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Post by Jeff on Nov 4, 2019 9:40:13 GMT -5
We need to keep looking for the sun sword as well as keeping our eyes open for anything that will help us to defeat Strahd whether it be weapon, armor, shield or some magical item. We found the Chamberlain’s room tucked away in the dungeon and he attacked us. We defeated him and I expected Strahd to show up in anger but nothing yet. We also met up with Cyrus, one of Strahd’s minions who was trying, a bit too hard, to get us to follow him. There was no way I was going to do that. I’m not sure what Strahd’s plan is at this point except that I feel he’s keeping his game with us going for his amusement. What other reason could there be? Why doesn’t he just attack us and try to end it? The only thing I can think of is he’s enjoying it. Being immortal must get pretty tiresome sometimes, and we may be providing him with a diversion.
As has been discussed, the party is showing signs of stress; we’re somewhat out of sync with each other at times, and we need to do our best to come together and make the best decisions we can in order to eliminate Strahd and free the people of Barovia. It’s paramount that we stay focused on our mission.
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Post by dragonforgotten on Nov 4, 2019 22:46:30 GMT -5
“Hey zola. It’s strahds diary. You should go check it out.” She goes over to it but doesn’t touch it. It’s not every day a diary floats into your face
"Oh and be careful!" I tell her
Zola laughs pretending to tremble in her boots.
"Oh no, not a book!" She mock, grabbing it. Ah, be mindful young Zola. Some books contain knowlegde that can turn your hair white. The moment her hands lay on it leathers cover the book jerks and tugs her around. the book puts up one heck of a fight. She digs her heels in and grits her teeth as I call from the back.
“There ya go Zola! Fight it! Put your back into it!”
She musters up all her strength and rips the book out of the ghosts unseen hands. She stumbles and falls into Stein who pushes her back to her feet as she pants wiping the sweat off her brow.
“Let’s see what this is all about. She says opening the book.
“Aww, Zola, you can read?!" She gives the gnome a menacing death glare but it’s not as intimidating coming from a 13 once 17 young girl. It’s like being menced by a puppy.
She rolls her eyes and reads.
“Ravenloft Nights, an erotic love story by Strahd von Zarovich," I start cracking up from the back, Ryder gives her the fatherly stare and It send me into laughter. By the time I’ve recovered I’m wipping the tears out of my eyes.
“It’s a Spellbooks creed. Want a read?”
“Eh sure.” I lazily flip through the book but understand barely anything. Makes me nostalgic. Grandpa never let me touch his Spellbooks. I snap the book closed with one hand
“Well I can’t read ****. Want me to hold onto it anyway. There barely anything in my bag.”
“Sure creed, you can keep the Spellbook of erotic gothic fantasys.” I start chuckling again as I put it away. Carrying on now I’m thinking to myself. How the heck does strahd manage this place. It’s bloody huge and it’s only him, a few unwilling or willing guests, and a dusk elf with a dry delivery in presentation. He must be bored. No wonder he doesn’t give a s**** about us. This must be the only excitement he’s had in years. As we defend the stair there’s a off room that leads to the barracks of the old guard and it looks like the old guard is still here. Their bones all lay peaceful in their beds.
“They look so peaceful. Do you happen to see a jaw bones on them?” I ask the gang and they all rotate there heads to me staring.
“Creed.” Zola asks slowly.
“Why do you always want to talk to skeletons.”
“Well the living never want to talk to me. You lot are one of the firsts.”
Everything descends into awkwardness. The unsaid tension hangs in the air. Mike claps her hands, drawing back our attention.
“Well. Let’s send my owl in to see.” The owl pops back into existence in all his skeletal glory.
“Did I ever mention he’s such a beautiful bird. He’s got lovey bones.” Mike glares at me.
“What? It’s true.” The owl spy’s in but the skeletons are just a quiet as they ever been.
With this confirmed Ryder walks in. They must have sensed his holyness because they instantly wake up and grab their weapons.
“Oh bollocks.” I mutter watching them rattle their bones in anger. Mike sets up a camp fire right under ones feet as he dances about. Zola charges into the flames with a confident smirk till she found fire can be too hot! Gotta admire the gusto! The skeletons are enraged! I can’t just let them beat up my friends. There the only ones to speak to me. I look at my hands and make them blaze.
“I’m sorry.” I say with a heavy heart. I barely look at one as I send the bolts of energy at him. One to his knee and the other through his head. I work on the others with the same favor. Passionless and mournful. I can’t not look at them and be reminded of my friends in the crypt and of my grandfather.
“May you sleep again.” I mutter to them as I put the last one down. I feeling my eye burn with tears.
I’m startled when Stein clasps my shoulder.
“No need for that. You did what you had to do.”
I nod my head.
“There not all bad. Strahds making them. I’m going to put them back to bed.” I go to each dust pile, trying to get as much in my hands as possible. This is my grandpas fate, powder.
Chad bends the knee by my side.
“Need some help.”
“That would be grand thanks.” I glance at Zola who looks like she wants to help but she’s busy making sure we don’t miss any hints or clues.
As I’m putting the last pile of bone dust on there bed I catch the end of a conversation between Zola don Ryder.
"Don't worry, my mom is cool. She's a warlock... and commander of the Waterdeep Guard." Ah, she’s talking about her. No wonder Zola was so captivated by my powers. I wonder where Gramps decided to go. I hope he’s taking care of himself. He always been a stubborn old bat.
There conversation moves along to the tattoo as I scoff.
“Please, one form of self expression isn’t going to end the world.” I chid. She looks back at me skittle worries.
“You have no idea creed. You really don’t. I’m just going to cover it up. She’ll never know.”
When the deeds done we move on from that sad place.
Stein hovers near the door to the next room.
"I think there's Vistani in there," he says. "Give it a tug."
Zola snickers as she opens the door and inside is OH MY GODS! ITS GLORIOUS!
It’s a room decorated with bones. The artistry is amazing! That chancicler! I just keep getting more and more ideas how I want to be buried when my time comes. The doors of possibility keeps getting wider and wider. Oh and there’s three vistani here.
“What are you doing here, Vistani?!" Cecil demands.
"That's incredibly racist, non-Vistani,"
“Cecil! So rude!” I tell him shocked.
The other one speaks.
"We escaped from the dungeon."
“The dungeons! I did you happen to see a gang of people. One looks really pathetic, ones tall and dim, and the other is a girl with lopsided hair.”
“No, didn’t see anyone.”
"Oh! Do you know where the wine dungeon is?" Zola ask. Oooo that’s a good idea as well.
I’m listening to them speak when Zola and starts tugging on me like a attention seeking kid. I look to we’re she’s trying to get my attention and I almost swoon.
“Is that a dragon skull! Someone pinch me! Ow!”
I rub my arm as zola smirked being cheeky.
“You did ask.”
“Oh I needed that. I was going to feint just from the excitement anyway. It has a mouth, I can talk to it!" I whispers to her
"Not in front of them!" She hiss back.
“Why? It’s just Vistani? Not like they haven’t seen weird s*** before.” I glance beyond her shoulder and see Yan standing there, fiddling with his hands.
“Have any of you heard of a guy named Yan?” I ask curious.
“Not that we know of.” Well sorry Yan, looks like it’s going to take some time to bring your head back home. I ask them to lift up the skull for us and they agree. Sweet! I can’t wait any longer
“What is your name?”
The dragon speaks once again.
“I am Arganvoa-”
“Ahhh!!” The skull slams to the ground with a boom and I get enraged.
“The f***ing hell guys! You don’t just drop a dragons head like that! Gods!” I bend down so I’m at eye level with the great dragon and I ask my questions. From what he told me we only need one bone, the important one. Well this head pretty important.
“Thank you. I hope we can speak again.” I tell him as the jaw stops moving. I get up off the floor and put my hands on my hip.
“Ok boys. It’s safe to pick it up now. For gods sake don’t drop him. He’s already missing the rest of him, he doesn’t need to get a cracked skull as well.”
“Sorry.” They haul him back up and we’re all ready to leave. The first door we open is already bad news. It’s filled with mist with a cute, odd looking dog man standing in the hallway. He won’t speak to us unless we’re inside the room so I put Cecil on my shoulders and we all walk in. He’s going on and on about stuff. Saying he needs to take us to our chambers.
“That’s a lovely idea but I’m not tired yet. I want a tour!”
“We're really not tired," says Stein. "Where are the stairs going to the basement? We need to find... something."
“No you must go to your chambers out I’ll be punished!”
“Say there. Have you’ve met the abbot? You look like the rest of the lot.”
“I was born there.” Ah.
“Cyrus.....Can you dance?” Asks Zola and his ears perk.
"Dance? Of course I can dance!"
He puts one duck foot forward, twirls, and then falls on his a***, flailing. Hmm. Entertaining but not what we’re looking for.
"Help me! I can't see!"
