The Old Svalich Road (which you have been traveling on) passes through Strahd's do­ main. Three settlements lie on the road like beads on a string: Krezk to the west,Vallaki in the heart of the valley, and Barovia to the east. Strahd has spies in each settlement.

Looming to the north of the village of Barovia is castle ravenloft. It was named after Strahd’s mother in some fashion. Strahd resides there with his consorts and other foul minions.

The vistani have a couple camps and some love scattered in the villages.

Each village has a local leader, in the village of Barovia it is Kolyan Indirovich, the Burgomaster.

There is a mercantile in town, where the vistani are heading and an inn run by a vistana family.

The echoing sobs reach a crescendo and seem to stop a moment, then continue. The a couple of the vistani look at you to see how you react. They continue heading to the mercantile though.

In reply to The Mists (msg # 76):

Ritin: How do these towns exist in the shadow of that castle?
Edwin: ...Are they farms for...him?

Sen: Is the sound of weeping normal enough to not merit comment? Do you know who weeps?
Imondo: *clearly awaiting the Vistani answer*

"Normal enough, but I know such things are not where you come from. I do not know who weeps. There are no shortage of tears. But it is not common to cause any such disturbance."

"Farms? I do not think our lord see it that way, but I do not know. He seems to wish to be absolute lord and ruler over this people. He does, of course, feed on the Barovians."

In reply to The Mists (msg # 78):

Sen: I have many questions...
Ritin: but the weeping demands attention. We are here to help, after all.
Sen: To be continued, friends. We will meet again.

Without a word, and before Ritin can take the lead, Sen moves in the direction of the weeping. The rest follow.

"We will be at the mercantile, then across the street at the inn," (he points down the street)

Your party turns to the right toward the source of the weeping. You can only see a couple houses into the distance through the fog. After a few houses you come upon a two children. Rather than finding a woman weeping, the young boy is sobbing and moaning. As you approach, the girl who appears a couple years older shushes him.

"There's a monster in our house!" She then points to a tall brick row house that has seen better days. Its windows are dark. It has a gated portico on the ground floor, and the rusty gate is slightly ajar. The houses on either side are abandoned, their windows and doors boarded up.

In reply to The Mists (msg # 80):

Ritin: Divine Sense
All: Draw weapons
Sen: What kind?

"We don't know, we just hear its howls."

You don't sense anything.

In reply to The Mists (msg # 82):

Sen: "Go somewhere safer."
Edwin and Sen both cast light, focused on themselves.
Ritin and Imondo take the lead, Edwin in the middle, Sen in the rear keeping an eye on the creepy children as they all move up to the door of the house to listen, test the door, and get ready to move in.

A wrought-iron gate with hinges on one side and a lock on the other fills the archway of a stone portico. The gate is unlocked, and its rusty hinges shriek when the gate is opened. Oil lamps hang from the portico ceiling by chains, flanking a set of oaken doors.

The house is quiet.

When you look back at the kids, they are nowhere to be seen.

In reply to The Mists (msg # 84):

Sen (quietly): Those kids are gone, but I didn't see them go. This might not even be their house.
Ritin: Do you suppose we should just knock?

OOC: If the oil lamps are lit...

Sen: Yes. No sense making our first introduction to the locals a break in.

OOC: If the oil lamps are not lit, and if the house looks to generally be in disrepair...

Sen: Let's look around the outside first.

They are not lit, but it is also still daytime. If you check them, they seem to not have any oil residue. That being said, compared to other houses you've seen, it looks to be in fairly good repair. When you go to leave the portico to inspect the rest of the house the fog creeps toward you obscuring vision even a few feet away. (do you still walk around the house?)

In reply to The Mists (msg # 86):

Like the fog is sentient? If so:

Sen: It begins...Be on guard, let's go into the house
Ritin: What begins?
Sen: We are being toyed with.
Edwin: Steps a little closer to Imondo and says "It could just be a natural phenomenon"
Sen: There is no natural in this place. That is why you came, after all.
Ritin: We came to be heroes. Let's be heroes.

Imondo, then Ritin, then Edwin, then Sen go through the doorway after Imondo checks it for traps and then tests the door. Roll to come.

In reply to SIRE (msg # 87):

Imondo: 10.

Should have done help and guidance. Ah well.

Didn't matter this time.

