We’re getting back from four days at the cabin where we managed to slip in several hours of tabletop gaming in-between our outdoor activities. Speaking of which, we found morels on our land! So, all in all, a very profitable time indeed…

3 hours session

Castle Xyntillan, by Gabor Lux. https://emdt.bigcartel.com/products

Set in Clark Ashton Smith’s Averoigne

TTRPG System used: Worlds without Number, by Kevin Crawford

Adventurers – Player Characters (PCs)

• Noah (Isaac), crafts stuff, has a repeating crossbow and a magic sword called Scrupulous, Expert lvl 5
• Pierrot (Isaac), caravan hand, dealmaker extraordinaire, Warrior lvl 2
• Monmon (Edmond), has a powerful antique spear, Warrior lvl 5
• Paul Nareff (Olivier), friend and sponsor of the numerous Jean clan, Warrior lvl 5
• Paul-Jean Paul (Olivier), apprentice alchemist, don’t confuse him with Jean-Paul Jean, Warrior lvl 4>>5
• Constant Jean (Olivier), vigorous member of the Jean clan, heavily armored, Warrior lvl 3>>4

Retainers:

• Raymond (Isaac), Man-at-Arms, gruff, vassal of the Comte de la Frenaie, Morale 7
• Raoulet the Pimp (Marjorie), undead pimp with a semblance of life, Morale 12
• Georges (Edmond), militia man, Morale 7
• Valentin (Isaac), shoemaker, Morale 7

Crypt

• Zachary, Elementalist, electrocuted in front of the Anteroom (corpse in castle)
• Pierre-Jean Pierre, ex-monk, clawed to death by a dark monk (RIP)
• Edgar, daytaler, throat slashed by a dark monk, (corpse in castle)
• Charles, daytaler, skewered by a drunken skeleton (corpse in castle)
• Hercule, caravan hand, seized off the raft by the Lake Monster (MIA)
• Pierre Laroche du Rocher, mason, pierced by the Huntsman’s arrows (corpse seized by Charon, RIP)
• Alphonse, crusader, savaged by Count Giscard’s Children of the Night. (corpse in castle)
• Jacques, daytaler, got hit in the face by an Empty Armor’s halberd (corpse thrown in the lake)
• Stuffed Jean-Paul  killed by stuffed animals, stuffed himself, bursted into flames (RIP)

Previous Infractions in the Château:

Eliminated Tristano Malévol the Love-Lost. Eliminated Merlerik the Ancient. Eliminated Aranéa Malévol. Eliminated Runcius the Dark Man of the Woods. Eliminated Countess Maltricia Malévol (+1)

Smoked the Ruined Quarters: 1/2 Angered a werewolf washwoman: 1/2 Stole the Reliquary of Bygone Kings: 1 Failed to convince Jean-Honoré the butler of their lies: 1/2 Stole a treasure chest full of gold from the Lake Grotto treasury: 1/2 Interrupted Runcius Malévol’s pagan ritual: 1 Slightly annoyed Count Giscard Malévol while he drank « wine »: 1 Stole the Scepter of the Merovings: 1 Defaced living portraits with holy water: 1 Bullied Jean-Honoré the Butler: 1/2 Smashed the busts in the Bust Gallery: 1 Stole the Oil of Cleansings: 1 Stole the Crown of the Lost: 1 Burglarized Count Giscard’s room (+1) Put holy water in Count Giscard’s « wine » (+1) Total: 12 1/2

Vanquished Aranéa Malévol’s retributory patrol -5

Played ball with the werepups -1

Current Infractions rating: 6 1/2

Rumors:

• There are multiples libraries and laboratories in the Castle. A magic-user’s delight… or doom.
• Some strange folks still pursue the work of the Heretic.

A small return on the end of the last session: the PCs had met former retainer Jacques fortuitously, as unpleasant as ever and now a zombie – as he was roaming in the corridors of the Château. As they got out though – after maybe a hundred yards from the gatehouse – poor Jacques faceplanted on the ground, dead as a rock. The cold-hearted adventurers decided to dump his corpse in the lake with the idea that the monster would make him disappear.

