RECAP: Curse of Strahd, Session 3

The group explores a haunted mansion with dark secrets involving the Durst family and their servants. They find ghostly apparitions, including a malevolent nanny spirit and the ghost of Mrs. Durst, intertwined with tragic events such as an illegitimate pregnancy, a stillborn baby wrapped in a mysterious black bundle, and a cursed mirror fueling the haunting. The party carefully uncovers clues about the family’s dark history, including a secret stairway, strange magical phenomena, and cryptic notes referencing a “beast” and an amber shard to control it. After confronting an aggressive undead baby spirit and breaking the mirror, the team investigates further rooms and discovers ominous signs, including a vision of a dead servant in a blood-filled tub and a hollow wall concealing stone behind wooden paneling. The session ends with hints of more mysteries on other floors and plans to continue the investigation.

Investigation of the Room and Ghostly Encounter

• A note is being discussed, which appears to be from Strahd Von Zarovich, addressing someone who has been torturing visitors in their dungeon and has a hidden altar, indicating a dark and malevolent presence.

• The group is investigating a room where a ghost, believed to be a nanny, has appeared, and they are trying to understand the circumstances of her death and the death of a stillborn baby.

• The group discovers a nursery with a changing station, a rocking chair, and baby items, but it looks like it has been unused for a long time, and they suspect that the ghost may be connected to the nursery and the baby’s death.

• Tenzin, tried to communicate with the ghost, using chalk to write messages on the wooden floor, and the ghost does seem to try and communicate back ghost is trying to communicate by pointing to a bed and making a writing sign, possibly indicating that something should be written on the bed. Feline uses her sonic vision to investigate the bed, but does not detect any invisible or hidden objects. The bed appears to be plain and not well-made, with thin blankets, and the room lacks the opulence expected in a wealthy person’s mansion.

• Grughilda investigated the nearby nursery, finding a changing station with a bundle, wrapped tightly in black cloth, about the size of a newborn baby. She decides to bring the bundle back into the nanny’s chambers and lay it on the bed. The group encounters a ghost, assumed to be Mrs. Durst’s, which mimic’s Grughilda’s laying a baby on a bed, while the nanny’s ghost appears to attack it, creating a tense situation. Grughilda does not see the ghost, but the rest of the group does, and they try to figure out what is happening, with Iggy suggesting that the mirror might be generating the ghost.

• The group prepares for combat, with some members taking steps back and readying actions, while others try to understand the situation and determine if the ghosts are undead or illusions. TEnzon decides to stay where he is and observe the situation, while the group discusses the possibility of the mirror being cursed. Iggy considers using detect magic to learn more.

Combat with the Ghost and the Baby

• The group discusses whether to destroy or cover a mirror, which may be linked to the ghostly activity, and Iggy decides to attack the mirror with a small flail. At the same time, Grughilda unwraps the baby-sized bundle, and discovers it’s not bones but something gooey inside, with a horrendous smell. As Grughilda removes the head covering, a human baby’s head and arm emerge, making gobbling noises and twisting out of the wrappings, heading towards Grughilda.

• The baby, now free from its wrappings, attacks Grughilda, grabbing onto her with one hand and punching her in the eye with the other, causing 5 points of damage and leaving a repugnant goo on her face. Akutagawa attempts to backstab the baby, but first, he needs to leap over Grughilda. He fails, slipping in the dust and smacking into Grughilda. The baby is thrown forward and then flies off Grughilda, bouncing on the bed. Akutagawa attacks the baby with his dog slicer, hitting it for 9 points of damage.

• Iggy, who was thrown against the wall, tries to cast the disrupt undead spell on the baby, which requires the baby to attempt a basic fortitude save, and the baby succeeds with a save of 20. Grughilda strikes a baby, cutting it in half, and the baby’s remains dissolve into the bed, with a yeasty smell emanating from the bed.

Aftermath and Discovery of the Mirror’s Magic

• After the baby disappears, Tenzin pulls back the bed covers, revealing two dark stains on the sheet, one larger and one smaller, which seem to be related to starvation, and Tenzin recalls a similar smell from his past. The ghosts, still struggling silently, move into the nursery, and the room becomes enveloped in darkness.

• The room is searched and nothing is found, but there’s a feeling that a clue might be in the nursery, and Iggy checks the bed for magic, finding none, but the mirror is found to be magical and necromantic. They also discover an attached balcony, and when walked out onto, two hooded figures are seen standing in the street, observing the house, with one being taller than the other, but it’s unclear if they’ve noticed the character. When Iggy returns, the room is still cold, but not as icy as before, and Falinn uses her sonic senses to look around the nursery, finding a black curtain covering the changing station, which radiates a diffused necromantic magic – the same thing that Gurghilda had earlier discovered, now seemingly returned.

