You examine the suit of armour. If your life in Barovia has taught you anything, it is that these things have a habit of coming to life; perhaps if a certain word is said or a trap triggered. Behind the armour, the wall appears to be weaker. Unfortunately, the suit of armour is blocking you from properly investigating it.
Fortunately, the chest appears to be unlocked. Your senses are assailed by a pungent lavender smell which emanates from the inside of the chest.
((At this point, it would be remiss not to check whether Galqarin would open the chest or not.))
> Behind the armour, the wall appears to be weaker.
Is there something specific that gives Galqarin this impression? Loose stones, daylight showing through?
"Something in chest smells", observes Galqarin to the wider group. "Not locked, but could still be trap", he adds, looking pointedly at the suit of armour.
He stands back and, with one eye on the suit of armour, flips the chest's lid open with the tip of his staff.
Sandu felt a twinge of jealousy when the clay golems operated the pulley system. Creating a golem of any kind was difficult enough, let alone four of them. Using them solely to operate an elevator either spoke of great power that one is able to create such a resource for such a minor task without much concern or great arrogance that one used such an investment for something so minor and nothing else. Or showboating. That was also always an option with wizards.
"Why not just have stairs?", observes Galqarin disdainfully. He steps onto the elevator platform. "The top floor", he says emphatically. "Maidens and wizards are always at the top of towers."
'He's out of line but he is right.'Sandu added. After all, every story dealing with a tower always had the climax at the top. 'Also, curious choice of words: maidens...'
He joined the others on the rickety platform going to the top. The floors in between had falled to decay and were not that interesting but the top floor was: in contrast with the other floors this one had seen use recently and that was all the more promising.
'Shame nobody's home.'Sandu said when the group spread out from the elevator to investigate the room. It was a rather small room so that did not take long.
"Why wizard want suit of armour? Could be another trap."
Given his recent experience with suits of armour made Sandu wary around the propped up piece of metal. He tensed the muscles in his legs, ready to bolt away at the slightest notion of the suit moving, but that instinct leveled out with his curiosity of being in a wizard's tower. And that required for him, dreaded as he did, to stand closer to the suit.
'Maybe this Khazan fellow uses it to hang up his robe.' The mental image of a star embroidered robe draped around the armour made it ever so slightly less threatening. 'Like a mannequin. Or a butler holding clothes. Your evening robe, milord. It might say.'He pointed with his thumb at the suit. 'Wizards are a solitary bunch so a lot of them develop this habit of talking to their furniture. Or so I'm told. I don't. I'm not that kind of wizard.' He decided to stop talking.
Sandu awkwardly shuffled to the side when Galqarin attempted to fiddle with the chest with the tip of his staff.
Galqarin - You flip the chest lid open, expecting the worse, and... nothing happens. Except the smell of lavender fills the small tower chamber. As you approach the now open chest you find something which would surely be out of place in many other lands but is oddly not that unusual within Barovia - a severed head. The head appears to be of Vistani origin and its flesh has a strange waxy texture; suggesting it has been embalmed.
Sandu - The moment you say the word 'Khazan', the suit of armour steps forward, its giant frame shielding the light streaming in from the window. It approaches you before suddenly... taking a knee. It kneels before you, its visored helm looking up at you expectantly, waiting for an instruction to be given.
> After all, every story dealing with a tower always had the climax at the top. 'Also, curious choice of words: maidens...'
OOC: Much of Galqarin's idea of lore comes from children's tales and overheard Vistani stories. Not that he'd particularly believed in them but, of late, it seems like some of them were disturbingly real.
Galqarin is initially less taken back by the decapitated and embalmed Vistani than by the kneeling "knight". He steps back in alarm, waiting to see what happens next. When the knight doesn't move, he peers more closely at the waxen visage that is the current resident of the chest.
Does Galqarin recall the former owner of the head?
