A secret gained, a secret given
transcription of Curse of Strahdanya Chapter 18, 5:30:20-5:54:59
ESCHER: Well, you've a long trek back through the castle, and much to do. [NIKKIE, narrating]: He opens the door, and motions for you to enter. You begin to make your way back through the castle, back the way you came through twists and turns, up and down, stairwells and through secret doors, till things begin to look similar again, as you all spill out once again into the audience hall, the throne room. Theres a pause in Escher, as he looks around, as he thinks to himself, and, he looks between all of you before he appears to have made up his mind. [as ESCHER]: Well, this is it, then. [NIKKIE, narrating]: He takes out a small key, and he opens up the door to the bath— to the bath— the b— the bathing hall, and then opens the door to her closet. It stretches for, maybe three or four rooms, lined with gowns, negligees, chains, whips, and in the very center, on a beautiful pedestal shaped like an inverted raven's claw, sits an ornate wooden box, three keyholes in a line.
VICTORIA: This is it. [KELSEY, narrating]: I'll take the keys out of my pockets, and, I'll keep one, hand one to the professor—
SHEPHERD: I don't think so.
VICTORIA: What?
SHEPHERD: I think this is all on you.
CLAYTON: I don't want to touch those fucking things.
SHEPHERD: I just don't think that Strahdanya would be happy with anybody else handling those keys, or that box, or whatever else might be inside.
SARNAX: It is yours to take, Victoria.
VICTORIA: Fine. Let's be done with it. [KELSEY, narrating]: And I'll, I guess put one in, turn it—
NIKKIE: You put one in, you hear a 'click', the next one, and a 'click', the third one, and a final 'click' sound as the lid itself pops open. The box is shaped like a raven, its wings outstretched, holding onto it. The beak, um, curved down, and as the lid opens, the head rises, and sitting on a beautiful purple velvet tufted cushion, is the most beautiful and ornate hairpin you've seen in your entire life, gold filigreed feathers adorning the length of it, twisting, almost as if shadow made carnate in the melted metals, forming this beautiful pin that would sit so perfectly in your hair to hold your veil. It's absolutely lovely, and it looks far older than you had imagined.
ANDY: Do we all see this?
NIKKIE: Yes.
SHEPHERD: Uh, y'know, on second thought, I'm not so sure I want Victoria touchin' that thing.
VICTORIA: Do you think it's dangerous?
SHEPHERD: I'm just gettin' a bad feeling.
SARNAX: What's your bad feeling, Shepherd? I generally trust your instincts.
SHEPHERD: I-I can't-can't put my finger on it, it's just-just, uh, somethin' not sittin' right in my gut.
VICTORIA: Well, we know it's powerful, must be.
SARNAX: And, we know it's of divine nature, but, I suppose there are…gods of all moralities, and— [as MIKEY]: Being from Stryga, I would, like, know gener— vaguely about the Raven Queen? Would I know?
NIKKIE: Uhh, roll a…religion check.
MIKEY: Religion check? Wow! This may be my first religion check!
ALL: [overlapping voices]
RICHIE: In the history of D&D, this is the first religion check ever, I think.
NIKKIE: I must be a horrible DM, if I haven't had a cleric—
MIKEY: Hey, How 'bout that! Oohoo!
NIKKIE: No I rolled religion, I rolled religion as Iris.
ANDY: I was about to say, I feel like I've rolled religion in, in, in Beneath Dark Wings.
NIKKIE: I'm like, I've done it!
MIKEY: Oh wow!
NIKKIE: I don't think I've done it as a DM, which is the question.
MIKEY: It's a 26!
ANDY: Nice.
KELSEY: Oh wow!
MIKEY: It's a 26.
NIKKIE: Yeah! You, you— I'd say you are familiar enough with the Raven— with the Raven Queen.
SARNAX: The power of the Raven Queen is not a good power, it is not a benevolent power. It is neutral, just like death; cares not if you are good or evil, cares not if you are sinner or saint. It takes all, but, divine power it is all the same.
