Main

“Hello ladies!” - Luro, to two women and two men with long hair

Key Developments and Revelations

• Riders take the party to their Holy City

• The party meets the Stellar Oracle - Astrum Sapiens, Wise Star

• The Stellar Oracle reveals the party to be ‘inheritors’ chosen to carry on the arts of their creators.

• The party accepts their gifts and start their journey back home

• The party witnesses the beginning of an attack against the adventuring guild within Cretara

• They make it inside the city limits before a veil isolates Cretara from the outside and all adventurers inscribed with the guild are called to respond to the attack

Full Session Notes (sari)

The Riders encircle the party, but don’t appear hostile. They just watch until the party approaches them and greets them. A rider introduces himself as Idris (Elba) and tells the group that they have been called, and that they must answer.

The Riders give the group horses and lead them to their holy city. The ride takes around 3 days where the party converses with the riders. They reveal that nobody has been able to get close to the artifacts the group has uncovered for generations now. They call the artifacts ‘Remnants’. The Riders remain in awe over the ability of the group to approach the Remnants as freely as they did.

Idris clutches a symbol of their god, a bronze pendant of an open hand. The group later finds out that the name of this god is Pedragos and is worshipped by the people of the Nomadic planes as their creator.

The holy city they are lead into basically is a giant camp out of tents around a giants construction out on a peninsula. Thousands of people have gathered within the city.

The party is lead to the entrance of the giant building on the peninsula but are not accompanied inside. They enter alone and after walking through an intricate passageway they find themselves in a circular room. A person is already waiting there. An elven man, with turquoise and red robes and red vibrant hair who introduces himself as Luro.

In the room is another device as well, but missing a visible magical core like the teleportation device they have found previously. Still, the party decides to touch the rings on the device and start rotating it.

A construct appears in front of the party and Luro. He is called the “stellar oracle, astrum sapiens wise star”and has been waiting for the party for a very long time. He calls the party the “Awakeners” and “Inheritors”. His creators have tasked him and 6 other constructs to carry on the arts to the new generation, until the Inheritors are able to receive their gifts. This has been decided many many years ago by his creators, but he couldn’t tell/remember/ wasn’t allowed to explain who these creators were.

The arts were following:

Astronomy - representing the stars and their guidance

Grammar - granting the gift of the lexicon of lost tongues

Logic - granting the gift of an altered logical reasoning and higher intelligence

Rethoric

Arithmatic - granting the gift of a weapon with special abilities

Geometry - granting the gift of an advanced situational understanding and higher intelligence

And Music - granting the gift of magic and allowing its inheritor to become a harmony keeper.

The Stellar oracle reveals that he has already given his gift to people, even though it had also been a curse to them, but when asked what had happened to them he just said that ‘what happened to them was always meant to happen.’ The group sees no further reason to question this further.

The Oracle also shows them what the people of the nomadic planes actually worship within these halls were the remains of their god. He shows them a piece of green pulsing flesh and further he shows them a vision of pedragos’ dismembered hand on the ground of the lake this city is build at.

Luro is the first to accept his gift of Rethoric and the others follow shortly after. Alistair is the only one hesitant about accepting it as his experience with inheritance had already been a curse to him.

When everyone is ready, Astrum sapiens allows us to return home and asking Kelner if he would be alright to return to Aethon, the group agrees to have Astrum sapiens teleport them to the first location of the teleportation device they have found. He asked them if they are ready for what is to come and before the group had an opportunity to ask more questions he said that he wished he could have told them more and then teleports the group out of the city.

On the journey back to port, the group catches up with Luro. They leave the Nomadic Planes shortly after on a ship to the Luminara Sea.

On the few stops in between more passengers embark and bring news with them. There are stories of people going missing in Aethon, even though there are no specific names mentioned and nobody of higher status that had disappeared. The numbers go up to the dozens and the investigation is ongoing.

The group acquires a newspapers, where they read articles about the Nivarian Empire expanding its efforts to conquer the Nomadic Planes once again in the northwest.

There is a mention of a Saetrian collector being robbed, the missing person cases in Aethon and then reports of the city of Qahira being consumed by a Firestorm. Thousands of people have died, among them the mayor of Qahira.

the ship is about to reach their last stop before Aethon, the capital Cretara, when the party becomes witness of an explosion within the city. A weird shimmer is in the air as a veil starts to grow over the city.

The party receives a message from the adventuring guild that says that the Guild Headquarters is under attack, the threat is ranked as a mithril level. Shortly after there is a second message saying that the headquarters have been overrun and that all adventurers are to report to Cretara and prepare for a counterattack.

The party quickly decides to enter the city by flight before the veil goes down and more explosions starts to erupt in the city.

DATE: 03/12/2023

In-game Date Start: 29th of Hallowtide, 959 A.D.

In-game Date Finish: 9th of Calor, 959 A.D.

Players Present

• Jeremy (Lavender/Alistair)

• Oskar (Luro/Myxi)

• Rasmus (Rydel)

• Sari (Kani)

• Sydney (Sanctuary)

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

• List of Locations

Important NPCs Interacted With

• List of NPCs

Wall of Shame

• Oskar- 3 min

• Sari- 1 min

• Jerm- 8 min

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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

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Memorable Quotes

The best quotes of the Session:

“Hello ladies!” -Luro, to two women and two men with long hair

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“We are meant to save the world, to be heroes.” -Cha’askani

“But why does it have to be us__?” -Alistair

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“Okay, but what the fuck does that mean?” -Sanctuary

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“This is not the first inheritance I’ve received that isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” - Alistair

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