The painting and the body reveal nothing to your study of them. Even you half-wits, however, are capable of seeing what's right in front of you: The jewelry box on the vanity is made of silver with gold filigree (worth 75 gp). It contains three gold rings (worth 25 gp each) and a thin platinum necklace with a topaz pendant (worth 750 gp).
There is also a small envelope, closed but not sealed. Inside the envelope is a short letter, written but apparently not sent:
My Dear Mrs. Petrovna,
Your advice on dealing with the unwanted fiend in my home is sound. Thank you for that. Tonight's ceremony will proceed as planned when the moon is at its highest peak - without, of course, the attendance of Mr. Durst. I must agree with you that, with the assistance of such a remarkably innocent subject, the results of our proceedings may be far improved. “Innocent," of course, is not quite the term I would use.
If nothing else, I am relieved that I shall soon no longer have to suffer the harlot’s insufferable presence each time we must pass through her quarters to our meeting-space. We shall be well rid of her indeed.
That’s a fair question. For what it’s worth, Barnaby’s Detect Magic spell is not getting anything special off the jewels, the stuff from the library, or the wolf puppy. Or anything else you guys have acquired so far, except where indicated (such as his robe).
Do you think the nursemaid was the "innocent subject?" There are insinuations in the letter...perhaps she was kanoodling with Mr. Durst, or at least the Mrs. believed so? We know of his infidelity with someone from Strahd's letter.
Going back to that letter and the chest we found it in. Who's skeleton could that possibly have been that was searching the chest before we got there?
And then the nursemaid was murdered or sacrificed as part of some ritual? It's clear that both Durst's typically performed the rituals together, but this one was just by Elisabeth, presumably because the subject was Mr. Durst's paramour.
This is dark stuff. And if the nursemaid was not the subject, then who? It seems it may be time to go to the basement and see what we can learn there.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
animal handling: 13
Oh no! Is the wolf puppy antagonistic toward Føpé now, or just not interested in joining him in the room? If Revenge wants to stay in the hallway, that's fine for now. Can Føpé try again later? Are the doors of the house still closing behind us?
Right. And we haven't gone up to the attic. Sorry about that, my old mind gets a bit confused at times. Shall we check out the attic. Perhaps once we've secured it, we can have a rest for the night. If I get a good sleep maybe I'll do a better job of remembering which way is up. Heh heh. :P
Fope, that test is just to see if he follows you without you having to take some action to get him to go. He’ll follow passively when you make the check, but now that you failed one you can tell us what you did to get him to come. Offer a bit of food, give him a gentle pat or two in the right direction, whatever.
There are situations in which this could matter. If you were being chased or something. But while you are just strolling from room to room then a failed check just means narrate how you nudge him along.
There are situations in which this could matter. If you were being chased or something. But while you are just strolling from room to room then a failed check just means narrate how you nudge him along.
You guys are welcome to keep a “group loot” sort of thing. You should figure out who is carrying potions and other magic goodies, but for the purpose of more generic treasure I won’t insist on knowing who is carrying what. Unless we need to figure it out for some reason which we can do then.
There are no unexplored spaces accessible from this room. You guys are welcome to make your way up to the attic, through the secret stairwell, or to take a short rest, or some other thing.
There is a group loot tab in roll 20. I have updated it with our recent finds. I may dig through the past and update it more. I may not. It is in the journal tab at the top right. The journal icon looks a bit like a newspaper. Anyone else is welcome to dig through older posts and add stuff. Probably note where it came from so that we don’t duplicate.
You surprise me Puddin. I was sure you would be upset with him for abandoning his family. I will figure you out yet.
Jewelry box. Investigation: 4
I’m still unsure if the children are dead. We should have given them a poke.
There seems to be nothing out of the ordinary about this jewelry box.
The painting and the body reveal nothing to your study of them. Even you half-wits, however, are capable of seeing what's right in front of you: The jewelry box on the vanity is made of silver with gold filigree (worth 75 gp). It contains three gold rings (worth 25 gp each) and a thin platinum necklace with a topaz pendant (worth 750 gp).