We start in Ximes. Paul-Jean, with the help of Luc le Chaudronnier, prepares another dose of lethal poison. Also, the master alchemist has finished analysing the mysterious flask of Oil found earlier: is has astounding properties – when applied on one’s eyelids it enables to see 10 minutes of a probable future. This Oil of Revelation will come in handy!

The PCs then proceed to hire more retainers. Monmon hires Georges who was part of the townwatch until recently. Noah hires Valentin, a shoemaker.

Grand Entrance

• The PCs would like to reach the third floor of the Gothic Wing for the first time and they enter at the Grand Entrance. The two statues do their usual thing but nothing special happens.
• Waiting for them in the Vestibule is the horrible Béatrice the Jilted. She’s accompanied by Agénor, a tall, gaunt pale-looking old man who seems a little lost. There’s also the late Countess’ galant knight, now undead, surrounded by four flirtatious undead ladies. Quite the sight.
• Béatrice tells the adventurers that they will pay for having slain the Countess. Unless… Would any of them accept to be her suitor? No? Noboby? You can die then!
• Béatrice is supernaturally fast (always acts first) and jumps on Monmon claws first. She rakes him twice, wounding and paralysing him. Noah hits her twice with his repeating crossbow, hurting her. Pierrot swings an axe at her, connects and she’s down! Is she really dead? Georges is asked to stab her some more to make sure. Paul does a whirlwind attack and slay all four of the undead courtesan ladies. Constant and Paul-Jean attack the zombie knight but he’s a more resilient foe. After a brief moment of hesitation the decrepit Agénor joins the fray and attacks Paul with his bare hands but misses. Paul, Paul-Jean and Noah all try to hurt the old man but to no avail, normal weapons don’t affect him! But Monmon shakes off his paralysis and pierce him with a mighty stab of his spear. Paul hits him with his magic dagger but Agénor touches him in return, wounding him and draining some of his strength. Several hits later and Agénor is incapacitated and gets a stake through his heart (as he’s evidently a vampire) and is hurled outside to be burned by sunlight. The undead knight, surrounded, is the last to fall (he had a backstory but, well… too bad!).
• Béatrice though doesn’t seem to be able to stay dead for very long. The PCs decapitate her and burn her corpse for good measure. They looted her body prior to that and found a pearl necklace and an amber brooch.
• They continue with their exploration plan and go to the stairway west of the Vestibule and go up into the Gothic Wing.
• They’re trying to find the stairway leading to the 3rd floor (the highest). They go through the Feasting Hall and go north into a zigzagging corridor, find the latrine’s « throne » and then open a door to the west.
• They’re inside a boudoir. Inside a closet they find a silver mirror and a puzzle box. There’s also a dressing screen and something behind but at that moment they hear a very angry Béatrice shouting at them: « You killed me and now you’re stealing from me! » and more that is lost in a primal scream as she runs towards them, claws at the ready. She hits Monmon (again) but this time he resists the paralysis. Noah pierces her with two crossbow bolts and then Monmon pierces her through with his spear. They wander briefly what to do with the unkillable crazy Béatrice but then they find a casket with chains behind the dressing screen and just proceed to toss her corpse in and lock it up. Without her head. Her head is thrown through the window and into Tristano’s pond.
• Thence the PCs resume their search for a way up. Checking their map (Isaac) they figure that the 2×2 square space in the middle could well be what they seek and indeed, it is the stairway leading up!
• In front of the stairway the party hears some noise coming from the east, several creatures are coming up from the 1st floor.
• Constant uses the Oil of Revelation to see a probable future. Thus, he sees another party of adventurers, rough men armed mostly with axes. The leader asks the PCs to leave the Castle, it’s their turn to loot the place. Battle ensues, the PCs have the upper hand but suffer some losses. Still in the vision, the party go to the 3rd floor, breaks open a stuck door and gets into a library.
• With this knowledge in mind, the PCs hurry to the 3rd floor (Gothic Wing II). Monmon breaks open the door and the group wait in ambush as the newcomers, alerted by the sound, come after them. The PCs win initative, Noah kill two adventurers just like that with his crossbow. Monmon kill another with his spear and then Georges jumps into the action and wounds another but he’s struck in return and dies. Paul takes his place and kill the wounded man and then gets into a duel against the leader who’s no match for him. The two remaining opponents fight to the death (morale check) which is not very long in coming.
• The PCs loot the bodies and find a few hundreds gold pieces.
• Thence, the PCs get into a library, don’t look much at the books but find a secret door on one corner with the help of Noah’ sword Scrupulous. Once opened they see a man standing right in front of them. He looks just like the one on the dead or alive wanted portrait of Claude Malévol. The PCs tell the man so but he denies being Claude, he claims to be his twin: Olivier Malévol! After a short deliberation the PCs decide that as the spitting image of a 3000gp reward, well… he would do. Of course, that doesn’t go very well with the would-be ransomed and, in a weird turn of events, the latter’s body melts and turns into a Slime! It lashes out at Monmon who was in the process of seizing him. The pseudopod hurts Monmon and ruins his mail hauberk. This is quite disconcerting to the adventurers and they decide that caution is the better part of valour.
• They retreat and soon leave the Castle.