Me and Zola help him up. hurriedly get him back on his feet.
"Oh, it's the fog!" He sighs in relief.
We find out he’s the one i charge of the food.
“That was Han was equist.” I tell him. Zola mentions the drinks and he flips when he finds out it’s not the right kind. I was wondering why we were being served wine so early.
Looking for a change in conversation I spy his eyeball pendent.
“That’s a nice pendent you got there. Where you get it.
“I fear for your safety.” He tells me with more menace then his appearance lets in. How cute he thinks he can scare me. I’ve eat things scarier then him. Besides completely disregarding my regal ladylike disguise we escape from him when he learns he’s not getting us to go anywhere with him. I wonder if he saw through my disguise? Not a lot can. We explore some more when we reach a door. Zola, Stein, and Ryder steps into the room and the tension in the air returns while I’m waiting outside. Looks like an office from where I’m standing. The gang looks shocked and I hear a voice from inside the office.
“Ah, you've found my study," I hear boring bread Rahadin.
"I've slaughtered thousands to protect the Zarovich line. What is eight more?"
The gang inside clutch their heads as if in pain. Zola charges deeper into the room with a battle cry and big sword. Oh! Are we fighting now? Does that mean I can take his head?
Cecil does something as I watch his smirk
"No one's ever teared down these walls!" He shouts. suddenly turn into a anger disappointed frown.
“What!? Hey! I just made that!” He shouts into the room. I roll up my sleeves. Time to get to work. I step into the room and line my shots, tagging him multiple times. From the corner of my eye in the darkness something lurks. It strikes at Val, failing to stand before crawling back to the shadows but not before I see it. It’s visouse fangs and claw, it’s large wings, and those horns. My tail flicks. Intrigue.
“What are you doing here? Where you summoned by him perhaps?” I ask in abyssal. I don’t get an answer.
Suddenly I’m drawn back to the action. the man disappears as Zola swings down.
"COWARD!!!"
I leave the room with everyone and the mans outside harassing everyone. Zola’s really out for blood tonight. Before she reaches him he’s engulfed in white fire.
“The voices... are quiet." He dies.
"Theres some kind of shadow, be careful!" Val warns us.
“It’s a shadow demon.” I tell them watching the darkness. Stein casts light and we wait. The light rips apart the demons hiding place. With it expose we tear through its body. It makes one last charge towards Val before we strike it dead.
“Damn. It’s body’s disintegrating.” I whine.
With victory ours we drag the dead elf back into his office and shake his office down. Nothing really special in here as far as we can tell. I’m chilling out along the back wall taking a nap when Zola wakes me up when she gets up off the ground.
“Where you going?” I ask her. She throws the door open as bats swarms her face.
-Creed
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Post by Chris on Nov 5, 2019 10:29:22 GMT -5
Castle Ravenloft Larders of Ill Omen Chamberlain's Office Servants' Hall Wine Cellar Wine Casks Kitchen Butler's Quarters Elevator Trap Spires of Ravenloft Portrait of Strahd South Tower Stair Dungeon and Catacombs Dungeon Hall North Dungeon Forgotten Treasure Rotting Corpse Lost Sword Another Cry for help Time at end of session: Day 14, 12:06pm, Year 735? in the Dungeon Hall MVP Kyla Falcon as Chekasha "Cheeks" of the Abandoned Bog our plays on RPG Geek rpggeek.com/plays/thing/192136?userid=1168080 |
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Post by Aileen on Nov 7, 2019 11:04:41 GMT -5
The bats fly into the room, and one of the swarms descends on me. I like bats, they're adorable, but not when they're biting and flapping in my face. I start swinging at them with my sword, and hit really hard. They seem afraid of me after failing to bite me, and just keep squeaking around my head. Cheeks kills one swarm, Chad destroys the one swarming Rideyr, and then Mike finishes off mine.
"Cecil, how much would you give me to eat one?"
The gnome grins, contemplating.
"I'll eat one with you!" Cheeks says.
Poor Rideyr gives me the third degree and refuses to let me eat a bat, which I was really just kidding about... but now?
"We can deep fry them when we find the kitchen!" I announce, putting a couple bat carcasses in the dragon skull. "Who knows, they might be good."
We leave Rahadin's office and head back to the hallway with Cyrus. I was right when I said he would be waiting right where we left him.
"Ah, you're back to go to your room!" He sounds happy.
Cecil goes up and talks to him, and even starts trying to scratch his ears. While he distracts Cyrus, he gives us the signal to look for stairs going down. I go to the portcullis and peer in. I gasp loudly when I see wine barrels along the walls- I've found it at last! Rats are crawling on the floor by the barrels. I start trying to lift the portcullis, and Cyrus sees.
"No! You're not supposed to go in there! My pets will get out, Ferdinand and Magellan!"
Guess that's the rats. They could easily get out through the portcullis if they wanted to, anyway. Mike and I put all our strength into opening the portcullis, and I swear I'm going to strain something with the effort.
"It's too hard to lift, let's go somewhere else!" I say, giving up.
Creed walks up, examines it for a moment, and then almost effortlessly lifts it up. My jaw drops.
"We loosened it!" Mike snaps, walking in.
Mike and I are two very strong ladies, and we just got schooled by Creed of all people. I am positively shook!
Upon closer inspection of the casks, they are in fact from Wizard of Wines. Most of them are empty, and those that aren't are rotting. I think Strahd was lying to me about there being wine in the wine cellar. I feel betrayed, I thought he had my back! Oh, Strahd. I sigh wistfully, and start looking around for any secret doors. Thinking there might be a trapdoor on the floor, I lied down, and immediately can't see anything. Damn mist!
"Kind of cool, isn't it?" Cyrus says from the hallway. I can hear his duck foot slapping the ground as Cecil scratches his ears.
We start checking the other rooms in the corridor. Cheeks generously offers to mage hand the doors open instead of me carelessly opening them as I have been. Now I won't walk into any traps!
One room holds a bubbling cauldron and reeks of decay, so we shut the door. Another is apparently Cyrus's bedroom. Across the way one of the doors opens into a corridor, and down it we see cobweb filled stairs that go down! Mike sends her owl up ahead to scout with Cheeks, and the rest of us follow behind. Just as Rideyr and I enter the corridor, right behind Cheeks and the owl, a portcullis slams down in front of us. I turn my head back, and there's one behind us too. The floor starts rising rapidly, and Cheeks, Eisenhower, Rideyr and I with it.
"No, I'm too young to get crushed!" I scream, throwing myself to the ground and covering my head with my hands.
Rideyr and Cheeks keep their cool while I'm panicking on the ground. Cheeks starts fiddling with something on the ceiling of our trap, and I feel her poke me in the side with her foot.
"Zola, I think we're in an elevator!" She says.
"Yes, an elevator of death!" Nothing in Ravenloft has truly scared me until now, I've heard of traps like these from my mom- once it reaches the top, we are going to be squashed like grapes. I don't think anyone wants Red Zola Crush!
Rideyr pulls me to my feet as the elevator comes to a sudden halt. We're totally unharmed! Cheeks even found a trapdoor in the ceiling, and climbed up into it. She reports back that there is a hallway with stairs going up, stairs going down, and a nice rug. I climb out of the elevator, followed by Rideyr.
I see Cheeks standing on the rug which is moving and trying to wrap itself around her. She stabs it just as I run forward to attack it, and then she runs to the stairwell. It seems the rug isn't the biggest of our worries, as suddenly swirling, twisting colors start spinning in front of us. I'm transfixed for a moment, but snap out of it. Who is casting magic at us?! I try doing chromatic orb at the rug, but fail miserably. One of the tassels reaches out, touching my armor, and there is no escape for me- the entire rug wraps around me, and starts squeezing.
I can't breathe or move my arms, and I start to feel panic taking over. I need air! Something sharp hits me in the back, and I let out a muffled scream. I think my friends are attacking the rug, which I'm grateful for, but it hurts! I need to get out! With all my strength, I push off the ground, and jump upward, pushing my arms out as I do. It works, I'm free! I can see and breath again!
"Zola, the painting is alive and casting spells!" Rideyr warns me.
I side step the rug trying to grab me again, and turn to see Cheeks coming at me with her sword drawn. Her eyes are red, and a twisted metal crown is on her head. What is happening?! I dodge her blow, and see the figure in the painting cast a spell as I do. Rideyr rises up in the air, arms spread, as though lifted by an invisible giant hand.
"Drop my paladin, you bastard!" I scream, casting magic missile at it.
The painting wizard waves its hand, and my missiles fail to hit. I flip the painting off, and hear Rideyr hit the ground behind me. The rug tries again to grab me with a tassel, and I riposte at it in annoyance. My sword destroys it!
