Session 1 - Ghost House of Doom

General Summary

Background

• Andreas' character is apparently the captain
• We're all members of the Order of the Gauntlet
• We were all assigned to the group, but doesn't know eachother well yet
• Damia got us the task of stopping a series of thefts
• After investigating, we discover that only small stuff has been stolen, yet we fight two goblins until we reach the goblin leader Gob (Played by Nico)
• Richard doesn't seem that concerned with keeping the fight non-lethal
• We don't have horses, so are walking to Waterdeep to bring Gob to justice
• Gob is not wearing manacles, but is walking with us of his own will
• We fall asleep in our camp

Present time

• Waking up we notice that the surrounding area has changed
• There is fog, and we're missing a few things
  • Weapons, food, fine clothes, armour, other stuff
  • Ariah is missing most of her monster hunter gear
  • She still has her pendant
• Ariah hears a wolf howl. She wakes Richard and Gob and warns them that we're about to be under attack
• Richard accuses Gob of stealing the stuff
• We gather our things, and tries to move quickly but silently
• • If we move more than 20ft, we'll lose sight of eachother
• The walking order is Damia, Ariah, Gob, Richard
• We hear another howl, of a third wolf
  • Richard pushes Gob towards the wolves
  • Ariah scolds him, and goes to the back herself, to stop them fighting
  • The order is now Damia, Gob, Richard, Ariah
• The wolves are getting closer
• We prepare
  • Damia grabs rocks
  • Gob grabs his thieves' tools
  • Ariah prepares to cast Toll the Dead
  • Damia casts Detect Magic
• The wolves sound about 200 ft behind us
• Damia notices what looks like a large wall in front of us
  • We decide to stand our ground
• Ariah notices an opening in the wall about 100 ft away. But the wolves are also 100ft away in the other direction
  • We start running towards the opening, Gob leading the charge
  • Richard casts Shield of Faith on Damia
• We reach huge, obviously magical(through Damia's Detect Magic) gates. Richard feels strong evil coming from both in front and behind
• Gob gets through, and the gates starts closing behind him
• Richard is just getting through the gate as a large wolf with glowing red eyes appear behind Ariah
  • She is about 10 ft. away from the gate
  • Damia casts Lightning Lure to pull her through the gate, crashing with Richard
• The wolf stops outside the gate, staring at us
• Gob keeps running out of view
  • We run to catch up with him
• Gob picks up a rock and makes it glow green (artificer)
• Damia eventually catches up and tackles Gob
  • The rest of us catches up and manage to calm Gob down
• We try to figure out where we are. (Gob and Damia both crit)
  • Gob knows a people called ___, which has talked about their land, which is hard to come to
    • He lets us know that we might be in the country of hia business partner
  • Damia has heard legends of the Dreaded Planes, where you can just appear
• Ariah spends some time listening and looking for more danger
  • When satisfied that we are safe, she performs her ritual
• We take a short rest and describe the characters
  • Nicolai plays Gob
  • Andreas plays Damia
  • Fredrik plays Richard Richwell
• We continue down the road with Richard leading the way
  • Damia takes out a book and a quill that starts floating and noting stuff while we walk
  • We walk for what feels like hours until we get to a clearing in the woods
    • There are three houses, looking about to collapse
    • We see two humanoid silhouettes that are waving at us
    • We walk over to them, and see that they are children
      • 

• • • They need help, and mention that the parents are in the basement
    • They heard sounds coming from downstairs in the basement
    • Something has taken Walter
    • Richard insists that we help and the others follow
      • (Richard has to grab Gob as he starts asking for money)

We enter the house

First floor

The foyer

• the foyer has a plaque reading 'the Dursts'
• Paintings of aristocrats line the walls
• Gob puts a green light on the stick that Richard is holding
• A shield

Main hall

• There's a decorative longsword carved with a windmill
• A spiral staircase leading up
• An unlit fireplace
• Richard grabs the longsword and gives the stick to Damia
• Ariah casts Light on his sword

The kitchen

• Damia enters the kitchen
• There's a mini-elevator for food, with a shelf in the middle
• Gob finds a well-stocked cupboard in the kitchen
• He grabs a potato and goes back to the group
  • It is dry and boring

The living room

• It is full of taxidermized animals
• There are two more cabinets
• Gob is starting to get bored and lights the fireplace in the foyer with a firebolt

