Pizazz's Ravenloft and Beyond

The Abbot continued to act as if Lionel did not exist. But may be third time is a charm. The dwarf placed his hand on Abbot's arm and once attention was given asked: "Let me be direct here, how many souls do you see in my body?"

The Abbott looked at Lionel. He was about to look away dismissively once more, but then stopped, and confusion ripples across his face. He looks at Lionel as if trying to pierce a fog. He glances around the rest of the group as if looking for the same thing there. Finally he returns back to Lionel, "The Morninglord works in wonderous ways. I must ask, is that uncomfortable? Most curious indeed. In you I see....a plethora of spirits...like too many people trying to ride a single horse....."

"Indeed. And if you ever ridden a horse, you know the answer to your question - it is quite uncomfortable, I assure you. Can Morninglord guide that spirits to their resting place?"

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The Abbott turns to Ketch and Lionel, "I'm afraid details of my plans are mine alone. Again, I appreciate what you've done here, regarding the dress. If you do not wish to keep you any longer than you wish, if you've not desire for a tour of the Abbey." 

Meepo walks about the room. A sawed off rabbit foot, still bloody, laying under the table. Perhaps a rabbit lost it?  They're supposed to be lucky. There is a pot of bubbling stew over the fire.   He finds a broken wooden spoon also shoved under the table, and...hmm...this gold candelabra on the end of the table...is it lost?  It's hard to tell.....

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The two headed creature frowns at Ulthan. "You can't leave. You should come with me now."  It sounds less like a suggestion and more like an order.  He makes to head towards the stairs that lead down.

 Meepo picks up the foot and spoon, then glances to the candle holder. He shrugs and picks it up, ready to place it on his disk, but then notices he has not summoned the disk yet. Chiding himself, he puts the candle holder down and starts to ritually cast floating disk

Ulthan, you bolt out the door.  The creature turns as you vanish out the threshold, "Hey...."  but then his voice trails off as you escape to the outer ramparts....and he does not pursue. 

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There's the sound of a bit of a ruckus upstairs, but then it's quiet. The abbott glances up curiously, but then shrugs it off and says, "Very well, follow me."  He glances over at Meepo and his floating disk, which contains one of his candleabras....raises an eyebrow, but says nothing as he makes his way outside. The tour doesn't seem to include upstairs or the basement here. Though he does wave his hand towards the stairs on each side. "Downstairs is the wine cellar. Krezk is generous enough to share their wine with us. Upstairs is the belfry. We use the bell to signal dinner time to the Belviews. Cloven Belview lives up there. He's one of the few that are functional and help me run this place." 

He heads out into the courtyard. Ulthan observes from the shadows above.  "Our presence will disturb poor Marzena. She unfortunately believes everyone is here to try and kill her.  But...being in the courtyard lets her at least fly about a bit, which I think makes her happy. The old chicken coops are where we keep some of the other Belviews who are a little more agitated and have troubles being inside much. Some are afraid of the inside, others just seem to like the wind and rain on their faces." 

He walks past to the far door and into the other wing.  The room just through the door used to be an office, as evidenced by the remains of a desk and a chair, both of which have been smashed to pieces. A hallway to the south leads to a staircase going up. A dark passage to the east is full of unnatural whispers, mad laughter, and bestial odors. This lightless corridor has multiple doors behind which lie creatures that shatter the quiet with their mad cackles and whispered curses. The stench is overpowering. Even in the gloom, you can make out a monstrous shape lumbering down the hall. When the darkness can no lon­ger hide its true nature, your eyes are treated to a terrify­ing, 7-foot-tall assemblage of human body parts. It stops and stares blankly at the group and the Abbott. The Abbott clears his throat, "This is a construct I've made to help keep the peace so to speak. There are sixty Belviews in these rooms here. The rooms are unlocked, they can come and go as they please...but....I'm afraid in their insanity they do not seem to wish to leave their rooms often. Cloven and I feed them twice daily as signaled by the bell."

He turns right and heads up the stairway.  As the Abbott heads up the stairs, you each hear some voices singing a rhyme, between the hoots and hollars of animalistic creatures.  "The devil dwells in his dark house, Upon the misty pillar. First he'll taste her sweet, sweet blood, And then he'll have to kill her."

