Legends of Avantris - Curse of Strahdanya | Ep. 33 | Creatures of the Night: Part 2

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

After finding themselves once more in the catacombs of Castle Ravenloft, the Azran Expedition must search for the secrets that may aid them in the final battle...   Gain access to an exclusive campaign, Shroud Over Saltmarsh, over on Patreon: https://legendsofavantris.com/patreon The Crooked Moon, a folk horror supplement for 5e, is available for preorder! Get the Crooked Moon at: https://thecrookedmoon.com/ Watch more D&D adventures in the world of Avantris live on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/legendsofavantris Check out our merch store: https://shop.legendsofavantris.com  Join our community on Discord: https://legendsofavantris.com/discord Watch our many campaigns on YouTube: https://legendsofavantris.com/youtube  All other links: https://linktr.ee/legendsofavantris   Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/kcrMwkI2Or8?si=3LfB92M-F7iqZfJY

You're back in the catacombs of Castle Ravenloft and listening to Kurs of Stradania, a Legends of Adventress podcast. Last time, the Azra and expedition gathered their nerves and finally accepted my gracious invitation to dine with me at Castle Ravenloft. I don't know why they were so nervous about me having them for dinner. After an awkward and painful conversation that was heartily polite, they feigned exhaustion and pretended to go to sleep. Of course, as expected, they instead snooped around my castle and returned once more to the catacombs.

In their exploration, they met my madmongrophobic man-servant Cyrus and played his little games, arriving at the mysterious hourglass of some strange significance. Now, just how does it work? This episode is brought to you by our generous supporters on Patreon. You can become a patron yourself by following the link in the show notes. We are eternally grateful for your support. With that out of the way, let us proceed with the conclusion of Chapter 16, Creatures of the Night. 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 wear the coffins hide, indigo to the master's bride. Blue to ancient magic's wound, yellow to the master's tomb. Holy f-h. What the fuck? Is this some sort of a teleportation? You think? It might be.

I mean, if we, and I quote, cast a stone, is it one-time use? That's just it? I believe it may be. But how the fuck we get back here? We're going to throw a stone in and then just go God knows where in the castle? So I don't think it's wise to necessarily throw a stone yet. What about that fucking hourglass? What the fuck is that?

It's hard to say. All the stones look like they're there, right? Like nothing looks out of place like it's missing one. Yes, they are all there around the crazier. God, damn! Are the stones colorful? Yes, each one's a different color. Why is it the sand moving?

Why is it just stuck like that? I don't know. It might just be decoration. Come on. You don't actually believe that, do you? Well, the passage doesn't mention an hourglass. It doesn't. And you don't find that horrified.

Perhaps it's when you cast the stone that the sand begins to fall. And perhaps you have that much time in order to step through and be transported by flame. But perhaps it's only a quick time you have to travel. Let me take a look at these statues here. Can I investigate these two? Statute, I don't know if there's anything to see. Fug. I'll help them in a minute.

See it the other one. Oh, fucking nightmare. Uh, 23. They are just a just. is discrusted. Two nine-foot-tall iron statues of knights-on horseback, poised to charge with swords drawn,

stand in deep alcoes facing each other. The brazier sits between them. While this is, while they're looking... While they're, like, investigating, I just want to, like... I see that there are other doors here. I just want to kind of, like, see if the doors are locked,

then I kind of poke my head in them, just to see... The door going forward? All of them. I mean, I can see that there are extra doors, right? So I just want to like, just real quick. Let me know which one so I can tell you. If one forward.

We'll do seven, yeah, we'll do the one forward. I want to check them all, but whatever order you think is best, I want to see if they're unlocked and poke my head in. That's basically it. You unlock the one in front of you, and you see two large wooden thrones rest on a balcony. Behind the thrones hangs a red velvet curtain 30 feet long. The ceiling here is about 10 feet high.

You then make your way towards, towards, towards the next one. Open the door, behind which lies a dark spiral staircase. Going which direction. Going up. Okay. And followed by the next one,

which also you find a staircase. I know. I relay the information, everyone. Well, these two doors gleat up, which is not only going to go. So perhaps the other door. I believe we should just continue on. Through the other door.

I mean, there's, there's, go see for yourself, but there's nothing in there. I open... Oh, there's a balcony looking down at something. Perhaps it continues onward. You want to climb down? Well, if down is where we want to go... Maybe they're preparing the thrones for Victoria and Stradonia.

Well, pretty deep in the castle. I would have expected that would have been somewhere in the entrance or somewhere more regal, loyal. I don't know. I've never been in a fucking castle. vessel before. These are very strange. And what would they be observing?

Very strange. Standing in the observation balcony, looking out over the room, and Kana, something catches your attention. Manacles on the water. Dark, low shapes thrust up out of the still brackish water that fills this 50-foot-square room,

the ceiling of which is festooned with hanging chains that look like thick black-web strands, a balcony set into the, The north wall that you're standing on overlooks the room and has two large thrones atop it with a red velvet curtain behind it. The dark shapes in the water are racks, iron maidens, stalks, and other instruments of torture. The skeletons of their last victims lie within them, their jaws seemingly frozen open and silent screams. Oh, shit.

This is some sort of torture watching bullshit. I've seen this in my dreams. What? What do you mean? These medicals. I'm screaming. I try to listen to see if there's any sound at all. You hear the sound of water.

There are faint noises all around you, and nothing that you can truly pick up on you believe to be the sound of people. You imagine you would have to be down in the room to have a better ability to... Is this a step down or is this like stair... This is the red curtain. That's the red curtain.

So you're standing on the balcony and it's about a 10 foot drop from the balcony to get into the room. to the water. There's no, like, ladder that I can see. It's like a thick brackish water. I want to check the throne for any like names or like etchings on it. It's easy to look and see that emblazed into the back of both of them is the seal of the von Zaravich family. I'm going to come up to the edge carefully and kneel down and try to peer into the water and see if I see any sort of figures or anything that's just to scale. I'll shine my light to help her, help her look.

roll a perception check 17 the water undulates in the light casting reflections along the ceilings and occasionally you get you feel like you see movement

but the moment you look you see nothing it's hard to tell in this dark room the water the water is so dark you can't peer through it to even see the floor

and do I see that it goes this way like from where I'm standing or is black you can see that there is as you're shining the light around, you can see that there is an exit out of the room. There must be a way down there.

Well, down's where we need to go. How did the water get here? I don't know. Groundwater leak, perhaps, or hard to say. We're treaded through a lot when we got here in the first place. This is where I need to be. I think this is where I need to find my answer

about my master. He might have been thrown down here and tortured by Stradonia. I don't know. This is a torture room, and then it may be, this may be there, dungeon and sick that they were spectating the torturing. Goolish, ghastly evil.

We will find whatever answers you need. And whoever sent you those dreams was trying to write your path, send you on the right direction. Let us go. I can swim and take a look. We should all go. Into the water? Yes.

Down is where we need to go. I believe we should go together. It may not be pleasant, but I would hate for one of us to go ahead and... Dark. No, we ain't splitting up at this point. Shall we? Let us go.

All right. I'll dive in first into the water. You jump into the water. Followed shortly by Shepard, Sarnax, Clayton, Victoria, and Sergei. You're wading through this brackish water. Occasionally you feel movement by your feet. You move away from it, but nothing emerges as you continue to make your way through.

Navigating around the sides of the walls, avoiding the iron maidens, the manacles, you trip over one on occasion, realizing there's much more buried beneath the surface here, but the water is so dark, you can't fully see into it enough to know. Until you find yourself, looking down an arched hallway before you, The water's surface is like dark mirrored glass, disturbed only occasionally by the flick of a drop falling from the ceiling. 20 feet ahead, arched doorways lead downward from each side of the hallway. In each arch doorway, an iron door stands closed and partially submerged. You hear a weak cry for help from beyond the south door.

Do I recognize it? You do not. I immediately just throw myself out of the water and I'm just waiting. heavily with all my armor towards it. Show me where you are moving. I guess towards the sound. Do we all hear? It is echoing, so you can't tell from this position whether it's coming from the right or the left. So I need to know whether you're heading towards the right or the left. So the one pointing towards you or the one pointing towards you. Are they both submerged? Both doors. Yes, they're about at this point on you, they're about, I would say probably

three feet of water is what you're trudging through right now. And you imagine going down, it's probably going to be about five or six feet of water in these areas. Going down as in down the stairs? Yes, so there are stairs that go down to each of those rooms. Okay. So right now you're in about three feet. Once you go down to those rooms and go down those stairs, you're going to be about five or six feet of water. I'll go right.

So towards you or towards me? Towards you. You begin to run forward, listening. And all of you watch is all of a sudden where Kana was. Kana is no longer. You step forward and immediately you feel the floor give way beneath you. The water sucks down into a hole. And as you feel yourself falling, you feel a pop.

So we see her disappear. And all of a sudden, you see Kana disappear. Kana, you feel yourself. Emerge underwater. You try to take in breath. But you're completely submerged. As you try to swim your way out, you're able to get your head above water.

And as you look around, you see cells all around you. You're in about six feet of water. There are coins shifting beneath your feet. Is the sound of whimpering? And you're at all. You look directly to the cell a couple down from you. And you see no whimpering. You hear no whimpering.

But you see. the face of your master, hanging from chains at the very top of the cell, completely unconscious. I immediately run over to him. You are in a cell yourself. You've been teleported for all intents and purposes into a cell. And I can see him. You can see him through the bars. So each one of those little squares is a cell. Okay. You are in the second to the last one on the bottom side, towards me. Yeah, right there. And he's in the first one on the bottom side. Here.

Towards me. Here. Yes. And I can see him this way. You can see him. He is suspended from chains. And I would say looking, you can see that there is also another form that suspended as well, completely upside down.

Their body is limp. Their head beneath the water, it looks like they have been drowned. And he is holding on chained to this thing and trying to keep his strength. But at this point, he has passed out. I am, so he's barely suspended just by one of the chains being hooked in a way that's keeping him held the loft. I'm going to just, in like a rage, I'm going to start whatever I can to whack at the bars and pull them apart, get the hinges off, use my naginata's leverage, whatever I can to break myself of the cell. Okay, roll a strength check for me.

The rest of you watch as Kana disappears from view as she begins to run down this corridor, or splashing or splashing through the water. All of a sudden, where she was, you see the water begin to spill in, and then all of a sudden disappear as it evens out. And for a second, you hear nothing. And then you hear the loud banging, and Kana screams as she's calling out.

We should go now. Kana? I have to get to him. He's in here somewhere, and I'm... What does she mean? Rolled an eight. Can I twist this? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do it.

That's better. you are able to, you wedge your naginata into the cage or the cell and you're able to break the lock and push it open as you begin to swim out and head towards his I need you to make another strength check to see how well you can do to get that open and you are doing

I guess we should just follow and I'll proceed there. Professor, do you see any... Where did you go? One moment. I'm going to peer and try to look with my lantern which I think has ever burning, right? And so I'm going to try to take it beneath the water and swim around and see if I can avoid it and try to avoid getting teleported and see

if there's any way, any danger that I can see. Roll a perception check. All right. Did she get teleported or like teleported? Yeah, but we don't know that. But you don't know that. 19. Yeah. Looking through the water is so dark,

it is really hard to tell. You do notice that there are certain the one that she stepped on, you can see beneath the water that water seems to be dripping down into it. So it looks like one of the floor slats had opened up. As for being able to tell whether there are other ones or where they are, you don't see those, but you can see that this one hasn't fully set in. So it looks like the one she stepped on has been deactivated, at least for now. I'm going to just take my lantern, keep it over the water, and just kind of swim down and try to follow me, swim.

Do not walk. And I'll try to swim in that. All right. And I'll just try to like hold onto my case and like kind of try to like paddle. You're all swimming? I follow along, yeah. So swimming, you are able to make it there as Kana? Ten. Ten.

You see as Kana is wailing her naginata or railing her naginata against this cage, screaming and prying it. This is a level of emotion that you have. never seen from Kana before. You are right there at the entrance. So it's like a bars that are visible. There's a Port-Pullis there that's closed. You can't get through, but you can

see her clearly on the other side, just railing away at this cell. So there doesn't seem to be any kind of a handle or a lock or a door. It's just a thing, like bars. It looks like

there is a spot for a key and there is a lever on the inside. I guess seeing the spot for the key, I would suggest to the professor to try to pick it. If possible. All right, yes. Hold on, Kahn.

We're trying to get in, and I'm all open thieves tools for my case, and I'll... Okay. Do it to it. Number 20 plus... Hold on. Cyrus, get your key, loving ass down here. I tried, man. Trying to convince them to give us all the keys.

Didn't work. If it's 15 or more, you're able to... That's 30. You are easily able to pick the lock. And you see as it clicks in and the pork cullis begins to shake, as it slowly makes its way out. Water rushes around as you're able to culminate. Get to Kana, let her out.

Come on. We'll see if any of these other cages are open. Get her out of there. You're already out, right? You're trying to get into Gentiles. Get them in. Get her in there. just give me one moment, please.

