Big Bang Burger Bar

Being the true and amazing adventure of Nylar, a familiar of this parish, who took on and beat the dandy Strahd at his own game. Or did he? Let's find out.

More details about his rooftop adventures to follow...

The party were attacked by two Vistani gardeners. Edryss immediately let Nylar loose with instructions to track down the seeds from the Wizards of the Wines vineyard which they suspect to be in somewhere in the smaller of the two towers.

Nylar takes one round to fly to the top of the tower [if quicker let me know] and settles near the battlements to consider his options. There is a staircase leading down into the tower.

>>WHAT NOW?

Link to exterior castle map:

https://www.deviantart.com/code0end/art/Castle-Ravenloft-Maps-Overview-706248400

(https://www.deviantart.com/code0end/art/Castle-Ravenloft-Maps-Overview-706248400)

Nylar will turn in to a spider and find a way in to the castle from the tower.

Once inside he will find somewhere to turn back to an imp and become invisible and start looking for the seed.  He will try to figure out where Roark's spell was pointing to.

Things look different as a spider. It must be all the extra eyes.

Ignoring the stone bridge to the second tower which is behind him, Nylar scuttles over to the staircase leading down.

Suddenly he's aware of a dark shadow passing over him, running and looking is even more difficult as a spider but Nylar manages to escape the beak and claw of a miffed looking raven as he runs down the stairs, finding a safe looking crack in the stone to hide while he makes sure the raven is really gone.  [Roll 11]

It doesn't occur to him to ask why the raven didn't follow him down the stairs. Perhaps he didn't look that tasty after all.

Changing back into his familiar (yak!) Imp form he looks about him.

Nylar eventually decides the coast is clear and cautiously makes his way to the next floor. The stairs continue down or there is a door in the west wall.

Nylar will sneak under the door as a spider climbing to the ceiling and take a look around.

Transforming once again into a spider¹ Nylar crawls over the top of the door, finding a comfortable space to squeeze into the next room.

Although the room looks large and high ceilinged in his present form Nylar has done this enough to realise it's actually small and cramped with a low ceiling. Nylar can see torn and broken couches in heaps. Looking closer he notices deep claw marks in the soft furnishing where the once rich upholstery has been torn to shreds with shar claws.

From the dark shadows behind the broken furniture you notice three pairs of glowing eyes staring back at you.

The hairs on your spidery legs suddenly spring to attention.


1 Do familiars/imps get some sort of transformation sickness do you think? It must be disorientating at the very least going from arachnid to demon-thing, to whatever. Also^1a

1a Do you think my decision to put this in a nested footnote has anything to do with my re-reading the Colour of Magic?^1b

1b Could do.

Nylar will whilst invisible turn in to imp form ¹.  Nylar looks in to the darkness (as clear as day with his devil's sight).

What can Nylar see (who to the eyes belong too)²


   1. Nylar is from Avernus he has a strong stomach (from tacho^1a chewdays)

    1a. Tachogaralathus ("Tacho" for short) is a damned Gold Dragon with a tough hide

     2. As myself I hope cats (I could be bias), PS I do like the Pratchett-esque foot notes (they made me smile)

Cats it is! Three of them; one fat ginger moggy, one imperious looking white tom with a tabby tail and one pure black creature with cruel eyes.

All three are low to the ground, whiskers twitching.

They don't seem to have seen you yet but are nevertheless staring unwaveringly straight at the door.

Nylar will carefully glide over to the other door. 

Whilst invisible turn in to a spider and climb through the gap at the top of the door.

Stealth Roll 21 (16 roll +5 modifier)

Nylar glides over the heads of the cats who soon forgot their curiosity and return to their grooming or looking for small, crawling or burrowing food.

Squeezing through the space in between the door and jamb Nylar finds himself in a room under heavy oak beams, the outer wall of which curves to follow the shape of the tower. Dim lights filter into the room through the steel lattice square of two leaded glass windows. Several tables stand throughout the room, weighed down by stacks of glass jars and bottles, all of them bearing labels.

Apart from the windows the door through which Nylar entered is the only obvious exit.

Nylar whilst invisible will inspect the jars and read the labels.

Seeing if any of these are what he is looking for.

Edyss will look detect magic through Nylar's eyes.

The jars and bottles contain several different coloured liquid of various viscosities, one seems to be bubbling gently.

The neatly written labels identify the liquids as Eye of Newt, Hair of Bat, Snail Hearts and Frog's Breath.

As far as you can tell none of them, not even the gently bubbling liquid seems to be magical.

What  can Nylar see from the window?

Also Nylar will search for a hidden door way or trap door.

Investigation 15

Pulling back from the frightening visage at the window, Nylar investigates the room.

