You enter a dusty, cobweb-filled master bedroom with burgundy drapes covering the windows. A four-poster bed with embroidered curtains and tattered gossamer veils stands against the center wall.
A door facing the foot of the bed has a faded full-length mirror mounted on it. In the right-hand corner of the room stands a small wooden door, its surface half-rotted by age. A tarnished metal button is set into the wall beside it.
A rotting tiger-skin rug lies on the floor in front of the fireplace, which has a dust-covered portrait of the man and woman from the first-floor portrait hanging above it. A web-filled parlor in the southwest corner contains two chairs and a table holding several items, as well as a door with a dark, dirt-flecked window.
The room also contains a matching pair of wardrobes, a padded chair, and a vanity with a wood-framed mirror and a silver jewellery box.
"My money is on the jewellery box for the crystal shard key thing," says Danu. "But I don't want to go in first."
Einnob looks around at the others and doesn't see anyone else moving forward. The dwarf rolls her eyes and moves into the room. Nothing leaps out at her so she moves to the jewellery box and uses her gauntleted hand to flip the lid open.
The jewellery box is empty of valuables. Instead, it is filled with grain, with an amber shard resting in the centre of the box. It looks very similar to CQ's amber shard, just a little difference in size and shape. A roll of parchment is half-buried in the grain beside the shard.
CQ enters the room and looks at the table which is covered by a dusty tablecloth. Resting on the dusty tablecloth is an empty porcelain bowl and a matching jug.
"Can you look at the scroll, Einnob?" asks Danu, from the doorway.
Einnob nods and pulls the scroll out of the grain. She looks at the grain. "Again with the windmill thing. Windmills crush grain, right?" She opens the scroll.
I have selected you as the Beast’s custodian in my absence. Should the Beast grow unruly or show signs of agitation while I am away, I have left this amber shard to weaken it and soothe its fury.
Should the need arise, present the shard and speak the Beast's name; if you speak with conviction, it shall obey you in my stead, if only for a time. But be sure to begone from the house before it awakens fully at midnight.
So long as the Beast draws breath, it—not you—is the heart of this house, and no meal shall ever sate its appetite. Should you linger in its domain, it will mean doom for you all.
Zap opens the south door in the master bedroom, which reveals an empty, dust choked closet. He then moves to the balcony doors, opens them and peers out. A wall of earth slides past, or rather, the house is moving through the earth.
CQ says she thinks everyone should head to the library and see what is behind the secret door. Einnob, with amber shard in hand, leads the way. They arrive in the library. Everything is as they left it, including the swivelling bookcase is open, showing the wall with the slot. The dwarf puts the amber shard into the hole and the entire wall starts to swing open.
This small hidden room is packed with bookshelves groaning with old and ominous-looking leather-bound tomes. A heavy wooden chest with clawed iron feet stands against the south wall, its lid half-closed. Sticking out of the chest, its ribs and head caught beneath the lid, is a skeleton in leather armour.
CQ investigates the chest and skeleton. Close inspection reveals that the skeleton belongs to an adventurer (probably human) who triggered a poisoned dart trap. Three darts are stuck in the dead adventurer’s armour and ribcage. Clutched in the skeleton’s left hand is a letter bearing a seal.
Inside the chest are some books and scrolls and a pouch.
CQ reaches in to take the scrolls, ignoring the fact that there is a dead body with darts stuck in it right next to her, and she decides that she probably won't activate the trap. CQ retrieves the scrolls and, as she figured, the trap has already been sprung. CQ unravels each scroll. There seems to be two arcane scrolls and two cleric/druid scrolls.
CQ and Zap discuss who will get the two arcane scrolls.
While talking, CQ looks at the letter. The seal is already broken, indicating the letter was already opened and no doubt read. The letter reads:
My most pathetic servant,
I am not a messiah sent to you by the Dark Powers of this land. I have not come to lead you on a path to immortality. However many souls you have bled on your hidden altar, however many visitors you have tortured in your dungeon, know that you are not the one who brought me to this beautiful land. You are but a worm writhing in my earth.
