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“We have been hurt by celestials before, and therefore are slow to trust.” - Thalia

“You got something wrong. I trust them. They are good. I am not.” - Arani

Key Developments and Revelations

-Rescued Agnese

-Let a Hag get away

-Gave Maxi money

-Learned about murders

-Met up with the Enclave

Full Session Notes (Jeremy)

The group continues investigating the dragon’s roost, where they find Devas relieved that the Dragon is dead, and fire elementals that are not relieved to hear this. We talk to the Devas, they heal us, and Arani expressed that she feels unworthy to be in their presence. Mika hates them. We kill the elemental, and fail to keep their eggs. Ouch!

The party goes into the Whispering Wood looking for Agnese. Thalia sees a vision of him and follows it. It leads us to a hut in the middle of the woods where we meet 3 hags hagging. We kill two, and the third gets away making a threat on our lives. We find Agnese in a cage, missing an eye, with the instructions to a ritual nearby.

We free Agnese who has a teary reunion with Thalia, and expressed his desire to go back home to Eryx. He agrees to come back to Maxi’s for a little bit. We investigate this ritual and discover Agnese’s eye has likely been turned into a Hag Eye, a scrying device that allows members of a coven to perceive through it. Alexei wonders outloud if there is a bounty out on this dragon, and Thalia, in her feelings, passive aggressively throws a bag of money at Alexei and calls her a beyotch.

We teleport back to Maxi’s, where Maxi hints that she would like money for all the charity she’s given the party. Almost everyone agrees and gives her some of the Dragon’s Horde.

Everyone talks and agrees to go to Myrida Aeca and meet The Bestial Enclave. We teleport there, bribing an attendant at the teleportation hub to forget he saw us. We discover that we entered town on the third and final day of the Festival of Eyes, a festival celebrating an ancient king smiting a beholder that laid siege to the city. Each day of the festival takes place in a location said to be a pivotal area for the siege. The city square, then the mithril Bridge, then the Cemetery. The festival also involves almost everyone donning masks with 3 eyes on them, which is a holiday in of itself for the Bestial Enclave.

Speaking of, we all grab masks, hearing about 2 murders matching the location of the different nights of the festival the two previous days, describing the same Tiefling and tree lady that we say sacrifice a Couatl. We decide to investigate if we have time, and begin making our way to the Enclave, where we are stopped by 3 masked figures. The Wolf, The Spider, and The Crow. Alexei and The Wolf has a contentious standoff, where The Wolf says that “a lot has changed since you left,” and refers to her as “Dustborn.” Alexei does not react well to this and draws her knife. They talk it out, and we all walk together to the Enclave entrance. When we get inside, a man in colorful garb, identified by “Crickets” draws a knife on Alexei, and implies she is a traitor. The Jay, a grizzled elven man watches silently. A stout, muscular, sexy lady named The Boar, head of the operation, comes out and interrupts, sternly telling the entire party to enter her office.

We all do, and Alexei is instructed to explain herself, and she starts profusely apologizing, saying that she never ratted out the Enclave no matter what method they interrogated her with. The Boar hugs her and, like a switch, addresses her in a very kind tone and tells her that she never doubted her, complimenting the dwarven jewelry that Haldovon made. She asks who the rest of the Crimson cloud is, and Alexei explains, and explains all that has happened since Isandor. She says she trusts the party so much as they need each other to finish their mission, and all of them have come wearing amulets of nondetection. Everyone shows theirs. Arani is not attuned to it. Alexei goes white like a ghost, and the Boar is not happy. Someone refers to the Boar as Alexei’s mother, which neither Alexei nor the Boar are happy about. Alexei denies making this claim. We are excused to go into the rest of the Enclave, and Thalia stays behind, telling the Boar that Alexei does love her like a mother, whether she wants to admit to it or not.

Alexei drops 1000 gold in front of the Wolf and Crickets, flexing that she killed a dragon to get it, and to make sure they share with everyone.

We meet the Owl, and actual owlin bookkeeper. Alexei gives a written abridged recount of their entire adventure and learnings, and we ask him to research Azgaroth, Bhog Daral, and Thalia’s father’s adventuring group.

We meet the Puma, an elderly Orcish woman who immediately hugs Alexei and fusses over her, calling her “little fox” and “sweet thing.” Alexei asks her to make a poison, there is someone very powerful who needs killed. Puma got you, little one. We talk to the Elephant, seemingly kind but quiet beast of a woman. We talk to the Jay, a little hardened but ultimately very happy to see Alexei. They hug, and Jay promises her that she always has a place to stay in the Enclave, and they can kick people out and make room for her friends too. Alexei gives him a magic sword and a fancy bottle of wine.

DATE: 16/01/2024

In-game Date Start: 3rd of Calor, 959 A.D.

In-game Date Finish: 4th of Calor, 959 A.D.

Players Present

• Jeremy (Alexei)

• Oskar (Mika)

• Sari (Arani)

• Sydney (Thalia)

• Trym (Aelthar)

Subbed Characters

• Sydney played Aelthar

Completed Quests

• Rescue Agnese

Obtained Quests

• Find out more about the murders

Locations Visited

• Gardmore Abbey

  • Dragon’s Roost

  • Whispering Wood

• Myrida Aeca

  • The Bestial Enclave

Important NPCs Interacted With

• Agnese

• The Boar

• The Wolf

• The Bluejay

• The Crickets

• The Owl

• The Puma

• The Elephant

• The Dragon

• The Spider

• The Crow

Wall of Shame

• Oskar - 26 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:

“We have been hurt by celestials before, and therefore are slow to trust.” - Thalia

“You got something wrong. I trust them. They are good. I am not.” - Arani

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“Wow, Mika. Good job staying cool under pressure.” - Alexei

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Arani about to make an owl joke to Owl. “I dont want to hear that joke I have heard it 500 times… AND FRANKLY ITS KINDOF OFENSSIV” -Owl

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