen moves back to stand beside Gail, waiting for the Spawn to come to them.

Readying an attack if the Spawn happens to move close enough.

With his spawn distintegrated by the storyteller's magic, Talus turns to him, commenting "Hmmm, yes...sunlight, that is why the shutters are open. Fire? here? are you mad? And stakes, yes if they're quiescent. I've had a hard enough time sticking this spear in that bastard. Any more advice? I'd rather you focussed your energies on blasting the other two with your magic....please!", he says, pointing at the other spawn held at bay by the sunlight.

He then turns and focuses his will on the spawn cowering in the corner....

Thought Spear, Int Save DC 13 or damage: 1d8 ⇒ 4

Guys, if you are gonna ready something...please do the rolls for me. It saves time.
Malthorn sends three rays of fire that all hit the Vampire, it screams in pain.
Gail moves into the light from the middle window and casts a spell 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23 the creature is unaffected.
Valen moves back to stand beside Gail, waiting for the Spawn to come to them.

Round 10
Talus sends a spear of mental energy 1d20 ⇒ 20 that doesn't affect the creature/
Vampire Spawn, realizing their predicament now, charge out of the shadows toward the heroes.
Blue attacks Gail 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11 and 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23 clawing the cleric for 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (1, 3) + 2 = 6 and taking 2d8 ⇒ (1, 7) = 8 from the sunlight in Gail's square
Red attacks Valen 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 and 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21 savagely clawing Valen for 4d4 + 2 ⇒ (1, 2, 1, 2) + 2 = 8 and 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (4, 3) + 2 = 9 and taking 2d8 ⇒ (6, 5) = 11 from the sunlight in Valen's square (Valen is at 0HP now and DST begin)
*just realized Valen readied an attack, I'll do that now 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Rictavio That's the spirit Malthorn. Fire! Fire and Sunlight! and to Talus he snorts If you wanted to kill them, why did you disturb them? Amateurs. Rictavio points again and 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15 3d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 2) = 6 another Spawn is slain by a Guiding Bolt. Rictavio speaks a healing word and 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 Valen is restored to consciousness.
Malthorn
Gail
Valen

Gonna call combat here, the final Vamp has 3HP.

Rictavio leans on his cane Now, we must concoct a story. Quickly, we do not want the Baron's men getting involved. And I must not be seen here. Why were you here!?

"Sadly, that was the last of those I have for a moment. Anyways you have our thanks, we were here to help the cleric retrieve the church's sacred bones." Taking a deep breathe, Malthorn looks around at the fallen devil spawn. "A better question might be why are you here?"

Irritated by Rictavio Gail only half listens as she examines the corpses. She nudges one with her foot and asks Valen, "Are you OK, you took a battering there. I wonder if these going to crumble into dust or something? If they do, perhaps we could claim we where here to exterminate pests." Putting on a sarcastic voice she carries on, "Of course they put up a vicious fight, but we were victorious! Make em think we meant rats."

After Malthorn's explanation.
Insight: What's Rictavio's angle: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8 Nah.

Scowling a little, she doesn't even bother to face Rictavio as she calls out, "That's about the long and the short of it. Anyways what's wrong with this damn town! We fight a bunch of vampire spawn and the first thought you have is oh dear what ever will the Baron say. Honestly do you have any idea how insane that sounds? My first thought is, what the blazes are these doing here?! My second thought is if these are here, there's probably more elsewhere in town..."

I believe I am actually at 0HP, so if someone could stabilize me that would be great!

Death Save: 1d20 ⇒ 3 Fail 1

Rictavio healed you Valen...5 hp

Talus responds to Gail's rhetorical question, "I'd think that Strahd sent them to fetch the Bones, believing as the priest does that they protect this village from His influence."

He looks to Rictavio for confirmation of his conclusion...

Rictavio responds to Malthorn I came here when I saw that you came here. I figured, correctly I might add, that you had no idea what you were getting into. Rictavio pauses and then says It was smart thinking though, smashing the windows. If only it weren't so loud.

