Main

“Well fuck father. I just don’t want every elf to walk in a circle around us.” - Morric

“They already do, Morric. That’s not gonna change.” - Gabrielle

“That doesn’t mean I’m not gonna try.” - Morric

“Even if it kills you?” - Gabrielle

“So be it.” - Morric

Key Developments and Revelations

• Teleported into a lonely field in Umbermore in the middle of the night

• Met Lee and his son Albar

• Elbar led us into Orilon

• Settle into a hidden Bar/Inn with the Innkeeper Sylborin

• We get drunk, Samiris and Gabrielle wake up in a cage, shackled.

• The party goes to find them, Sugarbabes are pretty unhelpful so a fight starts.

Full Session Notes

Corellon drops us into a field at night, with no clue where we are exactly. Looking around we see a building further up ahead with lights inside. We make our way over to it and get attacked by batlike Monsters, called ‘Silence’. Two people appear from the building and yell at us to get inside the house.

The party kills the monsters. Lee invited us inside the house for shelter, where he informs us that we are in Umbermore. At night the Creatures of the night terrorize the people of Umbermore, that’s why its forbidden to leave their home after the sun has set.

In Umbermore, the religious authority of the Order of the Embers believe that the ‘Fire’ is the only thing that can help against the Creatures of the Night and worships the Flame for that. Lee tells us that that is a complete lie, because him and his family got attacked by the Creatures even after they took every necessary precautions to stay safe. We see a few pairs of small shoes at the front door.

Lee also tells us that the Order doesn’t allow the people to leave ‘their holy lands’ and that the people attacked by monsters were chosen to die by the Fire.

Talking about our plans, we find out that the Northern Border is the only feasible option for us to escape from Umbermore. The border in the south to Hesca is closed off.

We rest. The next morning Albar leads us into the next town Orilon. There we offer him and his father to join us in leaving Umbermore. We will wait until the next day for his response.

Noticeable about Orilon is that the buildings outside of the walled inner circle of the city are either completely burnt down, destroyed or unkept. The only building still in a good condition are the Temples of the Order.

At the city gate we see ‘Guards’ in red clothes and Spikes, but no visible armor further than that.

Albar tells us that there are some mercenaries unassociated with the Order of Embers that take on bounties for the monsters in exchange for coin. He leads us into one of the Hideouts where those Mercenaries gather from time to time and introduces us to the Innkeeper Sylborin. A rich half elf that gives us rooms and food for free.

While we’re there, Morric confronts the party and Gabrielle about what happened back at the Planar Tree. Gabrielle stops Lavender from explaining that the reason Gabrielle snapped was the noble badmouthing Morric. Instead he says that some insults were thrown around and that Gabrielle just snapped.

Gabrielle and Lavender talk a little bit about looking out for their siblings and Lavender says that right now Morric probably doesn’t know that Gabrielle is looking out for him.

Lavender talks to Honey and says that if she ever talks to her sister like that she’s allowed to put a bee on her ass.

Morric after cooling off a bit walks over to Gabrielle and talks about wanting to get back into the good graces of their people while Gabrielle doesn’t believe that there is any redemption for them anymore.

Sylborin gathers them around the table with food, asks them about their plans in Umbermore and exchanges some information with us about the Order of Embers and Umbermore, while we tell him about the Planar Tree and how Corellon was the one who dropped us into Umbermore. Gabrielle says that Corellon might have a bigger plan for the party.

Sylborin offers his support, tells us that the Hunters will be able to get to us when we leave towards the border in the north. Then he invites us to drink.

The next morning Gabrielle and Samiris wake up in a cage with shackles around their ankles and without any memory how they got in there. It’s completly dark around them so they have no idea where they are and when yelling for the others there is no answer.

The rest of the party wakes up in the Inn, soon figuring out that Samiris and Gabrielle have left they start looking for them. Sylborin is nowhere to be found either and the two elves are not giving any information about their whereabouts. Morric casts Detect Thoughts on them, but that leading nowhere either he starts running into the backrooms and the kitchen.

The two elves try and stop him, a fight starts.

DATE: 23/07/2023

In-game Date Start:

In-game Date Finish:

Players Present

• Jeremy (Lavender)

• Oskar (Samiris)

• Rasmus (Morric)

• Sari (Gabrielle)

• Sydney (Honey)

Subbed Characters

• X played X / Everyone was present.

