{"id":50052,"date":"2020-03-30T12:03:02","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T19:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/?p=50052"},"modified":"2020-03-30T12:16:50","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T19:16:50","slug":"ravenloft-ironsworn-part-15-gertruda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/ravenloft-ironsworn-part-15-gertruda\/","title":{"rendered":"Ravenloft Ironsworn, Part 15, Gertruda"},"content":{"rendered":"

After our conversation with Leif Lipseige, whining accountant, we set off up the stairs, following Leif\u2019s general directions, and I hit the dice to Delve the depths.<\/p>\n

\"|240x344\"<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a nice result. My Find an opportunity indicates I encounter someone who might support me. I give this a bit of a ponder (and check through the Oracle of the Ravenloft module) and think I\u2019ve come up with something. (The Compel is explained a few lines down. Hang tight…)<\/p>\n

We exit the stairwell at the next flight of stairs, head down a short hallway and through a door of delicately etched metal embossing.<\/p>\n

Dust fills your lungs. The musty smell of death and decay swirls around you. Before you, a long table of polished oak lies beneath a blanket of dust. The rotting table cloth lies tattered beneath china plates and stained silverware. In the center of the table, a large, tiered cake leans heavily to one side. The once white frosting has turned green with age. Cobwebs drape like dusty lace down every side. A single doll figure of a well-dressed woman adorns the crest of the cake. A window in the south wall is draped with heavy curtains.<\/em><\/p>\n

The room\u2019s a bit of a mess, but what catches my eye is the movement on the far side of the table as someone gasps and hurries towards the doors to the north.<\/p>\n

\u201cStop!\u201d I call out. \u201cWe\u2019re not here to hurt you.\u201d (That\u2019s a guess, but I don\u2019t imagine I\u2019m in a hurry to pulverize anyone whose first impulse is to gasp and run.<\/p>\n

\u201cGertruda?\u201d Ireena says, squinting in the gloom. \u201cIs that you?\u201d<\/p>\n

It is. The daughter of the weeping \u201cMad Mary\u201d, from back in the village. A quick check of the Oracle indicates Gertruda is largely oblivious to any danger to herself – she came here because she saw a castle in the distance and knew only good things of castles, thanks to years of fairy stories and tales of heroic princes falling in love with simple village girls. She\u2019s been sheltered by her mother all of her life, and is innocent and naive to the point of being a danger to herself and others.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m less than charmed by the idiot girl, but I try to at least make an effort to be civil.<\/p>\n

\u201cGertruda,\u201d I say, \u201cyou\u2019ve put a terrible fright and sadness into your mother. You need to go back home to the village. Now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"|352x324\"<\/p>\n

I try for that compel (see roll, above), but only manage a weak hit, which means she wants some in return from me. In short, she\u2019s got enough sense to realize she might not have done the safest or smartest thing, and she sees a big armored freewarden in front of her.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to take me home,\u201d she says, sniffling. \u201cYou have to protect me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s not right, strictly speaking.<\/p>\n

But she\u2019s not wrong<\/em>, either. Dammit.<\/p>\n

So, yes, fine, but we need to check out the room the accountant told us about. One more Delve the Depths move…\"|232x124\"<\/p>\n

And, well, that\u2019s pretty good, again. I choose to find some useful item – the thing the accountant told us about. According to the module\/oracle, it\u2019s the holy symbol of the Kolyana family, lying on a table in the study nearby.<\/p>\n

A blazing hearth fire fills this room with rolling waves of red and amber light. The walls are lined with ancient books and tomes, their leather covers well oiled and preserved through careful use. All is in order here. The stone floor is hidden beneath a luxurious rug of a deep-patterned weave. A large, low table sits in the center of the room, waxed and polished to a mirrored finish. Even the poker next to the blazing fireplace is polished. Large, overstuffed divans and couches stand in order about the room. Two luxurious chairs face the hearth.<\/em><\/p>\n

Also, because the holy symbol of the Burgomaster is here, I\u2019ve decide the ***spirit *** of the Burgomaster is here as well, having found its way here after trodding the road from the graveyard, but he\u2019s not looking at the holy symbol, he\u2019s looking at the picture on the wall.<\/p>\n

A huge painting hangs over the mantlepiece in a heavy, gilded frame. The rolling light of the fire illuminates the carefully rendered painting. It is an exact likeness of the Burgomaster’s daughter, Ireena Kolyana. Though the painting is obviously centuries old, the likeness is unmistakable.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"|342x311\"<\/p>\n

Another bit of the Delve \u201copportunity\u201d move means I get to immediately make a followup move with a bonus, and get momentum on a hit.<\/p>\n

So I reflect on the spirit of the Burgomaster being present, and the picture that looks just like Ireena, and decide this freaks Ireena out: she doubts everything, and I need to talk her down by testing our Bond.<\/p>\n

\"|356x341\"<\/p>\n

\"|227x124\"<\/p>\n

Well, lovely. That\u2019s two more momentum and I\u2019m counting this as progress on putting the Burgomaster\u2019s spirit to rest – he sees Ireena has a loyal friend and ally. That\u2019s hopefully enough progress, so let\u2019ss see if I can\u2019t wrap up that quest right here:<\/p>\n

\"|242x144\"<\/p>\n

Sweet.<\/p>\n

The burgomaster sees his daughter, sees how distraught she is, and sees her comforted by a friend. His soul finds peace, knowing his children are not alone in this dark world.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m keeping the \u201copportunity\u201d this affords me simple: I\u2019m going to use the XP I get from finishing this quest to pick up an a new aspect of one of my assets, or a new asset, right now, instead of waiting until I have some downtime – given what\u2019s going on right now, I\u2019m going to Ismark as a “Kindred” asset, for the same reasons as I had for finishing the Vow and putting the Burgomaster’s spirit to rest.<\/p>\n

And now, thanks to Gertruda, it\u2019s time to get the hell out of here. I\u2019m going to Escape the Depths<\/strong>, using my Wits to retrace my steps.<\/p>\n

\"|353x533\"\"|243x122\"<\/p>\n

Okay, weak hit, because my dice kinda hate me. Fine. I\u2019m going with \u201ca denizen plots their revenge\u201d<\/em> and make plans for some kind of retribution sent out after me as soon as the dice offer any kind of opening for shenanigans while I\u2019m back in the village.<\/p>\n

Whew. Okay. We retrace our steps, stopping at Lipseige long enough to let him gawk at the Holy Symbol of Barovia, but he gets more than a bit miffed I won\u2019t leave it with him. What the blazes did he expect? He got to see it. Call it good.<\/p>\n

We hurry down to the main floor, and make our way quickly to the chapel (eyeing the gargoyles in the main entry more than little warily), and with one long last look at Reinhardt. Need to get his body out of here, but not this time. Not yet.<\/p>\n

And then we\u2019re back out in the courtyard and slipping through the dark and drizzle. It\u2019s a miserable slog back down the road, but we don\u2019t stop until we reach the village and the church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After our conversation with Leif Lipseige, whining accountant, we set off up the stairs, following Leif\u2019s general directions, and I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,128,6],"tags":[150,307,269,308],"class_list":["post-50052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-actual-play","category-online-table-top","category-table-top","tag-actual-play","tag-ironsworn","tag-pbta","tag-ravenloft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50052"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50054,"href":"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50052\/revisions\/50054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/randomaverage.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}