Dead Pretty's Curse of Strahd - Play-By-Post - D&D Beyond General - D&D Beyond Forums (2024)

(from chat)

There is some discussion about the other doors in the Main Hall and Asha, Danu, and Zap are recalled from the stairs. They decide to listen and look through any keyholes, starting from the left and working around.

Asha listens at the first door. There is no keyhole to look through. (Rolled an 18 for perception.) Asha can't hear anything, but... she can smell cooked food.

CQ listens at the second door. There is no keyhole. (Rolled a 15 for perception.) She hears nothing.

Asha moves to the first door... She cannot hear anything, but can smell the aroma of cooked food...

She makes her way over to the next door...

14

This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.

(from chat)

The party decide to open the left most door.

The enter into a wood-panelled dining room. The centerpiece is a carved mahogany table surrounded by eight high-backed chairs with sculpted armrests and cushioned seats. A crystal chandelier hangs above the table, which is set with resplendent silverware and crystal glasses polished to a dazzling shine. Mounted above the marble fireplace is a mahogany-framed painting of an alpine vale.

The wall panelling is carved with elegant images of deer among the trees. Red silk drapes cover the windows, and a tapestry hangs from an iron rod bolted to the south wall.

The table groans beneath the weight of a delicious-looking feast. Exquisite dishes lay on grand platters: succulent roasted poultry glazed with a shimmering honey sauce, perfectly grilled cuts of beef still steaming lightly, a variety of cheeses and fresh fruits, and freshly baked breads giving off a comforting aroma.

(from chat)

"Don't eat or drink anything!" Danu advises.

CQpulls the curtains to look outside and steps back in shock - through the window it looks like there is an earthen wall on the other side of the glass - as if the whole house had been buried. And then she sees the earth wall is moving very slowly.

"I don't like this," says Asha.

Danu looks at the painting which seems fine. Then she inspects the deer among the trees in the panelling,Danu notices twisted faces carved into the tree trunks and wolves lurking amid the carved foliage. Danu then checks the tapestry but, like the painting, there is nothing sinister or hidden in the depicted scene. She remembers in the Main Hall there is wood panelling on the walls ornately sculpted with images of vines, flowers, nymphs, and satyrs.That might be worth another look.

Danu points out the hidden things in the wood panelling and mentions the decorated wood panelling. As Asha has darkvision she doesn't need the light from the torch that Zap is holding and slips out to the Main Hall and inspects the carvings.

On close inspection Asha notices the wood carvingshaveserpents and skulls inconspicuously woven into the wall designs.

I've made a page to collate info about the house so you don't have to trawl through pages of posts for relevant information.

https://curseofstrahd-977.obsidianportal.com/wikis/death-house

(from chat)

CQ moves to open the door next to the dining room door. As a half-elf CQ has darkvision so can see everything well.

This small room appears to be a cloakroomand has several black cloaks hanging from hooks on the walls. A top hat sits on a high shelf. CQ notices an envelope partially sticking out of the pocket of one cloak.

The envelope, which is addressed to Lady Lovina Wachter, contains an invitation. It reads:

Zap decides to explore the door to the east. He thinks sooner or later something nasty is going to jump out at me, so he makes sure Einnob comes with him. They enter a tidy kitchen, with dishware, cookware, and utensils neatly placed on shelves. A worktable has a cutting board and rolling pin atop it and a wooden block holding various knives is here also. A stone, dome-shaped oven stands near the east wall, its bent iron stovepipe connecting to a hole in the ceiling. Behind the stove and to the left is a thin door. Zap opens this to find a well-stocked pantry. All the food appears fresh.One of the shelves in the pantry contains a set of beautiful decorative plates painted with pictures of windmills. One of the plates appears to have been knocked off of the shelf and lies in shattered pieces on the floor, leaving an empty spot in the row of plates.A few inches behind the empty spot on the shelf sits an antique copper pot, its lid slightly ajar. Peeking out from beneath the lid is the cork of what appears to be a bottle of wine.

Einnob looks around with a soldier's eye and notices the largest kitchen knife is missing from the block containing all the knives.

In the front right-hand corner of the room stands a small wooden door set into the wall. The dwarf wanders over and opens this small door and findsa dumbwaiter—a 2-foot-wide stone shaft containing a wooden elevator box attached to a simple rope-and-pulley mechanism that must be operated manually. Hanging on the wall next to the dumbwaiter is a tiny brass bell attached by wires to buttons in those other areas.

(from chat)

After attracting Asha's attention to come support her, CQ heads to the south door andputs her hand on the door handle. As she cracks the door to this room open, she catches a glimpse of something feral beyond: an amber eye that flashes in the darkness, and a bestial muzzle curled into a snarl.

CQ's heart pounds before she realises there is no movement from the creature, as if it is frozen or dead. She opens the door wider, revealing a grey-furred wolf frozen into place. It's only a moment before you realize that it's mounted, some kind of trophy where only the skin is real—and another before you realize that it's not alone.

This oak-panelled room looks like a hunter's den. Mounted above the fireplace is a stag's head, and positioned around the outskirts of the room are two additional stuffed wolves—a large grey wolf and a smaller brown wolf.

Two padded chairs draped in animal furs face a hearth, with an oak table between them supporting an assortment of objects. A chandelier hangs above a cloth-covered table surrounded by four chairs, and two cabinets stand against the walls. A pair of small toys seems to have been forgotten beneath one of the chairs.

(from chat)

CQ checks west cabinet, and Asha the north cabinet. The north cabinet is locked.

The west cabinet is unlocked and CQ finds holds a small box containing adeck of playing cardsand an assortment of wine glasses. This cabinet also contains a mounted piece of child's needlework that depicts a boy and girl holding the hands of a young woman, alongside clumsily stitched words that read FOR MISS KLARA. The young woman's face has been slashed and cut out.

Asha rolls 21 on using thieves' tools on Game Log.

Asha pops the drawer open after a short timeusing a small crowbar from her toolkit and does hardly any damage to the cabinet.

This cabinet holds aheavy crossbow, alight crossbow, ahand crossbow, and 20boltsfor each weapon. There are three silvered crossbow bolts for each weapon in addition to the mundane bolts.

Einnob stomps back into the Main Hall and glowers at the grandfather clock.

"It's been 20 minutes already and we found f*ck all!" she bellows, glaring around as if daring monsters to come out of the woodwork. "Let's git upstairs and find something worth findin'! Who's comin' with me?"

She takes a few steps up the stairs, looking behind to see who has her back.