Closing Comments:

• With the current Infractions level, first encounter rolled was to be with the retributory patrol (1d4+1 encounters together). With how the results went I figured that Béatrice was the more strong-willed opponent and would be the leader. She’s not much more than a beefed up ghoul but she’s very persistent…
• And it so happened in one of those amazing emerging coincidence that they found Béatrice’s Boudoir and put her back inside her very own chained casket!
• Very clever reading of the map by Isaac to find the stairway, I’m very proud. They’re getting good at this dungeon-delving stuff.
• XP: Participation: 1 Treasures: 2 Secrets: 2
• Treasures: Pearl Necklace, Amber Brooch, Silver Mirror, Puzzle Box
• Fatalities: Georges, struck by a rival adventurer’s axe
• New Infractions: Vanquished Béatrice’s retributory patrol (-4). Eliminated Agénor Malévol. Eliminated Béatrice Malévol.

Interesting session with the first half in known territory and the second half with exploration and weird things happening. I was sure that the players were gonna try to go inside Aristide’s laboratory with how it ended last session and one of the player, Marjorie, still wanted to do this. But she was outvoted by the boys yet again (they were a bit all over the place on what they wanted to do but they agreed upon not wanting to risk an encounter with Aristide yet. Smart boys). (Short session, 3 hours.)

Castle Xyntillan, by Gabor Lux. https://emdt.bigcartel.com/products

Set in Clark Ashton Smith’s Averoigne

TTRPG System used: Worlds without Number, by Kevin Crawford

Adventurers – Player Characters (PCs)

• Cordélia Lenoir (Marjorie), using the dark arts for Good (probably), Necromancer lvl 4
• Bruno the Wolfman (Marjorie), controlled lycanthropy, Warrior/Skinshifter lvl 2>>3
• Noah (Isaac), crafts stuff, has a repeating crossbow, Expert lvl 4>>5
• Monmon (Edmond), has a powerful antique spear, Warrior lvl 4>>5
• Paul Nareff (Olivier), friend and sponsor of the numerous Jean clan, Warrior lvl 4>>5
• Paul-Jean Paul (Olivier), don’t confuse him with Jean-Paul Jean, Warrior lvl 3
• Constant Jean (Olivier), vigorous member of the Jean clan, Warrior lvl 2>>3

Retainers:

• Raymond, (Isaac) Man-at-Arms, gruff, vassal of the Comte de la Frenaie, Morale 7
• Pierrot (Isaac), caravan hand, begs for more money, Morale 8

Crypt

• Zachary, Elementalist, electrocuted in front of the Anteroom (corpse in castle)
• Pierre-Jean Pierre, ex-monk, clawed to death by a dark monk (RIP)
• Edgar, daytaler, throat slashed by a dark monk, (corpse in castle)
• Charles, daytaler, skewered by a drunken skeleton (corpse in castle)
• Hercule, caravan hand, seized off the raft by the Lake Monster (MIA)
• Pierre Laroche du Rocher, mason, pierced by the Huntsman’s arrows (corpse seized by Charon, RIP)
• Alphonse, crusader, savaged by Count Giscard’s Children of the Night. (corpse in castle)
• Jacques, daytaler, got hit in the face by an Empty Armor’s halberd (corpse in castle)
• Stuffed Jean-Paul  killed by stuffed animals, stuffed himself, bursted into flames (RIP)

Previous Infractions:

