Iron & Gold, Curse of Strahd
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Being an actual play of Curse of Strahd, using Precis Intermedia Games’ Iron & Gold, with Mythic as the GM.
42 - Final Showdown
They waited (Ninefingers impatiently) while Hrelgi reviewed her grimoire. Finally, she said, “I think I’ve got it now. It was teleportation, not just a rend, and I wasn’t taking that into account.”
“Of course,” said Ninefingers.
“So I have to cast two spells, one for each fabric.”
“Whatever,” said Ninefingers. “Do it.”
“Give her a chance,” said Uthrilir.
Hrelgi[1] concentrated and then said the two spells.
“Now it should be safe,” Hrelgi said.
Ninefingers sprinted to the square, but he and the dead wight stayed in place.
Disappointed, Ninefingers said,“Come on, then. She can’t suppress it forever.”
The rest of them pushed past him into the space before the portcullis. Uthrilir turned back to the space with the dead wight, and pulled what looked like a chisel from his pouch. He hammered it into the seam between floor stones. It took him several tries (while Hrelgi sweated with concentration) but he finally levered up the floor stone.
Inscribed on the bottom was a circle.
Uthrilir defaced it and set the stone back.
“In case we need to leave quickly,” he said.
“I hope that did not take too long,” Ezmerelda said.
“I hope that Felewin is still alive,” said Ninefingers.
There was a similar lever to the one outside Sergei’s tomb. They pulled it and heard the door open; then they descended black marble steps into a domed chamber ten times as high as Ninefingers, five times as high as Hrelgi. It smelled of fresh earth with something sour, and felt of evil. A coffin of waxed black wood and shining brass fittings sat at the centre of the room, on a stone platform. Beyond the coffin, on the far side of the tomb, were three alcoves. The outer two were empty, but the middle one—
Three hell hounds bounded out.[2] Ezmerelda managed to squeeze a shot from her crossbow[3] and hit one of them. The hell hound[4] bounded over the coffin and snapped at Ezmerelda[5] but bit empty air. Other hell hounds bit at Ninefingers and Uthrilir but missed. Surprised, Ninefingers[6] and Uthrilir missed their return attacks.
Concerned, Hrelgi cast the spell on Uthrilir[7] that made him impervious.
Uthrilir[8] asked the Maiden for her rebuke,[9] and the hounds suddenly whimpered and ran for the walls of the tomb. “How long can you hold that?” Ninefingers asked.
“Just do it now!” Uthrilir groaned.
Ezmerelda grabbed the lid of the coffin and heaved to no effect.
Ninefingers said, “It’s clasped shut.” He reached forward and unlocked it.
“Hurry!” Uthrilir said. The hell hounds circled around the walls of the tomb.
Ezmerelda flipped open the coffin and there was Strahd lying there.
“Felewin must have hurt him more than we knew,” Ninefingers said, handing Ezmerelda a stake.
Ezmerelda began to drive the stake. Strahd screamed gutturally as the stake went in.
“I can’t hold it much longer—” said Uthrilir. “This is not hallowed ground.”
“Almost done,” Ezmerelda said. “Ready with your sword because the hell hounds don’t go away when he’s dead.”
Ninefingers said, “Ready.” He wished he could fire a bow.
Hrelgi had found the spell she needed.[10] She cast[11] her spell and one of the hell hounds folded and vanished.
Ezmerelda said, “In. Cut off his head!”
“I can’t reach!” Ninefingers said.
“Well, crap,” said Ezmerelda.
“I can’t hold it any more,” said Uthrilir. One of the remaining hell hounds bounded forward to attack[12] Ninefingers.[13] Its claws caught him and raked down his arms. He tried to strike back[14] but failed. Uthrilir hit the hell hound[15] as it went by, but the other one was on him. It wasn’t able to hurt him, because Hrelgi’s spell was still active.
The[16] hell hounds tried again: Uthrilir[17] and Ninefingers both dodged this time; Uthrilir asked the Maiden for help again[18] and the again hell hounds again retreated to the walls. Hrelgi cast her spell again, on a different hell hound[19], the one that Uthrilir had hit. That one too folded and vanished.
The loose dirt at the edge of the crypt flew off and a pale woman in a wedding dress leapt for Hrelgi.[20] Ninefingers slashed twice[21] and hit the woman, who turned into smoke.
Ezmerelda was busy cutting off Strahd’s head with her rapier. “She will return. And the hell hounds are usually accompanied by a master.”
“With luck, we will be gone,” said Ninefingers.
Hrelgi cast the spell once more,[22] but in her hurry she mispronounced one syllable[23] and it failed. Hrelgi grabbed her grimoire and looked it up. Ninefingers said, “What if we back out? Force them to go through the doorway?”
“Their master is immaterial and can go through anything,” said Uthrilir. “Yon wraith.”
“You die,” the wraith growled from its space in the middle alcove. It growled something in another language. It seemed the hell hound understood the language, for it fixed its gaze on Hrelgi.[24] Ninefingers placed himself between the hell hound and the coffin.
Hrelgi cast the spell again,[25] and the hell hound folded and vanished.
Uthrilir could not hold the Maiden’s rebuke any more, and lowered the arm with his holy symbol. The wraith rushed forward—and tried to attack Hrelgi, but Ninefingers was waiting[26] and interposed himself, using his magic sword.
The wraith turned to attack Ninefingers[27], but the goblin was the better swordsman.
While they fought, Uthrilir began the last rites for Strahd.
Ninefingers dispatched the wraith.
Uthrilir finished saying last rites over Strahd’s body[28] and the sense of evil lifted. The crypt was still an unpleasant place, but not an evil one. Uthrilir felt the presence of the Maiden as he had not since they came to this land.
