Post by gavmeister on Mar 26, 2017 18:42:22 GMT
At the church
Ricken enters the wrecked, but brightly lit, chapel to try to calm the deranged priest, Donavich. Theo helps Ricken appear to be a powerful cleric of the Morninglord. Donavich tells them his son, Doru, got involved with the mad wizard a year ago and was the only villager to return from the attack on Castle Ravenloft. Unfortunately he was ‘changed’ and since then Donavich has kept him locked in the cellar. He pleads with the adventurers not to harm the boy, before returning to his desperate prayers. All the while they can hear Doru’s tormented hungry screams through the floorboards.
They search the priest’s quarters. Ricken borrows a rare copy of ‘The Blade of Truth: The Uses of Logic in the War Against Diabolist Heresies, as Fought by the Ulmist Inquisition’, with Bran’s tacit agreement. Giselle finds a moving letter from her dead father, Lothaire, on the priest’s desk. Lothaire sheltered in the church before he succumbed to vampire-inflicted wounds. The letter suggests he had placed his faith in Giselle to free his soul from the confines of Barovia. It also warns of a dangerous female vampire, associated with Strahd but disloyal to him for some reason.
In an abandoned room they find a padlocked trapdoor which Giselle quickly opens. They climb down the undercroft stairs aided by a Light spell. Pankas steps forward to reason with the creature but Bran warns him off. They resolve to offer a final mercy but hunger quickly proves too much for the young vampire. “I can smell your blood!” he screams at Giselle. Fortunately the big lads get in the way. Ricken’s Sacred Flame and Bran’s Divine Smite keep Doru burning while the others hack, shoot and blast the creature. Doru lashes out in return, but eventually succumbs and returns to his natural state as an unrecognisable, bloodied and burnt corpse.
Donavich collapses when given the news, a broken man. Job done. They return to the Burgomaster’s mansion to collect Ismark, Ireena and Kolyan Indirovich’s corpse.
Epitaph for the Fallen
They return to the church to find Donavich a little calmer. Giselle finds her father’s grave adorned with bright yellow flowers “as fresh now as they were a decade ago” says the priest. They notice a dozen or so graves have burst open recently.
They begin to dig Indirovich’s grave. A kindness of ravens gathers on the church roof to watch them. Thunder crashes in the distance. Lightning flashes over Castle Ravenloft to the northwest. A mist rolls in. Wolves howl. The mists part revealing a snarling red-eyed wolf pack led by their alpha – Count Strahd von Zarovich in person. “Good evening, Ricken and friends. So good to see you again. You may match your skills against my pets, if you wish. But first a word of warning: She is mine!”
Theo fires off a weak Shatter before the wolves surge forward to the attack. Five of them surround Ismark and prevent him from giving aid to his sister. Zarovich beckons: “Tatyana, come to me…” Ireena moves in a trance towards the Count’s open arms.
The adventurer’s desperately fight the wolves. Theo is bitten but incinerates the wolf with his Hellish Rebuke. Bran takes the head off another wolf with a single blow, but otherwise things go badly at first. Ricken’s Radiance of the Dawn turns the battle, blasting two wolves and injuring two others. Then, a swarm of bats dives down to join the attack on the adventurers. The ravens take to the air to meet them, knocking six bats out of the sky at the first pass.
Strahd grasps Ireena tightly and prepares to sink his fangs into her neck. An unlikely hero arises; Theo dodges through the melee and clings to Ireena, shouting at her to break the trance. She comes to her senses, and slips through the Count’s grasp. Zarovich is incensed; he moves to strike Theo but pauses. “You have a powerful patron”, he comments. And then strikes the warlock insensible to the ground with a single blow. Strahd turns to the retreating Ireena: “Tatyana, they can’t keep us apart for long!”
The Count calls the remaining wolves off and dissolves into mist. The wolves flee. The ground is littered with bat corpses – and five of the ravens. Bran and Ricken bring Theo round. Ireena thanks him. Donavich having locked himself in the church, the service resumes led by Ricken. The final shovelful of soil is laid at midnight over the Burgomaster’s coffin.
An eerie green light suffuses the graveyard. A ghostly procession of a hundred former adventurers emerge from the ground – fighters, rogues, clerics and wizards. They form up and march silently down the Old Svalich Road towards Castle Ravenloft.
