Into the Mists-The Condemnation of Strahd

As Gillain spins around to see the zombies emerging from the well, she’s conflicted: her duty as a paladin to protect those around her, in complete contrast to her new-found panic and fear. The feelings inside her almost entirely irreconcilable...

She looks at Bob for some reason, for help, or to tell her what to do. But she’s momentarily frozen. She just about musters the initiative to try and hurl a javelin at one of disgusting creatures...

Attack action: Attack: 21 Damage: 6 (piercing damage)

Bob has no fear for perhaps the first time in his life and lunges straight for one of the zombies, trying to bite it's rotting leg and put it on the ground.

Attack: 13 Damage: 9 (DC 11 Str save or knocked prone)

Tio will move forward stiking one of the zombies, then again as a bonus action.

Attack: 8 Damage: 3

 Attack: 15 Damage: 3

Toi attacks Zombie #1. Toi strikes the creature with her powerful metallic fists, striking the creature in the jaw. A cracking sound is heard as the jaw breaks. Toi's second attack strikes the Zombie but, due to being submerged, her fists only graze the creature, and a thin sheen of flesh slides and hangs from the creature but it seems unharmed by the second attack.

Bob-Wolf attacks Zombie #2: Bob-Wolf lunges at Zombie #2 and latches onto its leg. The taste of wet, rotting flesh fills his mouth, a taste he has yet to have had before, as Bob-Wolf's fangs sink deep into the undead flesh and drags the zombie down. (DC SAVE: 2) Bob-Wolf is able to pull the creature prone.

Dmitir Attacks Zombie #3: A blast of eldritch energy comes from Dmitri's hand striking Zombie #3. The beam of energy strikes the creature but, does only slight damage to the creature. 

Gillain attacks Zombie #2: Focused on Bob, Gillain attacks the prone Zombie. She launches a javelin at the creature. Her aim is true as the Javelin strikes the zombie and pierces its chest.

Zombie #1 attacks Toi: attack: 10 and misses.
Zombie #2 attacks Bob-Wolf: Attack: 16
Zombie #2 pounds on Bob-Wolf with its fist doing 4 points of bludgeoning damage.
Zombie #3 rushes Dmitri and attacks: attack: 6
Missing Dmitri.

Gimble fires his crossbow at Zombie #1, striking the creature. In a swift motion, the bolt strikes then passes through the flesh of the creature and strikes the south wall. The bolt has torn a large hole in the Zombie's midsection. Gimble's mind races as he places these creatures as well, zombies, mindless, risen undead that crave the flesh of the living. 

Round 2:

Toi: 22
Bob: 19
Dmitri: 18 (NPC)
Gillain: 13
Zombies: 11
Gimble: 9

Tio will continue to fight Z1 throwing two unarmed strikes! 

Attack: 10 Damage: 5

Attack: 19 Damage: 6

Gimble:

If 2 or 3 of the zombies arrange themselves in a nice formation for a 15' cone spell, Gimble will hop off the chest and position himself to burn them.

Otherwise, he fires again at whichever one he can get a clear shot on that looks damaged.

Gillain is struggling to manage her panic, but seeing Bob-wolf run in, emboldens her somewhat. Then seeing Bob get hit, makes her entwined-thoughts align, for a second: duty, family, wrath, protection.... “Leave her alone!!!....”, she screams, although it sounds more like a tantrum. And she dashes in drawing her spear...

Attack action: Attack: 13 Damage: 7 (piercing damage)

Bonus action (polearm master): Attack: 9 Damage: 9 (bludgeoning damage)

((She will attack the one on Bob, until it’s dead, then move on to the next. If she gets advantage due to prone please roll for me, I wasn’t sure))

Bob recoils, snarling at the beast as it pounds on him, tongue lashing out to try and ride his mouth of the horrid taste of putrid flesh. Somewhere within his canine mind the dwarf part of him was reeling, frightened and disgusted and wanting to be back in his cozy hovel under the hill. But the wolf in him - and something else - was urging him to heights of bravery he never thought himself capable of.

He places his paws on the prone corpse-thing and savages it with his jaws, trying to pull more ragged strips of rotting cloth and chunks of greying flesh from the struggling zombie's withered bones.

Attack: 7 Damage: 10

Toi strikes her opponent twice. The first strike hits  Zombie #1 in the face which caves in upon meeting Toi's metal fists. Toi's second strike, an uppercut to Zombie #1's jaw, and the entire head flys from the body. Zombie 1 collapses and does not move.

Bob-Wolf snaps out at prone Zombie #2. His wolf jaws clasp around the creature and pull the flesh from bone exp[losing the bones of the Zombie's chest. Zombie #2 is damaged but still trying to strike at Bob.

Dmitri raises his longsword and swings at Zombie #3, striking the creature in the midsection. Dmitri's blade cleaves flesh and bone but Zombie #3 is still up. 

Gillain cries out and thrusts her spear into the midsection of prone Zombie #2. the spear pierces easily and the tip even penetrates the floor somewhat. Gillain pulls the spear tip from Zombie #2's chest and with a wide overhead flourish, strikes Zombie #2's head. The sound of tearing flesh can be heard and the neck sprays ichor all over the floor as the head of Zombie #2 flies from its body and rolls, coming to rest some 8 ft. away. Zombie #2 ceases to move.

