Ep. 7: Felix’s Demon
DnD Curse of Strahd Recap — Mar 12, 2021
Days Spent in Barovia:
- Aashuri & Therean: 5
- Jihyo: 371
Dark Dreams
Last session, our party of three: Jihyo the half-elf fighter, Therean the half-elf bard, and Aashuri the aasimar sorcerer, and Arabelle the Vistana, were investigating the strange necrotic arcane energy they were picking up from inside St. Andral’s Orphanage. It was clear that Milivoj had fallen ill due to a curse, and the children in the orphanage were all suffering mysterious injuries as well.
Going upstairs, the party investigated every bedroom. Aashuri noticed that one of the rooms, which had 5 beds, only had one bed that was clearly used while the others appeared unused. Looking closely at the unused beds, Aashuri found small Infernal runes scratched onto a bedpost on each bed. Aashuri muttered her frustration to herself, but it drew Jihyo’s attention at the mention of the Infernal language. Jihyo would not fully explain how she came to know Infernal, but was glad to assist in reading the runes, which loosely translated to “Dark Dreams.” It appeared that whoever carved these runes used them to influence the sleeper’s dreams at night. Going through all the bedrooms, the party found the same runes carved into the posts of all the children’s beds. To erase the runes from all of the beds, Arabelle and Jihyo used daggers to scratch away at the bedposts while Therean and Aashuri cast mending.
The Nursery
After going through all the dormitories, they party opened the door to the last room they hadn’t yet explored on the second floor. Upon opening, the party found themselves in a nursery containing three cribs, a chest of drawers, and an old stuffed chair. Two babies slept peacefully in two of the cribs. A teenage girl held a third baby and gently hummed an unknown lullaby. Another young girl sat on the floor reading quietly. The party questioned the young girl to confirm if the strange child called Felix stayed in the dormitory with the unused beds. The girl, who said her name was Tessa, confirmed that it was. Tessa was Cedrik’s closest friend before he died. While he picked on the other children in the house, he had a crush on Tessa and spoke with her often. She told the players that shortly before his death, Cedrik stole a locket from his bunkmate, Felix.
Ms. Belasco’s Rooms
Aashuri sensed that there was some necrotic magic emanating from something in Ms. Belasco’s office. The party returned downstairs and quietly broke the lock on the office door. They searched through Ms. Belasco’s desk and through the various files lining the bookshelves on the walls. The bookshelves contained volumes chronicling the many residents of the orphanage over the years. Within the most recent journal was a report documenting that Felix’s parents were both brutally murdered and the killer never caught.
Felix’s locket was found in the top drawer of the office desk and it emitted a faint aura of necromancy. This rusted tin locket was in the shape of a circle with an “X” scratched into the lid. It hung on an old tin chain, and the inside was engraved with an inscription in Celestial that Aashuri translated to the party. It read, “Let darkness hide from the gaze of the light.” Aashuri placed the locket into her messenger bag.
The party proceeded to the adjacent room, which turned out to be Ms. Belasco’s bedroom. While modest in broad standards, this bedroom was quite nice compared to the rest of the orphanage. These quarters were spotless and meticulously organized. The furnishings include a large bed, a wardrobe, a chest of drawers, and a table with two books resting on top titled Toxic Parenting: The Hurtful Legacy of Corporal Punishment, and Beyond the Morning Lord’s Sight.
The party examined Beyond the Morning Lord’s Sight, which detailed simple information about demons and demon worship and it included the barest basics of Abyssal and Infernal languages. Based on handwritten notes found in the book, it seemed Ms. Belasco also discovered the Infernal runes for “Dark Dreams” carved into Cedrik’s bed after his death, and she probably suspected they had some cause in the tragedy.
However, the party was unable to piece the whole picture together and continued to suspect something that Ms. Belasco was up to something sinister. There was one more room connected to the master bedroom that the party had not yet explored, so they knocked urgently on the door. Ms. Belasco answered with shock and outrage, demanding to know how the party broke their way into her private quarters. However, Therean quickly distracted Ms. Belasco with a deception, telling her that Milivoj had stopped breathing. Ms. Belasco rushed out to head to Milivoj’s bedroom.
Aashuri and Jihyo quickly investigated the last room Ms. Belasco had left, which turned out to be a regular bathroom with nothing interesting to find.
Ms. Belasco’s Truth
Upon entering his bedroom, Ms. Belasco examined Milivoj’s condition, but it was immediately apparent that he was still breathing and alive. Therean and Aashuri attempted to continue lying to Ms. Belasco about Milivoj’s condition, but it became clear to her that they were trying to mislead her and she began to interrogate them in return. The party confirmed that the real reason they were at the orphanage was to investigate the strange events that may have caused Cedrik’s death, Milivoj’s curse, and the disappearance of St. Andral’s bones. Therean, who spoke on behalf of the party, claimed that they cared about the children’s wellbeing and just want to know the truth.
