Talus casts a curious eye on the ruined painting, "I wonder..."
He brings the might of his intellect to bear, trying to determine if the picture has any properties that would aid their search...
"Perhaps we'd be better served search the roof, something appeared to have glowed at the top of the chapel in what we could see of the painting. The stairs are this way." Malthorn says pointing back towards the stairwell he'd checked.
Ozgo replaces the picture and follows Mal to the stairs leading up.
Reaching the roof, Malthorn looks around, his gaze finally settling on the top of the chapel.
Well i hope it wasn't lightning striking the roof or a chimneyfire...
Nonetheless Kassimit joins in the search.
Gail looks sharply at Kassimir before whispering softly, "Best not tempt fate..." The others seemed to be searching for something so she looked too.
Ozgo also joins the search, in hopes of discovering what the light could have been.
Perception:
Malthorn and Ozgo lead the Heroes of Barovia up the spiraling staircase to the highest turret in the manse. Before they reach it, they run across an expertly carved gargoyle that speaks to them in common tongue
When the dragon dreams its dream
Within its rightful tomb,
The light of Argynvost will beam
And rid this land of gloom.
Wooden stairs climb to the tower's peak, which has a stone floor and a thirty-foot-high pitched roof. Ravens roost on crisscrossing rafters, coming and going through small holes in the roof. Ten-foot-high, five-foot-wide arched windows are evenly spaced around the walls. Each window consists of a lead latticework fitted with small panes of transparent glass.
The heroes begin searching the area, when they look out of the windows they see
To the north and east lies a mist-shrouded valley with dark woods, a small town, and a lonely windmill on a precipice. To the south, a river flows through a foggy marsh. To the west, between rocky hills, you glimpse an abbey perched on a snowy mountainside beyond a long stretch of fog-smothered pines.
On the western windowsill they find A note written on fine vellum affixed to the windowsill with a nail
The heroes hear the "clop clop clop" of a draft horse's hooves from the courtyard. They see a single person riding in a wagon. The man arrives, urinates on the statue of Argynvost, then he unhitches the horse leaving the wagon, with a large box of some sort in the courtyard. The man rides off towards Vallaki.
Gail reads the note and raises one eyebrow. Turning to the others she asks, "Don't suppose you've seen any dragon bones?" Out of the corner eye she saw the man below, she pointed and frowned, "What was that all about?! Best go down and see."
Unless anyone objects she will make her way downstairs to the courtyard to explain the box.
Talus nods, "It would seem that the remains of the Lord Dragon must be interred properly to bring the light back to the tower, and I assume it's protection from Strahd."
Wordlessly, he follows Gail down to see what the man left in the courtyard...
Gail makes it to the courtyard, following the same path she used to enter the mansion.
The wagon is loaded with a box that is 3'wide by 7' long...it looks suspiciously like a coffin. There are words written on the box.
Talus Koss, he was a good friend and neighbor
something is moving in the box
Malthorn follows the others below inspecting the box once they arrive at the cart. "Hmmm, Talus something we should know?" he ask when he reads the attached message
Talus recoils a bit a seeing the epitaph, but then collects himself and smiles wryly at Malthorn, "As I seem fit and hale, perhaps this is a sick joke? But , why me?" he says, moving closer to the box.
"Now, I must see what lays within..." he states, looking the box over for the best way to open it.
Talus opens the coffin and a massive swarm of hundreds of bats explodes out of it!
The bats swarm over Talus and Ozgo the bats crawl into Ozgo's armor and inflict damage.
Round 1
Kassimir
Gail
Malthorn
Talus
Ozgo
Swarm of Bats
Malthorn steps around Talus and levels his staff at the bats in front of the paladin and mystic.
Eldritch Blast, 2 rays
Ozgo drops to the ground and rolls back and forth trying to kill any of the bats still within his armour.
Gail's voice booms out over the battlefield, "Oak father!" A moment later a great clap of thunder with a visible shockwave washes over the swarm!
The bats envelop Talus, but none manage to gain purchase. The mystic beats at the airborne bats with his spear, muttering "Bats? Do I look like a bat? "
Round 1
Kassimir fires his shortbow into the mass of bats
Gail cast a spell and many of the bats fall dead.
Malthorn blasts a few bats out of the sky
Talus swats some down with his spear.
Ozgo crushes the biting bats.
Swarm of Bats[-30] move to envelop Gail as well...
