19/01/2024 'Glass the baby!'

In the sacrificial chamber under the Durst Manor, the party found themselves face to face with a grotesque being of rotting flesh stumbling towards them in the thigh deep water.

Glancing over the monster trudging toward them, Francesco notices a small shape barely visible in the creatures chest. A baby. Assuming that the sickly drained baby is Walter, Fransesco alerts the party to his discovery as Summer and Abe charge in on the creature! The two manage to knock the monster on it's back as Tariel joins them in the close combat. 

Slade begins to shoot arrows at the creature, aimming for the dangling baby form as Torbin joins him on the elevated position overlooking the battle below. As the creature rises up and begins to lash out, Abe and Slade feel a wave of horror and fear wash over them both. Slate is overwhelmed by the fear, causing him to pass out. With Torbin aiding the Rogue, the four below continue to attack the monster.

Abe is struck down by the large fists of the monstrosity, Francesco coming to the Rangers aid as Summer holds the baby within the monster in place for Tariel to cut the baby free from the flesh monsters body with her Spear. 

As the hideous monsters body breaks apart into the water of the chamber, the chanting goes silent for the party to hear a voice ring out through the chamber. 'They will not depart alive' 

Slate attempts to strangle the undead baby Walter, but the horrific images he saw earlier spook him and make him drop the baby. Tariel grabs the baby and dunks it under the water, pinning the weak baby under the water before decapitating it. 

Seeing Fran having trouble tending to Abe, Summer helps the Bard get Abe to his feet so they can leave the chamber. As the party begins to leave the room, rats begin pouring in through drain pipes to feast on the meaty remains of the monster. The party begin running back through the basement, coming across the remains of Lancelot the dog being chewed upon by a ghoul. Out of frustration, Torbin attempts to attack the ghoul before it flees. But it gets away... 

Tariels divine sense picks up that there are at least 4 undead beings around the area. 

Heading back to the spike trap Summer 'found', the party find a ghoul had gotten stuck inside it. Abe decides to shoot the ghoul until it dies before the party jumps the gap. 

Once the group cleared the trap and got back to the rooms with the well, they quickly use leftover beds and barrels to barricade themselves inside so they can take a break. 

Seeing Summer was unwell from the sick water she had to swim through during the fight in the chamber, Francesco gives her a potion he picked up that seemed to cure her immediately. 

After some sleep, except for Abe and Slate who both had nightmares from their horror visions, Tariel and Francesco begin to lower a barricade as the Paladin tells the group she was visited by the ghost children in her dreams. They had asked her to put them to rest, the three remains in the sacks he was carrying. Suddenly, two ghouls began reaching over the barricade! Tariel used her spear to hold them at bay with Frans aid, eventually slaying the two undead creatures.

The party head to the crypt they found earlier with Walters name on it and sealed his remains inside with Tariel giving the baby a blessing before they closed his crypt for good. After some wandering, the party find the remaining crypt for Rose and Thorns remains.

After completing the ceremony for them to be laid to rest, Tariel felt a divine praise blessed to her which she used on Abe and Slate to cure them of their ailment. As the party continued to explore the remains of the basement, they theorised that the remaining undead creature must be Margret, the ghost maid they met upstairs. 

The ghost of the maid appears before Tariel, hugging her and thanking her for putting her son to rest before vanishing. The party wander into a dining room scattered with bones of both human and animal. On the far wall is a door that Abe spots movement behind. Slate attempts to use a mirror to peer under the door, but whatever is on the other side smashes the mirror. The party prepares to counter attack the creature, using a table as cover while Summer opens and hides behind the door.

As the door opens wide, the Abe, Torbin, Slate and Francesco unleash a barrage of arrows and spells into the Greck that was expecting it's prey to be right in front of the door. After the volley of long ranged blows, Tariel charges in and strikes heavily against the strange reptilian creature. 

The monster was more resilient than she expected as it's strange mouth grabbed her and crushed her with incredible force as it tries to shove her into its mouth! 

Summer leaps out from behind the door and kicks the snark thing in the throat until it coughs up Tariel before the small kobold caves its head in with a drop kick! After that sudden encounter, the party gather themselves in preparation for what else could be below the Durst Manor...

05/01/2024 - Small Critters = Big Problems

Tariel joins the party in the attic of the house while Slate heads downstairs to ask the children about the locked door in the attic.

