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
| Abilities | Fitness 3 Awareness 3 Creativity 3 Reasoning 3 Influence 2 |
|---|---|
| Skills | Dueling 4 (≤7), Fabrica Mentus 5 (≤8), Fabrica Sensus 5 (≤8), Athletics 4 (≤7), Investigation 3 (≤6), Alchemy 5 (≤8) |
| Gimmicks | Descrying Reality, Night Vision |
| Weapon | Broom 2 (+1 fat, Ray of Frost (3 inj |
Animated Broom
| Abilities | Fitness 3 Awareness 2 Creativity 0 Reasoning 0 Influence 0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Skills | Athletics 4 (≤7), Brawling 3 (≤6 | |
| Gimmicks | Flight, Hardened, Night Vision, Toughness, Undead, Undersized, Vulnerability (crafting magic, fire) | |
| Weapon | Brawling (1 fat | |
| Armor | 1 (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.
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