Despite her generally unlikable nature, Ms. Belasco declared that she also cares for her children very much. She long ago stopped worrying about being liked in return. As long as the orphans were safe and healthy, Ms. Belasco would give out as many lectures as she sees fit.
Ms. Belasco confessed that she knew something was wrong at the orphanage and she has been doing her best to discover the source of their recent string of bad luck. She believed that Cedrik’s death was no accident and she suspected the mysterious locket on his body was evil.
She also worried Felix was likely responsible for Cedrik’s death and that Felix may not be totally sane. But in her eyes, Felix was also only a little boy and she was not willing to simply kick him out or condemn him to imprisonment at the Burgomaster’s Reformation Center. Since the party had shown similar and heartfelt concern for the orphans, Ms. Belasco shared with them what little information she had gathered.
Leading them back upstairs to the broken window at the end of the hall where Cedrik fell to his death, she pointed out light fingernail scratches on the inside of the windowsill. It was likely that Cedrik resisted Felix before he was pushed out. Since Cedrik’s death, Ms. Belasco stated she has been doing regular rounds of patrol at night throughout the house and she has implemented an accountability system to ensure the children would never be by themselves. For the time being, Felix has been spending his time alone in the attic. Ms. Belasco pointed to the hatch on the ceiling.
The party offered to “speak” to Felix. With the suspicion that something dark and powerful may be at work, Ms. Belasco agreed to allow the party to confront Felix, and promised she would take all the children downstairs to the first floor away from the attic. The party requested that Arabelle also remain downstairs. Arabelle pouted in dissatisfaction, and insisted she could help the party if things went south. However, the party claimed that it was vital that Arabelle stay downstairs to protect the other children. Persuaded, Arabelle followed Ms. Belasco to the first floor, but demanded that the party “better not die”.
Felix’s Demon
The attic was barren of furnishings and otherwise choked with dust and cobwebs. A few random piles of clutter could be seen, but nothing of much significance. At the far end of the room, by the attic’s only window, a small boy sat in a lone chair silhouetted by the incoming light. The party recognized that this was the boy who waved at them from the second floor window the previous day.
As the party approached Felix, they could see that he was busy carving a little wooden doll with a kitchen knife. When questioned about Cedrik, Felix was callous in his response, “I don’t see why everyone was so upset when Cedrik died. I saw his body. He only bled a little bit. My parents bled a lot more than that and I’m fine.” The more they questioned Felix, the more menacing he seemed to become.
When asked about the locket that Cedrik stole from him, Felix declared that he didn’t care to talk anymore. In his agitation, Felix chopped off the head of the wooden doll with the kitchen knife. As the party continued to press him, the light coming from the attic’s far window seemed to dim of its own accord, suppressed by an unnatural, invisible force.
A dark, putrid smoke began to exude from Felix’s skin, wafting from his body as an impenetrable shadow. As the boy’s body slumped forward, the shadow took form, arms stretching out from the central mass in solid, black claws. A demonic face grinned at them, baring rows of razor sharp teeth.
“Mortal ants,” the demon declared in a monstrous voice. “I have seen the shadows of the Great Powers moving through the Dark Seas around this sphere. Your paltry weapons and magics are nothing.”
The demon climbed the walls, staying out of range of direct melee attacks, but the creatures shadowy claws stretched far enough to viciously slash at Therean and Jihyo with ease. The party fought back fiercely, and with each hit that landed, the demon bled inky black blood that smelled of sulfur. However, nothing the heroes did seemed to be effective enough to deal full damage.
Thinking fast, Jihyo fired a warning shot, piercing Felix in the foot with a crossbow bolt and threatened to kill the boy if the demon didn’t stop fighting them. Arrogant and confident in its powers, the demon laughed at all attempts at intimidation. Calling on the demon’s bluff, Aashuri used her shocking grasp to kill Felix as quickly and as painlessly as she could. Once Felix’s body dropped to the floor, the demon’s expression turned into absolute fury.
Although the demon was powerful enough to cut down the heroes in a swipe of its claws, the demon redirected its attention entirely on Aashuri. Making no further attempts to kill, the demon instead focused only on trying to possess Aashuri repeatedly. However, Aashuri’s stubborn personality repeatedly rebuffed the demon. With no other choices, the demon rushed forward toward her messenger bag while crying out, “What have you done? You fools. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” In an instant the demon seemed to shrink into a shadowy stream and returned to the tin locked in Aashuri’s bag.
In alarm, Aashuri immediately pulled the locket out of the bag and opened it. In doing so, the demon was given one last opportunity to possess Aashuri’s body. As foolish as it was, it was fortunate that Aashuri’s dense personality could not be overcome. With no other choice left, the locket closed on its own and sealed itself for good.
The magical darkness obscuring the light from the window cleared away completely, revealing a mess of black blood painting the entire attic floor around them, while Felix’s little body lay on the ground at their feet.
Next Episode: (8) The Feast
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For curious future DMs, the homebrewed story content of St. Andral’s Orphanage can be found here or here. Credit for the content goes to MandyMod on Reddit.
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