Pizazz's Ravenloft and Beyond

Ulthan looks through the deck, does he recognize the type of game? How is this going to help he thinks as he scratches his head. Maybe throw cards at bad things might do something like a knife but smaller size. If not in dire danger, he'll try to remember that.

Mordekai looks up at the stone carved ravens expecting them to attack, but nothing happens. The prefect's gold holy symbol is festooned with tiny gemstones and he figures it's worth around 750 gp. It tingles in his hand with energy. He then goes back to the previous holy crypt with the sun on the roof but doesn't notice anything else worth grabbing for Meepo. 

Meepo continues wandering around (are you opening crypts now, or just looking in open ones, as I've you've now already collected everything in the open ones. 

Lionel walks up to Ketch and talks to him.  The skull responds, "Your question is vague, and not intended for me, but I must answer, despite the half-orcs attempt to influence the rules of the game.  I will assume that 'there' refers to the city of Kretz, since that is the context for the conversation."  (muffled sounds come from within Ketch's bag). "I have visited Kretz, though a long ago."

Ulthan looks through the deck.  It's a standard deck of cards, 34 of them, though they have amazingly realistic artwork on them, each card having a unique creature. As he looks, they seem to move slightly on the card.  One has a tremendously realistic red dragon, it's chest moving as it seems to breath, another has a druid whose eyes watch Ulthan. Another card has a two headed ettin that seems to sway back and forth slightly. 

Mordekai says to Ketch, being careful of his tone to express what is very clearly a statement and not a question, "We could ask it what the quickest way to Krezk is, then we might know if the teleporter might take us there. Or we could ask it to specify definitively where the destinations of the teleporter are. Not the riddles that are written on it, but clear answers."

He walks over to where Ketch and Lionel are with the skull. He also states to them, "The first of the skulls suggested questions possibly gave us more information than we possibly realised. We know from the first skull that it can clearly still speak after being moved from its crypt. Or at least, mumble into a bag. But the first question this skull suggested was whether it can be removed and retain its ability to answer questions daily." Mordekai emphasises the word 'daily' here. "That suggests that if we believe this skull to be giving us accurate information, we should consider taking it with us to ask some more questions tomorrow. Perhaps removing it from this room does stop it from doing that, but we're not about to come back here every day to ask it more questions, so we should take it just in case."

Lionel rolled his eyes: "Sorry, Ketch, can not get used to it. I'll go check on Ulthan may be - he seemed to find the jester's crypt." He made a few steps back and retreated with the most apologetic look a dwarf's face can express.

Ranger most likely did not need a company, but "Pidlwick's treasure" was a curiosity on it's own and Lionel had to go somewhere. His comment on the cards (provided Ulthan showed them) was simple "Nice catch, might be even magical. Probably used it for his tricks at the court, though it did not help him much. Still, might be worth showing to Mordekai."

(Or better still, worth showing to Meepo.  Meepo is the one with the ability to cast Identify - he just isn't doing on the holy symbols for obvious reasons.  Mordekai is just planning to sit with them over a short rest to try to identify them that way, but will probably share the task out if others have no plans over the next short rest, so that we can try and get them all identified over a single short rest...if it works that way?)

     Ketch sighs, but also barks out a bit of a laugh. "Such magics are tricky even if one does know the rules.  It is what it is."

     "Intree, you seem to have been as helpful as you can be, all things considered.  So as I have just one question left, at least for now, let me ask this: Will the powers that allow you to speak and questions now continue to allow you to do such if you are removed from this castle?"

     Whichever way Intree answers, Ketch will be pulling out the skull of Stefan Gregorovich: First Counselor to King Barov van Zarovich from he sack on his hip, and holding it up as if to have a conversation with it.  "Feel free to speak your piece if you wish..."

Intree responds, "This entire room, filled with crypts, is in effect one large crypt, to which my existence is tied. Departing this room will sever this existence."  (More muffled noises issue from the bag.)

 Stefan Gregorovich, pulled free of the bag, takes a deep gasping breath, as if the skull had been suffocating within the bag, "HUUUUuuuuuuuhhhhhhh. Thanks goodness, free at last! It seems an eon since i've seen the open...er...closed...er...bat dotted ceiling of my one true home. That said, you should not be listening to this wind bag creature, what does he know? Nothing good. Besides, I could have told you about the bone room, so obvious. And the lightning rod, nothing could be more important!"  He seems to imitate Intree's way of speaking, "You can find the giant skull in the bone room...PFA. Obvious. Oh, it seems I'm out of time but just remember..." the voice begins to fade away as if moving away from you "...that the real advisor to the king was me....not that overblown windbagg...."

Both skulls are now silent.

(default rule is that you have to spend a short rest concentrating on an item to identify it, so one item per short rest as it were)

((Well spell is instantaneous but one spell per item... Just spending time to get to know it wise is a short rest... Yes?))