You say that you are cursed, your fortune spent. Your husband took solace in the bosom of another woman, sired a bastard son, and drove you to abandon love for madness. Cursed by darkness? Of that I have no doubt. Save you from your wretchedness? I think not. I much prefer you as you are.
After some discussion, the party decide to head up to the fourth floor - the attic.
They head to the stairs in the nursemaids room.
"Seems dumb to have stairs in someone's bedroom," grunts Einnob as she takes the lead. She has her greatsword out, point first as it is hard to swing a massive sword in a small space.
The stairs open out to a some kind of hall with several doors leading from it. This bare hall is choked with dust and cobwebs. Several doors lead from this attic corridor, including a door held shut with a padlock.
A low creak cuts through the air as one of the unlocked doors (the southernmost door) slowly creaks open.
Zap moves past Einnob and moves towards the creaking, opening door. He pulls it open wide.
This cold, dust-choked room contains a slender bed, a nightstand, a small iron stove, a writing desk with a stool, an empty wardrobe, and a rocking chair. A frowning doll in a lacy yellow dress sits in the northern window box beside a tarnished old music box, cobwebs draping it like a wedding veil.
Zap recognises the doll as the same doll that Rose was holding in the family portrait in the Main Hall.
Danu pushes past Einnob and follows Zap and peeks into the room. Einnob rolls her eyes at civilians just wandering around an unsecured area.
"What do we think happens if we play the music box?" asked the halfling druid.
"You should walk in and find out!" replied Zap, scanning the room.
"I'm the helpful suggestion halfling. That sounds like a job for someone with a big sword"
Zap decides he'll do it and enters the room and opens the music box.
The music box contains a rusted, bloodstained skinning knife as well as the key that might fit a padlock.
The music box also contains two curled-up pieces of parchment. The first parchment shows a basic floor plan split into three rectangles labelled QUARTERS, SHRINE, and ALTAR. QUARTERS and SHRINE are connected at the top by a single line, and at the bottom by a double line, which connects both to ALTAR. The second parchment contains a list of unfamiliar names beneath the word RECRUITMENT.
After hearing Danu's description, CQ comes to the door of the bedroom, prompting more exasperated huffing from Einnob, who remains in the hallway, watching the other doors carefully.
"Is the skinning knife anything special?" CQ asks Danu.
"I'm guessing it's what the wife used to cut up the poor maid - and maybe her other 'recruits' for the big bad guy," replied Danu.
CQ enters the room, looks at the skinning knife and agrees with Danu's assessment. She takes the key, then goes over to the writing desk but finds it completely empty. This seems to be a guest bedroom. Nothing indicates that someone slept here on an ongoing basis.
"Let's keep exploring," CQ says. "Let's try this key on the padlocked door!"
CQ with key in hand moves to the padlocked door. Guarded by Einnob, CQ inserts the key into the padlock and turns it. The padlock opens, and CQ opens the door. The other party members come to peer in as well.
This room contains a bricked-up window flanked by two dusty, wood-framed beds sized for children. Closer to the door is a toy chest with windmills painted on its sides and a dollhouse that’s a perfect replica of the dreary house in which you stand. These furnishings are draped in cobwebs. Lying in the middle of the floor are two small skeletons wearing tattered but familiar clothing. The smaller of the two cradles a stuffed doll that you also recognize.
CQ enters the room, avoiding the small skeletons with a stonefaced look. Whatever she is feeling she keeps tightly over-regulated.
The warlock opens the toychest and finds an assortment of stuffed animals and toys. Then CQ hears a collective gasp from everyone in the hallway watching. She spins and sees two ghosts.
The ghost girl, who must be Rose, can obviously hear Zap and turns towards him. She does not appear alarmed, or surprised to see a party of adventurers. Einnob keeps her sword ready, knowing it probably won't help against something incorporeal like a spirit.