The dining room

• Ariah looks in the dining room
• There's a crystal chandelier
• The walls are ornately carved with deer and trees
• A painting of a whale (??) hangs over the fireplace
• Ariah helps Damia look for secret passages by the stairs
  • We notice small details that we've missed
  • There are wolves hidden in the painted trees (?)
  • and something else Seb said
• Richard breaks the elevator in the kitchen to be able to fit Gob in there
  • Damia and Ariah tries to talk them out of it, however Gob is convinced that it is a good idea to send him in alone
• Damia tries to go outside, but the door is very locked
  • Ariah tries to help, and rolls well, but the door does not budge
  • Looking out the key hole reveals only darkness
• Damia casts Detect Magic
  • There's magic above her in the foyer
  • And above the kitchen
  • Also several other magical sources further up the house
  • (the house has 4 floors )
• As we're doing this, Richard shoves Gob in the elevator and clicks the lower of the two buttons. The elevator stands still.
  • He clicks the other button and the elevator goes up

Second floor

Main hall

• Suits of armour flanks the doors with spears and helmets like wolf heads
• A portent with two people

The Library

• Lots of books
• A picture of a windmill on top of a rocky crag over the fireplace
• Seb lister opp hva som ligger på pulten, men jeg sona ut…
• Damia tries to open the window, but can't
• Richard tries to punch the window, but his fists stop before he can touch the glass
• Damia finds an iron key in a drawer
  • She goes over to the door into the main hall and sees if it works, but it doesn't fit
• Ariah compares the windmill on the sword with the one in the painting. They are similar, and similar to the signet stamp on the table
• Damia tries the iron key on the main door, but the key is stopped by something
• She goes to the living room and notice that the children are gone. But otherwise she can see fine

The music room

• Gob enters a room with a piano and a harp
• He hears 'rasling' in the room, coming from beneath one of the chairs in the corner
• He sees two small eyes of an animal, it is shaking
• He rolls a rock with light on it towards the animal and sees a small dog
• Gob tries to make it a business proposal:
  • He gives it water, and they will be best friends
  • The dog likes him, and Gob sees a dog tag with the name Lancelot
• The party meets up with Gob again, and he introduces us to the dog
• Damia notice that the windows are magical

The servant bedroom

• Damia enters a servant bedroom
• The northern wall seems about to collapse
• She investigates it and sees cracks in the wall and something on the other side
  • Suddenly a candle lights on the other side, and she notices a room on the other side, with a door that would lead into the library

Battle at the third floor

• Richard goes to the third floor
• Fikk ikke med meg beskrivelsen
• He touches a suit of armour, which comes to life and tries to push him
• Damia runs up and magically flings something at it
• Richard attacks with the sword, denting it
• The armour tries to push Richard down the stairwell, but fails
• Gob shuts Lancelot in the music room to keep him safe and runs up the room
• He casts Sanctuary on Richard, and gets hit by the armour
• Ariah finally joins the fight and misses a Toll the Dead
• Damia shouts for Richard to get out of the way, then jumps to a lower part of the stairs while pulling the armour down the stairwell with Lightning Lure
• Gob loudly complains about taking 5 dmg
  • Richard heals him and tells him to shut up

• Ariah asks Damia if she saw similar magic on the armours on the second floor
  • She and Richard take a look at the armours on the second floor
  • They will fit, however it will take about an hour to piece together
  • Richard goes to pick up the shield in the foyer (that none of the players realized were there…)

Scattered schenanigans

• Gob goes down to the kitchen to find food for the dog
• Damia goes to the first floor to investigate the defeated armour
  • It is now losing its enchantment
• Damia investigates the library and discovers a hidden door by picking up a book without
  • A heavy chest is against the south wall, with a skeleton hand sticking up from the skeleton that lies before it
    • The skeleton is holding a scroll
  • Damia grabs the scroll, and sees that it is a letter from Strahd. She shares it with the party
    • 
  • She looks in the chest
    • Bank books (??)
    • Scrolls written in ___
      • They are spell scrolls, that she gives to Ariah
    • Official documents of ownership of properties
      • To this house and a windmill
    • A will to Gustav and Elisabeth Durst
      • 
    • A letter from Gustav to his brother called Dimov
      • 
    • Darts, which is the trap that killed the skeleton
      • Gob receives the darts
    • Nice black and gold leather armour, with a windmill on the back
      • Which she gives to Richard

