The New Adventures of Thundina Seong! Completed May 4

[Ealli]

Before we begin the tale of Thundina Seong, let me give you some background on what to expect in this thread.

SPOILER WARNING: This is the module Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, set in Eberron. There will be module spoilers. Underlying the story is the game as its being played. I first e-mail to the other players the dramatization of the session before posting it here.

This tale is how Thundina envisions it, which means she is the primary protagonist. In reality, it is much more of a team effort than is being portrayed here.

This is the tale of Thundina, but she does not have plot immunity. I write this story because she is an interesting character. Should she fall in battle and be replaced by another PC, this tale will conclude.

If this is the "New Adventures", where are the "Old Adventures"? They don't exist. Since the characters are starting at sixth level, the Old Adventures presumably are whatever Thundina did to get to sixth level. It is loosely written that she has done other adventures, mostly solo, but nothing has become canon.

The Rogue's Gallery for the cast.

The adventure is now complete. We will be taking the next couple weeks off before beginning a new adventure. Because the next adventure will also be a module, I will make a new thread for it when it starts.

I may visit this thread to rearrange some bits and pieces of this story, and to trim down/space out some of the longer posts, but I do not expect for there to be any further new content generated for this thread. Look for Thundina's next adventure, coming in a couple weeks.

 

[Ealli]

Chapter 01: The New Adventures of Thundina Seong

Thundina looked back towards the receding docks of Thronehold. It had served for two years, but had never truly been home. This is what she was meant for, the start of a new adventure. The silky rattle of mithril plates turned Thundina’s attention away from the island-city. Striding forward was Tourg, a holy man of the Lightbringer Guild; the mithril being the newly forged full plate from Thundina’s forge.

That mithril full plate had sparked the new adventure. A slip of the tongue by Tourg had revealed the formation of a new adventuring group to chase after a lost artifact. It had been Thundina’s quick talking, and threat of having insufficient motivation to otherwise have the armor set ready by the necessary mission start date, that had convinced Tourg to recruit her. As Thundina was packing her bags to move on, Krel, the artificer who owned the shop and had assisted in the forging of her new weapon, packed his bags as well.

“Krel, what are you doing? I’ve never known you to be interested in going outside urban environments.”

“Thundina, you’re not the only one who wants to see the rest of the world. I know there are infusions whose lost secrets I can only dream of. I’ve talked to Tourg, and he’s said that a ready supply of potions and scrolls could be of assistance to the expedition.”

Again, Thundina was startled back to the present and the rocking of the boat. Tourg was clearing his throat, apparently waiting for some sort of response.

“We are approaching Korth. There we will be catching a lightning rail onwards. Here is your rail pass. We have a car five reserved on the afternoon rail. You will have the afternoon to do any final shopping you need in Korth. I need to visit the guild headquarters here to pick up a couple items. Please be certain to be on time.”

For all her journeys, Thundina had never actually ridden on the lightning rails that criss-crossed the continent. Confident in her previous packing, Thundina immediately sought out the lightning rail station. The cars came in, passengers disgorged and embarked, all in a hustle. Not quite the experience she had hoped for. Soon the shouters were announcing that the lightning rail for Irontown was loading. Thundina passed through the train, finding coach five and peeking in. Four people were already there, Tourg and Krel, as well as Orning, the human paladin whom Thundina had also made a mithril full plate suit for, and a hobgoblin also with Lightbringer insignia.

“Is this the entire Lightbringer expedition?” Thundina enquired as she dropped into her seat.

At the question, Orning piped up, “I’m a Lightbringer!” Although he did not offer any further elaboration.

“Yes, this is our entire force.” Tourg announced. “We are Lightbringer Guild Expeditionary Force 2.3017, officially formed Eyre 20th, 998 YK. You and Krel may find reviewing the official chartering of this expedition helpful.” Tourg then placed on the table a document.

A quick scan of the document showed that this expedition would be more than just the recovery of the Sunsword. And there was something about the Sunsword being classified as a Class VIII artifact. The expedition would also be to locate a previous and missing expedition consisting of Ashlyn the paladin, Thendrick the cleric, and Mathilda the swordswoman. A transcription of the final Sending from the lost party told of an attack by undead upon Barovia and concluded with an assessment that the area could not be secured and back-up was urgently requested.

After the lightning rail reached its destination, horses were acquired and began to ride cross-country. As night fell, the party found itself in a nearly deserted inn. Suddenly a strange man strode through the door and directly to the table where Thundina and her companions were having dinner. He threw down on the table a paper and then turned to leave. BarBar began reading while everyone else was trying to formulate a question that made sense to ask. BarBar passed the note to Thundina who quickly read the note aloud and even then, no one seemed to know quite what the mysterious stranger was about. The letter was a request to mighty and valorous heroes to come rescue a girl cursed by witches near Barovia. The best part of the letter however, was the promise of great wealth of the community should assistance be rendered in the saving of the girl. Questions about how precisely the messenger knew that to find adventurers at this particular location were not answered as he quickly slipped back out the door.

Ominously perhaps, Orning muttered, “Stinks of evil,” as the stranger departed.

The next morning, once more the horses were saddled and everyone continued on towards Barovia. The morning fog never burned away as the party descended into a forest. A gate in the middle of the forest flanked by old, worn statues blocked the path. Thick forest on either side made going around the gate impractical. Suddenly, the gate swung open with no one apparent on the other side. Bravely Thundina and companions rode on, for Barovia was further down the road. Once all were past the gate, the doors swung back shut, and once more there was no force obvious.

Not long after the gate, the tree line moved back from the road and a glimpse of a village was spotted. A sign by the road told that the destination had been reached, it was Barovia, and it was under the protection of the Lightbringers. Thoughts of a warm inn and a hot meal danced to be followed by finding the Burgomaster to discuss the predicament that had prompted his plea for heroes danced through Thundina’s head. It was late and a long day slogging through the constant mist and drizzle were taking their toll on her.

It was not far into the town when trouble became obvious. Doors were boarded and barricaded and Thundina slowed her horse from a trot to a walk. An overturned hay cart in the intersection up ahead sent her hackles to raising. BarBar lit a sunrod and then wondered aloud why it was not improving his vision. He passed the brightly glowing rod over to Krel when reminded that a sunrod could not illuminate any further than his natural ability to see in the dark allowed anyway. Suddenly, chanting from the alley just passed. Tourg went rigid in his saddle and Thundina jumped ahead to see if it would be safe to pull Tourg and his mount forward. Quite the opposite proved to be true as just around the corner were some zombies shambling towards Thundina. She pulled her guisarme from her Quiver of Ehlonna and prepared. From other houses around the square, more zombies poured out. BarBar dismounted and disappeared down the narrow alley to engage whatever strange cultist could so affect Tourg in that way. Thundina was left holding the front line while Orning displayed his holy symbol to push back the undead. He was somewhat successful and forced two to flee, but that still left four more. Thundina’s horse was clobbered and killed almost immediately after she had dismounted. Enraged, Thundina layed into the approaching zombies tripping them and inflicting dire wounds as they attempted to swarm over the party. The zombies often refused to collapse even after taking numerous blasts of raw positive energy and vicious pounding. Just as it appeared that perhaps the zombies would be driven back, strange badger-like creatures burst out of the ground and hustled to join the fray on the side of the zombies. Once BarBar returned from the alley after pulverizing what he would later call a deathlock, he began to try beating on the zombies, but without having much effect. Thundina’s flashing, slashing cuts proved more effective than BarBar’s thundering punches. BarBar’s greatest surprise came as the dead horse started to rise again and attempt to pin him. Orning sliced the former horse to shreds and mop-up operations began. Though resilient, eventually the zombies were all nothing but dust and the badger-creatures were dead.