Meanwhile outside the room, Danu and Asha are talking.
"We need to figure out the beasts name to say it with conviction at midnight and not turn into beastie food," says Asha.
"Maybe the name on the crib?" suggests Danu.
Keeping her eyes on the ghosts Einnob interjects - "Although if you remember the letter said make sure you are not in the house at midnight or you're toast. Or words to that effect."
"Which will be hard if we're travelling further underground," ponders Asha.
"Maybe we're travelling through the ground and the house will pop out at the land of this Strahd von Zarovich person," says Danu.
CQ goes over to the dollhouse and notes that it is a replica of the house. Not seeing any value in looking at it, she goes to move out of the room, avoiding the ghosts, saying "I'm going to check the last door. It's probably the stairs down".
Seeing that CQ is going to ignore the dollhouse, Asha moves into the room to check it out. She gives it a good lookover and notices some interesting features. The first thing she notices is on the fourth floor there are little wax figures, seven of them. Two are obviously Rose and Thorn in their room. But there is one with pointy ears looking at the doll house, there is a creepy looking woman about to exit. And there is a dragon headed one, a beardless dwarf, and child with leaves in her hair - a halfling - represented outside in the hallway. Dead Pretty!
Asha also notices there is a trap door in the ground floor room where the stuffed wolves are. And there is a spiral staircase with a secret door on this level (and no other) that leads down through all the other levels and goes below the house. The basement is not represented in the doll house
As Rose watches the party, Thorn levitates one of his toys into the air, which falls and breaks. Rose swiftly uses a spell to repair it. Zap recognises it as a mending cantrip.
"Rose can do magic?" says Danu, interested. "Was she a witch?"
"Yes, I can do some magic," says Rose. "I found a book of magic writing in papa's library and I copied some of it into my diary and practiced it. I can do a couple of other spells too. My diary is under my pillow if you want to look. Most of the others wanted to."
The ghost of Rose turns to see Asha noticing a lack of basement in the dollhouse. "We were never allowed to go down there," said Rose, "That supposedly is where the monster is. Mama said she had to lock us in here to keep us safe. But one night she never came back for us. And now we're stuck as spirits, and no one will help us."
"What do you need to help you become unstuck?" asked Zap. The dragonborn noted that Thorn, apparently a very nervous child, was trying to hide behind his sister as Zap moved forward to hear Rose's reply.
Rose looks shy when Zap asks that question. "I will tell you, but you will see why no one has been willing to help us so far."
Even though she does not breathe, Rose appears to take a breath. "Thorn and I have to possess two of you. It's the only way. Then carry our bones and put them in our crypt. I don't know where that is, we would have to look for it, I think it must be in the basement. Then we would finally be at rest."
Rose notes the looks on the party's faces. "But we would not take you over, we just kind of 'piggy back' inside you! All the other groups that visit were worried we would take them over, but we wouldn't do that, would we Thorn?" She looks to the ghost of the young boy who is still doing his best to hide behind his sister.
"That mending cantrip," muses Zap to the party. "We may need to review what is broken to see if she can fix stuff that could be relevant."
"I could do that," agreed Rose, "I can do it even if I am piggy backing inside you."
"I figure also we can get the cantrip and others from her diary," said Asha, finishing her inspection of the dollhouse. She was pretty sure she knew how to find and open the secret doors. Those wax figurines were creepy though. She looks back and sees they have moved, the one representing CQ is out in the hallway.
"It's not how I learn spells," smiled Zap, showing teeth and unintentionally scaring Thorn more. "I'm more of a natural learner than a book learner."
Meanwhile CQ was out in the hallway, realising there were actually two doors that had not been opened as yet. By them anyway.
Asha leaves the room, and the others follow, leaving a sad looking ghost Rose and her brother in their room.