Round 2
Kassimir
Gail
Malthorn
Talus
Ozgo
Swarm of Bats
Malthorn steps around the edge a bit further to send some more blast into the swarm.
Eldritch Blast, 2 rays
Gail shouted "Oak father!" once more and a concussion erupted within the swarm of bats, shredded their tiny forms!
With no other choice, Ozgo starts swinging at the swarm of bats with his sword.
Attack:
Damage: (re-roll 2's )= 11
Attack:
Damage: (re-roll 1 )= 10
Cursing, Talus swings his spear through the swarm...
Round 2
Kassimir fires his bow into the swarm
Gail blasts apart many of the bats, only a few ragged bats remain
Malthorn torches the remaining vampire bats
Talus
Ozgo
Swarm of Bats
Combat Over
"Ugh!" muttered Gail as she wiped away the residue of singed bat, "That's disgusting! Seriously what kind of twisted joke was that?!"
After she'd had a moment to calm down, she asked in a normal voice, "So what next? The abbey or that town and the windmill? Somewhere else?"
Malthorn looks about for more bats, but finding none takes a moment to consider Gail's question
"It seems we've been tasked to return the silver dragon's bones back to their rightful place. Before we'll ever have a chance of leaving this cursed land. Should we investigate the mansion's cemetery now or on our return."
"Now is a good a time as any..." replied Gail. She looked around to see if the others agreed.
Pulling bat corpses from his armour, Ozgo nods in agreement.
"Yes, let us search the lichyard to see if any clues to the whereabouts of the dragon's bones."
Remembering the spiders within the nearby corner of the mansion, Malthorn moves around the manse until he find the fog shrouded cemetery. Listening and watching for trouble.
The Cemetary
Tucked behind the mansion is a fog-shrouded cemetery enclosed by a seven-foot-tall fence of wrought iron. In the northeast corner stands a mausoleum.
Malthorn spots You suddenly feel like someone or something is watching you. Looking up, you spot a well-dressed man with a thick mane of thistledown hair observing you from a high tower window. He draws the curtain and disappears from view.
Mh i know there's a place in the mountains called the amber temple, it could hold the dragons remains, but going there seems like certain death. It's a place of evil and highly guarded. No one ever came back.
After a moment he adds:
That makes me wonder though how there are stories about it. Seems like they spread them on purpose, either to draw silly adventurers there or to keep them away. We'll never know untill we go there i'm afraid.
Perception:
Nodding in agreement to Kassimir's suggestion, Ozgo looks over the small cemetery and blurts out in a shocked voice.
"Look, over there. Those grave look to have been dug up...or wait, something has clawed its way out of them!"
Gail notices Malthorne looking at a window high up in a tower. "Did you see something?" she asked him.
Malthorn shakes his head, perhaps not in a negative but as if trying to shake the cobwebs from it. "I thought I saw the manse's master staring down at me from the upper windows. Yet I don't know if he wished us to investigate the cemetery or it was just a phantasm still haunting the place."
Malthorn searches the graveyard for any sign of the missing grave inhabitants, tightening his grip on his staff he reaches for the gate and attempts to enter the hallowed ground.
Devil Sight penetrates magic darkness up to 120'
[ooc]Seems like everything has slowed down lately (not just this storyline) and the 2 weeks worth of up and down time didn't help anything, My previous post was attempted at least twice before the system stayed up long enough to post."[/b]
Softly Gail replied, "Hmm. Lets worry about him later." as she stared walking towards the cemetery, weapon in hand, "No telling what will be there, best be on your guard."
Ozgo fallows the others but keeps looking back at the window to the great house.
"I want to help his spirit to be free, but I am not sure what we should do."
He readies his sword as they enter the graveyard, and rubs the raven symbol with his free hand.
In the graveyard nothing stirs.... you find a stone staircase that leads upwards into the tower nearby. You presume it leads into the chapel area of the manse.
Gail peers at the tower for a long while before suddenly whirling round to face her companions. "Never mind him in the tower, we've got bigger fish to fry. I say we head back to Vallaki and search for Rictavio there. We should probably check up on Ismark and his sister too, remember what Madame Eva's said, 'Search for a troubled young man surrounded by wealth and madness. His home is his prison.' I bet that is him."
What if that was Rictavio in the tower? We are already here, so i would suggest doing the things at hand before traveling back and forth.
Looking confused Gail asked "I have to admit a certain curiosity about the tower too, but why would Rictavio be here? It is frustrating, we came seeking a sword of the sun - whatever that is and found naught but ghosts and trouble."