During the investigation, Imondo nudges a door slightly while checking the seems, and the two heavy, oaken, french doors slowly creak open, not stopping until they bump until the adjacent walls. The doors open into a grand foyer, 10’ wide, 15’ long.

Hanging on the south wall (your right) of the foyer is a shield emblazoned with a coat-of-arms (a stylized golden  windmill on a red field), flanked by framed portraits of stony-faced aristocrats. Mahogany-framed double doors leading from the foyer to the main hall (area 2A) are set with panes of stained glass.

In reply to The Mists (msg # 89):

Sen casts guidance on Imondo and has him search the room. Behind and under things, quietly as can be.

Edwin looks at the pictures for notable details.

Ritin tries to get a peek through the stained glass.

Sen guards their six

You do not find anything noteworthy.

(As far as SOP, who uses what skill to search? Perception reveals data, traps (but not necessary how to disarm), etc. Investigation provides clues of use, how things work, purpose of features.)

The painting look to be fairly good quality. Everything looks clean and dusted. There are oil lamps on the walls, which have oil, but are not lit.

The next door does not appear to be trapped. The rear doors remain open. The mists hover and slightly roil outside the portico.

In reply to The Mists (msg # 91):

Imondo and Sen are Perception guys. Edwin is an Investigation guy. Let's say Ritin is more Perception as well.

We check out the rear door for threats without leaving the house.

You do not detect any.

In reply to The Mists (msg # 93):

Is the back of the house non-descript? If so, we will open the non-trapped door and peek inside

Sorry, there was a misunderstanding, I meant the doors you went through to get in te house are still open and the mists aren't entering or abating. Not the rear of the house.

But yeah, you can skirt the outside of the house, and you find another door on the right side of the house, near the back end.

It is not trapped or locked. It seems to open to a kitchen.

In reply to The Mists (msg # 95):

Would it be easier to say that I want to systematically search this floor of the house before moving to another floor? To me, that means:

1) Listen at an entrance to a room to see if we can hear anything on the other side
2) Search the way into the room for traps
3) Open (if applicable) barriers to the room
4) Visually survey the room (moving Light from one of the two casters, if required)
5) Move into the room and search it for hostile creatures
6) Survey the room for noteworthy things, but (given this is someone's property) no rifling through stuff we wouldn't be able to see if we were an acquaintance
7) Move on to the next room

I would do either a left-hand or right-hand rule (like a maze) to search the house. The only wrinkle would be keeping an eye out for unaccounted for physical areas that may represent a glowing red dagger hiding in the walls or a similar secret room.

A wide hall runs the width of the house, with a black marble fireplace at one end and a sweeping, red marble staircase at the other. Mounted on the wall above the fireplace is a longsword with a windmill cameo worked into the hilt. The wood-paneled walls are ornately sculpted with images of vines, flowers, nymphs, and satyrs. Upon close inspection, the paneling has serpents and skulls inconspicuously woven into the wall designs. The decorative paneling follows the staircase as it circles upward to the second floor.

In reply to The Mists (msg # 97):

I am going to refer to the rooms in clockwise order, starting at the southwest corner:

Room 1: Just a foyer?
Room 2: Are those painting on the east wall? Is there anything behind them, written on their backside? Are there secret passages in the wall?
Room 3: If the answers are Yes, Yes, No, and No, then we move into Room 3. Imondo searches the fireplace while Edwin attempts to discern something more about what the carvings are depicting. Sen and Ritin keep watch while they search.

From there, we will be checking Room 6 (Southeast)

*Note, I'm rotating the map to coincide with actual North, etc. Makes the copy/pasta easier.

Yes.
Yes and a shield: "a shield emblazoned with a coat-of-arms (a stylized golden windmill on a red field), flanked by framed portraits of stony-faced aristocrats"

No.
No.

You can't make out a pattern.

Fireplace appears to be normal.



This oak-paneled 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 three stuffed wolves.

Two padded chairs draped in animal furs face the hearth, with an oak table between them supporting a cask of wine, two carved wooden goblets, a pipe rack, and a candelabrum. A chandelier hangs above a cloth-covered table surrounded by four chairs.

Two cabinets stand against the walls. The east cabinet sports a lock. The north cabinet is unlocked.

In reply to The Mists (msg # 99):

Edwin and Sen carefully inspect the wolves.

Ritin checks the unlocked cabinet.

Imondo keeps watch at the door.