The Durst Family's Dark Past
Room #11. The Third Floor Balcony
Previously: After entering a seemingly clean and well-kept home, the house revealed its true nature. The lights went out, walls became dried and cracked, windows were sealed with bricks, and the two children that led the Gang here disintegrated into dust. Our heroes had reconnoitered on the 3rd floor where a suit of armor animated and attacked, which the Gang quickly destroyed.
Room #15. Nursemaid’s Suite
Smugly took the lead and opened a door to the west. He found a bedroom and a fireplace. Smugly uttered something under his breath and an apparition appeared lying on the bed. It sat up, stared at Smugly, and then stood floating several inches above the bed. It seemed to have bad intentions, so Smugly closed the door and turned to his comrades. That’s when the apparition’s hand reached through the door and got a good grasp of Smugly’s neck. Life drained from the Dragonborn and his skin became sallow, and eyes grew sunken. He was lucky to be alive. A fight ensued and the Specter was dispatched.
The Gang explored the bedroom. There was a mirror above the dresser that made anyone’s reflection appear emaciated and “heroin chic.” Wildthorn discovered a secret door in the east wall that opened to stairs leading up to the attic.
Room #16. Attic Hall
Roos, with his superior Darkvision, led the way. Yor, with his even better Devil’s Sight, followed. The stairs led to the Attic Hall, an irregularly shaped room which featured four other doors and a bricked-up window. A door to the east was padlocked, so that drew the Gang’s attention. Roos went about picking the lock, while Yor looked over his shoulder secretly hoping for failure. Roos failed. Yor stepped in and went about picking the lock. Success! Yor glanced at Roos, then opened the door.
Room #20. Children’s Room
This room contained a bricked-up window with two beds made for children. On the floor in the middle of the room, were two children-sized skeletons wearing similar clothing to the children that the Gang had met just an hour before at the crossroads. The smaller one even had the same doll.
There was also a toy chest with windmills painted on the sides (Durst family crest). The most compelling thing in the room was a dollhouse which was a perfect replica of the house in which they stood. The Gang immediately went over to the dollhouse and began poking around at it. That’s when two apparitions of the children, Rose and Thorn, appeared. “Leave our toys alone,” they whined.
A conversation ensued. Here's the important information garnered from the conversation:
- The house was “alive.”
- These apparitions had no knowledge of the Rose and Thorn that the Gang had met at the crossroads.
- Their dad was loving yet sad, but their mom was abusive and cold.
- Their mom locked them in their room, and they starved to death.
- The last time that they saw their dad, he was crying, and then he went into his bedroom (room #12).
- Their parents kept secrets behind the secret door in the Library (rooms #8 & 9).
- To get to the basement, the Gang needed to find the secret door in the attic.
- There were people that lived in the basement that they didn’t really know, but these people were friends with their parents.
- They knew that there were crypts for the family in the basement.
- They could not rest until their bones were laid to rest.
After the conversation, the Gang poked and prodded at the dollhouse. They managed to discover all the secret doors hidden in the house. Yor then vowed to the children that he would see that their bones were properly laid to rest.
Rooms #8 & #9. The Library and Secret Room.
The Gang decided to go down to the second floor and enter the Library where there were shelves of books (duh). Located on the desk in the room was a small oil painting of the family dog, Sophaxis. In the top drawer was an iron key. The topics of the books in the library were poetry, history, warfare, and alchemy.
The Gang quickly found the secret door in the southern wall. The room behind revealed a macabre scene: slumped over a heavy wooden chest was a skeleton dressed in leather armor clutching a letter. After some investigation, it was discovered that the poor fool had succumbed to several poison darts protruding from its ribcage.
Chest Contents:
- Three Blank Books (25 gp each)
- Spell Scrolls: Bless, Protection from Poison, and Spiritual Weapon
- Deed to the House
- Deed to a Windmill (refers to a parcel of land west of Durst Manor)
- A Will signed by Gustav and Elizabeth. It bequeaths everything to Rosavalda and Thornbolt.
Letter Contents:
My most pathetic servants,
I allow you and your pathetic band of miscreants to exist in my land only for my own amusement. I am not your messiah and have not come to lead you on a path to immortality.
Continue your farcical rituals and have your meals of flesh. Carve my visage into every stone you see. Sire as many bastards as you wish. I care not. You are all worms writhing in my earth, and I shall not save you from your wretchedness. I much prefer you as you are.
Your dread lord and master,
Strahd von Zarovich
Roos pocketed the Deeds and Will, with some thoughts of claiming ownership of the lands if the opportunity arose. Wildthorn pocketed the Scrolls since they were usable by Clerics (DMs note: I think the Druids can use those spells too.). Yor pocketed the blanks books.
Besides the chest and the adventurer, there was also a small bookcase of books. Skarther and Wildthorn leafed through the books. The books dealt with the subject of eternal life and rituals to steal the life force of others through bloodletting, magical spells, and cannibalism. After about an hour of study, it was determined that the rituals were faulty and useless.
Room #12. The Master Suite
After the Library, the Gang went up to the third floor to follow up on the lead given to them by the children. The apparitions of the kids mentioned that they last saw their dad crying and going into his bedroom. The double doors to the Master Suite were stained glass and depicted a windmill on each door.
Inside, yet another macabre scene; a finely dressed emaciated corpse of a man hung from the post of the four-poster bed. A makeshift noose, made from a bed sheet, was fastened around his neck. A hastily written suicide note sat on the table in the parlor on the south end of the room.
