"Well, this somehow seems fitting for this town," Janek observes as they step iinside.He turns to Celeste, "What were we looking for here? Other than maybe the source of that scream."
He tries to get a better fix on where it came from. Or how dinnertime might get to a lower level. (Perception: 11)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The blonde elven maiden gives Janek a brief look of embarassment over her fright before collecting herself enough to speak. "I...I hoped to find a priest to speak to."She says quietly, then glancing around the brightly lit chapel.
The sound appears to have come through the floorboards from below. You guess that below the wooden floor there must be some sort of cellar, or perhaps crypt. There is no obvious entrance to is from the hall, the four doors to the right and left are closed.
Celeste moves forwards to look into the chapel. The chapel is a shambles, with overturned and broken pews littering the dusty floor. Dozens of candles mounted in candlesticks and candelabras light every dusty corner in a fervent attempt to rid the chapel of shadows. At the far end of the church sits a claw-scarred altar, behind which kneels a priest in soiled vestments that look worn thin. Next to him hangs a long, thick rope that stretches up into the bell tower. The priest is deep in some prayers, muttering the same chant to himself over and over again, and has not yet noticed your presence.
As you cautiously approach the man, from beneath the chapel floor, you hear a young man's voice cry out, "Father! I'm starving!"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The blonde elven maiden slowly takes in the scene before her, having an almost overwhelming feeling of despair with the priest praying in what is left of his church and the heart wrenching calls from below. Was it father as in priest, or was the young man below in fact the son of the man praying behind the altar. Celeste continues to approach the kneeling priest, calling out to him as she comes closer. "I am sorry to disturb you in your prayers father..." She says in a cautious gentle tone, briefly looking back to see her company not too far away. "...my name is Celeste. a servant of Milil, Lord of all Songs, I come to your church in peace to seek guidance in this holy place."
Persuasion: 5 Another roll if still within an hour: 13 Insight: 8
The man takes a second to react, and then raises his head. He then seems to come out of his almost trance-like state and stands up, looking a little startled. He dusts himself off quickly, straightens his robes and says
"Ah. Welcome to our humble church. My name is Donavich. As you may have guessed, I am the priest of this humble church."
His voice is a little hoarse from praying all night. He looks around somewhat embarrassed at the state of the place. He then looks at you more closely and adds
"I take it that you are outsiders. You have a look about yourselves. We get ones like you on occasion. But most do not seem to be around for long ... well, if you don't count their stay in the cemetery that is."
You can see emotions playing out on his face as he realises the implication of what he just said to you, and he quickly continues, trying to keep the conversation on a more cheerful note.
"Not that I do not have the highest hopes for you of course. You look like a formidable little group. And as a priest I would of course be happy to provide you with any assistance I can. How may I be of assistance? Would you perhaps like to step outside into the fresh air? As you can see there are little or not comforts inside that I can offer."
With this last sentence, he tries to make some polite gestures to guide you back towards the entrance and the fresh air outside.
With a questioning look Thulewyn says, "Aye, well let's start with the tarrasque in the room, or in your case, screams from below? And what under the mountain happened to this place?" Thinking to himself, I bet the old buzzard with the pasties wouldn't let this place get this bloody bad. He has a very tight grip on his bow, other hand in easy reach of his quiver, just in case. His eyes keep darting around the place sure something was going to jump out at them. "Oh and we are looking for a kid,, Mary's girl. She's slipped out and we are trying yo locate her before something happens to her."
He licks his lips nervously. "Ah. You heard that? I guess he is quite loud, although to tell the truth, I have become quite good at ignoring the screams."
He looks at the group and their weapons, sizing them up, and clearly comes to the conclusion that he has no means to try to make you leave.
"Please. I don't want any trouble. This is a matter between me and my son."
He sees the look in your faces, and quickly adds.
"I am not tormenting him, if that is what you think. I am trying to help. I pray daily that he is released from his curse.
You see, about a year ago my son and a bunch of the young lads from the village thought that they could resolve the issue of Strahd all by themselves. - You know what young men are like; they all think of themselves as immortal and invincible.
They were encouraged in this by some outsider, a Wizard in black robes whom I have not seen since. So one day, after the Wizard spoke to them, they gathered some weapons and marched up to Strahd's castle to confront him.
