The party depart from Krezk and head back to the Wizard of Wines brewery with the cart and drey to collect the delivery of wine for the Blue Water Inn in Vallaki. They stop overnight, leaving on the morning of the 4th December to head back, laden with good cheer for the townsfolk.
Our dramatis personae:
Ser Adon de Rouge of House Starbright (a half-orc Paladin, from a knightly background, with two human retainers and a priest), played by Paul (dr_mitch). Lawful Good. Married to Ser Alys.
Kelwarin (Kel) (a half-elf Sorceror flush with the powers of wild magic, an outlander), played by Graham (First Age). Chaotic Good.
Gaddock Teeg (a halfling wizard and former prizefighter), played by Alex (Doggetay), Neutral Good
Ser Alys de Adon-Rouge of House Starbright (a half-orc Fighter with a soldier background, currently the leader of the town militia of Daggerford), played by Tom (Guvnor). Lawful Neutral. Imagine a slightly greener take on Grace Jones... Married to Ser Adon.
also featuring:
Ireena Kolyana (a human warrior, daughter of the Burgomaster of Barovia, Twice-Bitten reincarnation of Strahd's unrequited love, Tatyana) - upgraded as a sidekick.
with :
Alexei the Vistana (a young human expert, sent to pay off his debt to the party by his Vistani elders after they rescued Arabelle from certain death when Alexei lost her in town. A late teenager who is so taken by Ireena and the excitement of the adventure that he's forgotten he planned to be sulky and surly for his 13 moon exile) - upgraded as a sidekick.
All characters are presently 6th level, including the sidekicks.
4th December
The party, headed north from the vineyard in the early morning, with the mists still swirling. As they reached the bridge near the Old Svalich Road they noticed some strange white leaves on the floor. Investigating, they established that they were - in fact - pieces of paper advertising a Carnival which had apparently arrived in Vallaki.
Come to the Carnival!
COME and CELEBRATE!
Come and have fun!
A proper family celebration, not a forced one!
See the shows!
Visit the market!
Come to the CARNIVAL!
Back for the first time in years.
They looked at each other, startled at the news. Continuing further east, they heard unnatural howls on the forest hill to the north. Ser Alys quickly realised that this was no ordinary wolf howl, it seemed tainted by a tortured humanity. Taking stock, they wondered if these could be the werewolves that had led them to stumble into Barovia in the first place. They couldn't discount it so decided to investigate. Alys quickly identified tracks, so they left Ireena and Alexei with the cart while they headed to investigate. Ser Adon crashed over, losing his balance while trying to find a good route forward, and Kel was losing his bearings, so Gaddock used a combination of levitation and his familiar to find the right route to the clearing where whatever had let the howl out was waiting.
Kel acted to spot any deadfall's that could make a noise revealing that they were coming, which was fortunate because both the warriors were struggling to be stealthy with their armour. Fortunately, Gaddock summoned a fog which masked their approach. They reached the clearing, surprising two werewolves which seemed to be intent in discussion. Kel reacted by fireballing them, fortunate that the fog prevented the forest from taking worse than blast damage (it may be hard to explain why they set the hill on fire!). Burned and surprised, Gaddock attacked one with a mindspike, but it shrugged off most of the effects. Ser Adon charged in with the blood spear, and brutally slaughtered the first wolf, getting a surge of energy when the Blood Spear drank it to death. He then attacked the second one, before Ser Alys finished it off with the orkish letter opener. Their eyes met over the dead body, and for a moment Adon looked almost wolf-like and hungry-eyed.
Searching the bodies revealed that both the lycanthropes had leaflets for the Carnival. Searching the clearing revealed a dead body, one of the people that they had met in Krezk. This was a surprise as the people of that town rarely left it. They buried the body and said a few words over it to prevent it rising as an undead. Kel looked out across the two miles or so to Vallaki and could see glittering lights towards the lake; it definitely looked like something had arrived in town.
While they travelled along the road, Gaddock used his spells and lore to investigate the leaflets. He came to the conclusion that they were some kind of lure and talisman which acted in a similar way to the mists that surrounded Barovia, luring and drawing people in. The words appeared in people's native tongues; Gaddock had been warned about sorcerers like this. "Always avoid dark magic like necromancy and advertising" was drilled in at the Academy. Gaddock was convinced that the Carnival may have come from outside Barovia.
They reached town to find the guards stretched thin; apparently many had called in sick or had gone to the Carnival. They arranged for the wine to be dropped off at the Blue Water Inn, then met up with Alys' deputy Reisen Munin who reported that all was well; the Carnival was back and the greybeards suggested that it was maybe sixty years since it last visited. The party excitedly reminisced about what delights could be expected, every type of food on a stick including clouds, butter and rats. Munin tried to find out what a goblin was like and Ser Alys described a made up monster. They decided to head out and see what the Carnival was all about.
