Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Chapter 38 - A Study In Strahd (Actual Play, Curse Of Strahd)

Iron & Gold, Curse of Strahd

Previous Chapter 37 In The Dungeon — Next Chapter 39 Broken Heart of Sorrow

Being an actual play of Curse of Strahd, using Precis Intermedia Games’ Iron & Gold, with Mythic as the GM.

38 - A Study In Strahd[1]

In the landing on the way up, by the tapestry of King Barov, Ninefingers in the front said casually, as if to someone, “The big fellow, his sword makes real sunlight, which is anathema to your kind.” Felewin waved the sword into being, and saw four creatures with pale flesh scuttling along the ceiling. Their eyes were red in the light, and as they came near, their cracked and bloodstained lips opened to reveal fangs.[2]

Felewin asked, “Uthrilir?”

Uthrilir brandished the holy symbol. “The Maiden commands you to stay!”[3]

Only three of the four vampires stopped; the one who did not was in front, and he did not see the others stop.[4] Felewin cut him down and Ninefingers followed with another cut that would have maimed a living thing. Hrelgi stepped in with the stake and mallet and started driving the stake in.

“Three to go,” said Felewin. “Keep them held, Uthrilir.”

“Gladly,” said the dwarf.

It took only a few moments and then all four of the creatures had been granted the true death.[5]

“They wore no armor,” commented Ninefingers.

“They did not,” said Felewin. “Is this significant?”

“I don’t know. The vampires in the temple and Vallaki wore different kinds of armor, but these were, for lack of a better term, Barovians.”

The rest of the trip to the study was uneventful.

“Worth remembering: some vampires have the will enough to resist the symbol,” said Felewin. “It’s not a reflection of Uthrilir at all.”

“Thanks. I think,” said Uthrilir quietly. “I have been thinking about what Ninefingers said. We have killed less than two dozen vampires while here. Strahd has killed hundreds of adventurers — we know this from the ghostly walk. My question is, where are the others?”

“Shhh,” said Ninefingers. Everyone was quiet and melted behind whatever cover they could.

“Grizzlemaw, where are you?” came a woman’s voice, harsh with age. “Please don’t be in the master’s study, please—”

The door from the dining hall opened and a stooped old woman came in; she was all in black and carried a broom, but bristly end up. Her hair was gray and well-shaped. She moved well for her apparent age. She would have seen them but she was looking at the floor and under furniture.

They held their collective breath.

Peering under a chair, she saw Felewin’s feet. He saw the moment her posture changed, and he thought to himself, We don’t hold back. He drew the Sun Sword and willed its blade into existence as he swung[6] at her and connected. There was no splatter as he nearly killed her; the sword cauterized wounds as it went through. Ninefingers was there too,[7] and he finished her. She toppled to the floor.

There was a hiss and a snarl, and a cat leapt at Ninefingers.[8] Yowling and clawing at Ninefingers, it stuck to the goblin’s armour. Uthrilir said, “Pardon,” and[9] hit it with his mace, knocking it free and against the wall. The cat lay there stunned for a moment, and Hrelgi was flipping pages. Felewin stepped forward[10] and killed the cat, cauterizing its wounds as well. He bet forward to pick up the cat and Ninefingers said, “Don’t throw it in the fire. We don’t need the smell of burning hair.”

Felewin shrugged and threw the dead cat down the stairs they had come up. Then he tossed down the witch’s body. They heard it sliding down the stairs until it came to rest. It came to rest too soon. Something had stopped it.

Ninefingers ran to the doorway and said, “Felewin, you’re big — you have to get the painting.” He stood with his sword ready against anything that walked through that door; Uthrilir moved to the other, and Felewin grabbed the picture and awkwardly moved it to the centre of the room, where he and Hrelgi faced opposite directions.

“Now we’ll see him if he comes through the wall, at least,” said Felewin.

Rats darted in through the door to the dining room; Uthrilir pushed the door shut but five rats[11] five had gotten through. They immediately swarmed onto Uthrilir, trying to bite through his clothes and armour.[12] Uthrilir grunted at the teeth tearing at his flesh, and Hrelgi said a spell she had memorized[13]. “Thank you,” grunted Uthrilir, slapping at rats with his hands. He managed to grab one of the five[14] and threw it hard toward the fire,[15] and the rat squealed as it burned.

“Ugh. Burning hair,” said Ninefingers.

“Don’t move from that door,” Felewin said. “Hrelgi, you help him.”

Hrelgi had already found the spell. She spoke it, and the remaining rats died.[16]

“Thanks again.”

Ninefingers tossed Uthrilir a spike that landed at his feet. “Seal the door. There too many ways[17] in and out of this room. He might be able to go through ceilings but others cannot.”

As Uthrilir began to hammer the spike, one of the double doors to the west swung open. A yawning young woman stood there in a nightgown and slippers. “He won’t like you hammering in his study.” She wrinkled her nose. “And you smell.”

Felewin said to Uthrilir, “Please ask the Maiden to repel her and we’ll seal that door too.”

Uthrilir held his holy symbol aloft and spoke the words. They had no effect.[18] Ninefingers saw her breathing and said, “I don’t think she’s a vampire.”

The young woman laughed. “I’m not a vampire! I’m Gertruda.” She smiled.

“You should go back in that bedroom and bolt the door,” said Felewin.

Gertruda scowled. “You’re against my sweet Strahd, aren’t you?” Conspiratorially, she said, “I hope to marry him.”

“You would not be the first,” Ninefingers said. “But we will kill you if you stay in here.”

Gertruda looked at them all, and then backed out of the room.

Ninefingers said, “Ezmerelda, watch this door while I keep those shut.” He hurried over to the double doors; Ezmerelda moved to guard the spiral staircase.

Once he started hammering the spike in, the door Ezmerelda was guarding burst open,[19] pushing Ezmerelda to the floor.

Three armored undead, looking more like ghouls than vampires, marched in. They wore the tattered remains of livery and carried broadswords. The leader snarled something in the native tongue. Ezmerelda scooted backward as she said, “We don’t care who your liege is.”

Felewin said, “Hrelgi, take this. Ninefingers, keep on. Uthrilir, some help?”

Careful not to hit the painting, he flicked the sword into life. Sunlight filled the room, and Felewin marched forward, confident that Hrelgi would catch the painting.[20]

Uthrilir was already there, swinging his mace at the first one.[21] He hit, and that one missed him; he defended successfully against the second wight. The third one attacked Felewin, and managed to hit him, but Felewin’s armor took the brunt of it, and then Felewin cut him apart.

Uthrilir[22] hit the first wight[23], but the wight managed to block. Felewin[24] struck the second wight, and killed it. Ezmerelda pushed the door shut behind them.

Now there were three of them against one remaining wight.[25] Felewin hit first and nearly gave it the true death; Uthrilir finished with his mace.

“Throw them down the stairs?” Ezmerelda asked.

“I guess,” said Felewin. “Make it more difficult for anyone using the stairs.”

“Secret door,” said Ninefingers. “Too many doors in this room.”

“Can you throw them over the fire?” Uthrilir asked.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” said Hrelgi. She looked up some spells[26] and said them; the bodies disappeared.

“Dungeon?” Felewin asked.

“Yes,” said Hrelgi. “You know, I’ll bet this place has a big magic circle around the foundation, under the ground.”

“Be nice if you could counteract it,” said Ninefingers.

Hrelgi shook her head. “Maybe once. Magic like that, you set it and then some sigil is used to let you counteract it. I don’t know the spell and I don’t know the counter.”

“You’re saying someone could teleport in.”

She nodded. “I’m saying it’s possible.”

Ninefingers started to say something when doors smashed open: the door Hrelgi was standing beside and the two that had been spiked shut. The spikes weren’t nearly enough; the doors were splintered, torn off their hinges by the ferocity of the blows.

Three women had entered, all in soiled wedding gowns of different colors, their fangs gleaming in the sunlight from Felewin’s sword. The one by the stairs to the dungeon wore gold; the one by the double doors wore red; and the one who had just come from the dining hall wore white.[27]

Uthrilir held aloft the holy symbol and ordered them to freeze. The women in gold and white immediately froze; the one in red laughed. Hrelgi picked up a long splinter of wood and looked in her grimoire.

Ezmerelda fired her crossbow[28] and a crossbow bolt sank into the red dress; the woman roared in pain and leapt for Ezmerelda. Felewin[29] beheaded her with the sun sword. Her head moved farther and rolled to the base of the fireplace, even as her body fell near Ezmerelda.

Ninefingers grabbed a stake and drove it into the heart of the vampire in white.[30] It barely went in — from experience, Ninefingers knew he had to hammer.

Uthrilir maintained his pose.

Hrelgi said the spell,[31] and the wooden splinter flew across the room, impelled by magic, and sank into the dress of the one in gold.[32]

The[33] vampires remained motionless. Ninefingers used his mallet and hammered the stake in farther; Hrelgi repeated the spell[34]. Felewin said to Ezmerelda, “Take the painting, and I will behead the vampires.” Ezmerelda nodded and moved forward. Only once she had the painting did Felewin move to where Ninefingers was.[35], and the remove the head of the vampire in white…but swarms of rats had come through the open doorway. They stayed away from Ezmerelda and the painting, but tried to climb up Ninefingers and Felewin, while others headed for Uthrilir.[36]

Behind the double doors, Ezmerelda could see Gertrude huddling on the bed in fright, while a woman in a maid outfit stood behind her, watching. The woman must be a vampire or something evil.

Ezmerelda couldn’t imagine a normal maid living her, but she couldn’t have imagined Gertruda, either. She finished cranking the crossbow and reached for her grimoire. Hrelgi had shown her a death spell for rats, but she had to find the spell—

Hrelgi repeated the spell once more, driving the splinter into the woman’s chest.[37] Felewin took a minute, spun around, and took the third woman’s head off.

Uthrilir sighed, and said to Gertruda, “Leave, miss, and take your maid. If you stay, you will die.”

The maid managed to say, “By your hands?”

“I try not to kill the innocent,” said Uthrilir.

“We are safe, then,” said the maid. “We are innocents.”

Ezmerelda raised an eyebrow at that, but kept looking until she found the spell.[38]

Uthrilir[39] hit one rat with his mace and killed it. Ninefingers managed another rat, and Ezmerelda cast the spell. She saw the rats falter and then scurry away.

“Ow,” said Ninefingers. “And… Magic sword. I’m healed. So it does it once a day.”

“Alive is good,” said Felewin. He looked at the women in the other room. “Uthrilir asked you to leave. Do so, or die.”

Hrelgi started flipping pages in her grimoire, looking for the right parts of a spell.[39A]

“But we have been kidnapped by Count Strahd,” said the maid.

Gertruda said indignantly, “I wasn’t kidnapped.”

“The door is open,” said Felewin.

“Many of them,” muttered Ninefingers.

“Leave and live, or stay and die.” There was a pause. Hrelgi crossed over to Ezmerelda and muttered something.

Ezmerelda[40] fired her crossbow. A blessed bolt sank into the maid’s shoulder. The maid snarled, showing fangs, and the wound around the blessed bolt began to smoke. Gertruda stared at her in disbelief.

The maid backed away and fled outside, through the doors to the parapet.

“Ninefingers is right. There are too many doors,” said Felewin. “Into the bedroom.” He strode over to Ezmerelda and grabbed the painting.

“The bedroom?” Ezmerelda asked.

“Only two doors. I hope.” To Gertruda he said, “Get out or die.”

Gertruda hopped off the bed and backed toward the parapet. “My beloved Strahd will kill you.”

