A Curse of Strahds [IC]

Lae stalks into the library.. “What’s all this yelling about Necros, I’m not your dog... what the... well, what did you find here?”

Quote from DebatableLogic >>

"The lock and I had a disagreement it appears.  The good news is that I found a hand crossbow, heavy crossbow, and 20 bolts for each. Taking bids now!" 

 How about I won't give you a big brother beat-down for the hand crossbow and bolts?

Zander hears Necros upstairs but waits until his deal is done with his brother before heading up.

Perception is 19 arcana is 17

You can tell the skeleton belongs to a human who triggered a poison dart trap. Three darts are stuck in the dead adventurer's armor and ribcage. You can also tell that since the trap has already been triggered, the dart-firing mechanism no longer functions. The letter in the skeleton's left hand, which the adventurer triggered the trap while removing, bears the seal of Strahd von Zarovich.

An hour of studying the books, given your knowledge of the arcane shows the rituals I'm the books are actually bogus.

The chest also contains three blank books with black leather covers (worth 25gp each), three spell scrolls (bless, protection from poison, spiritual weapon), the deed to the house, the deed to a windmill, and a will signed by both Gustav and Elisabeth Durst which bequeathes the house, the windmill, and all other property to Rosavalda  (Rose) and Thornboldt (Thorn) Durst in the event of their parents' deaths.

I will take the deeds and burn the willand the worthless summining books what do i need to roll to put the deeds in my name

"Hey guys i got dome spell scrools here if you guys what any" yells necros because  hes to buzzy doing what he is doing to dell with the party

You would need forgery to change the deeds. Zennas might be able to help you with that. You pile all the summoning books in the middle of the library and start them on fire.

Are you going to do anything with the letter the skeleton is holding?

There are also 3 unexplored doors on the third floor. One is facing the double doors Lae opened. One is in the wall opposite the stairs. One is to the left of that door in the wall perpendicular to the wall with the previous door. Necros and any with him regarding still on the 2nd floor.

“Don’t mind if I do Necros,” Lae says as he takes the scroll containing spiritual weapon. Pocketing it he says, “There’s other doors that we’ve yet opened, I’m going to try the one I left unopened on the third level”. Lae heads up the stairs and tries the door facing the set of double doors.

Zennas gives his brother the hand crossbow and matching bolt. "I'll just hold on to the heavy crossbow and bolts for now." as I stash it in my satchel. "let's go see what the one with the speach impediment wants."

OK, thank you. 

Zander goes upstairs to check on Necros.

Ok, what did you fi- Holy shi- Is that a fire!? Why are you starting fires in the middle of a house!? By the gods, you pyromaniac! Zander calms down a little when he sees it under control. What are you even burning, and why?

Those books look like they're worth something, maybe we can sell them somewhere and split the gold? That's my vote there. Would that be stealing? I'm not trying to steal anything, but... this family looks like they won't even miss them.

You found scrolls, too? I can't cast spells yet, but I studied magic a little bit a while back, maybe I'll get back into it soon. Where's Embir? She could hold on to one, maybe you too Necros? I don't need those.

What's this guy? Zander goes over to the skeleton and takes the note from its hand.

(Lae) This dark room contains a wooden tub with clawed feet, a small iron stove with a kettle resting atop it, and a barrel under a spigot in the east wall.

(Zander) You break Strahd's seal. The note is written in a flowing script and 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 ones who brought me to this beautiful land. You are but worms writhing in my earth.

You say that you are cursed, your fortunes spent. You abandoned love for madness, took solace in the bosom of another woman, and sired a stillborn son. 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"

Zander reads the note aloud for everyone to hear.

Called it on the cheating thing, didn't I? Anyway, it looks like this family was once under the service of Strahd, but not so much now. Wait, why did this person have the note? Are they a messenger? Zander looks at the scene. I'll bet, since the seal wasn't open, this message was supposed to be delivered to Gustav Durst, but before that happened he wanted to get the deeds to the house. He knew where they kept the deeds, but was unaware of the dart trap, and died on the spot. So the Dursts may not even know that Strahd has abandoned them yet... Either way, we need to figure out how to get to the basement and deal with them. I wouldn't expect them to be friendly.

Zander looks around for any secret passages in this area behind the bookcase. 13 Investigation

(This is a secret room behind the bookcase, but you find no further evidence of more secret rooms here.)

" these  summoning books are useless you are more likey to die then to actually  do anthing." Necros  says. " i will faloow were you guys go we need to stop this now. Do you guys think you can help me with some forgery i have some deeds here?:

You want to forge the deeds to this house, this house that Strahd was trying to take the deeds to... That Strahd knows about and probably gave to the Dursts in the first place? Somehow I doubt that will fool anybody. For all we know, they're still here in the basement. Maybe we can use the deeds as leverage at some point, but I highly doubt that if Strahd was after those deeds that anyone will recognize your ownership of this place. Let's see how this all plays out after we find the basement before we try forging official documents.

Zander takes the three leather books and puts them in his pack. I'll hold on to these until we can sell them, then we'll split the gold. Somebody grab those last two scrolls.

Zander leaves to join Lae on the third floor.

You find Lae exiting a room that is apparently a bathroom.

Zennas walks in right behind Zander, a look of excitement when he sees a fire being started, a little less exciting once he sees its under control. 

"I could probably forge those documents for you Necros, but it would be expensive and take time.  Plus like my brother said it probably won't matter to Strahd... But they will look legit."

Lae finishes wiping his hands on a cloth he found in the bathroom just as the others walk in. He crumples it and tosses it back into the dark room, “Wouldn’t go in there just yet” he chuckles. “Just kidding, there’s nothing in there though, think we need to try the other two doors up here that we haven’t explored,” Lae says as he points to the door opposite the stairs.

Zander opens the door opposite the stairs that Lae pointed too.

Dusty shelves line the walls of this room. A few of the shelves have folded sheets, blankets, and old bars of soap on them. A cobweb-covered broom leans against the far wall.