Pizazz's Ravenloft and Beyond

"Meepo say go to stairs." Meepo suggests, indicating the one not protected by a formidable gate.

"Yes, we had said further down before we spotted the Saint. Maybe it day we might come back and read the rest of the names, but let's not do that now."

     Ketch shrugs and heads to the steps.  He’s got the thighbone out and in hand, getting to know the feel and the weight of it.

(By the stairs we mean K87)

((Affirmative))

As you head to the stairs, you pass by a few crypts, absently reading the inscriptions as you pass by: 

11: Tasha Petrovna - Healer of Kings, Light unto the West, Servant, Companion

17: Sir Sedrik Spinwitovich (Admiral Spinwitovich): Confused though he was, he built the greatest naval force ever assembled in a landlocked country

20: Sasha Jvliskova - Wife

23: Mordekai - Mysterious Traveler, False to the End

You glance down the stairs to the east. Wide steps descend to a landing flanked by two alcoves. Within each alcove, taking up the full thirty-foot height of the ceiling, is a bronze statue of a warrior holding a spear. A soft blue curtain of light flows between the two alcoves. Dimly visible on the other side of the curtain are more descending stairs. The curtain of light exudes conjuration magic. 

     "Wait.  What?  Was it just me or did that last one have your name on it?" Ketch will ask, turning to look at the Tiefling.  "Should we take a look?  See if you're in there?"

"No. It's not the first time Strahd's magic has played mind tricks like this. If anything, I'd say that's just bait I'd rather not fall for.  I take offense at 'False to the end' though.

I wouldn't mind taking a look at the Healer of Kings, Light into the West on the way back though, assuming we return this way. Or at all. Let's keep moving."

Mordekai picks through his pack until he finds an ivory hairbrush with silver bristles that he picked up in the Death House. He reflects on the fact that it seems a lifetime ago now, and literally is for Mordekai in a way. Then he throws the hairbrush through the curtain of light. 

Lionel frowned. "Mordekai did die before. So did I, you and Meepo. This place is ... strange like that." He looked at Mordekai unsure how to say it. "Have to admit, to find your grave here out of all places... Why would Strahd keep your body? We might want to find out. May be not right away."
Lionel did not press the matter.

Mordekai sees the hairbrush fly through the curtain of light, and hears the hairbrush hit stone steps and tumble down, eventually skittering to a stop on a stone floor beyond, though he can't see it because the curtain obscures anything past a few feet. 

"But Strahd doesn't have my body. I was returned to it. We also saw what appeared to be my corpse previously too. We can take a look later if you like, but I have no interest in being drawn in by Strahd's tricks. I'll make you a deal, we can look in there after we've looked at the Healer of Kings?"

     "Good 'nuff, can't blame a Half Orc for sticking his nose in where it don't belong," Ketch says.  "It's kind of what we do..."

Lionel just nodded. "Magical trap now. Another skeleton to try and get through?"

"First Meepo do..." Meepo says, sending Rat to his extra-dimensional space, then having him reappear on the far side of the strange curtain of light. he has the flying zombie-cat fly down the stairs and check out the room below.

Rat appears on the far side, and flaps haphazardly down the stairs into the grand tomb.  Through his eyes, Meepo sees the following, which he relays to the others. The tomb rests in hushed silence. Tall, stained glass windows dominate the eastern walls, allowing dim light to fall on two coffins resting atop white marble slabs. The one against the north wall is marked King Barov von Zarovich, and the one against the south wall is marked Queen Ravenovia van Roeyen. The vaulted ceiling thirty feet overhead is inlaid with a beautiful gold mosaic.

"Ulthan, hit me. Not with that maul, though! Unarmed, but like you mean it."

Meepo reports what Rat sees to the others. He then tries to see what happens when a skeleton tries to walk through the curtain.

Lionel just did not know where to look - one spectacle was wort another. It was unlikely Mordekai simply wanted to be beaten up by a Goliath, no less, there had to be a reason, but skeleton walking across the light curtains seemed quite important at the moment. The dwarf positioned himself to see both events.

"Lionel, I'd ask you to do it, but it would hurt more. Ulthan, maybe we'll wait to see what happens to the skeleton first."

     Ketch turns and punches Mordekai in the should.  “Oh, sorry... Did you say Ulthan?” Ketch says, humbly. “I don’t know what in Gruumsh’s name came over me...”