There is also a small envelope, closed but not sealed. Inside the envelope is a short letter, written but apparently not sent:
My Dear Mrs. Petrovna,
Your advice on dealing with the unwanted fiend in my home is sound. Thank you for that. Tonight's ceremony will proceed as planned when the moon is at its highest peak - without, of course, the attendance of Mr. Durst. I must agree with you that, with the assistance of such a remarkably innocent subject, the results of our proceedings may be far improved. “Innocent," of course, is not quite the term I would use.
If nothing else, I am relieved that I shall soon no longer have to suffer the harlot’s insufferable presence each time we must pass through her quarters to our meeting-space. We shall be well rid of her indeed.
My Thanks,
Mrs. Elisabeth Durst
This is confusing.
I wonder if the valuables we find in this place are cursed.
That’s a fair question. For what it’s worth, Barnaby’s Detect Magic spell is not getting anything special off the jewels, the stuff from the library, or the wolf puppy. Or anything else you guys have acquired so far, except where indicated (such as his robe).
Do you think the nursemaid was the "innocent subject?" There are insinuations in the letter...perhaps she was kanoodling with Mr. Durst, or at least the Mrs. believed so? We know of his infidelity with someone from Strahd's letter.
Going back to that letter and the chest we found it in. Who's skeleton could that possibly have been that was searching the chest before we got there?
And then the nursemaid was murdered or sacrificed as part of some ritual? It's clear that both Durst's typically performed the rituals together, but this one was just by Elisabeth, presumably because the subject was Mr. Durst's paramour.
This is dark stuff. And if the nursemaid was not the subject, then who? It seems it may be time to go to the basement and see what we can learn there.
animal handling: 13
Oh no! Is the wolf puppy antagonistic toward Føpé now, or just not interested in joining him in the room? If Revenge wants to stay in the hallway, that's fine for now. Can Føpé try again later? Are the doors of the house still closing behind us?
I don't believe we've found the path to the basement yet, just secret stairs to the attic
Right. And we haven't gone up to the attic. Sorry about that, my old mind gets a bit confused at times. Shall we check out the attic. Perhaps once we've secured it, we can have a rest for the night. If I get a good sleep maybe I'll do a better job of remembering which way is up. Heh heh. :P
It’s early afternoon at the moment.
Fope, that test is just to see if he follows you without you having to take some action to get him to go. He’ll follow passively when you make the check, but now that you failed one you can tell us what you did to get him to come. Offer a bit of food, give him a gentle pat or two in the right direction, whatever.
There are situations in which this could matter. If you were being chased or something. But while you are just strolling from room to room then a failed check just means narrate how you nudge him along.
There are situations in which this could matter. If you were being chased or something. But while you are just strolling from room to room then a failed check just means narrate how you nudge him along.
Føpé's last dog was killed by a wolf. It's important to teach this one the love. Belly rub!
Is anyone in the party casually picking up the items of value and adding them to inventory?
You guys are welcome to keep a “group loot” sort of thing. You should figure out who is carrying potions and other magic goodies, but for the purpose of more generic treasure I won’t insist on knowing who is carrying what. Unless we need to figure it out for some reason which we can do then.
There are no unexplored spaces accessible from this room. You guys are welcome to make your way up to the attic, through the secret stairwell, or to take a short rest, or some other thing.
There is a group loot tab in roll 20. I have updated it with our recent finds. I may dig through the past and update it more. I may not. It is in the journal tab at the top right. The journal icon looks a bit like a newspaper. Anyone else is welcome to dig through older posts and add stuff. Probably note where it came from so that we don’t duplicate.
It would be good to have a particular person doing it, just so we don't have multiple additions of the same 3 silver pieces. ;)
Well let's go up to the attic, while we still have light from outside, unless someone needs a rest,(but I think we did that after we fought the armor)
Pretty sure we've had no rests so far. One would be of some use to me, but not a lot.
Yep, you are correct, no rests, so let's take a short on before going up the secret stairs of doom