SHEPHERD: Look, I'm not sayin' don't do it, I was just voicin' my concern.
CLAYTON: Collect your hairpin, Victoria.
KELSEY [narrating]: I'll reach out my hand, and hover a moment, and then pick up the pin.
NIKKIE: You reach out your hand and it hovers over the pin for a second, you begin to imagine what you would look like at the alter: dress hugging your body; Strahdanya's mother's hairpin nestled in the curls atop your head, holding your veil; the way she would look at you with those piercing eyes as she says, "I do". As you reach down to grab the hairpin, your hand is repulsed backwards, and you realize that you cannot grab it.
VICTORIA: I can't touch it.
SHEPHERD: Haha, I knew it! Somethin' wasn't quite right!
CLAYTON: We've been through a lot to get this hairpin, Manum! [RICHIE, narrating]: And I'm going to send my mage hand over to grab it.
NIKKIE: Your mage hand flies in swiftly, and as it— at it reaches down to grab it, it bounces backwards—15 feet—with great force.
KANA: Is there something you're supposed to say to it?
CLAYTON: We probably need permission, from Strahdanya. We came right here.
SARNAX: Why, no.
VICTORIA: Perhaps it's a test?
SARNAX: Strahdanya herself does not have permission—
NIKKIE: I would like you to roll a perception check for me.
KELSEY: Bleuh…
MIKEY and RICHIE: Twist it. Twist it. Twist it.
KELSEY: Uh, ok. Alright, alright, alright, alright.
MAYA: Thank you chat!
MIKEY: Thank you chat!
RICHIE: Thank you chat, you guys are the best!
KELSEY: That wasn't much better, but, um perception is a 14.
NIKKIE: You are— your hand hurts a bit from the force. You feel like you might be on the right track, but, you can't imagine what you could possibly need-need to do, she told you, if you got the keys, you could have this.
MAYA: Is Escher still with us?
NIKKIE: Yeah.
KANA: What— do you know what's happening here?
ESCHER: No, but you could read the letters on the inside of the lid.
KANA: Oh.
VICTORIA: Silly us.
KANA: What does it say?
SARNAX: What does it say, Victoria?
KELSEY [narrating]: I'll read it.
NIKKIE: "A secret gained, a secret given".
KANA: Ohh.
SHEPHERD: Damnit I was wrong. It's just a simple puzzle.
CLAYTON: Did someone say, 'puzzle'?
SHEPHERD: Yeah, I said it.
SARNAX: I'm not certain it is a puzzle.
KANA: Victoria, I think you must be the one to give it the secret.
SARNAX: It ma—
KELSEY: What does it say? "A secret gained"—
NIKKIE and RICHIE: "—a secret given".
SARNAX: It makes perfect sense, if my religion score maintains. [to NIKKIE]: Does my religion..?
NIKKIE: For what?
MIKEY: Wh— Does… When I hear, 'a secret gained, a secret given', and I think about the Raven Queen—
NIKKIE: Yes.
MIKEY: Does that make sense?
NIKKIE: Yes, it does.
SARNAX: The Raven Queen is a goddess that deals in secrets.
SHEPHERD: W-well, I mean, that should be easy, then, just—
CLAYTON: What kind of…secrets?
SARNAX: A true secret.
SHEPHERD: Yeah, I mean…
CLAYTON: What does that mean? What's the definition of a "true secret"? What makes a secret?
SHEPHERD: Somethin' that no one else knows?
SARNAX: No one else knows.
SHEPHERD: Maybe only you? Maybe somethin'…
KANA: You don't want to share?
SHEPHERD: Yeah, right!
CLAYTON: What if none of you know, but perhaps people that I know at home know? Is that a secret?
SHEPHERD: Pro— well, it's a secret amongst some people, but maybe it's also the only—
NIKKIE: You hear the clicking of Escher's boots as he walks up towards the box and he looks down at it. [as ESCHER]: I don't think even if we solve this puzzle that I could reach for that thing myself anyway, but, we might as well give it a try. I secretly want Strahdanya dead. [NIKKIE, narrating]: And you see a faint shift, almost iridescent, ripple over the box—
CLAYTON: That wasn't a secret…
NIKKIE: —as he looks at all of you, and leans back against the wall.
