The Second Floor#

Creaking floorboards mark the party’s ascent to the second story, where they encounter a striking family portrait at the hallway’s end. The image captures Rose and Thorn alongside their parents, Gustav and Elizabeth Durst, with the latter cradling an infant - Elizabeth markingly giving it a scornful look.

The corridor reveals three entrances: an understated single door and two sets of ornate double doors flanked by decorative suits of armor. Behind one set, Benjamin detects moving shadows and ventures into an opulent chamber adorned with chandeliers, plush furnishings, and cheerful artwork. Following faint whimpers, he discovers an frizzled and very undernourished dog maintaining distance from the visitors. Despite attempts to lead the creature to food downstairs, it refuses any of it. A collar tag identifies the cautious canine as Lancelot.

While Ilizeiros and Reese briefly consider salvaging the decorative armor for makeshift protection, the atmosphere prompts them to continue their exploration instead.

The opposite double doors reveal a spacious study dominated by an imposing mahogany desk and a fireplace, above which hangs a landscape painting featuring a windmill standing on a hilltop. Wall-to-wall bookshelves lend the room the ambiance of a library. Thaddeus uncovers a letter kit and two keys within the desk’s drawers, while Ilizeiros and Reese’s attempts to examine the numerous books result in the tomes crumbling to dust.

The modest single door opens into servants’ quarters, containing two simple beds and access to a dumbwaiter shaft connecting to both the kitchen below and an unknown room above. When Ilizeiros tests the nearby button, a buzzer echoes from the kitchen downstairs.

Using one of the discovered keys, Benjamin unlocks the ground floor cabinet, revealing three crossbows which the group distributes among themselves. Though Thaddeus keeps a vigilant eye on the stuffed wolves in the room, they depart without incident.

A thorough inspection of windows and doors throughout the floor reveals them all to be sealed with bricks, eliminating any possibility of escape.

The Topmost Floor#

The ascent to the third floor reveals increasingly deteriorating conditions, with decaying woodwork and floorboards. Benjamin leads the way with a lantern, illuminating the dust-thick, abandoned hallway. Without warning, an animated suit of armor attempts to hurl him down the staircase. After he narrowly evades its grapple, Thaddeus manages to shoot off its helmet while Ilizeiros cleaves the empty armor in two halves.

In an adjacent chamber, they encounter a spectral figure who introduces herself as Margret, the nursemaid, appearing to be in her thirties. Seemingly unaware of her incorporeal state, she expresses gratitude for the party’s assistance with Rose and Thorn, though her attention remains fixed on tending to Walther in his crib – on closer inspection however, it turns out that the crib is empty. Her pleasant demeanor shifts when questioned about the basement, as she mumbles about everything being “Elizabeth’s fault.” When Reese inquires about the date, she cites a year four centuries past, adding that Rose and Thorn should be in their attic bedroom.

Following the encounters with the animated armor and Margret’s spirit, both Benjamin and Reese experience disturbing visions of themselves consuming maggot-infested food in the dining room below.

The Attic#

A smaller staircase leads from the nursemaid’s room into the attic. Using the second key, the group accesses the children’s bedroom there. The cobweb-draped space contains two small beds, between which lie two child-sized skeletons. The ghosts of Rose and Thorn materialize, and upon seeing their remains, their memories return. They recount how their parents had locked them in before descending to the basement – a regular occurrence – but never returned, leaving them to perish of hunger in their room. Curiously, they note that even Margret never came to their aid. Rose speaks of a frightening creature in the basement and reveals that Elizabeth had taken Walther below. The children’s also recount hearing terrible screams followed by absolute silence. They also mention other adventurers who had previously visited the house.

A detailed dollhouse in the corner proves to be an exact replica of the mansion, revealing a concealed staircase from the attic to the basement and a hidden chamber adjacent to the study. In the neighboring master bedroom, they discover Gustav’s partially decomposed body hanging from a noose, alongside two letters. The first, penned by Gustav to his children, speaks of survival warping into obsession and cruel punishment affecting both parents and children. The second, written by Elizabeth to Ms. Pedrovna, mentions an “unwanted fiend” and an “innocent sacrifice” conducted without Gustav’s knowledge. Margret later confirms that Ms. Pedrovna and her husband Peter were frequent visitors.

Guided by the dollhouse’s revelation, Thaddeus locates the mechanism to access the hidden room, where they find volumes on fiend summoning by the Priests of Ozibus. A heavy iron chest contains a grim discovery – a skeleton’s lower half sticks out from it, victim to a poison dart trap. Inside lie blank black-leather books, three spell scrolls, the deed to the Durst windmill, and correspondence from Strahd of Zarovich.

The books illuminate the family’s history: once prosperous merchant millers, the Dursts’ fortunes collapsed when Strahd’s arrival brought perpetual darkness to the region, devastating agriculture. The ensuing famines drove nobles, including Elizabeth Durst, to desperate measures – including ritualistic cannibalism of travelers.

Another attic bedroom yields one final horror: Margret’s skeleton stuffed into a wooden trunk, bearing evidence of blunt trauma and a nearly decapitating slash wound.

The Basement#

Their exploration culminates at the hidden staircase, which descends into a network of rough-hewn tunnels beneath the mansion’s foundations, filled by ominous murmuring…