You follow him up the stairs, a chill upon your spine. 

The room at the top of the stairs has a wooden counter shaped like an L that stands at the front of a spacious office. All the other furniture has rotted away, leaving heaps of moldy wood and faded cloth. One door in here leads into the building further, and one leads outside.  He opens the outer door which leads to the ramparts of the place. "Our..ahem...'guards'....not much I'm afraid, but better to scare off curious folk then have them misunderstand what we do here."  He closes it, Ulthan sliding into a shadow unseen, still on the ramparts. 

He strides across the room and opens the inner door. "This used to be a hospital once long ago."  Beyond the door you see a spacious chamber that contains bed frames of wrought iron arranged in two neat rows. Cobwebs and bits of rot­ ten mattress cling to each frame. Three doors are spaced along the south wall, each with a plaque mounted on it. From west to east, the plaques read OPERATING ROOM, NURSERY, and MORGUE.  "Unfortunately there is not a lot of need for these rooms."  A chill breeze seems to bounce around this room...and the shadows in the darkness seem to move strangely. He closes the door.

"And that my friends is the Abbey. It is not a pleasant place I'm afraid, but...it is a place of mercy, amongst this harsh world. I understand you've already seen the graveyard. Shall I show you the gardens?"

Along the way, Meepo adds the following things to his floating disc:  A broken spear shaft with a rusty spear head, a small black cauldron that appears to have meat juices burnt onto the bottom of it, a thick black hood that has the smell of damp earth lingering about it and some strange ichor on it,  a painting depicting an ancient stone castle in a gold painted frame, it has a tear through part of it where the moon would be, an old piece of paper with neat writing on it, though it appears to be written in some sort of cypher, a black wolf's claw, and a golden locket that contains two black stones embedded on it's inside. It has strange black streaks on it's inside, staining the gold.

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Ulthan, there is another door into the other wing that is available from the ramparts.  Having watched the group move across the courtyard with the angelic guy, then come out upstairs, it seems they're getting a tour.  You sneak over to this other door and listen, hearing nothing, you peer inside.  Bunk beds that have disintegrated with age lie in heaps along the walls of this moldy, thirty-foot-square room, though it has an L shape so you can't see fully around it, it appears to be quiet and empty.  (Roll Perception) 

     "Most of these grot...  Most of these Belviews," Ketch corrected himself, "They seem quite distraught.  Miserable.  Sorry to say, but pathetic.  Does there not come a time when a person is...  No longer a person?  That they are better off relieved of the curse of a shell they inhabit?"

     "And the conditions...  Could you not persuade some of the locals to help out?  I can understand if they do not wish to... interact with the Belviews.  But yet surely one such as yourself could inspire them to at least come and help keep the place clean and in repair?"

The Abbott looks at Ketch, his eyes open and honest, "And who should make that judgement? You? Who are you that you know who deserves death, and who deserves to live? Do not be so quick to deal out judgement. You have been here for a moment only. I have lived with these creatures their entire lives. As for help....well...the people below are an insular people. They wish only to isolate themselves and live in their own tiny world, forgetting the problems beyond their own walls. That includes the problems up here. And so I will do my duty...to honor the Morninglord and his saint, until such a time as I can not, or until Strahd's time is done."  

     "Who am I?  I am a person with compassion and understanding.  I am a person who has suffered pain and misery, who can see it in the eyes or others like me and who can use that as a basis for understand and extrapolation...  You have lived with these people but do you truly understand their pains? Their suffering?  Their madness? Can you imagine what it is like to live with such unending and seeing no hope?" Ketch asks in response.

     "And the people below may be insular, but even they know about compassion and helping a fellow person.  They aided us and have asked us for aid.  Surely one of your brilliance, your magnificence could reach out to them and help show them a better way?  Would you not be doing a kindness to the souls below, as well as the souls here, to find a way to bring them together and rise both up?  Should we all not strive to be teachers and helpers and ones to bring enlightenment, not just ones maintaining the status quo?"

The Abbott sighs, "I think perhaps we shall skip the garden tour. I do not wish to be subjected to your righteous ignorant judgements further. I'll show you the door." 

He makes his way down the stairs without looking back, heading for the courtyard. 

