Chapter Six: Losing Mirafir and Father Tobias
Father Tobias and Mirafir have been separated from the other memebers of the party.
Lights go out. Strahd disappears. Sir Ly draws his ‘Flametongue’ Long Sword.
Discussions – To wait for healing and spell points or to proceed
Decision made for us when doors fly inwards and Shadow creatures enter and attack Galan and Mirafir.
From table tops Sir Ly and Thora jump to their aid.
Mirafir with his ‘Ring of Jumping’ leaps away and hides behind door Ismark runs to protect him
Galan hits with Short Sword and encounters resistance.
Sigune hits the other as Galan and his strike together. The shadow hits and Galan is struck by terrible cold. He loses strength…as Father Tobias had warned us.
Thora falls off table trying to her target
Sigune hits again and dissipates it.
Galan and Sir Ly fail to destroy theirs but Mirafir finishes it with his ‘Magic Missile’.
Try to close doors again but they fly open again – clearly he wants us to leave.
Nothing happens, Await attack.
Frimly removes keys from the organ to fuck up Strahd – chaos in action. Then he smashes mirrors.
DINING HALL:
The vast room is dark. A wind whistles through its confines. Crystal sings in the darkness as the great chandeliers rustle in the wind.
The fragrance of food wafts its way through the darkened hall.
Move into the corridor suit of armour stares but does not move. 8 Gargoyles in octagonal room also do not move. Frim can detect faint noise. But yet again there is no attack.
GUESTS’ HALL:
The hallway lies in darkness. Double doors open to the WEST. To the EAST, a single arched corridor of stone masonry is lit by light from the circular stairs now visible some 20′ feet away.
The light is coming from up the staircase. The staircase also descends into a terrible darkness. Standing beside the archway to the stairs the suit of armour still stands in a shallow alcove, a dark shadow falling across its faceplate.
Ascend stairs. Go you 30′-40’ feet or so. Door at top clear of traps.
GUARDS’ STAIRS:
The long, hollow sigh of the wind breathes a semblance of life into this otherwise featureless staircase.
Can hear sound of quill on endless parchment.
Finally pick lock quietly. Galan enters first.
KINGS ACCOUNTANT:
Dusty scrolls and tomes line the walls of this room. More scrolls and books lie scattered on the floor, around four heavy wooden chests fitted with study iron locks. The only unobstructed floor space is directly in front of the doors on the EAST and WEST walls.
In the centre of this clutter stands a great black desk. A figure crouches atop a tall stool, scratching on a seemingly endless scroll of paper with a dry quill pen. Nearby to the figure, is a tasselled rope hangs from a hole in the ceiling.
The figure, you now know to be Lief Lipsiege.
He tells of the thing that might help us is in the chapel next level up – down then back up.
Long cryptic conversation ensues with Mr Lief Lipsiege. Opposite is a door. He tells us that it leads to Strahd’s personal suites lie beyond. He wishes no truck with Mirafir and threatens to pull alarm cord if needed. We elect to head back down and explore a route to the chapel.
Torches have been snuffed out. Dripping water and cold mist permeates. Door is locked with good quality lock. Frimley picks it. Thora opens, Sigune enters with shield raised. Mist is 3’. Sigune leads and sees shadows flit across ceiling as a figure shambles towards us.
In the corridor steel bars suddenly slam down followed by two stone walls on either side, trapping Mirafir and Tobias within. Who know what happens to them for when the walls and gate rise back up we can see a cantilevered block of stone to the left that is descending to fill the wall. Our friends have disappeared.
ELEVATOR TRAP:
STONE COUNTERWEIGHT:
Ahead Sigune and Sir Ly determined that there is no evil intent emanating from the diminutive figure that has shambled forwarded he engages in banter. Silas Belleview.
Apparently Strahd doesn’t go up the towers. There are rest rooms upstairs!? Back up the way we came. Despite Silas’ trying to dissuade us we head along corridor.
SERVANTS’ HALL:
This hall stands in deadly silence. Heavy beams support a sagging, 10’ foot high ceiling. Fog clings to the floor, obscuring everything that lies less than three feet above it.
A giant shadow lurches across the ceiling as a dark figure shuffles purposefully down the corridor toward you.
The figure approaching turns out to be Cyrus Belview, a mongrel folk of Barovia.
Frim takes a peak into his kitchen where odour of decay pervades all. Kitchen or torture chamber, hard to know.
KITCHEN:
A horrible odour of decay fills this steaming hot room. A huge pot bubbles over a blazing fire pit in the centre of the room, it’s green, muddy contents churning.
The far wall is lined with pegs, hanging from which are numerous large cooking implements some of which could easily double as implements of torture.
3 doors in lit corridor (2 for kitchen), 2 portcullis at end.
WINE CELLAR:
Arched frames of stone form a low, wet ceiling over this wine cellar. Great casks line the walls, their bands rusting and their contents long since spilled onto the floor.
A few hungry rats make their home here, but upon your sudden arrival, they retreat to the shadows.
Slowly work their way up stairs – Thora and Galan – checking for secret door and traps.
GUARDS STAIRS:
The long, hollow sigh of the wind breathes a semblance of life into this otherwise featureless staircase.
Ahead lie a room.
SERVANTS’ ENTRANCE:
Dim light filters in through a dust caked window in the EAST wall. A door next to the window leads to the castle’s NORTHEAST courtyard.
Everything in this room is coated with dust, including a large, heavy table in the centre of the floor. A thick book lies open on a desk, with an inkwell and a quill next to it.
There is a broken door in the NORTH wall, and a staircase in the south wall plunges into darkness. On each side of the staircase, a Skeletal figure draped in gleaming Chain Mail stands sagging at attention, holding a rusty Halberd.
There is a door in the east wall next to the windows.
Thora says not to look at old book on table.
Courtyard through door to East broken door ahead that reveals servants quarters
SERVANTS’ QUARTERS:
Broken furniture and torn cloth are strewn about this twenty-by-forty-foot (20’x40’) room. Dim light comes from a pair of dirt-caked windows in the NORTHEAST corner.
A rickety narrow staircase with no railing ascends along the NORTH wall.
SERVANTS’ COURTYARD:
This courtyard northeast of the keep is enclosed by towering walls. A stone carriage house with hinged wooden doors stands silent in the corner where the outer walls meet.
Across from the carriage house, a slender wooden door reinforced with iron bands leads into the keep.