But of course, they did not achieve much. I was not there, but I heard that he toyed with them, like a cat toys with mice. Most were killed, some tortured. But for my son, who was one of the boldest and loudest, he had a much worse punishment. He turned him into a Vampire spawn.
He returned here, but thanks to being in a church and with the help of the gods, I managed to subdue him eventually and have locked him in the undercroft.
The screams you heard were not calling for food or water, he is calling for blood. But please don't harm him. He is safely contained in there, and I am confident ... no, I am *sure* that the gods will help me eventually and release him from this curse with enough prayers."
"Oh and we are looking for a kid,, Mary's girl. She's slipped out and we are trying yo locate her before something happens to her."
"I don't know anything about her. Is she a local girl? I have barely left this chapel since my son - or what he has become - returned from Strahd about a year ago. And the villagers have shunned the church since then. I am afraid I don't know her."
Rodan lingers at the back, listening to the priest's tale. He remains silent, though any standing near to him would notice his hands balling into fists as the father describes how his sons would-be rebellion was put down so brutally by the reputed master of this land... this Strahd.
And then he is gone. Rodan abandons the conversation to stroll through the cemetery grounds that surrounds the church, trying to blow off steam. He looks up at the high castle on the bluff above, and wonders at what kind of bloated self-importance can make a man - a creature - build such a monument to itself?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Celeste first pales at the priest's tragic tale, then tears, tears of compassion over this horrible fate. The man up in the castle would have to be confonted, but it would be foolish to go up there now, or they would likely all be toyed with by this cruel vampire lord. "The wizard in black robes, what do you know about him?"She asks in a quite saddened voice after wiping away those tears.
Religion to know whether there is a way to help the son from his condition: 10
Celeste first pales at the priest's tragic tale, then tears, tears of compassion over this horrible fate. The man up in the castle would have to be confonted, but it would be foolish to go up there now, or they would likely all be toyed with by this cruel vampire lord. "The wizard in black robes, what do you know about him?"She asks in a quite saddened voice after wiping away those tears.
Religion to know whether there is a way to help the son from his condition: 10
"I don't know much about him. He arrived in this land one day from the outside, like yourselves. He tried to confront Strahd, but failed. He also encouraged us locals to rise up ... but I have already told you how that ended.
I heard that after his defeat at the hands of Strahd, he went into the wild. But no one can leave Barovia, so he must still be around. Some people have told tales of seeing a madman with magic powers living near Mount Baratok ... but perhaps the two are unrelated and it is just another lost soul among many."
He pauses, and turns with a sad expression towards the graveyard (behind the church) before continuing in a sad tone:
"You are not the first outsiders, and likely not the last. Many of those who failed now lie in the graveyard behind this very church. Their souls still seem to be yearning to complete their quest to defeat Strahd. Every night at midnight, you will be able to see their incorporeal forms go from here to the castle, only to vanish again in memory of their failure - to repeat this again the next day. If you do encounter those poor souls, so not worry. They are no even ghosts or shades ... just something less. Perhaps even just mere memories. They cannot touch you or in turn be touched by you."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The more she heard about Strahd's atrocities the more convinced the blonde elven maiden is her Lord has brought her to this domain of dread to oppose him. But she needed allies, maybe even the wizard in black robes, unless she wanted to join that ghostly march to his frightful castle. Praying the poor priest is right about the gods siving his son and not having the heart to tell him otherwise, Celeste instead looks around, trying to determine to which god or gods this church was consecrated. "Can you tell us anything more about Count Strahd, and why he would be interested in the burgomeisters daughter?"She asks the priest with a calm and melodious voice.
Thulewyn perks up a bit at the story of the black robed wizard. "Well now that's the first break I've heard yet, someone willing to fight this blood sucker and has an lived to tell the tale. Crazy or not, we need to find this wizard. Don't pick our plots while we are gone either, we are not so fool hardy to rush in unprepared."
The smile leaving his face he turns back to the priest. "So do you find a way to feed the kid or can vampires not starve to?"
