Recap
The party entered Castle Ravenloft’s foyer to distant organ music, startled a servant hidden inside a suit of armor, and followed the sound to a grand dining hall where a caped figure introduced himself as their host, Strahd von Zarovich @ 00:19:27–00:42:14. Jacques threw his dinner roll at him; Strahd vanished with a maniacal laugh, and every door slammed shut, every torch went out, and all the food disappeared as the castle’s lights cut out @ 00:43:04–00:45:43.
Searching behind a secret door, Alumbra found a mannequin double of Strahd rigged on ropes and mirrors — a decoy, which Todd set on fire @ 00:51:24–00:53:45. Heading down into a rotting cell corridor, the party was ambushed by skeletons, wiped out mostly by Xarthax’s fireball, and found a colony of “truth slugs” @ 01:08:11–01:43:49. Donnie’s character rejoined partway through. Deeper in, they knocked out a deranged lantern-carrying servant obsessed with “the tower,” cured Donnie’s familiar of a cauldron-induced brain-craving, and found Strahd’s own journal — the cursed Tome of Strahd — hidden under his mattress @ 01:54:57–02:14:51. A trap door dropped Todd and the familiar fifty feet into a flooded dungeon level, where the rest of the party followed; the session ended with everyone chest-deep in black water, stuck on a locked gate guarding a gold chest @ 02:22:33–02:43:09.
Key events
- Todd bumps a suit of armor with someone breathing inside it, silencing the organ music @ 00:31:45.
- The party meets Strahd von Zarovich at dinner; Jacques throws a roll at him and he vanishes, locking down the castle @ 00:42:14–00:45:43.
- Alumbra finds a secret door behind the organ hiding a rope-and-mirror Strahd decoy, burned by Todd @ 00:51:24–00:53:45.
- Xarthax’s fireball wipes most of a skeleton ambush in a rotting cell corridor @ 01:19:21–01:22:17.
- The party finds and takes magical “truth slugs” from the cells @ 01:34:47–01:43:49.
- Jacques knocks out a deranged lantern servant and loots his lantern and keys @ 01:56:11–02:07:17.
- Donnie’s zoog familiar drinks from a cauldron of disembodied zombie heads and develops a brain-craving, cured by Remove Curse @ 02:04:20–02:08:49.
- The party finds the cursed Tome of Strahd hidden under the mattress in Strahd’s personal chamber @ 02:09:47–02:14:51.
- A trap door drops Todd and the familiar fifty feet into a flooded dungeon level; the rest of the party follows @ 02:19:49–02:35:49.
- Session ends with the party stuck on a locked gate guarding a gold-filled chest @ 02:31:28–02:43:09.
Entities referenced
- NPCs: Strahd von Zarovich (and his decoy mannequin), the lantern servant, the zombie heads
- Places: Castle Ravenloft — the dining hall, the secret puppet room, the rotting cell corridor, the cauldron room, Strahd’s personal chamber, the flooded lower dungeon
- Items: Tome of Strahd, truth slugs, the lantern servant’s keyring, the treasure chest (unopened)
- Quests: Defeat Strahd (started), Escape the Mists (started)