Completed Quests

• Link to completed quests

Obtained Quests

• Link to quests picked up this session

Locations Visited

• Orilon in Umbermore

Important NPCs Interacted With

• Albar

• Lee

• Innkeeper Sylborin

• two ‘soon-to-be-dead’ Sugar Babes

Wall of Shame

• Jerm so incredibly late

,

Example

“We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto!”

Key Developments and Revelations

• After resting with the caravan, woke up in a strange land, full of eerieness, malice and fog.

• On finding a path and following it, they come to the Gates of Barovia.

• Here the party meets Strahd Von Zarovich for the first time. He insinuates that he knows everyone in the party except for Sunny.

• They follow the path, see a group of buildings, then beyond that a larger village overlooked by cliffs and a castle on it.

• Making their way to the group of buildings, the fog seems to follow them, and Kronkus & Sunny get lost in it momentarily, with their being some time dilation happening whilst in there.

• Making it to the hamlet, they find all but one of the buildings empty and dark. Two children rush to them, saying there’s a monster in their house, and that their parents are keeping it at bay in the basement, and their baby brother is upstairs.

• The party move into the house, finding that this seems to belong to the Durst family. Moving into a main room, they hear the sounds of a party from beyond a nearby door.

• Opening the door, all lights in the house go out, no people are in the room beyond. The front door and gate close and lock on their own. A wolf growls from somewhere in the dark.

Last Time, in Barovia…

Arrival in Barovia

• The party joined the caravan heading out of Daggerford. Each one joined for a different reason, and none knew the others.

• On the first night, the caravan rested early, having been delayed from its set off by a latecomer to the caravan.
  The latecomer, Marko, had setup a campfire with food and drink, and one by one offered, convinced or cajoled the party to join him at his fire.

• The night was spent with everyone learning little bits about the other, drinking, eating, and being merry. Late, Marko crawled under his wagon for sleep, and invited the party to rest by his warm fire, which they did.

• When they awoke, they were not in the same place. The wagon, Marko, even the caravan itself was gone. No tracks or signs of movement in the immediate surroundings. It was if they had been picked up and placed here.

• All of their possessions were gone as well, bar a few items that were kept close to them while they rested.

• Taking stock of this new land, they found it eerie, almost dripping with maliciousness. There is a thick fog, swirling as if with a life of its own. The trees seem different, twisted, gnarled and unnatural. The sun, while present, seems to have trouble penetrating cloud and fog, and does not give much light or warmth.

• While the party is taking stock of their situation, Kronkus finds that the long-silent voices have started whispering to him again.

• Sunny reached out to the Triple-Fish God, and found his connection was muted, but there was a new, strong core in that feeling that’s never been there before, almost certainly connected to the Triple-Fish God.

• Moving around, they find a rutted path leading east/west. Westward leads into a thick wall of shifting fog, east has the fog thinning. They head east for a few hours.

Meeting Strahd

• Ahead, the forest slightly parts, and they come to a huge stone wall, with a large metal gate in the middle. Out of the front of it, a pack of wolves are tearing strips off a very dead body.

• Sunny casts Thunderwave above the wolves, in an effort to scare them. They reel back for an instant before they turn to face the party, almost undaunted by the noise. A larger wolf then snarls and pads towards the party, teeth bared.

• As the large wolf lunges to attack, his is called to heel by a voice. A man appears at the top of the wall, who effortlessly walks down the side of the wall as if were normal, flat ground. As he gets to the ground and walks through the wolves, they let him pass. He also passes the large wolf, ruffling its fur.

• Walking up to the party, he introduces himself as Strahd Von Zarovich, ruler of Barovia, and welcomes them to his land. He acknowledges them as the latest batch of adventurers to be brought here, more pawns in the game.

• He looks at each member of the party, including the still hidden Wilfyr, attempting to meet their gaze. Those that do, feel drawn into that gaze, with the world around them starting to spin away. There is only Strahd. Strahd doesn’t hold them in this gaze for long.

• He speaks briefly to each member of the party. His speech infers that he knows each of the party members to some degree, or about their past. Except Sunny. Sunny seems to be the enigma to Strahd.