Letter Contents:
My dearest children,
The darkness takes us, and I am sorry that your mother and I have brought it upon you. What began as survival turned into our obsession, and now to our downfall. In my final moments, I see clear. We are anathema and are being punished. We deserve it, but I regret that your fates are tied to ours.
I love you both with all my heart. No amount of darkness and death will ever change that. May all our souls find peace.
Your loving father,
Gustav
Some treasure was found:
- Jewelry box of silver with gold filigree (75 gp)
- 2 gold rings (25 gp each)
- Signet ring with windmill (25 gp)
- Platinum necklace with topaz pendant (750 gp)
Room #18. Storage room.
Having tied up some loose ends of the Durst Family story, the Gang had nothing left to do but to go down to the basement and face whatever monster may be down there. To do this, they had to go up to the attic and find the secret passage that led down to the basement.
They found themselves in the attic storage space, which housed a bunch of old furniture covered in dusty sheets. Moss uncovered a sheet and discovered a wooden box which they opened. Inside were human remains that were dressed exactly like the malevolent apparition found in Room #15. Skarther determined that the cause of death was probably from all the stabbing (friggin Quincy over here).
Room #21. Secret stairway down to basement.
The Gang easily found the secret door and discovered that the iron key, found in room #8, had unlocked this door. They made their way down the tight spiral stairway which led to the basement. Yor led the way.
Room #22. Down to the Dungeon …er… Basement
When Yor and the rest hit the bottom of the stairs a faint chorus of chanting could be heard, but the words could not be deciphered. Something along the lines of “blah blah blah blahblah. Blah blah blah blaaah.”
Also, the walls were no longer wooden but rather earthen. The hallway that lay before them was seven feet tall and four feet wide. About ten feet down the hall, the passage split either east or west. They crept down the hallway, determined to figure out the origin of that incessant chanting.
Rooms #23 A & B. Empty Crypts
After traveling south, the Gang decided to move east where there was a passage south or they could continue east. They took the southerly passage. Here they found two crypts. Both empty and unmarked. Welp, nothing there, so they headed back to the main passageway.
Room #24. Sleeping Area
They moved east down the main passage which then turned north. There was several steps down and then the passage opened into a large room. It looked like some old sleeping quarters with a common area. Nothing else was found. Even though there was an exit to the north, the Gang decided to backtrack to the original east-west passage.
Rooms #23 C & D. Gustav’s crypt and Elizabeth’s Crypt.
Moving west down the main passage, they discovered two exits north and south or they could continue west. They decided to move south. Two more crypts were discovered, but this time they were sealed. On one crypt the name “GUSTAV” was etched. They opened the crypt. It contained an empty coffin.
The other crypt was labeled “ELIZABETH.” Roos opened the crypt. Again, an empty coffin, but this time centipedes began pouring out of the walls. Roos had the presence of mind to quickly close the crypt and GTFO.
Rooms #23 E & F. Rose’s Crypt and Thorn’s Crypts.
They went across the hall through the north exit and found two crypts labelled “ROSAVALDA” and “THORNBOLT.” The Gang laid the children to rest. The apparitions of Rose and Thorn briefly appeared, waved goodbye, then disappeared. Yaaay!
Room #27. Dining Hall
This room contained a plain wooden table flanked by two wooden benches. Moldy human bones laid strewn across the floor. There were gnaw marks on the bones, possibly made by humans, judging by the size of the marks.
Roos was jumped by Carrion Crawler. The group killed it and exited west.
Room #29. Crossroads.
The chanting seemed to be coming from this direction. The smell of death was in the air. Yor took the lead. It was a westerly passageway which came to a four-way split; west, north, south, or east back the way they came. Yor detected that the chanting grew louder coming from the north. That’s when two ghouls erupted from the ground, both of which had been lying in wait. Yor invoked his “Armor of Agathys”, and they were destroyed.
Room #30. Stairs Down
The Gang following the chanting, which led to a long stairway down. They took the stairs down.
Room #35. Reliquary
As the Gang reached the bottom of the stairs, they could finally decipher the chanting. “He is the ancient. He is the laaand” was being repeated. The room opened up into a 15-foot by 25-foot room with small alcoves along the walls. There were two other exits to this room. One to the northwest, which appeared like any other passage; the other passage led to a downward slope which led to some water. This southwest passage was blocked by a rusty portcullis.
The Gang explored the alcoves and pocketed some of the following items: a knife made of human bone, a dagger with a rat’s skull set in the pommel, an 8-inch diameter orb made from a nothic’s eye, the shrunken skull of a halfling, plus some others. Wildthorn, using his knowledge of religions, determined that this was some sort of shrine made by ignorant fools.
Yor, using his Devil’s Sight, peered through the rusty portcullis into the forty-foot square room to the south and the chanting abruptly stopped. The smooth masonry walls provided excellent acoustics as the final echoes of "laaand" was heard. Featureless stone pillars supported the ceiling, and a breach in the west wall led to a dark cave heaped with refuse. Murky water covered most of the floor. Stairs led up to dry stone ledges that hug the walls. In the middle of the room, more stairs rose to form an octagonal dais that also rose above the water. Rusty chains with shackles dangled from the ceiling directly above a stone altar mounted on the dais. The altar was carved with hideous depictions of grasping ghouls and was stained with dried blood.
END SESSION
Looking for suggestions and advice. 
