As I see it, coaxing him to follow you from room to room in a dark house is not challenging. In this environment, it will be a DC 10 check. You made it!
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Føpé, thinking about Barnaby's robe, will search the room for similar camouflage clothing, as well as spirits, and funny business likes snakes and skulls in the art.
The only curiosity, and after all the macabre decorations you've already discovered you are not surprised, is that the alabaster figures on the mantelpiece are actually small statues of well-dressed skeletons. There does not seem to be anything else of interest in here.
The party makes its way to, and through, the double doors to the north.
Red velvet drapes cover the windows of this room, and it is therefore quite dark. An exquisite mahogany desk and a matching high-back chair face the entrance and the fireplace, above which hangs a framed picture of a windmill perched atop a rocky crag. Situated in corners of the room are two overstuffed chairs. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves line the east wall. A rolling wooden ladder allows one to more easily reach the high shelves.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Kif is going to pull the curtains back, see if that improves the light in here then he's going to look around, paying close attention to the desk and fireplace, but also looking at the books
You have no trouble pulling back and tying off the drapes. The lighting in the room is much better now.
The desk has several items resting atop it: an oil lamp, a jar of ink, a quill pen, a tinderbox, and a letter kit containing a red wax candle, four blank sheets of parchment, and a wooden seal bearing the Durst family’s insignia (a windmill). The desk drawer is empty except for an iron key and records of some household purchases.
The bookshelves hold hundreds of tomes covering a range of topics including history, warfare, and alchemy. There are also several shelves containing first-edition collected works of poetry and fiction. A slender red book, you notice, has a blank spine.
Barnaby will take the key, and tinderbox. He will then use his portent 20 to search the tomes, books, etc. primarily for things of an arcane nature, but secondarily for anything else of interest. He will also look through the blank spined book.
Finally, before leaving this room, Barnaby will take 10 minutes to ritual cast detect magic and scan about here as well as the rooms that they track back through.
With all this craziness, there's bound to be something magical behind it.
Edit: Barnaby will also look over the household purchases just in case there's something that might be related to the current circumstances.
The books are interesting to you, as a librarian, because they are unfamiliar. The texts and the authors are almost completely unknown to you. For a library of this size, in this type of location, it is surprisingly lacking in anything involving the arcane. There are some books about herbs and alchemy, but nothing about magic itself or anything of an arcane nature.
The household papers are interesting, you detect with that roll, because they describe only *some* household expenses. Elaborate candles, some cloaks, daggers, incense. There is nothing in here about food or water or payroll for servants, or any of most of the day-to-day expenses you would associate with a home of this size and type.
As for the red book, when you tug on it to pull it down, it does not come free from the shelf. Instead, it tilts toward you, and a secret door in the northeast corner of the room swings open, revealing a small chamber.
The small chamber, illuminated by the light from the library, contains a heavy wooden chest with clawed iron feet, its lid half-closed. Sticking out of the chest is a skeleton in leather armor. Along the northern wall is are shelves packed with more books.
This is peculiar. The purchases recorded here look more like they are for carrying on rituals than for running a household. This place keeps getting stranger and stranger.
Then, after accidentally opening the secret door, Hey kids, look what papa found. Barnaby rubs his hands together and blushes in pride.
Barnaby will throw a copper at the skeleton to see if it moves. If not, he will have a look in the chest.
Once everything is complete here, he will still cast detect magic.
Close inspection reveals that the skeleton belongs to a human who triggered a poisoned dart trap. Three darts are stuck in the dead adventurer’s armor and ribcage. The dart-firing mechanism inside the chest no longer functions.
Clutched in the skeleton’s left hand is a letter bearing the seal of Strahd von Zarovich, which the adventurer tried to remove from the chest. Written in flowing script, the letter reads as follows:
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 bastard 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
The chest contains three blank books with black leather covers (worth 25 gp each), three scrolls (bless, protection from poison, and spiritual weapon), the deed to the house, the deed to a windmill, and a signed will. The will is signed by Gustav and Elisabeth Durst and bequeathes the house, the windmill, and all other family property to Rosavalda and Thornboldt Durst in the event of their parents' deaths.
The shelves are packed with tomes describing fiend-summoning rituals and the necromantic rituals of a cult called the Priests of Osybus.
Your Detect Magic, cast as a ritual, detects nothing other than the aura of transmutation and illusion that permeates this place.
Edit: and it also detects the magic you would expect from the described scrolls.
No surprise these people were up to dark deeds. Interesting that Straad is disavowing them and their activities. Wonder if the bastard is the baby in the picture. That would explain the sour look on Mom's face. Burning it down seems like a fine idea, but let's clear it first, make sure we aren't burning any innocents
I don’t imagine that those who live here are ‘innocent,’ what with hidden altars and dungeons for torturing. Nevertheless, if there is a monster in a dungeon, then burning the house down will likely only set it free. We must purge this evil where it rests. Afterwards, I agree with Fope, burning this place to the ground seems a fine end for it.
Now come. In the end if we find no entrance to below then we will have to chip our way through the floorboards.
I believe these scrolls are all of an arcane nature. Puddin, you should hold on to them. I’m sure they will come in handy. (Write them in your inventory. They are one time use spells that don’t cost a spell slot to use.)