The more she heard about Strahd's atrocities the more convinced the blonde elven maiden is her Lord has brought her to this domain of dread to oppose him. But she needed allies, maybe even the wizard in black robes, unless she wanted to join that ghostly march to his frightful castle. Praying the poor priest is right about the gods siving his son and not having the heart to tell him otherwise, Celeste instead looks around, trying to determine to which god or gods this church was consecrated. "Can you tell us anything more about Count Strahd, and why he would be interested in the burgomeisters daughter?"She asks the priest with a calm and melodious voice.
Perception: 20 Religion: 9
"I don't really know. But I heard tales that he seems to take an interest in certain girls or ladies and lures them to his castle to whatever end. Apparently he had a real wife or lover long ago, and maybe is looking for someone to replace her? But those are all just tales, and I guess only Strahd knows the truth of why he is interested."
Thulewyn perks up a bit at the story of the black robed wizard. "Well now that's the first break I've heard yet, someone willing to fight this blood sucker and has an lived to tell the tale. Crazy or not, we need to find this wizard. Don't pick our plots while we are gone either, we are not so fool hardy to rush in unprepared."
The smile leaving his face he turns back to the priest. "So do you find a way to feed the kid or can vampires not starve to?"
"Vampires cannot be killed by hunger it seems. Certainly my Son is still very much full of energy to shout all day and night. To tell the truth, I had hoped that starving him would weaken him so that I might drive out this foul curse, but so far it has been nigh on a year and it seems to have only driven him mad with hunger"
"We're planning to leave your village soon, but we will return one day, hopefully to confront the evil Count and to end his tyrranny here."Celeste says to the priest in an unusually firm and decisive tone, then ready to leave for the Burgomaster Manor. "My prayers will go to you and your son both priest."
"We're planning to leave your village soon, but we will return one day, hopefully to confront the evil Count and to end his tyrranny here."Celeste says to the priest in an unusually firm and decisive tone, then ready to leave for the Burgomaster Manor. "My prayers will go to you and your son both priest."
The priest bows his head in thanks.
(Let me know if anyone wants to do anything at the church, or if the group is moving to the Burgomaster's Manor)
Thulewyn thinks for a bit, this priest doesn't seem like much of a fighter, and this place is tore up pretty bad, how did he trap a vampire? Finally a thought occurs to him. "Ye wouldn't be able to help us obtain some holy water would ye? We don't have much to offer, perhaps we could assist you with something."
Thulewyn thinks for a bit, this priest doesn't seem like much of a fighter, and this place is tore up pretty bad, how did he trap a vampire? Finally a thought occurs to him. "Ye wouldn't be able to help us obtain some holy water would ye? We don't have much to offer, perhaps we could assist you with something."
"Why yes, that is something I could help you with. Alas, holy water requires some ingredient such as powdered silver which are not cheap to come by. But if you could cover the costs of 20gp per flask, I would be happy to perform the blessing ritual".
(Just FYI: Any cleric or paladin could create holy water for 25gp and a spell slot, so your party's clerics could do this. But to give you some benefit, having a friendly priest in this case saves you some gp and the spell slot if you come here for your holy water)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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"Well, this somehow seems fitting for this town," Janek observes as they step iinside.He turns to Celeste, "What were we looking for here? Other than maybe the source of that scream."
He tries to get a better fix on where it came from. Or how dinnertime might get to a lower level. (Perception: 11)
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard ||
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer || Bronnryn Hethgar, Cleric
The blonde elven maiden gives Janek a brief look of embarassment over her fright before collecting herself enough to speak. "I...I hoped to find a priest to speak to." She says quietly, then glancing around the brightly lit chapel.
Perception: 13
The sound appears to have come through the floorboards from below. You guess that below the wooden floor there must be some sort of cellar, or perhaps crypt. There is no obvious entrance to is from the hall, the four doors to the right and left are closed.
Celeste moves forwards to look into the chapel. The chapel is a shambles, with overturned and broken pews littering the dusty floor. Dozens of candles mounted in candlesticks and candelabras light every dusty corner in a fervent attempt to rid the chapel of shadows. At the far end of the church sits a claw-scarred altar, behind which kneels a priest in soiled vestments that look worn thin. Next to him hangs a long, thick rope that stretches up into the bell tower. The priest is deep in some prayers, muttering the same chant to himself over and over again, and has not yet noticed your presence.
As you cautiously approach the man, from beneath the chapel floor, you hear a young man's voice cry out, "Father! I'm starving!"
