Monthly Archives: February 2018

The Adventure Continues: The Old Witch!

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Our heroes were left on the mountain above a cemetery resting before they head down toward the blighted graveyard, do they have enough left to survive?!

 

The heroes took a short rest atop the hill where we left them then descend to the cemetery below; immediately after they enter hallowed ground, the shrubbery around the dead tree animates and the stick figures they once before encountered emerge. The group rushes the down the slope of the hill and they are quickly engaged by the animated twigs. Bent lights the initial cluster of evil shrubbery ablaze and leaves them incinerated. The remaining animated branches rush the heroes attempting to grapple them to the ground. Bent avoids engagement, Andromeda turns into a snake to attempt to wither away, but is pinned and morphs back nearly the moment she tried to turn; Melrik turns lashes through the twig in front of him. Lythander is able to break free and point blank shoots an arrow through the head of the nearest creature, then turns and fires into the other creature pinning Andromeda. Shamesh fighting bravely against the largest of the evil twigs lands blow after blow into the big creature and then Melrick comes over and lays into it again; finally the paladin lays low the creature with his last swing. Hugo is able to clean the last of the twigs from around himself and Bent.

As the dust settles from the scrum, they realize that the animated twigs are coming from the main dead tree, the party thinks that they should burn the tree down, and Lythander points out that the sap leaking from the tree is blood and they should uproot it in addition to burning it. They entertain the idea of having Andromeda morph again into a large mule or horse to pull it out of the ground, but Bent conjures a cantrip to start magically digging the roots up while the rest of the party are still debating the possibility. He molds the earth to his will and at the end when the tree is finally completely dug out Andromeda lights the uprooted tree on fire with a small flame from her hand; with the tree ablaze the felt assured this tree would not longer be a problem for future travelers. As the tree was uprooted the shining hilt of a sword was revealed. They pull it out of the ground slowly and surely not knowing what to expect. After having unearth it safely they gather the rest of the items they have found thus far, laying them on the ground in middle of the loose circle the heroes now stand in. They see the cloak, the hat, the hilt of sword, and the axe they had pulled from the base of the tree before uprooting it. Bent waves a hand and some arcane words over the items and they all start to glow, it appears they are all imbued with some kind of magic.

As they are dividing the items amongst themselves for safe keeping they hear a scream from a woman running up the mountain and they run to chase after what they heard. Andromada stays behind wondering why they are taking off so quickly… and behind her, suddenly, unexpectedly, she is aggressively grabbed! Feeling the squeeze around her arms, abdomen, and throat! Her eyes grew wide with terror as the realization of what is happening washes over her.  She knows before she even sees the abomination; it’s Strahd! He laughs as sees the panic on her face; she squirms to look behind all she can see is her friends too far away to try to save her and below there are skeletal hands reaching up clawing at her pulling her down towards the hole in the earth underneath her. He lowers her into the hole as she flails wildly in panic, unable muster any noise because Strahd had her by the throat. The ground closes in around her and she begins to suffocate; drawing a final bated breath in absolute terror. 

 

SNAP!

 

Andromeda is back to reality and all her friends are right next to her, there was no screaming woman nor had her friends left her. She has imagined the whole thing… and then she hears a chuckle off in the distance, as does Melrick, Bent, and Lythander; it appears Strahd was in fact nearby but nobody else is aware of the vision she just had, frightened she sits on the ground, and waits for the group to gather themselves and head out.

They head back to winery to tell the warepeople what occurred and return what they have found. Their friends were happy to hear that the heroes found the magic acorn and the source of the evil tree creatures that were attacking their vineyards. They decide to throw the heroes a celebratory feast to commemorate the great victory. While they are feasting Bent takes time to really examine the items they have found. After deliberation he is unable to discern the true source of the arcana within these items; however the sword he can see that there is clearly another piece of it somewhere, but more importantly he realized that the sword can destroy Strahd. He can sense that the sword itself is afraid of Strahd, and more importantly that the Strahd is afraid of it; he realizes that this sword should be wielded by his paladin friend. Meanwhile Melrick spends time inspecting his new axe, and the hilt of the axe is made of vines and leaves, and it appears that it was created to kill plant and tree life. The party, after further discussion realizes that the the skeleton they found at the bottom of the tree was likely somebody that was trying to chop down the tree to get to the sword hilt below. In fact they believe the tree, an unholy entity itself, was probably put on top of the sword to hide it by Strahd.