Dormark looking at the newly awaken knight says, "This wizard sure has a specialty... does anyone know if it is normal for golems to be that smart? I thought the mostly only took commands."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
DM rolls:
67
((Ye gads))
Galqarin - You think back to times when you had visited the Vistani camp outside of Vallaki. Nothing springs to mind at first, though you are sure that his face rings a bell. After much contemplation, you realise that the head belongs to Yan.
As far as you recall, Yan was banished from his clan for stealing. He had subsequently became known as a shyster and conman, frequently taking advantage of those with kind hearts. You would know that he has been responsible for luring/bringing people into Barovia, only to leave them abandoned in this harsh land.
Dallid - You manage to pull a couple of pages from the stove, their edges slightly singed. It looks like they are remnants of a journal someone has attempted to cram into the stove, the pages you recover having become stuck in the door ((see spoiler - it's quite the info-dump)).
For more than three decades now, I have undertaken to investigate and expose creatures of darkness to the purifying light of truth and knowledge. “Hero” I am named in some circles; “sage” and “master hunter” I am called in others. That I have survived countless supernatural assaults is seen as a marvel among my peers; my name is spoken with fear and loathing among my foes.
In truth, this “virtuous” calling began as an obsessive effort to destroy a vampire that murdered my child, and it has become for me a tedious and bleak career. Even as my life of hunting monsters began, I felt the weight of time on my weary shoulders. Today I am a man who has simply lived too long. Like a regretful lich, I find myself inexorably bound to an existence I sought out of madness and, seemingly, must now endure for all eternity. Of course I shall die, but whether I shall ever rest in my grave haunts my idle thoughts, and torments me in my dreams.
I expect that those who think me a hero will change their minds when they know the whole truth about my life as a hunter of the unnatural. Nevertheless, I must reveal, here and now, that I have been the indirect yet certain cause of many deaths, and the loss of many good friends. Mistake me not! I do not merely feel sorry for myself. Rather, I come to grips with a devastating realization: I now see that I am the object of a baleful Vistani curse. More tragically, the nature of this hex is such that I have not borne the brunt of it; instead, far worse, those who surround me have fallen victim to it!
I have related the tragic story of how my only child Erasmus was taken by Vistani and sold to a vampire. I explained how Erasmus was made a minion of the night stalker, and how it was my miserable part to free him from that fate at the point of a stake. What I have neglected to illuminate before is how I tracked Erasmus’s kidnappers across the land, or how I “extracted” Erasmus’s whereabouts from them.
In fact, the Vistani took Erasmus with my own, unwitting permission. They had brought an extremely ill member of their tribe to me one evening and insisted that I treat him, but I was unable to save the young man’s life. In fear of their retribution, I begged the Vistani to take anything of mine if only they would withhold their terrifying powers, of which I knew nothing. To my lasting astonishment, they chose to surreptitiously take my son in exchange for their loss! By the time I realized what had occurred, they were already an hour gone.
Incensed beyond reason, I strapped the body of the dead young man to my horse and doggedly followed the Vistani caravan through the woods, naively allowing the sun to set before me without seeking shelter from the night. Shortly after darkness fell, I was beset by undead that would have slain me, had not their master—a lich—intervened and spared my life, for reasons that I do not completely understand. He somehow detected me and, with his powerful magic, took control of a pack of zombies that wandered in the forest. He spoke to me through the mouths of the dead things and placed a magic ward against undead on me, then animated the dead Vistana and bade it tell me where I could find its people. Unfortunately (I say in hindsight), the plan worked. I found the child-stealers, and my unwelcome entourage included a growing horde of voracious undead that could not touch me, thanks to the lich’s ward.
When I found the caravan, I threatened to set the zombies on the Vistani unless they returned my dear boy. They replied that he had been sold to the vampire, Baron Metus. Something inside me snapped. I released the zombies, and the entire tribe was eaten alive.
Yet the story has not ended. Before she died, the leader cursed me, saying, “Live you always among monsters, and see everyone you love die beneath their claws!” Even now, so many years later, I can hear her words with painful clarity. A short time later, I found my dear Erasmus made into a vampire. He begged me to end his curse, which I did with a heavy heart. The darkness had torn him from my loving arms forever, and I foolishly believed that the curse had exacted its deadly toll. I wept until an insatiate desire for vengeance filled the bottomless rift in my heart.