“Probably,” said Ninefingers.

“But we’re going to make it difficult,” added Felewin. He stuck his head through the bedroom door and counted exits. “Too many.”

“Secret door in the fireplace?” Ninefingers asked.

“Can’t get the painting through that space,” said Uthrilir.

“Out on the parapet?” Hrelgi asked. “Might not be teleport-trapped.”

“Maybe,” Felewin replied. “Except open to flying attacks by witches, bats, gargoyles, and dragons, all of which are in this castle.” Hrelgi looked disappointed. “Keep it in mind as another tactic. We’ll try the intact door first.” He took the portrait from Ezmerelda and let her lead to the other door.

Ezmerelda opened it and saw a hallway draped in shadows. It opened to the right and left, and led out to the parapet.

“Hrelgi, we might try your idea anyway. Ninefingers, you lead; Hrelgi and Uthrilir, take the rear.”

Ninefingers and Ezmerelda advanced into the dark hall. Bits of darkness detached from the walls and attacked them.[41] Ninefingers managed just to avoid it; Ezmerelda did not, and she gasped. “Shades!”

Felewin stepped forward and slashed at the shadow[42] but the painting was awkward to hold and he missed.

Hrelgi said, “Shades? I don’t even know what those are!”

Ninefingers turned on his and thrust once[43] but missed.

Uthrilir shut the door behind them and muttered a prayer.[44]

The first[45] to act was Felewin,[46] who twice cut the shade attacking Ezmerelda, and the thing evaporated in the light of his sword. Ezmerelda drew her silver sword and cut the shadow[47] on Ninefingers, who also attacked his shade[48].

Uthrilir prayed again, louder and with more conviction.[49] Shadows flowed away from them and left them in late afternoon light. They waited at the entrances to the left and right.

Hrelgi[50] cast a spell, and the shadow from Ninefingers also evaporated, leaving the hall slightly lighter.

“They are undead, and the Maiden rebukes them,” said Uthrilir. As he moved forward, the shadows moved away from him. Ninefingers could now make out three of them.

“There are at least three more,” he said to the others.

Uthrilir reminded them, “The rebuke only lasts a bit, three score heartbeats or so.”

“In. Take advantage of the break,” said Felewin.

They moved forward quickly. Ninefingers stopped at the intersection ahead. “Parapet ahead, big stairwell to the right, hall with alcoves to the left.”

“Left,” said Felewin. “Don’t want to be stuck in a stairwell.”

“Not outside?” Hrelgi asked.

“Raining. Take a look.”

She did; outside, rain was pelting down, with the occasional flash of lightning.

Makes it safer outside, assuming witches can’t see in the rain, thought Felewin. Would ruin the painting, though.

Felewin headed left, inside. A swarm of bats came up from the stairwell, and engulfed them, blinding them.

Felewin stood for a moment, and then thought, When Uthrilir’s rebuke ends, the shades get us because we can’t see. He closed his fist around the hilt of the Sun Sword and loudly said, “Strahd! Call them off or we damage the painting!”

Nothing happened, and Felewin deliberately took a scoop of wood from the frame. “I mean it!”

The bats withdrew, whirling in a circle around the five of them, and one bat morphed into a man.

Strahd.

“The threat is only good while in abeyance,” said Strahd.

Felewin smiled. “This is all you have left of Tatyana. You already hate us; I have little reason not to use it.”

“I see.” The door they had come in slammed open. There was the sound of another door opening, too, and something shuffled in the distance. “Your Maiden’s rebuke will end shortly, and the trinket Uthrilir holds is proof only against vampires. There are other undead in the castle, and they are making their way here.”

“We have killed wights, vampires, corpse hands, and more,” said Felewin. “We can kill again.”

“So what do you want, Felewin?” Strahd asked.

Felewin was aware that the large empty stairwell was behind him and opposite Strahd. He moved until his back was against the wall.

“Your elven companion thinks I should send you home and be done with you. Your holy knight thinks I should be destroyed, as does your Vistana traitor. Your verdigris friend will do what you will. So, Felewin, lost prince of your people, what do you will?”

Strahd kept walking, passing close to Uthrilir but not touching him. “If you want to be a knight, I can make you one. You will be serving me and I will then make you kill all of your friends, but you will have your desire to be a knight, and I might not have you kill them for years or decades.”[51]

There was something soothing about the vampire’s voice and hypnotic about his eyes, but Felewin steeled himself. “I want you to die.”

Strahd’s features blazed in fury, and then the vampire laughed. “I’ve done that. I shall be gratified to see you broken and eager for death, Felewin, for this has been an invigorating match. You have dispatched several of my favourite spawn, and shaken off rust I did not know had settled on me. However, you cannot win. Not in my castle.” He smiled. “I think I shall make it necessary for you to take innocent blood. I will corrupt you, even as I corrupted the Abbot, who is of a kind very hard to corrupt. You already fear me. Next you will worship me.”

“‘Next’ can be a long time coming, Count,” said Felewin. He sliced another scoop from the frame of the picture.

“Once the picture is destroyed, you cannot use it as a threat.”

“True. But at the same time, you cannot hate us any more intensely, so I lose nothing by damaging it, and you lose the one thing you still have of Tatanya. No one else remembers her.”

“I can have them paint a picture of Ireena,” said Strahd.

“It’s not the same,” said Uthrilir.

“And you’ll know the difference,” said Felewin. “And you fear the artifact; that’s why you sent so many vampires. You want it to run out before you face us.”

“It will not hold me,” said Strahd.

“It has other powers,” said Uthrilir.

“How will you use them when you are mad with rage?” Strahd said, and then a few words in an unknown tongue.[52] Hrelgi looked horrified.[53]

Uthrilir screamed and ran at the closest person, Felewin. Felewin swung the painting between them and yelled at Strahd, “Call him off or you lose this!”[54] Uthrilir’s mace missed Felewin and came down on the painting’s frame, cracking it.

Strahd shrugged and said, “As you wish.” He took two steps to the left, then said a spell.[55] Uthrilir flew away from him; there was a moment when he tried to grab the doorway, and Hrelgi gasped and ran after him. As she ran, she cast a spell she had memorized.[56] Uthrilir vanished into the darkness of the stairwell.

“Now there are only two of you left. That will be easy. I doubt that Uthrilir will survive the fall, so I will get his relic.”

Hrelgi turned and said a spell.[57] Strahd’s clothes turned to lava.[58] Strahd[59] quickly moved to the end of the hall, where Gertruda suddenly appeared. Strahd grabbed her and bit her neck. The clothes were still dripping off him, and Strahd disappeared, with Gertruda in his grasp, her screaming from the lava burning through Strahd’s flesh. He left behind the stench of burning hair and flesh.

“How’s Uthrilir?” asked Felewin.

“I toughened him as he fell, but I don’t know if he lived.”

“Strahd will kill the girl,” said Felewin. “But we need Uthrilir if he’s still alive.”

Hrelgi was frantically flipping pages in her grimoire. “There’s a way…I think…to see things far away. I might be able to sense Uthrilir. Except I’ve never done it.[60]” She started the spell and then went, “Ow!”

“Then slowly,” said Felewin. “Take your time and concentrate.”

“But it’s Uthie!” Hrelgi looked close to tears.

“When I was learning to shoot a bow, I was terrible. I got too excited. Breathe. Breathe slow and deep. Think about your heart for a moment. Make it slow.”

“It’s Uthrilir!” said Hrelgi again.

“Your heart. Think about your heart.”

Hrelgi closed her eyes. After a moment, she opened them again and looked at her grimoire. She spoke the first part of the spell.[61] “Ow. Ow. He’s alive. He’s okay. His heart is beating, but my spell has worn off. We need to get to him.”

“We need to kill these first,” said Ninefingers, waving his sword at three shambling bodies in Ravenloft livery. They had clearly been dead a long, long time: eyes were sunken and dry, bellies were distended and some kind of green growth had spread across two of the faces.

“Keep them from following us,” said Felewin. “Don’t knock them down the stairs; who knows if the fall will kill them, and I don’t want Uthrilir to have to deal with them. Kill them, then down the stairs.”

“I can’t help. Brain freeze.”

“You’re bleeding from the nose. Don’t worry; it’s three zombies,” said Felewin. “Hold the painting.”

The zombies had no armor or weapons. Felewin said to Ninefingers, “You hold them in place and I’ll take them apart.”[62] He slashed twice at the front zombie and took off an arm and its head…but the parts were still moving. The arm began dragging itself along by the fingers. The head kept biting from where it fell.

“Pride and a fall,” said Ninefingers, as he[63] thrust twice at the next one, hitting it but not doing much damage. All three zombies attacked;[64] the arm grabbed Felewin’s leg and the third zombie came to Ninefingers while he was distracted and clawed the goblin’s arm.

“Just defend! I’ll get them!” Felewin said. Behind them, Hrelgi flipped pages while looking back at the stairwell.

Felewin[65] cleft the partial zombie in two, and all the parts stopped moving; his second nearly took apart the zombie that had clawed Ninefingers, but the zombie still moved. Ninefingers[66] said a rude word and slashed at both zombies, granting the true death to the one that had clawed him, and hitting the other again. The remaining zombie[67] clawed at him but missed.

Felewin[68] took one more blow at the zombie and it fell to the ground, unmoving.

Hrelgi[69] cast a spell and Ninefingers was healed. “Now can we go get Uthie?”

“Sure,” said Ninefingers, flexing his fingers to make sure they were okay.

“Hrelgi, bring the lantern over here.” Using his knife, Felewin quickly but carefully removed the staples holding the paining to the frame. He rolled up the painting and tied it with a bit of thong torn from his jerkin. “Easier to carry.”

“Now?” asked Hrelgi.

“Lead on,” said Felewin.

Ninefingers had switched to his regular sword; he hid the glowing sword in his scabbard while he advanced in the dark. He led the way.

The stairwell had no railing and wound around the tower’s outside. The stairs were spattered with blood. It wasn’t Uthrilir’s, for patches of it had dried but the blood was reasonably fresh — a few hours at most. “Watch your step,” cautioned Ninefingers.

“We’re coming, Uthie!” called Hrelgi.

“I wish you hadn’t notified his troops,” said Felewin.

“Sorry,” said Hrelgi.

“Let Ninefingers go first.[70]


Monsters

You have seen all of them except Strahd, and I will withold that


Game Mechanics

[1] Mythic suggested theme: Attract Ambush (NPC Negative)

[2] Reactions: Felewin 9 Ninefingers 10 Hrelgi 11 Uthrilir 10 Ezmerelda Spawn

[3] Vampires roll Awareness+Composure, trying to beat difficulty 4 (that’s a 3 or less). They roll 8, 12, 5, 8. So one manages to avoid because I originally did this with difficulty 2 instead. End result is the same.

[4] Felewin rolls a 4 to hit (margin 7) and it rolls a 7 (margin 3). Felewin hits. All four get through, though, so the vampire is suddenly with only 1 wound level left.
Ninefingers rolls a 8 to hit, and the vampire does not defend; it is sliced with the radiant short sword, and takes another 4 levels of damage.

[5] The vampires can’t move; I’m not rolling it out.

[6] Felewin rolls 5, margin 6 (4 because he drew); she rolls 7, margin 0. He hits her for 4 INJ of damage. She tries to get a spell off, but suddenly she has -3 to all rolls. Witch rolls another 7, and fails because she’s -3 to her 8- roll.

[7] Ninefingers rolls 6, which is margin 4; the difficulty is 2 because he draws his sword first. The with has no armour so she’s dead.