They are given provisions by their friends at the vineyard to complete the shipment and journey  to Irwin at the Inn. Before leaving they express gratitude for the generosity and they have now made allies of the druids. Off they go and on their way they decide to travel near to the tower where they last saw Esmerelda hoping for some inclination of what became of her. They find two dead naked men with claw marks all over. They deduce that the large wolves they keep seeing must be warewolves. They find nothing further, and thus head the rest of the way back toward Valaki. After an uneventful trip back the rest of the way, they return the wine as promised. Irwin looks approvingly upon them and sends his daughter to gather something for his adventuring friends. She returns with something wrapped in cloth, it’s a big old book, dusty, and imbued with an essence they don’t quite understand. Bent takes the book, blows the dust from the book and begins to read from it aloud.

The book is hand bound, old, leather, and brittle. It takes little time to realize that the book itself must have been written by Strahd, in a shorthand that is known to be unique to him (according to Irwin). After reading a few passages from the book, it reads as if it is an autobiography from Strahd telling his story; might this be a diary? The heroes agree that this is indeed his journal. The story tells that he had an unrequited love, a woman named Tatyana, who instead loved his younger brother, Sergei. On the day they were to marry, Strahd made a pact with Death to prevent the loss of his love to another man; completing the pact by killing his own brother and preventing the marriage. Tatyan despaired, now hated Strahd; he chased her to try and explain that he made the pact because of his love for her, but she would not listen. She ran to the top of the castle and flung herself over the walls, to her death. Strahd tried in vane to find her body but never did. He fears she still haunts him, and now his is locked in debt to Death forever. In the journal he admits that the only way to kill him is the blade of the sun that his brother once wielded and the he intends to destroy it; furthermore he explained that a stake through his own heart will not kill him but will only pin him in place until he can remove it. The passages also reveals that he now eternally sleeps under Castle Ravenloft, and the walls of the stairwell that lead to there are sealed. This revelation now has the group pondering the the whole of what they have learned; in a way, this almost humanized the monster.

They know they are still not yet ready to deal with Strahd, they still have more to do as they need to all the help they can find if they are to destroy this undead lord. Off they head to the ruins of Berez, the location of the last seed, to help their druid friends gather the remains of what they have lost from the vineyard. On the way they find the very same lantern that was not lit before, however now it is burning without any plausible explanation; more importantly it appears to be burning without any source of fuel. Sensing no evil they decided it could be useful, and Melrick insisted they were going to use it; proudly carrying it on their journey the dwarf lead the way.

They arrive in Berez and notice that the town is essentially in ruins and rubble left in the aftermath of an attack from Strahd (as they were told previously). The town buildings are crumbling and all of them appear to have previously been the homes of a bustling little township. As they approach the rear of the village they see a large tree stump with a light emanating from it. Lythander sneaks up and sees inside the big tree trunk a decrepit old woman rocking a baby cradle with a glow coming from underneath the crib; it appears the large tree was hollowed out into a home. Nearby there’s a pot containing… warm blood? Adjacent to the pot is a  large glowing skull, floating, with two cages hanging off of it that are holding imprisoned ravens. The rogue believe these must be some of their wareraven friends! Lythander is able to sneak inside the tree hut undetected and proceeds to pick the locks on the cages releasing the wareravens; they immediately head toward the old woman to attack her! She turns and starts flailing at the birds; seeing the chaos ensue the rest of the party starts to rush the entrance to assist Lythander. The old hag rushes to the glowing skull fighting off the ravens swirling around her and jumps into the skull that was now upside down. The hag, protected securing herself in the overturned skull was able to fend off the annoying wareravens in time to unleash what was intended to be a fireball into the approaching heroes, but not before Bent was quick to counterspell saving his friends lives. The hag was not able to avoid Lythander’s arrow, she never saw him in the waylay of birds and the arrow struck at her back delivering a devastating wound to the unholy creature. While all this was happening in the hut, the scarecrows around the property began to animate and attack getting to Shamesh first, working their their way toward the whole group. Their claws, magically imbued, cause Melrick to flee in fear down the nearest ally taking more claw swings as he ran. Shamash, fighting at the front, steps forward and breathes flame into the nearby foes including into the hag. 

