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The Lightbringers' Expedition to Castle Ravenloft - updated 12/19
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<blockquote data-quote="Dr Midnight" data-source="post: 3637735" data-attributes="member: 69"><p style="text-align: center"><em><strong>Session 2 - Chapter 2</strong></em></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: DarkRed"><strong><span style="font-size: 22px"><span style="font-family: 'Impact'"><u>CASTLE RAVENLOFT</u></span></span></strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 9px"><em>Some text taken or paraphrased from EXPEDITION TO CASTLE RAVENLOFT</em></span></p><p></p><p>The carriage moved oddly. At first it followed the dips and bumps of any road, and its passengers swayed inside with the motion. Then the carriage would tip as though it were driving along a hill. The party inside braced themselves against the side of the cabin. “We must be almost perpendicular to gravity’s pull,” Gerrit said. “How are we not tipping over?” The windows were obscured entirely by the curtains, but no one wanted to part them and look outside.</p><p></p><p>The carriage righted itself, but within moments they were climbing a steep hill. The horses didn’t seem to slow or register any strain. </p><p></p><p>At one point they were bracing themselves against the ceiling. </p><p></p><p>The cart slowed to a stop after about forty minutes’ time. Crickbourn was green from the rolling motion. The door opened and revealed that they’d left the mist and forest setting. The pale blue light of the moon was illuminating crags of rock.</p><p></p><p>Crickbourn leaned forward. “It looks like we’re in the mountains.” He looked out and to the road behind them. The carriage was stopped on a curving rocky path. He then turned to the front of the carriage. “Oh my.” He stepped out, staring. </p><p></p><p>“What is it?” Arianna asked. She and Gerrit got out, and Jade followed. </p><p></p><p>Castle Ravenloft towered before them.</p><p></p><p>Twin guardhouses of turreted stone kept a silent watch over the approach, broken from years of use and exposure. Beyond these, a wide chasm gaped between the Balinok cliffs and the walls of Ravenloft, disappearing into the fog-shrouded distance far below. The lowered drawbridge of old wooden beams hung precariously between them and the arched entrance to the castle courtyard. The chains of the drawbridge creaked in the wind, their rust-eaten iron straining with the weight. From atop the high strong walls, stone gargoyles stared at them from hollow sockets and grinned hideously. A rotting wooden portcullis, green with growth, hung in the entry tunnel. Beyond this, the main doors of Castle Ravenloft stood open, a rich warm light spilling into the courtyard.</p><p></p><p>“Vennia above,” Gerrit murmured. “What manner of man is this Count Strahd?”</p><p></p><p>Arianna pointed. “The moon! It’s grown full!” The full moon, thick and yellowish, hung in the sky behind Ravenloft’s main tower.</p><p></p><p>Crickbourn shrugged. “So?”</p><p></p><p>“The moon is and has been in its crescent phase. It’s not due to be a full moon until a fortnight hence. It’s larger than I’ve ever seen it.” The face the patterns on the moon made, what the elves called she-inside, was here taking on unfamiliar angles and strange casts. It didn’t look like a face anymore. Arianna didn’t like it. “Shall we go inside?”</p><p></p><p>“I don’t know that I trust this drawbridge,” Gerrit mumbled. The bridge looked to be ancient, rickety wood supported by two pockmarked iron beams. He tested its weight with one foot and it creaked audibly. Dust floated down into the unseen white abyss of the chasm. With a few minutes’ work they’d crossed the bridge using rope and a clever series of knots. </p><p></p><p>They walked through the archway. Here, thick fog swirled around in the darkened courtyard. Ahead, torch flames fluttered in the wind on each side of the keep’s open main doors. Warm light shone out from the doorway. Although windows and arrow slits were visible in the walls above them, no illumination was seen from within, barring the main entrance.</p><p></p><p>They walked cautiously into a small entry chamber. It was illuminated by flickers of fire in the mouths of two coiled stone dragons that formed an archway at the room’s far end. Their mouths directed the light in the adventurers’ direction, and the room beyond was dimly lit as well.