Pizazz's Ravenloft and Beyond

"I could get across there and back, and take one other person with me to search, but unless we can Locate it, finding the sword is going to be a long shot. 

(Does anyone have access to Locate Object, even after a long rest to prepare spells?)

(That was the whole point of traveling!)

"I can probably carry one or two of you across as well, but let me check something first" Lionel moved as close to the edge of the bridge as it looked safe and concentrated on the image of the sword. Locate Object

(Yeah, I assumed that, but didn't see the spell in anyone's character sheet.  I don't know how precarious the ruins currently are, or how wide the gap is from where we can safely stand to where the sword is, if anywhere, but Dimension Door gives us 500ft, assuming it's probably out of Misty Step range. Lionel can fly too, right?  At 30ft for one minute = 180ft each way, assuming we don't run into trouble and there's no delay finding/digging for the sword - again, this is all assuming the sword is still in there.)

((I’m a bit behind, haven’t shuffled spells yet. Started to (to take sending) but got distracted.  Will definitely take locate object and locate person...  and use them both... hopefully caught up later today.))

"hrmpfh rope worked check tower first hrmpfh" as Ulthan prepares his grappling hook and rope wearily scanning the horizon and looking at tracks on the ground to figure out what if anything other than us has been around here lately. Perception 17 Survival 22.

"Meepo make bridge." Meepo says, holding up his staff. (I didn't roll for charges regained, but assume it would have enough now after a long rest.) He lifts the staff and creates a bridge of ice across.

Meepo holds up his crystalline staff and a bridge of ice appears spanning the gap.  The group moves across it....the thick ice steaming in the warm sunny air...and into the castle courtyard. Rubble is strewn across the courtyard from falling chunks of stone. The castle looks partially collapsed though its clear there are several ways to get in....especially given some large gaps in walls.  Though the collapsing towers look very tenuous. 

The dwarf casts his spell....attempting to reach out and find the precious blade.  The magic quests around, her sense reaching out.....but he releases a heavy sigh a moment later, as the magic returns nothing.  

Near one of the entrance towers you see two mangled legs sticking out....and bits of a wedding dress.  The bride seems to have been caught under part of the falling wall.....with a massive chunk of stone wall capping it.  You figure even together you'd be unable to move it if you wanted to....not that it would matter since it seems clear the bride has been crushed completely.

(Can we tell if the spell covers the area or not?)

     Ketch would wander inside, trying to reach the center of the castle, and cast Locate Creature to see if he got a sense of Strahd.  The bloodsucker may have just chosen not to respond to the previous Sending .

     Ketch also offers to cast a Locate Object for the list sword.  It would be hard to imagine Strahd could have gotten it a thousand feet away in that brief time, but a lot of Strahd was hard to believe...

     If we are exploring more of the castle, Ketch will cast a Detect Evil and Good for at least the initial search, trying to get a sense of all the inhabitants fled or were destroyed, or if they still remain.

Meepo would worm in, starting to seek out anything that might have gotten lost in the ruins... Almost before the first steps inside he would pause though and summon forth one of his disks.

Lionel would gladly accept help in search of the sword. Strahd could sure hide it somehow - but also ... Well, it was just a thought but like other spirits left him after they served their purpose, so could the sword - after all, it burned with the hatred towards Strahd and with the death of the vampire (in that wonderful first truly sunny day of freedom Lionel very much wanted to believe Strahd is dead), so, with the death of the vampire sword could let go of existence just like spirits of the paladins did.

Still, for the full duration of the spell the dwarf would walk around listening to his senses.

(Mordekai had Hex up on Strahd when he died, so presumably if he had definitely died, Mordekai would have got a sense of that? I don't know if Hex specifically says either way on that, but you can only transfer it onto a new creature once the current target is dead, so I figure something pings in his head at some point?)

With nothing in particular to look for himself, and no way to really aid the search, Mordekai resorts to vanity - he finds a large piece of broken glass in the rubble and repeatedly casts Disguise Self, altering just the shape of his horns, muttering to himself with varying degrees of approval. 

Ulthan also uses his useless primeval awareness aka detect undead ability. Are there any undead within 1 mile of me (once I enter the castle, otherwise it would be 6 miles). He then lets the group know "hrmpf undead within hrmpfh" when asked how many "hrmpfh no know number hrmpfh" and then when asked where "hrmpfh no know where hrmpfh". Or "hrmpfh no undead near hrmpfh" depending on result.

As for as Mordekai's hex went, Strahd died. Locate creature turns up no sense of Strahd nearby. The Locate object spell certainly covers the area, but as you wander around, you get no sense of the sword.  Indeed....even Ulthan's detect undead spell turns up no undead within the ruin.  As you walk about, the sun shines on the bricks and castle, and its as if all the sinister evil that had clung to the place like so many cobwebs....was simply gone. It was a ruined castle, nothing more, nothing less. Despite that, it IS full of stuff....all of which would probably qualify as lost. The disk Meepo has is soon heaped with all manner of trinkets and junk. Moving through a breach in the front wall, you come into a storage room that held about a fifty mirrors in frames.  They're all smashed and crushed....glass everywhere.  A secret door leads through to the dining hall with the organ.  A passageway leads away to one side.  The dining hall has silverware and China lay across the floor....the chandelier having falling and cracked the table in two...rotting food is everywhere. 

