Session 2 - Barovia Boogaloo

5th Day of the 3rd Quarter of the Moon of Songs, Season of Wines, Year 766. 

Days in Barovia: 1. The moon waxes crescent.

Breakfast of Champions

Dawn breaking over Barovia revealed what the night had hidden; crouched bat-like hundreds of feet above the village atop a sheer cliff, looming huge and gothic over the valley, there was a castle.

In wake of the ray of sunlight alighting upon the grave Donavich was caught up in religious fervour. This was a true blessing of the Morning Lord, true sunlight, so rare in Barovia that he himself had never seen it. The power of his god infused his touch, allowing him to sooth and heal Cornelius’ and Dickie’s wounds and relieve their weariness in the aftermath of the battle. However, the blessing of the Morning Lord seemed short lived as Donavich was unable to heal Clarence or Ismark, despite calling prayers to his god.

As they gathered their things from within the church where they had rested briefly the night before, the black book dropped by the skeleton rider as they entered Barovia fell open in Dickie’s pack, and he noticed the pages were no longer blank and in fact held his own hand writing. The writing told of a disturbing vision he dreamt the night previous, but had forgotten upon waking.

The Bullingdon party set out for town, intending to breakfast at the Blood of the Vine. As they approached the town square they saw two Barovian peasants, a man and a woman, moving a long wooden cabinet in the direction of Bilgrath’s Mercantile. Suddenly the woman dropped her end of the cabinet and lunged at the man, and they began fighting over something in a grubby white cloth. Cornelius stepped in and they determined the pie was the man’s rightfully and gave it to him, and decided that all of this fuss was because they were poor people who were probably starving.

This incident adjudicated, the Bully Boys headed into the Tavern, where the barkeep was informing one of the Vistani owners that they were running very low on wine. They demanded large quantities of eggs for breakfast and as these were mercilessly devoured Paris regaled the party with a much embellished rendition of the battle that they had won but hours earlier.

Ismark, son of the old burgomaster, was inspired by their efforts defying the devil Strahd and defeating the wolves. Over breakfast he talked about making a song or poem about the ‘Battle of the Graveyard’, to motivate the menfolk of the village; Paris offered to provide his experience to help an amateur poet. Following the example of the fearless group of strangers, Ismark thought he may be able to make some improvements to the safety of Barovia and the wellbeing of those who lived there.

However, his sister needed to be escorted to Vallaki. The priest had said she may be safe from Strahd in the Church of St. Andral, and Ismark beseeched the party to escort her there while he tried to improve the village. Cornelius graciously agreed to the task once it was made clear the task would be rewarded monetarily. They had one of the Vistani owners, Mirabel, describe the route to Vallaki for them; Clarence tried to manipulate his spectral mage hand into making a map but lacked the deft control required, and it ended up a smudgy inky mess of parchment.

As they had left the church, Ireena had entreated Clarence privately to deal with the priest’s son Doru, who Strahd had turned into one of his vampiric spawn – for the safety of the village, he needed to be destroyed. Over breakfast Clarence used his one-way telepathy to reminded his brother that they had unfinished business in the church, which they decided to deal with discreetly.

Let the Right One In

Breakfast finished, Ismark and Ireena returned to the burgomaster’s mansion to pack for her journey. The Bully Boys came up with a plan to get Donavich out of the church, allowing them to kill Doru. Cornelius, Dickie and Paris hid out of sight around the sides of the church while Clarence used his magical disguise and mundane mimicry to produce an almost perfect imitation in Ireena.

He woke the sleeping Donavich and claimed Ismark needed the priest urgently at the mansion on the other side of the village. The drowsy priest was thoroughly convinced by the deception and pulled his boots on, heading out and leaving the church empty. The party found the trapdoor to the undercroft closed by a heavy padlock, but it was no match for Dickie’s nimble fingers and thieves’ tools.

Descending into the dark basement they saw two pinpoints reflecting the flickering light of thier candelabra. Doru was watching them, still chained to a wooden pillar. Without hesitation Cornelius Pfeffil Bullingdon III laid two solid punches into the creature. Doru laughed off the marquis’ blows, and lunged for his neck, but Cornelius was swift enough to avoid the restrained monster.

Then Doru’s laughter stopped as he was paralyzed by Clarence’s spells, allowing Dickie to push the Bullingdon rapier straight through his heart; Cornelius continued to land devastating punches, and Paris sat back and viciously mocked the impotent creature. Even when the holding spell failed Doru could not break free of the chains as Clarence’s magic sapped its strength.

Despite the vampire spawn’s regenerative powers Cornelius finally managed to lay an uppercut smashing the jaw near clean off, followed by a vicious hook which crumpled Doru’s temple, fracturing his skull with a vicious crunch. Doru fell limp in the chains, apparently finally slain.