After the battle finishes, wounds are checked, but fortunately most are simply scratches. Tourg patches up any who need patching up and Orning touched himself in appropriate manners. With the crisis averted, Orning felt the most important task would be righting the overturned cart. He succeeded as much as one could succeed when the cart has a broken wheel and let out a hearty, “Bravo!” Meanwhile, Thundina felt checking for survivors in nearby houses was the highest concern. Huddled in the house nearest the battle scene, she found three peasants dressed as zombies. Once more battle ensued, but a timely turning forced all three to cower and all three were efficiently cut to dust.

Another house nearby, with a barricaded door instead of an unlocked door, did prove to have survivors. A family who said the town’s last stand was made in the town square and that no other survivors would be found on the eastern edge. A deal was struck that the locals would bring the expedition to the town square and the party would protect them in return. Half a block past the now upright but leaning hay cart, another ambush awaited. In three waves, different monsters attacked. First a pair of zombies, having freshly murdered some poor soul, then a pair of flying heads which we believe to be vargoyles, and finally a pair of slug-like creatures. Victory came more rapidly this second time as the party had a greater understanding of fighting together, although Orning was frequently paralyzed and the filth in the zombies’ claws finally worked into Thundina’s system sickening her. Tourg looked at the wound, but declared he could do nothing for her until the next morning when he could try a Remove Disease spell.

Further down the street and closer to the town square, a barricade blocked the road. Through the mist, a female figure could be seen holding back an advancing zombie hoard. Her cries to the Sovereign Host for aid and strength were about to be answered in a most unexpected fashion -- Thundina was prepared to charge to save this damsel in distress.


But here I must leave off the tale, at least for another week, for I grow weary. Have no fear, the exciting adventures of Thundina Seong are not done. Return next week and I will continue the tale from this exciting cliffhanger.

 

[Ealli]

Chapter 2: What Lies in the Middle of the Mist

Through a ruined barricade, in the mists hanging over the empty town of Barovia, Thundina caught the first glimpses of the battle. A horde of zombies, greater than any horde faced so far, was about to descend on a warrior in gleaming mail in Lightbringer colors. Between the Lightbringer colors and the distinct sword style of a holy warrior, there were some mutterings as to whether or not this might be Ashlyn and perhaps all member of the previous expedition survived as well. Before anyone could act to repulse the zombie menace, half the zombies broke away from the square and charged out the ruined barricade effectively sealing the party in the road and away from the heroine of Barovia.

Taking a heavy beating, Ashlyn was forced to begin to retreat. In an attempt to rescue her, both BarBar and Krel weaved through the mess of zombies to engage the other half of the zombies. Orning would have dashed forward as well, but he was pinned down unable to advance past the remains of the barricade or around the zombies engaging the party.

BarBar’s presence immediately had an impact as the zombies now had two options to eat brains. He also made an important discovery rather quickly – by chance the one zombie he hit, though it looked no different, was not so resistant to the bludgeoning of fists. This weirdness of the zombie became greater when it turned and tried to pull BarBar to the ground after a powerful strike. Bleeding heavily, Ashlyn was forced to retreat and quaff a potion. With her withdrawal, all the zombies in the middle of the town square turned on BarBar and sunk their claws into him. Krel had skirted off to the side near Ashlyn to get a clear shot with his wand. So fierce was the zombie attack on BarBar that the nimble hobgoblin was forced to retreat as well.

While a couple zombies did pursue BarBar back to the breach, there were still several who pursued Krel and Ashlyn across the square. One of the four who did was the odd one and soon it became dreadfully apparent just what it was trying to do. On a mighty swing, the creature drove Ashlyn into the ground and out of sight. Now, Krel was surrounded and he attempted a desperate maneuver of infusing a sorcery into his shirt to be thrown at the horde. Before he could complete the action, the zombies were upon him, grasping and clawing. Just before he would have succumbed to their attack, he too was driven deep into the dirt.

Back at the entrance, Thundina, Orning, and Tourg worked methodically to knock out the zombies that had cut them off from the town square. BarBar returned and absorbed some healing. As the fight looked like it was about to be turned, the zombies which had assaulted Ashlyn and Krel joined the fight at the barricade. Tourg was overwhelmed in the renewed assault. Orning layed into the strange zombie with the full might of his god and Thundina leaped onto the barricade to improve her positioning against the zombies. Almost immediately after the boss zombie fell, so too did Orning. Fortunately, Ashlyn had dug herself out of the ground and hastened to the battle. In a desperate maneuver to quicken the end of the battle against the zombies, BarBar attempted a vicious uppercut to one of the zombies. The air chilled as BarBar missed. With Ashlyn back in the battle, she knelt and returned Tourg to the battle. Humorously, Tourg was trapped between the two final zombies and could not stand lest he attract too much attention and risk another near-death experience. After one final swipe at Thundina, the zombie menace was concluded. Orning was healed and restored to his feet and Krel was dug out of the ground prior to suffocation.

With the zombies no longer an immediate threat, it became apparent that there were indeed other survivors. Two brightly colored workers later called vestani and a tall humanoid named Periwumple came forward and began repairs on the breached barricade. Ashlyn formally introduced herself but relayed that Thendrick and Mathilda had gone missing searching for the source of the zombie infestation with rumors taking them towards the church three days past. Her investigations on the subject of the Sunsword had progressed hardly at all before she needed to defend the living. At Thundina’s inquiry about Kolyan Indirovich, Ashlyn said that Kolyan was dead, but his son was inside and pointed to the Blood of the Vine Inn.

Tourg, BarBar, and Krel investigated the Inn and found that the survivors of the town were packed inside. At a table way in the back, they found Ismark, son of Kolyan. Ismark denied that his father could have possibly sent the call for heroes and had been dead for more than a week. He spun a tale of woe about the residents of Barovia borough being trapped by the lord of the vale, Strahd, who would not permit anyone to leave. Ismark offered that perhaps Strahd had murdered Kolyan and stolen an artifact of worth, the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind and could possibly also be the source of the zombie troubles. Then, almost as an afterthought Ismark mentioned that Strahd is a vampire. On the subject of Ireena Kolyana, Ismark says that she is his sister and that she has likely holed up in the burgomasterial mansion.

One name came up in conversations with Ashlyn and Ismark, that of Madame Eva who lives at the Seer Pool west of town. Perhaps Bildreth, father of Periwumple, knows something that could be of assistance. Except that Bildreth wishes for nothing more than to barricade himself in his shop and see and assist no one. Well stocked, but fearful that the zombie presence meant he would be unable to restock if his supplies were purchased, Bildreth refused to negotiate. Tourg tried to reason with him that the way to end the zombie menace would be to offer supplies for sale to those who oppose the zombies, but Bildreth was impervious to logic. Eventually wheedling and cajoling got him to say that he’d consider selling his goods, but only after an initial payment of 50 gold. Tourg was outraged at such extortion and Thundina had trouble seeing any use for the man, but Tourg was willing to consider the offer and ask the rest of the party their opinions. Krel said that he was desperate for supplies and suggested using the traveling expenses for the bribe. As this proved acceptable to all, Bildreth’s emporium was now open for business.

As Krel dug through the shelves looking for all his various unguents, Thundina glanced around and decided to see what strange and wonderful items might still be in a place that so tightly refused to release anything. She chanced upon a map of the region.

“I wish to make a purchase,” Thundina exclaimed. In response, Bildreth quoted the price to be 150 gold.

“Outrageous! This map is worth no more than 70 gold.” Thundina countered.

Bildreth attempted to defend his map by saying, “It is my only copy and would be far too dangerous for me to attempt to go out and make another.”

“You’ve seen the countryside once, you do not need to visit it again to make a second map. You will sell this map for 70 gold.” Thundina insisted, waving a finger under Bildreth’s nose.

“Impossible, I could not do such a thing. The map is 150 gold,” Bildreth obstinately repeated.

Thundina went to another shelf, grabbed another parchment and ink and laid them on the counter and said, “Fine, then make a copy. You can even keep the original.”