"What is it?" Ezmerelda asks, hope in her voice, "Is it from Van Richten? Maybe a hint of his whereabouts?"
Galqarin explains to the others what he knows about the past life of the exiled Vistani whose head now decorates the interior of the chest. “Some Vistani take advantage of others”, he remarks pointedly. He is not without sympathy for the author of the journal.
Ezmerelda goes very quiet at the journal's revelation. She turns away from the rest of the group and stands on her own; she punches the wall of the tower, causing some of it to crumble away. "That's... that's his writing,"her voice is full of disgust and scorn. "No wonder he wanted to destroy it."
All - Please can anyone located near the Southern window please make a Perception check.
Galqarin - Ezmerelda spins around and glares at you. "An entire tribe of Vistana, slaughtered. Women and children, those that had done nothing wrong." There is a deep-seated fury in her watery eyes. "And all you can say is that some Vistani take advantage of others? What of those that had not? What of those too young to understand what was going on? Must they pay for the indiscretions of a few?"
Sandu - The moment you say the word 'Khazan', the suit of armour steps forward, its giant frame shielding the light streaming in from the window. It approaches you before suddenly... taking a knee. It kneels before you, its visored helm looking up at you expectantly, waiting for an instruction to be given.
Sandu instinctively jumped two feet back when the suit of armour approached him. His eyes grew wide with surprise when the suit did not lunge at him but rather genuflect before him with a servile attitude.
Dormark looking at the newly awaken knight says, "This wizard sure has a specialty... does anyone know if it is normal for golems to be that smart? I thought the mostly only took commands."
'Golems usually just carry out commands from their master or perform one task in perpetuity.' Sandu replied. He still was too shocked to move away from the armour in front of him. 'If you're asking if a golem is capable of independent thought: they aren't.'He glanced down at the suit. It very much looked like a knight pledging its service to a master. 'Any golem capable of doing more than just following orders is an exception to the rule.'
He was still puzzled as to why the armour was kneeling before him. He went over everything he had done in the wizard's tower or before that might warrant such an action. When the rived of memories had gone all the way back to the moment in Madam Eva's tent, he could hear her voice speaking in his mind. This card tells of a powerful force for good and protection, a holy symbol of great hope... Look for a wizard’s tower on a lake. Let the wizard’s name and servant guide you to that which you seek.
Something clicked. 'The wizard's name was the activation word.' Sandu looked at the armour but with wonder now rather than caution. 'And this is his servant. So that would mean-' He cleared his throat so he could speak clearly and addressed the suit of armour. 'We are looking for a holy symbol of great power. A symbol of hope. Can you show us where it is?'
Sandu will not make a Perception check 'cause he's preoccupied with the suit of armour to the north side of the tower.
Ireena comforts Ezmerelda; the young Vistana shaken by recent revelations about her master.
Meanwhile, Sandu, having believed to have accurately discerned Madam Eva's reading, commands the animated suit of armour to find a holy symbol of great power. It springs into life as soon as it receives its instruction. Moving at a pace towards the place it was standing it takes its gauntleted fist and smashes it into the wall. The thin stonework there breaks and crumbles away, it appears as though the wall is thinner in this area.
A few minutes later, the armour triumphantly returns to its new master, kneels and presents a glistening object.
Sandu - It appears as though the animated armour knew exactly where the treasure was - he presents a glistening platinum amulet shaped like the sun, with a large crystal embedded in its centre ((see spoiler)).
You get the sense that this is an ancient relic of a time that predates even Strahd himself.
> Galqarin - Ezmerelda spins around and glares at you. "An entire tribe of Vistana, slaughtered. Women and children, those that had done nothing wrong." There is a deep-seated fury in her watery eyes. "And all you can say is that some Vistani take advantage of others? What of those that had not? What of those too young to understand what was going on? Must they pay for the indiscretions of a few?"