SARNAX: Escher. Escher, thank you, for being precise, and stating what you mean and you want. We want the same goal. No path but forward, for all of us. We've all—
ESCHER: I want my freedom.
SARNAX: We all want freedom.
KANA: We all want to go home.
SARNAX: We all have been discussing, all of today, about choices we've all made.
ESCHER: And I want my own goddamned castle— gods damned castle.
KANA: Is it safe?
VICTORIA: There's only one way to find out. [as KELSEY]: So, we saw the ripple?
NIKKIE: Mhm.
KELSEY: And I'll reach down again, and try to…
NIKKIE: You reach down and your hand is once again repelled back with force. It's not as strong as it was before, but there is still a barrier protecting this pin.
MIKEY: Ohh…
KANA: Must we all share a secret?
VICTORIA: It's hard to say. I suppose…
SARNAX: Fine. [MIKEY, narrating]: I'll pull off my hood, and I'll step forward. [as SARNAX]: Shepherd.
SHEPHERD: Yeah.
SARNAX: Would you do me a kindness?
SHEPHERD: I guess that depends.
SARNAX: Could you hold my lantern?
SHEPHERD: Yeah, of course, absolutely.
SARNAX: I do not wish to hold this, while I share my secret. [MIKEY, narrating]: I'll step forward, I'll kinda shuffle past Victoria, and look at the hairpin, see the shadowy magic, with the raven filigree. [as SARNAX]: I…have doubts. Not in my god, but in my cult's ultimate aim. Not just doubts, I will be transparent. I will be honest, and share this secret. I disagree with our cult's ultimate gain. Evil acts can be done by great societies, by great cultures, in lands such as this, committed by the high born, undead, avian, or otherwise, but when the nature of your entire life, your entire world, forces you, guides your hand, does that make you worthy of a fiery death, fiery genocide? I used to think that unwaveringly, yes, but now, I do not. Now I do not wish to commit such a fiery massacre. And I am sorry to all that I have left behind at home, but my path is no longer with them, it is with you all here. No path but forward.
NIKKIE: You see the shimmer once again radiate over the box.
KELSEY: So you said the out loud to everyone?
MIKEY: Yep.
KELSEY: Not in a whisper, or anything like that?
MIKEY: No, nope.
KELSEY: Ok.
ESCHER: I— I know I've already done mine, but I feel mine was not nearly as impactful as that, so I left you the journal. There, I said it.
SARNAX: I think—
CLAYTON: What a shock.
ESCHER: Are you not satisfied with anything, Professor?
CLAYTON: You fooled us all! [pause] Thank you. You'll get your land.
ESCHER: My castle?
CLAYTON: We can discuss a castle depending on how much you help us.
ESCHER: Well, provide the box a secret, Professor.
SARNAX: Thank you, Shepherd.
SHEPHED: 'Course.
CLAYTON: I don't want to go.
SARNAX: You must, Professor. This is going to stop you? Of all of our trials today, this—
CLAYTON: Perhaps it needs… several secrets, and mine's not needed.
SARNAX: You are a fool if you think that is going to be the case.
KANA: I will go. Back at home in Inari, many years ago now, my master Jinteki once told me, that the blossom that blooms in adversity is normaly the rarest and most beautiful of all. I have not faced a greater adversity than what I have endured with all of you since we've entered Barovia. I have roamed so much, and learned so much. I feel I have learned everything I can from my master, and although I am happy that with your help, to which I am indebted, that we have saved him, and with Sergei's help he is safely returned to the abbey, I must secretly admit I no longer feel that pull I once had to return to my homeland, to my city, to prove myself and restore my reputation, when I know that the weight of that honor means more to me in this group, that I treat and feel as true family, than those who have cast me out, a ronin, traveling alone, and I know now, this is what it means to no longer be alone.