At this Bildreth wavered uncertain how to defend against the sudden storm. “Well, maybe I could let you have it for 100 gold then, but that’d be cutting me own throat.”

“Deal,” Thundina agreed. With a prize in hand, Thundina then watched as BarBar attempted to haggle over a warhammer for Orning, and Krel slowly went through an extensive list of materials that he required. Orning pushed forward a warhammer and five gold. BarBar tried to translate Orning’s intentions to Bildreth who ultimately declared that he was keeping the five gold. At this, BarBar handed the warhammer to Orning and hilarity ensued.

Outside, Tourg and Ashlyn were discussing the defenses of the barricades. At least, Ashlyn discussed the defenses and Tourg nodded along. He guided her on to the subject of how to approach the various problems besetting the town and they reached the conclusion that a visit to Madame Eva would be a good start for further information. Ashlyn did not possess the knowledge of the seer’s location and Tourg bemoaned a lack of good directions from anyone local. Perhaps resting the night, healing the wounds, and then approaching the problem again in the morning would give new light onto the quandaries.

Sick of watching Bildreth bilk her companions, but unwilling to pull a blade and challenge him, Thundina burst out of the shop to join Tourg and Ashlyn outside. Ready for bed, Tourg asked, “Thundina, could you please gather everyone still in the shop so that we can finalize our plans for tomorrow?”

“Sure, but hold this.” Thundina pushed the map into Tourg’s hands as she turned and dashed back inside to herd her companions out. As Thundina left, Tourg could only stutter and stammer as to what she had given him, it was the answer to his prayer. Clearly marked on the map was the route to the Tser Pools as well as Lysaga Hill and Castle Ravenloft.

Once Thundina had brought everyone outside, Tourg asked, “What is this? Where did you find it?”

“Oh, that’s a map. It was on one of the shelves in the shop, I thought it looked interesting.” Thundina shrugged.

Right as the party was about to return to the inn for the night, someone came strolling out. “Hello, my name is Halas Martane, and I’m an adventurer. Say, aren’t you the ones who defeated all those zombies? Where are you all going, perhaps I could join you. I am an adventurer you know. I bet I could be of great help if you’d just tell me where you’re going, maybe I could join you.”

Thundina was temporarily taken aback, but quickly countered, “We already have one, why do we need you? But since you’ve come out into the night, maybe you can help us with setting watches against any further zombie attacks tonight.”

Halas went pale at the suggestion, “No, I can’t fight zombies. I’ve got a rapier, see, and those aren’t any good against zombies. Nope, can’t even scream properly if I see one, because I just cannot fight zombies.”

Thundina shook her head and proceeded into the inn, noticing that someone had vandalized the sign at one point, changing it from “Blood of the Vine” to “Blood on the Vine.” A meal was ordered at the bar, but Halas immediately claimed a seat in the middle to force someone to talk to him. In the end, the joke was on him as Orning was seated next to him with Tourg placed on the other side giving him a cold shoulder. Due to the crush of humanity, no further rooms were available, but a space could be made by the door (so the party could leap to the defense if the zombies returned.) Such accommodations were not for Thundina though, Ashlyn offered to share rooms. The two stayed up later than they should have discussing girlie things such as is the best way to a man’s heart really through his stomach when it’s clearly more efficient to go through the ribcage? Orning stood watch out in the dark all night and raised the alarm the few times zombies showed up, but the barricades held and the zombies were quickly dispersed.

At the crack of dawn, hopes of sneaking away without letting Halas know the party’s destination were dashed as Halas was already awake and by the exit. Ashlyn mentioned that she should stay and defend the peasants. With three possible destinations, mansion, pools, or church, the party layed out the possibilities to Orning. He seemed to recognize what a church was, and that also seemed to be the destination least likely to have Halas trail along and so the church was decided to be the first destination. With Halas backing out, Ashlyn decided perhaps the church wasn’t so far after all and she would accompany the party.

 

[Ealli]

Chapter 3: The Accursed Church

“There is a saying, nothing new under the sun,” Thundina muttered as she looked out the window of the Blood on the Vine Inn. Barovia was in deep fog again and the mists did not look like to burn off any time soon. As Thundina rolled out of bed she nearly stumbled, feeling queasy still from where the zombie filth infected a wound from yesterday. “Only thing to do is get some breakfast I guess, maybe that’ll settle my stomach.”

As the innkeep served up bread and a weak mulled wine, he inquired, “Are thee Thundina?”

When she nodded in the affirmative, he pushed towards her a pair of strange parchments. “What are these?” Thundina asked as she picked them up. The innkeep just shrugged in boredom. One was a picture of some leafy green vegetable and the other looked like some novice painter was organizing his paints. What was truly odd was that both had witty little expressions of love and were then signed one by Halas and one by Tourg. With a little chuckle, Thundina tucked the pair away into her haversack. Surely today was not a holiday in Kharnnath, and Thundina did not think it was the holiday of love in any other nation at this time either. What precisely she was going to do, besides encourage both of course, would have to be decided later. For now, she was walking with an extra spring in her step.

Finally, Tourg rumbled down the stairs in his full plate with Orning following just behind. “How are you doing today, Thundina? Did I prepare the Cure Diseases only to convert them into Cure Wound spells?”

Thundina turned and began when a bout of nausea swept her. She squeezed her eyes a moment and then smiled sweetly, “You know, Tourg, you didn’t need to get all dressed up on my behalf. I wasn’t intending to kill you for attempting to cure me. But yes, the cut still burns and my head still hurts.”

Tourg laid his hand on Thundina’s head and invoked, “Olladra, we ask for your blessing to cast out the disease that afflicts Thundina. Now, let’s see that arm.” Tourg peeled back the bandages on what had been a festering wound and continued, “Ah, yes, that’s looking much better. I need to go see to Krel as well now. Has he come down yet? No, well it is well known that the elderly are more susceptible to illness.”

Thundina fidgeted while waiting for the rest of the group to assemble. Once everyone was outside, and Halas was inside with assurances that the group was intending only zombie hunting at the church, the chilly mist wasted no time in getting beneath Thundina’s armor while the warmth of her blade she now carried openly pushed the fog back slightly. Over the barricades and into the mist, north towards the church tromped the party.

As the outline of the church began to form in the mist, something nearer drew more immediate attention. Three zombies stood at a crossroads feasting on a dead horse. Tourg, first to spot them, held up a hand and said, “Something’s not right here. It looks like a …” But before he could finish, Thundina leapt forward screaming, “Die, you blasted undead!”

With Thundina charging forward, BarBar and Orning kept pace while Tourg, Ashlyn, and Krel struggled to keep up. Sure enough, the ambush materialized. Once the fighters were engaged with the zombies, a trio of ghasts came out of surrounding houses to join the fray. As the zombies were about to be vanquished, and the tide turned against the ghasts, one of the ghasts grabbed Ashlyn and began to run towards the church. Quick as a flash, BarBar was running down the street after it. With his greater speed and agility, he was on it immediately, cutting it off from the church and wresting Ashlyn back.

With the ghast’s flight confirming the guilt of the church as the source of the zombie infestation, Krel piped up, “Hey, does anyone need any enhancements for weapons or armor before we enter the church?”

“I could always use an improved blade,” Thundina said with a grin, “but you know who would put that to great effectiveness, Orning. He has proven very capable with his sword.”

“Bravo?” Orning replied.

Krel went over to Orning and prepared his materials, “Orning, hold your blade steady a moment. There, your sword is now Bane to undead. Thundina, did you want your blade enchanted too?”

“Nah, save your spices and minerals. I think I’ll be fine.”