Cheeks goes back to normal, and looks a little disappointed that she no longer has her cool crown. I rush forward to the painting, and give it two decent slashes. Rideyr finishes it off, and now it's just a destroyed piece of art. However, none of us can see who it's a painting of due to lack of light. Cheeks scouts ahead to the stairs and says she will come right back.
"I'm gonna grab a torch!" I tell Rideyr, following where Cheeks went. I can see torch light flickering there.
"What was that, Zola?"
"A torch!"
Rideyr laughs, and I ignore him as I go to get it. When I get back, I go up to the painting, which is hanging in tatters.
"What's that accent?"
Did that slip out? Oh, no. I've been trying to sound classy here to no avail.
"Waterdeep, East Side."
I push the tattered shreds of the painting back together, and we can now see that it is a painting of Strahd. A very good one, he looks so handsome! I notice the face is barely hanging on, so I tear it off the rest of the way.
"Sorry!" I whisper to it, and put the face in my bag. I look up to find Rideyr staring at me with a questioning look. "What?"
He shakes his head. It's a good thing he hasn't seen my diary! I definitely do NOT have a page with all of my crushes names in hearts. Not at all. I wonder how Ismark is doing?
"Found them!" Cheeks announces, appearing back in the stairwell with Chad.
We follow them downstairs, meeting up with the rest of the group. I notice Stein isn't with them, but am quickly informed that he went in search of the little Cleric's room. I'm a little sore from the fight, so I ask Chad to heal me, and he does.
"Thanks Chad, Cheeks beat me with her sword."
"You were in a rug, I was beating that!"
While we stand around preparing for our next move, I turn my back on the party for a moment and pull out my Strahd face. When I turn back around, I have it up to my face like a mask.
"Hello," I say in my best Barovian accent. "Eets me, Strahd!"
"You are going to get yourself killed, Zola!" Creed warns.
"No!" I put the face away. "He likes me, unlike all of you!"
We head down the stairs, and descend into a corridor filled with black, still water. I hand the torch to Creed to free my hands up, and everyone starts making fun of how I say torch again. I don't get it, I sound normal! Ahead we can see arches and closed iron doors. This looks like it might be the dungeon the Vistani escaped from, but of course they are no help.
"Hello? Help me!" A voice cries out weakly up ahead.
Mike goes ahead of the pack, poking the ground with her spear to make sure we aren't stepping into any traps. I help Cecil climb up on Rideyr's shoulders, and he holds up Khazan's head to help light the way. The way seems to be clear, so we start moving in behind Mike. I watch as an explosion of water envelopes Mike, and then around me!
The ground drops out from under me, and I suddenly am underwater. I come up sputtering, and only have about an inch of space between the surface of the water and the roof. I put my feet on the ground and can't even fully stand up, but at least I can keep my face out of the water. I hold my breath and look around. I start choking on the water when I scream at the presence of my cell mate, the rotting corpse of a half-elf! This is the dungeon, and it is completely submerged in water.
I can see Mike in the cell next to me, and she is remaining calm. She also does not have a dead body in her cell. I want to throw up, I can't believe I swallowed body water!!! I try kicking the lock on my cell door, but it doesn't budge. Suddenly another body appears in one of the cells across from us, and I see it's Cheeks- we're saved!
She starts picking the lock of her cell, and I take the time to check the dead body for a key. I don't find one, but I do find a couple pouches, which upon opening reveal 5 shiny gems and a potion. I grab the longsword from his belt, and silently thank him. I want to take his body to Creed so she can lay him to rest or talk to him, but he's just too decomposed and I'm extremely grossed out. Cheeks releases Mike, and then swims over to unlock me. I'm relieved that there is more space above the water outside the cell than in it, and we can float and talk.
"Zola, you want to check out the glowy thing with us?" Cheeks asks, motioning toward the glowing cell across the way.
"Sure!"
We swim over and she picks the lock. It's hard to tell what it is when we go in the cell, so I dive under. It's a sword! I grab it, and feel something... you must fight evil! It doesn't so much as speak to me as make me feel that I must. When I resurface, I realize the sword doesn't feel right in my hands. I feel uneasy, like I'm... disappointing the sword somehow.
Girl Squad investigates the rest of the dungeon, and we find a bunch of coins. They all have Strahd's face emblazoned on them. I don't take any, but the other ladies do. I swim over to the door to the dungeon, and fail to bust it down. Mike and Cheeks try, and it bursts open into the hallway. After the gush of water, I see a peeved looking and soaked Rideyr standing in front of it as though he was trying to open it at the same time. My arms are laden with my new treasures, and the glowing sword catches everyone's eyes.
"Rideyr! I got you a present!"
I dramatically kneel before him, and present the sword.
"Thanks, Zola!" He grabs the hilt, and looks at it. "It's a good sword, but it doesn't feel right."
He passes it around, but nobody likes the feel of it. Valkyrie of all people bonds with it. I guess she of all people is someone who follows laws... did I hallucinate her cutting off Rahadin's head? Anyway. At least someone can use the cool sword. I give the normal longsword to Mike, and keep the gems for myself. Then I pull out the potion.
"What is that?" Creed asks me.
"Not sure!" I take a whiff of it, and it smells good but I can't tell what it is. I take a sip, and briefly consider faking my death again, but I've already given the group enough stress with falling into multiple traps. "Ooh. This is good stuff!"
It makes me feel really good for a brief moment, and I know it has to be a potion of heroism. I've got to save it for later. Maybe when we take over Vallaki!
"Hello, are you still there? Can you help me?"
Oh, right. There was someone who needs our help!
~ Zola Stormwyk
Zola Kolyana
Zola Cantemir
♥ Zola von Zarovich ♥
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Post by bxtreme on Nov 8, 2019 20:37:14 GMT -5
Journal Entry 24 After dealing with the bats, we confronted Cyrus again. I gave him a serious ear rub while on Creed's shoulders in hopes to distract him from the rest of us trying to open the portcullis. It took the Dawn Breakers longer than I expected, so Cyrus eventually caught on despite my best efforts and told us not to snoop around. I pulled up my big-boy gnome pants and basically asked him "Watchya gonna do about it?!". Cyrus backed down as he murmured to himself "Well, I haven't though that far ahead...". Beyond the portcullis there were wine barrels, but it turned out to be a bust. No stairs descending further into the dungeon.
We then checked out the other rooms nearby and found Cyrus' room (gross by the way), a kitchen Cyrus cooks in, some sleeping quarters, and a stairwell heading down! We continued our descent, and we were met by a variety of traps that split our team a few times. I can only imagine Strahd laughing at us the whole time, as we struggle through his treacherous dungeon. We must focus on finding the Sun Sword and somehow outsmart Strahd so we can leave his castle with it.
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Post by Jeff on Nov 9, 2019 10:39:21 GMT -5
Chekasha, Zola and I finish off the animated rug and the painting, of Strahd as it turns out, that had been casting spells on us—including one that lifted me straight up in the air. Just more evidence that Strahd is continuing to play his deranged game with us. That’s actually somewhat good news because, as strange as this may sound, I thought he might hit us hard after we killed Rahadin. It still could happen I suppose, but my guess is that Strahd is way too self-centered to truly care about anyone but himself. His obsession with Ireena must only be something about gaining a prized possession rather than anything to do with love. I doubt he is capable of anything close to love. Just another reason why the Abbot’s plan to offer Strahd a flesh gollum as a bride is so ludicrous.
Castle Ravenloft is massive, and our quest to recover the Sun Sword is a formidable one, but we must continue on.
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Post by dragonforgotten on Nov 10, 2019 21:17:20 GMT -5
The moment the door open bats swarm into the room battering Zola from all sides. We all toast and slash at the swarm till theres billions of tiny dead bodies on the ground. Zola and Cecil pick a couple of ones up.
"Cecil, how much would you give me to eat one?"
Cecil grins.
"I'll eat one with you!" Cheeks says. I chuckle in the corner as Ryder palms his face with a groan. Kids, cats and gnomes. I turn my back for five minutes to see that Val has behead the chancellor. Ugh! This ruins my plan now. We move onto the next room and i glanced won at Cecil.
"Why not hitch a ride on my shoulders. Don't want to be breathing in that fog, am I right."
"Sure! Thanks!" I bend down and let him climb onto my back onto my shoulders. He fumbles trying to find my curved horns under the disguise but eventually grasps them.
"Have someone ever told you your horns are great hand holds."
"Naw, I don't let kids on my back." We step back into cyrus.
"Ah, you're back to go to your room!" He sounds happy to see us, how adorable.
"Nope. We came to snoop but Cecil wants a pet." I go up to the dog man and before he can get away from us the gnome has manage to get a scratch in behind the ears. Cyrus melts under his touch, leaning his head into his tiny hands as his duck foot slaps the ground in a weird, awkward slapping sound. With him distracted the gang rolls up there sleeves and start trying to lift the bars to get to the stairs and the precious wine barrels on the other side. Im getting bored just standing there. Im watching Zola and Mike trying to throw their backs out in the effort. It hurts watching them. Yawn as Cyrus keeps asking for more scratches. I check my watch. Five minutes has gone by. My time is precious. Every second wasted is time i could use finding ways to revive my friend. Every second is a moment this body spends aging and dying little by little. Every. Little. second. Till Im dead and dust. Ive been standing still for too long. My thoughts have caught up to me.