</p><p></p><p>This small entryway opened into the castle atrium. Here, cobwebs hung from dust-covered columns supporting a great hall. Stone gargoyles squatted motionlessly on the edge of a balcony circling some twenty feet above the floor. Cracked and faded frescoes adorned the domed ceiling, nearly obliterated by centuries of decay. Two great bronze doors stood closed opposite the arched entry. To the left of the entry, a wide staircase climbed into darkness. The only lit passageway was the wide hall that opened to the right. The torches seemed to be forming a path. </p><p></p><p>The adventurers walked into the hallway. The torches ended on either side of a closed set of double doors. The carvings on the wooden doors were ornate designs of knights and great dragons with curved, frowning mouths. </p><p></p><p>Arianna put her hands to the bronze handles of the doors and pushed. The doors opened inward on a dimly lit dining room. Crystal sang in the gloom as great chandeliers hung overhead. Motes of light danced in glass and china on a great dining table, which was set for four places. At the head of the table, someone was seated with his back to them. The figure stood. His back was slightly hunched and draped with a fine black cape. His hair was pale gray, almost white, and it was combed back smoothly. The figure turned. </p><p></p><p>“Ahhhh. Welcome to my home.” He spoke in the thick accent of the region. His face was aged and friendly. Arianna placed him at perhaps seventy years old. The eyes crinkled as he smiled at them. “I am Count Strahd Von Zarovich. You must be Arianna. Ah but you are a vision. I see the family resemblance.” </p><p></p><p>The doors closed behind them with a click. Strahd gestured to the chairs. “Please, have a seat. I have prepared food and drink in anticipation of your coming.”</p><p></p><p>“Thank you, Count,” Arianna said, taking a seat and doing her best to maintain her dignity despite the unsettling room. “If you don’t mind, I had some questions.” </p><p></p><p>“Of course.” Strahd sat and smiled. “You wonder how I found you, and what our bond is.”</p><p>“Yes. Um. Firstly, though, I was wondering about the carriage. How did you know where to find us, and how does a carriage with no driver find its way?”</p><p></p><p>“Barovia is an old, strange land. We have many customs you would consider odd. I have many friends that keep me abreast of the goings-on on the road and elsewhere. News travels quickly. As to the carriage, the horses know their way.” </p><p>“Even without eyes,” Gerrit said. </p><p></p><p>Strahd smiled and went on. “I found you through my network of tellers. I have had feelers out amongst the islands and continents of this sea for some time, looking for my heir. Some weeks back I was told that my nephew’s baby girl had been found. You were taken from the land by your father and when your parents died, you came to rest at an orphanage in Ortil.” He waved a hand dismissively. “These details are unimportant. What is important is that now you have been found and can resume your throne.”</p><p></p><p>“Throne?” Arianna was distracted, despite the promise of wealth. She was born one hundred and sixty years ago. How old was this Count? He looked human. Mostly human, leastwise.</p><p></p><p>“Yes. The coffers of Castle Ravenloft have been overflowing for time immemorial, and I shall not live forever. I had feared that when I died, the castle might be overrun by scoundrels and unsavory types. Now, you are here and can assume your position.”</p><p></p><p>Gerrit was listening and studying the table. The food smelled delicious, but he didn’t dare try it. He cast a spell, surreptitiously, that allowed him to detect the poisons in the things around him. The wine glasses glowed a faint green, but the meat seemed alright. He dug in. Crickbourn saw his example and did the same.</p><p></p><p>Arianna went on. “Familial relations aside and begging your pardon, Count, but I’m not driven by material wealth. I appreciate the importance this castle must have to the Von Zaroviches, but I don’t know that I’d want to give up my life in Ortil and move here.” </p><p></p><p>“Oh, you shall. You will come to understand, one way or another, the pull that this castle and its charms can hold. I suspect that you will spend the rest of your life here.” He smiled again. “But before I can believe you are truly an heir to the castle, I must be absolutely certain that you are the child I sought. You will have to assert your devotion to Ravenloft.”</p><p></p><p>“Devotion? How?”</p><p></p><p>“Firstly, there is a matter of knowing, alchemically, that we are kin. It is a matter of… blood.” At this, the doors opened again and three black-robed men, thin of frame with large hoods hiding their features, walked in. One held up a pin and a small vial. “We shall need three drops of your blood,” Strahd explained. “My mages will study it and determine our true relation. With your consent.” The mages waited expectantly.</p><p></p><p>“You mean to take my blood.” </p><p></p><p>“Yes. Do you not have enough to spare?” Strahd chuckled to himself. </p><p></p><p>“Crickbourn,” Arianna said. “You’re familiar with the workings of alchemists, yes? Have you heard of any such process?”</p><p></p><p>Crickbourn shrugged. “It seems entirely likely. Alchemists are finding new uses for chemistry all the time. Determining family through blood doesn’t sound like a stretch at all, considering what alchemists these days are capable of.”