Galqarin returns the Vistani woman's glare without flinching, visions of the past hurtling past his angry eyes, "I too young to understand when my tribe slaughtered. All of them except me. I pay every day I exist. Stealing a son to trade with a vampire..." his voice cracks ashe picks up Yan's surprisingly heavy head and deftly tosses it to Ezmerelda, "The Vistani play dangerous games in this land".
In his mind, the link between the Vistani and vampires is now indelibly formed.
Cerio pours over the diary's scribblings, struggling to get through some of the rarer words, like insatiate.'
"Tough break," he mutters, watching Ezmerelda's reaction with interest. "But listen, Ezmerelda. Life ain't nothin' but sufferin'. Believe me. I know. This Van Richten feller's toilin' away his life, draggin' his own tombstone behind 'im, same as th' rest 'o us. But if this writin's true, they're more'n one way ter look at it. He's bein' punished this way, haunted by the consequences of his own bad choices." Cerio clenches his jaw, and a shadow of despair casts him deeper into shadow. "Same as th' rest 'o us."
"All's I'm sayin' is, we's all cursed one way or 'nother."
At the sound of the armor breaking the wall Dadeveth looks up from the map she was studying. She smiles as she sees the knight proffer something to one of her new friends. At least we found something of use here, She thinks to herself. With a look to the others she lifts the map. "I found a map in here, it seems incomplete though..."
Galqarin - "Galqarin!"the voice is Ireena's and sounds hurt, "Must you torment her so?!"
"It's ok," Ezmerelda's voice is without emotion. "You must remember that some become blinded by hatred in this land,"she moves over and picks up the head gently. "Seems like you knew this man in life," she says to Galqarin, "I did not and I care not of his past, I shall bury what remains of him. I am glad you come from a people that are faultless... lest you also be judged by the actions of your kin."
With that she marches to the elevator, still cradling the head, and yells, "ground floor!"
Cerio - "You have the truth of it,"Ezmerelda says to you from the elevator. "You have to be cursed to find yourself in a place like this. I should never have come here."
From the south, you see something approaching the tower at speed. You cannot quite make it out but note that it is a lot more colourful than the surrounding fog.
Dormark steps onto the elevator as it is going down. On the second floor Dormark calls, "Stop." Assuming the elevator stops on the second floor.
Dormark says, "You misunderstood and said a rudeness to my friend up there. We are going to have a talk about right and wrong, right here and right now. For I serve Moradin, the good and just God of the Dwarves." At this Dormark holds his hands to his side level to each other.
"These are the scales of justice Van Richten is on the left and the Vistani band are on the right." says Dormark looks down at Emeralda to see if she understood.
"One, Van Richten tried to save the Vistani boy. Though he failed this was a good deed," says Dormark lifting his left hand up and while lowering his right.
"Two, the Vistani use Van Richten's fear and stole his son away from him," says Dormark lifting his left hand up and lowering is right hand.
"Three, the rest of the troop including the women were complacent in this kidnapping which is a sin," says Dormark again adjusting the scales in Van Richten's favor.
"Four, they sold the boy to a vampire, knowing that boy's existence will be nothing but torture," says Dormark is left hand clearly in favor of Van Richten as again he adjusts.
"Five, Van Richten exacts vengeance against the ones who stole is child, but his vengeance hurt the possible innocent in the band," Dormarks' hands immediately flip putting the Visanti where Van Richten was and Van Richten where the Vistani was.
After a moment to let Emeralda absorb this huge flip. Dormark continues saying , "Six, Van Richten has spent his life destroying the evil beings in these lands making the lives of many better for it." He tips the scale back up for Van Richten.
"Seven, he takes in an apprentice from the very people who destroyed his life," says Dormark raising his hand up again the difference in height has decrease but the scales are not leveled.
"Eight, he cared for this apprentice like a child, I've seen this truth so you cannot deny it," Dormark tips the scales to even.