Finally the misty streets ran up to the run down church. An old iron gate barred the grounds. The oak doors of the church stood closed with carved ravens visible even from the street. Off to each side of the church headstones were visible each with an inscription to one of the Sovereign Host to take care of the deceased. A chain fence ran along the path from the gate to the church doors. A closer inspection of the iron gates showed that they had been installed by Creaking and Sons. Orning and BarBar pushed open the gates which swung into the fencing. The attempt to repeat the trick at the actual doors met a different result; those were truly barred.

“Ah, this is my specialty,” said Thundina as she pushed BarBar to the side. “Hmm, door is clean, apart from being locked. This should just take a moment.”

“Do you need any help with that? I’ve got a scroll of Knock prepared.” Krel volunteered.

“No, no. This’ll just take a moment. And, there, got it.” Thundina swung the door open. The church was well lit with numerous torches. Four doors, two on each side, lined a short hallway leading to the main section. A pit in the floor, ten feet across, just past the hallway obstructed the direct access to the altar at the far side of the church. As Thundina’s eyes traveled up the altar to the figure standing behind the altar, the air around Thundina buffeted her, her head felt worse than it had ever before, and just as quickly it was gone with the final bitten off word from the figure by the altar. Moans from around her indicated that the others had felt it as well. A trickle of blood ran from Thundina’s nose; no one else seemed to have been as badly affected. Any possibility of parlay or negotiation obviously gone, Thundina charged directly, leaping the pit and sailing all the way to the altar. Landing there, Thundina let out a great yell as she drove her guisarme past a hastily raised steel shield and into the full plate mail protecting the fleshy cleric.

BarBar and Ashlyn quickly moved to support Thundina against the cleric at the altar. As Krel moved forward too, the four doors in the hallway burst open to reveal a trio of zombies and one of the spellcasting skeletons from the very first encounter in Barovia. While the zombies simply laid into the lightly armored artificer, the skeleton was heard muttering, “Do I attack his will? Do I attack his body? Ah, forget it, keep it simple stupid.” With the monologue complete, a pair of energy bursts slammed into Krel, staggering him.

With threats before, and threats behind, BarBar turned to assist Orning and Tourg in dealing with the new menace. The strange cleric did some very fancy chanting which seemed to have no effect; Krel would later describe it as an attempt to Dispel any strengthening auras we had, made all the more humorous by the fact that none were using any such auras. Krel did however scurry off to the side, between some pews, and dropped to the ground covering his head. Slowly, and with great care, he pulled out a potion and then quickly chugged it.

Back at the altar, the cleric stepped away from the wall and reached out an icy hand to Thundina. Goosebumps ran along her skin and her breath momentarily caught in her chest before it all passed. Thundina somersaulted off the altar and pirouetted to put the cleric in a pincer between Thundina and Ashlyn. Sensing his time near an end in such a disadvantageous position, the cleric tried to flee by climbing over the altar, only to find Thundina’s guisarme in his kidneys, which has a tendency to ruin escape attempts. Glancing back to the entrance, only a single zombie remained, and BarBar had it well under control. Thundina guarded the new prisoner and made sure he’d sleep well, while Ashlyn tended to Krel. “Come on BarBar, you can do it! Finish that zombie off already!” Thundina shouted encouragingly back to BarBar, and almost immediately a slash from his kama drew an angry line across the zombie which expanded as it crumbled to dust.

With Tourg tending to the wounded, and Thundina inspecting the boss for loot and unused scrolls, BarBar went to inspect the pit. “Only 20 feet down, I can make that jump no problem,” and so BarBar jumped down into the gloom. Almost immediately after, “Oh, .” With that, everyone ran to the edge of the pit to see what could shake the resolve of the heroic BarBar. At the edge of the light, one desiccated skeleton, and one gaunt skeleton had confronted BarBar. As Thundina was drawing her bow, Orning drew his holy symbol and shouted, “Good wins!” and brandished the symbol at the creatures. BarBar dashed out of sight with the skeletons in close pursuit.

Ashlyn turned to Tourg and asked, “What do we do now?”

Tourg, shocked for a moment, replied, “I must rescue BarBar.” Tourg jumped down to begin the rescue operation. Shortly thereafter, Ashlyn too jumped down. Thundina shook her head and reached for her guisarme instead of her rope like she had been intending to use. With her favored weapon ready, Thundina joined the two heroic Lightbringers in the gloom of the church’s sublevel to find and rescue BarBar.

Fiercely muttering, “Bravo … bravo … bravo. Bravo?” something about one of the closets in the hallway was disturbing Orning and he was desperately poking and prodding around. Orning’s pure heart swayed Krel to join in the search of the closet.

The desiccated skeleton had returned to the line of heroes, charging forward with unnatural speed and strength. As it hit the line, there was a terrible crunch, and Tourg crumbled to the ground. The skeleton turned it’s bloody maw towards Ashlyn, a quick glance down at Tourg showed no hope, the entire top of his head had been ripped off; instant death.

Krel had found something hidden under one of the boxes in the closet. Pushing back the box fully, revealed a trap door. Pulling back the slab revealed a stairs descending down into darkness. A horrifying visage stood right beneath as a seven foot zombie reared up. Orning began his attack. The zombie fought back, scratching Orning. Filth already under its claws, the zombie’s attack seemed to infect Orning’s wound. Suddenly Orning’s eyes went wide while he attempted to resist the disease, he had realized that the seven foot zombie bore many resemblances to a hobgoblin, specifically BarBar. The torches all flickered momentarily.

Thundina had tumbled a little past the desiccated skeleton to create a flanking position on it. Ashlyn meanwhile glanced down at Tourg’s corpse next to her feet and saw it begin to stir. In her professional opinion regarding undead, the desiccated skeleton by itself was likely to present more difficulty than the two could handle, but to then add a zombie to the mix as well, and it was definitely an overwhelming force. She made the tough decision and shouted, “Thundina, get out of here. Save yourself! I’ll hold the attention of the undead.”

Thundina hesitated a moment, but Ashlyn was no longer attempting to tag the skeleton, only to draw it slowly back, and Thundina too realized that combat was futile and she fled into the same darkness that BarBar had. Off to her left were a set of stairs going up and she quickly got on them and began to dash up them. A square of light up ahead showed a likely exit, but there was something in the way. A large, dark shape was clawing and reaching up into the light. Larger than life was Orning in his flashing armor on the other side. When she heard the zombie moan of the creature between her and the exit, Thundina’s path was obvious, it was a foe in her way. A mighty swing of the guisarme distracted the creature allowing Orning to deal it the final blow to put the thing to rest.

Thundina bounded up the final steps, shouting to Orning, and fortunately Krel as well, “Close that! Lock it!” and continued her run out of the closet. Orning, not comprehending, peered down the stairs only to see the desiccated skeleton surging upwards. When the foul creature took a bite out of Orning, causing Orning’s eyes to glaze over momentarily, Krel understood what Thundina was so worried about and slammed the door into the creature’s face. He beckoned Orning, to stand on the trap door a moment while he pushed multiple boxes back over the trap door.

Reaching the altar, Thundina had pulled her silk rope out of her pack and secured it to the altar. Looking down into the pit, Thundina saw the crumpled form of Ashlyn laying where she had stood defiantly. With the first hope that Ashlyn would be able to climb out on her own gone, there was only one course, and that was to go in to get her. Krel glanced out of the closet just in time to see Thundina’s head disappearing down the pit once more. “Thundina, no! That’s suicide!”

With no breath to spare for shouting, Thundina climbed as quickly as she could. Reaching the bottom, Thundina glimpsed the reanimated Tourg as well as the desiccated skeleton out in the gloom. No time to spare, Thundina simply grabbed Ashlyn and began climbing back up. As she reached the lip of the pit, Krel was there to help pull Ashlyn out and then immediately administer a charge of Cure Wounds from one of his wands. Thundina nodded, for if Ashlyn lived, that would help, and if she was dead, it would help as well. Still, to be on the safe side, Thundina moved such that she could push Ashlyn back into the pit should it be no longer Ashlyn but a new zombie. Fortunately, Ashlyn recovered from the tap of the wand and was able to give assurances that she was still alive. No thumping came from the trapdoor, an almost unnatural quiet.