The blonde elven maiden slowly takes in the scene before her, having an almost overwhelming feeling of despair with the priest praying in what is left of his church and the heart wrenching calls from below. Was it father as in priest, or was the young man below in fact the son of the man praying behind the altar. Celeste continues to approach the kneeling priest, calling out to him as she comes closer. "I am sorry to disturb you in your prayers father..." She says in a cautious gentle tone, briefly looking back to see her company not too far away. "...my name is Celeste. a servant of Milil, Lord of all Songs, I come to your church in peace to seek guidance in this holy place."
Persuasion: 5 Another roll if still within an hour: 13
Insight: 8
The man takes a second to react, and then raises his head. He then seems to come out of his almost trance-like state and stands up, looking a little startled. He dusts himself off quickly, straightens his robes and says
"Ah. Welcome to our humble church. My name is Donavich. As you may have guessed, I am the priest of this humble church."
His voice is a little hoarse from praying all night. He looks around somewhat embarrassed at the state of the place. He then looks at you more closely and adds
"I take it that you are outsiders. You have a look about yourselves. We get ones like you on occasion. But most do not seem to be around for long ... well, if you don't count their stay in the cemetery that is."
You can see emotions playing out on his face as he realises the implication of what he just said to you, and he quickly continues, trying to keep the conversation on a more cheerful note.
"Not that I do not have the highest hopes for you of course. You look like a formidable little group. And as a priest I would of course be happy to provide you with any assistance I can. How may I be of assistance? Would you perhaps like to step outside into the fresh air? As you can see there are little or not comforts inside that I can offer."
With this last sentence, he tries to make some polite gestures to guide you back towards the entrance and the fresh air outside.
With a questioning look Thulewyn says, "Aye, well let's start with the tarrasque in the room, or in your case, screams from below? And what under the mountain happened to this place?" Thinking to himself, I bet the old buzzard with the pasties wouldn't let this place get this bloody bad. He has a very tight grip on his bow, other hand in easy reach of his quiver, just in case. His eyes keep darting around the place sure something was going to jump out at them. "Oh and we are looking for a kid,, Mary's girl. She's slipped out and we are trying yo locate her before something happens to her."
Janek nods in firm agreement with Thulewyn. "Yes, it really seems like we should address the scream. And perhaps this person that's starving?"
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard ||
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer || Bronnryn Hethgar, Cleric
He licks his lips nervously. "Ah. You heard that? I guess he is quite loud, although to tell the truth, I have become quite good at ignoring the screams."
He looks at the group and their weapons, sizing them up, and clearly comes to the conclusion that he has no means to try to make you leave.
"Please. I don't want any trouble. This is a matter between me and my son."
He sees the look in your faces, and quickly adds.
"I am not tormenting him, if that is what you think. I am trying to help. I pray daily that he is released from his curse.
You see, about a year ago my son and a bunch of the young lads from the village thought that they could resolve the issue of Strahd all by themselves. - You know what young men are like; they all think of themselves as immortal and invincible.
They were encouraged in this by some outsider, a Wizard in black robes whom I have not seen since. So one day, after the Wizard spoke to them, they gathered some weapons and marched up to Strahd's castle to confront him.
But of course, they did not achieve much. I was not there, but I heard that he toyed with them, like a cat toys with mice. Most were killed, some tortured. But for my son, who was one of the boldest and loudest, he had a much worse punishment. He turned him into a Vampire spawn.
He returned here, but thanks to being in a church and with the help of the gods, I managed to subdue him eventually and have locked him in the undercroft.
The screams you heard were not calling for food or water, he is calling for blood. But please don't harm him. He is safely contained in there, and I am confident ... no, I am *sure* that the gods will help me eventually and release him from this curse with enough prayers."
"I don't know anything about her. Is she a local girl? I have barely left this chapel since my son - or what he has become - returned from Strahd about a year ago. And the villagers have shunned the church since then. I am afraid I don't know her."
Rodan lingers at the back, listening to the priest's tale. He remains silent, though any standing near to him would notice his hands balling into fists as the father describes how his sons would-be rebellion was put down so brutally by the reputed master of this land... this Strahd.