Eliminated Tristano Malévol the Love-Lost. Eliminated Merlerik the Ancient. Eliminated Aranéa Malévol (0)

Smoked the Ruined Quarters: 1/2 Angered a werewolf washwoman: 1/2 Stole the Reliquary of Bygone Kings: 1 Failed to convince Jean-Honoré the butler of their lies: 1/2 Stole a treasure chest full of gold from the Lake Grotto treasury: 1/2 Interrupted Runcius Malévol’s pagan ritual: 1 Slightly annoyed Count Giscard Malévol while he drank « wine »: 1 Stole the Scepter of the Merovings: 1 Defaced living portraits with holy water: 1 Bullied Jean-Honoré the Butler 1/2 Smashed the busts in the Bust Gallery 1

Vanquished Aranéa Malévol’s retributory patrol -5

Played ball with the werepups -1

Infractions rating: 2 1/2

Rumors:

• Gargoyles in Vyônes, the citizens are terrified!
• It was the Enchantress of Sylaire that has cursed the Malévol family centuries ago.

We start in Vyônes. Cordélia buys a cask of wine. The PCs try to learn more about the gargoyles mentionned in the rumor. They consult the monastery’s library in Périgon and find a book on the occult. They learn that it started a while ago with one mason artist that worked on Vyônes’s cathedral, an evil man (now deceased), that infused his creations with a life of their own. Cordélia wants to inspect the artist’s tomb in Vyônes but it will be for another time as the others are eager to delve once more in the Château des Fausseflammes.

Grand Entrance

• The two statues bordering the double doors react at their approach, one erupts in maniacal laughter, the other flicks its fingers. Nothing else happens.
• The vestibule is empty, Jean-Honoré the butler is nowhere to be seen, probably still vexed from his treatment at the hand of the adventurers. The PCs beeline to the Throne Room without encountering anything. They use the throne elevator to go down.
• Down in the Lake grotto area, they go north to the chapel of the 3 saints. A single Empty Armor that’s blocking the way is quickly dispatched, with a final blow from Bruno’s claws that sends the head flying.
• At the chapel they remove the unmortared tiles and start digging with shovels and picks. Everyone except Cordélia and Monmon who stand guard.
• 4 cultists turn the corner from the east, alerted by the noise. Paul picks up his Guts sword and slay the cultists with one big swipe. They resume digging…
• 20 minutes later, they hit something hard in the ground, there’s a trapdoor. Once opened they find a ladder going down. At the bottom of the pit they find a footlocker with a well-made (but a bit outdated) chainmail, a crusader’ surcoat and small vial (the Oils of Cleansing (!)). Cordélia has some knowledge of religious beliefs and knows more or less what the small vial is about.
• Their delve is already worthwhile but they decide that they would try to explore more of the Indoorness.
• The secret entrance isn’t that far from where they are. They get to the root cellar, this time the Beetmen are awake and want a fight, the eleven of them, but an opportune roof collapse (effective use of Noah’s focus Lucky II, once per session) blocked the Beetmen from reaching the adventurers.
• The PCs enter the Indoorness. The satyr hermit is there playing his pipes. Cordélia gives him a cask of wine and the satyr shoos them away, eager to start his drinking.
• They go west, they walk fo about an hour until they reach a ford and cross the river to the north near a waterfall.