As to my purpose, let's keep our secrets...secret. For now.

To Talus Rictavio says You are probably right. Let's not dissuade the Count of his assumption. Those bones should be replaced forthwith.

In response to Gail's plan Rictavio says It's simple. Simple plans often have the best chance of working. Tell Henrik to keep his fool mouth closed, and tell the Baron's men that a nest of Giant Rats or somesuch was up here and poor Henrik paid you to take care of it. That's what you Adventurers do right? Oh, pull those corpses into the sunlight and it'll take care of them. I must be off.

Rictavio whirls, taps his cane twice and becomes invisible.

Come and see me if you wish to have a few answers. I'll be leaving town soon. I'm heading to a ruined Tower nearby.

Gail's scowl deepens when Rictavio vanishes, between gritted teeth she mutters, "Well isn't that just dandy. I suppose we'd better dispose of these and talk to Henrik."
Let's drag the corpses into the light.

She pokes her head through the door to the stairs and like his mother no doubt did, bellows, "Henrik! Get yourself up here NOW!"

Valen watches Rictavio walk away with a shake of his head, "I suppose we are going to him for answers after this aren't we? He's the first person we've met that seems like they might actually want to stand against Strahd and whatever other evils lurk in this cursed place."

When they have the chance to speak to Henrik again Valen agrees with Gail, "Don't make things more difficult for yourself than you have to and you might make it through this all right."

Persuasion: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

Talus merely stares at the spot Ritavio had stood, then shakes his head , comments, "Despite my better judgement, I think we should go talk to him" and then goes to help Gail pull the spawns out into the light.

He crouches down and watches as the turn to dust, fascinated.

That job done, he watches Gail lecture Henrik, a slight smirk on his lips.

Definately not me :)

yeah charisma in the group falls to the fiery redhead and the the burnt looking fellow with horns :)

Malthorn simply shakes his head as Ritavio disappears, but following advice he helps to drag the creatures into the sunlight. Afterwards

"V-very big rats. Yeah that's right."

Persuasion(aid): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6 -.- well that was useless

Henrik nods and retrieves something from a nearby box. He hands over a bag to Father Lucian who opens it and exclaims

By the Light! These are the Blessed Bones of St. Andral! They seem whole! Thank the Light! Thank the Morninglord! and Lucian hustles out of the house, presumably to replace the magic bones.

As expected, soon a troupe of 6 rough looking men come down the street, they are led by an ill favored man smoking a pipe. The pipe gives off curious ribbons of smoke, the smoke is shaped like a skull.

Henrik! Come out! We heard a commotion! You know Excessive Noise Outside of Celebration Time is illegal! Come Out Henrik! the man shouts

Henrik steps outside and begins pleading Please Master Strasni, please. I'll pay a fine! Please!

The Foul looking man snorts Oh, you'll pay! The Baron can't have you disturbing the peace now can he? and he punches Henrik in the stomach! The old man doubles over with an OOF and falls to his knees. That's for making me walk over here. I was enjoying a nap.

The man regards the assembled adventurers Now. What's this all about then? Since Henrik seems to have lost his ability to speak.

Going to give Valen a chance to try and sweet talk us out of this! Gail will try to help with aid another's assuming those are allowed in 5e.

Malthorn studies the baron's men, the town may be safe from Stradt but it appears the baron's men might be just as troublesome.

Deception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Trying unsuccessfully to hide his look of distaste when the man punches Henrick.

OK gonna post something.

A little blase Gail explains, "What's this all about? Pest control. Got a bit out of hand, those little blighters are vicious when cornered I tell you. Anyway it's sorted now, no more vermin in there. Or Henrik gets his money back. Poor fella hasn't slept properly in days, all that scratching and gnawing, it'd drive anyone to distraction."

Deception Aid Another: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (12) - 2 = 10 Yeah. Oh well. She's kinda telling the truth, just not the whole truth :)

Sorry for the delay everyone, things are a bit hectic for me right now!