Andromeda seeing the hag hiding in the skull decides to drop an explosion of lightning directly toward her and destroyed two scarecrows that fell in the path of the surge, while also burning up another and finally ending at the skull and the hag herself laying an explosion of electricity on everything it touched. Unfortunately, her companion Hugo was also caught in the path of lightning; and she immediately recognized she had to help him, growling some noises to heal her friend. Hugo grits through the pain, and unleashes a wave of thunder toward the nearest scarecrows. Bent unleashes another fire bolt at another scarecrow, then Lythander drops another arrow into a nearby scarecrow. Again the hag was thwarted by Bent who dispelled the next incantation she attempted. Melrick comes to his senses, finally stopping himself from fleeing and returns to the fight; with a dash he engages the nearest scarecrow to try to help Andromeda. Now free the druid girl can unleash another explosion of lightening into more scarecrows ending at the hag, one more scarecrow is destroyed and the skull is further charred and again Hugo is electrified badly hurt by the Andrameda; she grunts and growls some additional healing incantations toward her cleric friend to keep Hugo in the scrum. Still on his feet thanks despite being electrified twice, Hugo finally successfully creates a thunderous wave of wind to destroy a nearby scarecrow and move out of the path of lightning coming from Andromeda. The hag seeing the situation getting dire turn herself into a swarm of flies, and then the hut they found her in all of a sudden shakes the ground and animates into a massive abomination that rumbles the ground all around it as it walks toward the heroes. In awe everyone stops to turn and look…

 

This may well be the end, the monstrosity is too much for the heroes at full strength, and certainly too much when they are on their last efforts, next week will we read their doom? 

The Adventure Continues: The Hill They Will Not Die On

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We left our heroes once again bruised and battled, but doing the greater good. They saved the vineyard but this time, and now they are about to be asked yet again, to help another Barovian; however will this task set them back on track? 

 

Our heroes gather themselves after the fight with the unknown animated stick beings and the head of the vineyard thanks them for warding off these needleblights; because the group demonstrated such prowess he asks them if they would be willing to take on another task. The vineyard needs help finding some seeds that are missing, it seems they have been taken by the creatures they just fought; three special seeds in total. They are larger in size, about the size of a child’s ball and glow green; they believe they are in the area atop a small clove and nearby cemetery; they are the key to the vineyards future growth and prosperity, key to their survival. The heroes discusses briefly and decide to help their new friends and also believe that this may be key to another piece of the gypsy’s riddles if they are recalling it correctly. Off they go making their way to the hill where they believe the evil druids come from in hopes they will find the missing seeds. Before leaving Lythander and Melrick arrive at the vineyard sent by Irwin to help them with the shipment of wine. The group explains to their newly arrived companions what has occurred and where they are going.

On the way Lythander sees a glow coming from off the road in the woods, a sort of green floating orb. The group stops and takes stock of the situation around them. Hugo sends in his owl to see a bit closer and there appears to be nothing in the way that needs to be concerning, so they move in closer. Shamesh heads directly, but cautiously, towards the glow and the green light moves away from the him… then stops. Hugo decides to send his owl in to see if the light moves again, as it approaches, the light does not move but the owl combusts as soon as it approaches the light and it’s incinerated inexplicably; Hugo is furious, and the heroes are in a bit of shock. The heroes not sure what to do decide the light is not worth pursuing; Andrameda contemplates shape shifting to move closer, however Shamesh concerned for her well being, immediately discourages her as he sees she’s considering the notion. They move on towards the hill and eventually arrive without further incident. The trail they are on leads up the hill and forks to encircle the top. They don’t see a tree on the hill (as the riddle from the gypsy suggested they would), which perplexes Bent in particular, as he notes aloud he was thinking this is where one of the particular riddles would lead.

On top of the hill, they see an encirclement of rock formations in an alcove with a statue made of dark burnt wood tree branches formed into the shape of a man clad in armor snarling with fangs at the very center. A wicker man of sorts that Lythander proclaims immediately as “Strahd!”. Not that it was the abomination himself, however it was clearly erected in his likeness. The group then notices as they search the area, a dozen covered graves around the hill, inside below the wicker statue they see what appears to be one seed. They review the riddles again, and believe this may well be gypsy’s riddle related the druid card:

This is a card of power and strength and tells of a weapon of vengeance, a sword of sunlight. An evil tree grows atop a hill of graves, where the ancient dead sleep

They further recite to themselves the advice they had received:  “The ravens can help you find it, look for the treasure here”. The group discusses the whole thing and decides that this cemetery is not something to trifle with and they shouldn’t be standing here any longer, decide to light the statue ablaze. Andrameda steps forward muttering a low growl and slings a flame from her palm at the wicker man, and up in flames it goes. As soon as it lights, the graves around the hill erupt with earth covered figures emerging from the graves.

