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Into the Tombs, Rahadin's End

Curse of Strahd 

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Session 71 – 2022-09-10

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There these people stand before you. Wet and their once fine clothes stained with filth. Some with blood. Maybe it was not apparent before but in a time where Danika should be mourning the loss of her husband in the battle in the chapel, only an hour or so ago, you see a woman of battle-hardened intensity. The friendly owner of the Blue Water Tavern is as intense as a cornered animal. “There is naught but more death above. I could not leave these people to be slaughtered like cattle. If we are to die we will die fighting” 

Even 10 year old Arabelle looks indomitable as she clings to her father Luvash. “The gargoyles are alive in the lobby. They kill anyone who tries to leave. I saw one Vallakian make it into the entrance way but he was engulfed in gouts of flame from above. This has all been one big trap.”. 

Danika speaks up. “I may know of a way out.. I know there is a great window near this level of the pillarstone. It holds the tomb of Strahd’s parents. Strahd would surely hunt you down wherever you go. He is the land and there is no place to hide. But perhaps these could escape. There were many, of my kind, outside who could assist if they still live.” With that she breaks down “I am sure Brom and Bray have fled and are safe. Muriel would have been watching for  them” She is shaking but bears up again.. “I must believe they are ok. Help me get these people to the great window. Then together we will shred Strahd Von Zarovich limb from limb”.

Arabelle, speaks out. “He is thinking about his little brother right now. He is .. sad.. Sorry for what he had to do. I can sense he is near but not focused on any of us”.
 
Everyone looks in stunned surprise the little Vistani girl. “I can just tell. Tonight.  I can sometimes sense him.. it’s weird”

Luvash looks at her.. “You have never met or been near to Strahd before”

“She is Vistani like you.. You are all in league with Strahd!” Proclaims one of the Kezkites.

“That is not true” replies Luvash, “There are those like Arrigal yes… but many who wish it were different, but like you, are powerless to change things”

Arabelle “He is… weeping”

Danika “If he is distracted then now is the time to move. She looks at Rinn and the team. Have you managed to destroy the heart? It is the source of his invincibility.”

We were surprised to hear this. Lkyanna said, “No”. Rinn responded, “Where is it?”.

“It is in the tower.. a giant beating heart.. a vile thing that glows blood red”

“How do you know this?” asks a Krezkite.

“Among my kind there are scouts. They have been through the castle tonight. Guests.. and you know guests love to snoop… Urwin was to tell you before the wedding, with all the guests mulling about,  you could sneak away and destroy it. Did he not tell you?”

Kyanna replied, “No, or we would have destroyed it already!”.

One of the Krezk Nobles was walking around the room looking at things, “What is this place?”.  He is looking at the brazier and the colored stones and seemingly broken hour glass. 

Danika said, “If we are to defeat Strahd, we’ve got to destroy that heart. But…we’ve got tp get them out of here.”. Rinn, reading through the script again states, “The Orange leads to the castle’s peak!”. He turned and asked Danika, “Do you know how to get to this tower room with the window that will allow us to get them out. “. Kyanna follows up with, “Or the heart?”.  Then the question went to the third door in this room, where did it go? When asking Piddlewick, he pretended he was reading a book so we gathered it led to a reading room or a library of sorts.

Snoggly tested the brazier by taking the orange stone and putting it in the flame. The flame turned orange. The hourglass began to function as well. He then took a copper piece and tossed it into the flame and it disappeared. When the sand ran out in the hour glass, the flame turned white again and the orange stone reappeared in its cup. We guess it lasted for about 1 minute. 

Rinn asked Piddlewick where to find this room with the window that Danika is talking about. He pointed to the center staircase that Kassamir and the Dusk Elf went through earlier. Rinn opened that door and started up the stairs with the others close behind. They followed the steps to the first landing. There is a mist on the floor, partially covering it so they can’t see where they are stepping very well. They make it to the actual Pillar Stone, the rock that the castle is built on, that is air gapped from the mainland at the top, requiring a traveler to cross a bridge to get to the castle. They began moving down a hallway shrouded in a low hanging mist that covers the floor. Danika and their group stayed close behind the last member of the party. Rinn triggered a trap door which sent him sliding into the flooded cells below, where the dead vampire is floating. He messaged back that he was okay and where he was and that he was coming back up the started making his way back.

Haldar examined the trap door and determined it’s width and jumped it. Misty followed and the rest of us followed as well. Piddlewick managed to get a ride on Zanfyr’s wolf form and he sat atop him like riding a horse. He’s quite thrilled to be riding. Misty used her staff to test the floors but Rinn tells her that what she is doing won’t trigger the trap he fell into, it took quite a bit of weight to do that. He followed her, prepared to catch her should she find a trap like that and start to fall. They continued down the hallway. They made it to a door and there was writing on it. Misty read it and it said, “Here in, lie the one's that walk the path of pain and torment.”. Rinn checked the door for traps, He found none and used his Mage Hand spell to open the door.

