07/10/2020 – Vampyre in the Undercrofts (4)

06 September 1798

Slow Morning

The next morning they are exhausted. Juan is in pain and has bad dreams about being chased by packs of wolves.

It is lunch time by the time they head downstairs. There are more villagers in the bar today, all of whom give them odd looks. They have a big lunch and consider what to do next.

Juan wonders how credible the information they got from the Vistani is and Ruben is doubtful. They would like to get more information from this village before moving on to the next town.

Enzo points out everyone is weird here. Juan says they are afraid, intimidated or bribed. They are not sure whether to do what Strahd has asked.

Sid

They ask their new ex-slave companion his name, but he does not remember. He just remembers being tortured and they can see signs on his hands and body. They ask what name he would like to use and he asks what a hero’s name is. Juan ends up naming him Sid, after the Spanish hero El-Sid.

Sid asks how they can escape these lands, but they do not know. Perhaps the only way is to do what Strahd wants.

They resolve to investigate the local church, as it is likely to be a source of information. They head to the north of the village, where they can see an old church.

Old Woman's Pastries

They encounter along the way a large old woman going house to house, carrying a basket to and from a wheeled cart.

She greets them and seems pleased to see them. She asks who they are and they say they are strangers from afar. She is selling pastries and offers them each one. They are dream pastries, they help you sleep.

Juan and Enzo scoff one down and they get a feeling of euphoria. Sid takes one but does not eat it and Ruben refuses, as he is suspicious of her. Ruben asks why Sid has not eaten his and he says he is waiting to see what happens to the other two.

She says if they want any more, she can be found at the windmill on the road to Vallaki. She says the first pastry is free but she will charge for future ones. Juan gives her 10 pennies and takes 6 of them. She gives them the basket and says she will go back to her sisters to bake some more.

The Old Church

They approach the battered old church and see the main doors are slightly open. It is a Catholic church. Ruben does not want to go in, as he does not like priests.

The rest of them enter and see the building is in a poor state. They hear noise from behind a door on the right, but ignore it and head into the main church area. The pews are broken and scattered around. Cobwebs cover everything.

Enzo calls out and a dower looking priest greets them in German. His name is Danovich. He asks why there are more strangers in Barovia. Juan says they are on the run from the Ottomans.

Father Danovich

He says they are safe from the Ottomans here, but they are in mortal peril from the Devil Strahd, whose castle looks down onto them. He says this is a God-forsaken place. He waits for help from wherever it will come from.

He does not know what help he needs though. When the last strangers came, he gained some hope, but they have gone. Last year, a wizard came to these lands. A powerful man with a glib tongue. He led the people against Strahd’s castle, but they all died and now the wizard has gone. He has mighty curly hair and prominent teeth.

My Son is a Vampyre

Father Darovich’s son went with them and he died, yet he is still here. He is in the under crofts, risen again as a vampyre. He craves blood now and he is a monster, locked in the cellar. Darovich does not know how to save him. There is no known cure. He tried making him drinking holy water, but he just screams for days and will not drink any more.

Wolves attacked the church recently when strangers came here, but when they left the wolves stopped attacking.

Juan asks about how Strahd became cursed and the priest tells him because of some past sin over love, the whole lands are cursed. Legend says that vampyres must rest in their coffins by day. Running water and holy water hurts them, but does not kill them.

Papa!!

They are interrupted by the sound of the floor of the church being banged from below and a high-pitched voice calls out for “Papa”. Father Darovich begins to pray before the altar to ignore the sound. Enzo, Sid and Juan join him.

Outside, Ruben has been bothered by the sound of a child trapped under the church, in distress calling for his father. This brings back bad childhood memories and after a while resolves to investigate. He enters the church and goes through the right hand door, behind which is a mostly empty room, apart from a trap door in the floor which is chained and padlocked.

Look for Yourself!

Ruben storms into the church area and demands to know from the priest what is he doing with that child. When Darovich tells him his son is accursed and he is dead, Ruben is disgusted at how he is treating a child and it is clear the child is not dead.

Father Darovich takes a key from around his neck and throws it to Ruben, telling him to look for himself. They head into the room and Ruben unlocks the trap door.

Vampyre in the Undercroft

A skinny, pale teenage boy with long clawed fingers, fanged teeth and red-rimmed eyes bursts out, babbling in Romanian. He seems to be begging for something. Enzo says he is asking for blood.

The boy paws at Ruben’s arm and starts to guide his hand towards his mouth, but Ruben stops him, although the boy is stronger that he seems. When the boy scratches Ruben’s skin and it starts to bleed, the boy becomes feral and tries to get the blood into his mouth. Juan has to intervene to help Ruben, slapping the boy into to corner, where he cringes.

They look in horror at the state the boy is in. Ruben has to concede that the boy is not natural. Juan looks down into the under croft, but there is little to see. It seems fetid down there.

Curse of the Vampyre

Juan dangles his injured wrist over the trapdoor and drips some blood down it. The boy leaps down hole, licking the blood off the steps. They then close the trap door over him and despite his desperate attempts to open it, they are able to chain it back up and padlock it. The boy continues to bang the trap door and call out, but he cannot get out.