It is scary site to see them so quick to action; Lythander looses an arrow and downs one. Hugo unleashes lightning into another one and starts to damage the oncoming undead creatures. The undead charge in and start tearing and ripping at the heroes; Bent takes damage and tries to recover as he stumbles back. Lythander rolls to avoid but still takes a glancing blow, as he glides away Melrik rushes in and lands multiple blows and takes stock of all the enemies threatening Andromeda. The dwarf crushes one abomination and wounds two others; following that incoming barrage of attacks as the undead are clearly trying to get to little druid girl clearly angry she lit their statue ablaze. Andromeda takes the opportunity to disengage her nearby foes and as she frees herself she heals Shamesh who was wounded throwing himself in front of her. The paladin responds in kind to these evil undead giving them the honor of his blade and delivers holy contrition on his undead enemies as he closes ranks with Melrik. Lythander now freed up having dove away sends another arrow into a nearby foe, sticking right into the shoulder blade of the target, it turns toward him glaring, angry and ready to reciprocate against him. The monsters continue to attack and claw and fight to destroy the party. Shamash and Melrik are being battered, but the dwarf is not dismayed, he tears into another skeletal warrior and rips his axe through it and into another; Lythander still firing but can’t bring any of them down, but remains steadfast. Hugo is unable to dodge the incoming barrage and he falls to the ground unconscious. Andrameda rips through a wreath of vines growing from the ground around her feat, reacting quickly to revive Hugo, and then in a surge of anger she unleashes a massive bolt of lighting into two of the undead, badly charred they both fight on, with Hugo now on his feet, he heals himself further and then unleashes a wave of thunder emanating out from him. The far off creature with a staff closes on Andrameda and wraps her in vines again from the ground around her. Meanwhile Melrick continues to fight back, continuing to flay wildly around him taking another undead soldier down. Bent finally after a whirlwind of spells takes another down, as does Lythander; the undead are starting to fall. Andromeda unleashes another single explosion of lightning from her fingertips; this time into the oncoming undead spell caster.  It was clearly controlling these risen dead and it was destroyed where it stood leaving a track of charred ground right through the middle of where it once was; the vines holding Andrameda in place wither and fall to the ground as the necromancer fell. She turns quickly and moves towards Shamesh firing a flame at the last whirling undead maniac near the paladin but misses; however it was enough to distract him so Shamesh can beat it into the ground until it stopped moving. They have seemingly held of the undead.

The engage the only undead that was not destroyed to try to get answers but realize quickly it will be no help and Lythander put his dagger through its head. The heroes gather themselves and walk to the edge of the hill to look over the other side; looking down they see a tree that appears to almost be bleeding, with a half dozen undead mulling around what seems to be a dead creature laying against a shimmering axe that is buried into the base of the tree. They decide they need to gather themselves and rest before engaging what’s there. Shamesh and Lythander stand watch while the group ponders its next move.

 

 

Our heroes once again live to tell the tale and may have found the first real piece to this puzzle, but stranded atop a hill in a blighted cemetery their options are low and all they have left is their resolve, until next time…

The Adventure Continues: A Wizard’s Tower

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The adventurers know not where they are supposed to go, or what they need to do next, have found themselves now being side tracked to help Barovians everywhere they go; desperately trying to get themselves back on track… 

 

With the frey finally settled and the hags lifeless on the ground, Shamesh attended to the children, asking if they are okay, and if they knew what was happening. The children point to the bones on the dirt floor and say the hags were making ‘burnt pie’. After a slow pause, the adventurers realize that the evil beings were cooking children into the pies. Shamesh asks about the children’s families and they tell the heroes that they were sold to these hags and never want to go back where to they are from. Not knowing what else to do the adventurers decide to head back towards Valaki and bring the children to the Inn. As they exit the home they hear the creepy sound of the old windmill in the distance and on the road up ahead they see Bent heading towards them. They catch him up on what they found and what has happened then they continue to head back toward Valaki. Shamesh, Bent, and Andromeda walk with the children while Lythander and Melrick set out up ahead to scout the path and get back quicker in order to make arrangements for the children at the inn before they arrive with their companions.

On the way back the second group travelling with the children encounter a very fast moving wagon heading towards them directly; Shamesh steps in front of the wagon to find out why it is recklessly traveling so fast up the road. The dragonkin priest introduces himself and inquires about the hurry; the human looking man appears to be tattered and a bit enraged. After questioning each other, the man realizes that the group is not a threat to him and drops the edginess from the conversation. He explains that he has been held captive by Strahd who has killed his family. He is intent on bringing him to ruin, and he wants justice for his loved ones; apparently he is on a suicide mission back to Castle Ravenloft. Shamesh explains that they are not yet ready for that battle, and further notes that they have already encountered Strahd which did not go well. The Paladin insists that this man would be throwing his life away if he tries to avenge his family in this manner. Shamnesh, with sincerity in his voice, explains they need to know more about their foe before they engage the powerful vampire again. The man, who finally introduces himself as Hugo, agreed to join them as they were all committed to the same goal: ending Strahd. The horses on the wagon had become frightened amidst the setting sun and arguing; they simply do not want to press on further. Andromeda, with a gentle hand, tries as she might to calm then, however unsuccessful, she agrees that they should not push the equine beasts. As such the group decides to make camp and wait until morning. The night passes uneventfully but when they awake Shamesh shares that he had nightmare about seeing the dead walk around him and in the end he saw his companions, even himself, as a dead minion of Strahd. The dream seems ill timed and doesn’t make sense, but they do not speak more of it and head back to the inn. The morning was heavy with wet dew, and on their way they meet another group of commoners; a dozen or so in number. They seem to be mostly frightened and unwilling to talk too much; it’s clear they are keeping safe by staying in a large group and travelling to the town of Barovia. Nothing comes of the encounter and they finish their journey back to Valaki. 