"Which door would you like me to open, CQ?" asks the rogue. She knows from the dollhouse that the northern door leads to another bedroom, and the southern door leads to a large storeroom.
Einnob looks around at everyone. "Right, we ready?" She opens the double doors.
You enter a dusty, cobweb-filled master bedroom with burgundy drapes covering the windows. A four-poster bed with embroidered curtains and tattered gossamer veils stands against the center wall.
A door facing the foot of the bed has a faded full-length mirror mounted on it. In the right-hand corner of the room stands a small wooden door, its surface half-rotted by age. A tarnished metal button is set into the wall beside it.
A rotting tiger-skin rug lies on the floor in front of the fireplace, which has a dust-covered portrait of the man and woman from the first-floor portrait hanging above it. A web-filled parlor in the southwest corner contains two chairs and a table holding several items, as well as a door with a dark, dirt-flecked window.
The room also contains a matching pair of wardrobes, a padded chair, and a vanity with a wood-framed mirror and a silver jewellery box.
"My money is on the jewellery box for the crystal shard key thing," says Danu. "But I don't want to go in first."
Einnob looks around at the others and doesn't see anyone else moving forward. The dwarf rolls her eyes and moves into the room. Nothing leaps out at her so she moves to the jewellery box and uses her gauntleted hand to flip the lid open.
The jewellery box is empty of valuables. Instead, it is filled with grain, with an amber shard resting in the centre of the box. It looks very similar to CQ's amber shard, just a little difference in size and shape. A roll of parchment is half-buried in the grain beside the shard.
CQ enters the room and looks at the table which is covered by a dusty tablecloth. Resting on the dusty tablecloth is an empty porcelain bowl and a matching jug.
"Can you look at the scroll, Einnob?" asks Danu, from the doorway.
Einnob nods and pulls the scroll out of the grain. She looks at the grain. "Again with the windmill thing. Windmills crush grain, right?" She opens the scroll.
The scroll reads:
Drasha,
I have selected you as the Beast’s custodian in my absence. Should the Beast grow unruly or show signs of agitation while I am away, I have left this amber shard to weaken it and soothe its fury.
Should the need arise, present the shard and speak the Beast's name; if you speak with conviction, it shall obey you in my stead, if only for a time. But be sure to begone from the house before it awakens fully at midnight.
So long as the Beast draws breath, it—not you—is the heart of this house, and no meal shall ever sate its appetite. Should you linger in its domain, it will mean doom for you all.
Elisabeth
Zap opens the south door in the master bedroom, which reveals an empty, dust choked closet. He then moves to the balcony doors, opens them and peers out. A wall of earth slides past, or rather, the house is moving through the earth.
(from chat)
CQ says she thinks everyone should head to the library and see what is behind the secret door. Einnob, with amber shard in hand, leads the way. They arrive in the library. Everything is as they left it, including the swivelling bookcase is open, showing the wall with the slot. The dwarf puts the amber shard into the hole and the entire wall starts to swing open.
This small hidden room is packed with bookshelves groaning with old and ominous-looking leather-bound tomes. A heavy wooden chest with clawed iron feet stands against the south wall, its lid half-closed. Sticking out of the chest, its ribs and head caught beneath the lid, is a skeleton in leather armour.
CQ investigates the chest and skeleton. Close inspection reveals that the skeleton belongs to an adventurer (probably human) who triggered a poisoned dart trap. Three darts are stuck in the dead adventurer’s armour and ribcage. Clutched in the skeleton’s left hand is a letter bearing a seal.
Inside the chest are some books and scrolls and a pouch.
CQ reaches in to take the scrolls, ignoring the fact that there is a dead body with darts stuck in it right next to her, and she decides that she probably won't activate the trap. CQ retrieves the scrolls and, as she figured, the trap has already been sprung. CQ unravels each scroll. There seems to be two arcane scrolls and two cleric/druid scrolls.
The arcane scrolls are:
Cause Fear, and Witch Bolt.