Our heroes return with Ireena and Ismark to the Burgomaster’s mansion and spend an uneasy night. Theo dreams of a woman sleeping in a mansion bedroom with a life-size mannequin; and a cat scratching at a door.
On the Road Again
They start early next day. At the River Ivlis bridge they catch up with the village zombies. Ricken Turns Undead, allowing the party to pick the mindless creatures off piecemeal.
They reach a crossroads where an old wooden gallows creaks in the chill wind from Mount Ghakis to the south west. A frayed length of rope dangles from its beam. Fog clings to a small plot of unmarked graves. A mysterious figure wearing an executioner’s hood emerges from the mist and demands payment from Giselle. A half-forgotten memory from her childhood nags her conscience. She hands over her ancient gold coin; the hangman gasps in relief and slowly fades. He leaves behind his hood, and a noose which is curiously heavy in the hand.
Ricken casts Augury. They accept the advice to make their way down to the Tser Pool encampment to meet Madam Eva. None look back at the gallows.
A huge swarm of bats emerges from the dusk-swathed trees and attacks. An especially large vampire bat emerges from the swarm and charms Theo. He welcomes its bite, and it begins draining his life blood. Ricken’s Burning Hands takes down a score of bats. Pankas shelters Giselle with his shield, while the rogue picks bats out of the sky with her rapier. Ricken fires a Scorching Ray at the creature attacking Theo, but to no effect. On the point of death, Theo finally comes round and tears the vampire bat off his neck. Instantly the rest of the bats change tactics; one of them snatches Pankas’ heirloom knife and the remainder of the swarm disengages, flying swiftly back to Castle Ravenloft.
Finally, they reach the Tser Pool encampment. Where the river Ivlis swells to a small lake, five colourful round tents and four barrel-shaped wagons surround a camp fire. Horses drink from the clear waters of the lake. Next to the river is a larger tent, lit from within. A dozen Vistani stand and sit around the fire, merrily singing to the accompaniment of an accordion. “Hey, strangers, come and join us! Share a meal with Stanimir’s folk!”
Ricken enters the wrecked, but brightly lit, chapel to try to calm the deranged priest, Donavich. Theo helps Ricken appear to be a powerful cleric of the Morninglord. Donavich tells them his son, Doru, got involved with the mad wizard a year ago and was the only villager to return from the attack on Castle Ravenloft. Unfortunately he was ‘changed’ and since then Donavich has kept him locked in the cellar. He pleads with the adventurers not to harm the boy, before returning to his desperate prayers. All the while they can hear Doru’s tormented hungry screams through the floorboards.
They search the priest’s quarters. Ricken borrows a rare copy of ‘The Blade of Truth: The Uses of Logic in the War Against Diabolist Heresies, as Fought by the Ulmist Inquisition’, with Bran’s tacit agreement. Giselle finds a moving letter from her dead father, Lothaire, on the priest’s desk. Lothaire sheltered in the church before he succumbed to vampire-inflicted wounds. The letter suggests he had placed his faith in Giselle to free his soul from the confines of Barovia. It also warns of a dangerous female vampire, associated with Strahd but disloyal to him for some reason.
In an abandoned room they find a padlocked trapdoor which Giselle quickly opens. They climb down the undercroft stairs aided by a Light spell. Pankas steps forward to reason with the creature but Bran warns him off. They resolve to offer a final mercy but hunger quickly proves too much for the young vampire. “I can smell your blood!” he screams at Giselle. Fortunately the big lads get in the way. Ricken’s Sacred Flame and Bran’s Divine Smite keep Doru burning while the others hack, shoot and blast the creature. Doru lashes out in return, but eventually succumbs and returns to his natural state as an unrecognisable, bloodied and burnt corpse.
Donavich collapses when given the news, a broken man. Job done. They return to the Burgomaster’s mansion to collect Ismark, Ireena and Kolyan Indirovich’s corpse.
Epitaph for the Fallen
They return to the church to find Donavich a little calmer. Giselle finds her father’s grave adorned with bright yellow flowers “as fresh now as they were a decade ago” says the priest. They notice a dozen or so graves have burst open recently.