"There Van Richten is not a monster. He is not a saint. He is human, a flaw being as any other. I have weighed the scales and impartial since I'm neither human nor Vistani and I serve a god that favors neither. It hurts that he hid this away from you. You think bad of him because he didn't trust you this information but imagine how would you feel telling the one you raised as family the horrible things you done. I'm not telling you to forgive him, but I also think he deserves more loyalty than you are given him. Ground Floor" says Dormark letting the elevator resume.
Dallid pats Galqarin's arm awkwardly and strokes Ferelyon's fur for awhile. "Injustice doesn't blot out injustice, and neither does righteousness. There is only the truth." His tone says it's a quote. He then attempts to hug Galqarin, but it's super awkward. Arms are too close to his chest, and head too far back. He stops breathing until he's back away from Galqarin's personal space.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Paladin - warforged - orange
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Galqarin's Investigation check:
You examine the suit of armour. If your life in Barovia has taught you anything, it is that these things have a habit of coming to life; perhaps if a certain word is said or a trap triggered. Behind the armour, the wall appears to be weaker. Unfortunately, the suit of armour is blocking you from properly investigating it.
Fortunately, the chest appears to be unlocked. Your senses are assailed by a pungent lavender smell which emanates from the inside of the chest.
((At this point, it would be remiss not to check whether Galqarin would open the chest or not.))
DM - The Call of Strahd (CoS); Feyrealm Campaign, Chapter 0 - Bleak Prospect (BP), Chapter 1 - Destination Unknown (DU)
> Behind the armour, the wall appears to be weaker.
Is there something specific that gives Galqarin this impression? Loose stones, daylight showing through?
"Something in chest smells", observes Galqarin to the wider group. "Not locked, but could still be trap", he adds, looking pointedly at the suit of armour.
He stands back and, with one eye on the suit of armour, flips the chest's lid open with the tip of his staff.
Sandu felt a twinge of jealousy when the clay golems operated the pulley system. Creating a golem of any kind was difficult enough, let alone four of them. Using them solely to operate an elevator either spoke of great power that one is able to create such a resource for such a minor task without much concern or great arrogance that one used such an investment for something so minor and nothing else. Or showboating. That was also always an option with wizards.
'He's out of line but he is right.' Sandu added. After all, every story dealing with a tower always had the climax at the top. 'Also, curious choice of words: maidens...'
He joined the others on the rickety platform going to the top. The floors in between had falled to decay and were not that interesting but the top floor was: in contrast with the other floors this one had seen use recently and that was all the more promising.
'Shame nobody's home.' Sandu said when the group spread out from the elevator to investigate the room. It was a rather small room so that did not take long.
Given his recent experience with suits of armour made Sandu wary around the propped up piece of metal. He tensed the muscles in his legs, ready to bolt away at the slightest notion of the suit moving, but that instinct leveled out with his curiosity of being in a wizard's tower. And that required for him, dreaded as he did, to stand closer to the suit.
'Maybe this Khazan fellow uses it to hang up his robe.' The mental image of a star embroidered robe draped around the armour made it ever so slightly less threatening. 'Like a mannequin. Or a butler holding clothes. Your evening robe, milord. It might say.' He pointed with his thumb at the suit. 'Wizards are a solitary bunch so a lot of them develop this habit of talking to their furniture. Or so I'm told. I don't. I'm not that kind of wizard.' He decided to stop talking.
Sandu awkwardly shuffled to the side when Galqarin attempted to fiddle with the chest with the tip of his staff.
William Brackwater: Human Fighter - The Windward Isles
Tyrgram, the Butterfly Knight: Dwarf Warlock - Secret of Greenwold
Iòlinder Corrach: Half Elf War Cleric - Allansia Adventure
Valerius Sergius Publius: Dhampir Paladin - Vae Victus
Galqarin - You flip the chest lid open, expecting the worse, and... nothing happens. Except the smell of lavender fills the small tower chamber. As you approach the now open chest you find something which would surely be out of place in many other lands but is oddly not that unusual within Barovia - a severed head. The head appears to be of Vistani origin and its flesh has a strange waxy texture; suggesting it has been embalmed.