They arrive back at the inn and they see their friend Irwin, the innkeeper who had bailed them out of jail. He offers to find a safe place for children however he has a problem, requesting their help. The adventurers are feeling indebted to him, and agree to help despite their pressing desire to find their way home. Irwin says his wine supply is waning and he needs another shipment for his inn. Irwin grants them use of his cart to make the trip to pick up the shipment and return with the wares. He offers them a free meal before they leave, to which they happily accept. During dinner they realize they don’t know why the shipment has not been coming and thought it might be good to ask. When done eating they go to find Irwin to inquire more about the situation, however they find he is not available; oddly, he is gone on an errand not to return anytime soon. All of a sudden this simple delivery request has become all the more complicated by this uncomfortable set of coincidences. However, in a strange place, Irwin has been the closest thing to a friend they have met, so they decide to carry out the agreement with the greatest caution and resolve themselves to a conversation when they return. Before leaving Hugo wants to buy some equipment because currently he only has the clothes on his back. Andromeda offers him a silver longsword she had procured along her travels and he gladly takes it. They head to a store to find him some additional equipment; namely a warhammer, scale mail, and a crossbow. Their new warrior friend was now ready to join this band of unsung heroes and contribute to the demise of Strahd! Lythander and Melrick have business in town, needing to attend further to their weapons and armor stay behind to ensure the safety of the children and attend to their own needs before setting off on this delivery effort.

Finally the rest of the group head out of town west toward the vineyard; as they travel on the roadway they saw a sign at a large crossroads where there was a directional mile markers pointing at key areas around Barovia. As they checked for proper instructions, the group notices and empty grave, that appears to be dug up just off the road from the cross section of heavily traversed roads; they go closer for further inspection. While the group ponders if this is the work of Strahd’s minions, Hugo dismisses the notion asserting this is not typical of his work or his minions. Inside the grave they find a left behind necklace; Bent examines it determining that it is not magical however there is a symbol depicting a raven on the necklace charm. Another referral to ravens, and the group recites the gypsies clues and thinks this may be alluding to something they need to find in order to ultimately make it home, they decide it best to hold on to it, handing it to Andromeda to keep in her pack. With no need to stay further they look back at the map and realize this trip could be used for two purposes. One off the key riddles they heard in the gypsy camp was specifically about a lake with a wizard tower. They had discussed heading this way many times before but had been repeatedly sidetracked. However, this time their travels will take them near the lake where there appears to be this wizard sanctuary. It was an easy reroute for the party and they decide to head towards the lake en route to the vineyard; finally excited by the possibility of key to the clues given to them by the gypsy fortune.

As they travel off in the distance they see the tower which is, in fact, sitting on a lake; this, they believe, is the very “tower on the lake” that contains the wizard from the riddle. Hugo sends his owl off into the distance for no apparent reason; Andromeda takes quiet note that the owl is not an ordinary creature of the forest, while not giving notice to anyone else. The owl returns and while nobody else saw the simple connection, Hugo proclaims to the group that the tower is occupied; clearly he had a way of garnering the info from the owl that nobody else seemed to realize, save for Andromeda. As they approach the tower there is a wooden cloth covered wagon out front, obviously used, old, and somewhat broken down. It was resting alongside a rickety sign that states clearly and simply “KEEP OUT!”. The adventurers will not be this easily deterred at this juncture and they decide to investigate. Shamesh knocks on the door and there is no answer; however the owl flutters to the window sill and draws attention to the broken window. It was perched next to an opening too small for it to fly through, but to small for Andromeda who transformed herself into a field mouse and ran up through the window and into the wagon before her friends could even protest. She rifled through the wagon that had little in it save for a rough drawing, and before the rest of the heroes even knew what was happening she burst through the now broken door waving the piece of paper in her hand excitedly as if waking up to presents on her naming day. Bent received the paper quietly and inspected it, but unable to discern with the stick figure markings were that had been drawn on the parchment. 