"Henrik may not have made the smartest decision, but can you really blame him? Damned big rats like that are like to drive anyone mad."

Persuasion: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

And three 10s in a row!

Izek Strasni grunts at Gail, you can't tell if he believes you or not. Whatever. Adventurers, you can stay in this town but only as long as you keep me, and the Baron, Happy. Can you do that Adventurers? he favors Gail with an evil looking smile and he raises his arm. You all notice that it's hideously misshapen and has what looks like scales! His fingers end in sharp blackened nails. He snaps his fingers, and a flame appears.

Because if you don't. The Flame will take you. he finishes.

Izek whirls on his men Stop dawdling you nitwits. The Baron expects us. and he stomps back down the street, never looking back.

Close Scene, everyone is now level 4!

Once they are long gone, Gail suggests, "Mmm I quite fancy a hike tomorrow. You know get back to nature, maybe take in a few ruins - that sort of thing. What do y'all think?"

Talus watches the scene of casual brutality with scarce concealed disdain, deigning not to converse with so uncivilized a brute.

When the guards leave, he helps Henrik to his feet, brushing dust from his doublet, "A word of advice, Hendrik, don't be trying to sell sacred relice to the worst devil in the land. Might shorten one's life expectancy."

He then turns to Gail, a smile creasing his face, "An excellent suggestion , my dear. Shall we catch up with our opinionated storyteller and accompany him to his Tower?"

"A bit of open air sounds good after the heavy welcome we have found here."

"I can almost taste the opportunity to finally get some answers." Valen smiles at the others wryly, "Let's go!"

Let's go where?

Henrik remains silent. He gets to his feet and walks into his shop, closing the door with a thump. The Heroes are left in the street alone.

Niles do we know which tower Rictavio meant to visit? (was it the ruins we passed on the way to town?) If we do that's where we'll head if not, we'd need to discuss what to do.

Yeah I am pretty sure that's what we were all aiming at doing, but if we don't know where this tower is I suppose we'll need to ask around.

Remember he invited us to meet him at the tavern before he left for the tower...."Come and see me if you wish to have a few answers. I'll be leaving town soon. I'm heading to a ruined Tower nearby."

@Talus Yep, sorry I wasn't clear. He will be leaving town this evening, but for now he's at the Blue Moon Inn.

Gail smiled, keen to be going then a sudden thought struck her and she sighed, "You know what, we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. Unless you want to suffer my cooking for the next week, lets go buy some supplies. We can get a proper meal at least from the Blue Moon Inn before we go..."

So I'm not clear if we have a meaningful amount of money currently. Certainly we can buy food and trail rations, but I doubt we're in a position to buy gear. Assuming I'm right about that, Gail will buy a weeks worth of iron rations (do we want to RP that or just hand wave?) before heading to the Inn.

"I can't fault you for wanting to do some preparation. Perhaps we will see Ismark and Ireena once more before we leave this place. It would be nice to know if things are working out for then." Valen follows Gail on her trip to buy supplies and then heads for the inn as well.

I'll be honest, I haven't considered wealth at all yet.

We have somewhere in the neighborhood of 750-800gp I'm guessing doing a quick search for gp/gold on this thread. Ghost don't seem to have a great deal of gold in their 'pockets' it appears and we wound up cutting short the house search to keep from TPKing. Who wants to keep track of the loot?

"I've eaten plenty of your cooking Gail, I'll enjoy the Blue Moon's fare tonight if you don't mind." Malthorn quips quickly with a smile to Gail.

need to see what we might have need of for dungeon running.

Niles what kind of shops are available for exchanging the items we found in the house for gp/ep here in Vallaki? Didn't see any shops listed yet on the map, lots of spots

The Heroes return to the Blue Water Inn and a few questions nets them the following information

* The Wolf Hunters that were in the tap room last night, and frequent the Inn most nights, are accomplished trackers and guides. They can be hired for 5GP each per day.

