Main

“How many people are you willing to let die for your Ascillian honor?” - Belaern

Key Developments and Revelations

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

Full Session Notes (Rasmus)

Cassandra immediately tells the birdbat to leave in a language we don’t speak, noting we’ll talk about it later. We grab the Naearisian commander and head back towards the keep, and as we do, the spellstorm starts dying down a bit. We’re let inside, and go to find the Primaris. We hand over the prisoner, and guards take her to the cells. As we do, we see the Primaris, while still stressed, clearly seems to feel a bit of relief. While discussing the situation, the Primaris also says that while he and his men are stuck here, we, as a small independent group, could leave at any point, but we decide to stick around. He also has his quartermaster give us some healing potions. 

We decide to head out once more, but not before doing a few things - talk to the prisoner to see if she has any information, and talk to the Primaris about potential evacuations and other options. Cassandra and Matheo go to talk to the prisoner, Lenra “Stoneheart” Drovak, and Matheo suggests going in trying to cooperate instead of intimidating her. Matheo suggests working out a solution about a surrender, which angers Cassandra. As they argue, they hear a chuckle coming from the cell with the prisoner. Cassandra walks in, tells her to not try and resist her spell as she casts Zone of Truth. The prisoner resists until Matheo cast Silvery Barbs, and Cassandra snaps her fingers, saying she was trying to be nice. Cass asks for her name and rank, and she says she has no military rank, as she is called Lady Lenra Drovak and is a noble. Matheo recognizes the name as one of the noble families from the capital. She says she followed the princess here to kill Ascillians - they attacked because it used to be Naearisian land, and the Ascillians were arrogant. They keep trading blows verbally, with some more fingers being snapped, and eventually Lenra suggests that they can discuss terms with the princess herself, who is leading the army here. Cass also asks how Naearisian morale is, and Lenra answers that some soldiers are content, herself included, but other zealot soldiers want more, the princess included. She doesn’t wanna stop at a job halfway done, which is why she is moving south. Cassandra and Matheo turn to leave again, having learnt some information and needing to talk with the Primaris. Cassandra also kindly resets Lenra’s fingers before leaving.

Belaern, Killian, and Zara discuss what to do with the civilians. The best options currently are surrender, use the cavalry to break part of the Naearisian army so the civilians can escape, or fight until the end. The Primaris agrees that making a break for it is the best plan and sends an officer to tell all soldiers to retreat and gather. As he does, Cassandra and Matheo join the conversation and tell the Primaris about the information they got. The Primaris then asks if we should risk the meeting and that they’ll organize in the meantime, or if we just go for a break immediately. It is also suggested by Killian that we lie, call for the meeting, and use that to break through. We decide to try to call for the meeting, and prepare for the breakthrough in the meantime, in case no resolution is made. Belaern casts a Sending to the Princess - “Sending from Primaris Braelen. Lady Drovak’s words that your highness is willing to discuss a truce. 1 hour, southern gate if willing. By Lawbearer’s Grace.” The princess responds with “We agree to the meeting. We’ll be there in 1 hour. Bring Lady Drovak.” In the hour leading up to the meeting, we prepare everyone, including civilians and soldiers. Cassandra and Belaern also go to get the prisoner, and get into a small argument over Belaern giving her a healing potion. We then take Lady Drovak and head towards the meeting - Cassandra, Matheo, and Belaern head to the meeting itself, while Killian and Zara head to the civilians, with Keena in an owl form.

At the parley, the Princess simply states that her terms for a truce are - the Primaris will give up himself, along with all of his soldiers, as prisoners of war, but all the civilians will be free to go. All of this is confirmed under a Zone of Truth. The two parties quickly discuss this on their own, and Primaris and Cassandra do say that they’d rather fight the Naearisians in the break, with the Primaris specifically saying that it’s really about how he’d rather die, but Belaern and Matheo argue against them, stating this truce is the way to guarantee as many people as possible live today, and it’s also not just about the Primaris’ life. Belaern also asks what will happen to the group, and the Princess says that, as their job was just to save civilians, not fight on Ascil’s side, they’re free to go. After the truce is agreed upon and the soldiers depart, Cassandra and the Primaris discuss their conversation, which suggests the possibility of foul elements at play. They instruct Cassandra to locate a ring in the Primaris’s office, which will guide her to trustworthy individuals.

Belaern goes to talk to the Princess as he releases Lady Drovak, telling her that he doesn’t feel he would be doing his job properly if he didn’t ask her to at least attempt to inspire her army to spare the civilians of Ascil. She agrees to attempt it. Meanwhile, Cassandra goes to the Primaris’ office, finding the ring and burning any books that contain any information about Ascil.

When the party goes to make camp outside the city, Matheo and Cass have a conversation in which Cass tells him about the Primaris’ suspicions of treachery. Matheo starts to be very rude about him being correct in the “I told you so” variety. Zara identifies the adamantine ring, which is magical and opens something. She then speaks about helping with the investigation. Zara and Cassandra discuss their differing views, leading Zara to decide to stop supporting or interacting with Ascil’s political nature.

DATE: 07/09/2025

In-game Date Start:

In-game Date Finish:

Players Present

• Jeremy (Killian)

• Oskar (Cassandra)

• Rasmus (Belaern)

• Sari (Matheo)

• Sydney (Zara)

Subbed Characters

• 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:

“These people are fighting to save their home, like this world did against the abyss.” - Cassandra

“Alright then - you wanna go back out there again, save as many people as we can while we wait for the heroes to swoop in on their dragons?” - Belaern

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“How many people are you willing to let die for your Ascillian honor?” - Belaern

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“I’m sorry that I couldn’t give you a strong enough position to win against the Naearisians.” - Cassandra

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“If asking you this means just a few more innocents live, then I’ll have satisfied my job.” - Belaern

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