They approach the tall brick spiral building, adorned with wood framed windows up high with metal grates in front of the stain glass windows, with a pointy roof just as you would imagine at the top made of wood shakes that were old, needing of repair but still functional, if only barely.  In front they see two large dragon heads almost as if they are guarding the door on either side, of a very thick old tall wood door. Right out of  story novel, adorned with antique black metal hinges a handle, but no lock of any note. As they approach there is clearly a sign on the front the large wooden door; it has something inscribed on it, a single word: “Kazan”. They try to detect magic as well as some other incantations but realize that the eerie silence surrounding them is not happenstance; they have been in an area that dampens magic. Not knowing what to do next Andromeda, naively and eagerly, knocks on the door as vigorously as she can; but to no avail as there is no response. The party members are trying to figure out the answer to getting inside the tower, Bent stares intently at the sign above the door, then again at the parchment he was given early by Andromeda, then back at the door, again to the parchment. After a quiet pause where the rest of the party realizes he is focusing in on something, Bent starts making some funny motions in a pattern of sorts, almost a poorly rehearsed dance… and at the end the door opened! After a high five from his friends for the fancy “dance” moves, the group enters.

They find a platform in the middle of a stone circular room, with light dewy moss and a dampness in the air from time spent completely undisturbed.. There were golems on either side of the room positioned as if they were holding onto something, aiming the palms of their guantlets toward the ceiling where a large wood door was, but with no perceivable way to access it. There was tattered drapery along the walls with no particular significance to the symbols that the group recognized, and a rope that seemed to be tied to the tapestry that landed behind the golems. In the center of the room was relatively well kept wooden platform, well made, and not as worn as the rest of the room; somehow still showing polish and shine more so in the very center of the platform more than the outer edges. Hugo moves to the center of the room and stands on the platform, directly in the center. As soon as Hugo stood on the center of the platform the golems turned and started to pull on the rope behind them; it was not tied to the tapestry but to the door above. Slowly the door descended; it was a concealed elevator large enough for the group to fit. They realize this is their ride up, and figure out quickly that the golems must be magically animated by their presence on the platform; in the elevator they went and up it brought them.

They arrive at the top where they see another stone lined room with even more dampness  than the room below that smells more dank, and with what appears to be an ironclad golem to one side, larger than the ones they had encountered below. Bent instinctively says the word Kazan aloud; immediately the iron golem animates, loudly, with a puff of dust and rust that startles the adventurers making them all clutch their weapons watching the metal soldier march forward toward the sorcerer and stop three feet away from him. He looks at his friends, surprised, and Shamesh, now understanding, says the same word from across the room, and watches as the golem turns heading directly toward him stopping three feet from where he stood just as it did in front of Bent. It’s clear Kazan is the trigger word and the golem is following their instructions. Now understanding how that works, they decide to inspect the room further to see if there is anything else they can turn on, open up, or decipher.  There is a slot in a wall that appears to be of some significance. Shamesh walks over and carefully puts his hand in the slot and nothing happens, and he feels nothing. Bent, now starting to fully understand how the animation in this room works, instructs the golem to put his hand in the same slot, to which it obeys.  Walking over loudly, clanking with every step, it stretches out a metal hand into the slot and out it pulls something out… a secret compartment containing a beautiful chain symbol with the Ravenkind on it. Bent walks over to the golem and the revealed compartment; after a quick inspection that suggest nothing dangerous about what’s been revealed, or the necklace, he picks it up and turns to the group states he believes they have found what they have come for and they should head out. They agree and make their way down the elevator and out the front door.

As they leave the tower they head toward the main road again and see a woman riding up toward them that is on a horse with dark hair and dressed in noble garments, but appears the part of an adventurous noble at that. Hugo immediately recognizes her as Esmerelda, the person who rescued him from Strahd’s castle. Once she came closer they could see she was not in good shape and had been injured. The group asks her what is wrong and she tells them she had just escaped from Castle Ravenloft as she had gone there after her rescue of Hugo, and tried to slay the Vampire Strahd, but failed; however escaped with her life. His minions were after her, they are on her tracks not far behind. The group tries to convince her to come with them but she maintains they will not stop until they catch her; she assures the group that she can handle the incoming attack now that Strahd is back at the castle. Hugo and Andromeda protest leaving her alone, but she reaffirms they are safer if they leave and Andromeda, despite her clear conflict with the notion of leaving her behind listens to Shamesh; before leaving she emboldens Esmerelda with a druidic blessing.