"We are not quite finished, Abbot. You still did not answer my question about the souls. Nor did you tell us what that Vasilka has to do with the others? She does not look like other Strahds experiments here, those Belviews as you call them. Who is she and why does she bares so many scars?"

     "A celestial who would rather get huffy than try to do good, now I've seen everything," Ketch says, turns to the side and spits, then follows his gracious tour guide in silence.

The Abbott responds to Lionel, ignoring Ketch's jab, "No, I do not intend to answer your question about souls. And, as I've said, Vasilka is my concern, not yours. Thank you for the dress. When you see the mayor, tell him that I will be down in the morning to aid his heart and soul, and his son."   Then it seems he decides to respond to Ketch, "Your version of good is misguided, I am a more qualified judge than you. But, mortals always think they're right. It's not a failing you should feel bad about, it just is. So, neither am I huffy, nor am I failing to do good...except in your eyes. Perhaps one day you'll take a moment to accept that your version of reality is just that: yours. I wish you luck in your endeavours."  He reaches the front gate and opens it, making space for the group to depart.  

     "Nobody is more sure about their rightness and goodness than those who refuse to believe that they could ever be wrong.  Us mortals, we second guess ourselves all the time...  Have you ever second guessed yourself?  Is it possible for anyone other than a god to be infallible?" Ketch asks...  

A few more rolls for Ulthan as he slinks around, since the group is getting a tour why should he... albeit without so much as a tour guide. Rolling a few times for different situations. He's trying to avoid guards. Out of curiosity, when we were about the town, did we see that many dilapidated buildings/abandoned and the like? I'm curious how common in these lands it's to have this kind of rubbish in a home that they've been here for some time.
Perception rolls 10 / 24 / 8
Stealth 25 / 11 / 16
Athletics 8 / 10 / 25

"You forgot "quick-tempered" in your description, Ketch. Do not think the great immortal Abbot is about to dispute anything here. We might as well leave." Once they all were outside he would add: "As much as I would like to meet Strahd sooner rather than later, what do you say we stay in Krezk for a day? Something tells me, soon that village would need someone to mitigate that much unchecked "goodness" in the area."

23  Ulthan, you hear the quietest scuff from around the corner in the upper room.  You also note some furniture has been moved around in here and the dust has been thoroughly disturbed. 

The Abbott regards you as you both unleash your verbal barbs. Then, blank faced, truly showing neither anger or spite, he nods to the group and closes the door to the abbey. 

     Ketch shrugs.  "I suppose I shouldn't talk as much.  It never does seem to help..."

     "I'd be fine holing up somewhere for some time.  Been meaning to fill up a few waterskins with holy water...."

     "You think I should have tried to banish him?" Ketch asks, seeming as a total aside with no real response expected.

     "Yes, to Krezk then...  I think we only grow stronger in time, for now. As such, no rush to re-face the demon."

Ulthan sneaks forward to get a better look and see what other oddities are around. At this time he just plans to observe and see what else is in around here. Not planning to steal anything unless it's something marked as thing that kills Strahd. After I explored mostly abandoned rooms I'll go back to a perch outside and see if the group is done, then if noticed go down and meet with them. If not noticed I wait another hour or so and if still nothing I head back to the last town we were at.

Ulthan comes around the corner and sees.....a woman.  She's....beautiful. She has green eyes....is wearing a very functional and well thought out studded leather suit over which she wears a lovely full length red jacket. A headband of red fabric keeps her auburn hair up, its curly frizz tumbling over her back. Again, functional and pretty. Finally his eyes lower to her hands, in which she clutches a rapier and a handaxe. Both glitter with silver edges in the darkness. Lovely weapons, and she holds them right...and silver, clearly knows her weapons.  Ulthan locks eyes with her for a moment. Then she smiles the most wonderously charming smile as she says, "Oh...hey there big guy....don't do anything rash ok, how about we just stay calm and talk it all out..." 

(make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw). 

Pffft, she sounds like she's normal as opposed to partial animal, so here that's abnormal, probably an intruder thinks Ulthan. I'm just going to 19 go "hrmpfh you hrmpfh" he barely gets a word in as the she looks at him.. Talking to her seems reasonable so he doesn't go off and listens. His intent is to move on to look at other rooms, but will wait and talk ... grumpily... Ulthan no like talk. So he waits for her to talk having just managed to say you before being mesmerized.