Session 19 — The Coffin Had Your Name On It

Session 19 — The Coffin Had Your Name On It

Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf exploded into confetti and produced an envelope. Inside the envelope was an invitation from Strahd von Zarovich, who would like the party to come over to his castle, which is a trap. The party noted it was probably a trap. They also received a raven-delivered note from Father Lucian Petrovich warning that Ireena Kolyana has drawn Strahd's attention again and that Vallaki is no longer safe after dark. The party accepted that the raven postal service is more reliable than the one in the exploding head and agreed to make urgency one of their priorities once they finished doing other things first.

What Happened

The party returned to where Davion and his family had been camping in the woods. There was a lot of blood, a lot of digging, and no Davions. Merich checked the tunnels and found a hunting knife with dried black blood and a weather-stained map of the road between the winery and Castle Ravenloft. Brother Moro checked the body of the late Shia LaBeouf and found half a coil of hemp rope and two bear traps. Sable Burrowbane checked the campfire and found four torches wrapped in oilcloth and a lantern with oil still in it. Celeste checked the tents and found a blood-soaked journal — mostly illegible, written by someone young who had noticed the ravens, and whose final entry was "there's something moving between the trees" — and a small sack containing 14 gold. The group agreed this was sad and moved on.

Van Richten's Tower produced Rictavio, who was standing in his own room looking like a man who had expected to be alone. Stanley experienced profound emotional conflict and resolved it by greeting both of them and then showing Merich his stomach. This was the most important thing that happened for several minutes.

Rictavio introduced himself as Rudolph van Richten. The party expressed no surprise. Merich attempted to explain the Sun Sword's current location using a story involving camel-riding halflings and a rebel spy arrangement. He rolled a 1. Esmeralda called him full of shit. He switched to persuasion, recovered, and the conversation proceeded.

Van Richten confirmed his backstory — his son Erasmus was sold to vampires by the Vistani, turned into vampire spawn, and staked by his own father — and expressed considerable personal investment in the project of killing Strahd. He said this with the exhausted professionalism of someone who has been explaining it for a long time. He acknowledged that the Sun Sword, which Merich was holding in a way that failed to look casual, appeared to be his sword, which Merich had found. He did not make a formal claim. Esmeralda negotiated by confirming that it was good the sword was in competent hands and that Merich should perhaps not bring it up again.

The party described the situation with Ireena and the letter from Strahd. Van Richten opined that Strahd's dinner invitation was more likely an opportunity to break their spirits than their bodies. He confirmed significant knowledge of the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind — its history via the paladin Lugdana, its use against vampire nests, its disappearance from the high priests of Ravenkind — and expressed serious interest when the party mentioned potentially knowing its location.

The party discussed their options: go see the knights of the Order of the Silver Dragon at Argenvostholt to get the Holy Symbol and a potential ally, go back to Vallaki to check on Ireena, or go directly to Strahd. The consensus was that going directly to Strahd was inadvisable and that having more than zero weapons capable of affecting him was a sensible precondition. They took a long rest and leveled up to level 8.

The next morning, Van Richten produced a hat from his pack. His face changed to a younger, different-looking man's face. He requested that they not refer to him as Van Richten while he was in disguise. The party immediately named him Joey V and maintained this for the rest of the session. He seemed to accept this in the way that a man accepts something he has no power to change.

The party loaded into the wagon — which Brother Moro confirmed now magically displayed the phrase "pussy wagon" and a sign reading "if this wagon's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'" — and set out southwest toward Argenvostholt, the seat of the Order of the Silver Dragon. Merich discovered that his level-8 abilities included speaking with animals and had an uncomfortable conversation with Stanley, who was purring with the unbridled satisfaction of a creature that has been adequately scratched.

Argenvostholt jutted out of the fog above a high promontory: fairy-tale cones on the turrets, sculpted battlements, a third of the structure collapsed, the rest intact, a dark octagonal tower rising above everything, wolves howling in the woods below. Out front stood a ten-foot granite cube with a moss-covered silver dragon statue on top, wings folded, looking east toward the mansion. The dragon statue, upon detecting someone on the landing, opened its mouth and exhaled a sixty-foot cone of harmless cold air. It closed its mouth. Nobody was harmed. Sable noted this was better than what usually happens to her at doors.

The front door opened unprompted when knocked. Inside: grand staircase, stone balconies, six sets of double doors, three alabaster busts of handsome men on marble pedestals, a fourth bust knocked over and shattered on the mosaic floor, two chandeliers shaped like iron spiders. As the party entered and looked around, a great winged shadow moved across the walls and disappeared. Something hissed in the dark.

Brother Moro announced loudly that they were there on the recommendation of Sir Laszlo Dornick. Dead silence. Outside: hoofbeats, wagon wheels on gravel, a thud, stumbling, liquid hitting stone. A Vistani man outside was relieving himself on the dragon statue. He untethered his horse from the cart, looked at the party, said "hi," and rode away, leaving the cart behind.

The cart contained a plain wooden coffin. The coffin had a name on it. The name was Celeste.

Inside the coffin: three swarms of bats, which immediately went for Celeste in a surprise round, because her name was on the coffin. The party fought three swarms of bats in the foyer of a collapsing silver dragon mansion while Van Richten — who, while they were asking about his character sheet, had cast Cure Wounds on the person whose name was on the coffin and healed her back to full — stood to one side in a younger man's face doing his best. The bats were killed. The coffin had nothing else in it. The DM confirmed this was random. Brother Moro noted that Moro had previously seen himself hanging from gallows during a vision. The bar for being specifically targeted by Barovia is apparently low.

The party split into three groups to investigate the mansion: Merich and Esmeralda upstairs; the Wonder Twins (Sable and Moro) to the northwest ground-floor den; Celeste and Joey V to the dining room and chapel. The Wonder Twins established a Sable-initiated telepathic link, established call signs (Briar Rabbit, Rubber Duck, Mother Goose), and then immediately used it to say the word "over" at each other across a distance of thirty feet. The northwest den had a ransacked room, a sarcophagus with Dutch doors that turned out to be a wine cabinet (the Mage Hand opening it broke the glasses), and a hidden storage room behind a sconce-activated secret door containing five barrels and, more importantly, mold. Sable retreated. Moro investigated the barrels. As he walked past the dead hearth, fire erupted in draconic form, unfurled smoke wings, and said: "My knights have fallen into darkness. Save them if you can. Show them the light they have lost." Then it burned out. Moro relayed this. The party accepted that the dragon ghost was on their side and that the quest description was accurate.

Celeste and Joey V entered the chapel: fractured wooden pillars, a U-shaped balcony, a stone altar carved with a rising sun, tall stained-glass windows (one shattered, fog rolling in), and three armored figures kneeling in front of the altar. Celeste attempted to back out quietly. She stepped on shattered glass. The revenants stood up. Their eyes were burning. Session ended.

Key Decisions

NPCs Met

Locations Visited

Items Found

Loose Threads