"Piggy back rides over. Be right back." I then lift Cecil off my shoulders and place him on the ground into the mist.
"It's too hard to lift, let's go somewhere else!" says Zola red and huffing. Striding up to the gate I crack my knuckles and all the bones in my body and lift! The gate creaks and then swings upward sticking into place.
"Oh look, i opened it."
"We loosened it!"
"Ya whatever. Let's hurry up. I aint getting any younger." I yawn again joining the Vistani, stroking the dragons skull lovingly as I tell him about whats been happening in my life. the gang search the wine. The Vistani look at me like I've gone crazy.
"Madam, can you please stop. You'r scaring us."
"Do i look like a madam?"
"No.."
"Then shut the f*** up. Gezz, it's rude to interrupt. As i was saying Arganvost." As the gang finish up searching they come up empty so we start moving onto the next door before we tackle them stairs.
"No! don't go through the rooms!"
"And who's going to stop us!" Cecil sasses back and it stumps the poor dog man.
He's so lost in though we start opening doors after doors but there boring. one even leads to Cyrus room but for once we respect his privacy. Eventually we find the stairs down and continue this fun tour to the bottom of this rabbit hole. Finally progress-. Suddenly gates drop between me and the front line, inches from my face just as another gate slames down in front of Chee and the skeley owl.
"Well-." Before i can finish again the floor under the trapped front row begins to rise, taking Zola, owl, Chee and Ryder up for a ride as they scream going up. With a thud the counter weight drops and me and the rest are left sitting here wondering what just happened.
I stand there waiting for my brain to process this sudden turn of events in the only way i can.
"Oh my f***ing god! I forgot to tell Ryder how his day went and Zola to stop being a teenager today! We need to bust through this!"
I try and pull it ope like i did last time but without Zola, Ryder or Stein watching i cant summon up the bullgos se barovado to repeat that stunt.
"Need some help Creed." Mike asks smug.
"No, i got this. Just need a better grip." I move my hands and still i cant move it an inch.
"Alittle help?" this begins the desperate sad struggle of all of us trying to lift a stupid metal gate as Chad bamfs himself on the other side and starts running up the stairs. We try and try but this things so heavy and rusted it doesn't move. SOMEONE should have oiled the gears STRAHD! Mike steps up one last time and with a roar she throws it up and we waste no time running up the stairs. Up, and up, and up, and up and up....Oh gods make it stop! No more stairs! I promise i wont ever complain again but no more stairs! This was his evil plan all along! Make us run up this god for saken stairs! You mad evil Genius strahd! I truly do wish i was dead now! Giant Mike manages to make it to the top before me and Cecil and she finds the rest of the gang. As soon as I crest the last of the stairs I procede to pass out onto the floor on top of the shreds of carpet...
I blink awake and nearly have a heart attack as no other than Strahd staring down at me only to realize five seconds it's only zola as i rip it off her face. The first line apparently had this massive fight without me and I'm extremely disappointed. Whatever. Time to descend into the depths below! We past a couple of doors going up but Chad informs us of some scary sounding scratching and so we put a pin in it and forget about it. Further down to our goal we find Strahds underground swimming pool. Neat. Oh and someones screaming for help behind one of those big doors we begin to wade into the water but Zola and Chee don't get far before they suddenly are sucked down into nowhere! Whats!
"What!? Damn kids! Cant just stay out of trouble!"
"CHEEKKSS!" Mike starts wading into the water and soon enough she's gone as well. I summon up my powers and begin to bend the water to my will. pushing it aside where they feel i find a trap door. Hmm. I have a good idea where they went. Not long after we hear then behind a door. I help Ryder navigate his way without gettin sucked in by more traps as we help try to pull that door open. I wish i did'nt slack on my muscles now. Gramps was right. Ryders getting red in the face trying to open the door when it suddenly flys open and a large volume of water pours into the room, pushing him back into the group. Zola, Mike and chee emerge out of the room looks every excited for someones who'ev been stuck in a room. Turns out Strahd was very creative with his room designs, a dungeon and a swimming pool! Neat. Zola finds this awesome sword and gives it to Val who holds it aloft declaring she will forever do good and smit evil for now on.
"Cool, sweet. Im interested in that sweet sweet money."
"thats great but I'm still trapped over here!" We all turn to the other large door across from us. Oh right... There stuck in there.
Creed
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Post by Jeff on Nov 12, 2019 13:52:50 GMT -5
We continue through Castle Ravenloft in search of the Sun Sword which is proving elusive and seems to be moving. We need to leave Ravenloft in possession of the sword, but we also need to keep a sharp eye on our well-being and resources. After the flare-up between Creed and Cecil, it’s becoming even more clear that this place is taking its toll on us as a group. Once again I had to step in and keep the peace, but I hope we can all come together to complete our mission and hopefully leave this land.
We have the skull of Argynvost and hopefully we’ll be able to return it to his home as he asked us to. I don’t know what it will do, but I hope it’s something positive as both our group and the people of Barovia need to feel hope.
I’m not down and am totally committed to freeing the people of Barovia, but I could use something positive to give my spirit a lift and sense the others feel the same.
Thinking of the things to do:
-Locate and retrieve the Sun Sword
-Bring the skull back to Argynvostholt
-Find Ireena and Ismark
-Make sure the children are safe.
-Return to Villaki and free the people there.
-Find the items Madame Ava said we should have
-Locate and retrieve the seeds for the Martikovs
-Rebuild the structure and statue of the Morninglord in Krezk
-Locate Von Richten and Ezmerelda to see if they will be of any help
Much to do and even more, but I’m weary and have to push on.
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Post by Chris on Nov 12, 2019 14:44:10 GMT -5
Castle Ravenloft Dungeon and Catacombs Dungeon Hall North Dungeon Forgotten Treasure Gray Ooze South Dungeon Prisoner (Emil Toranescu) Forgotten Treasure Dead Dwarf Dead Wizard Hanging Bard Torture Chamber (Strahd zombies) Observation Balcony Brazier Room South Tower Stair Spires of Ravenloft Tower Roof Brazier Room Rooms of Weeping Study Dining Hall of the Count Treasury (floating handkerchief) Time at end of session: Day 14, 12:06pm, Year 735? MVP Steve Penna as Steinbjorn Rexxor Grimarsson our plays on RPG Geek rpggeek.com/plays/thing/192136?userid=1168080 |
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Post by Aileen on Nov 13, 2019 10:26:33 GMT -5
Castle Ravenloft: Rumble in the Dungeon
Most of us go into the dungeon to find the source of the voice crying for help. Cecil yelled out asking his name, and its Emil Toranescu. Cheeks goes up to the cell with Rideyr and I as backup, and starts talking to him. He checks out, and seems to hate Strahd as much as most of us do. I quickly hide my Strahd face I was wearing as a prank, I don't think this guy would find it as funny as my comrades. Not that they do, I'm the only one amused by it.
"There's something in this cell, it's melting my armor!" Steinbjorn screams from the side of the dungeon I was imprisoned in previously.
"Why doesn't he just shut the cell door?" Rideyr mutters under his breath.
"Hey Steiny, maybe don't explore while we're seperated?" I yell.
Rideyr grins at me but sighs. Ok, maybe I was too sassy.
"Okay, seventeen year old with all the life experience- get your a** in here!" Stein shouts back.
"She's thirteen now!" Rideyr adds, pushing me toward the door.
"Close the cell door, Stein- I'm coming!" I shout back.
I reluctantly start making my way there through the water, but I don't even make it to the hallway before Cecil confirms that whatever was attacking is now dead. Sadly, Steinbjorn's armor is now heavily damaged. It was some kind of grey ooze thing, but it's dead now. I head back to the other side and our new friend before Stein can get me back for being sassy.
Somehow Cecil convinces the new guy to carry him on his shoulders to get him out of the water. Emil is young and kind of cute, and I probably would have flirted with him before- but I've moved on to real men. Men with money and cool capes and castles... sigh.
We head into the part of this level we haven't been in before, occassionally splooshing back into cells and having to regroup. It's actually fun despite the annoyance of taking forever to move ten feet. Ahead we find a large cavern, also flooded with water. Rideyr and I go in, and shapes erupt from the water! Grey skinned, shambling, decaying zombies... they look absolutely revolting! I run up and slash at one, and its leg falls off- it just blankly stares at me, groaning, and stays upright. I hit it again, taking off an arm.
"Eww! Guys, don't use swords they just fall apart!" I warn.