• Another 20 minutes, still in the path going north, they see a brick house. On closer inspection they see that in fact the house is made up of mouldy gingerbread! Looking from a window they see that nobody’s home but there’s a cooking plate full of gingerbread men on a table. Monmon enters the house and let his toy soldiers inspect the gingerbread men. The gingerbread men get up and an epic fight between the toy soldiers and the gingerbread men ensues! A soldier gets in trouble after he dropped his spear and Monmon intervenes to help him, grabs a ginger bread man and just… munches him. The toy soldiers are in awe of Monmon’s godlike might, this is victory!
• Except that Monmon now starts to shrink and candy buttons also pop up on his body, he’s quickly transforming into a gingerbread man! But the group thinks fast and tries the Oils of Cleansing on poor Monmon and it works, he gets back to his proper self.
• Putting the gingerbread house behind (they set it on fire for good measure) they reach a vast and well-tended park with hedges, marble benches, topiaries, etc. There’s also people in the park, sitting or strolling about, but they’re revealed to be several copies of Tristano and his damsel. And they can see the Château des Fausseflammes just beyond the park!
• There’s a weird spatial distortion going on, the more they move towards the castle, the slower they appear to move. Cordélia remove the enchantment with a spell of Extirpate the Arcana, they can move freely at last but they now see that the castle is only a theatrical decor. There’s a muppets scene going on with a witch/enchantress seemingly berating a crowned noble (that looked like Runcius). Watching the decor, Cordélia feels an intense malaise and decides to leave the area.
• The party takes another path that goes west from the park. They soon reach a silvery lake. Monmon sees some kind of structures at the bottom of the lake and the PCs ponder about a way to reach the structure but decides to leave it at that.
• Still further, they go north again and reach a great circle of stones, Stonehenge-like, and at first there’s not anyone there but as the PCs are looking at the stones to find some clues several robed men appear from nowhere. Runcius the Dark Man of the Woods is among them.
• The adventurers start to run for their life. Suddenly, a verdant wall of brambles and roots block their escape but Cordélia remove it with her magic.
• The druids run after them, some have bows. A druid that runs supernaturally fast tackles down the slowest member of the party, Paul. The PCs stop running and make a stand. Noah is very efficient with his repeating crossbows. The druids are more numerous, some shoot arrows from behind inflicting several wounds but those in melee can’t match the martial prowesses of the adventurers. However a Sleep spell falls on the PCs leaving only Cordélia and Paul standing, those two scramble to wake their companions up. Cordélia had sent her Reaper towards Runcius but a big flash occurs and it is annihilated. Finally the adventurers, sporting numerous wounds, have the upper hand leaving only Runcius that has retreated back to the circle of stones.
• The PCs are determined to kill Runcius as he’s alone now and they suppose he must be low in spells (he had 2 spells left). Runcius has a bronze dagger dripping with poison. Cordélia doesn’t have any spells left and his reduced to shooting arrows. Noah and Pierrot both has only 1 HP remaining. But the PCs are 8 against 1 and they win initiative! Cordélia and Noah shoot projectiles at Runcius and then the warriors swarm the archdruid, wounding him severely. Runcius does the most horrible Evert the Inwardness on Constant Jean (save succeed, half damage) wounding him fatally (but saved by Cordélia’s necromantic art) and try to stab Monmon with his dagger but misses (veteran’s luck). He dies soon after, with the final blow delivered by Paul. « Free, at last » he says before expiring.
• Cordélia takes his Crown of the Lost.