• He warns the party that they will find no rest or success in his lands, that it obeys his command. He also warns them to not meddle in his affairs, and that if they do not, then their stay won’t be unpleasant.

• With that, he turns and strides away towards the gates, swirling his cloak around him and turns into a cloud of bats that then flies through the bars and off into the air beyond. As Strahd leaves, the wolf pack dissipates,into the forest.

• Inspecting the dead body in the road, they find it horrifically mauled. On closer inspection, they find a crumpled, partially torn Kolyan Indirovich’s Letter that Wilfyr takes.

• The party then pushes open the gates, and walk through. The gates closes and locks behind them. Beyond is more forest.

Finding Shelter

• After a little while, the path comes to the top a rise, giving the party a clear view of a Barovian Basin of sorts. In the far distance can be seen a town. Next to that are some cliffs, with an ominous castle at its heights, overlooking the town. About halfway to this town, there seems to be a small group of houses. Seeing signs of civilisation, the party heads down the path into the valley beyond.

• As they’re walking, they notice that the wall of fog is forming up thicker and thicker behind them. Its almost like its keeping pace with them, slowing down and speeding up when they do. Kronkus & Sunny attempt to interact with the fog and walk back into it.

• They lose all visibility, and cannot hear, touch or see each other. They try to leave the way they came, but cannot get out, only walk into more fog. After 10 minutes, both of them exit the fog from exactly the same place that they entered into it. To the rest of the party, they have been waiting for them for an hour.

• Continuing on, the rutted road finally gives way to gravel and stone, as they draw closer to the hamlet of houses. The houses are dark, boarded up, and there are no signs of life. Except one.

• As the party moves between the buildings, the sound of a child sobbing draws their eyes, and they see a small boy and a slightly older girl walk towards them.

• They are wailing, and after being frightened by Kronkus’ approach (due to his unnatural visage) cry that there is a monster in the house, pointing to the lit up house.

• Most of the party dash into the house, while the kids say that their parents are in there, keeping the monster trapped in the basement. They also say their baby brother is still stuck up in his nursery. Sunny tries to convince the kids to come with the party into the house, but they refuse, growing more and more scared of going back inside the house.

• All but Kronkus move into the foyer finding family portraits across the walls, labelled as the Dursts. Kronkus remains outside to try and convince the children to come with them, but they run off. He turns and joins the party in the house.

• As they all step into a large main room, the sounds of a party can be heard coming from another room, from beyond a nearby door. Arkemon retrieves the longsword from above the mantlepiece, and goes back and retrieves the heraldic shield from the foyer.

• Wilfyr finds a door on the opposite side of the room to where the party noises were coming from, and as he approached, heard the growls of wolves coming from beyond it.

• Arkemon warns against opening that door, and instead opens the door that should lead to the party they can hear. As he opens the door, the sounds stop. There is no people in the room beyond. All the torches, fireplaces and candles in the house go out as the party is plunged into darkness.

• Behind them, the gate and door into the entrance to the house close on their own, and lock. And another wolf growls in the distance.

DATE: 13/04/2021

In-game Date Start:

In-game Date Finish:

Players Present

• Adam (Milo)

• Alex (Arkemon)

• Ben (Elgin)

• Chad (Sunny)

• Russ (Delta)

• Stephen (Wilfyr)

Subbed Characters

• Everyone was present for this session.

Completed Quests

• No completed quests

Obtained Quests

• Leave This Land

Places Experienced

• Gates of Barovia

• Barovian Basin

• Durst Manor

Important NPCs Interacted With

• Strahd Von Zarovich

• Rose Durst

• Thorn Durst

,

Memorable Quotes

The best quotes of the Session:

“The blood of so many elves are already on our hands. I just don’t understand how it’s so easy for you to get more.” - Morric

---

“Well fuck father. I just don’t want every elf to walk in a circle around us.” - Morric

“They already do, Morric. That’s not gonna change.” - Gabrielle

“That doesn’t mean I’m not gonna try.” - Morric

“Even if it kills you?” - Gabrielle

“So be it.” - Morric

---

“There is nobody looking out for us, there is nobody covering our backs. There is just us. Just me and him.” - Gabrielle

---

“If I ever talk to you like [Morric], I want you to summon a giant bee on my ass.”

“I’ll use a hornet.”

-Lavender, Honey

---