</p><p></p><p>Arianna pressed her lips tightly together and considered. “I guess I don’t see the harm.” She stepped forward and the alchemists drew three drops of blood from her fingertip. Once they had what they needed, they hurried from the room. </p><p></p><p>“Excellent, Strahd said. “Now, to your familial duties. You are young and strong, are you not? I am old and frail. I can defend my home easily enough, but outside the walls of Castle Ravenloft I am almost meager. I am afraid there is a problem- a matter of some witches.”</p><p></p><p>“Witches?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes. Upstart black magic types. The foulest sort of people. They mean to drive me out or kill me and take Ravenloft as their own. To this end they’ve enacted a brilliant campaign of propaganda and muckraking.” He sat back unhappily. “They have turned my own people against me. The people of Barovia, my own good citizens, now believe I am some undead fiend and spit upon my offered hand. The witches have told them that their problems are my doing.”</p><p></p><p>“What are their troubles?”</p><p></p><p>“Ahh, there is a zombie plague about Barovia. The witches brought about some means for the dead to return to life. Each night, the people of Barovia quake in fear as the dead roam the streets. They blame me. They call me ‘the devil, Strahd’ and curse with my name. As the people turn against me, the witches can use them to help overthrow me.” </p><p></p><p>“This is all very unfortunate,” Arianna said, not certain she believed what she was hearing. “What is it that you’d like for us to do about it?”</p><p></p><p>“As a Von Zarovich, if my name is slandered, so is yours. I expect you to take personal offense… and with the gift of youth and power, retaliate. You will kill the witches. You will end the zombie plague. You will find something called ‘the Tome of Strahd’.”</p><p></p><p>“What is the Tome of Strahd?”</p><p></p><p>Strahd leaned back in the chair and gestured with disgust. “It is a nothing, a manufactured confection of lies that these vile monsters have used to turn the people against me. It is a book that I supposedly wrote. In it ‘I’ detail how I killed my own brother - unthinkable! – to woo his betrothed. After this I become some sort of undead beast. I’m unsure of the particulars. You can understand, I’m sure, why this has upset me so. I want you to first seek out Madam Eva, who will tell you where to find the book.”</p><p></p><p>“All right,” Arianna said as she took a bite of the steak. “What are we to do with it when we find it?”</p><p></p><p>Strahd smiled. “Why, destroy it, of course.”</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><em><strong>Coming up</strong></em></p> <p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: DarkRed"><strong><span style="font-size: 22px"><span style="font-family: 'Impact'"><u><span style="font-size: 18px">A</span> RESTLESS NIGHT </u></span></span></strong></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dr Midnight, post: 3637735, member: 69"] [CENTER][I][B]Session 2 - Chapter 2[/B][/I] [COLOR=DarkRed][B][SIZE=6][FONT=Impact][U]CASTLE RAVENLOFT[/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/B][/COLOR] [SIZE=1][I]Some text taken or paraphrased from EXPEDITION TO CASTLE RAVENLOFT[/I][/SIZE][/CENTER] The carriage moved oddly. At first it followed the dips and bumps of any road, and its passengers swayed inside with the motion. Then the carriage would tip as though it were driving along a hill. The party inside braced themselves against the side of the cabin. “We must be almost perpendicular to gravity’s pull,” Gerrit said. “How are we not tipping over?” The windows were obscured entirely by the curtains, but no one wanted to part them and look outside. The carriage righted itself, but within moments they were climbing a steep hill. The horses didn’t seem to slow or register any strain. At one point they were bracing themselves against the ceiling. The cart slowed to a stop after about forty minutes’ time. Crickbourn was green from the rolling motion. The door opened and revealed that they’d left the mist and forest setting. The pale blue light of the moon was illuminating crags of rock. Crickbourn leaned forward. “It looks like we’re in the mountains.” He looked out and to the road behind them. The carriage was stopped on a curving rocky path. He then turned to the front of the carriage. “Oh my.” He stepped out, staring. “What is it?” Arianna asked. She and Gerrit got out, and Jade followed. Castle Ravenloft towered before them. Twin guardhouses of turreted stone kept a silent watch over the approach, broken from years of use and exposure. Beyond these, a wide chasm gaped between the Balinok cliffs and the walls of Ravenloft, disappearing into the fog-shrouded distance far below. The lowered drawbridge of old wooden beams hung precariously