The body of Baba Lysaga has been burned and only her blackened carbonised heart remains. Alexei has been put to rest by his people, so now our heroes turn to closing out the remaining loose ends following the death of the witch who referred to herself as Strahd's mother.
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.
All characters levelled up to 8th level, including the one remaining sidekick.
13th December, 8 days to the Solstice.
The party were up early, with Gaddock grumbling about the number of breakfasts that he'd had to skip in Barovia, so they congregated at the Blue Water Inn to plan their next moves. They had three things that they wanted to achieve; laying Argynvost's skull to rest at his former manse, returning the magical gemstone to the Wizard of Wines vineyard and finding the Amber Temple in the hopes of establishing how they can restore the Fanes, taking their powers from the Devil Strahd.
A debate opened up on the best thing to do first; the winery or Argynvostholt. In the end, they prepared to take the skull to Argynvostholt, a journey of perhaps four to five hours in the blustery snow. A biting wind was blowing from the mountains to the south as the set out with the cart. It was slow going, perhaps no faster than on foot, but it did give them the advantage of not having to carry the weight of the skull. The weather did its best to break through the layers they had on, but they'd prepared well. In their pouches, each of them carried a seed cake that would heal them, according to Jeny. She'd slipped them to Gaddock as he'd left her shop in the early hours.
They knew they had to get up to the beacon tower on the roof of Argynvostholt when they arrived, but were nervous about encountering the revenants again. They'd proved exceptionally dangerous the previous time they'd been there. As they rode, they could feel eyes watching them, and movement in the forest, but nothing ventured near. They worked through a stratagem to get the skull to the tower as quickly as possible.
Arriving, the manse was quiet; Gaddock and Ser Adon prepared beside the statue of the dragon on the gravelled driveway outside. First of all, Gaddock shrunk the skull in size using the Enlarge/Reduce spell he had transcribed from Baba Lysaga's spell book some two days before. Prepared, a dimension door was opened, and they stepped out onto the roof directly, immediately beside the tower. There was no immediate danger, so they started on opening the door. As they did, Kelwarin heard a noise in the building, sensing the Revenants had awoken and realised someone was desecrating the corpse of their former master. He used a messaging cantrip at the limits of its range to warn his friends.
They quickly entered the tower; it was as before, the bones of the dragon curving around the walls of the staircase. They followed it up, having to bypass a section of the next landing with the use of a Mistry step spell. On reaching the top of the tower, Gaddock released the skull from its magical enchantment, and it grew back to its full size. Ser Adon placed it respectfully back into place, saying prayers to his god and the Morninglord for the safe repose of the dragon's skull, talking of the dignity of the dragon. As he did this, an orange-silver light came up through the stairwell, and the ember-born ghost of Argynvost came out, and settled over the skull, growing in size and form until the phantasmal form matched the skeleton. The light became brighter, to an intensity that almost hurt the onlookers eyes, and then a great pulse of silver-orange light burst forward from Argynvost's skull. It swept the lands around, lighting the clouds like lighthouse sweeping a stormy sea. Each member of the party heard a voice in their head; whenever you are within sight of my light and essence, you will be protected and you should hope.
Heading downstairs, the party searched through the building, taking the now dead bodies of the revenants to the graveyard and lying them to rest with faith and dignity. As Ser Alys lifted the leader of the revenants who had almost killed her, its eyes opened and it handed her its great sword, then sighed and closed its eyes once more. The blade proved to be powerfully magical. Ser Alys promised to do it honour.
After that, early afternoon, they headed back to Vallaki, arriving just as the sun was setting and realising the impact that they'd had. Once a minute, the pulse of light swept the sky, even reaching the mountain upon which Castle Ravenloft was built. The people were noticeably uplifted and perhaps there was a faint hint of hope.
14th December, 7 days to the Solstice.
The party were up early, again, as the journey to the Wizard of Wines would likely take them nearly six hours. While they were taking breakfast, their friends Rictavio and Ez came down. As they were served breakfast, Rictavio observed that they had done well, but they must be careful about provoking the devil. Ser Adon was clear; they were setting events in motion and intend to provoke him further with the aim of bringing him down. Rictavio smiled and Ez laughed. She looked at the older man, commenting that 'she knew they had it in them'. Rictavio fretted that burning the witch outside the town gates was risky as Strahd was bound to associate Vallaki with this defiance, and the beacon of light was a provocation. Adon looked him straight in the eyes and directly asked Rictavio if he'd aid them. The old ringmaster agreed. "When the time comes, we will join you at the castle. But for now, we'll keep Vallaki safe in case the Dark Lord tries to strike back."