Animal handling: 10
As I see it, coaxing him to follow you from room to room in a dark house is not challenging. In this environment, it will be a DC 10 check. You made it!
Føpé, thinking about Barnaby's robe, will search the room for similar camouflage clothing, as well as spirits, and funny business likes snakes and skulls in the art.
investigation: 9
The only curiosity, and after all the macabre decorations you've already discovered you are not surprised, is that the alabaster figures on the mantelpiece are actually small statues of well-dressed skeletons. There does not seem to be anything else of interest in here.
well at least there weren't any fancy feasts or moaning Myrtles inhere, shall we move on>
I always wanted to learn to play the harpsichord, but my fingers are too stubby.
Barnaby peers around for anything more unusual than the usual unusual here...
Perception: 18
There is nothing else of interest in this room.
The party makes its way to, and through, the double doors to the north.
Red velvet drapes cover the windows of this room, and it is therefore quite dark. An exquisite mahogany desk and a matching high-back chair face the entrance and the fireplace, above which hangs a framed picture of a windmill perched atop a rocky crag. Situated in corners of the room are two overstuffed chairs. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves line the east wall. A rolling wooden ladder allows one to more easily reach the high shelves.
Kif is going to pull the curtains back, see if that improves the light in here then he's going to look around, paying close attention to the desk and fireplace, but also looking at the books
7 perception
You have no trouble pulling back and tying off the drapes. The lighting in the room is much better now.
The desk has several items resting atop it: an oil lamp, a jar of ink, a quill pen, a tinderbox, and a letter kit containing a red wax candle, four blank sheets of parchment, and a wooden seal bearing the Durst family’s insignia (a windmill). The desk drawer is empty except for an iron key and records of some household purchases.
The bookshelves hold hundreds of tomes covering a range of topics including history, warfare, and alchemy. There are also several shelves containing first-edition collected works of poetry and fiction. A slender red book, you notice, has a blank spine.
Barnaby will take the key, and tinderbox. He will then use his portent 20 to search the tomes, books, etc. primarily for things of an arcane nature, but secondarily for anything else of interest. He will also look through the blank spined book.
Finally, before leaving this room, Barnaby will take 10 minutes to ritual cast detect magic and scan about here as well as the rooms that they track back through.
With all this craziness, there's bound to be something magical behind it.
Edit: Barnaby will also look over the household purchases just in case there's something that might be related to the current circumstances.
A fine and profitable use of Portent!
The books are interesting to you, as a librarian, because they are unfamiliar. The texts and the authors are almost completely unknown to you. For a library of this size, in this type of location, it is surprisingly lacking in anything involving the arcane. There are some books about herbs and alchemy, but nothing about magic itself or anything of an arcane nature.
The household papers are interesting, you detect with that roll, because they describe only *some* household expenses. Elaborate candles, some cloaks, daggers, incense. There is nothing in here about food or water or payroll for servants, or any of most of the day-to-day expenses you would associate with a home of this size and type.
As for the red book, when you tug on it to pull it down, it does not come free from the shelf. Instead, it tilts toward you, and a secret door in the northeast corner of the room swings open, revealing a small chamber.
The small chamber, illuminated by the light from the library, contains a heavy wooden chest with clawed iron feet, its lid half-closed. Sticking out of the chest is a skeleton in leather armor. Along the northern wall is are shelves packed with more books.
You can still cast detect magic if you want, but I wanted to do this bit first.
This is peculiar. The purchases recorded here look more like they are for carrying on rituals than for running a household. This place keeps getting stranger and stranger.
Then, after accidentally opening the secret door, Hey kids, look what papa found. Barnaby rubs his hands together and blushes in pride.
Barnaby will throw a copper at the skeleton to see if it moves. If not, he will have a look in the chest.
Once everything is complete here, he will still cast detect magic.
Close inspection reveals that the skeleton belongs to a human who triggered a poisoned dart trap. Three darts are stuck in the dead adventurer’s armor and ribcage. The dart-firing mechanism inside the chest no longer functions.
Clutched in the skeleton’s left hand is a letter bearing the seal of Strahd von Zarovich, which the adventurer tried to remove from the chest. Written in flowing script, the letter reads as follows:
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 bastard 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.
Strahd von Zarovich
With what we now know about this place, I'd like to revisit the idea of burning it down, if we even can.
No surprise these people were up to dark deeds. Interesting that Straad is disavowing them and their activities. Wonder if the bastard is the baby in the picture. That would explain the sour look on Mom's face. Burning it down seems like a fine idea, but let's clear it first, make sure we aren't burning any innocents
I don’t imagine that those who live here are ‘innocent,’ what with hidden altars and dungeons for torturing. Nevertheless, if there is a monster in a dungeon, then burning the house down will likely only set it free. We must purge this evil where it rests. Afterwards, I agree with Fope, burning this place to the ground seems a fine end for it.
Now come. In the end if we find no entrance to below then we will have to chip our way through the floorboards.
I believe these scrolls are all of an arcane nature. Puddin, you should hold on to them. I’m sure they will come in handy. (Write them in your inventory. They are one time use spells that don’t cost a spell slot to use.)
Barnaby, do you wish to interact with this library of (a very particular type of) the arcane? Puddin, are you still with us?
Barnaby will review the tomes of ritual poopatood for anything of interest or power...
Arcana: 13
Ok. They look interesting. You’re not sure what to make of them.