And I'm gonna, I just kind of, do you mind? No, please, please, I need to get to him. I'm going to attempt to unlock it with my thief tools that are already out. And then get the fuck out of the way. I'm just screaming through the bars. Master, master, can you hear me? It's Connor, please tell me you're alive.

And I'm just shouting trying to get him to wake up. 16, you are able to unlock it. And I'll get the fuck out of them. I'll rip the gate completely wide open. And then I'll rush to him immediately and try to lift him. him so he's not just hanging anymore and check to see if he's alive. Master, master, wake up, please.

You grab onto him. You see, he's still manacled to this thing, and that if part of his manacle hadn't been caught, once his body had fallen unconscious, he too would have ended the same way as what appears to be a bard. You notice as you kick aside his loot floating in the water. He's wrapped on the form of this prisoner. I would say, with what you've experienced,

you can tell that this other prisoner's been dead for maybe two or three days. Gross. As you grab onto him and you shake him, his head lulls from side to side, but you can feel a very, very faint heartbeat. Sarnax, I think he's alive. Please, can you help me get him down?

He, please, it's all right. Hold on. And I'm going to cast cure wounds at a fourth level. Okay. Thank you. As my hands light up and I will pump some healing and I'll attempt to. I'll try to find a point

like maybe where he's looking weak and I just try to fill his chest with fire. He will be fine. He is alive. Garrick will see him through this. Thank you. And I'm going to do that while everyone else gets into his role. I'm going to while he's doing that, try to unmanacle him. I'll say at this point, especially with Clayton, it's easy enough to do.

You're slowly able to unmanacole. him. He is he's lost at least 60 to 70 pounds since the last time you saw him and he was never an overly large man. He was hearty but his you can see the way his muscles

have deteriorated with what accounts to years being locked away and malnourished. You can see his ribs even through his tunic and as you pull him down he's so weightless and frail that

it pains you to see him this way. And you see as Sarnax singes him, his body jolts as the flames, as the pain of Garek's flame reinvigorates him. And you see as his lips, a little bit of color begins to come back to his lips. You can feel a little warmth returning to his body. His eyes flutter open for a moment. And you see a faint smile on his face. My child, con!

As his eyes roll back and he falls back asleep. He is still at this point too weak to do anything. But he recognized you. He saw you. You can feel his heart beating just a little bit harder, a little bit stronger. Thank you for helping him. Of course. Why the gods, he's alive.

I can't. Let's get him on dry land. Come on, we've got to get him out of this water. What are the odds of surviving this long? I always sort of muttered myself. Oh, no. Oh, I'm sorry. He's strong-willed.

It's the only thing that's kept him alive is this stubbornness. strength of spirit and will. There was another careful help, though. We have to go to the other side. Is that where it was coming from? Connor, this time we will all swim. That was... Can you swim in your heavy armor? I'm holding him.

I will... I can think I will try to take him and swim. It is my species ability to do that. Okay. Please. Well, I trust you. And I'll kind of try to throw him over my shoulder. I'm right. I'm the gator. Basically.

And I'll try to at least kind of throw him. him on my back and gator ride him. I'll say you're able to do that. For Rolla Kool. You can do that. And so I'll be keeping a very like, one of my hands will be very clearly on his

like, Kaylee Check and his pulse making sure that he doesn't just kind of slip off in the night. Well, let's get into shallow water and then, Kana, you stay with him and then the rest of us can explode down the other way. As long as we can find a place where we can stand safely. Yes. Which is just up here is only three feet, right? Yeah, but she got

slooped in by some plate. But that was down... Yes. So we're... Oh. So you were going to get him here. So basically you need to swim in out in here. It was in the hallway.

Right. Between... So it wasn't in the torture chamber. That's what I mean. It was basically right there that she got. So we're safe all up in here. Got it got to get it. Allegedly.

So you've been swimming so you don't know walking why. Swim him to the hallway and let's find ground. Yes. Just be mindful. I stepped on something and it sucked me in. Yes. So we'll, I guess, we'll swim here. And can we feel that it's like three feet?

I would say once you get to the stairs, yes, you would be able to do that. So once you get to the stairs, you can find purchase with your feet. You feel like it would be safe. I'll take him from you. Thank you. Professor, can we put him in your case? I was going to ask that, yes. I don't know if it's safe to open the case here, though.

That's true. I would hesitate. Perhaps you and Sergei can wait with your master, and the four of us will attempt to say what her poor soul is in this torture chamber. Okay. I'll take him back. I'll hold him and just step off to the side. Sorry. Let's continue.

You make your way back down, swimming slowly. Pick the lock on the portcullis. You're able to open it up. You swim in, you listen for noise. You hear and see nothing. No voices. No sounds of anything at all. But in the very back corner, glint something shining just below the surface of the water. Is anyone here?

Voice echoes. Sorry, I'm sorry, I'll cover if you want to go check that out. Is that a trap? Take a lot, please. How to tell from here. Go slow. I'll watch your back, all right? You should take this, Shepherd.

So in one hand, I'll hold the lantern up high. And with my other hand, I will have judgment. And I'm trying to tread water, more or less. And so I'm going to be fully killed. Do not hesitate to shoot at me if anything emerges. I won't miss. And so I'm going to try to dive through and swim around. You swim around.

You make your way towards the very back of the prison chamber. And you see that glint shifting and moving with the water. And as you get close, right outside of the bars, a glowing blade can be seen beneath the water. near the back of the cell. I'll stick my head up. It seems to be a glowing blade. What do you mean? Like, Sergei's?

It seems, I think it seems to be fully whole. I will investigate, but be careful. And I'm going to dive down and just try to take a look and see if I can grab it. From where you're at, you can see it. You have to go into the cell. It's like at the back of the cell. The cell is a lot. Oh.

It's behind the bars, Professor. All right. Sarnax Geller-Grock. I'll swim down and I'll try to Maychan and grab it. It is, Maychan can do... Up to like five pounds. I would say with the force of the water on top of it, it's no way. That's not going to work.

I'll spell it and I'll give it the old picerooney. That is a 29. You're easily able to pop the lock. All right. Let's go in. I'll just kind of swim down to it and try to just grab it. I'll just try and hone the bars as he's... You grab onto it, and you immediately feel your emotions change.

Sense of determination, cried, a light in the darkness. You are a good, aligned character, right? You find yourself attuning to this. A plus one short sword. It continually sheds bright light in a 15-foot radius and dim light, for an additional 15 feet.

You feel that you have the ability to cast the Crusader's mantle spell. Oh, fuck. It's fucking nasty. It's great. And it can only be used once a day. That is a sweet spell.

And as you hold on to it, you hear in the very back of your head. Yes, we will get our vengeance. We'll be, friend. Strike a true one. Let the crusade begin. You found yourself a sentient weapon. Oh,

yes. The burning crusade I have been on my entire life culminates in this very castle sword. Yes, it does, listen. Yes, it does. Are you another soul to avenge? I'm like it wet, like just kind of like, wheeling the sword and I bring it out and my lantern.

Are you a lantern? I am. I'm a guard that fell at her hand. My body desecrated. Let us destroy. That which has destroyed this land. Burn it to the ground. Are you all right? Sarnax, you okay?

I will burn it to the ground. Yes, I have found a weapon that speaks to me still, almost like my God speaks to me. What the fuck? You feeling all right, Sarnax. Are you well? Come back. I'm very well.

Do you not hear the voice of this sword? Come back, Sarnax. Get back over here. Is he under a spell of? some sort. I don't hear anything. Do we know what sentient weapons are? None of you ever come into contact with my I'm saying. I always wonder if people like should or should not be confused by that.

Mostly yes. Okay. Mostly confused. I mean, unless you like come from like a super high magic place where you're like, be aware of that. That's true. That's true. That's true. This is a sword of light. This is the soul of a, of a guardsman who is slain by Desherdanya. Her, his remains desecrated. He joins our crusade. Did he call for... Is he the one that called for help? Can you ask him? Sold, guardsmen. Guardsmen of light and good. Were you the one that called us here?

I, friend. Yes, it was I. Yes, it was. The light was drowning. You have saved it. I'm sorry. I needed to just understand. you're talking to a fucking sword and it's answering. Yes. Are you sure? Yes, I believe that this, it was fate that I grabbed this sword. I never wielded any blade looks larger than a dagger. I do not even feel like I can use this proficiently.

Uh, okay. Here's your lantern. Thank you, Shepherd. I'm feeling very sleepy time What have you found, Tiax? Oh, Sarkana, I've part of the part of me, I fring. I know that this is a grave, serious time. I will put this away.

Keep it safe. I will keep you safe, crusading sword. And now you, listen, friend. Are you talking to that sword? I am. Yeah, yeah, he is. I am. I was the only one.

Good man. Are you talking to a soul? I sometimes talk to mine. Does it talk back to you? Is your master all right? He's asleep? Very well. Forgive me.

This is very strange. Do you think this could be a curse, Professor? I must continue to keep my wits about me. I don't know. I think I could spend ten minutes and determine if that's the case. Let me see. Yes, I can.

Do you mind if I just... Please. I don't feel like I'd like have any, like, thing that I can't give it out. Okay. For all intents and purposes, I'll say that you were able to fully explore everything and get everything that was in there. So you found a potion of heroism, and you also have... Oh, shit. Oh, shit!

Oh, shit! 300 platinum pieces. Ooh! So 3,000 Electrum. Yep. Your short sword. Three hundred platinum. Yep.

Baby. And another 2100 electron. Yeah, sorry, Chris Stroud. $1,100 more, okay. This is a miracle that he's alive. Trudis. I'm so glad we found him. What are we do to keep him safe? I will keep him safe.

I'll be indisposed until I can find him someplace safe to rest maybe in your briefcase, but again, I don't feel comfortable opening it down here. I agree. We do not want to expose the child. to this foul evil that is clearly lingering all around us, but if we do run into trouble with the creatures of night and darkness down here, we will need your blade, Conner.

Sergei, do you have any suggestions on what you do with this poor soul? I believe that I do. The morning lord has granted me a few booms, as it were, after my resurrection. But I think we should wait until Kana has a chance to talk to her master a little bit this evening.

But I should be able to... I should be able to transport via the Morning Lord's magic to the Abbey of St. Markovia where they can heal him. I would be eternally grateful. I would need you, Sarnex, to please send a message to Eriena

when I do so, they would be concerned to find a strange water-loved man. in their infirmary. That would be greatly helpful. Thank you, Sergei. I was simply going to suggest you perhaps carrying him

with your strength, so Kana may join us. Yes, I can easily do that as well. Indeed. Would that be all right with you, Kama? That'd be fine. Sergei, should we keep an eye out for anything that you're looking for down here? I would like to find my way

to my crypt. Your crypt? Sure. I mean, we got to be close, right? We just keep heading down. These stairs lead up, though. Everything just goes up. We got to be close, right? Can we get back up to the balcony, the way we came?

We could climb. I've got a bit of rope. I'm sure we could try. That is what we should do, then. Do we know? So this one goes up, right? These stairs? How don't we just see where it goes?

I hand. techie to he holds and you can see he's holding him very gently carefully he takes his

cloak and he wraps him up to give him warmth and he's holding him close so his body warmth

is helping him as well you can see that he's being very gentle and caring we could

take these stairs up and see how far they go it's nothing to say that we can't

come back down if we don't like what we've heard it's up to you professor yes

let's I mean every stairway we've seen so far has gone up let's proceed and if we feel like we've gone up too far, then we'll come right back down.

So I guess we'll start to go up, and if we feel like we're going up, it was sort of a long way to get down here from the guard tower, right? Or from the guards room. So if we feel like we're starting to go up that amount of distance, it would be like too far when we come back down.

You begin to make your way up, and you are climbing and climbing, and you realize that this, at the very least, does get you to the floor you just come from. This isn't the right staircase. Let's go back down.

Shepard. The rope. I can help you. Yeah, I'll pull rope out and try to try to create some sort of a lasar or something. Does it look like there's anything that I'd be able to The thrones. They're completely built, like,

built into the... They don't look like they're super rickety and, like, then I'll try to... They're stone. I will attempt to... And try to lasso and... Roll a survival. check to see how well you lasso them doggies.

Get along little doggies. Get along little doggies. Oh, boy. Where's that bad roll the day? That's a 10. I would say your first try, you try, but with the motion of the water, it's a little strange. Your second try will succeed. That's going to be 25. Yeah, your second try 100% succeeds. You're able to lasso up and secure the rope to one of the thrones.

Let me go up first. Just in case it slips. Please. So I don't take any extra movement to climbing as an athlete. So I will just quickly make my way up. And then once I get to the top, I'll basically hinge myself on the throne and just add an additional leverage to helping people up the road. Yeah, we do that.

And all of you make your way up, except for Sergei and Jentecchi. And as you see, Sergei begin to glow with light. he mumbles a prayer under his breath as he is shrouded in golden light and you see as he slowly begins to rise up out of the water and onto the platform oh my god is ghost kill him

wow that's beautiful I'm gonna press the digitation myself clean and dry if I can do that and help everybody else if I can do that well that's one mission down Let's check these stairs.