He can see numerous boot prints in the dust on the floor as well as a short trail as if something heavy has been dragged along it. Following the trail Nylar discovers a trapdoor in the northeast corner of the room.

Nylar will inspect the trapdoor for traps

Investigation 14

If it looks un trapped he will turn in to a spider and crawl in to take a look around.

There are no obvious traps but try as you might you can't crawl through the gaps.

You certainly ought to be able to do so, there looks like plenty of room. Nylar can even feel the wind as it whips down from the tower and roof towards some as yet unseen room. But every time you try you simply can't make any progress. It looks and feels like trying to make crawl through Vaseline.

Nylar Will turn in to imp form (whilst still Invisible) and try to search for a hidden release. 

Feel for catches tap to see  if there are and hidden panels.  See if anything slides.

In Imp form Nylar systematically works around the trapdoor looking for something, anything that might release it. But finds nothing.

Nylar will back track to the roof (remaining invisible) and look for other possible places to search.

Nylar backtracks to the roof where he first landed.

In the room with the faded furniture the cats perk up and make some playful jumps into the air but it's difficult to know if they're chasing some vestige of an image of the imp or flies and dust motes and are easily avoided.

The only other direction to take is over the bridge. As a small, flying creature Nylar is not at all disconcerted by the vertiginous fall on either side of the slender bridge and the broken and fallen guard rails, the remnants of which flap and clank in the whipping crosswind.

Nylar finds himself on a spiral staircase leading either up or down into another tower. In the centre of the tower's highest floor, a fifteen foot diameter hole drops into the cold heart of Ravenloft itself. Cold air rushes up out of the shaft sending a chill through his soul. Arrow slits line the walls and ageing beams support a steep, cone-shaped roof. One beam and part of the roof have fallen away, leaving a gaping hole into the stormy sky.

Nylar will scout the core of the tower from top to bottom looking to see what is there (he will fly and be invisible)

Deciding to start with the top of the tower Nylar flits upwards over the roughshod stone stairs.

The stairs end at a dark and dreary room with manacles attached to the walls. In the middle of the room is a wood-framed bed fitted with leather restraints. At the foot of the bed rests a closed iron chest, its lid sculpted with an emblem.

A wooden ladder leads up to a trapdoor in the ceiling. Thin streams of water drip through the trapdoor's rotting wood, forming a puddle around the base of the ladder.

[I know you said you wanted to scout further, but did you want to do anything in here first?]

Yes Nylar will do the following:

Look under the bed

Carefully open the chest (if there is a stick or something that he can use to open the chest at a distance.

Look through the trap door to see what is beyond it

Underneath the bed is what looks like a marble. Carefully manoeuvring it out Nylar is disgusted to see it is a single varnished human eyeball. [You may have seen this somewhere else, roll on perception to see if you remember. I will also accept it anyone reading this remembers where you might have seen it before]

You recognise the emblem embossed on the chest as the Strahd Family Crest. You find a broom in the corner of the room and try to pry the chest open but it's either stuck or locked.

Nylar wiggles through the trapdoor and pokes his head through the gap. He finds a windy tower roof surrounded by stone battlements. The thunderclouds above suddenly coalesce into the terrible visage of Strahd . The face utters a ghastly moan as thousands of bats fly out of it's gaping maw and descend upon the tower.

Nylar only got a 7 on his perception but Edryss will tell the others (as she can see through Nylar's eyes)

Nylar will fly back inside to avoid the bats.

Can Nylar lift the chest? (Strength 11)  (55 lbs lift; 110 lbs encombered; 165 lbs max lift)

If so Nylar will take the chest.

If it were only a matter of strength Nylar could lift the chest but I can't see how he could because of his size.

I would be happy for him to drag the chest to the bridge with no guard rails and choose a side to drop down from in a "controlled" crash landing.

If you're happy with that just tell me which side you want to come down on.

Nylar will drag it to the roof of the tower he started from and hide it for one of the party to fly in and recover.

He will then nip back and check the rest of the tower (just to be sure he has found the seed)

The chest is easy enough for Nylar to drag wherever he wants it given enough time.

The top of the smaller tower is bare. The best you could do would be to hide it in the "corner" formed where the wall meets the spiral staircase.
Consider that done if that's how you want to play it.

On the way back to the tower Nylar sees a column of bats dive straight the gap in the spiral staircase. They seem to pay no attention to Nylar and he waits until the impressive sight is passed before crossing.

A good look around the room doesn't uncover anything new. If the seed is indeed anywhere in the towers, you reason it has to be in the chest.

[Do you want to rejoin the rest of the group now?]

Yes Nylar will rejoin the party.  With Edryss sending Roark back (with a fly spell) to collect the chest.  Nylar watching Roark's back.