Reasonably sure that they were safe, relatively speaking, Thundina moved to check on the cleric from before. The kidney shot had indeed been fatal; there would be no hard decisions on captive versus execution here today. A quick ransacking of the altar turned up a fragmented book, a ragged diary, a gold chalice, silver bells, and a couple potions. Securing the items, with no objection from Ashlyn, Thundina recommended returning to the Inn. With Ashlyn and Krel in agreement, Orning was convinced to leave his watch in the closet.

During the walk back, Thundina finally understood what her dad had been talking about in all those stories of the times he worked with others. He had always said the first rule of party adventures was “Never split up the party.” Thundina would always ask, “So what is the second rule?” And Father would say, “Never. Split. Up. The. Party!”

Returning to the Blood on the Vine, Halas came out to greet the returning heroes. “Say, weren’t there more of you earlier this morning.”

“Yes, Tourg and BarBar fell in combat at the church.” Thundina replied.

“Mmm, that’s too bad,” Halas began, but promptly ruined the effect with, “So, does that mean I can join the group?”

A quick step forward and Thundina’s fist drove into Halas’s gut knocking the wind out of him. “No. Have some respect for the dead, man.”

Still larger than life, Orning step forward, picked Halas up by the neck, briefly looked him in the eye, said, “Bravo,” and dropped Halas back to the ground.

“Let’s get inside, and decide what we’re doing next. That church was a disaster.” Thundina ushered everyone inside. At the mention of a church, Orning perked up.

“Disaster at the church. Accursed church! Terrible church!” Thundina shouted. At each mention, Orning temporarily perked up, not seeming to be able to put the two words together.

With everyone inside, it came time to tally what had been taken from the church. Thundina passed a scroll and a trio of potions over to Krel, “You’re the expert in these, can you find out what we’re dealing with here please.” Next was the fragmented book. The book described the procedures necessary for the creation of undead. Thundina passed the book over to Ashlyn, “Would you guard and keep this book?”

As she looked over it, Ashlyn replied, “I would prefer to burn it. It is an evil book.”

Orning, who had been staring intently at the book chimed in, “Stinks of evil.”

“Yes, I’m okay with burning it.” Thundina nodded and left the book by Ashlyn.

Krel glanced up and said, “Thundina, I would have thought that you would have wanted to sell something like that.”

“No, that wouldn’t work. Besides, we have this we can sell,” as Thundina pulled out the golden chalice.

Slightly shocked, Krel said, “What about your friends?”

“Yes, they knew the risks coming in, though. The whole point of undead infested temples is to raid for treasure!”

The final item to be inspected was then the fragmented diary. Thundina leafed through the journal, picking up a few important phrases. Only a few pages, but it spanned over 45 years. Strahd was mentioned many times in relation to multiple murders and disappearances. In addition, several mentions of the Sunsword, the Tome of Strahd, and the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, all three items which are rumored to be around the area and of great importance. The church seems to have been the source of the zombie plague indeed, with a strange undead being the originator and the cleric attempting to build an undead army to take on Strahd. When Kolyan objected, he was murdered by the author of the diary. We will need to find Kolyan’s son and inform him. So many names to put to people. As Thundina came to the end of the diary, a realization struck her, the angles were all wrong! She had been careful to check for traps on all doors, but then was struck by a Lovecraftian trap on a book.

With the prime leadership of the expedition gone, Thundina was growing into command. She made the decision, a visit to Madam Eva at the Tser Pools for guidance as to the nature of the church and the unnatural creature there. With the sun only reaching its noon position, although still obscured, Thundina was once more driving her friends and colleagues to set off. As they prepared to leave, a voice called out to them…

 

[Ealli]

Chapter 4: New Faces

The party turned to see who was calling out. There at the eastern barricade stood a human and a dwarf in matching breastplates.

“Come along, Cyron,” called the human to the glum dwarf. “Ah, people. We haven’t seen anyone else in town. Where are you going?”

Thundina turned and approached the two strangers. “We are a party of Lightbringers.” Orning of course piped in with, “I’m a lightbringer.” Thundina continued without pausing, “soon to be setting off in search of new allies and greater insight to the mysteries of the town.”

The reply came, “I’m Romann Ardell. And this is my assistant Cyron. We heard rumors that perhaps the answer to what happened to Cyre may be found here.”

Halas hurried over and introduced himself, “Halas is the name, and adventuring’s the game.”

Once more Romann introduced himself, “I’m Romann Ardell. And this is my assistant Cyron. May we join your group?”

While Thundina took a moment to look over the newcomers, Halas immediately jumped in with, “Why yes, you may join us. As I said, I’m Halas, and the lovely lass is my companion, Thundina.” Thundina immediately proved what a head-turner she is by delivering a hard slap to Halas.

“Halas is neither the leader of our group, nor even a full member. He is a follower who is auditioning for a spot on our team. However, yes, we are in need of additional allies. We are about to set off to the west in search of a seer who can guide our quest. You are welcome to join us.”

One final thing to be resolved as Thundina and Krel discussed whether or not to allow Halas to travel with the party. Krel made what Thundina considered to be a very good point, “If we allow Halas to travel with us, maybe he’ll get eaten by the zombies and we’ll be rid of him?”

With Halas firmly entrenched in the party, Ashlyn bowed out to stay with the peasants and protect them from any further zombie attacks.

Perhaps twenty minutes outside of Barovia town, Thundina thought she heard something off in the woods. She signaled a halt to discuss the possibilities of friend versus foe. “Have weapons ready, I hear voices. Halas, scout the woods.”

“No, no, no. I’m not a scout. I’m a leader. Karl, scout the woods.” Halas stuttered.

“Halas! You are not the leader, I’m in charge here. Are you of any use? I’m having trouble seeing why we bring you along.” Thundina retorted.

Halas appealed to the new recruits, “Of course I’m the leader. Romann, who is the leader?”

Romann nodded, “Right, it is only reasonable that Halas would be the leader.”

“Uh, sir. I think the lady is the leader, not Halas.” Cyron whispered to Romann.

Romann followed, “I’m being told that perhaps I was under a misimpression.”

“Oh, screw this.” Thundina shook her head and then called out, “Ho there! Who is out there?”

No response. With no one skilled in woodcraft or scouting, it was decided to continue on, but still keeping weapons at the ready. The fog had broken a little, and the sun was beginning to show through. A little further up the road, at the crossroads splitting off to either the Tser Pool versus the castle, stood a gallows and graveyard. The party’s non-investigation of the woods proved to be an important time saver for as the party came into view of the graveyard, a battle was already under way. Five shadowy creatures were attempting to swarm a man in platemail emblazoned with ravens. The man pointed to one of the shades and commanded, “Hurn”, and the raven which had been flying nearby began to attack and distract one of the shades.

The first to be ready to react was Halas, “Yes, I think I will take up a position at the rear to ensure that nothing catches us from behind.”

While Halas looked slightly yellow, the rest of the party charged forward to assist the man in distress. “The enemy of undead is my friend. The power of the Host compels you,” Cyron said when he rushed forward. The shadows ignored him, but one did reach through Romann’s armor inflicting no apparent harm but after that Romann had a very glazed over look. A second round and Romann fell to the ground, motionless. After so many cuts had passed harmlessly through the ethereal forms, the party refocused and began making the right cuts to actually harm and dispel the darkness. Cyron made another attempt at compelling the creatures and this second channeling of holy energy caused the shades to flee, directly down.

With the threat turned, the knight introduced him as Sir Urik, and an actual Knight of the Raven. Thundina turned to Halas to have a quick chat with him over expectations. Running away while everyone else is putting their souls on the line, for instance, is an unacceptable choice.