They leave her to head towards the vineyard and as night falls they approach their destination only to see a skeletal horseman approaching them with a lantern that shines no light. They sense no intent of harm from the horse rider and they let him pass gripping their weapons tightly; nothing happens, they hear him head off into the distance. They press on and arrive at the vineyard, an expansive green grove, that they cannot see the full size or scale of in the evening light. It smells pleasant enough, a living freshness they really haven’t smelt since arriving in Barovia, but still with an undertone of dank that they have become familiar with as well as the thick mist that seems to follow them wherever they go; including now surrounding the vineyard on all sides. They meet a person at the front of the vineyard who proclaims himself to the be the owner and Shamesh introduces himself, and the group, stating they are here to pick up the shipment for Irwin. He is a grumpy man but acknowledges their purpose, and mumbles to himself a bit. Shamesh tries to inquire as to why the shipment is late and the man grumbles more to himself but does not answer the question. The paladin considers pressing him harder, but looks around and notices there are a lot of people around, including children, and does not want to escalate the situation further. In the mist that is surrounding everyone, figures start to emerge, seemingly, from the air. The children around them turn into a flock of ravens and fly away and the adults turn to what appears to be wareravens; the adventurers realize that the people of the vineyard are about to be besieged and the ravens are, in fact, allies to our heroes in this situation. They draw their weapons and engage!

Andromeda was first to act and she immediately emboldens Shamesh, growling an incantation with a noise that sounded almost like a bear; subsequently the paladin steadies himself for battle with his own divination of heroism. Bent demonstrates his sorcerer prowess and slings a fireball into the group advancing on them from the mist, despite them still being too far away for the heroes to discern what they were even fighting. The magical ball of fire wiped the whole cluster of creatures he targeted leaving only a smoldering cloud. Despite the casualties the enemies closed even faster, and there was more to their numbers than originally thought. Andromeda turned her attention towards the nearest group and a growth of spikes emerges from the ground and the creatures ran right through it. While they weren’t slowed, the magic eruption of vines and branches damages them further. Bent continues to level the clusters of creatures with another fireball turning more into a pile of burnt embers. As they approach further, the adventurers are disciplined in holding their line but the creatures now have enough range to put what appear to be darts; blowing them from their claws into both Bent and Andromeda. Both heroes took damage, and they saw one of the ware raven friends fall and another wounded. Now close enough the heroes could see the createres are some kind of animated wisps of wood, stick, and vine; many of them and all rushing the heroes despite taking casualties. Bent fires another magic missile and another creature falls, meanwhile Hugo and Shamesh are now close enough to get into action. The paladin misses, however Hugo engages the last group that appear to only be armed with their own claws, but not before watching another of their new raven friends fall. Andromeda, now having time to react with Hugo intercepting the on coming group of stick creatures healed herself and quickly backs to a safer distance to protect her friends should they need her healing hands. Bent, working himself into a frenzy, unleashes another trio of missiles and takes three more down. With just a few creatures left, they turn their attention to Hugo; the cleric producers a thunderous wave that eviscerated the remaining enemies. As dust settles, the adventurers escaped unscathed, and went to see if any of the vineyard workers can be helped…  

 

The vineyard is safe, and the heroes are growing in prowess, however they are now on a mission for a man whom they barely know for a reason they were never give being attacked by creature they have never seen. Next session will they find answers to any of these questions?

The Adventure Continues: Would You Like Some Pie?

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The heroes were left being overtaken by the city guard of a town in Barovia, and we not not of their fate, the druid escaped, and the rogue was left behind and everyone else was capture; is this the end?

 

The next morning Shamesh and Melrick wake up in a cell battered, beaten, and bruised. They are awoken by the clang of a mug against the bars on the jail cell they are lying in and the clink of keys opening the cell door. As they exit the station and pick up their belongings they see Andromeda with Lythander, who himself had missed the whole previous incident, and their new friend the Innkeeper. Being a business owner in town he had some political sway and made arrangements to have them released. Bent is nowhere to be found, but they are told he is at the infirmary. Before they leave the area they are warned by the local authorities “no need to cause more trouble here”

The adventurers are now desperate to leave town and simply want out, they decide not to rest and press on immediately to find any clue that might lead to their way out. As such the group heads toward the Bonegrinder to find another piece of this puzzle that hopefully leads home; the heroes travel in the direction noted on the map where they expect to find this character. As they approach Lythander checks the entryway of this dilapidated home for traps, finds one, and steers the group around it. Over the archway of the door they hear another crowing raven; Andromeda fears that this is a dark omen, and does her best to warn her companions.