Before them was a huge room, of which they can only see a little. Deep beneath Castle Ravenloft are these ancient catacombs of arched ceilings, supported by wide hollow columns that double as crypts. Cobwebs hang limp in the musty air. Thick fog clings to a floor that is covered in putrid waste. The black ceiling appears to be moving. Arabel said, “Oh, oh my! He’s in there. Misty said, ”Strahd?”. Danika asked, “Are you sure?”. Arabel replied, “Yes.”. Rinn watched the ceiling trying to determine what it is that makes it black and moving. The ceiling was about 20 feet high. After looking at it carefully, he finally determines that it appears to be covered with bats. That explains the putrid waste on the floor. Rinn spied and opening in the northern wall about 45-50 feet away. There appeared to be light emanating from there. It appeared to be torch light or candle light. 

Rinn snuck into the main room and waited to see how the bats reacted. When they didn’t seem to react to his presence, he began making his way to the lighted opening. As he passed the hollow columns, he looked between them to see if he saw anything. He noticed that the columns had chiseled slab on one side of them, apparently acting as a door. This room seemed to be a sort of mausoleum. As he reached the corner of the area where the light was coming from, he poked his head around the corner to see whatever there was to see, and listen. Misty moved into the room and to the corner behind him, keeping an eye on him. Rinn heard the sound of something like a prayer, very quiet, barely audible. He heard something like, “I am very sorry, what is done had to be done, please forgive me dear brother.”. Rinn messaged back to Misty, “Strahd is in the room ahead and appears to be talking to his brother, I assume his grave.”. As Rinn looked in, he saw that a portcullis blocked his path to this room. White marble steps led down into a tomb with a vaulted ceiling approximately 30 feet overhead. He felt a stillness hear. In the center of the tomb, a white marble slab supported an intricately inlaid coffin. There was some writing chiseled into it, presumably a name. Behind the coffin, to the north, were three alcoves with beautifully carved statues that stand in each of them. The two of them Rinn could see were, a stunning young man in the middle and an angel on the right. They appeared as polished and new as the day they were placed there. An iron lever protrudes from the wall to the west of the portcullis.

Rinn messaged back what he saw, asked if we want to attack him. Misty tells the others what he told her and suggested that we need to go back and find this “heart” and destroy it. She motioned for Rinn to come back. Rinn moved south in the room working his way back around a column trying to see how well we can move through here. He apparently disturbed the bats a little as they started sqeeking and moving around a little more. With that, he froze and stood perfectly still. The sound of the voice speaking in Sergei’s tomb grew quiet. The bats calmed after a moment. Haldar used his Gloom Stalker ability to move into the chamber. After a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Rinn saw, to his right, a slab door to one of the crypts lying on the floor. Inside the exposed crypt he saw some bones, rusted armor lying on a slab, and a figure in the room, like a gargoyle, looking over the skeleton. Haldar moved to the opening to Sergei’s tomb and peered in. He didn’t see anyone in the tomb. He then stealthed across the room looking for the window. Rinn made his way back to the group and attempted to get everyone to gather back in the hallway. 

Haldar is moved past some of the crypts and as he did so, read the writing on some of them. One said, “St. Markovia, dead for all time.”. As he looked at the one opposite it, he was greeted by the smell of wine. The tomb read, “Artank Svilovich, friend and member of the Barovian Wine Stillers Guild”. He continued to move south along the far end of the room. Rinn passed on to Haldar, in a message spell, that he saw something that looked like a gargoyle in one of the crypts and to be careful. As Haldar moved past some more crypts, he read, “Sarleoned Crueshkin, Bigger Than Life, He Loved His Jewelry”. He continued moving further south. He heard voices coming from the west and peering that way, he saw two dusk elves, one of them likely Kassamir. To the east, he saw a curtain of blue light that flowed between two alcoves. The curtain is semi-transparent. Through it, he can’t make out any detail but he does see some lightning. It looked like, through this curtain, he can see some windows that allow him to see outside. Haldar stealthed around the two elves and saw the gargoyle that Rinn had mentioned earlier, to the north. He relayed the information back to Rinn. 

Rinn asked if he’d seen Strahd in Sergei’s burial chamber. Haldar indicated he hadn’t. Arabel chimed in with, “He’s left!”. Haldar told us about everything he'd seen. Rinn messaged Kassamir to let him know we are here and invite him back to the hallway so we can talk. Kassamir responded with a request for us to come to him for the release of his sister. Rinn let everyone else know what he had said and we started moving toward him. As he was moving further into the room and toward Kassamir, he heard a voice from the alcove to the west saying, “This ends here Elf!”. Kassamir replied, “Rahadin, stand aside Kin Slayer. My sister will live again, our people will live again.”. Rahadin stepped into view! Rinn could already feel the weird mind effect he possessed. Rahadin spoke again, “You vermin deserve extinction!”. Kassamir visibly tenses, his hand’s ball up into fists, arcing fire leaps from finger to finger. Kassamir said, “After all of these years, how can you still harbor such hate for your own people.”. Rahadin replies, “Because my people abandoned me Velikov, threw me up to the wolves because I wouldn’t bend the knee to your petty corrupt princeling.”. Kassamir replied, “You bent over for King Barov quick enough.”.  Rahadin got quite angry and snarled saying, “Enough of this!”, he drew his swords, “The end starts today!”. All around us the floor quivered with foot falls of plate on stone. From them passage ways, left and right, even behind us, came dead men bearing steal. Initiative was rolled.