And then he is gone. Rodan abandons the conversation to stroll through the cemetery grounds that surrounds the church, trying to blow off steam. He looks up at the high castle on the bluff above, and wonders at what kind of bloated self-importance can make a man - a creature - build such a monument to itself?
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Celeste first pales at the priest's tragic tale, then tears, tears of compassion over this horrible fate. The man up in the castle would have to be confonted, but it would be foolish to go up there now, or they would likely all be toyed with by this cruel vampire lord. "The wizard in black robes, what do you know about him?" She asks in a quite saddened voice after wiping away those tears.
Religion to know whether there is a way to help the son from his condition: 10
"I don't know much about him. He arrived in this land one day from the outside, like yourselves. He tried to confront Strahd, but failed. He also encouraged us locals to rise up ... but I have already told you how that ended.
I heard that after his defeat at the hands of Strahd, he went into the wild. But no one can leave Barovia, so he must still be around. Some people have told tales of seeing a madman with magic powers living near Mount Baratok ... but perhaps the two are unrelated and it is just another lost soul among many."
He pauses, and turns with a sad expression towards the graveyard (behind the church) before continuing in a sad tone:
"You are not the first outsiders, and likely not the last. Many of those who failed now lie in the graveyard behind this very church. Their souls still seem to be yearning to complete their quest to defeat Strahd. Every night at midnight, you will be able to see their incorporeal forms go from here to the castle, only to vanish again in memory of their failure - to repeat this again the next day. If you do encounter those poor souls, so not worry. They are no even ghosts or shades ... just something less. Perhaps even just mere memories. They cannot touch you or in turn be touched by you."
You don't know of any way that might cure Vampirism - save to simply kill the victim to release it from the curse through death.
The more she heard about Strahd's atrocities the more convinced the blonde elven maiden is her Lord has brought her to this domain of dread to oppose him. But she needed allies, maybe even the wizard in black robes, unless she wanted to join that ghostly march to his frightful castle. Praying the poor priest is right about the gods siving his son and not having the heart to tell him otherwise, Celeste instead looks around, trying to determine to which god or gods this church was consecrated. "Can you tell us anything more about Count Strahd, and why he would be interested in the burgomeisters daughter?" She asks the priest with a calm and melodious voice.
Perception: 18
Religion: 5
Thulewyn perks up a bit at the story of the black robed wizard. "Well now that's the first break I've heard yet, someone willing to fight this blood sucker and has an lived to tell the tale. Crazy or not, we need to find this wizard. Don't pick our plots while we are gone either, we are not so fool hardy to rush in unprepared."
The smile leaving his face he turns back to the priest. "So do you find a way to feed the kid or can vampires not starve to?"
"I don't really know. But I heard tales that he seems to take an interest in certain girls or ladies and lures them to his castle to whatever end. Apparently he had a real wife or lover long ago, and maybe is looking for someone to replace her? But those are all just tales, and I guess only Strahd knows the truth of why he is interested."
"Vampires cannot be killed by hunger it seems. Certainly my Son is still very much full of energy to shout all day and night. To tell the truth, I had hoped that starving him would weaken him so that I might drive out this foul curse, but so far it has been nigh on a year and it seems to have only driven him mad with hunger"
"We're planning to leave your village soon, but we will return one day, hopefully to confront the evil Count and to end his tyrranny here." Celeste says to the priest in an unusually firm and decisive tone, then ready to leave for the Burgomaster Manor. "My prayers will go to you and your son both priest."
The priest bows his head in thanks.
(Let me know if anyone wants to do anything at the church, or if the group is moving to the Burgomaster's Manor)
Thulewyn thinks for a bit, this priest doesn't seem like much of a fighter, and this place is tore up pretty bad, how did he trap a vampire? Finally a thought occurs to him. "Ye wouldn't be able to help us obtain some holy water would ye? We don't have much to offer, perhaps we could assist you with something."
"Why yes, that is something I could help you with. Alas, holy water requires some ingredient such as powdered silver which are not cheap to come by. But if you could cover the costs of 20gp per flask, I would be happy to perform the blessing ritual".
(Just FYI: Any cleric or paladin could create holy water for 25gp and a spell slot, so your party's clerics could do this. But to give you some benefit, having a friendly priest in this case saves you some gp and the spell slot if you come here for your holy water)