As you travel upstairs, nobody manages to spot the secret door. It probably won't matter, anyway, or maybe you can come back later and look for it in more detail. You're pretty sure you're old enough to know about it.



"Young Mustafa, I once fought Dracula himself, along with a group of close friends. You may not recall, but I was one of those who founded the Order some... few...years ago. We made our way through the castle, battling minotaurs, skeletons, and even a couple of other vampires, plus many other servants of evil. So many, created by him, or called to his will from sleep, the dark places of the world, or from beyond this world..."

"But the weapons, yes. It is true that weapons, and shields, and the like are enchanted. Some things wear out as they get old, like my memory and my knees. Magic doesn't work that way. Take a sword with an ordinary enchantment. Then put it in the hands of a devoted holy warrior who uses it to fight and smite evil for decades, channeling divine power through it hundreds of times, or a shield used to resist thousands of blows and sprayed with the blood of friend and foe alike. If only a tiny" (he holds his fingers very close together) "Amount of that magic is left behind each time, that is still enough to alter and increase the magic of the weapon. These items were not created at once, by the will of a wizard or cleric; they were created over time, through blood, battle, grit, devotion, and will. That is also why they tend to stay within families."


The floor shakes with the audible vibration of a heavy thump. Adrian pulls out a lens on a chain from one of his many pockets. “Huh.” He puts it to one eye and squints, then looks around and up and down and around. “I wonder what fell over? The ability to see through walls, quite han--.”

He pauses, then his voice goes serious as he stares through the walls at something only he can see. He starts speaking with more focus and energy.

“Ignore what I said. Pick up your ancestors’ tools. You’re not ready to wield them, but you don’t have a choice. There’s a dragon in the courtyard, one wreathed in shadow, and I see a fiendish wizard with him… Yugoloths? They’ve blanketed the courtyard with poisonous clouds.”

He touches his shirt. It shifts its appearance, revealing it to be a black set of leather armor adorned with spiderwebs, and pulls a bow out from one of his vest pockets. “My generation are all about dead now, and they’ll be expecting to find me. The wards on the building may hold them outside for a few minutes, but not more than that, and everyone else who could fight them was probably outside.”

He points at the five of you. “You, take these weapons and make sure they don’t fall into the hands of evil, whatever it is. You probably have time to stop and grab some supplies on your way out, but don’t take too long. Stay low, get away, and try to get help. If no help is to be found, get some vengeance instead. Here’s a key to the door in the back hallway on the ground floor, if you don’t want to go out the back windows.” He tosses a key to Sabian.

He leads the way out the door from the Hall of History, then walks as quickly as he’s able to one of the windows in the perimeter hall. Following, you see him kick it open. He steps out onto the side of the building as he nocks an arrow.

You now have to decide how much time you want to spend gathering supplies, and from where, versus how quickly you want to escape.
Time will be tracked increments of 1 minute.
Checking a room for and retrieving specific supplies takes 2 minutes unless otherwise noted.
Moving between rooms on the same floor takes 1 minute.
Moving to a room on a different floor takes 2 minutes.
Map link for convenience.