Session 25

General Summary

Crestfallen

With expert timing, Ahrieya swiftly moved into Lady Fidatov's private study. Inside she saw the remains of a nice office, papers strewn about the desk, with a familiar crest resting aside it. The papers revealed that perhaps Lady Fidatov was planning on changing her crest. Grabbing the crest, Ahrieya moved into the next room, which seemed to be the art gallery/museum of the Fidatovs. 
Meanwhile, Ariadne took this opportunity to ask the rest of the party that, if this were your last day to life, what would you like to do. Nova said that she wanted to eat all day, Gio said he would want to be with his family, and Idris said he would like to go back to Baldur's Gate and spend time with his band. When Nova asked Ariadne how she wanted to die, Ariadne said she would like her head to be chopped off by Nova's axe. Nova thinks Ariadne is acting suspicious.
Looking around the gallery, mirrors were shown to be everywhere. Moving up to the portrait of Valetian Fidatov, the crest seemed to be missing. Thinking that it must be somewhere else, Ahrieya left to rejoin the party as they looked around the rest of the manor. In time, however, they figured it must be somewhere in the gallery, and they returned. 
Moving towards one of the mirrors, Ahrieya went to touch it only to have her hand phase through the mirror. Peering and stepping inside, Ahrieya saw mirror mimics of the entire party. Just as she stepped in, another version of her stepped out, as it seemed to stay outside of the mirror. A brief session of questioning quickly revealed which Ahrieya was real. Meanwhile, steps could be heard around the corner, as a copy of Ariadne shouted "This is how you're gonna die!" as Ahrieya tried to cast a fireball centered around herself, only to be counterspelled by Ariadne. Nova started wailing on the mirror of Ariadne as the rest of the party fought Ahrieya's copy. Soon, a third mirror form came from another mirror, completely made of mirrors with long, bladed whips of mirrored glass. The glass whips seemed to wrap around some of the party members, digging into them as they tightened. Nova knocked over one of the mirrors as Ahrieya prevented entry out of one of the mirrors, nullifying most of the threat from anything trying to leave the mirror. A few round later, the party managed to come out victorious. However, the trinkets that Viggo had snatched from the mirror version of Ahrieya turned into shards of mirrored glass. Checking inside the mirrors once again, Ariadne and Ahrieya found the missing crest along with skins of Idris, Gio, and Nova. Instantly thinking of all the fun they could do with some skin suits, the pair eagerly grabbed the skins and stuffed them into their bag of holding. However, when brought outside the mirror zone, they turned into shards of glass, albeit humanoid shaped.

Anticlimactic

Moving out of the manor back towards the hedge maze, the party devised a plan to have Nova distract the beasts near the front of the maze as Ahrieya and Gio booked it towards each of the two fountains within the maze. Within a few seconds, the two found their way back to each of the fountains and inserted their crests into each of the fountains. The scraping of stone could be heard towards the center as the iron gates blocking off the crypt were now open. 
Within the crypt, the party saw stone sarcophagi with nameplates of each of the major Fidatov family members that appeared in the history of the family. A stone altar seemed to be present at the head of the crypt, with all sorts of treasure littered about the room. Ariadne seemed entranced by the gold as the rest of the party looked around. Idris took the body of Lady Fidatov and placed it on the stone alter. Moments later, the ghostly form of the lady appeared, that same reverberation and distortion field emanating all around her. She claimed the party was there to steal her family fortunes, and Idris insisted they simply wanted to return her to her family and let her rest. Conflicted, Lady Fidatov's face seemed to split in half, one of pure anger and another of sympathetic kindness. As the angry version of the lady demanded to have the party slain, a multitude of humanoid ghastly heads emerged from the stone sarcophagi. However, the kinder version of Lady Fidatov seemed to dispel most of them.
During the fight, Ahrieya placed a well placed shot within Lady Fidatov's form. Moments later, after a coordinated effort by the rest of the party, the angry form of Lady Fidatov seemed to go down surprisingly well. As the kind version of the lady floated there in space, she thanked Idris and the party for what they did as a bright light began to emanate from her form and the stone altar. As the party tried to flee, the light took over them as their vision faded.

The Sympathetic Aristocrat

Coming to, the party found themselves in a field next to crops. The sounds of farmers and farmhands hauling goods and livestock could be hear as they stood to find the manor and its adjacent lands back to the way they were before everything seemed to decay. Asking about the lady and her party, a random farmer said that it happened some time ago. Time seemed to be really fucky with this place. Moving towards the manor itself, Taltos greeted the party, and although not expecting any guests, claimed that Lady Fidatov loves to entertain guests. 
Inside, Lady Fidatov was working. When asked about her condition, she said she was working well. When asked about the condition of Krezk and if she would be able donate come food to the town, she seemed MUCH more susceptible this time around; much more kind. She asked Taltos to get some farmers collect some crops and livestock to bring back to the town, setting up a brief supply line to the town. Nova demanded that two breeding rabbits be given as well for a much more sustainable options. Before closing the deal, Lady Fidatov asked about Costel. The party explained to her that he is missing, and that a lot of awful things that she seemed to have predicted would happen actually happened in Krezk. Saddened, she asked that the party let her know if anything regarding Costel's disappearance ever shows up.
Sending a message to Gio's wife Isis, it seems that they've been gone the whole night as it is the next morning. Decided it was time to return home to Krezk and get some rest, the party began to move with their new wagon. On the way, Idris brought up how happy and jolly Ariadne and Ahrieya were about wearing the party's skin. The two laughed it off as a harmless prank, though Gio and Idris still seemed concerned. 
Returning to the burgomaster's home, the party relayed the good news to Anna, surprised that Lady Fidatov was so willing to donate to the town. Sin and Don were telling a story about how they lit Idris on fire for a band performance to Gio's children. Ahrieya started reading the tome again as Idris conversed with Sena and Gio talked with Isis. Idris expressed an interest in learning some of the band's new songs, and Sena seemed receptive to that idea, saying that they could play soon. Gio and Isis talked about Anna and if she could be trusted. Gio thinks that Anna might have killed Costel in order to protect her son. Gio, would you hate me if I had to do something like that in order to protect our children? Whatever it takes. 
Before resting, the party went to Luca's place in order to see if there was any more information about Costel's disappearance. Finding no other information, the party returned to the burgomaster's home to rest. Ariadne was visited once again by Strahd. In complete darkness, Strahd informed her that she must have her decision by midnight. We will be there.
When they awoke, the party decided they wanted to investigate Anna more, but first they wanted to check out the statue and pool in the northern part of town. As they walked outside, Ariadne's eyes returned to space eyes in the moonlight, white fur covering her face, and now some furred horns emerging from the lift and right sides of her temples.
Odd...

Report Date

04 Mar 2023