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“You’re ignorant to war. You’re ignorant to battle. You’re ignorant to cruelty. Which is fine in times of peace, but we’re walking into a warzone.” - Cassandra

Key Developments and Revelations

• The party passes a farmers village, which gets burned down the following night

• One of the villagers (hardcore Ascil loyalist) is responsible for the fires and causes a discussion among the group

• On the next day they come across a battlefield with a few hundred dead soldiers

• The group will escort the single suvivor of this battle to Velryn’s March

• Before they reach their destination they come across a manor occupied by ascilian soldiers and witness an attack by Naeris soliders, they join the fight and side with the Ascilian side

Full Session Notes (Sari)

The party passes a farmers village but decide to avoid it after seeing that the main farm house has been taken over by a groups of Naeris’ soldiers. They continue their journey for a bit before making a camp and settling down for a rest. During the rest, the group is woken up by Belearn and Cassandra who had noticed an orange glow to the sky that had been caused by a large fire somewhere close by.

Hurrying back towards the farmers village the group arrives only in time to aid the villagers and putting out the fires consuming their homes. The main farmhouse had also been affected but there was no signs of the soldiers. Matheo and Belearn hurry to the farmhouse, only to see the soldiers dead inside, their throats cut and glass shards lying close by.

Matheo rushes into the fire to recover the bodies, Belearn runs after to drag him back out, just in time as the farmhouse collapses. In the aftermath and while the rest were still aiding the group, they watch the bystanders and notice one older farmer looking suspiciously calm. He moves back to his own burned down house and starts picking through the remains.

Matheo approaches the man to ask some questions, while Belearn hurries back over to the shards of glass he had seen and uses the Finder’s Goggles on them. The goggles then lead him right back to where Matheo has been talking to the farmer, who introduces himself as Farmer Elton.

Not one for patience, Belearn kicks the man in the back of his knees and casts Zone of Truth. He then starts asking questions about the fire and the possible culprit. Farmer Elton admits that it was him who had killed the soliders and set the fires. He had also set the houses of ‘collaborators’ on fire as a punishment. He said that this was mercy compared to what the Ascilian Empire would have done if they would have been accused of treason. He said that he only showed mercy and spared their lifes because they were neighbours and ascilians.

This leads to a discussion among the present members of the group, Elton’s reasoning seeming to upset a few of them. Matheo and Cassandra walk off in seperate directions, Belearn gets ready to deal out punishment to Elton by cutting off his hand, which Killian stops in the last second.

Zara and Belearn then hand Farmer Elton back to the rest of the villagers who have witnessed the confrontation, saying that his neighbours should be the ones to decide his punishment.

After a while Cassandra returns from her walk, steps up to Elton who still knelt on the ground and asks him if he would accept the judgement of a disgraced soldier. She reveals the tattoo of the Durnspire guards. He accepts and Cassandra follows with a ‘trial’ in front of the other villagers, deciding that he would get the punishment of a thief. She cuts off his hand, makes sure he doesn’t bleed to death and then returns to the group back at camp.

Matheo stays away for a good while.

At camp Killian, Belearn and Zara have a bit of a conversation where Killian reveals a spellscar tattoo. Zara takes a look at it and discovers that it’s only part of a whole and deduces that someone else should have the other half of it.

Next morning: Cassandra reveals to the group that she had been part of the military in Ascil before she was accused of a severe crime, arrested and imprisoned. Zara pokes further and Cassandra explains that he had been accused of ‘traitorous intentions’, of handing over strategic information to the enemies of the Ascilian Empire. She only escaped thanks to a storm. And even though all of that had happened, she still loves the nation and would always return in its time of need.

The conversations climaxed into a debate between Zara and Cassandra about their role in this world, about power and who has it in a world like theirs. While Zara believes that helping the people around her has the capacity to be powerful enough to change the world, Cassandra says that only the ones at the top have any kind of influence on anything at all.

After a continous back and forth, Belearn tells both of them to shut up and keep moving. His frustration bled over to confront Matheo about his apparent discomfort in the whole situation and following discussion, and Matheo promises to not further burden anyone.

Shortly after they come across a battlefield and the remains of a few hundred soldiers. Furhter down in the valley they find a body of the commander of the 17th legion of the ascilian army. Cassandra can’t seem to explain how a fighter like him would have died in this battle. We find a quill and a scroll in his hand with the words: “Return…” on it.

After a bit of investigation the group figures that the Naeris army had flanked this split off part of the 17th legion, a few ascilians were able to escape by climbing up the sides of the valley, but they have been followed.

Belearn is able to find a survivor of this battle, hidden away in a bush. He gives him food and water, and heals him until he is able to answer some questions.

The soldier says that this party of the legion was supposed to hold the ‘orchid lines’ while they wait for reinforcement which should have arrived on the 3rd day, but on the 4th a courier arrived with an order to continue to hold the line until further orders and the omnious message that ‘command is watching’. The rest of the 17th legion is spread out over the entire company, the legion commanders just followed orders but the soldier felt like ‘they were left as bait’.

Matheo again questions a possible conspiracy, and asks if the survivor of this fight would truly be welcomed back or even safe with the rest of the army. Cassandra instead offers to escort the soldier to Valryn’s march as they would be heading in the same direction.

They walk, until they come across the ruins of an old castle, which appears to have been taken over by the surviving ascilian soldiers. One of them stood at the path leading up to the side of the castleruin, but as he spots the group an arrow hits him in the throat. The group witnesses the attack of Naeris’s soldiers on the surviving ascilians, Cassandra saying that she will not fault the rest of the group if they’d decide to not pick a side but she will go and help the ascilians. Together they take out the Ascilian soldiers.

DATE: 24/07/2025

In-game Date Start: 15th of Hallowtide, 988 A.D

In-game Date Finish: 16th of Hallowtide, 988 A.D

Players Present

• Jeremy (Killian)

• Oskar (Cassandra)

• Rasmus (Belaern)

• Sari (Matheo)

• Sydney (Zara)

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

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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:

“I do enough trying to save this group when we just go about normally. You don’t have to try and get yourself killed on top!” - Belaern

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Cassandra giving Elton his punishment.

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“I’m sorry for thinking you’re important.” - Zara

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“You’re ignorant to war. You’re ignorant to battle. You’re ignorant to cruelty. Which is fine in times of peace, but we’re walking into a warzone.” - Cassandra

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