NIKKIE: You watch as almost rainbow light shines for just a second, as it ripples across the box.
SARNAX: Kindred spirits, Kana.
SHEPHERD: Yeah, yeah. I guess I'll go, uh, no point in, uh, kickin' the can down the road, as they say, um, S-Sarnax, you know, we're the, 'monsters that monsters fear', right?
SARNAX: Yes.
SHEPHERD: Well, uh, I am the way that I am, and unfortunately, the way that I am is what caused my parents to get murdered in cold blood. And of course, the doc' took me in, and, and, and he took care of me, but, that kinda set me on a path of, uh, avoidin' most people and, and doin' my own thing, and, and, and learnin' what it took to, to protect my small, my small village, where I come from, and, outside of the doc, I never really had friends, rea— never really knew anybody, and, and, was pretty much a loner, which is why I took up doin' what I do, and, you might think that, that, my wish might be— or my secret wish might be, that I wish I wasn't a tiefling, but that's not it. I've come to peace with it now, I mean, I-I am who I am, but, my secret is that wish I had learned to love myself a lot sooner, because then maybe I could've started my own family, a-and I wouldn't have gotten into all this, and I wouldn't be here, and I might not die in this gods forsaken plane. That's really it.
NIKKIE: As you look down at the box, you see again as it shimmers, the light undulating across the open, the open wood.
SARNAX: There is still time yet, Shepherd. Your story does not end here.
VICTORIA: He's right.
SHEPHERD: Hah, you kiddin'? I'm too old to start a family now, 'm married to the job, y'know?
VICTORIA: Well, it's, it's no secret that I'm not entirely what I seem. I've struggled my entire life with my darkness, straining to understand what I am, and what that means for my… balance in life, and, over the years—as the brides like to point out, I'm no spring chicken—I have come to realize that this darkness may be too much for me to overcome, and so I have come here for selfish reasons. It seems that this place could be the perfect prison for me, and since I've been here, I'm not entirely sure that I should leave.
NIKKIE: The undulating light ripples across the box, it had accepted your secret.
SARNAX: We all have our choice, and it will be yours to make when the time comes.
VICTORIA: Yes.
KANA: I will respect you decision, but we will miss you if you stay.
CLAYTON: Manum. [RICHIE, narrating]: I try to Mage Hand the hairpin.
NIKKIE: The mage hand makes its way down and bounces off lightly, there's not much left of the barrier protecting it.
CLAYTON: You want a secret? I've gone through too much to turn back now. Sarnax, do you recall, at Tsolenka Pass, when you asked me if I had a daughter, and I told you no?
SARNAX: Yes, I do.
CLAYTON: That was a lie. I do have a daughter. I have a young girl named Emelia, I have a wife named Clara, and they're both at home, waiting for me. I've hid this all from you, but that's not my secret. My secret, is that there's a reason why I hide it from you. When you do what I do, or, when you've done what I've done, you make enemies. As an archeologist, I've done whatever it's taken to make the discovery, to solve the puzzle, to gain the reknown, and the admiration of my colleagues, of my peers at the university. I've sent a young boy in Nekhbet head-first into a tomb. I knew it was dangerous, but he had explored it. When he was killed by a dart trap, what would I have done? In Chaac, I plundered countless artifacts from villages where it was all they had, but they belonged in a museum, they did no good rotting in a jungle. I've displaced entire villages, in Barghest, my homeland, to make room for a dig. People living there for centuries, and I forced them out and dug up everything they ever knew, because someone older, and more interesting lived there. And why? Why? Ambition. It was all worth it, the eternal pragmatist, the reknown, the funding, my name in the papers. It was worth it. So I continued. Instead of stopping I just hid my family, and here we are. My secret is, my ambition has led us all here. It's led us into this prison, It's led me to do terrible things. And I still haven't learned.
NIKKIE: There was no motion from the box, until the words, "and I still haven't learned", as once again the colors ripple, and this time, you're met with the sound of beating wings, and that is where we'll end the session.