I'll wrap up the rope and hand it back to Shepard. You make your way back out of the throne room, back into the room with the brazier, with the brazier, and these statues. Once again, your eyes linger on the hourglass, held completely in stasis as you move forward. Which one of the doors are you going to make your way towards? Do these stairs look similar to these stairs over here?

They're both spiral stairs. So I would say we check this one. Yeah. Okay. You do that. So we're going to go to this one, and I guess, does it seem like not that far of a jaunt up the stairs? It doesn't seem like it's that far up a jaunt. It was about maybe 20 feet.

Well, we haven't risen very much, and we're at the top of the stairs in a long hallway. This is at least better than nothing. I had holstered my weapons. You do that. And I guess we'll start heading down this hallway here. Karah, do you know why Sir Danya would have taken your master? No, all I was left was her sigil, just pieces of it. But I founded his quarters before I was exiled from Nari.

I have no idea why he would have set out for Morovia without telling anybody, especially me. No letter, no, no, nothing. Nothing. He trusted me the most. and yet he's been missing for years how he's survived this long. It's miraculous is what it is. I have many questions for him.

I just hope he's in his right mind when we wake him up. He may not be in the mind for questions. It may need to wait until this is all said in none. You're right. Professor, what do you see? The rough hewn corridor ends at a stone staircase that descends to the south, flanked by walls of rough, rough masonry and relatively free of dust. These stairs descend before ending at a lonely door.

Well, we came up from there, right? That's where we came up from. Yes, yeah, sorry. So flip that. So we will ascend the staircase and go down the hallway the other direction. Who's in the lead? I think Shepard would be in the lead. This tunnel is cut into the pillar stone of Ravenloft itself.

Its surface is slick and its ceiling is barely six feet high. A lingering fog limits visibility to a few feet. I guess we'll kind of slowly proceed carefully, Shepard, but it seems we haven't risen in elevation, so we're still deep below the castle. And I guess we'll just continue onward until we see something. Understood. How much do you weigh?

Shepard away like 175. You begin to make your way. down the corridor. And similarly with Kana, you watch as Shepherd all of a sudden just disappears from view. Shepherd, you find the floor beneath you completely falling away

as you land in a rough stone shoot. As you continue down, down, faster and faster, it's slick and moist. You let out a yell as you find yourself falling into a cell in the dungeon,

surrounded by around five feet of water. No. The direct cell opposite from where you found the sentry blade. Shepard! Fuck. Shepard! You're all right. Should we have just taken...

No answer. I wouldn't hear them. He's like down here. Oh, because it's teleport. I keep thinking it's like a sloop. Should I go after him? I want him to be alone. Can you send a message to him?

Shepard! Are you alive? Where did you go? You can reply to this message. I'm in a fuck it, cell What's he say? I think he's all the way back down

in the dungeon. I'll book it back towards the staircase. Victoria and I will wait here, Professor, can you accompany Kana? And keeps me to pick the lock. Yes, I suppose I've seen weary, but you're more athletic than you give yourself credit for it.

Let's go. And it is with quick movements that you make your way. Cats are in love. Then you make your way back to the dungeons. You see Shepherd floating in the lonely cell. He looks in... I'm like laying on my back just like floating.

My hat is like floating on all the arms. Shepherd, I'll get you out of here immediately. Just hang time for me and I'm going to try it bust open the cell. I will say with the lock picks, you're easily able to get him out. And you swim your way back, lasso the throne. your way back through. And you, you've taken the time,

Sarnax, to investigate this. It looks like it was a false floor. And with enough weight put on it, the floor would fall away. You're looking down into a shoot. It goes down into darkness. You simply have to leap over it. So having,

we gotten all the way back there, and with Sarnax, kind of holding the lantern over top of the thing, he, like, motions me closer, and I look at it, and I just go. Just go. next time. Five!

And I leave five feet and I go see. Into another shoot and you get thrown. How much do you weigh again? 175 fucking bounds! Professor perhaps

dry me chepered off. Oh, you see the wolves outside as they erupted down. Lordy. The moon is out.

The tide is high. After I jumped to the gap, I, I like smooth out my hair under my hat. I turn to the group. Please be careful. Thank you, Shepherd.

I will be careful now. I'll just leave my word. I'll keep an eye out for any future traps like that in the floor now that I've seen it twice. You do that. And you are able to make your way back into a room that you've seen before, the catacombs of Ravenloft. Buried deep beneath the keep of Ravenloft lies this ancient catacombs with arched ceiling supported by wide hollow columns that double as crypts. Cobwebs hang limp in the musty air.

Thick fog clings the floor which is covered in putrid waste. The black ceiling is moving. You remember from the last thing you were in there, thousands upon thousands of bats. It is with that you make your way into the catacombs of Ravenloft. Very deep beneath the keep of Ravenloft lies this ancient catalyms. catacombs, with arched ceiling supported by wide hollow columns that double as crypts, cobwebs hang limp in the musty air. A thick fog clings to the floor, which is covered in putrid waste.

The black ceiling is moving. You've been to this portion of the catacombs before. The one you'd explored the most is you peek around the crypt in front of you. You can see the crypt that housed the skull of argonfoss and the bones of St. Markovia. And there, open, the Port Cullis raised, is Sergei's tomb. Sergei is quiet as he makes his way forward. He occasionally glances the crypts as you pass. I'll take Jentecchi from him. He easily passes him to you without even a word as he slowly descends, moves into the crypt. There is a heavy sorrow hanging on him.

As you watch, as he pushes forward on the lid of his final resting place, he pushes it open, maybe six inches or so, just enough to be able to reach inside. You see as he gulps back a bit of uncertainty, fear, as he slowly reaches his arm in, and begins to feel around. You watch a minute or so later, as he pulls out, a solitary gold band with a modestly sized modestly sized diamond

he holds it looks down at it in the light the candles that are ever burning in this crypt you can see the single tear roll down his face as he brings it to his chest he kisses the ring

and he places it in his pack I have gotten I needed from this place. What is the significance of that ring? He gulps. You are not one to give someone their privacy. Was that something of special private significance?

It is the ring that I've opposed to Tatiana. It was the ring that was meant to rest on her finger forever. but sadly we did not come to that day. And you see sadness on his face. I should want to offer my life and my hand to another. I would like to make sure this ring stays with me. And I am sure it will. Forgive me.

While we are here, I believe the tombs of your parents are in this script as well. That is true. I would like to say goodbye. I would like to apologize for what I must do for our kin, for my sister. I would like to hope that somewhere

may hear me. I believe it's just over this way. And all sort of like motion. Because I don't, or I guess we went out that way. He knows, right? So you can lead the way. And you make your way. And you remember the best. barrier between the church statues as he slowly descends the stairs. He holds his hand out.

I would like to do this alone. Of course. Would you allow me up to an hour to spend time with my family here? Yeah, you don't even have to ask. It's fine. Just be careful. And I'm sure we have things to occupy ourselves. Be safe. May we look around the rest of the print? Please do. I will join you when I'm ready. If anything goes south, you holler. I will. These place echoes.

You will hear me if I need to. And thy you, I imagine. We will. I'll turn to the group, but I'll say. We should be respectful, but understand that there still can be great danger here. My master. Yes, we don't want to cause any trouble. But we shouldn't leave Sergei.

alone, so we should not leave the floor of this crypt. Agreed. Do we know what we're looking for? I think we do. Adamava was pretty explicit, but didn't say what it was. She may have been referring to Kintechi here.

I think she said all of us would find what we're looking for in the crypt. Yes. That's just me. It may have been more of a loose kind of metaphor that what we are looking for was one of our... This is very important to one of our companions.

Perhaps there is, and we should look. But my point is, is that, as far as I'm concerned, as long as we've learned everything we can from the script, we shouldn't stop once he's painted his respects. I agree. But either way, what is, at this point, what is important to one of us is important to all. Yes.

I'll take out my notebook, and I will take out a... quill, a magic quill. And I just want to sort of walk through and just kind of record the names that I can read on the placards and walk up and down the hallways of the print. I will say you walk back to the very beginning.

And as you get there, you look down at the stone on the floor beneath your feet. Herein lie the ones who walk the path of pain and torment. It's etched into the stone before you. As you begin to make your way down the path, you start with the first of these tombs. The first one, Artista de Slop,

court ceiling painter. As you look in, the domed ceiling of this crypt is painted with an image of imps holding bouquets of colorful flowers. A skeleton draped in rag as lies atop a marble slab at the center of the crypt. A wooden box

is tucked under one of her bony hands. You feel that it's safe enough to traffic. blend. Check the box just in case. You know you're looking for something, but you're not quite sure what. It's unlocked. You're able to look inside. Simply seven wood-handled paint brushes and seven small boards of dried up paint. Nothing more, just the resting place of an artist. So you move on to the next. Lady Esol Yonk, Esol the Incredible, purveyor of antiques and imports.

in this crypt, a skeleton draped in rags, lies atop of marble slab in the center of the crypt, piled all around it, covering the floors or heaps of old baskets, braziers, bundled capistries, candlesticks, chairs, cooking utensils, cressets, curtain rods, decanters, dishes, jugs, lamps, scroll cases, tankers, and tinder boxes. None of the junk looks valuable. An old chandelier hangs from the domed ceiling. You think that you could spend hours looking through this crypt, but you don't have that kind of time, so you move along.

To Prince Ariel du Cumae, Ariel the heavy. The apparition, the large retun man forms within the dark crypt, its eyes wild with insanity, large artificial wings unfold from its back.

It screeches out at you and tries to make motions towards you, and you believe if you move forward, you could gain insight or depth. Professor, what do you think they say?

is. Are you all right? Oh, just, just please be careful. Please be careful. Professor. Do we, is he the only one that gets to this? No, you're all with him. You're all seeing this. So as he opens it, you see this as essentially a spectral form appear these strange skeletal wings out of its back.

You can see that it's not a fully formed thing. It's akin to a ghost or a race or some kind of undead thing. And it's lashing out at you. It doesn't seem to be able to leave. the crypt? But we all feel, my question was, do we feel that it's one of those two choices? Professor, I've gotten to know you at least a little well here over these months. I've lost track of how much time. The point is, are you willing to risk 50, 50 odds? You know who we're talking to, right? Yeah, that's why I'm reiterating. I have a good feeling about this.

What do you hope to gain? Knowledge. Knowledge is power. Oh, God, God. I want to just, like, approach a little bit and see if I can, like, see... I need you to make a wisdom saving for it, please. At disadvantage, because you're in the catacombs. They're going to say, because he's an idiot.

Oh, dear Jesus. I will like to twist this. I would agree. Okay. Thank you, Chad. That was better. 20 plus 7, 27. Bingo, bingo.

You walk into the room, and you immediately feel as this ghost attempts to possess you. And for a moment, it feels like it takes hold. You hear the whispering of madness. I must fly. I will fly. Get to the top of the tower and jump. Do it.

But you shrug it off, and you're able to resist it, and you realize there is no knowledge. for you. There is nothing here for you. You are nothing but a vessel for this crazed entity. And you slowly back out of the crypt. Just the ghost. Everything's go.

Just the spooky spooky ghost. Are you all right? Yeah, Professor, I have learned that we just this spooky ghost. You feel okay. Yes, I feel great. Please tell me you have some insight on how they better destroy the count.

What knowledge did you get? What knowledge of the spooky ghost was there? Surely there was much to learn. Yes, there was a need. The first thing I learned is that the ghost was indeed spooky. Go on. Excuse me, the second thing I learned is that it attempted to possess me. Oh.

So that's something that there are ghosts in Borovic that can possess us. So we should be careful moving forward. What do you do? And then it was whispering at myself. to climb to the highest spires of Ravenloft and throw myself off. They're seemingly committing suicide and being dashed across the rocks below. Does that help us defeat the Countess? Well, I mean, we should stay away from spooky spooky-spoken.

Oh, my God. Do we know if that was what the foot to Tatiana? She did the same thing, does she know? You are the dumbest smart person I've ever fucking met in my whole goddamn life. I resisted it. I'm quite capable. as of this level I feel especially capable

of shrugging things off like this perhaps we should continue and linger no longer yes it was a valuable learning I must say onward and I'll go back to writing I just I just look at sorry I'll look at Shepwardland

I don't think I'm going to ask if he is well it ain't worth it I think I will just presume the answer fuck and I just follow the professors you make your way to the next crypt our tank swillovich

friend and member of the Barovian Wine Distillers Guild peaking inside you're greeted by the faint smell of wine Skelet and draped in rags lays atop a marble slab in the center of the crypt

heaped around it covering the entire floor thousands of empty wine bottles you from out here feel that you can easily look through and all of you look around you empty wine bottles

of Champam Champum de Lestol, Red Dragon Crush, or Purple Great Mash number three. All of them empty and nothing else of interest. Champagney du lausant.

Thank you. We need to stay, you know, true to the real pronunciation. You linger for a moment. Giacombe. Near the next crept, St. Markobia, dead for all time.

