"If you're so intent on meeting your patron, just let me know, I'll leave you on the ground next time you start bleeding out" Gralwynn chides as she picks herself off of the floor.

When she sees Creak put the frog on the alter grins, "I think it has to be alive when it gets there first. Unless someone can raise the dead here?" 

She looks around the room a bit more, shaking her head, before getting an idea. A devious, devious idea.

"Why don't we go back into the tunnels, there might be another way? And even if there isn't, we can see if we can find that lost 'friend' of ours, maybe he'll want to sacrifice himself to this place" she says, giving a large, jagged, toothy smile, walking back towards the entrance of the room.

"Perhaps another sacrifice to this Strahd creature whose statue we found earlier is what they are asking for? though these apparitions seems harmless enough." and he'll kneel down to inspect the carvings and dried blood upon the altar to see if they resemble anything he's seen before in his studies, while also sketching them in his notepad.

(OOC - what lost friend are you referring to?)

(OoC: go back into the tunnels, find another encounter, leave one alive but incapacitated, weekend at Bernie's it into the room, and there's our sacrifice)

OOC: I think we're the only ones in this house that count as alive.

Quote from 2Goblins_In_An_Overcoat >>

"If you're so intent on meeting your patron, just let me know, I'll leave you on the ground next time you start bleeding out" Gralwynn chides as she picks herself off of the floor.

When she sees Creak put the frog on the alter grins, "I think it has to be alive when it gets there first. Unless someone can raise the dead here?" 

She looks around the room a bit more, shaking her head, before getting an idea. A devious, devious idea.

"Why don't we go back into the tunnels, there might be another way? And even if there isn't, we can see if we can find that lost 'friend' of ours, maybe he'll want to sacrifice himself to this place" she says, giving a large, jagged, toothy smile, walking back towards the entrance of the room.

 Creak grimaces with his birdy face at the idea, “Not a fan- not a fan- We can’t just go around- stab it- regular people.” He then mimics Gralwyn, “Has to be alive- undead- not gonna work for us.”

"Perhaps you can not....but that does not mean the rest of us hold you values..." and he'll give a sly grin. "regardless we need to figure this out.  I am sure none of you want to sacrifice yourself upon the altar, but should you be inclined, I am well versed in the methods to make it quick and painless."

As Creak puts the frog on the altar, nothing seems to happen. The rest have guessed correctly that it expects a death to occur atop it.

"I figured as much. Still, it was worth a shot." Adric says as he looks towards Creak with a sad smile. "It appears we're at an impasse, since these apparitions want a living sacrifice and this house doesn't appear to have any living creatures outside of us and none of us are willing to feed their dark master."

"Hm, is the alter itself the trigger, or the apparitions watching the alter the trigger I wonder, that would mean 2 very different things." 

Gralwynn, now at the cusp of the doorway, turns around "Look, still other tunnels, still other warrens, if we can't get through this one, we can either try another way, or tunnel throu..." Gralwynn suddenly notices the pile in the corner, and scrambles over to it, digging in, looking for what should be there, vermin, parasites, scavengers, anything.

Investigation: 9 

"Only one way to find out," Rynna replies.  "I'm ready if everyone else is."

Do you all leave the dais or the room? Or is someone still by the altar?

Gralwynn, though there should be vermin crawling all over a place like this, it is strangely devoid of anything of the sort.

Creak is still by the altar.

Gralwynn moves to leave the room.

Adric is going to follow Gralwynn and as he does so, he casts Bless on himself, Creak, and Rynna. 

For the next minute the three of us can add 1d4 and add it to an attack roll or saving throw 

Rynna follows the others not fully certain they will find anything but it has to be better than the wet and the muck.

Balmaris looks at the rest of them leaving and looks at Creak and shrugs and follows after Rynna

(OoC: can we get a copy of the current map?)

(Sorry all, it's been a week. We had to put our dog done Monday afternoon, and I had three days worth of dental work done. Finally back to thinking clearly.)

Most of the group makes their way from the chamber, leaving Creak on the dais with the apparitions staring darkly at him.

Ongoing Map:

Where are we on the map?

OOC: Damn. Sorry to hear that.

Creak is on the octagonal dais in the middle of the water in the bottom-most chamber. The rest of you are either in the room with him or in the room with the weird trophies in the niches just above the water room.