Session wrap up

• A lot accomplished with essentially what were spur of the moment decisions. The death of Runcius is a big deal as is finding the two major artefacts. I was as much surprised as the players with the appearance of Runcius at the circle of stones as I had not read this section beforehand. It turned out very well for the players, they’re capable adventurers by now, but the risk of casualties was high indeed.
• XP: Participation: 1 Treasures: 3 Secrets: 2
• Treasures: Chainmail +1, Crusader’ surcoat, Oils of Cleansing, Crown of the Lost
• Quote: Isaac: « We could take a bite out of Monmon, see how he tastes? »
• Fatalities: Constant Jean, but survived with Cordélia’s power over death
• New Infractions: Killed Runcius Malévol the Dark Man of the Woods. Stole the Oils of Cleansing +1. Stole the Crown of the Lost +1.

Aranéa Malévol, the one who was put in charge by the Malévol Council to take care of their little invasion problem has been thoroughly vanquished by the adventurers. I’m letting the players know that they have earned a respite, the pressure is down for a while, so they can resume their exploration of the cursed castle on more « normal » terms. Short session, 2 1/2 hours.

Castle Xyntillan, by Gabor Lux. https://emdt.bigcartel.com/products

System used: Worlds without Number, by Kevin Crawford

Adventurers – Player Characters (PCs)

• Cordélia Lenoir (Marjorie), using the dark arts for Good (probably), Necromancer lvl 3>>4
• Bruno the Wolfman (Marjorie), controlled lycanthropy, Warrior/Skinshifter lvl 1>>2
• Noah (Isaac), crafts stuff, has a repeating crossbow, Expert lvl 4
• Monmon (Edmond), has a powerful antique spear, Warrior lvl 4
• Paul Nareff (Olivier), friend and sponsor of the numerous Jean clan, Warrior lvl 4
• Paul-Jean Paul (Olivier), don’t confuse him with Jean-Paul Jean, Warrior lvl 2>>3
• Constant Jean (Olivier), vigorous member of the Jean clan, Warrior lvl 2

Retainers:

• Stuffed Jean-Paul (Marjorie), killed by stuffed animals, now stuffed himself, Morale 12
• Raymond, (Isaac) Man-at-Arms, gruff, vassal of the Comte de la Frenaie, Morale 7
• Pierrot (Isaac), caravan hand, begs for more money, Morale 8

Crypt

• Zachary, Elementalist, electrocuted in front of the Anteroom (corpse in castle)
• Pierre-Jean Pierre, ex-monk, clawed to death by a dark monk (RIP)
• Edgar, daytaler, throat slashed by a dark monk, (corpse in castle)
• Charles, daytaler, skewered by a drunken skeleton (corpse in castle)
• Hercule, caravan hand, seized off the raft by the Lake Monster (MIA)
• Pierre Laroche du Rocher, mason, pierced by the Huntsman’s arrows (corpse seized by Charon, RIP)
• Alphonse, crusader, savaged by Count Giscard’s Children of the Night. (corpse in castle)
• Jacques, daytaler, got hit in the face by an Empty Armor’s halberd (corpse in castle)

Previous Infractions:

Eliminated Tristano Malévol the Love-Lost. Eliminated Merlerik the Ancient. Eliminated Aranéa Malévol (0)

Smoked the Ruined Quarters: 1/2 Angered a werewolf washwoman: 1/2 Stole the Reliquary of Bygone Kings: 1 Failed to convince Jean-Honoré the butler of their lies: 1/2 Stole a treasure chest full of gold from the Lake Grotto treasury: 1/2 Interrupted Runcius Malévol’s pagan ritual: 1 Slightly annoyed Count Giscard Malévol while he drank « wine »: 1 Stole the Scepter of the Merovings: 1 Defaced living portraits with holy water: 1 Bullied Jean-Honoré the Butler 1/2 Smashed the busts in the Bust Gallery 1

Vanquished Aranéa Malévol’s retributory patrol -5

Infractions rating: 3 1/2

Rumors:

• I’d bring a few horses or a cart for the bulky valuables. You’ll thank me later.
• Aristide Malévol the Patrician, who had conquered death by unholy means, is the true power in the Château des Faussesflammes. Do not cross him!

We start in Vyônes. Noah has upgraded his (already potent) crossbow to a repeating crossbow. Cordélia has made the ritual to link the homonculus to herself. The party goes to Périgon where they hire two brothers with horses and a cart. Pierrot begs the party so he can have 20 gp more than his agreed salary; his house is in disrepair, his wife is sickly, his grandmother has died, all manners of woes afflicts the poor guy… Noah refuses to give him more. Monmon gives him 5 gp from his own money.

Gatehouse:

• The party leaves the cart, its team and Raymond at the entrance and then enter through the Gatehouse, under the scrutiny of the ravens as usual. Their plan is STILL to go explore the Occult Maze on the 2nd floor.
• Storerooms. There’s two dead adventurers in the corridor with the spectral horses. Cordélia cast Raise Corpse on one as a diversion for the horses and the party hurry to the nearest door on the left while the zombie is being trampled.
• From one storeroom to another they get to the coffin where Paul got his magic dagger by removing it from the heart of a dead woman, a geyser of blood had erupted from her pierced chest when de did. The woman’s body is nowhere to be seen but there’s still (fresh) blood dripping from the coffin. Cordélia pours a vial of holy water in the coffin and they hear a languished scream. The ghost of Gisèle Pierced-Heart, discarded mistress of a Malévol, is no more.
• They get to the stairway nearby that leads to the Maze of the Occult. They can hear children singing a twisted melody. The singing stops abruptly when the party gets in the hallway, the air gets colder instantly and The Strangler appears and assaults Monmon. Monmon dodges the attack and pierces the specter with his magic spear. Paul strikes it with his magic dagger and The Strangler is once again vanquished.
• A bit further, the adventurers open a door to a room where some kind of entertainment gig is going on for a ghostly audience. Knives juggling and throwing; Stuffed Jean-Paul is unfazed when knives fly all around his head and his awarded a money pouch for having (unwittingly) served in the performance. There’s also prestidigitation tricks and a floating hand holding cards. Paul picks a card, there’s Death on it and it gets out of the card and attacks! Fortunately the Reaper keeps missing Paul with his scythe and Paul slays it. The Death on the card transforms into an Emperor and Paul feels more vigorous.
• On the next room the party come face to face with Count Giscard, the vampire they already encountered and whose Children of the Night nearly TPKed them. This time the Count, still drinking a glass of « wine », is having a contest with two captured adventurers: a fight to first blood. He asks the PCs to participate in the event and wily Cordélia delegates Stuffed Jean-Paul (whom doesn’t bleed!) to the fight. Stuffed Jean-Paul wins, the adventurer is promptly drained of his remaining blood by the Count. However, the contest isn’t finish, there will also be fight against his servant in full plate, the first to achieve three significant strikes. This time (after much hesitation from the players) it’s Paul that comes forward. He fights brillantly again and wins. The Count gives him a Laurels Wreath as a reward and then asks to get themselves out of his sight.
• On the next room, the Yellow Room, the PCs find many things. Cordélia collects small yellow flowers that were growing over the remains of two interlaced skeletons. Monmon finds a black cloak +1 in a closet. Noah finds for 1000 gp worth of perfumes, makeup and other beauty paraphernalia. Paul is almost killed by a guillotine trap set in another closet but survives by some extraordinary luck. He finds a message stuffed inside a old boot that describes the location of a treasure.
• The party having explored all the doors on this corridor backtracks into the hallway and open the door to a small chapel. There a plaque under the statue of a saint invites them to unburden them of « Vanity ». Cordélia cut a lock of her hair and feels a bit more confident after doing so.
• In another room they find creepy wax figures and crates full of candles. Paul is pretty sure he saw one figure moving very sligthly. The party gets out but Noah takes one last peep inside and sees that one figure now looks eerily like Paul. Noah barricades the door efficiently with furnitures and planks. The noise doesn’t attract anything fortunately.
• In the next room there’s a supply of utilitarian bottles and also a poltergeist throwing the bottles at them. Stuffed Jean-Pauls eats a bottle right in the face and an animated feather duster swipes glass from him right after. Monmon, Noah and Paul attack the poltergeist as he was seizing another bottle and slay it.
• Now, the PCs have run out of doors to open in this section, except the one that killed Zachary with an electric arc. There’s writings on the door: « Here be the laboratory of Aristide Malévol the Patrician. If you know this name, you know you have no place here; if you know it not, let this warning suffice. » Warning unheeded, Cordélia orders Stuffed Jean-Paul to open the door. He does so but also bursts into flames. It’s the end of Stuffed Jean-Paul…
• Through the open door, inside the Anteroom, the PCs see copper coils each side of the rooms that seem to come out of the floor below.
• They’ve done enough for the moment and start to exit the castle. They’re back in the courtyard when they hear joyful yapping and see young-looking wolves, werepups they’re guessing, coming at them fast. Noah wants to shoot them with his repeating crossbow and silver bolts he has but Cordélia has a better plan. She takes out lengths of clothing and quickly makes a ball with it, throws it in the opposite direction. the werepups race each other to get to the improvised ball and the PCs hurry outside the castle’s perimeter!

Session wrap up

• Olivier was absolutely JUBILANT after he won the Emperor card giving his character 1 HD to add and even more after he got the laurels wreath that gives + 1 level (and saving his life one time)!
• Isaac on the other hand was disappointed that he didn’t have to try his new repeating crossbow, Van Helsing-style, on anything this session.
• The players seem determined to access Aristide’s laboratory, that should be quite interesting in the upcoming session.
• XP: Participation: 1 Treasures: 3 Secrets: 1
• Treasures: a pouch of 200 gp, an Emperor card, a crown of laurels, 1000 gp worth of perfumes & paraphernalia
• Quote: « Here, go fetch! »
• Fatalities: Stuffed Jean-Paul took on fire after touching the anteroom’s door
• New Infractions: Played ball with the werepups (-1, substracts to infractions level, they liked it)