[8] The cat rolls a 6, making it margin 0, but because Ninefingers has already acted, he’s routine to hit. However, Ninefingers rolls a 1 for his armour and doesn’t get hurt.

[9] Uthrilir rolls 7 on the hit, which makes the difficulty 2 for Called Shot, and does 3 INJ to the cat. Mythic: Does it make the cat let go? Likely (CF 9) rolled a 01, so extremely yes: the cat is stunned.

[10] Felewin rolls a 5 to hit, margin 5, so he kills the cat.

[11] 1d6 rats come through. 5

[12] Rats have Brawling 4, I think, so this small swarm is F2 A2 and brawling ≤6; It rolls a 6 and we check armour: 1 gets through.

[13] Hrelgi rolls a 6 and heals Uthrilir

[14] Uthrilir doesn’t have brawling, so it’s skill 4 (his fitness) vs the rat’s 5 (Fitness 1 + Brawling 4). He gets one, but the other 4 gt to try

[15] Uthrilir’s Athletics is 9 or less; he rolled 4, so margin 5 is enough to get it in a wide spot twenty feet away.

[16] Hrelgi needs 7 or less. Distance is difficulty 0, but 4 rats makes it difficulty 3. She rolls and gets margin 3, which just does it.

[17] Ninefingers has Athletics 8 and rolls 7; margin 1 is enough.

[18] She’s alive, so Turn Undead isn’t going to have an effect, no matter what he rolls.

[19] I could roll, but we’re talking three Fitness 4 wights and one Fitness 3 elf.

[20] Reactions: Felewin 9, Wights 12, Uthrilir 12

[21] Uthrilir rolls 6 (margin 4), front wight rolls 7 (margin 1); no armor helps, so that wight takes 2 Injury levels (that resistance!). Wight is now at -1, and it misses Uthrilir (rolls 11, margin -5). Uthrilir did the attack defensively, so his effective defense is +2. Second wight rolls a 10, margin -2, vs Uthrilir’s 3 (margin 7), which is I think a triumph. Third wight goes for Felewin, who is walking over. He rolls 3 (margin 5) while Felewin rolls a 9 (margin 2); Felewin’s armor lets in 1 injury levels. Felewin rolls a 7 (margin 3 because he’s going to do this twice); he hits and armor doesn’t help, so 4 injury levels, and then Felewin rolls a 6 (margin 4) vs margin 0, and the third wight is disassembled.

[22] Reactions: Uthrilir 13, Wights 7, Felewin 11

[23] Uthrilir rolls 7 (margin 3), wight rolls 4 (margin 3)

[24] Felewin rolls 8 (margin 3) vs 9 (margin -1). Armor doesn’t help at all, and it’s a magic sword; 4 levels of injury. Felewin then rolls 8 (margin 2) vs 6 (margin -1, with injury), and disassembles the second wight.

[25] Reactions: Uthrilir 11, Felewin 13, Ezmerelda 12, Wight 10

[26] Hrelgi’s first roll of Fabrica Materia is an 8 (margin 2), and R+C of 7 (margin 4). Her second roll of Fabrica Ge is 6 (margin 4), R+C of 10 (margin 0).

[27] I know that various GMs have done clever things with Ludmilla, Anastasia, and Volenta, and I will give each of them Composure so the holy symbol is less likely to work on them.

[28] Ezmerelda rolls 4, margin 3, difficulty 0. She does 3 levels of injury because her bolts are blessed.

[29] Felewin rolls 5, margin 6 (triumph) and the sword does extra damage against vampires. It does 6 levels, so…she’s gone.

[30] Ninefingers rolls 10; this uses Dueling, and she’s paralyzed and incapacitated. The stake only does 1 injury, not being magical.

[31] Hrelgi rolls 8 on motus (margin 2) and 5 on Athletics (margin 3 for aiming). The splinter does only 1 injury, though.

[32] Hrelgi rolls 4 on R+C, difficulty -2, so margin 7 is a triumph.

[33] Reactions: Felewin 14 Ninefingers 9 Hrelgi 10 Uthrilir 10 Ezmerelda 9 Ludmilla 11 Volenta 13. Ludmilla and Volenta fail their A+C rolls (margin 0 and margin -1), difficulty 2.

[34] Hrelgi rolls 5 (margin 4) on the spell, and 8 (margin 2) on the R+C rolls.

[35] Felewin rolls 10, which is margin 1, but this sword is extra good against vampires.

[36] Felewin’s armor protects him from the rats. Ninefingers protects him from only 1 of the 3 injury, so he takes 2.

[37] Hrelgi rolls 10 for the spell (margin 0), 6 for the R+C (margin 2), and 4 for the Athletics to keep aiming at the wood (margin 4).

[38] Ezmerelda rolls a 3 (margin 4) which renders one swarm of rats nearly dead (3 levels of injury). She rolls 5 on her R+C roll, which is margin 2.

[39] Ninefingers vs rat: 9 (margin 1) vs 10 (margin -4); Uthrilir vs rat: 6 (margin 3) vs 9 (margin -2)

[39A] Hrelgi rolls a 6, making the Fabrica Sphaera roll, and then a 7 on R+C.

[40] Ezmerelda rolls a 7, which barely makes the difficulty, but it does. 1 level of damage to the maid, and the maid fails her composure roll to hide her nature (margin -2).

[41] Shadows have +2 because they are stealthy (at 11 or less, I’m not going to roll for it); that’s 10 or less to hit. One rolls 7 (margin 3) vs Ninefingers; who rolls 7 (margin 3) and narrowly avoids, one rolls 6 (margin 4) vs Ezmerelda, who rolls 5, margin 3, and doesn’t avoid it. Ez down one health level.

[42] Felewin is at -2 for carrying a big painting. He rolls 11, which is margin -2. It’s not a cataclysm so he doesn’t accidentally hit Ezmerelda.

[43] Ninefingers is at -2, and rolls 9, which means margin -1.

[44] Uthrilir rolls a 10, which is margin -2.

[45] Reactions: Felewin 14 Ninefingers 10 Hrelgi 9 Uthrilir 10 Ez 13 Shadows 9

[46] Felewin rolls 8 and 4, which means two hits (difficulty 1+1, margin 1), difficulty 1 (margin 5). Shadow done.

[47] Ez rolls 8 (margin 0) vs shadow’s 9 (margin -1) and does 1 level of injury (silvered swords have no special effect).

[48] Ninefingers rolls 7 (margin 3) vs Shadow’s 7 (margin 1). It is a magical sword, but we don’t count its damage, so 2 injury. The shadow now has -2 on all actions.

[49] Uthrilir rolls a 3, which is margin 7 against difficulty 2.

[50] Hrelgi rolls 5 on a f. sphaera spell, margin 4, to “undo the magic holding it together” which would be difficulty 4, but she’s got that.

[51] Strahd is going to attempt to charm Felewin. He rolls a 10, which is margin 1 on his part. Felewin must make an Influence+Composure roll to stop it; he rolls 4, which is margin 4. He resists again.

[52] Strahd uses Fabrica Mentus, emotional charge, rolls 6 (margin 3); difficulty his Influence, which is supernatural (6). Uthrilir has to make Reasoning+Composure (7) versus difficulty 6. His only chance is to roll a 2. Uthrilir rolls a 5, which is good but not good enough.

[53] Which of Uthrilir’s teammates is closest to him? It was Hrelgi but it might not be now; people have moved. So roll 1d6, 1-2 Felewin, 3-4 Ninefingers, 5-6 Hrelgi. 2 - Felewin.

[54] Uthrilir rolls a 9 to hit (margin 1); Felewin rolls a 9 to defend (margin 2).

[55] Strahd rolls a 5 on his F. Motus. He rolls a 6 on Athletics. However, we give Uthrilir a chance to resist, using Athletics. He rolls a 6, margin 3.

[56] Hrelgi rolls a 6, margin 3. She then rolls a 5 on R+C, margin 5. Now his armor is 6, and he cannot be hurt.

[57] Really, she should look it up, but I’ll use one of the other two she has memorized.

[58] Hrelgi rolls a 3, and a 2 on the R+C roll. That’s margin 6 and a triumph.

[59] Strahd rolls a 10 and barely makes his F+C roll.

[60] According to the rulebook, this requires both F. Sphaera and F. Ge. She has ≤10 on each, and I’m not going to give her a distance penalty because of she’s sensing Uthrilir. (Anything else, yes. But not Uthrilir.) She rolls an 8 on the Sphaera (margin 2) and 11 on the R+C (margin -1). Now she has to wait a turn for magic to come back into her body.

[61] Hrelgi rolls 6 for the magic (margin 4) and 4 for the R+C (margin 6). Then she rolls 4 (a triumph) and 11 (failure on the R+C) but I’ll say the triumph lets her know it’s okay.

[62] Felewin rolls 9 on the first hit and 8 on the second; there’s no armor, so the first one is only 2 damage and takes off one arm and the other takes off the head.

[63] Ninefingers only attacks one zombie, but does so twice, rolling 9 each time and succeeding. His attacks are normally 3, halved to 1.

[64] The one facing Felewin rolls a 6, which is margin -1, vs Felewin’s 10, margin 1. Misses. The arm manages to grab his leg, however. Zombie facing Ninefingers rolls a 4 (margin 1) vs Ninefingers roll of 7 (margin 3); last zombie rolls a 3 vs nothing, and hits Ninefingers. His armor fails to activate.

[65] Felewin rolls 4 on the first attack, finishing off the first zombie, and a 2 on the second attack, doing full damage on the third zombie, the one that attacked Ninefingers.

[66] Ninefingers is at -1 to hit, but rolls a 7 (margin 0, because he’s striking at two) vs margin -5 and a 6 (margin 1) vs margin -2.

[67] Zombie rolls a 6, but it’s -2 to hit, so margin -1 vs Ninefingers’ 8 (margin 1).

[68] Felewin rolls a 6 (margin 5) versus its 8 (margin -5). Felewin deals out the remaining two damage levels.

[69] Hrelgi casts a spell; she rolls 8 (margin 2). She rolls 8 again on the R+C (margin 2)

[70] I’m going to give them 10 XP for all of that.

Monday, October 6, 2025

Chapter 37 — In The Dungeons (Actual Play, Curse of Strahd)

Iron & Gold, Curse of Strahd

Previous Chapter 36 The Dragon’s Home — Next Chapter 38 A Study In Strahd

Being an actual play of Curse of Strahd, using Precis Intermedia Games’ Iron & Gold, with Mythic as the GM.

37 - In The Dungeons[1]

The church was as they remembered it: an old building next to a churchyard, with a ruined steeple at one end. When the steeple had collapsed, the bell fell and split. The remains of the steeple were taller than Felewin, but not by much. The group hurried inside, bringing the horses with them.

The church doors did not close properly; Felewin fixed that by hauling the broken bell in front of them. The air in the church was close and ripe with mildew; the fallen steeple was loosely filled in with wreckage so it was not immediately open (as Argynvostholt had been)…but neither was it whole. Several of the windows did not quite close. It was closed enough to keep the smell in, and too open to keep anything out.

“We’ll need to post watches,” said Felewin.

“We’ll need to post insect netting,” grumbled Ninefingers.

“It’s night time and it’s cold. Most of the insects are resting,” said Hrelgi.

“No fire, no lights, we be quiet,” reminded Felewin. “Hrelgi, you think about getting across the river.”

Kasimir and Ezmerelda took the first two watches. Uthrilir and Ninefingers stood the watches during the dead of night; then Hrelgi, and finally Felewin took the pre-dawn watch. The night passed uneventfully.