Cyron knelt down in an attempt to restore Romann to consciousness. Such a Lesser Restoration attempt however failed. Sir Urik reached into his pack and withdrew a potion. Passing it to Cyron, Urik said, “Try this.”

After the potion fully brought Romann back, he tried to thank Cyron for tending to him. Cyron then needed to explain to Romann what truly had happened and that it was Urik who had saved Romann.

“Thank you for your assistance. You said something about coming from the town. I do not recognize you, are you new there? What are you doing out here?” Sir Urik inquired of the party.

“Yes, we are new to Barovia. We came to reinforce a previous Lightbringer expedition to the area. We are now on the road to seek Madam Eva for insight on the zombie infestation in town.” Thundina answered for the party.

“Madam Eva is a good woman, although too cryptic for my taste. But what of this zombie infestation you speak of. I have not been back into town recently but I have not heard of this!” Urik seemed agitated by the news.

“From the church at the edge of town, a plague of zombies have been attacking the village. We engaged those forces, but our attack was repulsed and we lost two of our party. They are very dangerous and that is why we seek Madam Eva.”

“If it so dangerous, it must be dealt with immediately! You may travel on to Madam Eva, but I am going to return to town and put an end to this threat.”

“Dangerous enough for a team, the threat is much greater to a single man without allies to assist.” Thundina protested and looked to Orning and Krel. “Madam Eva can wait, we will also return to the church. The way you handled that blade was very impressive, I know that this time we will prevail.”

The journey back to town should have been uneventful, except Romann and Halas were exchanging some words, culminating with the challenge from Halas, “Shall we duel for my lady’s honor?”

Taken aback, Romann looked to Thundina for how she viewed this declaration of chivalry. Thundina glided over to Romann to whisper, “If you take him up on his offer, I’ll aid you in the fight. Might not strictly be a duel anymore, but that’s fine by me.”

Seeing Thundina beginning to circle around behind, Halas gave a jolly laugh, “Oh, I was only joking. Besides, I have no wish to kill you.”

Eventually arriving at the church once more, Krel and Cyron both spoke up, offering services for the imminent battle. “Does anyone need any enhancements to blade or armor?” Krel volunteered. Like the previous time, Thundina pointed Krel over to Orning.

“I can cast something to Hide from Undead for the party, but it can only affect 6 of us,” Cyron followed with.

“Well, Halas is always going on about how great he is; I think he would be most capable of succeeding without your spell. He’d be the one to leave out,” Thundina directed.

Once Cyron had touched his holy symbol to each person in turn, leaving out Halas, and Halas had protested how he was both less competent in fighting and more competent and would be ‘allowing’ everyone else to prove their worth, the doors to the church were once again thrown open. A lack of planning became obvious as everyone then proceeded to do their own thing.

First Thundina attempted to cajole Halas to join the fight, going so far as to threatening to toss him down the pit if he didn’t. Halas steadfastedly clung to his cowardice, preferring to hide behind the now open door. Disgusted, Thundina stalked forward on her own, towards the altar.

Urik began kicking each storeroom door open, looking for undead. Orning proceeded to where the boxes covered the trapdoor and began shifting boxes about with Krel close behind. Romann and Cyron each peeked into the pit, with Cyron lighting a sunrod to toss down to provide light for Romann. By the time Urik had finished kicking doors, Orning had cleared the trapdoor. Urik immediately flipped the door open and charged down the stairs. Orning followed and took up a defensive position just up the stairs from Urik. Thundina had once again tied a rope to the altar and lowered herself a little down to get a clear view of what was in the basement. Cyron, lying on the edge of the pit to look in, decided a Prayer was in order on the eve of battle.

As everyone was still taking their places, Thundina let out a little gasp as the desiccated horror suddenly whipped around from its at ease position to charge Orning. Hard pressed, Orning managed to keep both shield and sword between the creature and himself, but only just. “Cyron oversold the strength of his spell, so much for being hidden.”

Yelling an oath to the gods, Urik drove his sword deep into the horror. Not to be outdone, Orning, shining with the strength of righteousness, twice smashed the terrifying creature. Recovering from her shock, Thundina dropped the final couple feet down the rope and charged into battle. Urik’s strike into horror’s left side had turned it just enough to open its entire back to the full force of Thundina’s blow. Krel, from the top of the stairs, thinking of the lost friends, took slow and careful aim to burn the monster. Its counter attack was furious, tearing into Orning and shoving him against the wall, dazing him for a moment. The other lesser zombies joined in the fight grasping at Thundina who was in a vulnerable position. Eyes wide at the danger of losing another of her friends, Thundina once more drove her guisarme into the horror’s back. This time, no mere flesh wound, it struck home, severing the spine and dropping the creature. As soon as the desiccated horror dropped, so too did all the other undead trying to swarm. With a flourish, Halas dropped to the basement level to proclaim that he was now ready for battle.

Acting on a hunch, Thundina checked the zombies, looking for identification. As she suspected, the three zombies bore strong resemblance to Mathilda, Thendrick, and BarBar. She asked Urik to help her carry the corpses upstairs so they could be given a proper burial. BarBar was buried promptly, but before burying Mathilda and Thendrick, Thundina sent word to Ashlyn to come and identify them and mourn the loss of her friends. Urik insisted that the horror, which bore a resemblance to a villager named Doru, be buried as well. Burying Doru was the easiest as there was already an open grave with a headstone for Doru.

Returning to the fortified town square, Thundina found that word of the defeat of the zombies had already spread through the town. Apparently all the zombies throughout the whole town had stopped at the same time and the villagers were ready to return to their individual homes. Ismark came out of the inn and asked if the party would accompany him to his manor to check on his sister, Ireena.

On the southern edge of town stood the manor, with a crumbling stone wall and unkept exterior. Ismark approached the gate and called out to Ireena to open the door. A young lady, almost more of a girl really, opened the door to admit the party. Behind her lay the body of an older gentleman, placed on a table in formal garb with his arms folded on his chest. The first breath in the room was enough to identify that this was a man dead for around ten days. On the walls portraits of a series of stately gentlemen stared down. The portrait at the end of the row matched the deceased with the title, “Kolyan Indirovich.”

“Welcome to the Kolyanavich manor, I am Ireena Indirovich,” began the dark haired girl who had answered the door. “I hear you are responsible for ending the zombie infestation and cleansing the church. I wish to hire you now to help me bury my father at the church.” She indicated the corpse laid on the table.

“Yes, we can help bear your late father to the church and see that he has a proper burial.” Thundina answered, mentally adding, “Finally, someone actually willing to pay us for services rendered.”

“And then I will be accompanying you to seek vengeance on Strahd for the murder of my father,” Ireena declared.

“We may have already avenged your father, dear. How did he die?” Thundina asked, desperately trying to hold together the small force she now commanded.
“It was poison.”
“The priest Danovich, in his own hand, confessed to plotting to murder your father by poison. You can rest, your father has been avenged.”
“No, I am certain that it was Strahd who killed my father.” Ireena drew up indignant. Thundina drew out Danovich’s journal and pointed to the passage about a plan to poison Kolyan, but Ireena repeated, “The writings of a madman. It must have been Strahd. Just before my father’s death, Strahd came, but my father drove him off with the Symbol of Ravenkind. Then my father died and the symbol disappeared, it is no coincidence. My father was protecting me, and Strahd killed him.”

“Why is Strahd trying to harm you?” Thundina inquired. She had been hoping to rescue princes in distress, but one could always take the classical route to make a reputation by rescuing damsels in distress.

“He has been haunting my dreams. He has been calling out to me, calling me Titania, chasing me. Except, that morning, when I awoke, this…” and she pulled down the high neck of her dress to reveal two spots on her neck.

Everyone started, with Cyron exclaiming, “Vampire bites! Are you feeling alright? Can you see yourself in mirrors still? How do you feel about the sun?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I am coming with you, I will avenge my father, and it is settled as I have already paid you.”