The other two are cleric/druid scrolls:
Cure Wounds and Create or Destroy Water.
CQ and Zap discuss who will get the two arcane scrolls.
While talking, CQ looks at the letter. The seal is already broken, indicating the letter was already opened and no doubt read. The letter reads:
My most pathetic servant,
I am not a messiah sent to you by the Dark Powers of this land. I have not come to lead you on a path to immortality. However many souls you have bled on your hidden altar, however many visitors you have tortured in your dungeon, know that you are not the one who brought me to this beautiful land. You are but a worm writhing in my earth.
You say that you are cursed, your fortune spent. Your husband took solace in the bosom of another woman, sired a bastard son, and drove you to abandon love for madness. Cursed by darkness? Of that I have no doubt. Save you from your wretchedness? I think not. I much prefer you as you are.
Your dread lord and master,
Strahd von Zarovich
After some discussion, the party decide to head up to the fourth floor - the attic.
They head to the stairs in the nursemaids room.
"Seems dumb to have stairs in someone's bedroom," grunts Einnob as she takes the lead. She has her greatsword out, point first as it is hard to swing a massive sword in a small space.
The stairs open out to a some kind of hall with several doors leading from it. This bare hall is choked with dust and cobwebs. Several doors lead from this attic corridor, including a door held shut with a padlock.
A low creak cuts through the air as one of the unlocked doors (the southernmost door) slowly creaks open.
Zap moves past Einnob and moves towards the creaking, opening door. He pulls it open wide.
This cold, dust-choked room contains a slender bed, a nightstand, a small iron stove, a writing desk with a stool, an empty wardrobe, and a rocking chair. A frowning doll in a lacy yellow dress sits in the northern window box beside a tarnished old music box, cobwebs draping it like a wedding veil.
Zap recognises the doll as the same doll that Rose was holding in the family portrait in the Main Hall.
Danu pushes past Einnob and follows Zap and peeks into the room. Einnob rolls her eyes at civilians just wandering around an unsecured area.
"What do we think happens if we play the music box?" asked the halfling druid.
"You should walk in and find out!" replied Zap, scanning the room.
"I'm the helpful suggestion halfling. That sounds like a job for someone with a big sword"
Zap decides he'll do it and enters the room and opens the music box.
The music box contains a rusted, bloodstained skinning knife as well as the key that might fit a padlock.
The music box also contains two curled-up pieces of parchment. The first parchment shows a basic floor plan split into three rectangles labelled QUARTERS, SHRINE, and ALTAR. QUARTERS and SHRINE are connected at the top by a single line, and at the bottom by a double line, which connects both to ALTAR. The second parchment contains a list of unfamiliar names beneath the word RECRUITMENT.
CQ with key in hand moves to the padlocked door. Guarded by Einnob, CQ inserts the key into the padlock and turns it. The padlock opens, and CQ opens the door. The other party members come to peer in as well.
This room contains a bricked-up window flanked by two dusty, wood-framed beds sized for children. Closer to the door is a toy chest with windmills painted on its sides and a dollhouse that’s a perfect replica of the dreary house in which you stand. These furnishings are draped in cobwebs. Lying in the middle of the floor are two small skeletons wearing tattered but familiar clothing. The smaller of the two cradles a stuffed doll that you also recognize.
CQ enters the room, avoiding the small skeletons with a stonefaced look. Whatever she is feeling she keeps tightly over-regulated.
The warlock opens the toychest and finds an assortment of stuffed animals and toys. Then CQ hears a collective gasp from everyone in the hallway watching. She spins and sees two ghosts.
"Hey girl!" calls Zap from the doorway. "Hey!"
The ghost girl, who must be Rose, can obviously hear Zap and turns towards him. She does not appear alarmed, or surprised to see a party of adventurers. Einnob keeps her sword ready, knowing it probably won't help against something incorporeal like a spirit.