They begin to dig Indirovich’s grave. A kindness of ravens gathers on the church roof to watch them. Thunder crashes in the distance. Lightning flashes over Castle Ravenloft to the northwest. A mist rolls in. Wolves howl. The mists part revealing a snarling red-eyed wolf pack led by their alpha – Count Strahd von Zarovich in person. “Good evening, Ricken and friends. So good to see you again. You may match your skills against my pets, if you wish. But first a word of warning: She is mine!”
Theo fires off a weak Shatter before the wolves surge forward to the attack. Five of them surround Ismark and prevent him from giving aid to his sister. Zarovich beckons: “Tatyana, come to me…” Ireena moves in a trance towards the Count’s open arms.
The adventurer’s desperately fight the wolves. Theo is bitten but incinerates the wolf with his Hellish Rebuke. Bran takes the head off another wolf with a single blow, but otherwise things go badly at first. Ricken’s Radiance of the Dawn turns the battle, blasting two wolves and injuring two others. Then, a swarm of bats dives down to join the attack on the adventurers. The ravens take to the air to meet them, knocking six bats out of the sky at the first pass.
Strahd grasps Ireena tightly and prepares to sink his fangs into her neck. An unlikely hero arises; Theo dodges through the melee and clings to Ireena, shouting at her to break the trance. She comes to her senses, and slips through the Count’s grasp. Zarovich is incensed; he moves to strike Theo but pauses. “You have a powerful patron”, he comments. And then strikes the warlock insensible to the ground with a single blow. Strahd turns to the retreating Ireena: “Tatyana, they can’t keep us apart for long!”
The Count calls the remaining wolves off and dissolves into mist. The wolves flee. The ground is littered with bat corpses – and five of the ravens. Bran and Ricken bring Theo round. Ireena thanks him. Donavich having locked himself in the church, the service resumes led by Ricken. The final shovelful of soil is laid at midnight over the Burgomaster’s coffin.
An eerie green light suffuses the graveyard. A ghostly procession of a hundred former adventurers emerge from the ground – fighters, rogues, clerics and wizards. They form up and march silently down the Old Svalich Road towards Castle Ravenloft.
Our heroes return with Ireena and Ismark to the Burgomaster’s mansion and spend an uneasy night. Theo dreams of a woman sleeping in a mansion bedroom with a life-size mannequin; and a cat scratching at a door.
On the Road Again
They start early next day. At the River Ivlis bridge they catch up with the village zombies. Ricken Turns Undead, allowing the party to pick the mindless creatures off piecemeal.
They reach a crossroads where an old wooden gallows creaks in the chill wind from Mount Ghakis to the south west. A frayed length of rope dangles from its beam. Fog clings to a small plot of unmarked graves. A mysterious figure wearing an executioner’s hood emerges from the mist and demands payment from Giselle. A half-forgotten memory from her childhood nags her conscience. She hands over her ancient gold coin; the hangman gasps in relief and slowly fades. He leaves behind his hood, and a noose which is curiously heavy in the hand.
Ricken casts Augury. They accept the advice to make their way down to the Tser Pool encampment to meet Madam Eva. None look back at the gallows.
A huge swarm of bats emerges from the dusk-swathed trees and attacks. An especially large vampire bat emerges from the swarm and charms Theo. He welcomes its bite, and it begins draining his life blood. Ricken’s Burning Hands takes down a score of bats. Pankas shelters Giselle with his shield, while the rogue picks bats out of the sky with her rapier. Ricken fires a Scorching Ray at the creature attacking Theo, but to no effect. On the point of death, Theo finally comes round and tears the vampire bat off his neck. Instantly the rest of the bats change tactics; one of them snatches Pankas’ heirloom knife and the remainder of the swarm disengages, flying swiftly back to Castle Ravenloft.
Finally, they reach the Tser Pool encampment. Where the river Ivlis swells to a small lake, five colourful round tents and four barrel-shaped wagons surround a camp fire. Horses drink from the clear waters of the lake. Next to the river is a larger tent, lit from within. A dozen Vistani stand and sit around the fire, merrily singing to the accompaniment of an accordion. “Hey, strangers, come and join us! Share a meal with Stanimir’s folk!”
