Session 2

Anakir, Elora, Shalooti, Pelanil, Bardolf

• The party shortly question the kids outside of the House
  • We learn that their names are Rose and Thorn
• As we enter the house, the party sees that the place is immaculate but shrouded in darkness
  • Floors well oiled and the furniture freshly dusted
  • Doors seem to be opening and closing on their own
  • The stuffed wolves seem to be watching them
  • The ornate carvings in the wood paneling is not always as it seems
• Shortly after entering, the party splits up
  • Anakir and Pelanil run upstairs, chasing the sound of a harpsicord
  • The rest of the group stays on the first floor as Bardolf searches for loot
    • Bardolf, taken by the quality of the dining room drapes, accidentally tears them to shreds as he tries to cut them down. He pockets the silverware instead
  • Shalooti explores a room full of stuffed wolves, and finds herself a deck of playing cards, but runs, scared, out of the room before she can unlock the other cabinet containing the crossbows
• As Pelanil and Anakir reach the second floor, the sound of the harpsicord is soon replaced by that of a wailing child
  • Anakir attacks a completely ordinary suit of armor, unable to take its spear
  • They stop halfway to the third floor as they hear footsteps and a woman shushing the baby
  • Anakir sends a message to Elora telling her that they know where the baby is, but her response is cut off by maniacal laughing
    • Instead of his second message, Elora hears heavy breathing
    • and upon trying to contact the woman upstairs, Anakir senses his message has been redirected miles away where a man answers and says he looks forward to meeting him
• The party regroups on the second floor where they find their way to the library
  • Inside, Elora finds an iron key among other things at the desk
  • While pursuing the books, Shalooti, finds a secret lever that opens a door to a secret room
• Inside the secret room, the party finds books that reference the occult
  • they also see a human skeleton, near a chest, with a poison dart in their side, holding a note
  • in the chest, they find the dead to the house, a deed to a windmill, and a will signed by Elizabeth Durst and Gustav Durst bequeathing the house and windmill to their two children Thornboldt and Rosevalda
  • The letter held by the skeleton is so terrifying that it sends Shalooti into a panic and she flees the room
    • As Anakir tries reading it, he becomes instantly paralyzed, but comes to as the group discusses how to save him
• From the note, we learn:
  • The people that lived in this house were part of a cult that attempted to worship Strahd
    • Strahd mocked them for this
  • They tortured and killed people in their dungeon and "on their hidden alter"
  • Gustav Durst had a stillborn child with another woman
  • The handwriting on this letter is the same as the letter that was brought to the party at the tavern by Arrigal
• Upon leaving the secret room, the house now seems disgusting
• After learning this information, the party climbs to the third floor, intent on finding this baby once and for all
  • but they're met at the top of the stairs by an animate suit of armor who proved to be a tough foe
  • The party nearly finished it off as they grouped up to push it over the railing, but the armor stumbled back up the stairs for one more strike on Pelanil before being dealt its final blow by Elora
• Anakir rushes into the room with the crying baby to find no woman, but only a bundle lying in the crib
  • After mixing random elements, hoping for a Potion of Healing but only getting salt water, Anakir unwraps the bundle to find no baby
• A woman stirs on the bed in the other room
  • She screams and attacks Anakir, knocking him unconscious
• As the party prepares for yet another battle, Shalooti conjures up the image of a small baby boy and presents it to the specter...