“I think we have done it,” Uthrilir said, with hope.
“Except we’re still in a castle filled with monsters,” said Ninefingers. A huge figure appeared on one of the outer alcoves. “Like that one.”
Felewin stepped out. “As I thought,” he said. “Congratulations! I could feel the evil lift.”
“You are Felewin still?” Ezmerelda asked.
“I think so.” He held out his arms, mindful to keep his hands away from weapons. “Check me…but be mindful of the wound.”
“You’re hurt!” Ninefingers said. “How did you get that?”
“Duelling with Strahd after I got out of the trap — a crypt. Got lucky duelling Strahd and hurt him enough that he retreated to his coffin.”
“But why come through the alcove?” Hrelgi asked suspiciously.
“That…that was a guess. What got me was a teleportation trap in front of the entrance to this tomb, right? I figured there were probably traps in front of the other two approaches, and I did not have you to suppress the magic. He could go through walls but others, like Cyrus, couldn’t. That meant he had some other way to get in. So I was hoping for a clue to the other entrance. On my way back here, I saw footprints leading in and out of a crypt. The crypt was empty except for two alcoves. I tossed an arrow into one and it went nowhere, so I tried the other one.” He looked around. “And lived, but aarrived too late to help.”
Felewin sighed and to Uthrilir he said, “Check me or bless me or whatever you must do. We need to get out of this castle and somewhere safe. The monsters that are left are no longer held in check by Strahd’s ego.”
Monsters
Hell hounds are in the rule book; wights and vampire spawn have been presented already.
Becaues I used the three brides earlier in the study, I used Sasha here, who is also a vampire spawn in the crypts. She just is only one person and not three.
Game Mechanics
[1] Hrelgi preps for two turns, reducing the difficulty by 2. Then she rolls 9 (4 on the R+C roll), and 3 on ge, and 8 on the R+C roll.
[2] Reactions: Felewin 10 Ninefingers 10 Uthrilir 10 Hrelgi 12 Ezmerelda 11 Hell hounds 9 Wraith 10
[3] Ez rolls a 5 and hits; the crossbow does 3 injury levels but the toughness stops 1 point.
[4] Hell hound rolls 9 (margin 1), and Ezmerelda rolls 4 (margin 4).
[5] Other hell hound attacks include one versus Ninefingers (it rolls 10, margin 0 versus his 6, margin 4), and vs Uthrilir (margin 5, vs his 3 margin 7)
[6] Ninefingers rolls 7 to hit (margin 3) but hell hound rolls 4 (margin 6). Uthrilir rolls 7 (margin 3 but hell hound rolls 5 margin 5)
[7] Hrelgi rolls 4 to cast spell (margin 6) and 7 on R+C (margin 3).
[8] Reactions: Ninefingers 12 Uthrilir 13 Hrelgi 9 Ez 12 Hellhounds 12
[9] Uthrilir rolls a 7 (margin 1) on the Gospel/Purity endowment.
[10] Reactions: Ninefingers 13 Uthrilir 10 Hrelgi 11 Ez 13 Hellhounds 9 Wraith 8 Sasha 13. Sasha does not make her Awareness+Composure, rolling a 12.
[11] Hrelgi rolls a 6 and the injured hellhound is drained of remaining unlife. She rolls 4 on the R+C (margin 5).
[12] Who does the hellhound attack? There are four, so a d4: 1 - Ez 2 - Hrelgi 3 - Ninefingers 4 - Uthrilir. Rolled a 3, so Ninefingers
[13] Hellhounds rolls 2 (triumph and margin 8); Ninefingers rolls 9 (margin 1). Armor rolls are {2,4,6} so Ninefingers takes 2.
[14] Ninefingers, now at -1, rolled 8 (margin 1) but the hellhound rolled 5 to avoid it (margin 5)
[15] Uthrilir rolls 7 (margin 3) but the hellhound doesn’t get to respond; it’s Toughness doesn’t help {3,6,3}
[16] Reactions Hellhounds 13 Uthrilir 13 Hrelgi 12 Sasha 12 Ezmerelda 8 Wraith 8 Ninefingers 8
[17] Hellhound rolls 9, margin 1, but Uthrilir rolls 6 margin 4 and dodges. Hellhound on Ninefingers rolls 8 (margin 2) but Ninefingers rolls 4 (margin 5).
[18] Uthrilir rolls a 4 margin 6, which makes difficulty 2. The hellhounds and wraith can’t make A+C rolls {11,6,9} but Sasha does (a 2).
[19] Hrelgi rolls 4, so the spell works, and 6 on the R+C (margin 2).
[20] Uh, Sasha just rolled 12 and Hrelgi rolled 5. I think that means Sasha missed.
[21] And Ninefingers rolls twice, making margin 1 each time. Sasha rolls a 10, so she doesn’t avoid the first one.
[22] Hrelgi rolls 12 (margin -2) but a 2 for R+C.
[23] Reactions: Ninefingers 12 Hrelgi 12 Uthrilir 10 Ez 11 Hellhounds 11 Wraith 13
[24] Reactions: Ninefingers 12 Hrelgi 10 Uthrilir 8 Hellhound 10 Wraith 12
[25] Hrelgi rolls a 4 on the spell (margin 6, a triumph) and a 5 on the R+C (margin 2).
[26] Ninefingers rolls a 4 (margin 6) and the wraith tries to dodge with a 7 (margin 2).
[27] Wraith rolls 7 to hit (margin 2) but Ninefingers rolls 4 (margin 5). Reactions for next turn are Ninefingers 12, Wraith 10, and Ninefingers strikes (margin 5 vs margin 2). Wraith is gone.
[28] Uthrilir is consecrating the land, actually, and makes it by margin 5, enough for the difficulty 4.
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