Previous Session Summary
Sister Margaret Lilywhite: A paladin-in-training investigating rumors of a mysterious house.
Dr. Dimitri Pavlov: A tinkerer searching for his missing wife, Ezmerelda.
Ninzara: A drow who has lived in isolation in the northern woods for 200 years.
The trio encounters two children, Rose and Thorn, who lead them to Durst Manor. As they explore the seemingly pristine but ancient house, they discover:
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Evidence of dark rituals and worship of someone named Strahd Von Zarovich
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The house’s true, dilapidated state on upper floors
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Corpses of the house’s former inhabitants, including the children who led them there
The ghosts of Rose and Thorn reveal that the house has been luring people in for centuries. They ask to be buried outside to escape. The party discovers a hidden stairway leading to the basement, setting up for the next session.
The Cultist’s Basement
The party find themselves in the carved out depths below Durst Manor. A strange chanting can be heard from somewhere deeper within. Searching the catacombs they find burial plots for Mr. and Mrs. Durst, Rose, Throne, and their brother Walter. Further on they find a dining table set up to seat a number of individuals, the remains of humans litter the floor, a collection of carving implements scattered on the table.
A maze of tunnels leads to a temple or place of worship. Chained skeletons line the walls facing a statue of a pale, handsome, man holding a dark murky orb. Ninzara takes the orb and identifies that is some sort of object tied to nature but corrupted and polluted with evil magic. She decides to find a way to purify the orb and return it to its former use.
Deeper the party the party hears the chanting clearly “He is ancient, he is the land”. They find themselves in some other place that must have been another revered location. A room containing several items in small alcoves.
Collecting these items the party moves into the next room. A portcullis drops locking the party inside and ghostly figures appear. A bloody alter stands in a recessed pit filled with putrid water. The chanting changes to “One must die!”. The party approaches the alter before the ghosts disappear and a mass of human corpses rises out the water. The body of Mrs. Durst reaches from the mass screaming “We will live forever!”
After defeating the monster the house begins to shake and fall apart. The party runs through the home narrowly escaping before the house warps and crushes in on itself leaving nothing more than a crater.
Sister Margaret buries the Durst children outside the wreckage of the home and the spirits appear one more time to thank the party. Throne and Rose fade away, a small necklace of amber falling the the ground. Shorty after Rose can be hear screaming faintly “No this isn’t right, something is wrong!”
The characters hear the cries of wolves and run off towards Barovia