Campaign Recap; Ravenloft #2 (part 2)

So we stopped, right? Right when the PCs were about to go retrieve the 23K SP that they left hanging in a tree in session #1.66, and while my eldest child pointed out the poor chance for a hiding place, it took someone else to wonder how they managed to get the money up a tree in the first place.

Er. Well. Hmmm. Answer to that will win a "No Prize".

So they went back to the silver, since Darrien was busy actually doing work (SUCKER!), Josh decided to climb the tree and get the silver. He grabbed the bag and set off a bear trap. He then failed his climb check to stay in the tree. In all he took 23 some damage from the trap and the fall. So Darrien went to undo the trap, and took 3 damage from the roll of the 1.

So Po's paladin finally got everyone out. The worg mentioned that Varikov the trapper, Strahd's gameskeeper, is the only one allowed to use bear traps in Barovia. So they left to go find Varikov. The trapper lived in cave underneath a waterfall. Cliche, but the adventure is from before the cliches became cliches.

So wandering up the path to the cave, between the river and the cliff edge, the PCs saw a pack of rival worgs. So the Josh's Druid dropped his ever favorite entanglement spell. The rest of the worgs and their Dire Wolf alpha were handled pretty easily by the rest of the party. Then things went bad.

Po decided that his Dire Boar bounded mount was powerful enough to power through the entangled area. It was, unforunitly, it hit a beartrap. Po made his ride check to stay in the saddle, but failed his handle animal check to keep the boar undercontrol. So the Boar charged forward, and hit another bear trap. Yet again, Po made his ride check to stay in the saddle. However, the Boar failed its reflex save to stay on the path and plunged into the water.

So let's review. Po gave his character a nice lithe weight of 115 pounds (you can tell we play a fantasy game!), then add on 50 pounds for full plate, 15 pounds for the large steel shield, 30 pounds of saddle, and a rough estimate of 50 pounds of extraneous gear. A grand total of 260 pounds on top of the boar. Using the standard -1 for every five pounds of gear it would normally be a -52 to the roll. The pool was a DC 15 challenge since it was churning water. We didn't do that. Po sent the boar back into its pokeball. Then he started to drown.

A few rounds later, the worg saved Po's life, thus earning his eternal gratitude and trust. Or, maybe not, this is Po we are talking about. After all, his PC in the Plague world campaign went evil and practically betrayed the group. Well, ran away at a critical time. So his trust is er, Lackadaisical. So we'll see.

So the group regrouped and plotted. They sent Tom the Sorcerer's weasel familiar in to scout out. It rolled really well and was not spotted. So they planned well. Wellish. Poorly. It SEEMED like a good plan. Darrien the Black Bear Rogue was to go in first and then followed by Po and then Josh. Then last would be Tom, far from line of fire.

It worked really well until I told them to roll move silently. Naturally Darrien made the roll, and Po failed.

The first few rounds the PCs moved cautiously since Josh had the only source of light. The Trapper was a dwarf and had no need of a light source. He cut down a rope bridge thus forcing the PCs to go around another direction. Then Darrien walked over a pit trap. He managed to make his reflex save and jumped to the other side. He yelled back to the other side about the pit.

Po decided to give Darrien a hand, since the Black Bear Rogue is still lower level then the rest, and would probably need the help. However, he failed his jump check with a natural one. Turns out the pit trap was actually a slide trap, and he slid out of the cave, back into the pool of water under the waterfall. Then Josh decided to make the jump, and also failed (but not critically). Then I told him to make a reflex save to avoid hitting Po. He then got the natural one. So he landed head first on Po's helmet. Fortunately, he made the fortitude save to not be knocked out.

So then the next turn, Darrien ripped apart the trapper's pet wolf, and Tom easily made the jump check over the pit. Both Josh and Po failed their swim checks. The Worg got in the water and tried to save Josh. Passed its swim check, but failed its strength check. Josh, also playing a female, took a more realistic weight.

The next turn, the inside squad finished everything else. Darrien ripped into the trapper, and Tom finished it off with a lightning bolt. Outside, Josh decided to just use Wild Shape to turn into a freshwater dolphin. The two of them tired of the water, decided to go back to the village via the river.

Tom and Josh, assuming that everyone else was dead (in character), left the cave and headed back to the village via the road. Along the road they met Countess Sasha Illicanova who asked them to escort her to the Vistani gypsy camp. Which they did. Although Tom seemed to catch the Lady's eye, being the only viable male in the group, especially since the other male is a bear.

Josh and Po managed to make it back to the inn in the village, but did not have a nice night. During the night, the zombie defenses failed, and some of the zombies got into the inn. Ismark the Lesser, the son of the deceased burgomaster lead the peasants that had been hiding in the inn away. The NPC paladin, the Po PC paladin, and the Josh Druid managed to combat the zombies, until a woman appear along the rooftops and taunted them and threw a tanglefoot bag at them.

Afterwards they regrouped at the inn's stable, wondering where the worg was, only to find him in the hay loft foaming green from the mouth. The NPC paladin used some ipecac on the worg and saved it, only because Po told her that the worg had saved his life and he owed him. The next morning they set out to the Vistani gypsy camp to hopefully find a cure for the poisoning and met up with the rest of the group.

End of Session...