You all bow your head in reverence for a moment before you continue. Walking to the other side, you find yourselves at a stone door the crypt that lies open on the floor its inscription obscured by fog by fog the crypt gapes open

a skull some bones and a few bits of rusted armor lie atop a marble slab with a leering stone gargoyle squatting at each end the epitaph on the door reads Endorovich Endorovich the terrible what the blood of a hundred wars did not do the spurn of a woman accomplished

But we can't see inside because it's foggy. It's foggy. I'm going to try to use gusts of wind to kind of clear the fog. Do it with the fog rolls back in. You're not able to see it. Is that here? That's a stratagic.

Just pick a random square on the other than that's not where it is. No, I'm like, they're not in any order, right? They are. They are. But I mean, like that is the purpose of what we're doing. No, this is just more for you guys to be able to experience the catatoms and have some fun with it and do smartly. Maybe what we are

looking for is in these spooky nits. Professor, are you considering stepping into the ominous darkness to which even your magic cannot penetrate? You know,

we could come back later. When? Monum, and I'm going to send my hand in and start like feeling around. You feel around. You feel around, and it's hard for you to really get a sense. You can't see, but you can hear your hand moving

things about. And as you hear the clattering of bones hit the floor, you hear a loud screech as if stone on stone, and immediately appearing out of the fog, you see an animate gargua staring you in the face. Roll for initiative. Oh, my God. Maybe we just leave.

If you ever say spooky, spooky again. Unbelievable. Where is a gargoyle? If you can put this, just put it on the map in front of Clayton somewhere. Jesus, geez, geez, geez, geez. 2225. Would it roll you that? Cheppard just kills it in this first term.

He probably will. These gargoyles aren't great. Yeah. 15 to 20? 16. Is just one gargoy? Yep. For now.

10.15? 13. Oh, I got 17. I'm sorry. Oh, my God. I'm sorry. Start over. What did you get?

I get an eight. is that sack this table's too long I can't read I'm like you know what's not very long I don't really want to talk about it um sheper

if you watch as out of the mist this gargoyle's face appears gnashing its stone teeth immediately in front of Clayton what do you want to do quick as a greased pig I reach for my guns and I say Professor get out and fire free shots

bain my man I hope the professor is also quick as a grease pig My aim is better. The first one is going to be a 29 to hit. That hits. The next one is going to be a 27 to hit. That hits.

Yeah, and the last one's going to be a 29 to hit. That hits. I'll just roll, please. Don't forget you have your new damage. Oh, it's in here. Okay. Oh, baby. So that's going to be 10, 11, 12, plus 6 is 18, plus 21 is going to be 39 points of damage.

If any of it is cold, I can figure that out. If cold matters, I can figure any of that out. It doesn't. Okay. Then 29 points of... 29? No, 39 points of damage over three shots. You let loose three blast from judgment and redemption.

You watch as bits of stone crack off of this gargoyle. You blast one of its wings off, but it's still able to hold itself a lot. You see cracks begin to split down its face. It looks like it's having a hard time hanging on, but it is still out for blood. Sarnax. I'll look at the professor and I'll say, like, are you quite done? Hell, Sacred Flames, uh, saving, uh, deck saving throw. Uh, 11.

Uh, fails. So he's going to enjoy a bit of damage here. 11, 19, 20, uh, 22 points of rating damage. Following up what Shepherd has done, you let loose your radiant damage and you engulf it in flame.

You watch is it clatters to the ground and shatters. And immediately you see the face of another one appear in the mist. It's going to keep its initiative. Clayton, it's your turn. Damn it. I should have said as fast as a greased pig on an ice lake.

That one has been far more apropos. Yeah, I panicked. I will say, oh, I just I just looted this one. Hoconis, and I'm going to cast arcane blast from my fingers, basically Elvis Blast. Oh, fuck.

Get some. One's an average planning. Oh, man, let's go. It's a blittery disaster. So forward on actions. St. Noge. So lowest is it 14.

It's AC is 15. Okay, so one misses. One hits. So there's the crit. You should have three. I think three bolts. So you've got a hit, a crit, and a mess. Exactly right.

Exactly right. Very efficient. Six. 11, 12, 13, 14, plus 15 is 29 damage. Nice. With a creet, you still did 10 less than the shepherds. I know.

I don't really do damage. You can't beat it. So you'll see these, I'll stick my finger out instead of a firebolt that you're used to seeing, kind of swirling pink and blue arcane blasts of force energy will erupt down and kind of shoot. You blast into it. It is cracking and breaking apart, but it is still holding on as it lashes out of you. It is going to do two.

Your group is like immediately behind you. So it is going to do two claw attacks. Let's see. Oh, it probably misses. Oh, my God, I rolled two sixes. Does a 10 hit you? No, it does. It's going to try to bite you.

Bring it. Does a seven hit? Barely. Five. It's very foggy for Godgoyles, too. Oh, no, actually, I get to roll one more because they're, no, no, no, he's not undead. No, he's, he's elemental. I will use my...

free object interaction if I made to send Kentucky down gingerly safety you're gonna set your master down to whack at this gargoyle comma. I'm dying. I'm imagining the master from Calder in the fist.

You watch as he sinks into the putrid muck of the floor. Oh my gosh. Pick him up in... Yeah, I read it to you like six times that the floor is covered in putrid muck. I thought it was steep. It's like you're You aren't, but they still have to have to be a bar.

There's 20,000 bats above a shitting constant. Yes. Yeah. The great African shitting bat. Is that what's on the ceiling? It's known for their shitting prowess. Yeah. Great.

His old past picture? I'm a bastard. You could know it's going to know it's going. It's a number of his weapon, but it's based on strength. You're good at that. I would say you could probably swing your weapon. You're going to be able to swing. It's an improvised weapon, which is based on strength, and you're good at it.

Don't you dare swing. No, it's a two-handed weapon. I'd have to drop and take my side. It's okay. Jentecky would be a two-handed weapon. I'll take the dodge and just protect him. If he has any broken, God, he doesn't like that. Can I see anything else moving within the To Me Too.

The fog is far too thick. Far too thick. Far too thick. So I'm going to look at Mr. Gargoyle. Can I pretend that this is his tomb just for illustration? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm going to look. Any tomb can be his tomb.

Aw, that's sweet. I'm going to look at a point five feet behind him and cast shatter. Okay. Like into the tomb. Okay. Hell yeah, that's great. So, well, we'll see. So it'll sound like a mirror shattering and it'll do the whole.

all of the ghostingles. All of the crypts are made of barcoils. And you've been waking to the ball. Great. Love it. The Gorn oil theme song plays. So it has to make a constitution. Any creature within that 10 foot area has to make the Constitution.

Chicken go, go, go, go, move. Jesus. 20? Well, fuck. Okay, so you have to take half damage. He stones with his constitution's high. Oh, he has disadvantage. Because he's stone.

You'd either go... I'll just go, where? 11? What? No. I can't take it. Maintaining king's sting. I mentioned you stone.

I'm like, hey, he's stone. You're like, oh, well, actually, DM. 14 damage. And it's doubled to not inanimate objects or something? He's not inanimate. Oh. Just disadvantage. Oh, that's right.

Oh, I get what you mean. I get what you mean. He's been out of rock, so he shatters. You and anybody else. You let out the shatter. You hear a loud crack coming from the inside. The gargoyle is still holding on. Stupid gargoyle.

Um, Shepard. I'll shoot the gargoy three times. So make sure you do one shot these weeks. I mean, you can do everyone. I don't know what it is. All right, I'll shoot once, but I'm taking the minus five penalty to add 10 to it. Ooh. That'll be an 18 to hit.

That hits. That'll be a 9 plus 17, which is 26 points of damage. Sorry, yeah. You obliterate this final gargoyle. Sweet. As it splinters and crumbles, the fog begins to slowly evaporate. And you can now peer into the depths. of this crypt.

You see what appears to be the nearly translucent image of a man standing there, looking down at the two gargoyles almost in confusion. He looks up an a lady to roll perception check.

Oh, natural 20 plus a point. I gotta give it up. I perceive nothing. 30. 17. 15. 25. 13.

Kana and Sarnax You're able There's no There's no voice that comes out of him But you're able to read his lips enough As he mouths the words Thank you You freed me

And you see as he looks tired Looking down at the two Crumbled gargoyles at his feet Slowly rises up And sinks into the now cracked Crypt Oh You have laid his soul to rest

Is the mist still there? No Do we get a soul point? Do you get a soul point? Yeah, sure. I don't know. It just seems like something we should get a counter for. Like in Dark Souls?

Sure. I roll into his floating orb and consume his corpse for health points. However you want to start eating. How many three-year bonus actions does it take to roll around my enemy next time we get in combat? Dark Souls. Dirtsels. Oh, my God. Anyway, so yes, that is what you do in crypts number seven.

I think it was seven. Yeah, it was. All right, well, let's continue on. Let's see we do a good deed. This is worthwhile. You move forward. Duchess Dorfina de Lissnia. Yep.

Skeleton draped in rags lies atop a marble slab in the center of the crypt. Hanging on the back wall is a handsome quilt that depicts a royal feast. looking at this you weave magic a bit and you're able to tell the quilt is magically preserved but not valuable so you move on to the next

piddler lick fool of Dorfnia a small skeleton wearing the remains of a fool's costume lies atop a stumpy marble slab in the center of the script you're stumpy that's what you see nothing of like

no inside No. He moved forward yet again. Sir Leonid Krushkin. Sir Lee the Crusher, bigger than life, he loved his jewelry. An oversized skeleton draped in jewelry and rags lies atop an elongated marble slab in the center of the crypt. Leaning against the slab is a blood-stained mall strung with cobwebs. The mawerews your attention a bit, but there doesn't seem to be anything magical about it.

You see that the skeletons wearing three jeweled necklaces. roughly worth about 750 gold pieces. I know you could take them. Except to you whether you want to go grave robbing. Professor. I think it. You're safe. You move on to the next.

Tasha Petrovna, healer of kings, light unto the west, servant, companion. A skeleton wearing tattered, priestly vestments lies atop a marble slab, in the center of the crypt. The domed ceiling overhead is painted

with a glorious sun mural. You look around and you can almost feel sunlight in here. It's strange compared to the other ones. Looking at the skeleton, you notice that there is a sun-shaped holy symbol around their neck. And as you stare at it,

you began to hear a ghostly female voice. There is a grave to the west with roses that never die in a place built by healers in a village called Kresk When all turns to darkness Touch this holy symbol to the grave

To summon the light And find a treasure long long long Holy shit Tight You bet we're never going back to Kresk Fuck Well This may

Do you want us to take this spirit You hear no more whispering that it was an imitation might be you want to be you don't have it Professor I'm pretty sure we call that mental gymnastics Um,

mom it's really Lucas taking it Professor is off the rails I will make I will age and to do myself I'm getting crazy

short-lived story on To the next print. I've got a great robbing yet. You use your mate hand and you remove the pendant from around the neck of Tasha Petrovna and place it in your pack.

You now have that symbol with you. I want to inspect, is it like clearly of the morning lord? It is. This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash legends of avatrous and gain access to tons of exclusive perks including a monthly movie night

and a weekly Patreon exclusive campaign set on the high seas shroud over salt marsh. You can also go to the crooked moon.com to pick up your own copy of our first published supplement, The Crooked Moon, a folk horror tome for Dungeons and Dragons

5th edition. And don't forget to snag all of the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. I could give it to Sergey when he's done. Right. Yeah

Or not I think it's a great idea of hire I mean Clayton is an archaeologist This is what he does for a living I can see that The professor is getting Into his archaeology headspace

It is best that we just Not protest So we can continue to the university And I claim this to the university It's going to be a deed here somewhere Just putting sticky notes all around. Mine. This is Article 1 of 55.

Now let's continue. You move forward. King Troisky, the three-faced king. There are no bones atop the marble slab in this crypt. Only a steel helm with a visor shaped like an angry face. Looking in, you realize that the helm is just facing towards you with the angry face. On either side, you also. see that there are two other,

there are two other emotions. They are seven. Dead and about to be. Happy and sad. That is all you see. Do you think this is what Madame Mave was affirming to? You are

the expert here, Professor. I'm not even going to begin to pursue. I'll take a major hand is turning the home to have the happy side. You are blasted with Ray of Death and I. I need you to roll a Constitution statement. Oh, my God.

You deserve everything that happens to you in this session. And beyond. Can you say? I do. DC 17. I think I... Oh, 17? Yes.

It's how we burn through all our twists. Let me twist this. One more. One more. There we go. Thank you. Okay. As you turn the head,

you immediately see as it turns it towards the happy side. The mouth drops down as poison gas begins to spiel out of the head. And though you made your save, you will take half the damage. Excellent. Do you need any more dice? I'll just roll these multiple times. Okay. 4,672 points of poison damage and your debt.

a little bit overkill. Just a snage. Just can't see. You'll take half of 27 points of poison. 15. Damn, Professor, are you all right? Yes, I'm fine.