Urwin loaded up the cart with empty wine barrels, and they set off again into the cold landscape of forest, mists and snow. Somehow, the regular pulse of light made the land feel a better place. They reached the Wizard of Wines without any trouble, arriving around lunch time. Adrian met them, looking up with his wine stained smock. He was surprised, but happy to see the party and invited them to eat with the family. he told his older brother than he could join them too as they had guests, but not to provoke dad. "You know how he is". Urwin could barely resist a smile and frustrated his brother by refusing to tell what was amusing him. Lunch was a simple, but splendid feast, with wine. Dimitri arrived, and quickly took affront to his estranged son being present. Kel, Adon and Alys tried to calm him down, with no avail. It was like his was spoiling for a fight. It looked like fisticuffs would ensue, but in the end an outburst from Ser Adon stopped the argument, and he revealed that they'd killed the witch. Urwin grinned and opened the cloth that he had the gemstone wrapped and Urwin stopped, shocked.
"Is that...?"
"Yes."
"The witch stole it."
Dimitri realised that he had wronged his son for the last decade. Had Urwin realised the witch was there, he'd have likely died. He went to his office and pulled out some the last bottles of 'Champagne Du Stompe", saying that they'd may as well enjoy this now as they'd be able to make more next season. The afternoon descended into frivolity and drinking as everyone celebrated.
Kel gave an inspiring speech that a dawn was coming to Barovia and the Dark Lord's power was in retreat. Things that have been broken are being mended and relationships reforged. That it was a time for fine champagne to celebrate. Everyone agreed.
Adon and Gaddock ended up in a drinking competition, which Gaddock just edged out, his prizefighter background paying off.
"You win" said the knight as he slid to the floor.
"My friend, we're all winners here" said Gaddock as leaned back against the warrior.
Ser Alys threw blankets over them and went to bed.
15th December, 6 days to the Solstice.
The next morning was a morning of hangovers. Ser Adon used his laying on of hands ability to banish headaches and refresh his colleagues. As they departed, just after the daylight started to hint through the permanent clouds overhead, Urwin promised that he would help the party when they went against Strahd. He'd also ask his friends and family if anyone would join them. As he said them, the party had a funny feeling, like something had just fallen into place. They recalled the Tarokka reading and prophecy that Madame Eva made when they arrived in Barovia.
Raven (Queen of Clubs)Muriel Vinshaw set off with them too, saying she owed them a debt of honour for her rescue so she would travel with them for a while.
This card sheds light on one who will help you greatly in the battle against darkness. Find the leader of the feathered ones who live among the vines. Though old, he has one more fight left in him.
The journey was undisturbed until they reached the bridge by the Luna River near the Vistani camp. There was a fresh grave there. Concerned it may be a vampire spawn, Ser Adon insisted that they dug it up. He was proved right; a feral vampire launched at him, confused and starving. Coolly, the knight dispatched it in two strokes of his blade. It was only when he came out of his battle frenzy he recognised the face. It was his cook, Jorun, who had been left back in the Graenseskov to be in a place of safety. Instantly, he feared for his other retainers Wilhelm and and Theobald. What had Strahd or one of his servants done to them. Instinctively, Ser Adon knew that this was aimed at him.
Arriving in Vallaki about an hour later, they prepared to set off to the south, collecting cold weather clothing and supplies for a journey of several days. They hoped to return to Vallaki in time for the Solstice.
GM Notes:
First of all, this ended up as a fun roleplaying session. I loved the use of dimension door to bypass the revenant threat. It was great when the players realised they'd just made a significant play against Strahd by allowing the light of Argynvost to shine forth.
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| How to set global AC and saving mods. |
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| Adding the mods into the sheet. |
The beacon gives +1 AC and +1 to saving throws, which is really useful. Alex explained how we could add this to a character sheet in Roll20 without having to manually hard code it. That was really useful to learn (see pictures above).
The greatsword Ser Alys was gifted rolls 4d6+4 damage base and is +2 magical.
We had comedy gold with Kel 'The Face' rolling a one on a persuade check, followed by everyone else blowing their rolls with Urwin. Fortunately that ended well. I loved the interplay between Gaddock and Adon - it was a moment of light in the darkness.
First Age is doing great speeches with Kelwarin; I only wish I could note them down quickly enough, especially as they often sway the day.
I was deliberately nasty at the end of the session. Dr Mitch had mentioned his retainers back in Graenseskov, and I decided to turn the knife when they rolled a random encounter of a grave. Of course, he paid it back to me when I realised he'd taken a Vampire Spawn down in two blows before it could do any harm. The sting at the end was a reminder that Barovia is still dangerous and that a lot of people could be collateral in their way with the Dark Lord.
Roll20 continues to be completely stable for AV, which is excellent, and we seem to have escaped First Age's headset woes.
We press on. The gloves are off, but hope rises.
8 July 2022
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