Session 02 — The Price of Survival

The Death House stops being a puzzle and shows its teeth. The party uncovers the Durst family's rotten inheritance, and Aleric survives the attic only by swearing fealty to Count Strahd von Zarovich.

Pre-Session Recap

The party is inside the Death House — a row house in the woods near Barovia. Two children outside claimed there was a monster in the basement and a baby brother upstairs. The group has entered but is already suspicious of the story.

Session Summary

Opening

The party resumes exploration of the Death House, working through the upper floors. Early rooms continue the tension between the house's cultivated elegance and the growing sense that something is deeply wrong. As they ascend the grand staircase to the second floor, torches lining the walls snuff out one by one, leaving only the fireplace to light the hall. Aleric uses his Dancing Lights cantrip to illuminate the grand hallway. The music room is richly decorated — stained glass, a harp, a harpsichord, alabaster figurines of dancers — but the carvings on adjacent doors reveal children fighting off swarms of bats, not dancing as they first appear. Beauty concealing violence is becoming the house's signature.

Middle

A family portrait sharpens the mystery: Gustav and Elisabeth Durst with Rose (Rosavalda), Thorn (Thornbolt), and a swaddled baby in Gustav's arms. Elisabeth's expression toward the infant reads as scorn rather than warmth. The baby exists in the image but not, apparently, in the mother's heart.

The real investigative breakthrough comes in the study. Daisy solves a letter-wheel puzzle on a locked desk drawer by spelling "LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT," unlocking a cache of documents. The party finds a deed to a windmill, a deed to the row house, the last will and testament, and an iron key. The will names Rose (Rosavalda) and Thorn (Thornbolt) as heirs but does not account for the third child. The legal documents and the portrait contradict each other. One player confirms the children in the portrait match those outside and responds: "This is bad. This is very bad."

Before ascending to the attic, the party explores the music room where they discover deeply disturbing sheet music. Aleric finds four pieces stacked on the harpsichord: "Lullaby for the Hollow Child" with the note "She sleeps so soundly beneath the floor," "Invocation in G Minor" with the word "awaken" in red ink, "The Dirge of Thornbolt" with backwards musical notation, and "Mother's Refrain" ending with the phrase "the song ends when the child cries blood." These annotations suggest a third, hidden child — likely dead and concealed beneath the floorboards.

Closing

In the dusty attic, Aleric uses Dancing Lights to illuminate the space. As he approaches what appears to be a suit of black plate armor, it reveals itself as a living Iron Maiden — a torture device brought to magical life with tentacles of animated blood and countless rusty spikes. The fight becomes a grueling survival crisis. Ria is trapped inside the construct multiple times, taking cumulative piercing damage (1d6+2 per turn). Daisy struggles to free her companions, rolling critically poorly at key moments. Multiple rounds of combat follow, with the party's dice rolls proving catastrophically bad.

Aleric is eventually trapped inside the Iron Maiden and fails multiple strength saving throws attempting to escape. With exhaustion mounting and death saves beginning — Aleric at 2 failed saves and 1 success, one failed save away from instant death — he calls upon his deity for aid. An unknown entity responds but refuses help without binding terms. Before the party can fully comprehend this, Strahd von Zarovich himself appears at the top of the stairs.

Strahd offers Aleric a simple bargain: forsake his original oath and swear absolute loyalty to Strahd, and the Count will end his suffering. With no other options and death imminent, Aleric accepts. He swears by his blood, his blade, and his soul: "Loyalty above light. Blood is power. Rule without mercy. Love is bondage."

Upon swearing this oath, Aleric feels strength course through his veins, all exhaustion falls away, his hit points recover to 1, and the Iron Maiden crumbles to rust and disintegrates. The binding is complete. Strahd informs Aleric that he will call upon his new "faithful knight" again in the future, before departing with a final threat: "I will be seeing you all again very, very soon." He also states: "Don't call me. I'll call you."