In the morning they ate the last of their rations, supplemented by[2] a brace of rabbits that Felewin had caught in the dawn. Hrelgi cooked the rabbit meat with magic so they did not have to build a fire.[3]

“When we let the horses go, what will happen to them?” Felewin asked.

“They’ll head back to home, assuming they don’t get killed on the way and they can find it.”

“Hrelgi, how much trouble would it be to get to the castle via the Vistani camp so the horses can walk home?”

Hrelgi looked at him. “Right, just because I can create a rend, you can travel all over the land?”

“The horses,” said Felewin. “If we go to the bridge by the Tser pool — you said you could get there, right? — then they have hours of walking before they get back to the Vistani camp. Scarecrows and wolves might get them. But if we could get them near the camp, it’s possible for them to walk home.”

Hrelgi considered this. “It’ll take more effort, but I can send them to near the Vistani camp. But if we’re not going with them I have to use teleport.”[4]

“Can you do it?”

Hrelgi fussed, but started looking up the spell components in her grimoire, and Felewin got the tack on each of the four horses. He patted Oxblood’s muzzle, and said to Hrelgi, “Any time.”

She sent Oxblood first.[5] The horse faded from view and reappeared wherever she was sending them. “I’m sending them to the road,” she explained.[6] Eventually all four horses were gone.

Hrelgi said, “I have to sit down for a moment. It was easier doing them one at a time but it took a lot out of me.”

“Of course. We’re relying on you for this.”

When she was ready, they opened one new rend to the Old Svalich Road, onto the bridge they had crossed leaving the Tser pool with Madame Eva. There was no one coming in any direction, so they went with Felewin’s plan, and the next rend was opened into the castle.

“Oh. Yes, I can feel the redirection,” said Hrelgi. “Go, go!”

Water began pouring from the rend. Felewin stuck his head through and tried to pull it out again; he couldn’t. He stepped through, followed by Ninefingers, then Uthrilir, Kasimir, and Ezmerelda. Hrelgi desperately wanted to let more water pour out, but she couldn’t hold the rend open, and stepped through.

They found themselves in a sour dark dungeon cell filled with inky dark water. The water was deeper than Uthrilir and Ninefingers were tall: Uthrilir was clinging to the bars of the door to keep his head up above the water, and Felewin was holding Ninefingers’ head above water. Kasimir was holding his lantern above the surface of the water.

A mold-covered ceiling was maybe Ninefingers’ height above the still, black water that filled this dungeon cell and corridor. Square cells, their entrances blocked by iron bars, lined both sides of the hall.

The cell was at the back of a corridor of cells; there was nothing in the opposite cell.

“Hi,” said Felewin to Hrelgi. “Too bad we didn’t get more water out, huh? Ah well. Poorly maintained, that’s what we’re relying on. Can you take our goblin?” He passed over Ninefingers. When Hrelgi had the goblin, Felewin put his shoulder against the door for minutes.[7] Finally it squealed open.

“Would have been impossible if it hadn’t been under water for years,” said Felewin. “Shall we?”

“You first,” said Kasimir.

“The water is not pleasant, so be quick,” said Ezmerelda.

Felewin put Ninefingers on his shoulders, then stepped into the hall.[8] Nothing attacked him, so he waded to the end of the hall, pausing only once when he thought he saw a person in a cell. Ninefingers assured him it was someone dead. “Half-elf, it looks like.”

The cell on the other side, just before the barred door to the hallway, held a glowing thing. Felewin stopped and looked at it.

“We could use another light source,” he whispered.

“Didn’t help that guy,” Ninefingers retorted.

“Look, I have to deal with this door. Can you at least dive under and see if you can pick it?”

From behind them, Hrelgi said, “I’ll just bring it to the bars so we can look at it. Once you get that hallway open.”

Felewin expected the hallway door[9] to be as difficult to move as the cell door but instead he wrenched it off its hinges. Beyond the door was a set of steps that took them to a slightly higher level, where the water was only hip-high on Felewin.

Hrelgi waded up two steps and handed Felewin a glowing sword. “Magic sword,” she said. “It glows.”

“I can see that,” he said. He didn’t want to refuse it, so he sheathed his current sword and took the glowing one.

“To the left are stairs up,” said Ninefingers.

Felewin asked, “Everyone got that?”

“Stick to the wall,” Ninefingers added. “Probably nothing else to worry about here, but being near a wall means you can grab if something swims up and grabs you.”

“What a pleasant thought,” said Ezmerelda sarcastically. “Have you got any more happy gems to share?”

Ninefingers was non-plussed. “Don’t drink the water, maybe?”

“I don’t think that’s what she meant,” pointed out Felewin.

Uthrilir gratefully dog paddled out to the stairs and into the hallway, where he could stand with his head above water. Kasimir was still in the dungeon corridor.

New sword in hand, Felewin and Ninefingers moved slowly toward the stairs. As they got near the stairs, Felewin felt something shift under his feet. The water kept him from dodging away from the trapdoor; he felt himself falling….

…and found both of them in a different dungeon cell with a corpse. The head lolled back as they splashed in.

“Well, great,” said Felewin. “Am I going to have to open every dungeon cell?”

“It’s the dead half-elf,” Ninefingers said. “I’m going to look at the lock.” Ninefingers slipped off Felewin’s shoulders into the water. Felewin grabbed the half-elf corpse by its clothes and moved it. Their movements in the water made the corpse keep moving.

Meanwhile, Kasimir had noticed them and called, “They’re here!” He waded back and looked at them. “Are you hurt? We saw a huge splash of water rise up and then you were gone.”

“Teleport trap. I guess it randomly determines what cell to put you in.” Felewin grabbed the rope belt on the corpse’s waist, stripped off the pouches and sword (he tucked them in his mail to give to Ninefingers), and lashed the body to the bars beside the door.[10]

Ninefingers surfaced, gasping for air. “Got it.” He pushed the door open, until it hit Kasimir. Kasimir took it and pulled it open all the way.

Felewin put the goblin back on his shoulders. “Good to know we might have to do this more than once. Ninefingers, the half-elf was carrying these.” He handed the pouches to the goblin. “And a sword. Do you need a sword, Kasimir?”

Kasimir shook his head. “I have one, one that has not been under water for weeks or years.”

Felewin shrugged and said, “We’ll give it to Hrelgi. She ought to have a sword anyway. Now, shall we really try to get out of this water?”

Ninefingers nodded. “It’s disgusting,” he agreed.

When they got back to the centre hallway, they found Ezmerelda listening intently to the other barred hallway.

“I think I heard something,” she said. “Someone in the other cells.”

They stood quietly for a moment, and then heard it: “Help.” It was male, gruff, and exhausted.

“We can’t just leave him there,” said Felewin.

“An enemy of Strahd is presumably a friend of ours,” said Uthrilir.

“How do we get there?” Hrelgi asked. “There are probably more traps.”

“I’ll go,” said Felewin.[11] He and Ninefingers started across the hallway and suddenly found themselves back in the cell they had started from.

Felewin swore; Ninefingers swore more colourfully, and longer.

“Well…at least this cell is easy to get out of,” Felewin said.

They waded to the centre hallway again and found Hrelgi standing where they had disappeared.

“I had the idea of looking at the space magically,” Hrelgi said. “Those traps are not magic any more or they’re very low magic, so it must take them time to recharge.” She looked like she was exploring a missing tooth. “It won’t teleport you.”

Felewin nodded. “Thanks.” He carefully went over to the far door.[12] Trying for less force, he wedged this one open.

At the far end of the corridor, in one of the last cells, was a muscular young man, soaked and shivering. “Help,” he said.

Felewin said to Ninefingers, “You or me?”

“You try, then I’ll try. That was a tough lock.”

Felewin failed. Ninefingers dove down and failed.[13]

“I am Emil,” the young man said. “Please help.” His teeth chattered and he clenched his jaw shut to stop them.

Hrelgi waded toward them. “Problems?”

“Well, this is the cell where everything isn’t acting poorly maintained,” said Felewin.

“Just a second.” Hrelgi found the parts of the spell, reached through the bars and grabbed Emil’s shirt, and said, “I’m going to shrink you down, pull you out, and restore your size. Okay? Hold your breath.” Emil nodded and Hrelgi spoke the spell. Emil shrank to the size of a doll. On the other side of the door, she restored him. “Told you I could do that.” They started wading out.

“I did not doubt that you could,” said Felewin.

“You’re Emil?” asked Uthrilir from the hall.

“Yes. I am from Vallaki. Dire wolves chased me to this castle, and one of Strahd’s people put me in here.”

Felewin could feel doubt, but it was radiating from the sword, not his own. Great, he thought. A sentient sword. No, Master Ambrigolus would say a sapient sword. Master Ambrigolus had been his tutor, and the one who had first told him about knights. He forced his attention back to the conversation.

“The creepy elf put you in here?” asked Hrelgi.

“The chamberlain, Rahadin,” said Kasimir.

“Let’s go,” called Uthrilir from the centre hallway.

In the centre hallway, they stuck along the one walll to the stairs, then went up. Once they were out of the water, Hrelgi spent a couple of minutes drying people off.

“Emil, Vallaki has had a change of leadership since you left,” Felewin said.

“The burgomaster?” asked Emil.

“Lady Wachter is the new burgomaster,” Uthrilir said.

Emil took that news without showing emotion.

Up the stairs, they came to a corridor.[14] There was an odd projection off one side, and Ninefingers said, “Wait a second,” at the same time as Felewin’s new sword radiated dread.

“Something bad ahead?” Felewin asked.

“I think so,” said Ninefingers. “This section of floor, it’s not attached to the other sections. See the seams? They run the walls too. So this section moves, somehow.”

“Can you disable it?”

“No, not from here.”

“Do you know how the trap is activated?”

Ninefingers looked at him scornfully. “No.”

“Can you guess? Your guesses are better than those of anyone else.”

Ninefingers looked at it. “Floor moves. Goes up probably. Nothing on ceiling to indicate it squashes you, so ceiling probably goes up too.” He spotted other grooves. “Oh, there is where something drops out of the ceiling, so it makes it like a box. Box goes up.” He paced along the seam and looked down the spur section. “No protrusions, and it doesn’t go anywhere. Counterweight probably lands there. So it’s like an elevator. But what sets it off?”

Ninefingers squatted to look at the floor of the “elevator.” Finally he stood and said to Felewin, “I can’t be sure, but I think it’s pressure-activated. There are a couple of other possibilities, but that’s my guess.”

“But there’s no way to turn it off or to know how much pressure would set it off?” Ninefingers shook his head. “But if we get to the other side, we should be safe from it?”

Felewin turned to the others. “Too far to jump. How do we get across that space?”

“If you don’t mind some risk, you walk,” said Uthrilir. “Ninefingers thinks that space over there is for the counterweight, right?”

“Did I say that?” Ninefingers shook his head. “That’s my guess, but I might be wrong.”

“So one at a time we step around the corner to the counterweight side, cross the distance, and then step around that corner, without ever touching the elevator part.”

“And if the elevator moves anyway?”

“That person probably dies,” said Hrelgi. “The other option is that I use motus and fling everyone across the space one at a time, but Uthie’s way doesn’t involve magic.”

“I’m the heaviest; I’ll go first,” said Felewin. “If I can make it, anyone can. It might be poorly maintained.”

“You’re the heaviest, so you’re most likely to set it off. You’ll go last,” said Ninefingers.[15]

They each went: Ninefingers, Kasimir, Hrelgi, Ezmerelda, Uthrilir, Emil, and last Felewin. All carefully moved around the corner, sprinted to the far side of the spur, and eased around the other corner.