Searching through the ring of keys Francesco found, Tariel manages to open the large locked door to find a children's bedroom. In the center of the room lay two small bodies curled against each other in embrace, the remains of the two Durst children they met outside.

While Tariel begins to pray over the children's remains, Summer starts rummaging through an old toy chest while Torbin and Francesco examined a dollhouse.

Summer is spooked by the ghost of the little boy as he tries to snatch the toys Summer found away from her, but his hands keep passing through them.

Summer starts putting the toys back, but not without teasing the child.

Francesco and Torbin are intercepted by the ghost of the young girl, Rose, as she's worried they'd wreck her dollhouse.

After Francesco convinces her that to show her the dollhouse, she tells him that it's a replica of the house they find themselves inside.

As Abe joins Torbin and Francesco at the dollhouse to look at it more closely, Rose tells them about how her Mother had locked them in their room the night they were going to deal with the monster. Apparently there were other visitors coming to the house that night to help, but Rose and her Brother were left in their room where they starved to death...

Rose asks the party to take her and her brothers remains to the burial grounds of the family.

Tariel uses her Divine Sense to see what she can pick up in the house, only to be blinded by the evil around her: the entire house.

As she comes to that realization, the party feels a shift in the house followed by a cry from downstairs.

Abe and Tariel gather the remains of the children while the rest of the party raced downstairs to find the windows and doors leading outside the house were barred shut with Slate unconcious on the floor of the main hall.

Francesco helps Slate up when Abe and Tariel catch up.

As the party discuss their next step, they notice a strange door had opened to reveal a staircase that seems to run all the from the top floor to below the main floor.

With Abe leading the way, the party climb the stairs down into a stone corridor. The place looks ancient with winding tunnels leading in different directions. Abe leads the party down one passage, but Summer pokes her head into a side passage to spot two Crypts that had been left ajar.

Torbin and Summer slip inside the crypts to find that one belongs to Walter, the baby the party came into the manor to find, and the other was left unnamed...

Abe and Tariel enter a room that appears to have been a makeshift sleeping area.

While investigating a bed, Abe is attacked by a swarm of bugs that bite into his flesh as he flails around and falls over.

As Abe cries out, Tariel attempts to ward off the bugs with her flaming torch.

Hearing the cries from Abe, Summer bolts into the room and starts kicking Abe in an attempt to kill the bugs. Francesco, Torbin and Slate follow in, helping debug Abe before they continue onwards.

Torbin leads the party into a chamber with a well in the center with several bedrooms detached from the area.

After breaking into some of the chests of the rooms, the party find some old articles of clothing, coins in a pouch fashioned out of human skin, a hairbrush with silver brush hairs, an elixir of healing and 3 argot stones.

Seeing Abe's strange bite marks he received from the bugs, Tariel heals the wound and removed the negative effects it was having on the ranger.

While the party was exploring the bedrooms further, Summer wandered off into a new passage and fell into a spike pit-trap, barely calling out to the party before she fell in and began bleeding out.

With the combined efforts of the party, the manage to pull their Kobold... companion(? pet?) out of the pit and heal her up.

While patching up their mini-monk, the party hear chanting coming from the passage Summer found.

Deciding to investigate, Fran, Summer and Torbin jump over the spikes before helping Tariel and Abe from falling into the trap with some rope planning.

Following the chanting, Francesco believes they're saying 'He is the ancient, he is the land' over and over as the group arrives at a barred gate showing a shallow pool of water surrounding some strange altar in the center.

Unable to see how to open the gate, the party try another passage that leads to some kind of prison overlooking the pool room.

After Fran jumps down into the water, the chanting suddenly stops.

While Fran and Summer fail to try to open the gate now that they're on the other side, Tariels Divine Sense reveals that the altar in the center is radiating with evil energy...

The whole party gets involved in opening the gate, eventually getting it open for Torbin and Summer to get through while the others crawl under.

Seeing as the water is too deep for her, Summer climbs onto Abe's shoulders to explore the rest of the room.

Torbin, with Lancelot the dog in tow, climbs onto the altar while the rest of the party is spread out over the room.

Suddenly figures appeared in the viewing areas above, chanting 'One must die' over and over.

The party began discussing using Lancelot as the sacrifice, Torbin began dragging the dog away in an attempt to keep him from harm.