* The Blue Water Inn itself sells rations and other foodstuffs.

* There are several small shops around Vallaki that might sell items. (from the PHB)

Ismark and Ireena aren't in the Inn; Danika Martikov, the barkeep and owner(along with her husband Urwin) of the Blue Water Inn says that they "went out earlier".

Rictavio isn't in the Taproom, Danika reports that he is in his room.

Gail buys a week's worth of trail rations for everyone from the inn.

5sp * 4 ppl * 7 days = 140 sp. Weighs 7lb each.

Chewing on a bit of Jerky she asks Danika, "I know this is a bit of a funny question, but is there anywhere around here that might sell chain mail?" Gail has heavy armor proficiency, I might as well use it.

Paid the rations out of the group funds Gail

Malthorn follows the other back to the Blue Water Inn grateful not to be in another fight for the moment, after resting for a bit he makes some inquiries and sells the small jewelry box they found earlier but remains cautious about selling the necklace. In a land such as this the Baron might well be one of the few that could purchase it straight out.

Niles any trouble finding a new home for the necklace in Vallakia? Also do you see anything I missed from what we did find. A great deal of the Haunted house was left unexplored in our haste to get to the top , the bottom and then the heck out of it.

Roll a CHA or INT check DC15 to sell the necklace (also be aware that selling things means 50% value normally) Also, just a thought but...that necklace would make an excellent bribe gift if you guys ever got into some trouble.

Danika replies Eh. Not much use for that around here, cept at the Barracks. Try there.

Cha(DC15): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Malthorn spent part of the afternoon finding a home for the jewelry box however the necklace that once graced it's interior he held onto as the offers for it were simply too lowball to be serious.

As his companions take on the task of buying supplies Valen makes a trip to Rictavio's door and knocks gently. Should I say anything? He seemed mighty secretive and giving away those secrets in the hall would likely not be appreciated.

Gail nods, "Can't say I'm too surprised. This place seems pretty peaceful."

She then heads over to the Barracks and if anyone will see her (honestly a she wouldn't be too surprised if the answer was no, get off my lawn), she enquires about trading in her Scale Mail for a suit of Chain Mail.

@Malthorn Thanks for finding the relevant part in the PHB...I was actually unaware of that rule. I'll stick with that text, so full value it is! (I was actually wondering why the adventure gave out so much Art/Jewelry instead of coin) You could go to the Baron and offer to sell it to him directly.

Gail: 2d20 ⇒ (6, 16) = 22+0 !

The Soldiers give Gail the stinkeye, but one of them escorts her to a churlish looking Sergeant who turns out to be the Quartermaster. The man seems amenable to a trade, provided his own pockets are greased. (Cost ya an extra 1GP in bribery)

Valen hears Yes? What is it? from inside the room.

Oh sorry Niles I re-read the rules and there's no dex bonus allowed for heavy armor. Given that Gail has the same AC with scale mail and chain mail I'm not seeing the point of using heavy armor :( I suppose from a game design PoV they want ACs to not get too high, but it seems a shame.

"You said you had answers for us." Is all Valen replies.

Sorry, bit busy last couple of days....

Talus joins Valen in going up to the storyteller's room, waiting for the mysterious man's respons to Valen's statement.

The door opens revealing a harried looking Rictavio and a strangely dressed man Rictavio takes one look and says

I don't have much time. The Baron knows of me now and will undoubtedly be sending men soon. My friend Gadof was just warning me. So, time to move on. I'll be heading out tonight. Just in time to miss the Baron's newest folly it seems

The strangely dressed man stays quiet.

Back at the Tavern MAlthorn waits in the taproom enjoying a glass of Red Dragon whilst Valen and Talus check on Rictavio. Commenting when they return, "I thought the night was dangerous to travel alone in"
upstairs

I'm sure they would have been trying not to draw attention to themselves and Rictavio; so Malthorn likely would not have joined the other two going upstairs.