Rahadin started the battle with attacking Kassamir. He was fast as lightening doing a good bit of damage. Rinn was not far away but hidden behind a column. Kyanna moved into the room to just behind Snoggly. Haldar moved into a position to fire on Rahadin, fired three times, hitting him twice from behind. Misty moved, as if she consisted of shadow, to a position where she can see what is going on and capitalize on it. Snoggly cast Mirror Image creating three more Snoggly’s. Undead began moving into the view from various corners of the chamber. Ismark moved into the chamber making his way to the action. Kassamir’s Dusk Elf friend took some heavy hits from one of the undead creatures moving in here. He attacked Rahadin and got a couple of lite hits in. Ezmerelda and Misty are attacked by another of the undead, taking a little damage. Zanfyr asked Piddlewick if he wants to attack or go back to the hallway. Piddlewick pulls out a hand crossbow and lights up with excitement over the chance to fire at someone. Zanfyr, with Piddlewick on his back, begins charging into the battle. Piddlewick wasn’t holding on well so he fell off. Kassamir waved his hand, and a wall of stone appeared to cut him off from the action. We could’t see him anymore, but heard the stone slab in the crypt begin to move as he was calling out, “Come back to me sister, come back to me!”. Danika stayed back to cajole Luvash into helping her protect Arabel. Rinn snuck up behind Rahadin, put the Sunsword to his back, and activates it. He hits, him for a good deal of damage. Many of the undead did’t like seeing the bright sunlight of the Sunsword. Piddlewick moved toward the action.

Rahadin turned around, seeing the rest of the group, said, “Ah, I see you didn’t take me up on my offer. What a shame!”. He waved his arm and we all felt this energy emit from him. Those of us that failed a Charisma save took 20 points of Psychic Damage, and were cursed. Rinn was the only player affected. Rahadin vanished as if he teleported. Kyanna fired on undeads. The undead begin moving to attack Rinn. The Sunsword caused these undead to have disadvantage. Haldar, having no Rahadin to attack, fired on the undead, putting one down. Misty moved on another doing a lot of damage. Snoggly let rip a Fireball severely damaging many. Ismark moved down into the chamber but was unable to make it to anyone to hit. Rinn was attacked and missed. He attacked one of the burnt undeads and ended it. The Dusk Elf took out one of them. Ezmerelda moved closer. Misty was attacked and missed. Snoggly was hit and lost an image. Zanfyr attacked and destroyed one. We heard arcane murmuring coming from behind the wall that Kassamir put up. We felt a trimmer move through the area, emanating from the crypt that Kassamir had blocked himself into. Then we heard an unearthly, shrill, wailing, followed by, “I LIVE!”, with much reverb. 

Rahadin suddenly appeared again, with Rinn and Misty insight, he said,”Do you have any idea what he is turning loose in there you idiots?”. He threw a dart at Rinn and one at Misty. He hit Rinn, while Misty captured her dart and threw it back at him, but missed. Rinn shout out that Rahadin is back, but Rahadin turns and ran back around a column and out of sight. Kyanna moved to a better position and fired on an undead and hit it. Haldar moved like the wind, into position to see and fire on Rahadin and does that. He hit him 3 times but Rahadin was still standing. Misty attacked one of the undead and ended it, Then she attacked a second one and killed it. Snoggly Magic Missled an undead. Ismark moved into the area and didn’t see anything left to hit. Rinn bolted after Rahadin, catching up to him, swung and missed. The dusk elf moved into place and fired two shots at Rahadin. Ezmerelda moved closer to the action but wasn’t able to hit this round. Zanfyr moved to a better vantage point and used his Cold Breath on him.

The Wall that Kassamir put up, vanished. As it did, we saw Kassamir on the floor and floating above him, we saw an absolutely gorgeous elven woman, that had been corrupted into a Banshee. We battled it and killed it and then finally took out Rahadin . Rinn did fall but Kyanna fed him a potion and he was back up. Kyanna got a potion into Ezmerelda, we started looting Rahadin for any more items that might help. We got 1,923 experience points. Rahadin had two named non-magical short swords and poisoned darts. We picked up Dain’s great sword from Ismark’s body. Kassamir had a +1 rapier, light cross bow, and was wearing studded leather. Zanfyr took the +1 Rapier. We also got back the potion of hill giant strength.
   
That's pretty much it.

Chris, start the recorder!