Dealing with the Cursed Mirror and Discovering Clues

• The group discusses the possibility of using the “Remove Curse” spell, but it’s a fourth-level necromancy spell that takes 10 minutes to cast and is not available to them. Instead, Grughilda decides to smash the mirror, rolling a 17 to hit and dealing 6 damage, shattering the mirror and causing the glass to fall to the ground.

• After smashing the mirror, the group still detects a faint necromancy magic emanating from the broken glass, and they consider getting rid of it by burning or burying it. The group decides to dispose of the mirror’s glass and frame, with one of them throwing the frame into the overgrown bushes outside, and they also notice that the ghost has not returned. Akutagawa searches a cabinet and finds a hidden compartment containing a small, folded piece of blue cloth with a thin stick and desiccated plant remains inside, tied with a thin red ribbon.

Exploring the Upper Floors and New Discoveries

• They discuss the possibility of the baby being stillborn and the potential rights of an illegitimate child in the Durst family, considering the cultural context of the town of Vallaki. Iggy considers plans to melt down the broken glass from the mirror and shape it into a glass flower, using his craft skills and a spell to create super hot fire, and successfully creates a recognizable flower.

• The group discovers a small, hidden doorway behind a wardrobe, approximately three feet high and one to two feet wide, which could be used by a child or a small thief, and decide to check it for traps before opening it. It proves to be a secret stairway going upward, which appears to be handcrafted and may predate the construction of the hole in the wall, leading to the fourth floor.

• Exploring the rest of the 3rd floor, the group finds a room with a tiger skin rug, a desk, and a portrait of a person who is not Mr. Durst, but possibly Aleko, with a large mustache and stout build. The group searches the room and finds documents on the desk, including renovation plans and estimates for the mansion, which appear to be newer than the documents found in Mr. Durst’s office.

Investigating the Bathroom and the Mysterious Note

• The group discovers a old, dusty table with a plate, cup, and saucer, and a bathroom with a tub, sink, and toilet, where Iggy sees a vision of a woman, dressed in servant’s clothes, lying in the tub, either unconscious or dead, with the tub water tinctured with blood.

• The group finds a note tucked under a plate on a table, which appears to be a message from Elisabeth Durst to “Drasha” about being the custodian of a “beast” and using an amber shard to weaken it. The note mentions that the beast is the heart of the house and that no meal can sate its appetite, and warns Drasha to be gone from the house before the beast awakens at midnight.

• The group discusses a vision of a woman in servant’s clothes in the tub, and they decide to search the bathroom again, with Akuta going in to investigate. Akuta searches the bathroom, finding it empty and cold, with a copper tub that could be valuable, and a hollow sound behind the wall, but no access point.

Further Investigation and Discovery of the Stone Wall

• The group decides to further investigate the hollow sound, with Falinn using her sonic abilities to try to get an impression of what’s beyond the wall. She suspects that the wall may be lined or made of stone. The group discovers a wooden wall that is paneling back to a wooden board, and upon chopping through it, they find a stone wall on the other side. The stone wall is likely to be more troublesome to break through, and its purpose is uncertain, possibly for structure or to keep something in or out. The group decides to make a mental note to investigate further, possibly on a different floor, and to check other unexplored doors before taking a break.

Key Insights

Haunting rooted in unresolved trauma: The spirits are stuck in a loop of past suffering—Mrs. Durst’s cruelty, the servant’s tragic fate, and the stillborn baby create a tragic narrative that fuels the haunting. This reflects classic gothic horror themes where emotional pain anchors supernatural phenomena.

Necromantic mirror as spectral anchor: The mirror’s necromantic magic sustains the ghostly manifestations, acting like a “recording” device for the hauntings. Destroying or dispersing the mirror’s shards is crucial to weakening the spirits, highlighting the importance of magical focal points in ghost lore.

Undead baby as a symbol of innocence corrupted: The baby’s transformation into a hostile undead entity symbolizes the corruption of innocence and the consequences of hidden sins within the family. Its aggressive nature disrupts the party’s attempts to peacefully resolve the haunting.

Hidden architecture reveals secrets: The secret stairway and hollow wall hint at concealed parts of the mansion, emphasizing that physical spaces often mirror hidden family secrets and unresolved histories in horror settings.

The shard and “beast” motif introduce a larger threat: The note naming “Dasha” and referencing an amber shard to control a “beast” suggests the mansion’s curse or haunting may be linked to a powerful entity, potentially escalating the stakes beyond typical ghost hauntings.

Visions and sensory details enrich atmosphere: The cold temperatures, breath visibility, yeasty starvation smell, and coppery blood scent create an immersive sensory environment that conveys the mansion’s oppressive, cursed nature.

Player interactions balance combat and empathy: The party’s struggle between fighting hostile undead (like the baby) and showing reverence for tragic ghosts illustrates the moral complexity in dealing with supernatural tragedies, common in narrative-driven RPGs.