There's some commotion behind me, and I hear that apparently Emil threw Cecil off his shoulders, claiming he got spooked. Cecil seems okay, as I hear him calling to me a moment later.
"Zola, I'm going to do something cool- but I might hit you!"
"Do it!"
Suddenly freezing rain appears in a sphere, hitting all the zombies in my area. It doesn't get me!
"I'll get you next time, Zola!"
Anyone who knows Cecil and I would know that's not a threat- I love being a test subject! I will do just about anything, that's how you keep life interesting. In my momentary distraction, I don't notice one of the zombies coming up behind me. Not until it springs on me, biting into my neck with extreme force. I scream, feeling hot blood shooting out. It pulls away, clawing at me as I check to make sure I'm not dying. I feel woozy, but I can keep fighting.
Something claws me underwater, and I shriek- it must be the zombies arm that I severed! Responding to my scream, Rideyr comes up and attacks the zombie that bit me.
From behind comes a low, guttural grow, and I hear the party shouting. Steinbjorn turns undead, and some of them flee.
"Nobody will ride me again!" Growls Emil. He sounds... different.
"HE'S A WEREWOLF!!!" Cecil yells. Ah, another thing to worry about. Too bad I'm too busy fighting my way through Zombieland.
I reach out and shock my original zombie, and it falls dead... well, re-dead. I turn around to see Rideyr being grappled by the other one, and he cuts one of its arms off. Steinbjorn destroys it with his holy magic. I move up to the next one, hitting it with a chill touch. There's a lot of commotion going on in the hall, and I'm worried I'm missing something, but these zombies need to be taken care of. Chekasha shoots my zombie dead just after it tries attacking me, and I turn to the growling voice that is speaking in the hallway. I can now see Emil is now covered in fur and beastly, but not a full wolf.
"Steinbjorn, I have a story for you," he growls. "I was once married to a beautiful woman, Zulieka. Her final words as she lay dying were, 'the Packmaster did this'!"
He attacks Cecil, and I can see that Cecil had put up an ice wall in the corridor. He takes it down, and a very angry looking Creed was behind it. I have a clear shot on the werewolf that was Emil, and hit him with a fireball. Creed runs up and bites him, and Cheeks shoots him. Stein finishes him off, but Creed still looks pissed off. Shouldn't she be happy? What the hell did I miss?
Suddenly Creed makes a bubble of water surround Cecil's head, and she looks like she's out for blood. Shes yelling and swearing at him in Infernal, and I confirm that she is trying to hurt him. Nobody messes with my gnome friend and gets away with it! I run, as fast as I can through the mucky water, and dive onto Creed. I knock her down, landing on top of her, and hold her under the water.
"LEAVE CECIL ALONE YOU CRAZY TIEFLING!!!!" I scream. She struggles below me, but I'm bigger and stronger.
"Zola, she needs to breathe." Cecil says, very calmly for someone that was about to be Creed's victim.
"Oh?" I don't budge.
"Zola, let her go." Stein tells me.
I get up, and let her scramble, sputtering and pissed off, to her feet. I turn my back, walking back into the zombie room, momentarily stopping to hold the wall as it hits me how exhausted I am. That bite and bodyslamming Creed really took a lot out of me, I feel awful!
"Hey," Stein grabs my shoulder, taking a look at my bloody neck. "Eat a berry. You'll feel better."
"Thanks, Steiny."
I take the berry, but I don't feel that much better. What I need is a good sleep... I just want my bed, my feather comforter, piles of pillows, my servants making me coffee in the morning... mom and dad... I really miss home!
I get the lowdown on what happened in the hallway while Stein casts locate object. Apparently Creed was picking a fight with the werewolf, and Cecil put up an ice wall between Creed and Emil. It's unclear whether he did it to protect Creed or protect Emil, considering he thought he was a werewolf for a minute back in the cave. Creed got hurt, and now she hates Cecil. The end.
We take some time to look around the room as we wait, and formulate our next move. This was a torture room, judging by the chains and racks and iron maidens. Theres still skeletons in most of them. I'm so tired and don't feel good, so I just stand near Stein as he casts and glumly watch the group.
"You okay, kid? You're unusually quiet." Rideyr asks.
"Yeah. I really need a nap."
"That zombie got you good. You look exhausted."
"Well, I guess this is what I get for making fun of Creed's exhaustion."
Rideyr laughs. We haven't heard the end of it from the angry tiefling. This has not been her week.
"The Sunsword is that way, and moving!" Stein announces, pointing back the way we came.
The only problem is, there are no other doors that way. Just the stairway, and we know where that leads.
"We could check behind this curtain," Cheeks thumbs at the curtain behind her. "Might be a hallway that goes back that direction."
"Good thinking. Take a look, Cheeks!" Stein says.
"I may be brave, but I'm not an idiot. You all climb up here, too."
She ties a rope on the railing, and we all climb our way up. She mage hands the curtain open, and Rideyr and I take our usual place in the front. I can see the furthest of everyone in the darkness, thanks to being young and an avid eater of carrots, so it just makes sense for me to be the eyes of the group. I also don't give a s*** if I fall in a trap- they're fun!
The room on the other side is the coolest one we've seen so far! There's a brazier of white fire in the center of the room, its rim containing little cup shaped indents which each have a colored stone in them. Above it from the ceiling hangs a big hourglass, its sand stuck in the top part. On either side of the room are statues of knights on horseback. I walk forward, wanting to read what's written on the base of the hourglass.
"Zola, no!" Stein shouts.
"I'm reading the hourglass! Chill." I snap. I'm done with these people being mad at me for going into rooms, I'm not afraid of anything. Just elevators, and even that turned out fine!
I go stand before the brazier, and read the inscription aloud to everyone.
"Cast a stone into the fire
Violet leads to the mountain spire
Orange to the castle’s peak
Red if lore is what you seek
Green to where the coffins hide
Indigo to the master’s bride
Blue to ancient magic's womb
Yellow to the master's tomb."
We discuss what this riddle means, and it seems pretty straightforward. This is probably a portal, and the stones are what will take us to certain destinations. I love that its color coded, makes things easier, however the vague descriptions of the destinations are a little infuriating. We decide not to use it yet, and take a nap. The balcony of the torture room is where we decided to try to rest, because apparently some party members are afraid of the knight statues. As someone who has lived all her life in a castle and around statues, they don't bother me. I am now wary of rugs, however.
I curl up in the corner of the balcony, shutting my eyes and trying to squeeze in as much sleep as I can in a short amount of time. I haven't been this tired since the werewolf cave, the revenant wasn't lying when he said I would never find rest in Barovia. I'm just about to drift off when I'm roused by Stein loudly talking.
"That looks familiar... Zola. Zombie!"
I get up, groaning in displeasure, and join him at the balcony. Looking down, there's a legless zombie clawing it's way up to us.
"That's not mine!" I huff. "I only cut one leg off."
Chad destroys it, and we get back to resting. I see Creed sitting off by herself and she looks really down. I do feel bad about bodyslamming and trying to drown her, but she was being irrational. As much as I think she was totally in the wrong, I get it. I don't want her to hate me, either.
"Creed, I'm sorry about tackling you." I tell her, immediately tackling her into a hug. "I still think you're cool."
I break away before she can hit me or otherwise react, and go back to my spot. I just barely drift off, and I'm being shaken awake by Cecil. Time to move on and find the Sunsword.
"Do you think Strahd has coffee?" I ask aloud.
"Probably not," answers Stein. "He drinks blood."
I laugh to myself as I have a great image of Strahd running a coffee shop. Strahdbucks!
We follow Stein's directions, wandering back the way we came from. The sword keeps changing levels, but it's clearly in the back part of the castle. Unfortunately, we are more near the front and can't seem time find the way to get across the castle. Up and down the stairs we go, coming back to the painting and rug hallway at one point. Chad heads off to a side stairway and finds a different tower. This one opens into open air, and we see a stone bridge connecting the two towers. We are 190ft above the courtyard, and the keep roof is 80ft below. Cheeks suggests we feather fall and take the leap, which is an awesome idea and something I really would enjoy doing. Sadly, we end up going back to the teleport room.
At my suggestion, we all stand in a circle and hold hands. I take Steinbjorn's sweaty and clammy hand, and he grabs the red stone, casting it into the fire. The brazier flame turns red, and Stein pulls free of my grasp as he walks into it. He disappears! I jump in after him.
I walk out into a room filled with a cozy amber light, a roaring fire in a hearth. It looks like a library or a study, filled with comfortable looking divans and couches. This room would be extremely nice, if not for the portrait above the fire. I gag, choking, as I walk in. The rest of the group appears one by one behind me.
"Zola, you okay?!" Cecil asks, concerned.
I choke back the bile, pointing up at the painting. Staring out of the frame is an exact likeness of my favorite person in all of Barovia, Ireena Kolyana.