     "As suspected, there is no knowing the truth of what either skull spoke without investigating.  And I've no plans to return her daily to verbally spar with these airheads...If nobody objects, I see no reason to leave these skulls uncrushed," Ketch says to the party in general. "Though...  Mayhap they just don't want to removed but could still be?" Ketch spits and then shoves both skulls into the sack and again secures it to his belt.  If they are silent forever more after being removed from here, then perhaps one of Meepo's lacks will need a replacement head at some point.

"Yes, I would be tempted to leave the here in case we would want to find out which is more useful and question them again, but if Strahd fancied a chat with them, they have information on us...assuming he's not just watching us anyway.  I say the safest option is to take them with us and break the spell."

"Are we done with all the crypts we wanted?  Ketch, were you looking at 29, or were you just bored earlier?  Is the wisest move to leave the castle?  Should we take the fast route out to the one location we know via the Brazier?" (What's the status of the coffin maker's place, last we knew?  Did Rat get a look at it recently?)

     "I am indeed curious as to what rests with Baron Eisglaze Druf... I feel there is something there," Ketch agrees. "Leaving and regrouping may be wise, and there is this Krezk to investigate.  I do worry that Strahd seems so content to let us wander, he must not view us as any kind of threat at all... That along bugs me.  I'd love to prove him wrong, but I would much prefer to live through doing so..."

     Impromptu speech given, Ketch will wander over to Crypt 29...

(correct, identify spell is instantaneous)

The coffin makers place is a burned rubble. Rat appeared in mid air where the 2nd floor used to be. 

Meepo would be detecting magic s we go along, and as he searches for lost items.  Just to make sure we don’t miss anything magical in the place.  Also anything magical, that is not clearly holy, Meepo will be glad to identify.

(gotchya). 

Ketch walks over to Crypt 29.  He reaches for the door.  It feels a bit cold.  He pushes the door open. A wall of sudden cold pulls the breath out of Ketch's lungs, the cold coming at him as if from the coldest hell he can imagine.

(Roll DC 12 CON save.  14 cold damage, save for half.)

Every surface inside the crypt is covered with thick, brownish mold....once Ketch stumbles back from the cold and gets 10 feet from the entrance, the cold is no longer deathly and killing, but just a frigid wall of air around him. 

Ketch Con save: 12 - full cold damage taken.

     Ketch had felt cold before. Hell, he's lived in places where cold was considered balmy.  But this was something else entirely.  Stepping back from the crypt, Ketch took a defensive stance instinctively but after a moment started stomping his feet and rubbing his arms to try to get the blood flowing and warming him up again.  But while better, it seems as if the cold was following him...  Ketch steps further back, then to the left and to the right, testing to see if the frigid air indeed followed him.

     "Bring a torch over here," Ketch will call out gruffly.  "By Gruumsh, bring a bunch of them!"

Do we have a torch lit?  If so, Mordekai will cast Thaumaturgy to make the flame brighten for the next minute as it's brought over to the crypt.

"What is that stuff?  No, wait...I don't think I want to know.  Thank the Traveler we've already run out of questions."

((I thought if you meet DC you pass as well, no? And if Lionel is near by +3 to saves))

"I do not think you have to get in there. Does not look healthy". Lionel patted Ketch's shoulder, returning him his health lost in brave experiments (+15HP from Lay on Hands) He glanced at the bag with skulls in it and just in case tried to avoid questions. "Does not look like you can find here anything useful anyway."

The cold doesn't follow him, it just emanates from within the crypt. 

((I thought had to beat the DC? But I could be wrong. And if Lionel close enough then don’t matter...last I knew several smelliest were carrying torches.))

     Ketch continues his experiment of stepping to the sides and such, does the cold seem to emanate naturally or more of in a beam?  Ketch will try to get glimpses inside, picking up a stone if he can find one, using a coin if he cannot, and casting light on it and tossing it inside the crypt for illumination.  Is there anything to see but the brown mold? Any indication of what is causing the cold?

Perception 16

     If the extra light reveals nothing then ketch will cast Sacred Flame upon the mold within and see what happens.

Target must make Dex save vs DC 15 or take 5 damage.

Meepo moves up to the door to the cold crypt. He cocks his head from side to side, then lifts the staff he has been carrying around in his hand all this time.

Con save: 27

He then sends a cone of cold into the room.

Damage: 32 cold, half with a DC 14 Con save.

The sacred flame, which produces RADIANT energy instead of flame or fire, doesn't seem to affect the mold much.  A rock of light is tossed into the room and you see there is a marble slab in the center.  It's fully covered in mold, as is the top, but peaking through bits of mold you see bones.  The mold is thick enough that it would take some digging to properly look through the room. The cold seems to be coming from the mold itself. 

Meepo though, seems to know what this stuff is, looking at the brown mold.  Without a word he does the counter-intuitive thing of blasting cold into the frigid room rather than trying to heat it up. 

The cone of cold rips through the room. Wherever it touches, the mold shrivels up and turns black. There is still a bit of brown mold on the side walls and walls around the corners, but most of the mold is killed off by his blast of magic.