Darkened tunnels,
Dirt covered floors,
A low moaning chant,
And are those prints: paws?

The haunter of children,
Prowls somewhere ahead,
The Durst’s cursed monster,
Would rather you dead.

But that’s why you’re here!
To put things to rest,
To banish the horrors,
With vigour and zest!

So beware all you evils,
Clear the way!
Six adventurers daring,
Do enter the fray.

To settle the score,
For Rose and young Thorn,
Those innocent pawns,
Of fair Barovia!

With the deep chants from somewhere ahead accompanying you, you ventured into the darkness, the low ceilings and scuffed floors making for a claustrophobic advance. Quickly realising this was more of a dungeon than a basement, a careful plan of covering all possible routes was followed.

Garn started behaving very strangely, cowering at each corner and begging you all to retreat, a far cry from his usual lead-from-the-front attitude. He had to be coaxed to follow, but reluctantly did so eventually — the idea of being left alone more terrifying than pressing on.

Almost immediately you discovered several crypts, some of which were carved with the names of the Durst family. Gustav and Elisabeth’s were both empty, as were those of Rose and Thorn. Garn and Xarann both seemed obsessed with each of the children’s crypts.

Acting intuitively, Viktor interred the remains of both children in their respective crypts, offering a prayer and sacrament as he did so. The moment Thorn was buried, Garn’s whole body shuddered for a moment, and the steely eyed Blacksmith you knew returned. And at the same time, everyone felt the absolute rightness of what you had just done — an ancient wrong had been righted.

You pressed further into the maze of corridors, working your way toward where the low chanting seemed emanate. A large room opened up to reveal a floor covered with bones — human bones, as Zandeyr and Bannor discovered. Some appeared to have been gnawed at by something, something human sized.

Venturing slightly too close to a darkened corner, Xarann was set upon by a hideous apparition that you made quick work of.

Zane appeared to be possessed of a hitherto unseen gung-ho fervour, and moved quickly ahead, only to be ambushed by three ghouls that emerged suddenly from the ground below.

As Viktor cried out in alarm and rushed forward, Zane flourished his blades and managed to fell the first two monsters in a flurry of steel and combat ballet. Viktor finished off the third, his eyes shining with pride. “Next?”, was all Zane had to say. Who was this masked dandy?

And ‘next’ it soon was, as you moved into a larger room containing a wooden statue carved in the likeness of a gaunt, pale-faced man wearing a voluminous cloak, one hand resting on the head of a wolf standing next to him, the other holding a smokey-grey crystal orb.

Zandeyr, being Zandeyr, immediately went and touched the statues, which summoned five dark shadows into the room from the statue alcove. A short battle ensued, with Zane once again flashing his blades and finishing two off, as the rest of you cleaned up the remainder.

You moved on again, and after besting a door that turned out to be some kind of shape-shifting mimic, entered into a den that in turn led to some kind of master bedroom. At the foot of the bed was a footlocker, unlocked and safe according to Bannor.

As he cautiously pulled out the cloak revealed within, two ghastly figures burst from hidden panels in the wall: even in their undeath you could tell it was Rose and Thorn’s accursed parents, Gustav and Elisabeth.

They fought hard and deadly, inflicting some telling wounds, but your determination to avenge the children got the better of their determination for evil, and they crumpled to the ground. Again you instinctively knew that killing those two was doing something fundamentally right.

Bannor cleaned out the footlocker, discovering potions, a spellbook, a fine looking cloak (immediately pounced upon by the ever fashionable killer, Zane) and an average looking chain shirt. Just about everyone was nursing a nasty wound at this point, and the blessings of healing magic were in short supply.

But you none-the-less continued, and were soon faced with a choice: continue exploring the untrodden ground on this level, or head down the steep stairs you discovered, stairs which led to the source of the chanting, now louder than ever…

Meta

The footlocker contained:

  • Four potions of healing
  • A Cloak of Protection
  • A flask of alchemist’s fire
  • A Wizard’s spellbook containing 9 spells
Passages and rooms

Basement map

Session played: 22 November 2018