Maybe see what the other side does. No, I think you turn it the other way. I would have liked to. said, perhaps you have learned your lesson, but I do not think that as... No, no, Sarnax is fine. The other side probably has the lesson. Let's continue. It really couldn't hurt. I move on. King Katsky, Katsky the Bright, ruler, inventor, and self-proclaimed

time traveler. A skeleton draped and rag flies atop a marble slab in the center of the crypt. Lying him at the bones is a stopper to drinking horn, a fat pouch, and a weird-looking scepter made of metal and wood. Above the bones hanging from the domed ceiling by wires is a wooden flying contraption that looks like a set of folding dragon wings fitted with leather straps, metal

buckles, and taut leather wings. Taught leather wing flaps. Apologies. You know, we didn't turn that helmet the other way. We could always go back. I mean, this is dragon movies. I mean, either of you interested? I do not

think we will find anything of value here. Second it. We continue. Stabal and Mibach, a truer friend no ruler ever had, here lies his family in honor. A 10-foot square shaft plunges into darkness. The sound of slowly dripping water echoes up the shaft. You make your way in just enough to peer in.

The bottom of the shaft is a dank vault with a 10-foot high ceiling. The room is awkwardly shaped and smells of rotten meat. 15 stone coffins are scattered throughout the vault. All oriented with their heads pointed north. The floor is covered with human bones and rusty swords. Is that thinking about it? That seems dangerous. What the hell? What the...

By the gods! Rotten meat? Toos? What do you think? I think that looks dangerous. Let's keep going. Kazan, his word, was power. A skeleton draped in rags

lies atop a marble slab in the center of the crypt. The skull is black obel set in its eye sockets and shards of amber where its teeth should be. You remember this name. We've stayed in this tower. There is a faint sense of magic about this tomb. The tower, is that the one that Von Richton claimed for himself? Yep.

Okay. So that's why Kazan sounds familiar? Yep. And he just, is there anything? Are these things written in common? Yes. Kazan, not to be confused with Kavan. Nope, it's Kazan.

It's the wizard. Not the battle master. Kazan. And his word is power. His word was power. His word was power. Does that mean anything? I mean, that spell, that puzzle on his door was very powerful.

But I mean, but why would he end up here? Why would he have a, his tower was all the way out there? Why would he have a crypt? or a resting place here in the castle. It's strange. You think he would almost be willing unless somebody built this forum and then put his remains here unwillingly.

And look at his fucking teeth. I wouldn't be surprised if this whole crypt was just a collection of enemies. What a nightmare. Why am I? You look at the skull. You say you move into the crypt just a little bit. Shepherd did.

The skulls. My Clayton Shepherd did. Of course. No, the mage hand did. I don't remember saying that at all. The skull's black oval eyes are gems. They look to be worth about a thousand gold pieces each. The skull has eight amber teeth, each one worth about a hundred gold pieces each.

I take my hat off. I get a lean in. And I say, wow, good thing I don't give a shit about money. And I leave the fucking grids. All right, boys. Just a powerful wizard, I guess. I mean, I'm an intelligent check for me. Just flat in.

You fucking want to turn skulls for no reason. 21. You think to yourself. You can see the magical aura in this room. You can feel it. You think to yourself, Kazar. His word was power.

What's more powerful than a name? What's more powerful than a name? His word. It was power. It must be some sort of key word we need to say. Flam! Flam! I'm sorry, it just kind of struck me. No, no wrong guesses.

No stupid guesses. Ah, the power of love. Sweet. It's the power of love. Is there a word that we should be saying? What is more powerful than a name? Is that what you say? His word was power.

Power. What if we just said word? Tower? Tower? Tower? his word was power what's more what was the clue the clue that I thought of

that came to you in a dream almost was that came from the big brain no it's divinity whizbies it just comes to me that's how this thing happened sure sure I got a glimpse of what's more powerful than a name oh more powerful than a name itself yes a magic is word right how word is more we fucking dumb

Do you remember anything from the tower that might have been a significance? Like the arcane, like anything we read about that. Oh, perhaps it is more of a hypothetical. What if we just said Kazan? I said it like six. I said his name like six fucking times. The moment you said Kazan with the intention of the room, you watch as, we find it here.

Fucking, there I go. Fucking goddamn magic shit. That's going to be my next thing, but I figured. Oh. Not on our 80. The moment you speak the name Kazan. Calzone. You feel the pillar stones of Ravenloft itself begin to tremble.

That can't be good. As a staff of power materializes above the marble slab and hovers in place. Hey, hey, hey, hey. This was meant for us. Don't just be able to fucking touch that yet. No. Get your maid hand to go to the chance first. Vessor, hold on.

Kazan. Okay. Wait, one more. Kazan. Thank you. Now I feel better. Power three. Are you here?

Well, this could perhaps be what Madam Even was referring to. Yes, it may be. Perhaps we shall all back up while the professor grabs the staff. I'll take the risk. And I like go around the corner of the fucking thing. I try to grab it before Shepard leaves. Can you make a constitution saving? throw from me please. Yes.

Oh my God. You really want to fill this fucking prophecy. You want the campaign to end. You are a fucking lunatic. They're so do. Does anybody have some D-TMs? Oh, boy. I got a fuck load of D-10s.

I need five more details. I got four right here. Great. Can you pass those down for me? Or actually, that'll be enough if I use my D-100. You got me Andy's. Okay. Because that'll be enough to... Oh, man, that sounds.

Um, what's the DC? 17. Yeah, I fear. She probably twist this. Should I twist it? I mean... This is what happened when we twisted everything for Deft House. We had literally...

Yeah. This is already dead or we're going to run through the catacombs real quick. Four hours later. Are you ready? Should I twist it? What do you think? I don't think so. How many twist do we have?

Well, oh, I have lucky points. All fucking is a lucky point. Since we don't all have lucky points. There we go. Thank you for reminding me that lucky. 20 something. Yeah, 25. You will take half of 47 points of lightning damage.

Jesus. So 23. It's apricil of the towel. But you found yourself in possession of a staff of power. Holy fuck. Why don't have that meet? Unlimited power! Unlimited power.

What is it? Are you already? I've been in ancient tombs before. It's almost like... You're a small-d-off. Professor, you're smoldering. Oh. Oh, sorry. Stop drop and roll.

Sorry. And pulling back the veil, you had one round to grab it or it disappeared forever. It was getting to the point where I was going to have to disappear. I mean, it literally is like a second and a half of me being like, I'm going to go around the fifth. So what's the staff of power? What does I do? I can. I think it's quite a...

I didn't write it down. I think it's a powerful artifact. Stop. It would be true. I will read it out loud. Power. 5E. That's a T.E.

Not 5E, but... Can we search for it? It's probably inherent. Yeah, it's an epic. Yeah, it's a good one. Requires an tune-in-man by a sorcerer, warlock, or wizard. The staff can be wielded as a magic quarterstaff that grants a plus two bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. While holding it, you gain a plus two bonus to armor class, saving throws, and spell attack rules.

The staff has 20 charges for the following properties. The staff regains 2D8 plus four spend a charge in charges daily. Don, if you expend the last charge roll, it be 20 on a 1, it's plus two bonus to attack and damage. It retains its plus two bonus to attack and damage rolls, but loses all other properties. On a 20, the staff regains 1D8 plus two charges. Power strike. When you hit with a melee attack using the staff, you can expend one charge to deal an extra 1D6, force damage to target. Spells while holding the staff, you can use an action to expend one or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it using your spell save DC.

and spell attack bonus, cone of cold, fireball, globe of invulnerability, hold monster, levitate, lightning bolt, magic missile, raven feeblement, or wall of force. Good God. Retributive strike. You can use an action to break the snap over your knee or against a solid surface, performing a retributive strike. I can't say that word. The staff is destroyed and releases its remaining magic and explosion that expands to fill a 30-foot radius sphere centered on it. You have a 50% chance to instantly travel to a random plane of existence of avoiding the explosion. If you fail to avoid the fact, you take force damage equal to 16 times the number of charges in the staff.

Every other creature in the area must make a DC 17 dexterity saving throw on a failed save. A creature takes an amount of damage based on how far it is from the point of origin as shown in the following table. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage. 10 feet away or closer, eight times the number of charges in the staff, 11 to 20 feet away, six times the charges. 21 to 30 feet, four times the charges. So it'll do anywhere from like 80. to 160 damage. If it has back charges.

20 times 16 times 8? No, you take 20. You take 20. You take 16 times the number of charges in the stats. Yeah. So it would be 16 times 20 if it's about 20. So you have a 50, you have a 50% chance to instantly travel

to a random plane of existence and avoid the damage. So I would take 320 damage. I just did it right now. Even She was not kidding if I said that he would bring us all due to how we die. We can't teleported on the plane of existence.

Why? We're in Borough? Oh, you're right. You just die instantly. Oh, we continue. We continue. God, you fucking

turn a random poison skull, but you just want to leave. the staff of Kazan just hanging out in his doom. I'm glad I picked it up. Holy fuck! You move on to the next. Elsa Falana von Twitterberg. Beloved actor. She had many followers.

No way. How many? You get it, right? Or is Amy the only one that gets it? It's literally a Twitter Twitter. Elsa Falana von Twitterberg. Beloved actor, she had many followers. It's just the Twitter joke. Twitter.

Yeah. Thank you, Watson. There's another one in here that gets me every time. A skeleton draped in rags lies atop a marble slab in the center of the crypt. Nine shallow alcoves are carved into its surrounding walls. The back wall of each alcove is painted with a full-body image of a handsome man. Some of the men wear fine clothes. Other were armor.

At the feet of each painting rests a skull atop a pile of bones. That's in hers. So you go in and I'll go on the side and go to the house. and what does it as a shout? It'll create this effect who'll hear each other and for facing the point. What does that mean?

What is the one at Katzukhavit that everyone gets raining from Frozen 2? I don't know. I don't know. I'm too good. Oh. I haven't seen it.

Yeah, I don't know. You move on. Sir Cedric Spinwittovich, Admiral Spinwitvich. Confused though he was, he built the greatest naval force ever assembled in a landlocked country. An 11-foot-long funeral barge dominates this crypt, wedged diagonally into the available space,

lying in the boat as a skeleton draped in rags, with hundreds of gold coins piled around him. Naval Palace in an unlocked area. Seems useless. One would think. Is that way the basement's flooded? Keep going, yes. The stone door on this crypt has been carefully laid to one side. through the swirly mist of the perpetual fog,

freshly engraved letters spell out the words. Victoria Isaac's wife. The crypt is empty and has been swept clean. Well, that ain't good. Wow. Victoria, perhaps if you laid down on the slab. I don't necessarily feel like that's an idea. Yes, I feel quite uncomfortable with that.

Does it look like it's recently chiseled? the stone. Yes. Okay. Does it look like her crypt replaced somebody else's, like made room for her?

Why don't you roll a perception check? It's made for future death. 18. Looking at the name, you can see that it was chiseled over something else, and it takes you a moment.

You can see previously Irina Kuliana. White. That bitch. She gave me over you, too. Uh-oh. She and Stratian's going to talk. You have some words with her.

Wow. I hate to say it, but those seconds are sloppy, sloppy Joe. Oh, did we pass sloppy Joe's two, my way? I'm sorry, I break it to you, Victoria, but... Nicole Swelphi Joe. This is a Jerry Springer moment if I've ever seen one. Get your spray weeds out, y'all. Your hairy beads, get them out.

What are you about? He's like, Ow, oh, oh, I'm in debt to look, it's a bird

dog Like you're going to Oh, about you? How about you? Gonna be an animal Just like you. What's that?

What is happening into the chest? Oh, okay. Oh, okay. So, yes, you're standing in front of a tomb that says Victoria Isaac's wife.

Well, she's prepared. at least, just in case. I might have misread it. Victoria, I might not have actually said her name. There is something to being prepared. It's rather tacky. Is it because you died once?

What do you mean? I don't know. Oh, well. It's not unheard of to even when someone is quite young preparing a tomb. I think that would be actually the standard case for you high-born. Yes. Vile folk. Yes, as soon as someone is born, the tomb is prepared,

and ready in case it happens. Star and Axe, that was a little harsh. I would think that rather a married couple would be in tomb together like the king and queen. Indeed. Why did you beside her? Well, I mean, Irene wasn't beside her. Maybe that's just how she rolls.

Do you not did you not hear me when I said, vile folk, the highborn royalty, she has her own place of honor. No matter whom she loves, they will be cast aside amongst all of these commoners. That's certainly comforting.

Thank you. Again, so that's actually a wisdom. Well, it seems to be just truth. Once you've explained it, it's a little bit better than I initially thought, so it is fun. I'll just kind of like peek my head in. It is pristine. It's recently been clean,

but it is devoid of anything else. I suppose we'll continue on. Yes. She's at least thoughtful. She's been thinking of you. That's very nice. It's a disrespect. It's a reused tune.

I can't speak on that. Her body was never. No, I rena is the one that's still alive. You may be thinking of Tautiana. Yes. Oh, or perhaps this is a third to be gifted to. That's what I was thinking? I'm a misha.

I would like to see if Tantiana's name was for a little where I readers. Please. It looks like it's just twice reused him. Tatiana never caught a tomb that we've found yet, so we're safe there. The tomb's expensive, got to reuse them. Let's continue. Artemis, builder of the keep, thou standest amidst the monument to his life. The skeleton draped in rags lies atop a marble slab in the center of the crypt.