Meanwhile outside the room, Danu and Asha are talking.
"We need to figure out the beasts name to say it with conviction at midnight and not turn into beastie food," says Asha.
"Maybe the name on the crib?" suggests Danu.
Keeping her eyes on the ghosts Einnob interjects - "Although if you remember the letter said make sure you are not in the house at midnight or you're toast. Or words to that effect."
"Which will be hard if we're travelling further underground," ponders Asha.
"Maybe we're travelling through the ground and the house will pop out at the land of this Strahd von Zarovich person," says Danu.
CQ goes over to the dollhouse and notes that it is a replica of the house. Not seeing any value in looking at it, she goes to move out of the room, avoiding the ghosts, saying "I'm going to check the last door. It's probably the stairs down".
Seeing that CQ is going to ignore the dollhouse, Asha moves into the room to check it out. She gives it a good lookover and notices some interesting features. The first thing she notices is on the fourth floor there are little wax figures, seven of them. Two are obviously Rose and Thorn in their room. But there is one with pointy ears looking at the doll house, there is a creepy looking woman about to exit. And there is a dragon headed one, a beardless dwarf, and child with leaves in her hair - a halfling - represented outside in the hallway. Dead Pretty!
Asha also notices there is a trap door in the ground floor room where the stuffed wolves are. And there is a spiral staircase with a secret door on this level (and no other) that leads down through all the other levels and goes below the house. The basement is not represented in the doll house
As Rose watches the party, Thorn levitates one of his toys into the air, which falls and breaks. Rose swiftly uses a spell to repair it. Zap recognises it as a mending cantrip.
"Rose can do magic?" says Danu, interested. "Was she a witch?"
"Yes, I can do some magic," says Rose. "I found a book of magic writing in papa's library and I copied some of it into my diary and practiced it. I can do a couple of other spells too. My diary is under my pillow if you want to look. Most of the others wanted to."
The ghost of Rose turns to see Asha noticing a lack of basement in the dollhouse. "We were never allowed to go down there," said Rose, "That supposedly is where the monster is. Mama said she had to lock us in here to keep us safe. But one night she never came back for us. And now we're stuck as spirits, and no one will help us."
"What do you need to help you become unstuck?" asked Zap. The dragonborn noted that Thorn, apparently a very nervous child, was trying to hide behind his sister as Zap moved forward to hear Rose's reply.
Rose looks shy when Zap asks that question. "I will tell you, but you will see why no one has been willing to help us so far."
Even though she does not breathe, Rose appears to take a breath. "Thorn and I have to possess two of you. It's the only way. Then carry our bones and put them in our crypt. I don't know where that is, we would have to look for it, I think it must be in the basement. Then we would finally be at rest."
Rose notes the looks on the party's faces. "But we would not take you over, we just kind of 'piggy back' inside you! All the other groups that visit were worried we would take them over, but we wouldn't do that, would we Thorn?" She looks to the ghost of the young boy who is still doing his best to hide behind his sister.
"That mending cantrip," muses Zap to the party. "We may need to review what is broken to see if she can fix stuff that could be relevant."
"I could do that," agreed Rose, "I can do it even if I am piggy backing inside you."
"I figure also we can get the cantrip and others from her diary," said Asha, finishing her inspection of the dollhouse. She was pretty sure she knew how to find and open the secret doors. Those wax figurines were creepy though. She looks back and sees they have moved, the one representing CQ is out in the hallway.
"It's not how I learn spells," smiled Zap, showing teeth and unintentionally scaring Thorn more. "I'm more of a natural learner than a book learner."
Meanwhile CQ was out in the hallway, realising there were actually two doors that had not been opened as yet. By them anyway.
Asha leaves the room, and the others follow, leaving a sad looking ghost Rose and her brother in their room.
"Which door would you like me to open, CQ?" asks the rogue. She knows from the dollhouse that the northern door leads to another bedroom, and the southern door leads to a large storeroom.