Post by gavmeister on Feb 26, 2017 18:47:29 GMT
Tenebrous makes a nocturnal visitation to Theodore’s dreams, and presents him with his Book of Shadows to seal the Pact of the Tome.
Bran wakes in a confused state and has to be talked out of trying to walk back to Elturgard.
The rest of the party give Pankas the silvered short sword but he remains tight-lipped about his aversion to werewolves.
Mrs Krykski brings them a wholesome porridge. The two sullen Krykski children stare silently at them. Balthazar Krykski reminds them of their pledge, and they set off to clear his sister’s house of ‘vermin’.
No sooner have they made their way into the abandoned house than swarms of rats erupt from every corner and attack. Ricken’s Radiance of the Dawn and Theodore’s Hellish Rebuke incinerate dozens of the creatures, but it remains hard blade, mace and blasting work until the last of the vermin are stamped out. They return to the Krykski house. Balthazar is impressed that they have delivered on their promise and opens up a little about Barovia, its people and beliefs.
They decide to try to find the Burgomaster’s house. Rats scurry around in the gutters. Some of the inhabitants greet them normally but nine out of ten people they meet are sullen, resentful and suspicious, showing little emotion.
They hear a woman weeping from an upstairs window. The door is barred from inside, so Bran and Pankas give Giselle a leg up, and she climbs up to the open window. Mad Mary is grieving for her lost daughter, Gertruda, who escaped from the house a week ago and has not been seen since. “I was only trying to protect her”, weeps Mary. A doll from Blinsky’s workshop, Molly, lies abandoned on the floor. The adventurers promise to try to find Gertruda and bring her back.
They visit Bildrath’s Mercantile and unload their loot from the Durst house. Bildrath’s prices are too steep for them to consider buying anything – ten times the cost at home! The simple stock boy, Parriwimple, keeps an eye on them.
They encounter a sweet little old lady selling pies door to door. Theo buys 5 at a steep 1 gp each. Giselle is suspicious, and the rogue follows the old dear to her next customer. She is seen arguing with a householder, grabbing a child and stuffing him into a sack. While Theo finishes the last morsels of a delicious ‘dream pie’, the rest of the party confront the woman, Morgantha. She releases the boy but Pankas sees through her lies. He and Ricken attack. She quickly turns invisible and escapes, but not before Giselle notices that her left little finger is missing. Could this be the hag? They warn Theo about the pies but he is insisten that they delicious and clearly harmless.
The little boy, Lucian Jarov, has a father. They confront the foolish man who confesses that he has become addictied to the pies, and had promised to surrender his son in lieu of his pie debt. He doesn’t seem especially grateful that his son escaped. His wife is resigned to the likelihood that ‘the crone will be back again to claim what’s hers’.
Theo idly conjurs an illusionary raven to pass the time and is startled to see a real raven staring at Bran. The raven flies up the street and perches on a sign at the village tavern, ‘Blood of the Vine’. A mischief maker has scratched an ‘n’ over the ‘f’.
They follow the raven and go inside. Three Vistani (gypsy) sisters, Alenka, Mirabel and Sorvia, own the place. They recommend their delicious rabbit stew (http://thegypsychef.com/recipe-15-gypsy-goulash/ ). The sullen barman, Arik, provides a flask of decent red wine, then goes back to mindlessly cleaning glasses. The sisters urge the party to visit Madam Eva at the Tser Pool camp to have their fortune read.
A handsome young man enters the tavern, buys the adventurers another flask of wine and introduces himself as Ismark Kolyanovich, the former burgomaster’s son. The burgomaster died of a heart attack three days ago, after wolves and undead had besieged their mansion at the bidding of the devil Strahd. The vampire had been preying on Ismark’s adopted sister, Ireena. The story tallies with the warning notice they found on the corpse in the Svalich woods. The villagers shun Ireena and will not help her. The adventurers accompany Ismark back to the mansion, where evidence of the damage caused by the siege is readily apparent.
Ismark unlocks the door and they make their way upstairs to where Ireena Kolyana lies languishing from her neck wounds. She is a striking woman with bright auburn hair. Bran Lays Hands gently on her and she comes round. She tells them her sad tale and weeps at the memory of a father who adopted and raised her as his own after finding her lost in the woods as a child. The party realise that attacks on the mansion ceased two days ago – shortly after they arrived in Barovia.
Angered by the evil wrought on the innocent people of Barovia, Bran takes an Oath of Vengeance. He swears:
• to Fight the Greater Evil
• show No Mercy for the Wicked
• overcome By Any Means Necessary
• provide Restitution
The burgomaster’s body is lying in a simple coffin which his son and adopted daughter have made. They ask the party to help bury their father at the village church but ask them to check first that all is well with the priest. Ismark warns them of danger from lingering undead who have made a nearby house their lair. The party decide to clear the infested house on their way to the church. They break in, and are assailed by the stench of death. Savage zombies dressed in tattered Zarovich livery attack. The adventurers hack, slash and blast the zombies, but not before a still-moving severed limb twists Bran’s ankle painfully. Ricken tries his best to heal Bran up and they carry on.
They come to the worn and weary church, weathered by the assaults of evil for centuries on end. They enter the battered doors into a mildewed hallway which ends in a brightly led chapel. The dishevelled priest, Donavich, kneels in futile prayer amongst debris. Suddenly his prayer is blotted out by an inhuman scream that rises from beneath the wooden floor: “Father! I’m hungry!!"