There's nothing of interest in this crypt. So you move forward. Sasha Ivliskova, wife. Webs are thick and pale as linen cover a shapely female form lying atop a marble slab in the center of this dusty web-filled crypt. You hear a voice issue from the darkness. My love, have you come to set me free? The woman rises, the shroud of webs clinging to her in a ghastly fashion.

As she moves forward, you see clearly her sunken in cheeks, The darkness below her eyes, the fangs protruding from her mouth. No, you've come to feed me. And she lashes towards you. She reaches out, but she's unable to get out of the tomb. Let me out! And she begins to scream and scream. Fuck, that is loud as fuck and annoying.

Life? Another wife. Then you've used us. Can you understand us? Yes, what do you want? What are you doing in here? Waiting for my beloved. Have you come to feed me or set me free?

Who is your beloved? Stradanya von Zorovic. What is your name? Oh, boy, you got bad news. Sasha Ivliskova. Wife to Stradamia. Now let me out. Where are you from?

Rovia, why all the questions? let me out. I don't think that's going to happen, and I regret to inform you with that. Well, and when she does, you see as she sniffs the air, I'll hunt down every last one of you. You watch as she turns and sits herself along the stone slab of the crypt. She begins to pick at her nails. Her dress is moth-yten and pattered. She has been in here for presumably hundreds of years.

I pray that she doesn't because it'll be the last thing she ever does. She's not stitched together, right? She's not. Vampire. Just a vampire. Okay. Is her last name,

does her last name resonate at all with any families we've met? That's not one that you've heard. Okay. Super bizarre. What had ever heard of Sasha before? Perhaps should I just incinerate her

immediately? I would not, unless you feel that you have been. I don't. strength to do so. I would really focus on saving your strength, Sarnax. She's not posing a problem in there as long as she can't get out.

And again, it's the same thing with burning everything else. There's no reason to step two more feet away from her kill another pride of Shudanya before the wedding. Perhaps. And I got a feeling she's not

going to be the last one we're going to meet. Very well. I was just thinking because webs are also. flammable, but I will hold my flame, unless I suppose

the professor's right. Yes, of course. Just kidding. Unless. We burned alive of Brian of Stradanya. Just kidding, unless. Okay. I'm going to lock up to the grip,

but like not get past the entryway and I'm going to ask her Sasha, how long have you been in here? Does she ever let you out? Come inside and I'll tell you all about it. No, no. I'm perfectly fine

out here. I'm rolling this. Oh. I'm rolling. Listen, I could have left you in the muck. Oh, my God.

What? What? I can slip me through the bars. Yeah, you're in my name, Derry, he's like, Jackie, shut the fuck! God damn it, Tentucky! No, master! Silence.

You are in rare form tonight, fam. I don't know what is going on. Move along. Patrina Belakowna, bride. From the darkness comes a horrifying visit. The spectral elf made it twisted by the horror of her undeading. dead existence. She wails

in the very sound clause at your soul. I need you to all roll a constitution saving. I think it's Wiz. If it's whiz, that would get to have it. It's wisdom. Yeah, it's wisdom. It's wisdom.

I roll it 80 and I got an 18. It's the whiz, biz. I got an 11. I'm rolling really poorly. Yeah, all of a sudden I'm hit a cold street. I'm been hot on my... I'm going to use another lucky dog. That's not great at all.

I would like that. Can I, do we have any twisties? Yeah. Twist. Do you want to twist too? Oh, no. This is a Constitution statement. Oh, that's right.

In that case, I take my... I got a 17. Yeah, I'd like the twist. Yeah, I'd like to twist if I go. Okay. Oh, it's even better. Hey, 22, baby. Let's go.

26. 25. 16. 17. Okay. You all listen as, as... what appears to be a banshee, whales as loud as it can. You're all able to shrug off the effects.

I actually need to roll for it. Oh, no. Oh, oh. Oh. Oh, wait. It's okay, master, I'm here. I'm not a paladin's like I can help you. I'm going to die.

Woo! He passed. Oh, oh. So you're all able to shrug off the effects of the banshee's wail. She attempts to move towards you, but just like the other, just like Sasha, the wife, the bride is also tracked within her tomb and is unable to remove herself from the confines of the crypt. She could really disrupt this whole wedding. We just unleashed one of these women. No, no, I think their first reaction would be to finish us off and we need to save our strength. I don't think it's

it would cause as much discord as we're hoping amongst Tradania and anyone. I think that Tridonio can't give a fuck. I'll have no fury like a woman's scoring. I like your idea, and I think you're thinking outside the box, but I'm worried that these creatures will just strike the first chance to get. If I keep a Benji here, it seems... It seems to be backwards.

She's only a ride. She has not married her yet. She clearly has a great fondness for this woman. She perhaps loves this woman as much. loves Victoria. No, more, no less. Quite right, in your human culture is polygamy acceptable. I presume that to be the case if you are very

all right with this. Certainly not. It's a touchy subject, and it depends on not in high society anyway. Interesting. This is a ruse, let's remember. We don't have to get clutchy about any of this, I think. We just continue on. We shouldn't

be killing on a bride. It was Justice Sergoy said that she She treats them as play things until she has what she wants, and then she gets bored and finds another. As long as all of us are aware of that, that's all. Oh, I'm very well aware of that. As a mind. As a my. Thank you. If you were concerned, I am very well aware of that.

I was so awful. No, no, no. I'm sorry. I was just making it aware for everyone involved. That as the professor said that this is a ruse, a chariot. A charade if you would. Yes, of course. Exactly right.

Need we forget? Less we forget. Excuse me. Pardon me. I'm a little foggy down here. I'm breathing in a lot of bone dust. And there was quite a bit of water. I can cast lots of fireballs down here.

I'll continue. It's just the yellow mold, I think. Probably, yes. There's mold spores. And all the bat feces that almost laid my master in. Shakespeare. Oh. Oh.

Shut up. Sir Eric Vonderbucks, a gilded man, lies atop a marble slab in the center of his otherwise barren crypt. Looking around, you see that the corpse seems to have been dipped in molten gold, solidified around the body. Thin layer of gold covers the entire thing. If you were Nazran, you might be able to value this, that you could take an assail. hour to peel the gold from Sir Eric's desiccated corpse and that would be worth about 500 gold pieces. I'd like to shut the totem up my hands. Yikes.

I'm looking at him. Professor. Professor. I see that look in your eyes and I have to object. You truly take an hour. I could feel it like an orange. Or perhaps a hard-boiled egg. We don't peel those, Sonics.

We just eat them whole like you do, you animal. Oh, my God. I keep talking. Oh, my God, I'm just holding my dog for up. The good news is we only have 200 more of these to go. It's a good news. You make your way forward. This script is smaller than the others, less decorated.

On the plaque, it simply says Thomas. Oh, fuck. And as you look in, you see. a small boy child's form freshly interred hasn't even begun to decay you laying on the slab

can we see the face of the body or is it like covered there's a shroud the fuck is this it's it's that's a coincidence or a trick easy mister shit bullshit magic we've seen the shit before

we've seen it with the trees and the hangman and all that shit. Why don't you take a look and confirm? Perhaps someone else should take a look. No, it's fine. I've got this. Get out of my way. And I walk up to the crypt and is it locked?

It's open. Then I'm going to like gently, no, fuck it. I step inside and I go take a look at the body and I go to move the fucking trap. You walk in and you can see the form. It's cult. You can see the blue that started to overtake the skin. And you recognize the,

little hands. You can still see the dirt underneath the fingernails. You think of the way Thomas looked in your hat, the way he showed you'd been working on unholstering his guns, and you can see it. And in one swift motion, you rip the shroud from his face. And it is Thomas for a second. Until you see a strange smile begin to appear on the face. Long fangs as the face twists the body turns to a dark blue. Whatever this creature is, it's unlike anything you've seen before as it looks up at you,

still housing Thomas's eyes, as it skitters and climbs up onto the wall. It looks down at you, a long bit of spittle dripping from its mouth. And before you even have a second to react, lightning speed, it skitters across the ceiling and out of the room. What was that?

What the fuck? I've never seen anything like that before in my life. Are you all right? Yeah, I'm fine. It didn't touch me. It didn't do anything. I'm fine. It was fucking bullshit. Some sort of fucking changeling shit. A trick. I want to go outside of the tomb and see if it still says Thomas. There is no word on the tomb.

What creature was that? Fuck! If you've seen something like that? No. No, nothing. I never. I mean, it had fans, kind of like the spawn, but it wasn't. It was not a vampire. Were you able to trigger your... your innate hunting abilities. No, it's just too quick.

I almost didn't even... I was distracted. That's my fault. Fuck! Did we totally lose it? Like, we didn't see where it was. Oh, yeah. It skittered up and then into the bats.

It is now somewhere in the undulating mass of bats. I might be able to locate it, but we gotta be on our guard. That is fucking quick. It just meant to trick us. It is now washing us, though. Fuck. Let us watch. I'm not concerned about it, frankly.

Are you all right, Shepard? Yeah, yeah, I'm all right. I'm fine, I'm fine. Thomas as well. Yeah, I know, I know. I know. You'd like for me to send a message. Save your strength, please. Very well.

We're going to need it. Very well, Shepard. Let's continue. You move forward, slower this time, but you're making your way. Ivan Iveliskovich, champion of winter dog racing. The race may go to the swift. but vengeance is for the loser's relatives. What it says.

A skeleton draped in bits of fur lies atop a marble slab in the center of the crypt. The walls and ceiling are covered with plaster painted to make the crypt scene is if it stands in an evergreen forest surrounded by snow. The plaster is peeled and fallen away in many places, shattering the illusion.

There's nothing here of interest. So you move on. Stefan Gregorovich, first counselor to King Barov von Zarovich. Ooh. The skeleton draped in rags lies atop a marble slab in the center of the crypt.

Most of the bones appear dusty and neglected, but the skull is well polished. As you look in, you notice that there appears to be movement. The jaw slightly twinges. What's it, Gregor?

Stefan Gregorovich. Stefan Grego. First counselor to King Barrow von Zoroly. Stefan, are you there? Oh, his skull yawns. Yes. What are... Are you well?

I'm dead, so no. Oh, so you're aware of your current state? Yes. Do you wish us to free you from such a horrid state? I don't think you have the power to do so. Surely I think he's correct. Is this punishment? No, it's a job.

you were not released from your duties upon death. And you see that the faint movement and the jaw is no longer there. It's almost as if five questions speak dead. It has expelled all of its ability to answer the questions you might have posed it. Oh, wait. I mean, you can stop responding. That's weird. This sounds like strange.

That is also strange. That is awfully rude to stop responding. Hey. Are you here? Hey. We don't know the taxes that being dead plays on one. Maybe he's just gone to sleep. I bet he's fucking ignoring us, stubborn bastard.

Or maybe he finally died. You're going to tell me after 400 years, now he picked a chance to die. It would be quite a coincidence. It would, indeed. Maybe we somehow freed him. Not even yours at one. That is not the case. I am familiar and have used this kind of magic in mind.

your presence previously. Eternal optimism. You're saying that he had somehow the speak with dead spell. Yes. You cast, I am. Well, five questions it can

which you use very cavalier. No, there's no fucking way that's right. I'm sorry, science, you're just wrong. Well, go take a look, Shepherd. Why don't you go, why don't you rough him up a bit? I don't want, I'm not going to disturb the dead. Let him be.

If he wants to ignore it, it's his prerogative. He's been here for 400 years. All right. But all I know is that it's 100% not speak with dead. You have to be a fool to think that. Perhaps a shepherd, man. I'm sorry. I'm upset about the thing I saw before.

Are you okay? I'm not. I'm going to talk about it. Later. Young Thomas is fine. I know. He's well. I'm sorry.

It was a very helpful suggestion. But use your head. He's snuggled in bed. Can we move on to the next crypt, please? I feel like we've been in here for four. I take my head off and I take my hat off and I, I, I, wait. my head and on our breath, I go, fucking dare.

Sergei must be waiting for us. I continue to walk away. You must be gagging very much. Oh shit, it's been four hours. Sergely! Hey, you're still here! Shepherd. How long have we been to this crypt?

About 15 minutes. Five weeks. Two days. Help me recollect. We just got here this afternoon, Sarnax. Oh, forgive me. Forgive me, Shepherd.

This vile place, the taint of the dark powers, I feel, is creeping into my mind. There will be stalwart going forward. Entry sickvalu. He spurned wealth for the knowledge he could take to heaven. A skeleton draped in rags lies atop a marble slab in the center of the script. Most of the bones appear dusty and neglected, but the skull is well polished. All right.

Now, hold on. let's not do anything hasty, like ask it five questions like it has speak with dead on it. Now you can proceed. Shut the fuck up, Tidjic. I'm looking to get the mess out. All right, now that we've got that out of the way, Professor, you can proceed. They all are awful. Hey, is this as stuff from next week when I completely destroy them emotionally?

my heart right I mean, my blood pressure is just remember I'm doing anything fucking stupid What was this guy's title again?