between them and the arched entrance to the castle courtyard. The chains of the drawbridge creaked in the wind, their rust-eaten iron straining with the weight. From atop the high strong walls, stone gargoyles stared at them from hollow sockets and grinned hideously. A rotting wooden portcullis, green with growth, hung in the entry tunnel. Beyond this, the main doors of Castle Ravenloft stood open, a rich warm light spilling into the courtyard. “Vennia above,” Gerrit murmured. “What manner of man is this Count Strahd?” Arianna pointed. “The moon! It’s grown full!” The full moon, thick and yellowish, hung in the sky behind Ravenloft’s main tower. Crickbourn shrugged. “So?” “The moon is and has been in its crescent phase. It’s not due to be a full moon until a fortnight hence. It’s larger than I’ve ever seen it.” The face the patterns on the moon made, what the elves called she-inside, was here taking on unfamiliar angles and strange casts. It didn’t look like a face anymore. Arianna didn’t like it. “Shall we go inside?” “I don’t know that I trust this drawbridge,” Gerrit mumbled. The bridge looked to be ancient, rickety wood supported by two pockmarked iron beams. He tested its weight with one foot and it creaked audibly. Dust floated down into the unseen white abyss of the chasm. With a few minutes’ work they’d crossed the bridge using rope and a clever series of knots. They walked through the archway. Here, thick fog swirled around in the darkened courtyard. Ahead, torch flames fluttered in the wind on each side of the keep’s open main doors. Warm light shone out from the doorway. Although windows and arrow slits were visible in the walls above them, no illumination was seen from within, barring the main entrance. They walked cautiously into a small entry chamber. It was illuminated by flickers of fire in the mouths of two coiled stone dragons that formed an archway at the room’s far end. Their mouths directed the light in the adventurers’ direction, and the room beyond was dimly lit as well. This small entryway opened into the castle atrium. Here, cobwebs hung from dust-covered columns supporting a great hall. Stone gargoyles squatted motionlessly on the edge of a balcony circling some twenty feet above the floor. Cracked and faded frescoes adorned the domed ceiling, nearly obliterated by centuries of decay. Two great bronze doors stood closed opposite the arched entry. To the left of the entry, a wide staircase climbed into darkness. The only lit passageway was the wide hall that opened to the right. The torches seemed to be forming a path. The adventurers walked into the hallway. The torches ended on either side of a closed set of double doors. The carvings on the wooden doors were ornate designs of knights and great dragons with curved, frowning mouths. Arianna put her hands to the bronze handles of the doors and pushed. The doors opened inward on a dimly lit dining room. Crystal sang in the gloom as great chandeliers hung overhead. Motes of light danced in glass and china on a great dining table, which was set for four places. At the head of the table, someone was seated with his back to them. The figure stood. His back was slightly hunched and draped with a fine black cape. His hair was pale gray, almost white, and it was combed back smoothly. The figure turned. “Ahhhh. Welcome to my home.” He spoke in the thick accent of the region. His face was aged and friendly. Arianna placed him at perhaps seventy years old. The eyes crinkled as he smiled at them. “I am Count Strahd Von Zarovich. You must be Arianna. Ah but you are a vision. I see the family resemblance.” The doors closed behind them with a click. Strahd gestured to the chairs. “Please, have a seat. I have prepared food and drink in anticipation of your coming.” “Thank you, Count,” Arianna said, taking a seat and doing her best to maintain her dignity despite the unsettling room. “If you don’t mind, I had some questions.” “Of course.” Strahd sat and smiled. “You wonder how I found you, and what our bond is.” “Yes. Um. Firstly, though, I was wondering about the carriage. How did you know where to find us, and how does a carriage with no driver find its way?” “Barovia is an old, strange land. We have many customs you would consider odd. I have many friends that keep me abreast of the goings-on on the road and elsewhere. News travels quickly. As to the carriage, the horses know their way.” “Even without eyes,” Gerrit said. Strahd smiled and went on. “I found you through my network of tellers. I have had feelers out amongst the islands and continents of this sea for some time, looking for my heir. Some weeks back I was told that my nephew’s baby girl had been found. You were taken from the land by your father and when your parents died, you came to rest at an orphanage in Ortil.” He waved a hand dismissively. “These details are unimportant. What is important is that now you have been found and can