The voices of the figures change as they call forth a demon to slaughter the party.

In the tunnel Abe and Summer stand next to, a large fleshy form begins to emerge and enter the chamber...

15 December 2023 - 'I use a ghost for home defense, just as Strahd intended'

After investigating the body they found near the boarder walls, the party decide to head further into the region. After travelling through the fog cloaked farmland for a while, the party comes across a fork in the road:

One oath leads towards a town while the other leads towards a manor on the outskirts of the town.

Debating on which path to take, the party hear the sounds of a crying child coming from the manors direction.

As they approach the manor, the group can hear another voice trying to shush the crying child.

Francesco tries to convince the children that he's friendly but somehow scares them more.

Slate steps up a threatens the kids, Intimidating them into stepping out.

The girl and her younger brother step out of hiding only when Abe introduces himself as a monster hunter.

The girl introduces herself as Rosa Durst and her brother as 'Thorn', children of the manor before the party.

Rosa tells the party that her parents had locked them outside while they fought against a monster in the basement. She worried that her baby brother, Walter, was stuck in the manor when they were forced outside.

The party decide to investigate the manor and make sure the baby and parents are okay, Tariel staying outside to keep an eye on the children.

After Slate pops the front doors lock, the remaining party enter the home. Abe knocks out a family emblem on the wall while looking around the foyer before the party enters the main hall.

While Summer, Abe and Slate look around the hall, Francesco and Torbin enter a study.

Torbin finds it odd that the fireplace is still going while there shouldn't have been anyone around to keep it lit, but Fran is already searching for a key to open the liquor cabinet.

With some help from Torbin, the two find the keys atop the cabinet and open it up. While Fran investigates the drink selection, Torbin uses the keys to open up another cabinet to find a set of crossbows of various sizes.

With drinks in hand, the two exit the study to find the rug in the centre of the room rolled up with Summer and Abe commenting on the strange icons of snakes and skulls found in the art and architecture of the main hall.

Seeing Slade finding the dining hall, Fran comes into just as the pantry is opened while Summer, Abe and Torbin head up to the next floor.

Torbin and Abe examine a family portrait and talk about the mothers look of distain for the baby in the fathers arms, Summer spots movement in a side room.

Heading into the music room with her staff raised like a bat, she finds an old dog hiding under a piano.

Slate and Fran arrive to find Summer staring down the dog, Torbin steals a leg of ham Fran took from the pantry and gives it to the dog.

As Torbin and Fran befriends the dog and Slate starts checking out the other instruments, Summer joins as he enters the master bedroom.

Slate joins the two in the bedroom as Abe comments on how the books on the shelf appear to be nothing interesting.

Slate pulls an odd book off the shelf, the shelf sliding aside to reveal a hidden room with more books and a treasure chest with a skeleton lodged in its opening.

After seeing that the chests trap had already bene sprung by the skeleton, Slate opens the chest to find a single note.

The note mentions the master of the house, Gustav Durst, had a bastard son. Guessing it's Walter, the party remember that they need to find the baby and rush for the stairs with their new dog friend, Lancelot, in tow!

The first thing the party realise is that the place looks dirtier up here, but this is the floor where the children sleep?

Entering a bedroom, Slate notices a mirror is slightly ajar to a hidden room.

As he opens the hidden door, Summer is startled by a ghost woman's appearance as she runs through the bedroom into a side room!

Not believing in ghosts, Summer blames Torbin and Fran for the mean joke before they check out the side room.

Inside they find the ghost woman standing beside a cot in an nursery. Abe approaches the ghost, learning her name is Margret and that the baby is sleeping.

She asks for everyone needing to leave the room so the baby can sleep.

After Summer tries to ragdoll and pretend she's a toy and gets kicked out, Abe sneaks back in to uncover the baby only to find rags in the bundle...

Seeing as there may not be a baby here, the party follows Slate up the hidden staircase leading to the attic.

Seeing a large locked door, the party decide to investigate the other rooms first.

Finding another child's room with a familiar creepy doll, the party find a room where old furniture is kept.

Spying an old chest, the party uncover it and open it up.

After pulling out many bloody sheets, the party find themselves looking at a pile of bones and ragged remains of clothes that look awfully similar to what Margret was wearing.

With this revelation in mind, the party return to the large heavy door as Tariel climbs up into the attic and they prepare to enter...