They enter the creepy looking home, and as they make their way in there is an awful smell from something apparently cooking in the kitchen. They inspect the area briefly and see what appears to be a pot of ichor and a box that might contain some toads. They don’t open the box but they decide to descend to the lower level before heading toward the upper levels where they hear some noises. When they head to turn the corner to the sunken old living room they see an oddly chipper old woman who is alone and mildly cackling to herself. She speaks in a very high pitched voice and is offering them some odd looking pie, “would you like some pie?!?”. Shamesh looks around and notices the crunching below their feet… it’s bones; he immediately identifies the pie as evil and the woman as a covert demon! He loudly calls the old woman out as an evil creature, and demands she show her true form. She is not bothered, and does not respond. Melrick draws his weapons and demands again she show her true form. While this is happening Lythander hears some children upstairs and immediately strokes an arrow and looses it into the demon woman, the arrow sinking deep into its flesh but seemingly doing no damage. In response to the damage the demon woman finally shows her true form: a sickly, gangly, older woman. Melrick then charges and sinks two axes into the creature and again seems to do little damage. The old hag turns her anger towards Lythander and pours her unholy might into a blow on the rogue; Lythander is unable to dodge the incoming claw and is struck, whimpering and falling back after taking the impact. Andromeda heals Lythander’s wounds and heads to the corner of the room to steer clear of the melee. Shamesh then calls down for some divine help to smite his foe, and finally the abomination is wounded. Melrick is not deterred as two new creatures descend the stairs talking to the old woman as if it’s their mother. They are oddly cavalier and don’t seem to be in any sense of rush; they seem to be discussing, loudly, whether to help their “mother”; and then, nonchalantly join the melee. Andromeda sees the creepy younger hags leave the stairs to engage the rest of her companions and the druid girl climbs the wall to the upper level in order to avoid the eyre of these creatures. Once upstairs she sees a bedroom of sorts, with a tattered throw rug on the floor pealing pale red and green wallpaper exposing the wood sheath underneath and the worn wood floor and baseboards that smell of moth; she goes directly toward the crates that are the source of the whimpering. She opened the wooden boxes, prying it apart with her staff and watching the wood splinter around her; she finds wounded children inside. Andromeda immediately helps them out of the crates and conjures some good berries in her hand offering it forward encouraging the children to eat them. Her kind eyes and gentle touch makes them feel safe enough to eat the delicious berries; they immediately feel better. She finds their clothes in the corner of the room sitting on an old single cushion sofa chair that has several rips and a spring poking through the seat. She gives them the clothes to put on; even without words they understood she was helping them.

Andromeda, making sure to keep the children safely behind her as she moves to re-engage the melee below stepping lightly to the top of the wooden stairs only to see Lythander ascending the stairwell toward her; he stops pivots and drops another arrow in the back of the mother demon who finally fell where she stood. Her two children became enraged when they saw their mother fall and they turned their anger toward Melrick and Shamesh; the paladin took blow after blow as his holy aura drew the focus of their hate and down he went. Andromeda went immediately to her friends aid, and healed him to keep Shamesh in the fray. Melrick, still fighting feverishly, but is failing to overcome the evil hags. Lythander, stumbling his way up the stairs further, failes gain his footing and tries to loose another arrow but is unable to be accurate. Shamesh finds his feet and heals himself further to continue to stay on his feet. Andromeda pushes past Lythander, and she takes the form of a large black panther, as the room turns to hear the roar the beast leap off the stairs and surges forward to pounce on the hag fighting Melrick. With the hag now pinned to the ground beneath the panther Melrick, Lythander and Shamesh beat down the hag. Andromeda is forced back into human form as she took damage from the abomination in a last gasp. Seeing the holy weapon of her paladin friend fall to the ground, as she transforms back to her natural form landing on her behind; the druid girl finds her feet quickly growling some incantation and the air around her staff swirled as the shape of the quarterstaff began to curve, bend and look like a crooked shillelagh. She then turned to her attention to help Shamesh; saving him yet again, this time before she would watched him fall in battle. With another grunt, Andromeda was able to stabilize and keep the paladin from bleeding out. He rose, and the two continued to sink magical attacks into the last remaining hag. Melrick closes in on the final melee, and the evil creature made a desperate grasp at the stunty foe to try and bite at his neck, in a move to repulse the creature he pulled his axe up through the middle of the creature to split it in half. The frenzied melee ended, and the adventurers looked upon each other with both a sense of relief and terror. These creatures were torturing children, to what evil end they do not know. While they saved this day, the real challenge is still ahead. Weary, they silently left the home, with the children in tow, ready to face whatever horrific thing may come next…

 

 

Our heroes have lived to fight another day, but grow weary in Ravenloft, the prospect of escaping grows ever more dim. They have a map, but no clues on where to go next, we’ll see if they can figure out anything in the next session!