Felewin said, “Emil, this is not your fight. Escape when you can and we will think no less of you.” The sword kept giving him dread. Felewin thought, If the sword is correct, he’ll betray us.

“Easy to say,” said Emil. “I have no idea where we are or how to get out.”

“This is true,” said Ninefingers. “I hate making the group bigger, but I don’t see where he’s going to go.

Once they were all beyond the trap, they huddled together, and Ninefingers crept to the next intersection.[16]

The hall at that end was silent. Heavy beams supported a sagging ceiling. Fog as tall as Ninefingers clung to the floor, so he could not see much. Ninefingers came back and reported that.

Ezmerelda asked, “Send someone taller, maybe?”

Ninefingers said, “Not Felewin or Uthrilir. Hrelgi is good—”

“Thank you,” said Hrelgi.

“But not stealthy,” said Ninefingers.

“I could be stealthy,” said Hrelgi.

“I have been stealthy,” said Ezmerelda.

“Are you certain?” Felewin asked Ezmerelda.

Ezmerelda took it as a veiled comment about her foot, and kicked him. “Yes.”

Felewin grinned. “That was not stealthy.”

“Getting it out of my system.” Ezmerelda moved quietly to the door. She cast a spell[17] and vanished. The door opened and they could see candlelight beyond the open door. After many heartbeats, they heard a slow male voice and the door opened wide, with the male voice urging Ezmerelda through. Ninefingers noticed that her footsteps moved forward through the mist and then the mist vanished, and so did evidence of Ezmerelda.

Alas, the rest of the group was very visible, standing in the area. The man was a hunched over creature like the ones they had seen in the Abbey — he had lizard scales and panther fur on his face, and he wore a robe. Around his neck he carried a key and a small wooden plaque with an eyeball varnished onto it.

The man or creature stopped and looked at them.

“Hi,” said Felewin. He had put his glowing sword between his backpack and his back while squeezing around the corner, but he could feel disapproval coming from it. “Your cousins at the Abbey? They sent us.” This was a bold lie[18] but its audacity did not make it more credible.

“Don’t be silly,” said the man. “You’ve entered the castle and got turned around. No doubt the master would like you to wait in your rooms. I will lead you there.”

Behind him, Ezmerelda flickered into view.[19]

“I don’t think so,” said Kasimir. “You are Cyrus Belmont, correct?”

“I am,” said the man, blinking. “Have we met?”

“Years ago. I looked different. We seek the catacombs.”

“The Master will take you. I’ll take you to see the Master.”

“He’s in the catacombs, and we are supposed to meet him, but we’ve gotten turned around. Could you direct us there?”

“Oh, the only way I’m allowed to walk there is through the Master’s study. I can’t walk through walls, of course, like the Master.” Cyrus giggled. “I remember when we put the new wall in.”

“So take us to him,” said Ninefingers. “In the catacombs.[20]

“Up in your room, of course.” Cyrus turned to lead them to somewhere, possibly the dungeon.

Ezmerelda said, “We’re not getting anywhere with this,” and stabbed him.[21]

Hrelgi shrieked in surprise. Felewin stepped forward, but Ninefingers held him back.

Ezmerelda said, “There must be a way to get to the catacombs and crypts, if you cannot pass through walls. What is it?”

Cyrus held his hands over the stab wound. “Uh..uh,”[22] he moaned.

“We’ll make it simple. From this floor or another floor?”

“Enough!” Felewin said. “I don’t accept torture.”

Kasimir said, “We can’t leave him to tell Strahd, though.”

Ezmerelda said, “Kill him and we’ll be off.”

“No!” Cyrus cried. “From the brazier room.”

“Where do we start?”

Cyrus pointed in the direction they had come.

“He’s lying,” said Ninefingers. “That way leads down to the dungeon.”

Cyrus said, “Up two floors, then down through the secret stairs.”

“Why don’t you show us?” Kasimir said.

Cyrus nodded, eyes wide. Ninefingers thought there was no scheme yet, but one might come to Cyrus.

“How do you avoid setting off the trap?” Felewin asked Cyrus.

“You know there’s a trap?” Felewin nodded. Cyrus’ hump sagged. “It’s weight sensitive,” replied Cyrus. “One person—even you—won’t set it off.”

Ezmerelda said, “Ninefingers, you heard that?”

“I did.” The goblin brandished his sword. “Let’s test it. You and I will walk over there. You and I will wait while everyone else comes across.”

They marched over. Counting to fifty between people, the rest of the group crossed. Cyrus led them into the stairwell and up a dizzying set of circular stairs. Finally they came out on a dark landing with statues of figures in the alcoves.

“Just me,” said Cyrus shakily. “No need to attack. Me and some guests for the Master.”

Alone of the group, Ninefingers recognized the figures in the alcoves as swarms of rats stacked into roughly human form.

Cyrus opened the door. A sweet yet pungent smell of decay wafted out, and then the smell of dust. The room was some kind of dining hall. There was a long oak table in the center of the room, covered with fine china and silverware under a thick blanket of dust.

The middle of the table was dominated by a large tiered wedding cake that leaned to one side; the frosting had been white but now was green. Cobwebs hung like dusty lace down the sides of the cake. The cake had a single figure on top: a well-dressed woman.

Above the table was an iron chandelier, also shrouded with webs.

To the south were heavy curtains, probably covering a window. By the curtains sat a lute in a stand, and a cobweb-shrouded harp loomed in a corner.

“You’re not really dusting, are you?” Ninefingers said.

Cyrus was offended. “If it is this way, it is because the Master prefers it this way. If he wants it cleaned, I arrange for it to be cleaned.”

“He doesn’t want much cleaned,” murmured Hrelgi.

They turned to the north and went through the double doors. Cyrus had a momentary flagging of spirit when he realized that his master was not in the room.

This room looked like a study, and a cared-for one, at that. Unlike everywhere else in Barovia, this room was tidy and well-kept, meticulously clean, the wood waxed and polished. A blazing fire crackled on the hearth; bookshelves with nice books and tomes lined the walls. There was a thick, luxurious rug with a large low table on it. Two burgundy chairs faced the hearth, and above the mantelpiece was a huge expert painting in a gilded frame.

The painting was of Ireena Kolyana.

“Mind yourselves,” said Cyrus. “The Master is very particular about this room.”

“The portrait,” said Uthrilir. “Who is that?”

“Why, that’s Tatyana, the Master’s true love. I’ve never heard her last name, but I am assured she was of fine lineage.”

“Reincarnation,” said Uthrilir. “As I thought, though the body does not have to reflect the soul so directly.”

Ezmerelda said, “Didn’t someone say this is a curse for Strahd? He is being punished by having Tatyana’s reincarnations look just like Tatyana.”

“We have places to be.” Ninefingers poked Cyrus with his sword.

“Yes, of course. The doorway to the left. That has the stairs we want.”

Once they left the study, things were dark and ill-tended again. The stairs coiled down again, pausing at a landing where they had to walk a few dozen paces to continue down, and ended in a balcony or room overlooking a flooded torture chamber. The room had two wooden chairs — thrones in design — and was backed by a dusty red tapestry or curtain.[23]

Ninefingers glanced at the torture devices rising from the brackish black water when Cyrus grabbed him, and lifted him up. “Let me go or I’ll throw him in!”

“Let him go or we’ll kill you,” said Ezmerelda. Hrelgi was already looking up a spell.

“I can drop him before you kill me. There are things in that water, things that would tear him apart.”

“Drop him,” said Emil. “Go ahead. You’ll die, but you’ll be able to think that they can’t rescue him by magic.” Cyrus looked at him, eyes wide. “Or you take us where we want to go and look for a better place to betray us. Maybe there’s a trap we won’t notice. Maybe you can lie about what crypts we look at.” Emil shrugged. “You drop him, you die. You don’t drop him, you have a chance to impress your master.[24]

Cyrus looked at him for a long time, and then slowly put Ninefingers down.

Ninefingers backed away from him. “We don’t think less of you,” he said. “We both know you’ll try to kill me next chance you get.”

Cyrus shook himself and said, “Let’s move on.”

“Let’s,” said Emil. “Ninefingers, I can be close to him instead of you.”

“You have no sword,” Ninefingers pointed out.

“I can use yours,” said Emil.

“Rather not,” said Ninefingers. “Not carrying a spare.”

“Hrelgi, can Emil here use that sword I gave you?”

Hrelgi shrugged. “Sure.” She passed it over.

The glowing sword was not happy about this. “Not a magical sword,” muttered Felewin. “Been under water for a while.”

Ezmerelda sidled over to him and murmured, “You certain you want to do that?”

“Unless you have a good reason. What’s your reason?” asked Felewin.

“I get a sense of….evil….from him. It’s the eyebrows,” she explained

Felewin nodded. “But he’s playing on our side for now, so I’ll let him have the sword that has been underwater and unmaintained.”

“Your call,” she said. “And at least if he has a sword, he won’t feel the need to turn all werewolf.” Felewin looked at her. “The eyebrows. He has the signs,” she explained. “They’re not reliable, but it is Barovia.”

“Are you done talking about whatever?” said Ninefingers. “We have a crypt to get to.”

“Sorry,” said Felewin.

Ninefingers waved Cyrus on; Emil followed closely behind him, and then Ninefingers, Felewin and Ezmerelda, and finally Hrelgi and Uthrilir. They went up another set of stairs and ended up in a small corridor filled with fog. Felewin and Hrelgi had to stoop to walk along. The walls looked rougher and less finished than any previous corridors. The stone was different. Uthrilir asked about it.

Cyrus had been muttering but he stopped. “This hall is newer,” he said. “Older than I am, of course, but the Master had it done only a century ago or so.” Cyrus kept going, saying, “The Master was quite proud of it. The floor was done by labour from Barovia but the walls are entirely by the Master’s magic. They don’t have quite the same sheen as the other castle walls but they are quite smooth. Carved right through the Pillarstone’s rock.”

“And under the castle?” asked Uthrilir.

“Yes. It leads straight to the crypts.” The group walked for a bit in silence and then Cyrus suddenly stopped. “You should take a look at the flooring there. The master is particularly proud of it.”

Ninefingers sighed.[25] To him, the pause and the sudden invitation to go ahead of Cyrus spoke of a trap. He looked at the walls and poked at the flooring. It seemed solid, but then Ninefingers found a seam in the floor. He pressed down, harder, harder, and then the floor tilted under the pressure of his sword. Ninefingers said, “I’m sure he would be proud of that trap. Where does it lead? The dungeons?”

Cyrus looked abashed at being caught.

“Perhaps it re-sets itself. Please step on it, Cyrus, and show us.”

“It goes to the dungeon,” Cyrus said. “I’ll drown in those cells.”

“I’d have drowned in the torture chamber, or been ripped apart. But you didn’t worry about that.” Ninefingers gestured Cyrus forward. “And, as Emil suggested, you’re looking for another chance to betray us. Because Felewin is soft-hearted, I would not dream of killing you myself. However, I’m willing to have that trap kill you.”

“That’s not fair,” said Emil.

“I know. That’s why you’re going too.”

“But…”

“Yes. You’ve been in the dungeon; you can hold Cyrus up.”

“But you freed me!”

“And we’ve opened some of the cells in the dungeon. Maybe you’ll end in one of them.”

Hrelgi[26] spoke the words of a spell and both Cyrus and Emil stumbled onto the square of floor that Cyrus had said was special. The floor opened up and the two fell down to the dungeon.