Entry ciblu He spurned wealth For the knowledge He could take to have them Oh What's up? What knowledge did you

gain by spurning wealth? Oh, well I'm well educated and astute I know most of the things there is to know about Stradden Castle Ravenloft.

We should probably operate on the assumption that this time Thornex might be right. So before, while it was pure foolishness, this we need to presume that I was correct. Did I fucking stutter? No, you did not. You were actually quite clear. Why would you

why would I think that you stuttered? You had unsweetened every syllable very well. Thank you. I shuffle off. Professor, think carefully. This may be a very valuable tool. You want to run anything by the group. Is that an invitation?

Or just to like a subtle suggestion. Just to, you know. I swear to God, if Genejacky picks the time to wake up right now, I swear to hope, God. Where am I? I don't like her. Just grab and move out of yours. Three to go.

Not if we ask them about the darkness of this castle that goes beyond Shredana. I also think it might be wise to ask him how to defeat her. We get a few, right? Yes. Thanks, Captain Vincent. Thank you for the follow. My good skull fellow,

what is the nature and location of the darkness that resides within this castle that is not Stradania? It takes a moment before the skull then speaks. A power of darkness. A crystalline heart in the tallest tower. A gem around her neck. An entity shrouded in blood and death. How do we defeat Stradanya von Zorovic? Permanently.

Permanently, forever. You must first break the bond with the entity that holds her in its grasp. Defeat that and save all. What? What is the name and nature of the entity that has a control over her? Destruction. The Blood Queen. How do we save Stradania?

from the clutches of the blood queen. You don't. Some more, I think that was four. That's five. I've been marking them off. Is it? It was nature of the thing, how to beat her permanently,

what was the name of the thing, can we save her? What was the fifth one? I don't know, I was marking them off. Chat, was that five? I think that was five. I thought I counted five.

Abby says I think this is it. Five. What was the fifth answer we got? So the first one was, what was the nature? location of the darkness. Yep. The other was...

Are you dead? No. No, that was the other person. That was, then the second was, how did we defeat her permanently? Oh, it was the name. What did you learn? It was the first question was wanting to learn by giving a wealth. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. Maybe. I think you could have had five more answers. Hello. Are you okay? Did you know you're dead? Yes.

You're aware of your current state. This is classic, this is a classic, Faye Wild. This is, Shepherd, if you're right, and this is pure, was pure foolishness

that it would speak with dead. Why did it stop speaking? No, the first time was pure foolishness. Oh, this time was you just getting lucky. So the blood, the blood queen. The blood queen.

That's what it said. There is... You would call anything. An entity. There is a darkness, a singular darkness. That's how we defeat her. We have to break the bond, but we can't save Shredaena from it.

So we must... Is the heart in the tower the same, the heart alone to the blood queen? You mentioned a crystalline heart. It's something around her neck. A gem around her neck. Well, we'll have to investigate the top of the castle. Yes. And what was the...

Was there a gem around her neck similar to the one... Did we find something of similar properties in the hut of Babelah? Lyshaga. We found, so what we found the green. We found a, like an attempt of a gem,

right? That looked very similar. Yes. And it looked very similar to my luckstone gem that I pull out of the skull of the... Yes. Which you also recognize

that your gem looked very similar to one strong you wears around her neck. You found the rough approximation of one, which looked like Babelaisaga was working on it,

next to, I believe, her best. tub full of blood and a blueprint for a pollen queen. Yes. A blueprint for what? A palanquin. Polenquin? Or a palanquin, depending on who you're talking to.

What is that? It's like held aloft by people and you write on top of that. Like a royalty will sit on top of the pollen king. Do you replace any entities in the Amber Temple that refer to themselves as the blood queen? I don't remember. The, there was. that gave no name. That gave no name.

The entity that offered Shredaugh of Ampirism. The Blood Queen. Well. And that, in that there is power in names, although that is presumably not her true name. A queen of blood, which would explain everything that Shredaanya has gone through the blood she has spilled. The darkness that in... infects this entire castle, this entire land. The bathtub of blood of Baba Lysaga, the pool of blood that we found near the goat's skull.

It all comes back to blood. The blood curse. The curse of Stradonia. We don't think it would just be as easy to destroy that sarcophagus, do we? I mean, we left it intact. We thought maybe that we come back and there be more answers, or we come back when we knew more. I don't know if we're going to get that change. Did the cool litch tell us,

didn't the cool lich say that, like, destroying the sarcophagi didn't... Doesn't even do anything. It didn't do anything. It didn't do anything. It would... That's right. They just reformed. But wasn't... Or did the sarcophagi imprisoning...

Allegedly powers? Allegedly, eh? But perhaps all it does is imprison them in Barovia and not just in the sarcophagi themselves, at the very least, this blood queen. How do we learn her name? That may be all that we get. That is all he knew. And he knew he was quite a wise man. Any chance Sergei would know.

I do not think so. Let's continue. This confirms everything I was worried about. We can't just kill her. We've been told that this whole time. You have to kill what bonds her to this entity. and she never had a choice. She was lured here.

She was lured to that sarcophagus by Baba Lysaga. Every single moment of her life was plotted by the whispers of this blood queen. Yes. The red eyes. Eyes of blood. Regardless of her agency throughout all of this. We know she can't survive this. We have to end it.

We're breathe. will. That's why she's been able to come back time and time again. Yes. Every time being slain in battle and only risen, it's more. Blood Queen has been restoring her, just like those sarcophonite. Well, we'll

find the way to end this. Yes. I'll just continue, Professor. We'll continue onward. Barren eyes blazed roof. Open the door causes the air around you to turn as cold as the coldest hell you can imagine. Every surface inside the crypt is covered with thick, brownish mold.

And yet, in one spot towards the very back, covered in brown mold, the faint shimmer of something buried beneath it. I turned down my flame to a tiny little amber and I back up. I'm actually going to take a few steps back with Sarnax. I probably shouldn't get too close either. trying to fish out whatever that is. Does

your mage hand, does Lucas's hand give off heat or warmth at all? No. It is pure force. Then it should be fine. Bonum, Bean, do not be wrong.

Oh. You'll conjure your mageant and send it in to the cool, dark The cavern, the crypt shrouded in mold. You catch your breath for a moment. You said you were sure your mage hand did not give off heat.

There is a bit of hesitation. You are right. It is just a conjured item. It does not produce heat. It is it slowly makes its way in, reaches down into the mold, and pulls out a shining bling. I'll pull it in and I'll look at it. Roll an arcana check.

Was there a door on this one? No. Okay. All of the doors are for the sake of doing it like this open. Okay. Unless I say otherwise. 27. Look down this blade.

You know what this is. This is a luck blade. It's partially used, but there appears to be one wish remaining. What do I know about a luck blade? I would say you know what a luck blade is. You know enough to know that there's one wish remaining. for Maine. Wait, a literal wish. A literal wish.

We don't know what that means. I wish you become a guy. I haven't said anything. Bbar Babbar Babbar Babbard. Madameva told you the crypts were powerful. True. It's magical in some variety. I just don't quite know

the nature of it. Oh, I wish I do with this. I'll take all over my case and I'll put it in. Okay. I'll see. I'll do some races. 50 later tonight. Are you sure Arabel won't have her hands on that? It looks very sharp.

I worry she will hurt herself. It's in the bag of holding compartment. I can... Ara Bill, are you all right? I'm currently trying to make some soup, and also I put my pants on upside down, so now I've turned them into upside-down. Oh, get me safe.

Goodbye. I shut up. Do, I don't... When do I put Chetechie in there? I'm useless... No, don't believe, man. You haven't, you don't hear any of this. Did you tell us about the staff?

What do you mean? Did you tell us what it was? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I relayed this is a very powerful staff and lets me do some stuff. Yeah, I want to relayed that. So stuff. Kind of while we walk through here, I've thought about this.

I believe that this blade that I have might be better suited in your hands, speaking to me. I kind of hold that a little bit like those situations. I see. Here you go. What is it?

It is a blade. I do not wield swords, but you may be able to find use of this. I mean, thank you. You're welcome. What is your alignment? Lawful good. Okay.

I just didn't want to for a bit later. Okay. Oh. I'm struggling to fight or to put it. I've got like four weapons on me now. With your hands, that's full. How are you going to accomplish good deed?

Ah, you weren't kidding. It actually does speak to you. It does. And perhaps because I know that Shepherd and myself are passionate crusaders in this burning crusade, perhaps you will now understand and join us. Very well. And give up the silly notion that water is close to as good as fire. All right, that is enough.

I like shoot an knowing look at Shepard. I'm like, I don't need your charity. Okay. Let's continue. Yeah, yeah, all right, all right. Prefect Cyril Romulich, beloved of King Barov and Queen Ravanaughia, high priest of the most holy order. A marble slab in the center of the crypt displays a skeleton draped in red vestments,

a golden holy symbol clutched in one bony hand. The domed seal. feeling 15 feet above is painted to look like a canopy of trees with bright autumn leaves. A narrow stone ledge encircles the crypts ten feet above the floor. Perched on it are dozens of stone ravens, their eyes fixed on the marble slab. As you look in closer, you see that the carved ravens appear to be harmless. The gold holy symbol is festooned with tiny gemstones, and as an archaeologist and grave robber, you estimate to be worth 750 gold pieces.

Archaeologists. Just great office. Just archaeologists. It appears to be a symbol of the morning lord. You move forward. No permission. I'm like, please take me. No.

You move forward to a crypt that has no name. It simply says, we knew him only by his wealth. The script is empty. Its walls are painted to depict mountains of gold coins. you look in and you almost step into inspect, but you notice the floor of the crypt actually appears to be a cover. You push down in it a small amount, and you see that it completely caves in one side on the other,

dropping to a 30-foot-deep spiked pit. It splits completely down the middle. And as you look in, you see that at the bottom of the pit, the spikes are made of iron you don't appear to be poisoned but human remains are scattered about the entire thing appear to be the remains of dead

adventurers like yourself archaeologists you do see however caught just under the inside of one of the hinges would take a little bit of work but you could probably get to it what appears to be

a pouch open an inside 50 foot coil of hemp and rope, a dagger and a worn scabbard, a pouch, small enough to contain about 25 platinum pieces, stoppard wooden tube containing what appears to be a spell scroll. Just say the words, Professor. We've heard them before. Did you say spell scroll? Did you say my wolf?

I'll pull just the spell scroll out with my mation. Okay. You were easily able to do that, and you find yourself with a spell scroll of magic circle. Yeah. Oh, that did. It protects you or traps like people from demons. Yeah, it's like that. I can gas it.

Yeah, it's 24 hours and you like to cast. You move to the next one. The door to this crypt has no name or epitaph on it. This crypt is empty except for two alcoves in the back wall. Above the alcoves are carved the following words. Pass not these portals, ye foolish mortals. is connected with the hourglass maybe? Hard to say.

So, they all this. This is another crept. I think we just let this one be. You move on to the next. Sir Clutz Tripolotsky. He fell on his own sword. This is the one that gets me every time. It's so stupid.

Sir Clutz Tripolotsky. In the center of this crypt, atop a marble slab, human bones, lime in the empty shell of a suit of rusty plate armor. Plunged through the armor's breastplate is a long sword. There's something sorrowful about this, seeing this form laying here with the blade still wedged in it. It's terrible.

Murdered in his own tomb? He fell on his dungeon. And they buried him with a sword still embedded in him. And it causes a bit of sorrow to you as you look at it. He was very disrespectful. It does. Perhaps we could... Imagine the mage hand could pull it out.

Go on, Professor. Spare him. You're right. This is humiliating. You pull the blade from the armor. And immediately begin to see the form of an apparitioner usual for initiative, please. I'm kidding. But you do see a form appear, slowly weaving its way out of the armor. Shorter than you would have expected.

Long mustache, faint, tapered beard. Jolly good show, chaps! Ha ha! Circlots! Please to meet you. Yes? What? Come on in. Shake my hand.

Are you... Are you aware of your situation? Welcome into my home, welcome. It's a crypt. Come on in. I'll step through and shake a seat. Suclux. Miss Victoria Isaacs

Lovely lovely Suclapalus I'm Professor Clayton Nazareth Mr. Hesler University Suclats Carnas Shepherds This is Chantanette's passed out

I will simply wave Polite wave Yes Great Great to see you How do you feel Much better Now that thing has been pulled

From Miss Semic Can we help at all Can we free you from this horrific But I can help you I will follow you everywhere To the ends of the earth I will fight by your side I will fight for you until the day I re-die.

How do you feel about weddings? Love them. Do you fight at weddings? If I get drunk enough. Would you kill for us? For you, my boy, I would kill everyone. Oh, that's great to hear. We could definitely use you.

Yes. Well, let's go then, and you watch as he walks forward. He is, for all intents and purposes, a phantom warrior, and he will fight by your side until the end of days. What the fuck? That's awesome. Oh. Do we just get a follower? Yes.

Well, what do we do? Do you need any weapons? No, trusty sword, right? Left it in my crypt. He watches, he turns around, walks in, grabs a sword, drips, it goes through him again, but I'm already dead. Pulls it out and convinced him to walk. Okay, all right. I like him alive.