You move through the main hall and down another hall lined with statues....many crushed or collapsed...and into the remains of a large chapel.  The back wall is caved in showing the open sky beyond.  Rubble litters the front dias.  You do see a corpse, long rotten laying amidst the ruins. He wears a handsome fur lined cloak embroidered with golden thread (worth 250gp), and  a suit of dusty chain mail.  A black mace lays on the ground....which you notice is magical.  (Later you will identify this as a Mace of Terror)

There are stairs and hallways galore, but searching this ruin could well take you through the entire night. 

(Did Urwin take the Raven Amulet? It had class restriction, which now probably does not matter)

Eventually Lionel gave up - not until spell run off, but he did. "I feel like the sword is gone." He sighed. It was ... disappointing but today he could live even with that loss. He picked up the scary looking mace, weighed and offered to Ketch. "Another one to your collection?" "Well, unless we are going to sift through this piles of rocks... looks like we are truly done here and can finally leave the place. Shall we?"

     Ketch takes the mace and considers it for a while before shrugging.  "I like my axe...  Besides, why would a warrior want his foes running away?" Ketch asks.  Sure, he did turn Strahd to get them all a breather but he chose not to mention that.  Every rule needed an exception, by Gruumsh.

     "Still, if none of us wish to wield it, I'm sure we'll find it worth a coin or two elsewhere in our travels.  Same with this Luck Blade I carry...  It is disappointing not to find the Sun Blade but I'm sure we could scour this place and find sacks full of valuables.  Honestly though, I kind of don't want to be bothered.  It's shameful to one as greedy as myself but I almost feel like the masses out there should come and scavenge and get what they can.  I've frankly had enough of this place..." Ketch say with another shrug and looks towards the exit.

     "Anyone not feel their business here is done?"

"I could certainly leave this place behind without any second thoughts. I wish the people well and all, but I've never died before, and do not wish to linger in the land where it happened. The next band of adventurers can deal with the Amber Temple, we've done enough."

(Actually, if no-one has a use for the embroidered cloak other than to sell, Mordekai might quite like it.)

Ezz stands in a pile of rubble near the courtyard, surveying the ruins.  The wind blows her hair and long jacket....her eyes cast down upon the ruin. She sniffs.  "Well friends. This land is still deeply injured. You've all done what no others could, congratulations....and well deserve escape from this place.  I though, think I shall stay a bit longer. I think I have a bit more healing to offer this strange place."  She tips her head in respect, "I'll follow you back to the cross roads, but then i'm headed back to Vallaki.  It was my greatest pleasure to accompany you on this quest."  She still looks pale from the battle....her neck still sporting the wounds from Strahd's fangs...concealed just beneath her scarf.  But...she isn't burning up in the sun and didn't get buried to rise up again a vampire, so even the most nagging and paranoid of you (*ahem* Ulthan) have to admit the risk from her is pretty low. 

She escorts you all back to the crossroads as you leave the castle ruins behind, and then takes her leave, giving everyone a firm hand shake, and Ulthan a surprise full body hug that goes on for slightly too long.  She winks at him as she walks away, "Make sure you come back and visit ya'hear?"  She heads off down the darkening road.  

The trip back to the town of Barovia is quiet and peaceful. There is no fog and from a distance you see lights in the town, and the distant sounds of laughing and talking. High up in the mountains the irregular shape of Castle Ravenloft looking down upon the valley looks distorted from the damage. The group finds a warm welcome in the small town. Word has travelled about their heroics from Vallaki and they are treated to a lovely stay in the place. The burned down shell of a house reminds the group where they started from.....so long ago. 

But it's by noon the next day that the group passes through the eastern gate of Barovia and faces a foggy road through the forest. The forest looks less twisted and gnarled now.  Small animals skitter about, and it seems a place full of wildlife, and bereft of the threat it once held.  The fog faces the group.....their escape from Ravenloft is before them. 

With a brief look at each others faces....the unlikely companions...and all they've been through...almost each and every one of them having met deaths hand and lived to tell about it...small smiles touch their lips and with a final nod and deep breath they walk into the mists.....seeking a return to the real world. 

-------------------------------------  Here ends the groups Adventure in Ravenloft -----------------------------------------

(You of course may choose to level up your character if you wish.)

[If you quickly look for your next adventure, please turn to page 57.]

[If you return to your home town to raise a family, please turn to page 14.]

[If you take a break from adventuring for a while, but eventually return to its Siren call, please turn to page 91.]

"We shall make a paladin out of you yet, Ketch!" Lionel threw the mace up and caught it. "I'll keep it as a memento then, or until we find someone to sell it to." He glanced at Mordekai eyeing the cloak. "With you on Temple, Mordekai. Oh, and trust the opinion of an ex-waterdhavian-noble - that cloak is worth saving and will look great on you."

"Meepo? There are a lot of "lost things here", true, but there are more past that cursed mist. You think you can leave it to people of Borovia? Ulthan? Ezz? Are you coming?"

Lionel was truly ready to leave that place behind.

     Ketch shrugs.  Smiles.  Then turns to page 57.