Sandu - The moment you say the word 'Khazan', the suit of armour steps forward, its giant frame shielding the light streaming in from the window. It approaches you before suddenly... taking a knee. It kneels before you, its visored helm looking up at you expectantly, waiting for an instruction to be given.
DM - The Call of Strahd (CoS); Feyrealm Campaign, Chapter 0 - Bleak Prospect (BP), Chapter 1 - Destination Unknown (DU)
> After all, every story dealing with a tower always had the climax at the top. 'Also, curious choice of words: maidens...'
OOC: Much of Galqarin's idea of lore comes from children's tales and overheard Vistani stories. Not that he'd particularly believed in them but, of late, it seems like some of them were disturbingly real.
Galqarin is initially less taken back by the decapitated and embalmed Vistani than by the kneeling "knight". He steps back in alarm, waiting to see what happens next. When the knight doesn't move, he peers more closely at the waxen visage that is the current resident of the chest.
Does Galqarin recall the former owner of the head?
With Ferelyon drawing his attention away from the comfy chair, Dallid goes to examine the papers in the stove door
Paladin - warforged - orange
Dormark looking at the newly awaken knight says, "This wizard sure has a specialty... does anyone know if it is normal for golems to be that smart? I thought the mostly only took commands."
Dormark Calling of Strahd (warforged cleric) 4
DM rolls:
67
((Ye gads))
Galqarin - You think back to times when you had visited the Vistani camp outside of Vallaki. Nothing springs to mind at first, though you are sure that his face rings a bell. After much contemplation, you realise that the head belongs to Yan.
As far as you recall, Yan was banished from his clan for stealing. He had subsequently became known as a shyster and conman, frequently taking advantage of those with kind hearts. You would know that he has been responsible for luring/bringing people into Barovia, only to leave them abandoned in this harsh land.
Dallid - You manage to pull a couple of pages from the stove, their edges slightly singed. It looks like they are remnants of a journal someone has attempted to cram into the stove, the pages you recover having become stuck in the door ((see spoiler - it's quite the info-dump)).
"What is it?" Ezmerelda asks, hope in her voice, "Is it from Van Richten? Maybe a hint of his whereabouts?"
DM - The Call of Strahd (CoS); Feyrealm Campaign, Chapter 0 - Bleak Prospect (BP), Chapter 1 - Destination Unknown (DU)
Dallid hands her the pages. "These are pages of his journal... Allegedly. Hard to say for certain if they are true, or just meant to defame him."
Paladin - warforged - orange
Galqarin explains to the others what he knows about the past life of the exiled Vistani whose head now decorates the interior of the chest. “Some Vistani take advantage of others”, he remarks pointedly. He is not without sympathy for the author of the journal.
Ezmerelda goes very quiet at the journal's revelation. She turns away from the rest of the group and stands on her own; she punches the wall of the tower, causing some of it to crumble away. "That's... that's his writing," her voice is full of disgust and scorn. "No wonder he wanted to destroy it."
All - Please can anyone located near the Southern window please make a Perception check.
Galqarin - Ezmerelda spins around and glares at you. "An entire tribe of Vistana, slaughtered. Women and children, those that had done nothing wrong." There is a deep-seated fury in her watery eyes. "And all you can say is that some Vistani take advantage of others? What of those that had not? What of those too young to understand what was going on? Must they pay for the indiscretions of a few?"
DM - The Call of Strahd (CoS); Feyrealm Campaign, Chapter 0 - Bleak Prospect (BP), Chapter 1 - Destination Unknown (DU)
Sandu instinctively jumped two feet back when the suit of armour approached him. His eyes grew wide with surprise when the suit did not lunge at him but rather genuflect before him with a servile attitude.