"Okay, we gotta do this quick Zola," Cecil is in business mode, apparently. "Take my quill, draw a moustache on it, and we will look for the Tome of Strahd!"
The party starts looking through the books in search of the Tome of Strahd. Meanwhile, I search the painting of the auburn haired woman who everyone is so obsessed with. I don't get the appeal. Sure, she's pretty, but can she weild a giant two handed sword? I think not! And back in Death House, didn't she drop like ten times?! Even I made it out of there without going unconscious!
I stop, feeling an overwhelming sense of sadness. It's been a while since I thought about Death House. Not all of us made it out... my cousin didn't. I've been so wrapped up in finding the Sunsword, and saving the wereravens' seeds, and trying to impress an ancient vampire, that I've completely suppressed any thoughts of Eliza. What am I doing? What would Eliza think of what's become of me?
I shrug off the melancholy, blinking back tears, and see Creed has joined me at the portrait. She smirks at me.
"Need some help?"
I nod, and we both try to pry the painting off the wall, our goal to cast it into the fire. Unfortunately for us, and fortunate for Portrait Ireena, it won't budge. We give up, and Creed looks at me for a moment, pondering something.
"We're running out of time." She mutters, lost in thought.
Before I can stop her, she rushes over to the door, and pulls it open. A cloud of dust makes her cough, and she steps in. A few of us stand behind her, looking in, but it just looks like an abandoned room. There's an old wedding cake that is in a state of rotting and yet still maintains its form. A small doll is on the top of it, probably one of those bride/groom cake toppers. As Creed backs out and shuts the door, I catch the sight of a big harp in the corner. It just makes me think of Death House again, and Eliza trying to say the harp. Great, now everything is going to remind me of him. Dammit, Creed!
Creed starts muttering about time, and being stuck in suspended time or something, and running out of it. Perhaps she has truly snapped? I think we are all at that point, honestly. Chad finds a secret door, and opens it. Ahead in the dark passageway, a white handkerchief floats ominously toward us.
~ Zola of Barovia
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Post by bxtreme on Nov 17, 2019 20:27:56 GMT -5
Journal Entry 25 We found a man in one of the cells in the flooded area we recently discovered. He agreed to come with us and even allowed me to ride his shoulders - for a while at least. Once we came in contact with a group of zombie enemies, he threw me off! We quickly found out he was a werewolf looking for the "Pack Master". One of my kin? Could it be?
I was so excited to finally be recognized as the Pack Master, I told him "Yes it is I, the Pack Master!" But things spiraled rapidly as soon as he revealed himself to be a werewolf. Creed attacked him immediately! I assumed the werewolf was an ally, so I needed to ask some questions before making a final assessment. Creed wouldn't stand down so I put an ice wall between the two of them.
Upon further questioning from Stein, it turns out we murdered his wife in the den of werewolves...yes the "Pack Master" was recognized for being a murderous gnome that killed this man's wife. I certainly wasn't expecting that. We swiftly ended the werewolf, as he could not be convinced to stand down. After the confrontation was resolved, I removed the ice wall and found a very angry Creed on the other side. Apparently I miscalculated the positioning of the ice and crushed Creed with it. She was nearly unconscious from the injuries.
Creed was a bit upset for a while...but I think we are over it now. After wandering around the castle a bit more, we realized the Sun Sword was being moved in a part of the castle that was not easy to get to. Therefore, we decided to use the teleportation room we found to access new parts of the castle quickly. Hopefully we will get lucky and find ourselves in a place closer to the Sun Sword.
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Post by Aileen on Nov 17, 2019 21:05:03 GMT -5
Who has the Sunsword?
Theories:
1. Strahd is dangling it on a string, moving it up and down
2. On the back of a golden retriever- Cheeks, you're on to something.
3. Zombies?
4. That ***** Ireena.
5. Van Richten???
6. Cats.
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Post by dragonforgotten on Nov 18, 2019 17:04:39 GMT -5
Creed age 15
I’m on my rare walks with gramps. He hobbled along in his guise as an elderly man, Corvo the silly old raven perched on his staff. We walk through the city as the sky bleeds red. The last drall of business trickles down to a crawl as I carry his shopping. He snarls as kids laugh running by us.
“Ugh, savages. Who lets their spawn run across town like wild animals. Well! Hurry up now child! I ant getting any longer.”
“Why are we in such a rush gramps, not like anyone’s playing attention.” He hisses at a shop keeper about to sell him something as she scurry away.
“My bones ache. We got my ‘medication’. It’s too loud, too lively up here.” He then proceeds to whine and moan about everything as I let him vent. Everything from the suns to hot, the new paper is filled with teeniebopper garbage, his bones hurt. It’s best to let him prattle on. His list of complaints is long and extensive. His bones have been getting old and fragile lately. He.. always seemed so strong. I feel like I’m watching him decay in front of me with every second that passes and I don’t like it. For once I’m powerless to stop the cruel march of time. He scoffs glaring at the people around him. I brought him what he needs for so long. Why won’t he let me anymore?
“Look at the lot. So ignorant, so blissful. Only a few short years and they fall back into complacency. Sheep. The lot.”
“You could say that again. Boring lot normal people are.”
I help him sit by the docks, he likes watching the sunset. I think that’s what age does to you. You stare at gos se and think. I pull out my pocket watch checking the time. I don’t like sitting still. Doing nothing. It eats away at me.
He then turns his one pale green eye at me.
“That was given to me a long long time ago. Have it proven helpful?”
“It has. I’m never late for my dates anymore and I can schedule in my hunts.”
“Of course that’s what watches are for girl. They capture the short essence of measurable time.” He shifts in his chair taking in a great rasping breath.
“Time. The foe of all life. Time eats away at you but by bit till you are nothing”
“I thought that was death?”
He lets out a barking laugh.
“Death and time go hand in hand child. They are the same. They come for us all. The young, the old, the weak and the strong.”
I look out to the docks, watching the sailors and wonder what’s beyond the waters, what’s beyond the demiplane and this city called home.
“Gramps. You like to complain about the living. I thought you hated them for awhile.”
He smiles, forelorn.
“No child. I don’t dispise the living. I envy them.”
I look at him suprised.
“Envy?” I mutter shocked. He strokes Corvos chin watching the sailors.
“The living possess the one thing that is forever lost to me. The ability to change, to grow.”
“And the dead can’t change?” His eyes narrow.
“No, the dead don’t change. Only the living can grow. We stagnant and decay.” He turns to me serious.
“Which is why you must treasure your life. You carry not only your life but the lives of other as well including myself. They are powerless to change their station but you my dear are still living. Should you parish, well all be lost. You can change, that you can grow that makes you powerful. we are always watching over you.” He stays laying a hand over my eye patch. My good eye darts back to the sailors talking an laughing among themselves. Must be nice. The dead seem to be the only ones that like me.
“Are you sure about leaving. You be mingling among.... them.”
I look into his eyes confident.
“I can’t stay stuck in the crypts forever gramps. Besides. I want to make.. friends.”
He looks at me with such sadness and pity.
“Please be careful who you put your faith in. The world is cruel and vile. Humanoids after all are base, cruel and selfish in nature.”
I humm not really paying attention. As long as I can hunt I’ll be right as rain. I laugh to myself looking back out to the sea.
“I don’t think you'r right gramps but we’ll see who is.”
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present
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After spishing and slashing about in the water we open the door to find a Vistani man is the cells moaning for help. Huh. He sounded a lot more girlier from behind the giant stone door. He’s the only survivor. the cells near him each have corpses set up in interesting position. There’s a dwarf here that was waterboarded. How classy. I hear commotion in the other room but it’s over before I even get to see what was going on. Apparently a grey ooze attack Stein and melted parts of his armor. He had all the fun without me. As everyone’s going over the body’s and Chees working on Elims lock I go check out the skeleton in the cell, the one wearing the robes. I cup his skull with my claws and I almost expect him to talk to me but he doesn’t. I already used up my spells and we haven’t had a chance for me to draw on Gramps mighty wellspring of power. I want to know what his story was but sadly he’s silent. I give the poor man a pat on the head. Fix his cloths and Freeing him if his shackles before leaving. Cecil riding on the freed vistanis shoulders. I ask him if he knows of Yan but still a no. That poor man will never be reclaimed at this rate. Beyond the cells it opens up into this large room with a balcony. Something tells me this place didn’t use to be flooded. He converted his basement into a swimming pool that sneaky b*****d. Suddenly as Zola steps into the room Zombies comes bursting out of the water. Finially! Some action! Before I can even move Elims grabs Cecil and throws him harshly to the ground! Cecil yells what that was for and he only answers
“I got scared. Sorry.” There’s something up. There’s an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. My eyes narrow. I don’t buy it but I don’t care. I want in on this action. I’ll sort though this shady a*** later. I see a spot I can settle in beyond him. Just as I start trying to move past him he holds out his arm, blocking me. I try his other side and he infuriatingly moves his shoulder in my way.