They return to the priest and Ruben gives him back the key. Father Darovich says this is his curse. Juan pledges to help if they find out any way to help him.

The Burgermeister is Dead

Juan asks about the manor house and learn it is the Burgermeister’s house. He died recently. His son Ismark and daughter Ireena have gone with the strangers to the west. Ireena has been bitten by Strahd and Ismark wanted to take her to safety.

Wolves attacked the church when they took refuge here and even the Devil Strahd came to the door, but he does not come in. Vampyres are not allowed to enter a residence without permission.

Juan asked for holy water and Father Darovich fills his water bottle from the font. They then leave the church. They are a little shaken by what they have seen and are wondering if vampyres are real, may be all the crazy things they have heard since coming here are true.

A Monster! A Monster!

They decide to head to the Burgermeister’s house, which is on the other side of the village in the south. Along the way, two children come running out of an odd-looking, tall house, pointing to the house and saying in Romanian that there is a monster.

Enzo tells them there is no monster, but they insist there is. The taller girl does most of the talking, while the smaller boy holds her hand, clutching a toy. They have odd looking, dark skin.

They consider what to do, talking in French, which the children do not understand. Juan gives them a pasty to eat, but they do not want to eat it, they just beg for help with the monster.

The Old House

They ready their weapons and head into the house. There are some wrought-iron gates, which are open. Beyond are some wooden doors. They pass through into a hallway, where they see portraits of prominent family members, as well as a shield with a windmill herald. They are an odd-looking family.

They enter a central foyer with a grand circular staircase leading upwards and a number of doors leading off. Enzo opens the nearest door and finds a room covered in hunting paraphernalia, animal heads on the wall and animal skins on the floor. No sign of any monsters.

There is some wine on the table, which they drink and consider what to do. Juan and Enzo are beginning to feel a little tired now. They notice that the candelabra is lit.

Up Stairs

They leave the room and notice in the foyer there is a large family portrait with a man, woman and two children they recognise. The man is holding a baby, which his wife regards suspiciously.

They decide to head up the stairs and find a first floor foyer with a number of doors and the stairs continue up to another level.

They check a door on this level and find some servant’s quarters with a dumb waiter. Nothing to see, so they check the double doors on this level, behind which is a library, full of various books and a writing desk. Ruben spots something wrong with one of the book shelves. He checks it and discovers a hidden room behind it.

Hidden Study

They investigate this room and find a hidden study, containing a collection of occult and satanic books. There is a desk and a chest. The chest is partially open, with a skeletal body hanging out of it. Someone has put their head into it and died, the lid has then closed on them so their legs are sticking out.

Ruben cautiously opens the chest, seeing there is a trap mechanism, which fires darts. It is empty though, as they killed the person whose skeleton now remains. The skeleton has a piece of paper in its hand.

Ruben extracts the paper and has Enzo read it, as it is in Romanian. It is a letter from Strahd von Zarovich to the household, telling them how he despises them. No matter how many people they sacrifice in their dungeon, they are simply worms and he has no intention of relieving them from this fate.

Where did the Children Go?

In the chest are some empty journals and three legal documents. The deeds to this house, the deeds to a windmill that lies east of Vallaki and a will of the Durst parents leaving their belongings to their children, Rosamund and Thorn Durst.

From the age of the corpse, Juan wonders how the children can still be so young. They then realise the children have not followed them and they do not know where they are. They decide to take the documents and then return to the stairs and ascend to the second floor.

The foyer is much smaller on this level, with more small rooms, most of which are empty sleeping quarters. They hear the vague sound of a baby crying from one room and head there first.

Ghostly Maid

In that room they find a nanny’s sleeping room with an adjoining nursery, where the sound of the baby crying is coming from. It is very annoying and Juan enters, seeing a crib with a baby in it. He moves to open the blanket the baby is wrapped in … and it is empty. The blanket collapses and the crying noise stops.

In the nanny room, Ruben suddenly notices a woman in a maid uniform suddenly leap out from nowhere, crying out in anger and rage. There is something odd about her, she has discolouration on her throat suggesting it was cut a long time ago. She is also slightly transparent and her voice seems distant and distorted, like a ghost.

She reaches for his throat. Ruben swings his sword, but it seems to pass through her. She grabs him and her touch is freezing to the touch. Her grip is strong and determined and he cannot seem to get her off him.

Sid and Enzo try to help him, but they do not seem to be able to affect her and when they touch her their hands and weapons become cold. Ruben is just able to twist out of her grip, but she is slowly cornering him.

You Killed My Baby

Juan draws his pistol and shoots her. The bullet goes through her, but the noise shocks her and she staggers back. Ruben desperately tries to get his breath back.

Juan draws his bottle of holy water and throws it in her face. She flinches, but it does not seem to affect her. However, she backs away and just looks at him. She points at Juan and says something to him in Romanian. Enzo says she says you killed her baby.

Juan seems more disturbed by this accusation that he should be and stares at her. She does not attack though and just points at him accusingly. Juan then mutters that when he was 12 years old, he murdered a childhood friend and ran away from home.

Juan then realises that she does not want to cross the holy water that has splashed on the floor. They decide to leave the room at that point.

End of Episode Four