Ninefingers waved as they fell and then said to the others, “Now I know where to put the iron spikes.”

After they were across, Hrelgi said, “I’ll bet I can get them back.”

“Cyrus?”

“No, silly, the spikes.” She looked up the spell and made the farthest spike fly into her hand.

Ninefingers said, “I can get the ones on this side by myself.”

The tunnel was marvellous engineering: it ran on more than a hundred paces until it came to a stone door.

Felewin said, “Kasimir, we part once we are in there. You seek your sister’s crypt, and we seek Strahd. Strahd will turn on you if you are with us, Strahd will turn on you; Strahd might discover us if we accompany you, and we have reason to believe he is in these crypts.”

Kasimir nodded. “Very well. You have been excellent companions.” He reached out to shake Felewin’s hand. “I believe this is what your people do.”

“Not my people, actually, but it’s common. Good travelling.” He shook Kasimir’s hand and then let the elf light his lantern.

“Which crypt are you going to?” Kasimir asked casually.

“The tomb of the man he envied most,” said Felewin. “That is where he is.” Felewin tucked the glowing sword through his belt and took in hand the sword hilt they had found in the tower. It sent grim satisfaction to him as he held it, and a blade of sunlight sprang forth.

“Works,” said Ninefingers. “I’ll take the other sword.”

“Do you want to keep it?”

“No. I try to sneak around,” Ninefingers said, “and it glows, which ruins the sneaking. I don’t think you can turn it off, and just looking at it hurts my eyes.” It disapproved of Ninefingers and let him feel it. Ninefingers gasped. “It’s sentient,” Ninefingers said.

“Sapient, yes. It knew that Emil was a werewolf.”

“And you still gave him a sword?” Hrelgi asked.

Felewin nodded, shrugging. “We know that not all were-things are bad.”

They came to the door—really a stone slab set behind a doorway. Felewin took a deep breath. “Everyone remember the plan we discussed back in the tower?”[27]

“Marked the pages in my grimoire,” said Hrelgi.

“I imagine we’ll travel together for a moment longer while we find the right crypt,” said Felewin to Kasimir, “but you can leave us at any time. This is not your fight.”

Kasimir nodded. “That is fair,” the elf said.

Felewin grabbed the stone slab that was acting as a door, and heaved.[28] The slab moved to the side, even with soft guano covering the floor. The catacombs reeked of bat-shit so as to make eyes water, and Ninefingers and Uthrilir saw the swarms of bats milling along the ceiling, up more than twice Felewin’s height. Felewin grabbed the sword again, and sunlight spilled into the catacombs, possibly for the first time since they were built.

They were obviously at a corner: ahead, along the left wall, was a tomb entrance, alone on the wall. Stretching to the right was a grid of huge columns. They could see a name plate on the first one, but could not read it. Each column was apparently also a crypt.

“Let me go ahead,” murmured Ninefingers. “Shield the light of the sword. Kasimir, I’ll tell you if I see your sister’s crypt.”

Felewin nodded and extinguished the sword. There was still light from the two lanterns, but the cavern was suddenly much dimmer.[29]

Ninefingers did not try to hide as he returned, though he was silent. He murmured, “I have found Sergei’s tomb. I did not see your sister’s crypt. If Madame Eva is correct, Strahd is in there now, but the tomb is down some stairs and I could not see.”

Kasimir briefly touched each of them on the shoulder and headed to the right, his lantern gliding through the darkness.

They moved forward, letting Uthrilir and Ninefingers guide them. As they descended the stairs, trying to be as stealthy as possible. The door to the tomb — portcullis, really — was closed, and Felewin flicked the sword into being. Ninefingers threw a lever at the top of the stairs, and they walked in. Felewin flicked the sword into being, and sunlight came with them into the tomb.

The first thing they felt was stillness—a calm.

The room was rectangular, wider than it was wide, with a vaulted ceiling only dimly illuminated by light from the sword. In the center was a white marble slab, holding up a gorgeous and intricately inlaid coffin. At the foot of the slab was a name: Sergei Von Zarovich.

North were three alcoves each with a beautifully carved statue: the center held a stunning young man, and the two flanking it held angels.

And bent across the coffin was Strahd Von Zarovich, He looked up at them, blood trailing from his eyes like tear-tracks, and he straightened.

“You think to take me here, in my own domain?” Strahd sneered.[30]

“We will try,” said Felwin. He stepped forward and slashed at Strahd with the sun-sword, and it had no effect.[31] Ninefingers also had a glowing sword, and he hit as solidly as Felewin.

Again there was no apparent effect.

Ezmerelda spoke the words of a spell,[32] and nothing happened. Uthrilir held the holy symbol aloft, and there was a kind of thickening of the air.[33]

Hrelgi spoke a different spell,[34] and water began running from a rend in the air, landing in the tomb after pouring over Strahd.[35]

Strahd smiled and looked at Ninefingers, and said, “Come to me, my child.[36]

Ninefingers stumbled forward…and then grinned and slashed at Strahd with the glowing sword.[37] Ninefingers made a long bloodless cut in the vampire’s torso. “Nope,” said the goblin.[38]

Strahd back-handed the goblin[39] and moved to one wall, where he easily climbed up the wall and vanished through the ceiling. Hrelgi shut the rend, leaving them knuckle-deep in water.[40]

“I didn’t know he could do that,” said Felewin. “Did you know he could do that?”

“No,” said Ezmerelda. “After him!”

“No,” said Felewin. “He knows the castle and we don’t. No, we have to bring him to us, wherever we stop.”

“What he cared about was Ireena, but we don’t have her as bait,” said Ninefingers.

“He cares about us,” said Hrelgi, holding a rend open to drain the water out of the tomb and letting it run back into the dungeon.

“True, but not the same thing,” said Felewin.

Ninefingers asked Hrelgi, “Why are you draining the water?”

Hrelgi explained, “It seems rude to leave the water here. Disrespectful.”

Felewin continued. “But we do know where Ireena is—or rather, Tatyana.”

“Yeah. Heaven, with Sergei.”

“Not that,” Felewin explained. “The painting of Tatanya. It’s all he has left.”

Ninefingers smiled with understanding. “And we know how to get to it.”

“Question is, where do we make our stand?” Uthrilir said. “The only place we really know is the dungeon.”

“No, not the dungeon. All that water. For the threat to be useful,” said Ninefingers, “Strahd has to think he can get the painting back without harming it and the dungeon is too dangerous to the painting. Otherwise he already hates us, and it just makes him hate us more.”

“I’m not sure it matters,” said Hrelgi. “He can walk through the ceiling and floor.”

“True,” said Felewin, and looked carefully at each of them. “Listen. All hands in the castle are against us. We must deplete his resources before the final battle. I am loathe to say it, but we do not hold back. We must be lethal, because he is.”

“But where?” Uthrilir asked.

“The only idea we have is the study with the painting. I remember how to get there!” He bounded up the stairs to the catacombs.

Without a choice, the others followed. Felewin slowed in the corridor with the trap door, looking for the marks that Ninefingers’ spikes had left on the flooring. He spotted them and let Ninefingers spike the floor once more. When they had come across, he said, “Should we leave those? Might be useful if they stayed there, in case we had to suddenly run down this hall.”

Ninefingers said, “Awful if someone removed them but we expected them to be there, though.”

Felewin nodded. “You’re right. Remove your spikes.”

Previous Chapter 36 The Dragon’s Home — Next Chapter 38 A Study In Strahd

Monsters

Not really anything to fight.


Game Mechanics

[1] Mythic suggested theme Violate Victor (Move Toward A Thread)

[2] Felewin makes his survival roll, margin 4.

[3] Not that we care, but Hrelgi rolled a 5, margin 5, and & 8 on the r+c

[4] Hrelgi rolls 9.7. 8, 45

[5] Hrelgi rolls a 6 for Materia, a 6 for R+c, a 2 for Ge (margin 3, margin 5, margin 5).

[6] A failure, then a 7, 7, 8. Actually, because there’s no pressure, she just keeps trying until she gets the right set of rolls.

[7] The first roll is an 8 which makes difficulty 2 — too bad this is difficulty 4. He tries again and again (rolls of 10, 11, and finally 4). All I was really looking for was not-a-12.

[8] Question: Is this the half with Emil or not? 123 it is, 456 it is not. Rolled a 5.

[9] Felewin rolls 2 on his Strength-Athletics roll. The door comes off.

[10] Meanwhile, Ninefingers rolls a 10 (failure) and a 3 (easily enough for difficulty 4).

[11] On a 1,2,3,4 Felewin triggers the trap to 74e. 3 - he does.

[12] These doors are difficulty 0, and Felewin opens it with margin 2.

[13] Felewin rolled a 12, so he doesn’t get to try again. I rolled for Ninefingers and it took 17 tries to get to the right number; while that’s possible, instead, Hrelgi is going to try magic. She rolls 8 for the materia, 7 for the R+C, and 10 for the ge. She shrinks Emil down and then pulls him out and drops the spell.

[14] Ninefingers rolls a 3 on Investigation and spots the trap.

[15] Call it difficulty 4. Felewin, Ninefingers, and Uthrilir will make it without rolling. Actually, Kasimir and Hrelgi have Sure-Footed, so they’ll make it without rolling. That leaves Emil and Ezmerelda. Emil is Fitness 4 so he doesn’t have to roll. That leaves poor Ezmerelda. Though the characters don’t know it, she alone won’t set it off. So she’s safe.

[16] Ninefingers rolls a 6 on stealth. Margin 3

[17] Ezmerelda rolls a 3 on F. Sphaera,so she’s invisible for 3 turns, margin 4. That’s difficulty 2 for Cyrus, because he has Acute Sight; his Awareness is 3, so he spots the shape in the fog

[18] Felewin has no deception skills except maybe etiquette, so he’ll try that. He fails utterly, rolling a 12.

[19] Mythic: Has Kasimir ever met him? CF 8, 50/50, 85% chance of a yes: rolled 30%. They’ve met before.

[20] Because of Felewin’s failure, the difficulty is +2. Ninefingers is the only one with Subterfuge, so he tries; he rolls and gets margin 0, which doesn’t make it with the increased difficulty

[21] Ez rolls 6 to hit. Cyrus takes 2 Injury. And Ez rolls a 5 on Lore, so she knows what the eye is.

[22] Cyrus doesn’t have Composure, so his Fitness+Composure roll of 6 is a failure

[23] Well, because I’ve said that Mongrelfolk have Brawling at six or less, and Cyrus just rolled a 5, Cyrus grabs Ninefingers.

[24] Look, Emil wanted to be leader of the pack, so he’s got some Influence and some Persuasion/Leadership, but probably not a lot. Say Influence 3 and Persuasion 3, and a -2 difficulty because Cyrus doesn’t actually want to die. Emil rolls a 7, which just makes it. Also, Emil is thinking of ways to impress Strahd, and having his servant killed ain’t on the list.

[25] Ninefingers rolls subterfuge, and rolls poorly — a -2 margin — and while Cyrus has subterfuge, he rolled a -3 margin. Ninefingers is not fooled. Ninefingers then rolls a 2 on Investigation and spots the trap.

[26] Hrelgi rolls a 4 on athletics, and 6 on her F. Motus spell, beats the +2 difficulty.

[27] Reminder: Uthrilir’s purity endowment requires Strahd to make an Awareness+Composure task of difficulty 4 to approach. In Felewin’s hands, he’s 13- to hit with the sword and it does 5 levels of damage against undead, 4 against others. The light triggers the vampire’s vulnerability to sunlight as well: he can’t shape change in the light, and he doesn’t have his Supernatural healing *and* takes 1 level of lethal injury every turn

[28] Felewi rolls a 3 on Athletics, so he makes it by 7: that’s a big enough margin.