Both Ser Alys and Ser Adon dressed up very smartly, leaving their armours behind. Alys in a party dress, and Adon in crimson trousers with a sky-blue hat. Heading out the lakeside gate to the North, they discovered the Carnival set perhaps 100 metres back. Interestingly, the mists held back from it and there was a clear path to the gate. As they entered, they realised that they could see the night sky with different starts and a dark moon. Shocked, Kel realised that there was a feel of the Shadowfell to this place. Gaddock passed on sound advice, starting with avoid eye contact and don't reveal your true name!
 |
| Gaddock's rules, some of which may even be true! |
A gentleman in a top hat identified himself as 'Tindal the Barker' and explained that he led the acts in the Big Top and would love to see them all there later. They agreed to see the show but then split up to try the attractions that he described that most excited them.
Ser Alys went to the high striker where she befriended an attractive Orog, and then beat him in how high she could send the flaming skull into the air. He asked her if she wanted to go out; she explained she was married but perhaps the three of them could hang out at the pub later. The Orog, Tosk, was very excited about the offer, perhaps too excited. He handed her a bag of shadow dust (which causes invisibility) as a prize for beating him so soundly.
Kelwarin's attention was drawn to a tent by the pipes a Satyr was playing. The next thing he knew he had a cup in his hand and was rolling dice and trying to predict what flowers would sprout from the pots some pixies were planting. Of course, he couldn't resist using his natural sorcerous powers to manipulate the result, winning a thousand gold. As he reached for it, he felt the brush of mind of a Pixie. That brush turned to anger and he realised they had realised he'd bent reality to win. The tent went cold with anger and somehow Kel resisted the spell cast at him to turn him into a white rat. He grabbed the cash and ran, fleeing into the Litwick Market, a place populated by Fae where you could buy anything, but it was dangerous and nothing to do with the Carnival. It just followed it around.
Gaddock went to see the fortune teller, Madame Fortuna. Her wagon was guarded by two silent Skurra, Vistani which had joined the Carnival who wear black-and-white faceprint and never, ever, speak. He realised that he didn't have cash but ended up trading away the memories of his child in return for lore. He couldn't remember exactly what he learned but he knew it would come to him in a time of need. He has no recollection of the fact that he is a father or what he requested, and his mind has been twisted so he no longer tolerates children and they find him scary and want to avoid him. This was a secret none of the party knew; apparently he had been married when he was in the Militia, but his wife had eventually left him because he kept volunteering for duties away from home. Their marriage lasted a decade, but he hasn't seen his child since. He stumbled out of the Wagon knowing he had forgotten something but no idea what.
Ser Adon went to the Hall of Horrors, narrowly missing being vomited on by the person who went in before him. Met at the door by Professor Pacali, he soon realised that there was more to this place than he expected. Small creatures were held in tanks, some form of homunculi. Larger creatures where also delayed. Looking in a large looking glass, he caught a glimpse of something in the mirror. A creature perhaps. Pacali noticed that he had seen this so sidled up and started to question Adon. He explained that all the performers were trapped here by the Carnival's leader Isolde on pain of being twisted. If Adon didn't believe him, he could just check out her office behind the Big Top; the remains of six people she'd twisted to the point of destroying their sanity was there. He asked for Adon's assistance in breaking the trap; he'd prepared the magic to do so, but needed support to get it to the right place. Not willing to commit without finding out more, Adon planned to check out Isolde's office.
The whole group got back together near the Big Top. They shared stories but then planned to see the Big Top show and find out more...
GM Notes:
I decided that I wanted the return to Vallaki to feel special, as the location had been at the heart of the game. Having read 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' over Christmas, and also having read about the Carnival in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, I decided to use it. I actually went back to the 2e version (which I found great as a set up but far too full of flavour text) and also a DM's Guild reboot of it. This meant that I had some work to do with Token Tool to prepare NPCs, plus uploading all the VTT maps. I picked up Van Richten's on Roll20 so I could transmogify the creatures across and drag and drop them in. I'm glad I did, because it made the Compendium material easily accessible.
I wanted some suitable music; I grabbed a piece by Travis Savoie for the Witchlight Carnival from his recent RPGToolkit II album. I also located a copy of James Horner's score for the early 80s Bradbury scripted movie version of 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' on YouTube, so ripped it with Piezo and added it to Roll20. It fitted the mood well. I'd have bought it, but it isn't on streaming services and there were no copies available to buy obviously anywhere. I was a bit frustrated as the YouTube downloading software I have used for the last five years has been deprecated and the latest update they did didn't want to work. If it had then I could have pointed to a YouTube playlist and got it all ripped out.
I was worried that this could be too twee, but it seems to be working. There is a dark edge and the music worked perfectly when Gaddock cut his Fae Bargain for a future use of Legend Lore. I actually have three different plot lines to play with, one an update from their first visit and the others new. Both the two new lines could have dire effects for the Carnival or Vallaki itself.
Although the Carnival is a potential route out, Strahd will not let Ireena go, and would trap the Carnival instead. He is less bothered about the characters, although if they ran he would feel like his fun has been spoiled.
It was fun getting back into this, like a pair of old shoes. And yes, Ser Adon may well have failed an important saving roll when his spear drank the blood of the lycanthrope.
I used 4e style skill challenges for tracking the werewolves and sneaking up on them; I liked it as it gave reasons for everyone to do something. Failures on tracking made the stealthy approach harder. Must do this again.
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