I will fight, he, name, and he points in it, Shepherd. Friend or foe. Oh, they're all friends. I don't even know what to make of this. What was your first name? Clutz. Oh, your first name is Clutz. Yes.

What was your last name? Triplops. Triploski. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. I know someone who has loved. to meet you, but you'll have to give me your sword first. I'll give it to you later when it's

time to fight. For you, you can have my sword. Oh no, no, it'll still be yours. I'll just hold on to it for safekeeping. He hands it to you, but it is now a spectral sword so it falls through your hands and lands on the ground. One in the same as he picks it up. A little bit of a pickle there. Well. We'd better carry on. perhaps you could carry this gentleman that seems to

no no no you're like I don't like that glass never hold that hand my master over so easily think twice why he's just trying to free up your hands for you know whatever

When can I put him in the case This Please when it's safe to open the case I just look at the ghost I look at the ghost It's floating there. I look at like the bat shit Cover Master, the Connusholding. I look at like the staff

of power and how fried everything is and I'm like, I must say I was not expecting any of this. This is a fucking circus. Is the rest of Castle Ravenloff are going to be similar? This is a carnival

of freaks and traps and ridiculous. I don't know what the fuck don't own you. Well, we learned very valuable information just now. Yes, we did. I'm glad we went tomb by tomb. This has been, this is probably the most useful bit of information we've gotten since we've been in Derovia. That is true.

Well, follow along. Sir Clutz. You are now an official member of the Azran Expedition, and don't you forget it? Yes. And you watch as he turns and starts to walk the other direction. This way. Apologize, apologies. Yes, this way.

Fuz, I seek you out. And he continues to walk. You pass a few Crips with no names or their names scratched out. One, you see Clawmarts obliterate the name on the Crips door, but looking inside there seems to be nothing of interest. Werewolves. Do you think she's preparing it? any crypts for us. I think that we would never have

such an honor. She would relish in our death and cast our remains into the ravine beneath Castle Ravenbath. Second it. You make your way to a crypt. Groundwar nimbledogs, wizard extraordinary. Lying on a marble slab in the center of this crypt

is the corpse of a man with a long white beard. His skin clings tightly to his skull and bones and he wears dusty red robes. Clutch to his chest is a wooden staff that has a brass knob on one end and a marble knob on the other. Oh, that does say nimble knobs. I thought it was just a mistake or a smudge.

No, it says nimble knobs. What was that? I couldn't see you. I thought that it said, well, I thought it could be a mistake. I mean, who the fuck's name is nimble knobs? But I thought maybe it was nimble nons, which in fact isn't really much better. But upon his inspection, I realized that it's not a smudge. and his name is, in fact, nimble knobs.

Well, he has two knobs right there that he's clushing. I see. Make for an excellent curtain rod. Can you roll an investigation check for me, please? I certainly can. Uh, 20. Looking specifically at the marble slab that he's laying atop, that he's laying atop,

reveals a shallow concave recess at one end that looks similar in size to the marble knobbed end of Gromor's staff. Are you doing this? Do you see that knob? We will fight the foes. That's a knife. I miss Sir Nick Knob's first name.

I mean Nimble Knob's first name. Grawlmore. Gromore. Gromore. Grawlmore. Grawlmore Nimble Knobes. Wizard extraordinaire. Wizard extraordinaire.

It's like you've never met a wizard, but. It's surprising. You named Professor Azurran. We survive all this in 20, 30 years from now. I find out you renamed yourself Nip-Nops the Great. I'll cue you.

I'll have suffered to hell itself. To have gone down in history has traveled with the Great Wizard Nip-Nops. Friend, is this knave threatening your life? No, this was just how... Shall I smite him, smote him, smitten him where I stab?

The smite is the... Should I smite is the... Right you where I stand. Fucking nimble knobs. No, no, no, he's fine. He's fine. I think he's had a long day. My head hurts. We all have.

Mine does too. We found quite a bit more down here than we had bargained full. I'll rip their... Did you do that? I'll stick the knob in the knob holder. Oh, God. The slab slowly sinks. Ouch.

Oh, I'm sorry. The slab levitates five feet upward, revealing a compartment. underneath. Looking into it, you see it holds a small black leather case containing three spellsholds, cone of cold, fireball, and lightning bolt. Damn. All right, the trifecta. Cone of cold lightning bolt and fireball. Yes. Yes. Oh, that's rather useful. After about a minute, the slab slowly sinks back into place. It's a place we could put the other end. Excuse me? The brass end?

The other. Whatever floats the boat, the core end. Just looking everywhere. Just look everywhere where I think I might fit. For about a minute you do that, you find no place. No, I don't think so. Did you look or did you?

Does that count as a world? Yes. We continue. General Crowball Mad Dog Grislech, master of the hunt, a leader of hounds and men. The stench of brimstone and burnt fir spills from the script. In its darkness, are three pairs of glowing eyes.

But you realize that it's just a reflection of the lanterns that you hold as you stare into what had been the forms of three hill-hounds dead on the floor. Oh, no. Bits of incinerated bone lies strewn atop a marble slab in the center of the crypt. Lying it at the bones or fragments. of a shattered spear with a silvered head. The walls and domed ceilings of the crypt are covered with scorched murals that depict legions of infantry and cavalry clashing on battlefields.

Oh, that's rather sad. You mean those slaying fiends? Yes. I'm a very sweet hellhound, actually. I thought that yours was more of a shadowy, fellish variety than fiendish. Well, all the same. What is, um, no bad hellhounds, just bad owners. Perhaps, perhaps that is true.

I find it hard. Find sadness in these feelings of destruction. If I glance into the room, does this broken spearhead look interesting at all? At first glance, it looked magical to you, but the more that you looked at it, the more you realize that with the casting of a mending spell, you could use it as a silvered weapon, but it's nothing more than that. Let's press arm. Yes. You make your way to Bospholus, the Wonder Horse. May the flowers grow even brighter where he trod.

Dry, hot air and smoke billow from the crypt. Is a black horse with a flaming mane and fiery hooves emerges from the darkness. Smoke billows from its nostrils as it rears up in you. The only time I ever know with this horse. The actual, the horse that we saw before. It's the only time in D&D I've ever known what it is. Shepa, do the thing. Hey, hey, everybody's.

He's not charging it. He's just reared up. Settle down. Everybody settled down. Do that like last same thing you do. Hey, no. We're not having a repeat of Chad, all right? Settle down.

Yes. There you're right. So the horse just kind of like reared up. Yeah, it like reared up because you had startled it. But you watch as it now digs its hooves against the stone and it's blowing smoke out of its nostrils, whipping its mane back and forth. and it's looking at you with its fiery eyes,

but it's making no motion to move forward and attack. It's not like enclosed in anything. It's just chilling. Yeah. I want to like really gently, like with both hands up, like approach it and be like, it's all right. Roll an animal handling. Settle down.

No big deal. I'm going to place my hand on Sheper's shoulder. I'll say, this is what you're made to do, Shepard. I'm going to cast guidance because I realize I have that spell. It's a one before. It's only four. That's that.

That's actually pretty good. 24 total. You place your hands up as you move forward, and there's something calming in the way that you do this. You're not posing a threat. And you watch as Pesephalus, the Wonder Horse, Shradanya's knightman, or trusty steed, bows its head towards you,

giving you entrance to its crypt. Oh, my. All right. Easy. This isn't a normal horse. This is something, I mean, obviously, besides just the flint, I've never seen anything like this before, but I believe that it's okay. Everything's going to be all right,

and we just have to be respectful. It's just a creature, just like anything else. Why don't you go in? It seems to respect to you of feeling the shepherd. Be careful. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I will. I will. Easy.

And if it's granting me... It's allowing you entrance into the tomb. Yeah, I'll walk in. you do you walk in and you see that it is watching you every steps that you make it is watching you carefully but it makes no motion towards you um if i can i just want to like take a look around and see what i can find sure rule investigation 24 again nice looking around you see that there's an area that you can tell that this horse at least rests that there are there's a mural on the back wall

painting of Stradonia astride Bicephalus. But aside from that and a few bones and things in the corner, it's fairly empty. It doesn't look like it's lived in that often. All right. I'm coming back out. I think it's just stables. I really think that this is just where the creature stays. And I'm going to like slowly make my way back out facing the creature

and like, you know, rotating around it and then like, backing up away from it to, you do that, like respectfully and easy, easy. We'll just keep going. Thank you. You don't think it's trapped here, do you? Well, I mean, it's trapped as much as a horse can be trapped here in a crypt, but at least from the condition of its living quarters, it doesn't look like it's well-lived in. I have a feeling that Stradonia probably rides this thing regularly. Well, that's my worry. It is here. She is not.

Well, I mean, we know that she's got business. she said that she was going to be busy preparing whatever ceremony she's preparing. I didn't get the impression that she was leaving the castle. She might just be busy somewhere here in Ravenloff. I thought she'd be. I'm just a guess. She may, but she can probably fly or turn into mist or whatever.

Or bats. Or bats. Yes, exactly right. Let's continue. Well done, Shepherd, with the beast. It is at this point that you now find yourself, standing between two tombs, staring directly in to Stradonia's tomb, looking at it. The black marble steps descend to a dark tomb that has a vaulted ceiling 30 feet overhead. The essence of evil permeates the very air.

The smell of freshly turned earth is here, settled into the dirt on the floor as a shining black coffin of finely waxed wood. The coffin's fittings are of brilliant brass and the lid is closed. south of the coffin are three gloomy alcoves. An iron lever protrudes from the north wall east of the tomb's entrance. And as you look in, so for all intents and purposes, you would not be there. You would be back, back, and then back. Nope. And one more.

That's where you would be standing. Staring down. As you stare down in, you realize that you have made your way through all of the tubes and the catacombs. You stepped into every single one, except for this one. There it is in front of you. As you begin to hear noises. Oh, don't do that. It tickles. No, stop it.

Give her to me, let me bite her. I want to try. She looks so innocent. Yes, she looks so innocent. does. Hand her to me. Now, me first. All of quiet yourselves.

I will take the first night. She's about to wake up. What do you do? Does the lever look like the one that we used on the other end? It looks like a portcullis lever. But like similar to the one of Sergis. Yeah, they're for all intents and purposes

opposites. Go ahead. Does this sound like Stradania's voice? No. That's my question. My hand goes to my revolver. And you can't see where it's coming from. It seems to be around the corner on the inside of the tomb. But it's coming from inside Stradonia's tomb. What do we do?

I've got somebody. We can't just let her die. That's safe. You've got to get that door open quick. The door itself is open. You just saw the lever. So the portcullis is up. Professor on your mark.

If there is someone to save, we should take the opportunity. Go now. I'm going to immediately. behind Joe. Drawing both of the guns, run into the, I'm right behind. The poor culls.

I'm trying my light. Give me a moment. Do a sweet tuck and roll. So who, what's the marching order? I'm in last. Yeah, Sheppelin first, then Tarnax.

And then I wouldn't be behind them, then Clayton, then Victoria. I'm trying to basically not fight. I'm just dodging out. Exactly right. Okay, so I'm sorry. Shepherd and then Kahn is in the end and everybody else is smashed between.

All right. You begin to move in. You hear a soft mulling sound. Whoever this is that they have, these entities that they have, is slowly waking up. And you can hear it. You know you have mere moments to deal with it. Without even considering,

Shepherd, you run forward. And as your foot finds purchase with the stone in front of the tomb, you find yourself disappearing from the area. The rest of you rush forward, Having activated this trap, it is no longer effective for the rest of you. As you find yourself spilling into the room, but Shepard is not there. Where Shepard was is now a floating spectral entity.

A white is hanging in the air above you. It looks confused as it stares down at all of you and begins to screech, drawing the attention of the four entities in the corner. Good luck, my friends. What you see as, As you look around, is a man dressed in brilliant, vibrant purple garb. Blonde hair, his fangs out. A woman in a bright, blood-red dress, a headdress adorning her head.

Another woman, a large gold crown, wearing a beautiful, embroidered wedding dress. And lastly, smaller than the rest, a tiny woman wearing a brown velvet dress, a large necked collar in a skull mask on her face as they all turn towards you holding the limp body of a young girl. They all begin to laugh. As Shepherd, you can hear this up above.

The laster is ringing down at you as you find yourself on soft earth and you look up and you see you were in that pit in the tomb that you'd explored, the 15 coffins all around you, the smell of dank earth. And that is where we'll on this after. This doesn't look good for them, does it? Finally, a fair fight.

Four on four sounds exciting to me. I doubt the cowboy will be able to get himself out of his foolish predicament, and my brides and consorts have more than a few tricks up their sleep. leaves. Will this encounter turn to blows right after a delicious dinner and violate my hospitality even more? Find out in Chapter 17 of Curse of Stradania, malediction. In the meantime, if you wish to watch Legend of Adventress tell similar stories of Dungeons and Dragons every week, you can follow us on Twitch. You can also enjoy our many campaigns on YouTube, support us on Patreon, and join our community on Discord. All links are in the show notes.

We welcome you to our Ventris family.