[29] Ninefingers rolls a 7, which makes his stealth roll; the difficulty for him is 10, because there’s mist (of course) and soft footing.

[30] Reactions: Felewin 13 Ninefingers 13 Hrelgi 7 Uthrilir 12 Ezmerelda 12 Strahd 17 Strahd is moderately surprised this round, so he’ll wait nad see what the others have.

[31] Strahd doesn’t try to dodge, because the visual is worth it. However, Heart of Sorrow takes 5 of its 15 injury levels.

[32] Too bad Ez rolls a 10.

[33] Amazingly, Strahd fails his difficulty 2 Awareness+Composure roll because he rolls 11 and he doesn’t have Composure in this version. (Rationale: His stats have become so high that he has forgotten what he knew, over four centuries.)

[34] Hrelgi rolls 6, and she makes the Ge spell. Strahd is now in running water (she rolls a 4 on Athletics to place it above him)..

[35] He ends this first turn in running water, which reduces the Heart of Sorrow to 0 levels of inj. This is a great advantage to them, because he can’t break the connection in time to let it heal. From this point on, he actually takes damage. (They will still probably lose.)

[36] Strahd is summoning a swarm of bats from the catacombs. A new tunrn means he takes 1 level of injury from the running water. Sorry, it’s still daytime; he can’t. So he’ll try and charm Ninefingers; Ninefingers needs to make a Awareness+Ccomposure roll at difficulty 3. Ninefingers rolls a 4, mhich makes his A+C roll by.5, making he 3 difficulty easily.

[37] Aw, man. Ninefingers rolls a 2, or triumph. So he hits despite anything Strahd could do. Strahd, however, has Toughness 1. The sword does extra against undead, though. So checking 4 inj, Toughness protects against 2 of that, but now Strahd is in actual trouble. Good thing he will go first with lair actions.

[38] This time Strahd makes his composure+Awareness roll so he can move.

[39] He rolls a 5 (margin 3) versus Ninefingers’ 8 (margin 2); he does 2 fat damage to the goblin.

[40] Hrelgi opens a new rend to the dungeon but this time the this-end is at water level and the that-end is above the water level. So it’s the same length of time but she’d draining stuff.

Saturday, October 4, 2025

Chapter 36 — The Dragon's Home (Actual Play, Curse of Strahd)

Iron & Gold, Curse of Strahd

Previous Chapter 35 The Tower — Next Chapter 37 In The Dungeons

Being an actual play of Curse of Strahd, using Precis Intermedia Games’ Iron & Gold, with Mythic as the GM.

36 - The Dragon’s Home[1]

A rend would not get them much closer than the Old Svalich Road, and they would have to coax the horses through, so they rode. Once they got to the road, Felewin recognized where they were, and it wasn’t a great distance to the road for Argynvostholt. Two ravens were flying above them by then, and they met two pairs of scarecrows lurching toward the tower. Hrelgi amused herself by setting one on fire, but then the group was out of range and around a corner. A raucous cawing from the ravens made them hide at the side of the road, and they saw three black-clad figures on brooms fly across the late afternoon sky. The figures did not spot them, being intent on the tower, but the group rode faster from then on.

Still, the going was difficult because the road had not been maintained; it was more an unkempt trail. When the path rose above the river valley, they spotted a quiet promontory on which loomed a sepulchral mansion. The mansion had been gorgeous with its turrets topped with cones and towers lined with sculpted battlements, but now a third of the structure had collapsed, third of the structure had collapsed, or fallen open, leaving one large room exposed. A dark octagonal tower rose above the surrounding building.

Before the doors stood a sculpture of a dragon; to the right was the collapsed side of the building, including ruins of what was once a stable or carriage-house. The grounds around it were wild but not forested. Felewin motioned for everyone to stop. “I think I can work my way around it, just to see what there is.”

“We’ll all go,” said Uthrilir, and Ezmerelda nodded.[2] They slowly made their way around the mansion. The collapsed side was open to the elements, though the doors to the interior were closed, and Felewin spotted the webs and spoor of more giant spiders than he cared to face.

Behind the building was a fenced-in graveyard and building, probably a chapel. There did not seem to be any active threats in the graveyard.

The other side of the building had an iron gate, held by a rusted padlock. Felewin pointed at it. “Poor maintenance.”

“The owner has been dead for centuries,” said Kasimir. “I think we can forgive this.”

Felewin said, “I doubt it will work; if we go in that way, we’ll have to break it.”

It was a tight fit to make it back to the front of the house. Ninefingers looked at the statue from a distance.[3] “I think that’s supposed to be a trap,” he said. “The mouth points right at where someone would be standing to open the doors.”

“Would it still work?” Felewin asked.

“Maybe. I’m not going to try it.”

“Side with the rusty padlock, then.”

“Anyone with tracking will recognize we’ve gone in," said Hrelgi. "At the very least, horses standing outside are a clue..”

Felewin nodded. “But at least we can bring them beyond the gate. He looked at the sky. “We haven’t much time before nightfall.” He goaded his horse to the side of the house and got off to look at the lock.

“Let me see,” said Ninefingers.[4] He fiddled for a moment and the lock popped open. “There. Now we can put it back on the chain and it doesn’t look like we went in.”

The gates squealed horribly when opened. The horses came in reluctantly, and then Ninefingers hung the lock back on the chain so it looked closed.[5]

They had to lead the horses up a tall stairway to get to the next set of doors, but eventually they did. They readied their weapons and entered.

The room was dim and with rounded corners: the walls outside were round. Tattered velvet drapes covered the tall, slender windows along the outside wall. The furnishings were in disarray and covered with dust and cobwebs. Besides the door they came in, there was one door that led into the mansion. A damaged brass chandelier hung from the ceiling. In turn, the ceiling was covered with a faded mural that depicted metallic dragons and colorful birds flying beneath white clouds.

“He liked his dragons,” said Ninefingers. He moved aside to let Ezmerelda, Hrelgi, and the horse in. This made the parlour cozier than they wanted, and everyoneset about moving furniture to make a space for the horses to stand.

“He was a dragon,” said Kasimir. “Argynvost spent a great deal of time in human form, but he was a dragon. I have heard that Strahd kept his skull, and it’s somewhere in the castle as a macabre trophy.”

Felewin asked, “He fought Strahd, though?”

“Not originally. He founded the Order of the Silver Dragon to help protect the Amber Temple.”

“Where we were,” said Hrelgi.

“Just so, but as Strahd’s army caused more devastation, the Order gave shelter to the refugees. Eventually, Strahd’s soldiers slew Argynvost and destroyed the Order. They sacked the mansion, though that obvious damage to the one building wing came with time.”

“And lack of maintenance.” Felewin nodded. “You have been here before?”

“Once.” Kasimir shook his head. “Before Strahd invaded; since the invasion, dusk elves and Vistani avoid the mansion because the dragon’s ghost haunts it.”

“Does it?”

“I do not know. Dragons are strange and mystical.” Kasimir shrugged. “Right now, I think the dragon’s ghost could be an ally.”

Felewin looked around the room. “Since you’ve been here before, where next?”

“We don’t actually have a choice,” said Kasimir. “Let us leave the horses here, in this parlour, and move deeper into the mansion. I suspect we want either Argynvost’s bedroom or the crypt.”

“Do you know where they are?”

“The crypt is outside, of course. I was never invited to Argynvost’s bedroom, but I was to his audience hall, which was on the third floor.”

“Can you get us there?”

“I believe so.”

Uthrilir said, “Staying inside until sunrise seems sensible.”

Ninefingers asked, “Did Strahd ever receive an invitation in?”

Kasimir snorted. “Not ever.”

Uthrilir seized on that. “If the walls still count as a dwelling, he is forbidden from entering.”

“Better than we’ll get elsewhere,” said Felewin. He put out grain for the horses and got the worst of their gear off.

“What if we need to leave in a hurry?” Kasimir asked.

“The horses can’t get down those stairs without guidance. You said there’s a trap out the front door, and I saw that the other side of the house is infested with giant spiders. If we need to leave in a hurry, the horses are doomed.”

Kasimir shrugged. “The Vistani clan suspects the horses will not come back.”

“You did tell the Vistani you were taking them?”

“Of course, but by now I think they have convinced themselves that you kidnapped me and stole the horses.”

Everyone gaped at Kasimir.

“No,” said Uthrilir. “They would have chased us in the beginning.”

“You are wanted by Strahd but you were also the ones who saved Arabelle. It is a conflict, but by now they will have convinced themselves that you did kidnap me and that they are justified in whatever they do.”

“Thank goodness we brought the horses in,” said Hrelgi.

“Thank goodness,” said Felewin. “Well, you think we might find an ally in this mansion. Let’s look.” Sword in hand, he headed for the door into the rest of the mansion.

The room beyond was a wood-paneled den, and it had been ransacked. Furnishings were tossed hither and yon: rotted divans, broken chairs, an overturned ottoman, and smashed oil lamps.

On the west was a cold dark hearth between two narrow windows. To the north was a sarcophagus of black wood, with shattered glass at its base; the door or cover had a queen’s face.

Ninefingers went over to the sarcophagus and started examining it for traps.

“Don’t bother,” said Kasimir. “It held wine. Argynvost was tickled by the idea of a sarcophagus for his wine glasses and decanters. I think the queen in question had ceased to be queen so the sarcophagus was suddenly extraneous.”

“Huh.” Ninefingers opened the lid to reveal shelves and more broken glass. One goblet survived, hidden in the corner on the bottom shelf.

Ninefingers began searching for secret doors.[6] While he was looking, Uthrilir had approached the fireplace to examine the stonework. A fire erupted in the dead hearth and took the form of a dragon. It hissed and crackled as fire does, and unfurled its wings.

Everyone readied weapons but for Hrelgi, who started flipping pages in her grimoire.

The dragon of fire hissed. “My knights have fallen into darkness. Save them if you can. Show them the light they have lost!”

The dragon disappeared and the fire went out. Uthrilir put a hand over the hearth. “No heat,” he reported.

“An illusion?” Ninefingers asked, continuing to search for secret doors. He found a spot to press. He did press it, and an opening appeared in the wall. A bookcase had moved slightly.

Hrelgi said, “Maybe. What is the light?”

“Show them resistance?” Uthrilir asked.

“I’m not sure it matters,” said Felewin. “We want a place to rest and possibly an ally. We can look for the ally but I’m not sure we want to accept an additional labor.” He looked at the others. “Maybe we want to just rest.”

“We should make sure it’s safe, anyway,” said Hrelgi. “And we can use help, if they offer.”

“All right,” said Felewin. “We’ll go to the third floor and check the audience room, and try to find the bedroom. But we’re resting, not exhausting our resources.”

“Help me with this,” said Ninefingers, about the secret door he had found.

Hrelgi was nearest; she grabbed one edge of the bookcase and it swung open to reveal a storage room. Ninefingers could see a pair of wine casks on this side, the staves dried and shrunken. He looked, and there were a pair on the near wall as well, and what was obviously the exit to the other room.

“Wine. Other room is a kitchen or something.”

Kasimir said, “I think this was a parlor or den of some kind, where they would sit and talk. The other room might be a kitchen or dining room used for guests.”

“We can sleep here,” said Felewin. “We’ll put our gear down and then explore.” He looked at Kasimir. “And we won’t unpack anything, if we need to leave in a moderate hurry.”