Zombie #3 strikes at Dmitri. Its fists strike Dmitri's armor but just with a glancing blow which does not penetrate the armor or harm Dmitri.

Gimble fires a crossbow bolt at Zombie #3, striking the creature in the side of the torso. The force of the impact causes Zombie #3 to slide to the left of Dmitri about a foot. The bolt itself pierces the zombie from one side and flies out the other side of the zombie, striking the opposite wall. Zombie #3 collapses.

End of combat.

DM: The battle was quick and decisive. The party defeated the 3 zombies with some ease with only Bob, in his wolf form, taking a bit of damage. For a bit only the heavy breathing of the party can be heard then, wafting through the tunnels the chanting begins anew. You remember there are places and items to explore in this room as well as the rest of this eerie basement.

Actions:

Tio will help Gimble check the locked footlockers.

Quote from BeastyC >>

Tio will help Gimble check the locked footlockers.

 Gimble:

"Right, Tio, let's unlock these footlockers and see what we can find," says Gimble after calming down from after the battle.

Thieves Tools w/Advantage:  11

Bob licked his wounds once the zombies had been put to rest (again), though it was mostly just to get the wretched taste of rotting flesh off of his tongue. When the chanting resumes he starts prowling from one exit to the other now constantly on alert for more shambling horrors.

Gillain retrieves her javelin from the body of one of the zombies. Then she lights a torch and looks down into the well from the top to see if there’s anything else down there...

The party, after their victory over the 3 zombies, eventually continue their search of the cultist's rooms, mainly the chest in each one. Gimble, with practiced ease, is able to open the locks of each chest and the party discovers the following:

1. In the room to the top of the main room, the southeast corner, the party finds a pouch made of some coarse leathery material. Upon inspection, the party is able to discern the pouch is made out of human skin and contains 11 gold and 60 silver pieces.
2. in the room, to the northeast corner, the party finds 3 moss agates wrapped in pieces of black silk cloth worth 10 gold each.
3. in the room at the top of the north wall, the party finds an eye patch with carnelian in the center worth 50 gold.
4. in the room in the northwest corner, the party finds an ivory-handled hairbrush with silver bristles worth 25 gold.
5. In the room in the southwest corner, the party finds an ornate short sword. The edge of the sword appears to have been silvered and the sword is worth 110 gold.

With the exploration of the last bedroom in this area the party finds themselves facing the exit that leads to the south. The lights from the party torches show the exit goes approximately 5 ft. to a set of 5 ft long steps leading down. To the opposite side of the steps is a small 5 ft. landing then another set of steps that go up 5ft. then go further south. 
The party also sees at the landing there is a tunnel entrance that turns west.

Evidently the glittering haul of treasure was the one thing that could rouse Bob from his wolf form. He turns back into a very squat, portly and bearded dwarf before their eyes, eagerly examining each piece of gold and jewelry with glee before begrudgingly letting one of the perhaps less gold-crazy members of the group hold on to them or parcel them out as they saw fit.

He turns to Gimble and bows with some difficulty given his round belly and says, "Bob Beezly, at your service."

Gimble:

Jumping back in surprise at the sudden appearance of the dwarf (and disappearance of the wolf) given his poor insight before, Gimble eventually recovers himself and replies, "Thank you, Mister Beezly, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

After settling and distributing the treasure, Gimble looks at the myriad of options before them and asks, "So, where to next?"

Gillain looks around at the zombie bodies and then up at the party. She says, more to herself and to Gimble than anyone, “Until now we’ve been trying to follow the sound of the chanting, but it’s all very disorientating!... I’m all spun around after the fight, but I feel like keeping heading down seems right, but I couldn’t say why!... Can anyone discern where the chanting is loudest? I’m worried now that we’re chasing echos in a hall of mirrors!”. She moves to wards the exit and tries to look up and down the stairways and listen.

Gimble:

Joining Gillian at the landing, Gimble listens for the source of the voices, trying to help her locate the source of the chanting.  "I typically counsel clearing an entire level before moving to the next--just to limit the possibility of attack from behind, you know," suggests the gnome, "although given what we have found so far, if we can get to the chanters quickly, we might be able to prevent some foul sacrifice, so that may influence our decision."

Perception:  3

Bob frowns, stroking his beard. "Chanters... They might be tryin' some kind o' spell or dark magic. Mayhaps I could sense it afore we stumble on 'em."

He casts Detect Magic and will concentrate on the spell as they move through the rest of the echoing chamber.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/13f7iDdT6SAiMJXsEZcNlAGlCoxhPRf6pHBZXOCLHnug/edit

DM: OK, what has happened to the treasure found? Who is carrying it? Please note on a character sheet who has the treasure.

The party continues down the steps and the T section of the new part of the passage. The chanting is low but continues to echo throughout and can not be pinpointed. 

Bob casts and maintains his spell but there is no magic within range of his location. 

Which way does the party go?