Level Up and Breakfast!

They wake and move to explore the kitchen. Keyleth searches for bacon and eggs. No bacon. They find the pantry and dumbwaiter.

Working with the attention span of these 11-year-olds can be a load of fun, but it can also be a little trying. They constantly want to do silly things, so they keep me on my toes trying to engage their silliness.

“I want to cook bacon and eggs!”

“OK, make an investigation check. Now, make a survival check to see how well you can cook.”

I’m trying to play into some of their silliness to keep them engaged in the game, but sometimes it gets to be a little too much.

Wolves Den

Doc tries to steal the wolves. Then he drinks the carafe of wine.

Kiril and Raven find the box of playing cards. They think it might be a baby mimic and Zarkoth wants to try to keep it as a pet (I’ll have to figure out a way to work this pet thing into the plot).

Raven casts detect magic. Maple tries to break open the cabinet with the crossbows. Kiril makes short work of picking the lock after he hits it. It looks like a wolf moved. They didn’t. Zarkoth is disappointed that they didn’t get a friend for fluffy. Raven’s Detect Magic finds no magic items.

The Second Floor

They climb the stairs and recognize the kids in the painting and also discern that the baby is a bastard.

Doc punches a suit of armor in the “fun spot.”

They try to investigate the desk in the library. Everyone (Keylith, Raven, Maple, Doc) fails. They all concur it’s a desk. Doc finally finds an iron key in a desk drawer and takes it. They inspect the bookcases for out-of-place things and find nothing unusual.

Kiril, Raven and Maple explore the conservatory. And find nothing of note. Raven takes a close look at the mantle and sees the strange nature of the statues there.

The Third Floor

Kiril and Raven make their way stealthily up the stairs to the third floor. They ascend into a noticeably colder space filled with cobwebs and see a neglected space. Doc, Keylith and Maple make their way up behind them.

Raven inspects the suit of armor. Everyone rolls initiative. We had to work out some game mechanics with Kiril’s rogue. It’s interesting playing with someone who played years ago; they remember things that have changed a little (or a lot) since they last played, and we have to look up the rules to confirm what it really is before continuing.

The party makes fairly short work of the Armor, taking no damage (I still need to learn how to make things a little harder for larger parties).

They inspect the master bedroom and find the body of Gustav Durst under the bed. In his hand is the letter from Strahd that they didn’t find in the library (I put Gustav here so that they could find the letter). After reading the letter, they think that Walter could be a vampire and could be the monster in the basement.

The Nursemaid

Next, they move across the hall to the Nursemaid’s suite where they immediately find the secret door behind the mirror. They begin to ascend the stairs and see motion in the baby’s room that draws them back down. They see the bassinet with the Nursemaid’s specter floating next to it, singing.

Doc makes his way into the room with no regard for his safety. Immediately after he enters, the singing stops. And the specter begins to whisper:

“He said our baby would bring life to the house. And to the Cult. And he would leave her. Kick her out! That we could be together at last. And that I would raise all the children as my own.”

She turns from the bassinet toward Doc and screams, “BUT HE LIED!”

Roll initiative.

I scared one of the players with my monologue. It appears that they have a sensitivity to loud noises that I was not aware of. They took a short break from the game to recompose themselves. Now that I am aware of this flag, I will remember to tame my monologues or warn them before it happens again.

It was a good fight and they took some damage before taking out the specter.

Doc went out on the balcony to see if the children were still out there. It was difficult to tell through the fog, but there appeared to be two shapes in the distance standing there.

Doc and Raven inspected the bassinet and found the swaddled skeleton of Walter there. Raven asked if the child’s bones could be used as spell components and took the swaddled skeleton that we began calling the “baby rattle.”

Raven checked out the remaining closet in the hallway where she was attacked by the animated broom. This was quite ironic, since I had intended to use this closet as her entrance originally. The group was supposed to hear a ruckus in the closet and then Raven was going to barge out of the door, holding the broom and do an Ace Ventura entrance: “Do not go in there!”

Kiril decided to try to tame the broom. He let the broom out of the closet, and it chased him into the Nursemaid’s Suite. I had told them earlier in my description that there were a bunch of Dust Bunnies under the bed in there and he asked if he could sic the broom on them to “Do its job.” With a successful persuasion check (Kiril rolled a 5, but the broom rolled a -3). I wound up letting them adopt it and keep it as a “pet.” I can’t wait to see where this comes back to bite me in the butt someday!

The Attic

They make their way to the attic and explore the Hall, both spare bedrooms and make their way into the storage room where they find the body of the Nursemaid stuffed into a chest in the corner.

At this point, we decide to end the night. The party takes a long rest here.