The DM announces: "He is not that paladin anymore." The session ends immediately. Aleric's character sheet will need to be remade.

Key Events

• The Durst Portrait — Reveals a baby whom Elisabeth regards with visible scorn, not reflected in the inheritance documents
• Music Room Discovery — Four pieces of sheet music with deeply disturbing annotations: "Lullaby for the Hollow Child" ("She sleeps so soundly beneath the floor"), "Invocation in G Minor" ("awaken" in red ink), "The Dirge of Thornbolt" (backwards notation), "Mother's Refrain" ("the song ends when the child cries blood")
• The Study Puzzle — Daisy solves the letter-wheel desk puzzle by spelling "LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT," revealing deeds to a windmill and row house, the family will, and an iron key
• The Durst Children — Portraits and documents confirm Rose (Rosavalda) and Thornbolt (Thorn) as the named heirs; the baby from the portrait is absent from all inheritance documents
• Iron Maiden Ambush — A living torture device in the attic; Ria is trapped inside multiple times taking piercing damage; Aleric reaches 2 failed death saves
• Strahd's Bargain — Count Strahd appears as Aleric faces certain death, offering life in exchange for a new oath of fealty. Aleric accepts and swears: "Loyalty above light. Blood is power. Rule without mercy. Love is bondage."

Decisions Made

NPCs Encountered

Locations Visited

Combat & Encounters

Combat Breakdown — The Iron Maiden

Phase 1: The Trap is Sprung

• Aleric approaches what appears to be a ceremonial suit of black plate armor against the wall, draped in cobwebs
• Within 5 feet, the armor reveals itself as a living Iron Maiden — an ancient torture device brought to magical life with tentacles of animated blood and countless rusty spikes
• The construct immediately attacks with a flurry of dark tentacles, attempting to trap and pierce Aleric
• Aleric is forced to make a strength saving throw; uses inspiration to reroll after getting a 1, secures critical success (natural 20) on second roll, pushing away from the construct's grasp
• Aleric attempts a Mighty Deed to jam his longsword between the construct's closing doors to prevent it from shutting
  • Barely succeeds (rolls 3 on d3)
  • Attack roll to place sword: misses
• Daisy performs a Mighty Deed with her mace
  • Successfully strikes the creature
  • Uses bonus action to push it 5 feet back toward corner with her horns, acting like a bull charging
• Ria moves to attack but her weapon strike misses
• Iron Maiden attempts to entrap Ria
  • Ria fails strength save and is pulled partially inside construct
  • One arm remains free; body is pierced by rusty spikes
  • Takes 1d6+2 piercing damage (4 total) at start of each of her turns while inside
  • Becomes incapacitated due to being pinned inside

Phase 2: The Grueling Middle Rounds

• Daisy continues attempting to pry open the Iron Maiden's doors to free Ria
• Aleric tries various attack approaches
• Ria remains trapped for two full rounds, taking repeated damage
• Daisy eventually lands a successful strike and applies pressure
• Combination of Daisy's help action and Ria's own escape attempt allows Ria to be pulled free
• Aleric moves Dancing Lights inside the construct to illuminate interior, revealing dripping blood that has come alive as writhing tentacles of magical energy
• Ria performs a Mighty Deed to break part of the Iron Maiden, preventing entrapment ability on next turn
• Construct proves remarkably resilient and begins regenerating damage dealt to it
• Aleric's Morningstar strikes are repeatedly deflected or miss entirely
• Creature knocks Aleric's weapon across the room at one point

Phase 3: The Turning Point — Aleric Trapped

• Iron Maiden successfully traps Aleric after he fails a strength saving throw
• Takes cumulative piercing damage (1d6+2 per turn)
• Becomes incapacitated
• Daisy attempts to pry open doors with Ria's help using help action; both fail athletics checks even with advantage (Daisy rolls 17 against DC 17, failing narrowly)
• Over several rounds, Aleric attempts strength saves to escape but continues rolling poorly
• With Daisy's assistance and Ria's support, they eventually succeed with a high athletics check, forcing doors open
• Aleric is freed but sustains significant damage and is brought down to 0 hit points
• Daisy uses Spare the Dying cantrip to stabilize him
• Aleric is unconscious and beginning death saves