Clarence felt the heart of a vampire may hold some powerful alchemical properties; unfortunately, his clumsy attempts to extract it from Doru’s chest left nothing salvageable from the organ. The younger Bullingdon took the opportunity to smear the word STRAHD in blood above the corpse.

They left the church, the undercroft trapdoor re-locked and left as if never opened. Clarence was coated in blood from his botched harvest and decided it may be astute to circumvent the village and clean himself in the River Ivlis. The rest of the party returned to the town square where they saw a confused looking Donavich heading back from the burgomaster’s mansion. They entered Bilgrath’s Mercantile and met the eponymous shop keep and his huge nephew. Despite some tension over prices Cornelius eventually conceded and they purchased the supplies they needed for the journey ahead.

Ismark and Ireena awaited them in the town square, the latter with a pack upon her shoulder and wearing travelling clothes, the former with a pouch of coin he pressed into Cornelius’ hand. They left the village of Barovia by the Old Svalich Road, and meeting Clarence Bullingdon at the old bridge over the Ivlis they set out for Vallaki.

Fortune Favours the Bold

After a few hours of travel the Bully Boys and their escort came upon a fork in the road, where a corpse swung gently from a gallows. The wind turned the corpse to face them and Clarence saw himself hanged by the neck… but the rest of the group saw only the corpse of a Barovian man.

The northwest path of the fork headed down towards the river, and was signed for ‘Tser Pool Encmapment’. To the southwest the road led to ‘Ravenloft / Vallaki’, and began a steady incline to where it would eventually cross Tser Falls high above.

The owners of the Blood of the Vine had told the party to see a Madam Eva at Tser Pool if they had the chance, and it was past lunchtime so the Bully Boys went northwest to the river to seek out Vistani hospitality. The path led to a clearing where the river widened into a small lake. A number of tents were pitched outside of a ring of colourful barrel-topped wagons, unbridled horses drank from the river and within the wagon circle brightly clad figures drank and ate and sang around a large bonfire.

A Vistani man stepped out of the woods onto the path in front of them, tightening his belt. As he saw the group his eyes widened with surprise and recognition and his face broke into a grin. Bren ‘Dickie’ Tanner recognized Vasili, a Vistani with whom he had engaged in “legitimate business” back in Saxonia, leaving him with some unfulfilled debt to the manservant. He told Tanner that, as a friend of the People, he could call upon the assistance of the Vistani if he invoked the debt.

Vasili led them into the camp where an old Vistani man asked to exchange stories. He told them a tale of a mighty wizard who had come to Barovia and raised a peasant army, only to be defeated by Strahd and thrown from the top of Tser falls. Cornelius began a tale of his days at the university of Jutin but cut himself short as he awoke some haunting memory. His brother instead told the Vistani a tale of an ancient race, unlike men, who delved too deep and awoke unspeakable horrors which brought their doom – this tale was well received by the enthralled travelling folk.

Finally Cornelius and Clarence Bullingdon, Bren Tanner and Paris Digby entered the tent of Madam Eva, who it appeared had been expecting them. She greeted them by name and told them that their destiny was to defeat the devil, Strahd von Zarovich, and save the land; or to die by his hand when he tired of his sport.

The party agreed to draw cards from the Tarokka deck.

As Cornelius drew his card, Madam Eva intoned: “This card sheds light on one who will help you greatly in the battle against darkness.” And turned it, to reveal an image of a skull in a jar, labelled ‘The Artifact’. “Ah… Him. He has hunted monsters for so long, he himself has become on. He hates my people.”

Next, Paris took a card from the Tarokka deck. “Your enemy is a creature of darkness, whose powers are beyond mortality. This card will lead you to him!” His card showed a devilish figure on a dark throne: The Dark Lord. “He lurks in the depths of darkness, in the one place to which he must return.”

As Clarence drew a card, Eva laughed. “Ah, a fitting card for you… This card tells of history. Better knowledge of the ancient will help you better understand your enemy.” And Clarence revealed the 6 of Coins… a man in rags, The Beggar. “An ancient man, maimed of visage, has what you seek. He will part with the treasure to see his dark dreams fulfilled.”

Finally, Bren ‘Dickie’ Tanner drew from the deck. “This is a card of power and strength. It tells of a weapon of vengeance: a sword of sunlight.” His card showed a man in holy vestments holding a brazier, the 8 of Glyphs, The Bishop. “What you seek lies in a pile of treasure, beyond a set of amber doors.”

At the mention of Amber doors Clarence took a much deeper interest. Cornelius, enjoying the local mumbo jumbo nonsense, sent Dickie to fetch Ireena to join in. She came with small interest and drew the fifth card, and as she did so Madam Eva intoned: “This card tells of a powerful force for good and protection, a holy symbol of great hope.” And Ireena revealed the 3 of Glyphs. The Healer. “Look to the west. Find a pool blessed by the light of the white sun. And if you go there… child, you will be free.” And that is where our second session ended.