Main

“If you or the rest of the family aren’t gonna acknowledge me, then I have to do it myself - through this.” - Eramok

Key Developments and Revelations

• The main happenings the party want to keep tabs on or remember

Full Session Notes (Sydney)

Shuddul and Eramok Thaurholt are cousins, with Shuddul being older and having Admiral as his father. Eramok was not granted permission by his father to compete because the admiral nominated Luella Seybrand, meaning Eramok’s father nominated Shuddul.

Phaidros Valtoris is sponsored by Zhoron Chaemoira (the Beyonce of Vallyn) to compete in the tournament.

Luella is at a tavern having a drink when “The Drunken” tells her that he saw her “in a field of dust… the stag was at your feet bleeding, its antlers shattered. It bled out facing away from the crown.” She went to follow up with him about that and was promptly told to leave him alone.

Phaidros, the Thaurholt Boys, and Luella gather to watch a puppet show with elaborate, well-made puppets of griffons and stags, re-enacting the story of the Adairn betrayal of Ascil.

The joust begins with Phaidros being unhorsed and Lysa Rellmoor unhorsing Prince Caelen’s son, Vaelric, who storms off in anger. Luella loses her eye to Iresha Velcain, who then gets hit in the throat, unable to continue to the melee.

In the second round, the Thaurholts win their respective bouts, with Luella being unhorsed by “The Grey Bear.”

The final round ends with Shuddul and Eramok, Eramok winning at the end of their tilts.

The melee begins in the latter half of the day, with the Rellmoor twins being taken out early, as well as most of the other combatants. Phaidros takes Luella out of the fight, Eramok deals with “The Young Prince,” and Shuddul with “The Grey Bear.” Phaidros and Shuddul waste each other’s resources, with Shuddul winning before surrendering to his cousin.

During the celebration, the group hears a scream of panic, and when they go to investigate the source, they see Prince Vaelric hitting the puppetmaster and destroying the puppets from the play. Shuddul tries to calm the Prince, while Phaidros gets in the way of the attacks. Eramok punches the Prince to make him stop, which he does. The Vow-Knights take Eramok away to receive his punishment, which involves the removal of a hand. Shuddul tries to plead his case with the Princes and is told that, due to Vaelric being hit, Vaelric will decide the punishment unless Eramok wants a trial by seven. The trial by seven is a seven-versus-seven joust, which turns into a melee after the first tilt. Eramok decides to take that action, which leads him to ask people to join his side in a potential death match. Luella and Phaidros join Eramok, while Vaelric asks Shuddul to join his side. Luella asks “The Laughing Storm” to join, which he does, while Eramok asks “The Grey Bear” and Halrick Darrath, who both also join.

Arriving the next day, we realize we only have six people, which would negate the trial by seven. Maeryn shows up and asks to join before telling us that he is not honor-bound and that Eramok did the right thing. In the trial, Eramok knocks Vaelric unconscious, winning the trial and proving his innocence. Phaidros tells Shuddul to stand with what he did, even if questioned, while Luella confronts Rhaelen about what he said in the tavern yesterday. Rhaelen says he sometimes has dreams and apologizes if he has offended her. She clarifies what he said and reassures him she doesn’t want to kill any of the royals. Maeryn asks for help from Eramok, removing his gorget and helmet, resulting in his previous injury to the back of the head being revealed as he passes in the trial grounds.

DATE: 11/06/2025

In-game Date Start:

In-game Date Finish:

Players Present

• Oskar (Phaidros Valtoris)

• Sari (Shuddul Thaurholt)

• Sydney (Luella Seybrand)

• Trym (Eramok Thaurholt)

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

• Redmarch

Important NPCs Interacted With

• Maeryk Vorcallis “The Stag in Bronze”

• Caelen Vorcallis “The Anvil”

• Rhaelan Vorcallis “The Drunken”

• Vaelric Vorcallis

• Daevan Vorcallis “The Young Prince”

• Theren Halbrecht

• Dyanna Vale

• Arran Vaelcrest

• Caldus Branthorne “The Grey Bear”

• Halrick Darrath

• Voice of the Edicts, Vaurin Darrath

• Lysa and Lorn Rellmoor

• Corryn Vaelcrest “The Laughing Storm”

• Arabella the Puppetteer

• General Zhoron Chaemoira

• Fenton Halbrecth

• Fernio Marros

• Iresha Velcain

Wall of Shame

• Oskar - 20 min

• Sari - 15 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:

“If you or the rest of the family aren’t gonna acknowledge me, then I have to do it myself - through this.” - Eramok

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“Prove it to all of them. Make yourself proud.” - Shuddul

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“My reputation was mine to gain, and mine to lose.” - Eramok

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“Arrogance is a double edged sword, and I will no longer stand in the way of it cutting you too.” - Shuddul

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