Bran wakes in a confused state and has to be talked out of trying to walk back to Elturgard.
The rest of the party give Pankas the silvered short sword but he remains tight-lipped about his aversion to werewolves.
Mrs Krykski brings them a wholesome porridge. The two sullen Krykski children stare silently at them. Balthazar Krykski reminds them of their pledge, and they set off to clear his sister’s house of ‘vermin’.
No sooner have they made their way into the abandoned house than swarms of rats erupt from every corner and attack. Ricken’s Radiance of the Dawn and Theodore’s Hellish Rebuke incinerate dozens of the creatures, but it remains hard blade, mace and blasting work until the last of the vermin are stamped out. They return to the Krykski house. Balthazar is impressed that they have delivered on their promise and opens up a little about Barovia, its people and beliefs.
They decide to try to find the Burgomaster’s house. Rats scurry around in the gutters. Some of the inhabitants greet them normally but nine out of ten people they meet are sullen, resentful and suspicious, showing little emotion.
They hear a woman weeping from an upstairs window. The door is barred from inside, so Bran and Pankas give Giselle a leg up, and she climbs up to the open window. Mad Mary is grieving for her lost daughter, Gertruda, who escaped from the house a week ago and has not been seen since. “I was only trying to protect her”, weeps Mary. A doll from Blinsky’s workshop, Molly, lies abandoned on the floor. The adventurers promise to try to find Gertruda and bring her back.
They visit Bildrath’s Mercantile and unload their loot from the Durst house. Bildrath’s prices are too steep for them to consider buying anything – ten times the cost at home! The simple stock boy, Parriwimple, keeps an eye on them.
They encounter a sweet little old lady selling pies door to door. Theo buys 5 at a steep 1 gp each. Giselle is suspicious, and the rogue follows the old dear to her next customer. She is seen arguing with a householder, grabbing a child and stuffing him into a sack. While Theo finishes the last morsels of a delicious ‘dream pie’, the rest of the party confront the woman, Morgantha. She releases the boy but Pankas sees through her lies. He and Ricken attack. She quickly turns invisible and escapes, but not before Giselle notices that her left little finger is missing. Could this be the hag? They warn Theo about the pies but he is insisten that they delicious and clearly harmless.
The little boy, Lucian Jarov, has a father. They confront the foolish man who confesses that he has become addictied to the pies, and had promised to surrender his son in lieu of his pie debt. He doesn’t seem especially grateful that his son escaped. His wife is resigned to the likelihood that ‘the crone will be back again to claim what’s hers’.
Theo idly conjurs an illusionary raven to pass the time and is startled to see a real raven staring at Bran. The raven flies up the street and perches on a sign at the village tavern, ‘Blood of the Vine’. A mischief maker has scratched an ‘n’ over the ‘f’.
They follow the raven and go inside. Three Vistani (gypsy) sisters, Alenka, Mirabel and Sorvia, own the place. They recommend their delicious rabbit stew (http://thegypsychef.com/recipe-15-gypsy-goulash/ ). The sullen barman, Arik, provides a flask of decent red wine, then goes back to mindlessly cleaning glasses. The sisters urge the party to visit Madam Eva at the Tser Pool camp to have their fortune read.
A handsome young man enters the tavern, buys the adventurers another flask of wine and introduces himself as Ismark Kolyanovich, the former burgomaster’s son. The burgomaster died of a heart attack three days ago, after wolves and undead had besieged their mansion at the bidding of the devil Strahd. The vampire had been preying on Ismark’s adopted sister, Ireena. The story tallies with the warning notice they found on the corpse in the Svalich woods. The villagers shun Ireena and will not help her. The adventurers accompany Ismark back to the mansion, where evidence of the damage caused by the siege is readily apparent.
Ismark unlocks the door and they make their way upstairs to where Ireena Kolyana lies languishing from her neck wounds. She is a striking woman with bright auburn hair. Bran Lays Hands gently on her and she comes round. She tells them her sad tale and weeps at the memory of a father who adopted and raised her as his own after finding her lost in the woods as a child. The party realise that attacks on the mansion ceased two days ago – shortly after they arrived in Barovia.
Angered by the evil wrought on the innocent people of Barovia, Bran takes an Oath of Vengeance. He swears:
• to Fight the Greater Evil
• show No Mercy for the Wicked
• overcome By Any Means Necessary
• provide Restitution
The burgomaster’s body is lying in a simple coffin which his son and adopted daughter have made. They ask the party to help bury their father at the village church but ask them to check first that all is well with the priest. Ismark warns them of danger from lingering undead who have made a nearby house their lair. The party decide to clear the infested house on their way to the church. They break in, and are assailed by the stench of death. Savage zombies dressed in tattered Zarovich livery attack. The adventurers hack, slash and blast the zombies, but not before a still-moving severed limb twists Bran’s ankle painfully. Ricken tries his best to heal Bran up and they carry on.
They come to the worn and weary church, weathered by the assaults of evil for centuries on end. They enter the battered doors into a mildewed hallway which ends in a brightly led chapel. The dishevelled priest, Donavich, kneels in futile prayer amongst debris. Suddenly his prayer is blotted out by an inhuman scream that rises from beneath the wooden floor: “Father! I’m hungry!!"