“Do you mind! I’m trying to get by!” He doesn’t say anything, I need to get in there! I glare at him harsh.
“Are you stupid! Move!” I try again and he’s still blocking me and my blood starts boiling. Now I’m pissed. Somethings wrong with this man. I grab his arm forcefully and force him to look at my face.
“Do you want to die or do you like pissing me off! Look at me!” As I look into his face my gut feeling grows stronger but I can’t read his face as my vision blurs from exhaustion. I don’t care at this point. I’m going to kick his a***.
Suddenly the mans body grows and twists, growing hairier and wolfy. Soon I have a death grip on his hairy meaty arm and I’m staring into the yellow eyes of a wolf man. It hits me. I start laughing and smiling. Blood pumping with excitement.
“Ohhhhhh.... I seee what’s going on here! What’s going on indeed. Clever! Very clever! Well two can play at that game!”
My fangs elongate. I pull the wolf man to his knees and bit into his neck. He howls, screaming in pain as he forces me away. He bits and swings too wide, then claws at me But I deflect his claws. I pounce again raking my claws across his chest as the corrosive acids burns his hair and flesh, Cecil screaming at me to stop, that he’s the pack master. That he’s a friend. I scoff.
“What the hell does that mean?! I don’t give a flying F***. He pisses me off!”
I pounce again biting into his arm as he howls in agony. I almost have him. He’s not looking so good right now. I have him!
Suddenly I’m slammed by a staggering amount of force. It pushes me against the ceiling. I feel my ribs break as I’m throw to the water. I flounder weakly, Laying on my side wheezing and dizzy, coughing up blood as I stagger to my feet, tail dragging behind me. What happened!? I look up to see a familiar ice wall. I see Cecil on the other side talking to the wolf man and watch as predictable Elim turns on the others. I feel the pure anguish in my soul. The sense of betray burns and cuts deep. I look at Cecil focusing all my rage on him and scream with the force of all my hate and pain but nothing happens. Blood stains the ice as I glare at him through wall, claws raking the wall. I’m not stupid. I can’t get though this wall without killing myself. I can only wait. Wait and watch. Wait as my time is wasted and everyone has fun without me . No one puts me in the corner.
“Are you alright?” The Vistani holding the skull ask, worried.
“No.” I hiss and they take a healthy step away from me. How could he do this to me? I thought he was my friend. He nearly not only destroyed me but I also nearly destroyed everyone with me. I clutch at my eye patch and I don’t feel anything wrong under it. Nothings broken except my ribs. Eventually the wall comes down and my blood lust comes back in full force. I throw myself at the wolf man looking for some direction to displace my rage only him to die just as I reach him. With him gone my eye falls to Cecil. I raise a clawed hand up and watch as a glob if water encases the gnomes head. Suddenly I’m taken off my feet and I’m failing under the water as pain blooms throughout my body. Someone’s trying to drown me! I struggle fighting like a cornered animal but Zola’s stronger then she looks for her age. I get weaker and weaker till I stop moving at all. Im about to pass out when suddenly I’m lifted out and can breath again. I choke and gag, still angry beyond belief but more clear headed. The room a lot darker with the torch out. As I climb to my feet clutching my stomach.
“What the heck was that for? It was an accident!” I glare at Mike.
“No. An accident is stepping on your foot, not breaking every bone in your body. There’s few things I live for. Killing is one of them.”
“That’s dark.”
I don’t give her my reply. Cecil comes up to me holding a potion and I only feel anger.
“I’m really sorry creed-.” I slap the potion out of his hand and watch it break on the ground. Everyone then begins to freak out.
“What the hell creed! Those don’t grow on trees!” Shoutes Stein. Everyone goes up in complaints but I don’t care. I just want to kill something and sleep. We travel up onto the balcony as Chee pulls back the curtain into a large room with a white fire and a large bourse glass frozen in time. There’s different colored stones. Each does different things if you throw them into the fire. Interested in the blue one. That one sounds like fun. Everyone wants to rest on this decision after Stein confirms the swords is back we’re we came from and in the back of the castle. No idea how we’re getting there. This place has me turned around already. Stein comes up to me, looking at my wounds and my haggered breathing.
“You look bad. Let me help.” I don’t fight him as he uses his magic to closes all my wounds and mends my ribs.
“Thanks.” I tell him before huddleing up against the wall not bothering to renew my disguise as the long hour passes. Feeling really low right now. He chose a werewolf over me. He hurt me because of some delusion. Cecil tried to get my attention but I turn my gaze away from him with a huff. Zola sits by my side, she looks as tired as I am.
“Creed, I’m sorry about tackling you.”
Suddenly she throws her self at me and wraps her arms around me! I just shut down frozen in her arms and the pain in my chest hurts a little less. She lets go frustratingly soon and runs off, leaving me sitting wonder what I should do.
——————
We wonder up and down the castle hopelessly lost. We got a few options now that we went all the way to the stop. Take the long boring walk or throw the magic peddles into the fire and see what happens. I’m all for magic pebbles and I’m not alone in this. Back to the hourglass room stein grabs the red peddle and throws it into the fire. As it erupts into red flames we link hands and jump in as I catch the sand in the hourglass moving.
We’re now all standing around a cozy room. Looks like a study with a roaring hearth. A large picture of Ireena hangs over it as I hear Zola gag. I don’t understand her hatred for the woman. Everyone seems to want her for reason that’s beyond me.
The party starts tearing through the book cases looking for the tome of Strahd. I shake my head. If it was that easy we would have all escaped Barovia sooner. I feel myself growing frustrated the longer we stay in this room. This is a waste of time I do not have the luxury of. I’m watching the second hand of my watch trying to catch how much time I have or don’t have. I’m losing time fast as of late. Elizas at the point we’re it’s almost too late. I don’t want to live with that failure. I don’t know what that hour glass was and I want a measured amount of time for it. I suddenly catch Zola trying to take the painting down, catching the tears in her eyes.
“Needs some help?” I ask. I’m not letting her toss the painting into the fire. Fortunately or unfortunately it’s stuck. The group still isn’t down waste time in this one room! I’m getting anxious just standing here! There two other door way! Just pick one before I do! Another two minutes past and I’m practically shaking with anxiety.
“That’s it!”
I go to the nearest door and pull it open as everyone shouts at me to stop. The dust makes me cough as the group gathers around me. It’s a small uncared for room with a large moldy wedding cake and a harp in the corner.
“There happy! We need to finish searching.” Says chee.
“No Im not. We don’t know how long we have both in this part of the castle or our lives. Every second I feel myself decay and it’s upsetting. Stop wasting my bloody time and let’s get on with it.”
“Well we can’t all be on creeds time.” I turn to Mike probably looking crazed.
“Then hurry the f*** Up.”
The group goes back to searching as I’m walking in circles trying to find purpose in my action so the thoughts don’t over take me.
-Creed
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Post by Chris on Nov 19, 2019 16:39:52 GMT -5
Castle Ravenloft False Treasury Hall of Webs Belfry (giant spiders) Barovians Wights Wights Study King's Bedchamber (Gertruda) Crawling Claws Cliffhanger Time at end of session: Day 14, 5:17:24 , Year 735? MVP Brian Costa as Cecil McBiggins our plays on RPG Geek rpggeek.com/plays/thing/192136?userid=1168080 |
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Post by Aileen on Nov 20, 2019 21:20:40 GMT -5
The handkerchief floats in midair, and Steinbjorn reaches over the fire in the hearth to grab it. Just like with the book, he has to pull hard before it comes free. That gets me thinking... what was holding it? I grope at the air in front of us, where it was, but catch nothing.
"What are you doing, grabby hands?" Cheeks asks.
"Seeing if there's a ghost!"
"Lucky ghost!" Mike mutters.
Creed holds out a tourist brochure and I realize it's from Vallaki... why does she have that?! Nothing surprises me anymore in this place. Obviously, nothing takes it from her.
We decide to go through the secret door and check out the hallway. Only problem is, we would have to walk through fire. I'm cool with it, but others don't want to.
"I walked through Mike's fire and it wasn't that bad!" I comment, making to walk through. Creed stops me, and then puts the fire out. Well, that solves that.
This leads us into a chamber with a chest, a bunch of money on the floor, torch sconces, and a skeleton on the floor holding a torch in one hand and the other hand at its throat. Creed immediately perks up, wanting to talk to the skeleton, and Cheeks offers to open the chest with mage hand. Everyone but Creed and Chad backs out, and Creed does her Speak with Dead thing. Turns out he didn't know he was dead, just that he got sleepy...
"Someone prop the door open," orders Rideyr. "Must have been fumes from the fireplace."