resume your throne.” “Throne?” Arianna was distracted, despite the promise of wealth. She was born one hundred and sixty years ago. How old was this Count? He looked human. Mostly human, leastwise. “Yes. The coffers of Castle Ravenloft have been overflowing for time immemorial, and I shall not live forever. I had feared that when I died, the castle might be overrun by scoundrels and unsavory types. Now, you are here and can assume your position.” Gerrit was listening and studying the table. The food smelled delicious, but he didn’t dare try it. He cast a spell, surreptitiously, that allowed him to detect the poisons in the things around him. The wine glasses glowed a faint green, but the meat seemed alright. He dug in. Crickbourn saw his example and did the same. Arianna went on. “Familial relations aside and begging your pardon, Count, but I’m not driven by material wealth. I appreciate the importance this castle must have to the Von Zaroviches, but I don’t know that I’d want to give up my life in Ortil and move here.” “Oh, you shall. You will come to understand, one way or another, the pull that this castle and its charms can hold. I suspect that you will spend the rest of your life here.” He smiled again. “But before I can believe you are truly an heir to the castle, I must be absolutely certain that you are the child I sought. You will have to assert your devotion to Ravenloft.” “Devotion? How?” “Firstly, there is a matter of knowing, alchemically, that we are kin. It is a matter of… blood.” At this, the doors opened again and three black-robed men, thin of frame with large hoods hiding their features, walked in. One held up a pin and a small vial. “We shall need three drops of your blood,” Strahd explained. “My mages will study it and determine our true relation. With your consent.” The mages waited expectantly. “You mean to take my blood.” “Yes. Do you not have enough to spare?” Strahd chuckled to himself. “Crickbourn,” Arianna said. “You’re familiar with the workings of alchemists, yes? Have you heard of any such process?” Crickbourn shrugged. “It seems entirely likely. Alchemists are finding new uses for chemistry all the time. Determining family through blood doesn’t sound like a stretch at all, considering what alchemists these days are capable of.” Arianna pressed her lips tightly together and considered. “I guess I don’t see the harm.” She stepped forward and the alchemists drew three drops of blood from her fingertip. Once they had what they needed, they hurried from the room. “Excellent, Strahd said. “Now, to your familial duties. You are young and strong, are you not? I am old and frail. I can defend my home easily enough, but outside the walls of Castle Ravenloft I am almost meager. I am afraid there is a problem- a matter of some witches.” “Witches?” “Yes. Upstart black magic types. The foulest sort of people. They mean to drive me out or kill me and take Ravenloft as their own. To this end they’ve enacted a brilliant campaign of propaganda and muckraking.” He sat back unhappily. “They have turned my own people against me. The people of Barovia, my own good citizens, now believe I am some undead fiend and spit upon my offered hand. The witches have told them that their problems are my doing.” “What are their troubles?” “Ahh, there is a zombie plague about Barovia. The witches brought about some means for the dead to return to life. Each night, the people of Barovia quake in fear as the dead roam the streets. They blame me. They call me ‘the devil, Strahd’ and curse with my name. As the people turn against me, the witches can use them to help overthrow me.” “This is all very unfortunate,” Arianna said, not certain she believed what she was hearing. “What is it that you’d like for us to do about it?” “As a Von Zarovich, if my name is slandered, so is yours. I expect you to take personal offense… and with the gift of youth and power, retaliate. You will kill the witches. You will end the zombie plague. You will find something called ‘the Tome of Strahd’.” “What is the Tome of Strahd?” Strahd leaned back in the chair and gestured with disgust. “It is a nothing, a manufactured confection of lies that these vile monsters have used to turn the people against me. It is a book that I supposedly wrote. In it ‘I’ detail how I killed my own brother - unthinkable! – to woo his betrothed. After this I become some sort of undead beast. I’m unsure of the particulars. You can understand, I’m sure, why this has upset me so. I want you to first seek out Madam Eva, who will tell you where to find the book.” “All right,” Arianna said as she took a bite of the steak. “What are we to do with it when we find it?” Strahd smiled. “Why, destroy it, of course.” [CENTER][I][B]Coming up[/B][/I] [COLOR=DarkRed][B][SIZE=6][FONT=Impact][U][SIZE=5]A[/SIZE] RESTLESS NIGHT [/U][/FONT][/SIZE][/B][/COLOR][/CENTER] . [/QUOTE]
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