Back to the third floor

• The further up in the house, the more dirty and decrepit

Master bedroom

• Richard enters the master bedroom first, with the party close behind
• Damia has convinced Gob to bring the dog
• Rotting tiger skin on the floor
• Dusty portrait of parents
• Jewellery box
• A body is hanging. It is Mister Durst
  • He is holding a letter
  • Ariah whispers a prayer to Ilmater, and gently takes the letter
    • 
  • It has been hanging here for about an hour
• Richard gently takes the body down and wraps it in the duvet
• Ariah finds a glass door (??) that is locked. It is not possible to open with the iron key
• Gob opens another room
  • Didn't hear description…

Small bathroom

• Damia and Ariah enter a small bathroom
  • It is mouldy and dirty
• Richard has been quiet since we found the body
  • When Damia asks he says that suicide is the worst that can happen to a wealthy family

Ghost room +

• Damia is about to enter another room
  • She hears a cry of a newborn, and a woman trying to quiet it
  • When she opens the door she doesn't see anyone, but notices that the sounds are coming from the room to the left
  • There are portraits of the parents, the children and a sixth person: A woman Gustav is giving dirty looks
• Damia enters the room to the left
  • a woman is standing in the corner, holding something
  • As she turns, the skin on her face sloughs off. She tells Damia to be quiet
  • The clothes are the same as the woman in the painting
  • When Damia walks into the room the woman flies through us and into a mirror in the other room
    • She smiles and says "Walter please", and a click comes from behind the mirror
    • Moving the mirror reveals a secret staircase up

Fourth floor

• We go up the staircase to the fourth floor
• There's a lot of dust and cobwebs
• There's a door with a padlock, and other normal doors

Children's room

• Damia opens the padlock with the iron key
• (Gob offered to pick the lock if it didn't work)
• Inside we see a bricked up window and two children's beds
• A dollhouse identical to the actual house
• Two child skeletons
  • Richard puts a blanket over the children
• Gob opens the chest
  • There are stuffed animals and toys
• Inside the dollhouse he finds the different rooms we've been in, including the secret room we found
  • He also finds a secret staircase that leads to a place we haven't seen
• As he is about to leave, there is suddenly a feeling of toys, as the ghost of Thorn asks if Gob is playing with his toys
  • He and Rose tells Gob that they have always been here since the accident
  • They tell Damia that Mother took Walter down to the basement because she was angry with Dad
  • They don't want Damia and Gob to leave
  • They promise that they will be helpful, and Thorn possesses Lancelot
  • Rose jumps into Damia after promising not to get in the way
    • Rose lets Damia stay in control
    • Ariah tells Damia to tell her if she wants help
  • Ariah asks Rose about armour and weapons in the house
    • Mother often got visitors at night while the children were locked in
    • 12 visitors came
  • Rose wants Damia to eat some food
    • Ariah can't see any side effects from Gob eating the food earlier

Preparations before the descent

• We go down to prepare before going further
• Damia, Richard and Gob goes to the kitchen to get some food
  • Richard eats a tasteless piece of jerky
  • Gob casts Prestidigitation to make a wheel of cheese taste better
    • Lancelot/Thorn is eating on the other side
  • Damia tries to eat carrots, but Rose doesn't like them
    • After eating something else, Rose is satisfied
• Meanwhile Ariah has been working on setting up the armour
  • Eventually Richard comes to help
  • Gob agrees to bring her some jerky for the right price (a shiny pebble)
    • He brings as much as he can carry
  • She gets a suit of chainmail
• Gob starts mending the broken armour at the bottom of the stairwell
  • For at price: A nice rose conjured by Richard's ring
  • The result is a half-plate
• While waiting for Gob, Damia checks out the jewellery box in the master bedroom
  • The box is worth money
  • She also finds a necklace, rings and a letter
    • 
  • She asks Rose if she can keep the jewellery. Rose tells her to ask Mother, so Damia leaves it alone

Further exploration of the fourth floor

• The others, beside Gob who is working, goes to continue looking
• We open a door but I couldn't hear what was in it
• Another room has much dusty furniture covered with cloth, and a chest that looks less dusty than the rest
  • Damia takes away the cloth on the chest and sees the corpse of the first ghost we saw
  • There is blood splatter on the cloth, as the corpse has clearly been stabbed
  • Ariah prays over the body
• The half-plate Gob was making is now ready
  • Richard takes the Half-plate and Gob gets the leather armour
• We're now ready to go down the staircase to the basement
  • We manage to find the way to open the door
  • As we're walking down, we hear chanting coming from below

Plan for next time

Continue heading down the stairwell and face whatever waits below

Report Date

09 Jun 2022