Sunny Barovia

  9/20/2022 We’d fought swarms of rats before, back when we first took control of the Manse in Valaki.   It was a chaotic mess with us coming out much worse for wear as a result. But clearly we’ve learned quite a bit in the two weeks or so since then.   As the rats attempted to swarm us, Laz pulled his blade, and it was quickly covered with a greenish flame.   The party waded in and started swinging.   Well, except for me. I hung back just a bit.   I’m not as young or fast as I used to be.   Even Woody took a few swipes with a baton he was carrying.   (He didn’t hit anything, but he looked cute doing it.) They made short work of the vermin, and I threw a firebolt on the odd rat that escaped the initial carnage. As I said, there was a rather ornate, steel door.   As we debated the best way to go through, Oloch walked up and simply knocked on it.   He turned around, looked at our startled faces and said, “I’m sorry, was I not supp...

 9/6/2022 It was difficult to tell the time in this darkened castle, but we reasoned we probably still had a few hours before nightfall.   We continued west through the hallway and opened another set of doors.   This opened into a T intersection, running North/South.   At either end of this short hallway were armored skeletons floating a few feet above the door.   Having been fooled once, we took a closer look before attacking.   Sure enough, they were actual skeletons in rusting armor, attached to the walls on pegs.   Nothing magical or animated about them.   They appeared to be purely ornamental.   Some decorate hallways with vases of flowers.   Some use desiccated corpses.   I try not to judge. There was a doorway directly across from us (in the “middle” of the T).   That opened back into Strahd’s main audience chamber.   He was still there, seated on a throne at the end of the room.   Lady Wachter was sitting ...

  8/30/2022 After some debate on the subject, it was decided I should try to magically identify the statue.  Laz was kind enough to check the altar for traps (after a fair amount of browbeating) then I cast my spell.  It turns out, this statue offered Protection from Good and Evil to anyone within 30’ of it. It would allow its attuned bearer to cast the Augury spell, cure wounds and strengthen the ability to turn undead.   Silver statue.  Heavier than it looks. I shared this information with the party.  More debate.  After some moral justification combined with flat out wishful thinking, it was reasoned that Strahd wanted us to have this.  Why else would he offer us the run of the castle?  For some reason he just wasn’t able to offer it to us openly.  It might even be an insult not to take it. At this point, I noticed that a prayer book had risen from the floor and put itself away.  Then another.  We drew weapons, ready to...