“Why do you think you think you have the strength to face Strahd? This is not the place for a child, this will take a warrior’s training.” Thundina objected.

In response, Ireena took a sword down from above the mantle, and sliced cleanly through a vase. Orning’s eyes lit up and he too pulled his sword to slice through a vase with a declaration of, “Bravo!” As he started eyeing a second vase, Ireena spoke up, “One vase per person only.”

“Very well, you do have some training. Let’s take your father to the church, and then we’ll visit Madam Eva,” Thundina said and directed Orning and Romann to honorably bear Kolyan.

With Kolyan laid to rest, once more Thundina, her immediate party, plus Halas and Ireena, set off towards the Tser Pools and Madam Eva. At approximately the same place where Thundina had previously heard something, Romann and Cyron called a halt.

“I heard something off in the woods,” Romann boldly declared.
“Yes, I heard something too,” Cyron mumbled dejectedly.

Once again, for all the peering into the woods, nothing and no one was willing to venture into the woods to scout. Continuing on, just shy of the crossroads and the gallows and the graveyard, Orning declared, “Bravo!” and started pointing and then walking into the woods.

Thundina started to hold Orning back and then turned to Ireena and said, “What kinds of things would be in the woods around here?”
Ireena replied, “It could be vere-volves, or it could be vestani.”
Romann needed clarification, “What was that, I didn’t catch what that first one was.”
“Vere-volves. You know, men turn into volves.”
“Ireena, what exactly are the vestani?” Thundina needing clarification on the other half.
“The vestani are tinkers and travelers.”

No longer able to hold Orning back, Thundina turned to Halas and said, “Orning seems to want something. Please accompany him on the scouting.”
“How about we both scout the woods, eh?” Halas winked.
With a sigh, “Fine, come along. Orning, what is it that you saw?” While thinking to herself, “Oh gods, oh gods, we’re all going to die. What am I doing splitting off from the group?”

Orning lead Thundina and Halas through the first layer of trees. Thundina caught sight of brightly colored forms dashing further from the path. Remembering the vestani from town, Thundina concluded that it was more vestani who had been shadowing the party. Presumably Madam Eva now knew that she’d be having guests soon.

Past the graveyard, the trees along the path that lead to the Tser Pool became less dense eventually opening up into a clearing. A series of brightly painted wagons encircled a dancing bonfire with several brightly colored tents outside the wagon circle. Several unsmiling vestani stood by their wagons with one eventually approaching the party to ask, “Why have you come here?”

Thundina answered the challenge, “We have come to seek counsel from Madam Eva.”
“Very well, proceed to Madam Eva’s tent,” said the vestani and pointed to the large, rectangular tent at the far side of the clearing.

Approaching the tent, two more vestani stood guard and once more challenged Thundina and her party. Once more Thundina answered, “We have come to seek…” However, before she could finish, the bony claw of a hand reached out from the tent to beckon. From inside a voice like dry reeds spoke, “Yes, come in. I’ve been expecting you.”

Thundina strode into the tent. Cushions in every color filled the tent. Sitting behind a small table at the back was an ancient and wrinkled lady. A step further and Thundina realized it was not that the table was small, but the lady behind it was large.

“You come seeking counsel. What is it that you wish to know?” Madam Eva said looking into Thundina’s eyes.

“We need to know about the Sunsword.”
“I can tell you. There is more though.”
“What, yes. We also need to find the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind and the Tome of Strahd.”
“I can tell you. Anything else?”
“When will I find my true love?”
“Your true love is dead. He died five years ago.”
Choking a little, Thundina protested, “I’m only 19. How could my true love already be dead?!”
“He was a young one.”
“Who summoned us to Barovia, pretending to be Kolyan. Both his children deny that he wrote the letter.”
“My lips are sealed. I wish I could tell you. It would help you immensely.”

Thundina looked around, “Did anyone else have any questions they needed answering?”

Romann came forward then, “Will I find the end to my quest to learn what happened to Cyre?”
Madam Eva replied, “All quests have an end.” Satisfied, Romann moved back. Madam Eva addressed the party once again, “If I am to answer your questions, you must tell me of yourselves.” She looked at each in turn. Romann told of his military experience and started to speak of Cyron before Madam Eva cut him off and said that Cyron needs to speak for himself. Krel told of how he became an artificer. Thundina claimed to be the hero of many adventures and Madam Eva did not press her further. Halas copied Thundina in the adventuring career, and Ireena spoke of her heritage. Finally Madam Eva’s eyes fixed on Orning. Orning had been getting more and more excited as Madam Eva went around the table and burst out, “Bravo! I’m a Lightbringer. I’m always watching.”

With the introductions and histories done, Madam Eva once more made a demand. “And why should I give to you the answers of these questions?”
Orning was the first to take a crack at it with, “Good wins.”
Thundina reached a new resolution, “For we have the strength and will to oppose Strahd.”
Finally Cyron matched Madam Eva’s mysticism with, “Because you think we can use them.”
Madam Eva gave the tiniest of smiles to each of Thundina’s and Cyron’s answers before beckoning to Thundina, “Come and sit, pet. I will tell you your fortune.”

Taking out a deck of cards from her robes, Madam Eva shuffled and dealt a card. “The Blade of Light, weapon made for vengeance. This card, covering card, is location. Place of Holiness, where humans reach to the sky. The blade sleeps. To awaken, bring to place where hellish magic made. This what you wanted to know?”
Thundina scratched her head, “You know, a little more concrete would have been nice.”
“Ah, this card is aspiration and religion. Find the blade in the church in the highest place. Hell comes to castle, servants work atop a tower.”
“The rumors say that the Sunsword will not work for just anyone. How do we get it to work for us?”
“It is powerful magic. Bind to the soul.”

Madam Eva then dealt a new card, into a new pile. “Symbol of Ravenkind, powerful for good. Seek in place of death, among dead.”
“The Symbol also will not work for everyone. How do we use it?”
“Holiness in item. It waits for hands of holiness. Bring to dizzying heights, all loathe to climb, reaching to heaven.” Madam Eva glanced up.
Thundina coughed and indicated that continuing would be appreciated.
Madam Eva continued on the pile, “Find in the graveyard. Take to the top of the castle.”

Madam Eva then began a third pile. “The tome, ancient knowledge of land. Find with other treasures of castle. Hmm, not good, your quest is doomed. To gain the power of land, take tome to three defiled places described in tome. Hold vigil through night.”
Thundina nodded but Cyron asked for further clarification and so Madam Eva continued, “Blazing fire offers protection. The vigil very dangerous to soul. Reading tome will strip lord of protection.”

“Is there anything else you need to know?”
Thundina thought a moment, “Um, no, I think that’s what we needed. Wait! Yes, tell us about Strahd please.”
Madam Eva then dealt a fourth pile. “Strahd, dwells in Ravenloft, with powers beyond mortals. He shall find you many times, but you shall find him only once. On his throne, there are good influences in that place, and your blows shall strike hard and true. This card, finds purpose and reason. The key to life, death, and beyond. Darkness seeks light. Death seeks warmth and a bride. Darkness fears darkness.”

After a final look over all the cards, Madam Eva collected all the cards back up and asked, “Have at the fire tonight?”
Thundina, having heard too many stories from her father of strange lands where that would constitute a double entendre was uneasy and asked, “Uh, I’m … by what do you mean ‘have at’?”
Madam Eva responded, “Food, … bed. Dance, eat, share stories.”
Around the dancing bonfire, the vestani served bowls of stew. Orning laid into his with gusto, though others seemed to be less impressed. Madam Eva had retired back into her tent and none of the other vestani seemed to be leading the dancing.

Romann came up to Thundina and asked, “My I ask the young lady for a dance?”
“Why, yes. Let’s dance.”
Thundina and Romann took a whirl before Halas slyly came forward and interjected, “May I cut in?”
Thundina smoothly countered, “Of course, you may have the next dance with Romann.”