'Golems usually just carry out commands from their master or perform one task in perpetuity.' Sandu replied. He still was too shocked to move away from the armour in front of him. 'If you're asking if a golem is capable of independent thought: they aren't.' He glanced down at the suit. It very much looked like a knight pledging its service to a master. 'Any golem capable of doing more than just following orders is an exception to the rule.'
He was still puzzled as to why the armour was kneeling before him. He went over everything he had done in the wizard's tower or before that might warrant such an action. When the rived of memories had gone all the way back to the moment in Madam Eva's tent, he could hear her voice speaking in his mind. This card tells of a powerful force for good and protection, a holy symbol of great hope... Look for a wizard’s tower on a lake. Let the wizard’s name and servant guide you to that which you seek.
Holy symbol. Wizard tower. Wizard's name. Servant.
Wizard's... name. Servant...
Something clicked. 'The wizard's name was the activation word.' Sandu looked at the armour but with wonder now rather than caution. 'And this is his servant. So that would mean-'
He cleared his throat so he could speak clearly and addressed the suit of armour. 'We are looking for a holy symbol of great power. A symbol of hope. Can you show us where it is?'
Sandu will not make a Perception check 'cause he's preoccupied with the suit of armour to the north side of the tower.
William Brackwater: Human Fighter - The Windward Isles
Tyrgram, the Butterfly Knight: Dwarf Warlock - Secret of Greenwold
Iòlinder Corrach: Half Elf War Cleric - Allansia Adventure
Valerius Sergius Publius: Dhampir Paladin - Vae Victus
Dallid mutters to himself and avoids eye contact.
Paladin - warforged - orange
Early-Afternoon - Day 7 - Developments
Ireena comforts Ezmerelda; the young Vistana shaken by recent revelations about her master.
Meanwhile, Sandu, having believed to have accurately discerned Madam Eva's reading, commands the animated suit of armour to find a holy symbol of great power. It springs into life as soon as it receives its instruction. Moving at a pace towards the place it was standing it takes its gauntleted fist and smashes it into the wall. The thin stonework there breaks and crumbles away, it appears as though the wall is thinner in this area.
A few minutes later, the armour triumphantly returns to its new master, kneels and presents a glistening object.
Sandu - It appears as though the animated armour knew exactly where the treasure was - he presents a glistening platinum amulet shaped like the sun, with a large crystal embedded in its centre ((see spoiler)).
You get the sense that this is an ancient relic of a time that predates even Strahd himself.
DM - The Call of Strahd (CoS); Feyrealm Campaign, Chapter 0 - Bleak Prospect (BP), Chapter 1 - Destination Unknown (DU)
> Galqarin - Ezmerelda spins around and glares at you. "An entire tribe of Vistana, slaughtered. Women and children, those that had done nothing wrong." There is a deep-seated fury in her watery eyes. "And all you can say is that some Vistani take advantage of others? What of those that had not? What of those too young to understand what was going on? Must they pay for the indiscretions of a few?"
Galqarin returns the Vistani woman's glare without flinching, visions of the past hurtling past his angry eyes, "I too young to understand when my tribe slaughtered. All of them except me. I pay every day I exist. Stealing a son to trade with a vampire..." his voice cracks as he picks up Yan's surprisingly heavy head and deftly tosses it to Ezmerelda, "The Vistani play dangerous games in this land".
In his mind, the link between the Vistani and vampires is now indelibly formed.
(Perception: 14)
Cerio pours over the diary's scribblings, struggling to get through some of the rarer words, like insatiate.'
"Tough break," he mutters, watching Ezmerelda's reaction with interest. "But listen, Ezmerelda. Life ain't nothin' but sufferin'. Believe me. I know. This Van Richten feller's toilin' away his life, draggin' his own tombstone behind 'im, same as th' rest 'o us. But if this writin's true, they're more'n one way ter look at it. He's bein' punished this way, haunted by the consequences of his own bad choices." Cerio clenches his jaw, and a shadow of despair casts him deeper into shadow. "Same as th' rest 'o us."
"All's I'm sayin' is, we's all cursed one way or 'nother."
