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Session 10: Tug of War

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“I don’t wanna throw away the person that they raised me to be.” - Aelthar

Key Developments and Revelations

  • Party finishes up the heist

  • After a heated conversation they decided to go to Squall’s End

  • They meet Haldovon

  • Aelthar cries like a bitch

Full Session Notes (Thrym)

The sessions starts with Alexei facing off against a skeletal minotaur while Mika and Arani create a distraction and break out of their cells so that Aelthar can go help Alexei. Fighting starts between Mika, Arani and the guards. During this fight Arani brutally rips off 2 of the guards earlobes. Aelthar gets to the vault and helps Alexei kill the minotaur. They get out of the vault with the amulets and a shitton of gold. Thalia hears of the commotion and enters the restricted area as she starts to fight the guards rushing in to help.

Fight keeps going and we eventually decide to teleport out with our teleportation tablets. Once we arrived back at base the party talks with the siblings and Thalia asks maxi about her puzzle box and asks her to safekeep it until they know how to open it. The party then rests and early the next morning they meet in the main room where a conversation about handing back they stole. Aelthar advocated for giving it back when they had no more use for the amulets and reprimands the party for turning into criminals. The party disagrees and says it something that we have to do to survive. Aelthar then says that he doesn’t want the party or himself to turn into the people he used to hunt.

The conversation then escalates as Arani tells Aelthar that if he disagrees with what they are doing he needs to speak up when they make the decisions, and also tells Aelthar that his optimism for staying “good” is admirable but not a likely outcome in their current situation. Arani then pushes Aelthar to decide where they go next since he clearly isn’t happy with their decisions. After a bit more back and forth Aelthar makes the decision to go to Squall’s End.

They walk the whole day mostly in silence, and eventually get to the village where they head to Haldovon’s house. They get there in the evening and everyone except Aelthar enter the house and speak with Haldovon after Mika has her reunion. The topic of a dress comes up and a complaint about Haldovon’s cooking. The party notices that Aelthar is gone and Thalia elects to follow him up to the nearby mountain top.

Thalia tries to talk to Aelthar who is mostly dismissive at first but after a bit of talking he opens up and says that he does care about the party but he cares more about someone else and doesn’t want to keep this going for longer than it has to. Aelthar then says he want to stay who he is because he doesn’t want to throw away the person his parents raised him to be, and Thalia tells him if she had a little brother or a child like him she would be proud. Aelthar cries and then accepts heading back to the group.

The party eats some food and talks about the events of the war effort and what happened after. The party then head to bed. Mika finds herself in the streets of Squall’s End and sees Daephne who says that the party was just meant to be the scapegoats and would be able to go somewhere else but since we killed one of them it was personal. Mika hears a scream from one of the buildings and Daephne warns Mika to not touch anyone else or it wont be some random person next time.

DATE: 31/10/2023

In-game Date Start: 13th of Hallowtide, 959 A.D.

In-game Date Finish: 15th of Hallowtide, 959 A.D.

Players Present

  • Jeremy (Alexei)

  • Oskar (Mika)

  • Sari (Arani)

  • Sydney (Thalia)

  • Trym (Aelthar)

Subbed Characters

  • X played X / Everyone was present.

Completed Quests

  • Get the Amulets of Proof against Detection and Location

Obtained Quests

  • Find out what Thalia’s Infernal Puzzle Box is

Locations Visited

  • The Afterlife Casino

  • Squall’s End/Hidden Hope

Important NPCs Interacted With

  • Maxi

  • Carel

  • Ira

  • Haldovon

Wall of Shame

  • what what?

,

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:

“We’re fighting to prove that we aren’t criminals and traitors, we shouldn’t become criminals in the process.” - Aelthar

“In this life, no one’s giving you any favors. You have to take them for yourself.” - Alexei

“I admire your optimism, but you have to accept that reality maybe won’t look the way you want it to.” - Arani

“It will go well. Because it has to.” - Aelthar

“We’re taking the right steps, we’re just stumbling along the way.” - Aelthar

“You have a voice. We will listen. Fucking talk.” - Arani

“If I worry now, and get there, and something is wrong, I worry double. But if I worry now, and nothing is wrong, then I’ll have worried for nothing.” - Mika, once again dropping weird wisdom.

“I do care. I just care about someone else more.” - Aelthar

“I just wanna get out of this still being me__.” - Aelthar

“That’s a good hope to have. But I also know that in traumatic situations, such as the one we have been in and are still currently in, people change. It’s not always a bad change, and it’s not always a good change, but we change. We can just hope that this one’s not bad.” - Thalia

“Does your advice also work on the people that don’t want to change?” - Aelthar

“Typically they change for the worse…” - Thalia

“It’s this constant tug of war, where I wanna help you, but I feel like if I help you, I lose the other part. The longer it stays this way, the worse it gets. We are here having a nice little chat with Mika’s father or something, when we could be out there fixing this.” - Aelthar

“You may feel as though you are losing a part of yourself - a part of yourself that I have never seen before. But what I know from previous experiences, is that that part of you is always there. You’ve just had to hide it to survive. And once we get out of this survival mode, you’ll go back to being normal.” - Thalia

“I don’t wanna throw away the person that they raised me to be.” - Aelthar

“Your past has not changed, who you were did not change,

 Who you are and who you will be will change, because that means that you are alive.

Respect who you are. Keep him safe. But in order to keep him safe you must grow.” - Thalia

“All I know is, if I had a little brother or a child who were like you, I’d be proud. And I’m talking about you as you are now.” - Thalia

“Do you really think I can wear dresses?” - Mika

“I don’t wanna go out of this escapade, or whatever it is that we’re doing, becoming one of the people I used to hunt.” - Aelthar

“Our names and reputations are already being dragged through the mud. There’s always gonna be someone who doesn’t believe what we will tell them, and that’s if everything goes right.” - Arani

“It will.” - Aelthar

“I’m sticking with you, because my reputation is tied to you guys. Whether I want it or not.” - Aelthar

“When I was younger, my mentor once told me that it is difficult to sit with anger - and it is worse to know, that it is grief.” - Thalia