Ep. 6: Mad Mage & More Mysteries
DnD Curse of Strahd Recap — Mar 5, 2021
Days Spent in Barovia:
- Aashuri & Therean: 5
- Jihyo: 371
The Mad Mage of Mount Baratok
Last session, our party of three: Jihyo the half-elf fighter, Therean the half-elf bard, and Aashuri the aasimar sorcerer, had just rescued Arabelle, a Vistana child from the town drunk, Bluto, who had kidnapped her and nearly drowned her in Lake Zarovich. Before leaving the lake area, the party spotted a giant elk on the northern shore of the lake. Arabelle informed the party that it was probably the mad mage.
With suspicions that he may be the mage who once fought Strahd, the party decided to follow the elk. They discussed whether it was advisable to bring a young child with them to see a potentially dangerous mage, but Arabelle promised she would stay out of danger and not get in their way. Worries assuaged, the party ascended Mount Baratok. It was still early in the morning.
The party climbed above the blanket of fog engulfing the valley and spotted the elk once more standing on a rocky spur about sixty feet away. Suddenly, it transformed into the shape of a man in tattered black robes, with long black hair and beard, streaked with gray. Without warning, the mage shot a fire bolt at the party.
The Drupe Troupe defended themselves against the mage, who spouted nonsense during battle. He seemed to believe they were servants of a dark master who sought to finish him off. The mage cast mage armor, which manifested in the form of a garter belt and lacy stockings on his hairy legs. His black robe looked like any standard wizard’s robe, except for the fact that it opened wide in front of his legs, putting his stockings and stiletto heels in full view.
Although Jihyo was able to catch up to the mad mage to attack him directly, the party struggled to lay even a scratch on him while the mage’s powerful cone of cold spell nearly brought them to their knees. Luckily Arabelle managed to stay safely out of range.
Observing that the party was far from powerful enough to defeat him, the mad mage turned to retreat. Jihyo, upset with the thought that the mage was pitying them, grappled him to prevent him from running. The mad mage seemed amused by the situation and allowed Jihyo to stop him, but he continued to spout nonsense, calling the party fiends and claiming they were sent by vampires. The party attempted to speak reasonably with him, and Jihyo knocked him on the head with the butt of her sword to see if it would cure his madness, but instead the mage only remained confused. It was clear his mind was not fully present.
Plans to Restore the Mage’s Memories
Through some negotiation, the mage confessed that he had cast mind blank on himself, and that there was something he did not wish to remember. Arabelle tapped into her natural arcane talent and sensed that the mind blank spell would last about another 16 hours. She informed the party that a Greater Restoration spell might cure his madness once his mind blank spell ends. When asked where they could find someone who knew such a spell, Arabelle stated there were people she has seen dressed in robes with a rising sun symbol who had the ability to cast Greater Restoration. In other words, a cleric of the Morning Lord.
However, the party realized that Jeny Greenteeth was also likely to be powerful enough to have a spell like Greater Restoration. They formulated a plan to return to the mountain once the 16 hours were up, and then summon Jeny Greenteeth to assist them in curing the mad mage. Arabelle persuaded the mad mage to wait for their return. With the plan in place, the drupe troupe descended the mountain to return to Vallaki.
Ernst Larnak
The party considered returning Arabelle to the Vistani encampment outside Vallaki before doing anything else. However, Arabelle managed to cajole the party into allowing her to remain with them. She had never seen the inside of the town and was eager to adventure with the party, since she believed it to be woven in the threads of her fate. To prevent potential suspicions from the Vallaki guards, the party disguised Arabelle as a Barovian street child and successfully passed through the gates without issue. However, the party could not help noticing that the town guards still kept a eye on them. They sensed that many of the townsfolk were also watching them whiled they traveled through the streets.
As they walked, a grey haired man of ambiguous age wearing subtly fine clothing approached them. The man introduced himself as Ernst Larnak, a servant of Lady Fiona Wachter. His Lady wished to ask their assistance in a matter of great importance; one which has to do with the Burgomaster of Vallaki. Ernst remained vague, seemingly wary of sharing more information while outside the safety of Wachterhaus. After pointing out his Lady’s house to them, he informed the party that they can finish whatever other business they have in town before stopping by the house later to have dinner with his Lady. Remembering Rictavio’s warning about Lady Wachter, Therean spoke with only a vague promise that they would consider the Lady’s offer on dinner.
Returning to Andral’s Orphanage
Despite previously dismissing the issue surrounding the mysteries of the missing bones of St. Andral and the missing children from the orphanage, Aashuri realized that having Arabelle in the party presented an opportunity to infiltrate the orphanage and investigate matters. The party decided they could have Arabelle pretend to be an orphan so that they’d have an excuse to enter the orphanage. Excited about keeping secrets, Arabelle agreed to the plan.
The party asked Arabelle if she had any insight or methods in assisting them to help find the missing children. Arabelle had two raven friends, named Brom and Bray, who were good at spying and she confessed that they were the ones who slipped the scavenger hunt notes on the party back in the Svalich Woods before they encountered the Death House. She assured them she would inform Brom and Bray to investigate things when she sees them again.