At the sound of the armor breaking the wall Dadeveth looks up from the map she was studying. She smiles as she sees the knight proffer something to one of her new friends. At least we found something of use here, She thinks to herself. With a look to the others she lifts the map. "I found a map in here, it seems incomplete though..."
Perception: 5.
Galqarin - "Galqarin!" the voice is Ireena's and sounds hurt, "Must you torment her so?!"
"It's ok," Ezmerelda's voice is without emotion. "You must remember that some become blinded by hatred in this land," she moves over and picks up the head gently. "Seems like you knew this man in life," she says to Galqarin, "I did not and I care not of his past, I shall bury what remains of him. I am glad you come from a people that are faultless... lest you also be judged by the actions of your kin."
With that she marches to the elevator, still cradling the head, and yells, "ground floor!"
Cerio - "You have the truth of it," Ezmerelda says to you from the elevator. "You have to be cursed to find yourself in a place like this. I should never have come here."
Galqarin's Perception check
From the south, you see a colourful carriage being driven at speed towards the tower. You can just about make out Rictavio at the reins.
Dadeveth's Perception check
From the south, you see something approaching the tower at speed. You cannot quite make it out but note that it is a lot more colourful than the surrounding fog.
DM - The Call of Strahd (CoS); Feyrealm Campaign, Chapter 0 - Bleak Prospect (BP), Chapter 1 - Destination Unknown (DU)
Dormark steps onto the elevator as it is going down. On the second floor Dormark calls, "Stop." Assuming the elevator stops on the second floor.
Dormark says, "You misunderstood and said a rudeness to my friend up there. We are going to have a talk about right and wrong, right here and right now. For I serve Moradin, the good and just God of the Dwarves." At this Dormark holds his hands to his side level to each other.
"These are the scales of justice Van Richten is on the left and the Vistani band are on the right." says Dormark looks down at Emeralda to see if she understood.
"One, Van Richten tried to save the Vistani boy. Though he failed this was a good deed," says Dormark lifting his left hand up and while lowering his right.
"Two, the Vistani use Van Richten's fear and stole his son away from him," says Dormark lifting his left hand up and lowering is right hand.
"Three, the rest of the troop including the women were complacent in this kidnapping which is a sin," says Dormark again adjusting the scales in Van Richten's favor.
"Four, they sold the boy to a vampire, knowing that boy's existence will be nothing but torture," says Dormark is left hand clearly in favor of Van Richten as again he adjusts.
"Five, Van Richten exacts vengeance against the ones who stole is child, but his vengeance hurt the possible innocent in the band," Dormarks' hands immediately flip putting the Visanti where Van Richten was and Van Richten where the Vistani was.
After a moment to let Emeralda absorb this huge flip. Dormark continues saying , "Six, Van Richten has spent his life destroying the evil beings in these lands making the lives of many better for it." He tips the scale back up for Van Richten.
"Seven, he takes in an apprentice from the very people who destroyed his life," says Dormark raising his hand up again the difference in height has decrease but the scales are not leveled.
"Eight, he cared for this apprentice like a child, I've seen this truth so you cannot deny it," Dormark tips the scales to even.
"There Van Richten is not a monster. He is not a saint. He is human, a flaw being as any other. I have weighed the scales and impartial since I'm neither human nor Vistani and I serve a god that favors neither. It hurts that he hid this away from you. You think bad of him because he didn't trust you this information but imagine how would you feel telling the one you raised as family the horrible things you done. I'm not telling you to forgive him, but I also think he deserves more loyalty than you are given him. Ground Floor" says Dormark letting the elevator resume.
Dormark Calling of Strahd (warforged cleric) 4
Dallid pats Galqarin's arm awkwardly and strokes Ferelyon's fur for awhile. "Injustice doesn't blot out injustice, and neither does righteousness. There is only the truth." His tone says it's a quote. He then attempts to hug Galqarin, but it's super awkward. Arms are too close to his chest, and head too far back. He stops breathing until he's back away from Galqarin's personal space.
Paladin - warforged - orange