“Good enough,” said Kasimir. He rooted through one of his bags and pulled out a lantern: two candles in a box with translucent walls. He opened one door and took a moment to light one.[7] Once one was lit, he used it to light the other. “I will need to see my spell book, if it comes to that. The grand foyer is through that door, if I remember correctly.”

It was. The grand foyer felt like a king’s tomb. They could see busts of handsome men on pedestals against the wall nearest them. To the right was the entrance, underneath a tall faded tapestry — Felewin couldn’t make it out in the candlelight.

There were sets of double doors — they had come out through one set — and at the other end, to the left, was a grand staircase that led upstairs to balconies that ran along the foyer, like a mezzanine.

Above were big black spiders, which Ninefingers assured Felewin were iron chandeliers.

“Up those stairs,” said Kasimir. “I presume there were less obtrusive stairs for the servants, but I never saw them.”[8]

Even in ruin, the mansion was gorgeous and ornate. The stairs led up to balconies flanking the foyer; pedestals held more busts of human heads.

“The stairs to the audience chamber were at the end of the balcony,” said Kasimir. They kept together in a tight knot, where the lanterns could illuminate, with Ninefingers in the front at Uthrilir at the back.

Ninefingers suddenly stopped. “Did you see that?”

“Yes,” said Uthrilir.

“What?” Hrelgi asked.

“A shadow of a dragon.” Ninefingers looked up at the ceiling. “Nothing there.”

“Nothing behind us,” Uthrilir said.

“The ghost of Argynvost, perhaps.” Kasimir seemed unconcerned.

They moved forward to the circular stairwell at the end of the balcony. The stairs went up only;[9] The stairwell was decorated with paneling of dragons and ravens. Ninefingers led the way; at the top, there was a curtain that led out into the hallway, and Kasimir started that way but bumped into Felewin ahead of him, who was watching Ninefingers.

Ninefingers in turn was experimenting with the wall. He found a protruding bit of art — a dragon’s claw — and pulled it. A door opened.

Ninefingers peeked in. “Looks like an audience room.”

They moved into the room. Near the door was a back of a throne-like chair, with someone sitting in it. At the far end was rubble: the ceiling had fallen in, and there was a hole to the sky. There were three tall windows to the west, set ablaze by the setting sun.

They moved slowly around the throne. It was carved to resemble a dragon with unfolding wings. Slumped in the throne was a gaunt, armored figure, with one armored hand wrapped around the hilt of its great sword.

Hrelgi whispered, “Dead?”

“Go away,” said the figure.

“You…live,” said Kasimir.

“In the loosest sense of the word,” added Ninefingers.

The creature's grip tightened on the great sword. “If you have come to destroy me, know this: I perished defending this land from evil over four centuries ago, and because of my failure, I am forever doomed. If you destroy this body, my spirit will find a new corpse to inhabit, and I will hunt you down. You cannot free me from my damnation, nor would I wish it.”

Hrelgi started to speak, but Felewin shushed her.

"If you have come to free this land from the creature that feasts on the blood of the innocent, know this: There is no monster I hate more than Strahd von Zarovich. He slew Argynvost, broke the life of the knight I loved, and destroyed the valiant order to which I devoted my life, but Strahd has already died once. He can't be allowed to die again. Instead, he must suffer eternally in a hell of his own creation, from which he can never escape. Whatever can be done to bring him misery and unrest, I will do, but I will destroy anyone who tries to end his torment."

“Pretty speech,” said Felewin.

The dead thing turned and looked at Felewin with its dead shrunken eyes.

“I assume you’ve been practicing. You’ve had centuries. I am called Felewin. My group has already caused Strahd misery and torment that cannot be repaired, though he live a thousand more lifetimes.”

The revenant actually turned its head to look at Felewin.

“He has sworn that we will die. We need a place to rest, because we are not dead or undead.” Felewin glanced at Kasimir. “Despite current appearances. Might we stay in this mansion?”

“How have you caused him misery?”

“He desired above all the woman Tatanya, reincarnated as Ireena Kolyanovich. Unlike all other souls, hers is now in a place where it cannot reincarnate, and he cannot have it.”

“Do you have proof?”

Ninefingers looked pityingly at him.“Strahd seeks to kill us, and turns every agent’s hands against us. We did not stop to gather proof. However, this is the reason Strahd gave for our destruction.”

The thing sat up. “This torment is good.”

“Then we have your permission to stay the night?”

“Aye. And another night, and on, so long as you cause Strahd torment.”

“Oh, we will. The most,” said Hrelgi. “In fact—” No one knew what she would have said next, because Kasimir pinched her. “Ow!”

“Sorry,” he muttered to her, loud enough for the creature to hear. “Not used to the new appearance yet.”

“We have promised to get this man”—Felewin indicated Kasimir—“into Castle Ravenloft, where he can deprive Strahd of one of his brides.”

“Excellent. Stay for the night, but do not take the bedroom directly to my west, for that was the bedroom of my beloved, nor the empty one, for that was the bedroom of Argynvost.”

“We can set up in one of the lower floors,” said Felewin. “Thank you.”

They backed away from the audience chair toward the wreckage at the far end of the room. Once they had to, they looked in the direction that they had to travel, and finally found themselves in a hallway. Ninefingers looked up, and spotted a witch flying overhead, searching the forest.

Ninefingers urged the others on, but they wanted to go in the direction that kept them in the view of the witch.

Kasimir said quietly, “We need to look at Argynvost’s bedroom.”

“We need to get out of view,” said Ninefingers as he squeezed past. “If you looked up once in a while, you’d know a witch can see us.”

Felewin didn’t say anything but he moved quickly out of the hall. Uthrilir and Kasimir followed as well. Hrelgi stopped and stared out at the evening sky.[10] Then she flipped through her spell book, looked again,[11] She said a spell.

The witch flew off his or her broom and started hurtling toward Hrelgi.[12] The broom shot up, released of weight, and then circled around to try and get under the witch.[13] It failed at first and then under the roof, it managed to get under the witch. Hrelgi stepped out of the way and both crashed into the floor.[14]

Hrelgi was ready with the spell in case the witch survived. Hrelgi walked over and nudged it with her toe. It was dead. She turned, and the broom wriggled out from under her corpse and hit Hrelgi[15] on the head. Both Felewin and Uthrilir swung at it; Uthrilir missed, and Felewin chopped it almost in half.

The broom took off, disappearing through the hole in the roof.

Felewin sighed. “Well, now they know we’re here.”

Hrelgi rubbed her head where the broom had hit her. “How much information can a broom pass on?”

“Enough,” said Kasimir. “We are not safe here any more.”

“Where can we go? What’s in your range, Hrelgi?”

She closed her eyes and said, “Protected places I’ve been? Vallaki. The road to Barovia. Tsolenka Pass. Baba Lysaga’s hut.”

“Vallaki is too dangerous,” said Felewin. “So is the road.”

“I don’t want to return to Tsolenka Pass,” said Uthrilir.

“The hut might work,” said Ninefinges. “It has a door. Or the ruined mansion outside it, or the church.”

“Ew, bugs,” said Hrelgi.

“Light across the river,” said Felewin. “We can communicate with the wereravens.”

“We get to cross the river?” asked Hrelgi.

“If she’s still there,” said Ninefingers. He started leading everyone back to the stairs down.

Kasimir asked, “What are these wereravens? They are allies?”

“Not exactly allies,” said Uthrilir. “But maybe friends.”

They left in a moderate hurry: Hrelgi created a rend [16]and in a moment they were standing outside Baba Yaga’s hut, which was still tilted at a steep angle.

“I don’t think we can sleep there,” said Ninefingers.

“Church it is,” said Felewin. “Uthrilir, you lead. When we get there, let’s consecrate the church again.[17]

Previous Chapter 35 The Tower — Next Chapter 37 In The Dungeons


Monsters

This was about the point I decided that the list of spells for a creature in D&D reflected the things they knew how to do with magic, but if pressed, the witch (or whatever) might be able to do other things.

Barovian Witch

AbilitiesFitness 3 Awareness 3 Creativity 3 Reasoning 3 Influence 2
SkillsDueling 4 (≤7), Fabrica Mentus 5 (≤8), Fabrica Sensus 5 (≤8), Athletics 4 (≤7), Investigation 3 (≤6), Alchemy 5 (≤8)
GimmicksDescrying Reality, Night Vision
WeaponBroom 2 (+1 fat, Ray of Frost (3 inj

Animated Broom

AbilitiesFitness 3 Awareness 2 Creativity 0 Reasoning 0 Influence 0
SkillsAthletics 4 (≤7), Brawling 3 (≤6
GimmicksFlight, Hardened, Night Vision, Toughness, Undead, Undersized, Vulnerability (crafting magic, fire)
WeaponBrawling (1 fat
Armor1 (Toughness)

Game Mechanics

[1] Mythic suggested theme: Nature Inside (Introduce a new NPC)

[2] Felewin rolls a 6 (margin 2) on his survival roll, and sees evidence of spiders. Ninefingers rolls a 3 on Investigation (≤8) and sees more spiders than he cares about.

[3] Ninefingers rolls another 3, so he can make an educated guess.

[4] Ninefingers rolls another 3 on Finesse (≤9), which makes the difficulty of 2 and then some.

[5] They are in area Q8; odd means to Q7, even to Q9, rolling a D6: rolled a 5, so they head to Q7 (parlor).

[6] Ninefingers rolls a 4 on Investigation, so he finds the secret door.

[7] Kasimir’s skill is ≤8, the difficulty is Trivial, he rolled a 9, so he makes it.

[8] Do they take the left stairs or right, from their point of view? 1,2,3 left, 4,5,6 right. Rolled a 3, left, which is the side they’re nearer to, anyway.

[9] They’re not going to pause to look for secret doors, but Ninefingers has a chance to spot it. And he rolls a 2 on ≤8, which makes the insanely difficult odds I was going to set up. Okay. He spots the secret door.

[10] The witch has just seen them. Hrelgi rolls a 6 to spot the witch.

[11] Hrelgi has level 5 in F. ge, so the distance of 45 meters is only complex (2). She rolls a 6 for the spell motus (≤10) so the spell works, and a 7 for athletics, so she hits the witch even at difficulty 2. I have not been playing this as "must roll ge and spell" but I probably should. Next campaign.

[12] Witch will take a turn; broom gets a freebie to try and fetch her.

[13] Broom rolls Athletics (≤7) but rolls a 9 and misses. It has one more chance. Just before witch hits, it rolls a 6 and succeeds. Hrelgi rolls motus vs its Athletics: (6 margin 3 vs 8 margin -1) so it’s there, but it can’t get the witch free.

[14] Witch has effectively fallen 113 six foot drops, each of which is worth 1. I would say that even with the effect of the broom, it’s more than the equivalent of 10 levels of damage: the witch is gone. The broom, however, is a construct and is immune to fatigue damage; thus the broom is still okay.

[15] Broom rolls an 8, and it’s surprise, so it’s trivial to hit her; the broom succeeds and does 1 fat damage, because her armor doesn’t activate

[16] Hrelgi rolls 4 for a Difficulty 2 rend that is an extra 2 meters in size to make it easier to get the horses through. Since she’s ≤10 with F. ge, that succeeds easily. She rolls 10 on the R+C skill, which makes it margin 0 at difficulty -2.

[17] Difficulty is base (4) + Building (2) of same faith (-2) holding holy symbol (-2) and he’s going to make it a prostrated task (-1); net difficulty of 1. Uthrilir rolls 6 on his ≤9 and succeeds in meeting the difficulty.