When they arrived at the orphanage, the party noticed that the broken second floor window had been fully boarded up. After meeting the headmistress, Ms. Belasco, at the door once more, the party explained that they found an orphaned child named “Belle” who needed a home. Ms. Belasco immediately offered to take “Belle” into the home, but the party insisted that they wanted to make sure the orphanage was safe before allowing the child to stay. Ms. Belasco, confident that they would find no fault with her facility, allowed them to enter.
Arabelle asked Ms. Belasco how the second floor window was broken. Ms. Belasco warned that broken windows happen when children are being unruly and careless. She warned Arabelle to stay away from the broken window for now, as there may still be some glass shards around.
The Children of St. Andral
Ms. Belasco left the party to tour the building on their own while she remained in her office. She informed them that her office and bedroom were off limits, but they were free to examine the rest of the house. She only warned that a few areas would remain closed as some children were still sleeping. The party was surprised that the headmistress was leaving them to their own devices around the children.
They soon discover why there Ms. Belasco raised no issue. The house was quite crowded with children of varying ages, and the older children have been parentified to assist Ms. Belasco in managing the house and looking after the younger children. Upon entering the ground floor living area, the party found the room to be a den of chaos and noise. An older boy around 16-years-old paced the room with a toddler on each hip as he tried to soothe them. Another boy and girl could be seen chasing each other around the furniture. An older girl sat on the couch, reading aloud to four more gathered toddlers.
Hoping to gather some information from the older boy, Aashuri casted prestidigitation to create harmless magical sparkles, believing it would help mollify the crying toddlers he was handling. Instead, the sparkles drew the interest of the entire room, and all the younger children began to assail Aashuri with demands for more magical performances. Jihyo attempted to distract the children by pulling out the Therean doll and making him tap dance. However, the children insisted on more magic. Intimidated by the onslaught of children, Aashuri left the room to cry in a ball on the floor outside the door.
In a final attempt to calm the excited children, Therean got on a table and performed the best possible song for young children, which happened to be the worst possible song for everyone else. So enthralled were the children that the living room became a cacophony of noise and singing. It began to dawn on the older children that they will have to put up with this obnoxious song for the next several months, if the hype for it manages to ever die down.
With the children distracted and with Jihyo and Arabelle keeping them distracted, Therean managed to pull the older boy away to ask some questions. The 16-year-old boy, Marius, informed Therean that an overtone of fear had shrouded the orphanage. Many of the children were feeling stressed and unwell, suffering intense nightmares every night. Much of it began after the orphanage received its newest resident: an eight-year-old boy named Felix.
Shortly after Felix’s arrival, an accident occurred on the second floor. In the middle of the night another boy name Cedrik had fallen out of the second floor hallway window and died. No one was present to see how it happened. Cedrik’s death was ruled an accident by authorities who investigated.
Therean asked if Marius knew a man named Milivoj. Marius pointed to a door and stated Milivoj was in his room, but has been very ill. Marius asked that Therean not disturb him for too long.
Milivoj’s Room
Milivoj’s bedroom was sparsely furnished. The floors were covered with dirt and an old shovel lay on the ground at the foot of the bed. A sickly young man slept fitfully on the bed, covered in sweat from fever, with blood mixed bile on his lips. His pallor was yellow tinged and deathly pale. Drawing from his wartime experience with injuries and disease, Therean examined Milivoj’s condition and was able to determine that his illness was both magical in nature and not contagious.
With Milivoj incapacitated, Therean also searched through the bedroom drawers for the stolen bones of St. Andral, but he could not find any bones among Milivoj’s sparse belongings.
Therean called upon Aashuri’s assistance in examining Milivoj’s condition. Using her detect magic spell, Aashuri was able to sense traces of necromancy magic as if bestowed by a curse. She attempted a lesser restoration on Milivoj, but it had no effect on him.
Aashuri left the room to examine the other children with her magic. Under the scrutiny of her spectacles, Aashuri noticed that many of the children, including the older ones like Marius, showed a series of splotchy bruises on their arms or legs. One particular child had a red, irritated and distinctly inhuman bite mark on her neck. The wounds all faintly radiated the same necrotic magic as what she sensed in Milivoj’s room. Therean asked Marius about his own bruises. Marius didn’t know or remember how he got them.
Marius asked after Milivoj’s condition. Therean told Marius that Milivoj’s illness was not contagious, but it was probably still better to be safe and keep away from him. Marius asked if everyone in the house should wear face masks to protect themselves. Therean informed that it’s always a good idea to wear face masks.
Deeply concerned about the dark magic she sensed, Aashuri called upon Arabelle’s assistance to gather more information. Arabelle focused again on her arcane instincts and sensed that necrotic magic also appeared to be emanating from upstairs.
Next Episode: (7) Felix’s Demon
— — — — — — — — — — —
Wanna Play DnD?
If you are interested in joining one of my games, you contact us or join our Discord server.