Chad blesses the body, and they leave the room. Cheeks does her magic and puts the lit torch in the fancy sconce. The back wall slides open, revealing a passageway filled with cobwebs! Maybe we found our way to the back of the castle!
"Creed, you can go open the chest now!"
She glares at me.
"I'm in a bad mood now."
"Opening the chest might improve that!" Cecil says.
Cheeks mage hands the chest open, and the room begins to fill with a noxious looking green gas. It's a good thing we stayed in the hall!
"Alright, anyone going in?" Stein asks, obviously joking.
We stand there for a minute, watching the gas. It doesn't seem to want to dissipate.
"Wellll... I don't have to breathe." Cecil pipes in after a bout of silence.
We send the gnome in, and he looks in the chest.
"It's empty!" He calls, coming back through the gas.
Cecil comes up with a brilliant plan of taking some of the gas in his mouth, and breathing it on or in one of us. Of course, I volunteer.
"I could puff it directly into your mouth and see what happens!" He announces.
"Yeah! Worst thing that could happen is I die, right?"
Cecil takes in a big breath, and walks back out. Unfortunately, Creed gets to him before he reaches me. She grabs him, and in the struggle he seems to swallow the gas. He instantly goes limp, falling to the ground.
"NO! CECIL!" I run to his side as Stein goes to check him out. His eyes are open, but he can't move. I turn to Creed. "You did this!"
After five minutes, the gas dissipates. Cecil does not come back to normal.
"He's paralyzed," Stein says. "I'll carry him, my armor is messed up anyway."
"You're using him as a shield?" I ask, picking up the Khazan puppet.
"No!" Stein denies it very quickly, as if caught in the act. Hmmm.
I strap the Khazan puppet to my backpack, Stein grabs the gnome, and we move on. Heading through the web filled hallway, we come to another door. Rideyr, in front, doesn't see any traps, so Cheeks mage hands it open. We walk in to find a room filled in one end and on the sides by more webs, and they're very thick. I can hear the wind and rain howling outside, and judging by the rope hanging from the middle of the room this is probably a bell tower.
Chad casts a bonfire on the far end, and it burns away some of the webs. Rideyr and I march forward, and that's when the clicking and scuttling noises start. Chad casts faerie fire, illuminating four large, fuzzy and multi legged shapes thirty feet above. Webs start flying, and Rideyr gets caught up in one. I turn to help him when one catches me, and suddenly I'm restrained too!
"Now, Zola," a familiar voice starts speaking to me in my head. "What's going to happen is the spiders will bite you now that you both are caught up in their webs, and they'll inject you with poison!"
"Thank you, Cecil- not what I wanted to hear!"
With a great burst of energy, I free myself from the web, and rush forward. The spiders keep trying to web me, and keep missing. A giant spider descends, hovering over a still restrained Rideyr, and attacks him. Suddenly, it drops dead, falling on poor Rideyr. Turns out it was Cecil- he can still use his powers despite being paralyzed! The spiders, of which there are much more than the four I originally thought, keep descending on Rideyr and going back up to the darkness. Finally he breaks free, and joins me. I shoot a fire bolt at one of them just as Mike kills one with her spear. They start trying to attack me, but I'm too quick! Zola Farsight Stormwyk von Zarovich is far too powerful to be trifled by mere spiders- nothing can hurt me!
And then they do. I'm bitten twice in quick succession, but still manage to fight back. Chad kills one, Mike kills another, but they're still pulling out all the stops. I'm bitten again, the poison rushing through my veins, and then I'm stuck in a web once more. I guess I got a little overconfident there, again. Another bite, and I'm wondering if I'm going to make it out of this fight alive. I try to break free, but I'm growing weak... the exhaustion doesn't help. Strahd will surely hear about this- no guest of his should be so sorely mistreated! Two more awful bites, and I break free! I get ready to stand and fight, but I'm reeling.
"Zola, go!" Rideyr orders.
"No, I've got more in me!"
"I'm telling you to leave, now leave!" His scary paladin voice comes out, and I comply.
I drag my feet leaving the room, and get as far as Steinbjorn. He grabs onto me, and some glowing, holy power channels out of him, flowing into me.
"Feel a little better, Zola?"
"Yeah," I pant. "Thanks, Steiny!"
Guess he doesn't hate me afterall. I feel slightly better, and could even return to the fight, but the last two are taken out by Chad and Cecil. Chad starts doing some healing ritual while we wait for ten minutes, and I sit on the floor trying to catch my breath. Those spiders really beat the life out of me, and I still have raised welts all over me where they bit. They itch like a b****, but no matter how much I squirm in my armor I can't seem to get rid of the feeling. I'm still pretty bad off after the second round of healing, so Chad cures wounds on me. Spiders really, really suck!
"I think Strahd is using us as pest control," I whine. "This place is a mess! When I'm Queen of Barovia, it will be much cleaner!"
Turns out this is a bell tower, and as tempted as all of us are, we don't ring it. We decide to try to rest here for an hour if at all possible. Thirty minutes into our rest, there's a pounding at the door.
"Are you servants of the devil?" They ask when someone says hello. "Come out so we can give you our good justice!"
Creed opens the door to reveal four Barovians wielding pitchforks and torches.
"We're trying to nap!" I tell them.
They seem apologetic now that they know we aren't servants of Strahd. They initially decline my offer to join us in napping, and offer to guard the door. Ultimately they come in anyway, and we discuss making Barovia great again, sing Barovian songs and eat crackers. It's a great time until theres another knock at the door. Steinbjorn asks who is there, but there is no answer. We ignore it, but then the door opens. Three wights stand in the doorway.
I jump in, greatsword hacking into one of the wights four times, yet it still stands. Stein finished it off, Rideyr kills the second one, and Val comes in to join Mike and I at the door. She uses her new sword for the first time, but also gives us a lecture on figuring out motives of our enemies before killing them... she's suddenly on some weird passifist thing. Cheeks daggers the last wight, and I finish it off!
We decided to go to the cushy library to rest instead of being in this cold room still full of spider corpses. I curl up on a couch, and try not to look at the Ireena painting scowling down at me. Creed uses her special eyes to look through the doors into another room, reporting that theres a large bed... that's all I hear.
"Ah, yes, my future bedroom." I mutter, glaring at painting-Ireena.
The Barovians pull out cutting boards and knives and start loudly chopping up cheese and meats. I'm beyond excited- I love cheese!
"Was that the door?" Stein asks aloud.
"No, it's fine, it's just them chopping the cheese." I reply.
Actually, it was the door. It opens, and another wight hand wraps around the door. I grab a slice of cheese and shove it into my mouth as others jump into combat. I eventually get in, but one is already dead, and I get a couple slashes in before Mike finishes the other off. We decide that rest will not be achieved in this place.
"The revenant was right," I whine to Rideyr. "I'll never find rest in Barovia. Let's just throw ourselves from the tower!"
"You jump, I jump kid." He jokes.
"Let's have some of that cake first... delicious, moldy buttercream!"
I go to the door to the bedroom, and open it before anyone can give me the typical 'what the f*** are you doing, Zola?' speech. It smells good in here, and is quite cozy. Whoever's body is on the bed best move so I can get some decent sleep! I walk in, and there's a girl my age, well my normal age, in the bed... alive. The headboard has a giant, fancy "Z" carved into it. Perfect!
"Who are you?" She asks us.
"We're the Dawn Breakers. Who are you?" Mike asks.
"My name is Gertruda." She says.
"Popov!!!" I exclaim, loudly.
The girl looks at me funny.
"How do you know the name of my puppet?"
"I kil- I... we met your mom!" I sputter.
At the mention of bringing her back to her mother, Gertruda is not interested.
"I'm kind of 'in' here," she says. "I'm happy here. Who wouldn't be with such a handsome man like Strahd, and a beautiful castle?"
My blood is boiling. My fists clench as I approach her.
"How do I join this 'in crowd'?" I ask.
She glares at me, probably realizing I am much more beautiful and Strahd's type than she is.
"Back off, b****!" She snaps at me.
Shots. Fired.
"You see that Z?!" I ask her. "That stands for Zola!"
"I just told your doll friend, it's Zarovich!" She says.
"It's Zola von Zarovich, you ****!"
I slap Gertruda so hard, my hand goes numb. Her dumb expression doesn't change, even as she passes out. I turn away, seething. Rideyr shakes his head at me, and I can only shrug. Maybe I shouldn't call myself Zola von Zarovich... it just sounds so cool, though!
"You can't slap the magic out of someone!" Stein says. "She's clearly charmed by him."
We ask the Barovians to take her back to the village and give her back to her mother. I suggest they tie her up, and they immediately tie her up in their ropes. They leave with her, and we attempt to rest in this room. I flop onto the bed. My bed, because of the Z!
Ten minutes in, we realize too late that the window had been cracked open, letting in rain droplets and wind... and nine crawling, disembodied hands with it.
~ Zola Z., Queen of Barovia
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