Week 17: Teleportation Bites

**Week 17: Teleportation Bites**

Year 735, Fourth Moon, Day 16 - 17

When we left off...

Inside the flooded torture chamber, things got interesting when a pack of zombies lurched up from under the water.  No matter how annoyingly hard to kill zombies may be, these were doubly troublesome -- their parts kept crawling and biting long after they should have collapsed.  Quintus, in particular, was frustrated that all his prior training in the head removal / destruction business went to waste.  Further complicating the landscape, Strahd (or an illusion of him) appeared with the body of**Emil Toranescu**, the prisoner you all released about 20 minutes prior.

Ulfar did his best to kick the shit out of Strahd's throne and send him down into the drink, but failed to budge his target.  This prompted the master of the castle to cast a spell, and all the iron maidens and torture implements rose from the water and started to... shake a lot? Unclear.  Selgaard refrained from hitting the indeterminate magic with his glaive, and we did not have a repeat of the Argynvostholt fire on our hands.  In typical Strahd fashion, he dropped a big "Truth" bomb on you before wandering off to somewhere else in his castle - in this case, he accused Emil of being a werewolf and gave you all a deadline (when he wakes up tomorrow) to finish whatever you're doing and GTFO of his castle.

Emil didn't deny the accusation under questioning, and a silver dagger proved it beyond a doubt. He didn't want to reveal where the rest of his pack was, but gave up their location as a final gesture. So goes the story of Poor Emil, who was bitten by a vampire, healed by adventurers, and then executed about 5 minutes later.  RIP, loser; we're going looting.  And loot you did! There wasn't a whole lot in the torture room, but beyond the red curtain you found a room with BIG MAGIC.  Two iron statues stood over a brasier surrounded by gems, with an enormous hourglass suspended above it.  Because the architects of Castle Ravenloft are *so last year*, it even included a convenient riddle:

*Cast a stone into the fire*

*Violet leads to the mountain spire*

*Orange to the castle's peak*

*Red if lore is what you seek*

*Green to where the coffins hide*

*Indigo to the master's bride*

*Blue to ancient magic's womb*

*Yellow to the master's tomb*

IT'S SUPER HELPFUL! Except not really, because after a bit of investigation you all hopped through the Green flame (thank goodness Selgaard remembered to drag Vasilka along) and ended up back in Vallaki, in the coffin maker's shop.  Yes, the same Vallaki that you just left that morning.  Yikes. **Henrik Van Der Voort**, the coffin maker, turned out not to be missing after all, but just hiding out... and stormed upstairs to see what the noise was.  Ulfar put a blade in his back as a special thank you for that vampire spawn ambush that nearly wiped you, but Nars picked him back up.  It was a big step for the young boy from Phandalin, who tried to forgive Henrik and ask for his forgiveness in turn.  After a long talk, Nars convinced him to leave Vallaki and move to Krezk -- and managed, with great difficulty, to deliver Van Der Voort there the next morning.

That left the rest of you traveling on foot along the road back to Castle Ravenloft, where Nars caught up with you in the early evening.  Unfortunately, the deadline Count Strahd gave you to GTFO had officially elapsed while you were gone.  Undeterred, Vasilka started battering the main gates down.  Well, why not? It's her house too, after all.  Ba!

But no, actually the castle Steward was none too thrilled with the flesh golem bashing the doors down.  He came to face you, and when you attacked Rahadin (a Dusk Elf), he was quickly backed-up by 4 red wyrmlings with devastating fire breathing.  Selgaard hit the ground, and was only saved by very quick support from Ulfar.  Everyone was in bad shape by the time Selgaard swallowed the last dragon soul, and you fortified the vestibule to get a little rest before trying your luck in the next room.  Resing in Castle Ravenloft, as it turns out, is pretty crap.  A swarm of crawling hand things and some person looking for a cat got pretty close to you.

This set Clyde's teeth on edge.  As a soldier, he pleaded for strategy -- a tactical retreat or at least a plan to get out quickly through the crappy Teleport Room.  Nars was adamant that wouldn't work, and after a lot of debate you all agreed to go look for the Argynvost skull despite not having a fixed escape.  Down the stairs you went, but instead of going all the way to the lowest level, this time you stopped at a landing about 1/3 of the way down.  It did not go great.  An enormous elevator trap caught Vasilka and raised her up... well, who knows where. But up for sure.  And the counterweight almost crushed Ulfar.

Despite the mess with the elevator and the general beating you all took in the vestibule, the mission was not complete.  With hair almost faded and fewer options than ever before, you pressed forward into the room at the end of the elevator-trapped hall.  In the chamber, you found another Mongrel Folk - Cyrus Belview - who will probably have something to say when we pick back up on Thursday!

**Around Town...**

The Inspiration rules are changing to Option 2.

The Burgomeister apologize explained to Vallaki that you were all tied up at a VIP reception in his house, a claim corroborated by at least a few guards and his wife.