Act 1, Scene 1: The Death House

Following the events of our prelude, our heroes found themselves unexpectedly enmeshed in the mists of Barovia. Finding themselves with little choice outside of following the path laid out for them, they found the ground beneath their feet changing from a dry desert road to a damp forest path, gradually becoming more defined until they realized they were on a road leading into a town none of them recognized, still as a graveyard, its tall, narrow buildings the tombstones.

Upon entering the village of Barovia, they found only two souls to greet them: a boy and a girl, standing alone on the street, the boy crying wretchedly and the girl trying to comfort him. Our heroes, too soft-hearted to know better, followed the children's pleas to go into their house and deal with the monster inside, who howled horribly from the basement and was the reason they had run outside. Their baby brother Walter, they said, was still trapped inside, and they had no clue where their parents were.

So our heroes began to get to know Barovia, where a child's cries are just as liable to be a trap as a tragedy, and they found themselves ensconced in the Death House, formerly home to the Durst family. While the lower floors seemed recently inhabited, as they went deeper they found that all was not what it seemed, from grim images hidden in the decor to suits of armour and broomsticks that attack when provoked. They found a hidden room, with one of the Death House's former victims desiccated inside, along with evidence of cult activity, and a scathing letter from someone named Strahd von Zarovich.

By the time they found the ghostly crib, they were well aware that all was not well in Barovia; by the time they found the children's bones, their deaths were hardly a surprise. Rose and Thorn appeared once more, their forms ghostly now, seemingly with no memory of the trap that had lured our heroes inside in the first place. After a few failed attempts, Sylvain Vanborin permitted Rose Durst to possess him, and Bodaway unwillingly took on the spirit of her younger brother, both men unwittingly taking on some of the sibling's defining qualities.

After a battle with a specter — the murdered nanny of the Durst family, who had likely birthed the stillborn son Gustav had lamented to an unsympathetic Strahd — the group made their way down via a hidden staircase into the bowels of the Death House, to confront whatever monsters slept there, and so free themselves.

Sylvain suffered several brushes with death, first from the specter, then from a pit trap. The group explored, finding utterly unsurprising evidence of cult activity, and resisting the urge to touch several objects that probably would have tried to kill them if they'd chosen otherwise — or hey, maybe one of them was a "Get Out of Barovia Free" portal, who knows?

Finally, after one uneasy long rest, they made their way to the source of the chanting that had been echoing around them since they descended into the Death House's dungeon: a vast chamber, steeped in foul water, with some strange altar at its center. When they went to the altar, the chanting changed, and shadowy figures appeared, intoning that ONE MUST DIE. Refusing to heed the Death House's demands, the group attempted to leave, and found itself enmeshed in a battle with a horrifying creature, part-putrid-flesh, part-rotting-vegetable-matter, which nearly took out two of their number in an attempt to absorb them. Eventually, the thing was defeated, and our heroes returned above ground in search of freedom.

Unfortunately, they quickly discovered the Death House doesn't take kindly to loopholes, and they found themselves in a smoke-filled den, its doors replaced with swirling scythes, a mad skittering in the walls discouraging any plans to break through them. Bloody and bruised, they took turns diving between the blades, some of them using magic to help others of their number through. Finally, all five of them stood outside the Death House, clutching what scant treasures they'd acquired inside — some of it mouldering before their eyes in the dim grey light of a Barovian afternoon — having survived the first of what would prove to be several trials.

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