Phase 4: The Final Crisis and Strahd's Bargain

• Party desperately tries to finish off the Iron Maiden before it can make another attack that would kill Aleric
• Aleric must make death save at start of each turn (needs 10+ to succeed)
• Any damage dealt to construct can ricochet and cause automatic death save failures for Aleric
• Dice continue to be remarkably unkind to the party
• Daisy rolls critical failure (natural 1) when attempting to strike with hammer, weapon knocked across room again
• Ria attempts strikes but continues missing
• Aleric is trapped again and begins making death saves
• Second death save: rolls natural 2 (counts as failure)
• With one failure already and second failure just occurring, Aleric is one failed save away from instant death
• Aleric calls upon his deity for aid
• Mysterious entity responds but refuses help without binding terms
• Before party can fully process, Count Strahd von Zarovich materializes at top of stairs

Phase 5: The Pact with Strahd

• Strahd approaches the Iron Maiden and addresses Aleric directly
• Offers bargain: forsake original oath to deity and swear absolute loyalty to Strahd; Count will end suffering and save Aleric's life
• With no other options and death imminent, Aleric accepts terrible bargain
• Strahd commands Aleric to swear by blood, blade, and soul
• Strahd presents the words of new oath to recite: "Loyalty above light. Blood is power. Rule without mercy. Love is bondage."
• Aleric speaks these words, fundamentally renouncing original oath and binding himself magically to lord of the land
• Upon oath completion, Aleric feels strength course through veins
• All exhaustion falls away
• Hit points recover to 1
• Iron Maiden construct crumbles to rust and disintegrates into powder
• Binding is complete
• Strahd delivers final message: he will call upon his new "faithful knight" again in future to serve purposes
• Strahd turns and descends stairs with parting threat: "I will be seeing you all again very, very soon"
• Final statement: "Don't call me. I'll call you"

Outcome: Iron Maiden destroyed after brutal multi-round combat with catastrophically poor dice rolls; Aleric now magically bound by oath to Count Strahd von Zarovich; character sheet requires remaking due to fundamental transformation from righteous paladin to oath-bound servant of Strahd

Loot & Rewards

Memorable Moments

"He is not that paladin anymore."

— DM, after Aleric accepts Strahd's oath

"Loyalty above light. Blood is power. Rule without mercy. Love is bondage."

— Aleric Shaw, swearing his new oath to Strahd

• "This is bad. This is very bad." — The party's reaction after confirming the portrait children match the children outside
• The Music Room Carvings — What look like dancing children are actually children fighting off bats
• Elisabeth's Scorn — The portrait's emotional detail reframes the family from tragic to poisonous
• The Sheet Music Horror — Deeply annotated pieces suggesting a dead child hidden beneath the floorboards
• The Death Save Tension — Aleric reaches 2 failed death saves inside the Iron Maiden, one save away from instant death when Strahd appears
• DM's Pronouncement — "He is not that paladin anymore"
• Strahd's Exit — "I, Count von Zarovich, will be seeing you all again very, very soon" and "Don't call me. I'll call you."

Plot Threads

Threads Advanced

• Death House Mystery — The Durst family's public image is cracked open; portrait and inheritance documents contradict each other
• The Children Outside — Confirmed to match the portrait; their story is now deeply suspect

Threads Opened

• Aleric's New Oath — Sworn to Strahd; paladin identity, alignment, and mechanics will change
• The Unnamed Baby — Present in the portrait, absent from the will; likely central to the house's horror
• The Windmill — Property deed places it west of Barovia village; a future destination

Threads Unresolved

• What is in the basement of the Death House?
• Who or what are Rose and Thorn really?
• What happened to the baby?

PC Highlights

GM Notes