With the vestani seemingly not joining in the festivities, Thundina lead the party back to town before dark. Instead of leading them back to the inn for lodging, she first lead them to the church. “I want to find the sword tonight still. We have a little light. Do we wish to search outside or inside first?”

Romann suggested looking for a ladder and began looking in the store rooms. Thundina made an inspection of the store rooms, but on a hunch went to check behind the altar. Overlooked previously, she spotted a fine vertical line. Feeling along it, she then found a latch and pushed aside the stone. A narrow ladder ascended in the recess. Scampering up the ladder, Thundina found another, hidden storeroom and in this storeroom she found the hiltless golden blade made of crystalline-glass-steel. “This must be a fantastical blade of legend. Nothing ordinary could require that many adjectives to describe,” Thundina said aloud before securing the blade and climbing back down the ladder.

Showing the blade to Krel, Thundina asked, “How important do you think the hilt is to the swords powers?”
Krel poked and scratched and sniffed at the blade before answering, “Well, there’s no power in the blade currently, but I think that’s because of what Madam Eva mentioned, we need to hold that ritual atop the castle. I think we could make a replacement hilt if it came to that.”
“Will that be difficult?”
“Not too bad, just a matter of finding sufficient quantities of platinum to shape into a hilt.”

Halas took that opportunity to sidle up and eye the blade, “So Thundina, perhaps you should tell us where you will keep that so that you will not run off with it?”
“I will be keeping it on my person.”
As Krel handed the blade back to Thundina, he said, “Shouldn’t we put it somewhere Halas doesn’t want to look?”

Back at the Blood on the Vine, over dinner, Romann shared the tale of how Cyron and he came to be in Barovia, looking for the cause of the destruction of Cyre, while Cyron offered corrections and clarifications on the more outlandish statements. Thundina then told what had been happening in Barovia just before they had arrived and began another run down of what she had read in Danovich’s journal. Finally she just said, “You know, read it yourself. Um, but this page, icky.” After tearing out the offending page, Thundina passed the diary over.

While Thundina talked, Orning ate the served stew with even greater gusto than he had eaten the vestani’s stew. Krel declared it to be a better stew. After dinner Thundina asked the innkeep if he knew where Ismark could be found. Thundina and companions traveled to the Kolyanavich manor to speak with Ismark again.

“Greetings again, Ismark. Your father found the Sunsword, did he ever say anything about the hilt?”
“No, he did not speak of it.”
“A personal question, who is older, you or your sister?”
“I am.”
“Do you remember anything of her birth? Danovich, admitted mad, seems to think she may have been found in the woods and adopted.”
“There is nothing unusual about my sister. I do not like all these questions about my family. We’re done here, I want you to leave.”
With a faint growl in the back of her throat, Thundina stormed out of the manor. “Useless git. No wonder he couldn’t use the Symbol, I’m not sure that he’s ever learned anything from his father.” The others in her party lingered a moment more in silence before deciding perhaps there was nothing more to be said.

Back to the inn once more, and the end of a very busy day. Everyone settled into their own rooms, while Orning stood watch outside all night long. The squeaking of a flight of bats drew Orning's gaze heavenward. He watched the bats circling the town for most of the night before they turned and flew away.

 

[Ealli]

Chapter 99: Flowers for Bravo

Editor's note: The following chapter is entirely fictitional. It was inspired by a comment made by the player of Orning after session 4. He is looking forward to when a headband of intellect +4 can be made for Orning because he's having a lot of frustration from recognizing things, but being unable to tell anyone else due to Orning's limitations.

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“By the gods, I thought I had swore I would never again stoop to making a living by working,” Thundina declared as she came in carrying the last pieces of platemail and placing them on the workbench.

“Thank you for bringing all that in. And yes, you did. I quite clearly heard you say so back in Thronehold,” Krel replied with a faint smile. “You saw the remnants of Orning’s armor. You yourself declared that it was irreparable. Besides, I think I’ve finally gotten this new formula figured out and a clean slate to work on will be a benefit.”

“Yeah, I get all that. Why was I the one who had to slave over a forge making the armor though? I could have been spending our well deserved reward on pampering. I could have been introducing Orning to all the fun that I’m sure he never dared experience back at that Lightbringer monastery of theirs.”
“Guildhall, not monastery.”
“Whatever. Question stands, why was I working instead of partying?”
“Because you’re the only one in Barovia who can work mithril. Are you sure you don’t have a trace of elven or dwarven blood in you?”

Laughing, Thundina replied, “You’re welcome. If you need me, I’ll be over in the inn enjoying their finest wine and trying to find a pretty boy with strong hands to help get the soreness out of my shoulders. I’m out of practice with swinging a hammer.”

“Oh, Thundina, before you go, I have a new toy for you. The red cloak there, exceeds the protective qualities of your current cloak, and let’s you vanish in a puff of smoke,” Krel said while gesturing towards the far bench of his laboratory.

Spotting the folded red square, Thundina swept the cloak off the table and onto her shoulders with a grand flourish. “Both! I thought you said you’d only be able to one or the other and wouldn’t be even getting around to it until beginning of next week.”

“I implemented my research on the cloak. It went much quicker than expected. Do you know where Orning is?”
“I think he’s at the inn with that new kitten of his.”
“There’s something wrong with that cat. It may be young, but it still should be more active than it currently is, I’m worried that it’s not going to survive.”
“Orning loves it already. They seem to suit each other quite well.”
“Thundina, that’s not very nice. Anyway, I think I’m done with you for now. Go have fun.”

“Oh, I will.” Thundina smiled broadly, winked at Krel, and flourished the cloak. Vanishing from Krel’s current laboratory, she reappeared at the inn. Smiling broadly, Thundina spotted Orning with a bowl of stew near the kitchen. Approaching Orning, Thundina noticed that Orning was feeding the kitten they party had found the previous day. “Orning, have you decided you’re going to adopt that cat?”

Glancing up, Orning replied, “Good wins.”
“Have you decided on a name for it yet?”
“Bravo.”
“Why am I not surprised? Anyway, once you’re done here, Krel is looking for you.”
“I’m always watching.”
Thumping Orning on the back, Thundina said, “That’s what I love about you.”


Orning carried his kitten to the house that Krel had been given permission to use for a laboratory. Knocking on the door, Orning called out, “Bravo.”
“Yes, come in Orning,” came the reply from inside the house.

In the cellar, surrounded by books and beakers bubbling with alchemical solutions, Krel bent over a journal. He gestured Orning closer and pointed at something written down. “See my new formula, this should be much better than anything previously produced.”

Orning stared intently, nodded, and said, “I’m always watching.”

Hearing a faint mew, Krel glanced up to see the kitten nestled in Orning’s arms. “Ah, I see you brought your cat. I think I have a basket around here somewhere that we can make into a bed for it.”

Krel pulled out some ruined scraps of fabric from other cloaks which did not take the infusions and piled them into a basket. Orning then gently placed Bravo into the basket and stroking the cat’s grey head said, “Bravo. I’m always watching.”

“Right. Anyway, Orning, I need your assistance in preparing an elixir. Could you please stir this pot while I measure in the needed ingredients?” Krel indicated a small cauldron. “Remember how I’ve always been talking about how I was going to make an ornate circlet that’d enhance my focus, well, this is it. If my calculations are correct, on a scale of three to eighteen, this is going to boost my intelligence by sixteen! The best I’ve ever heard any one else ever accomplish would only rate a six on that scale. Being able to make this kind of contribution to magic is why I became an artificer.”

Stirring intently, Orning nodded and said, “I’m a Lightbringer.”

Working all through the afternoon and late into the evening, Orning maintained a steady stroke stirring the solution while Krel measured ingredients and adjusted heat sources. Slowly, the potion thickened and congealed. Krel gave the next instructions, “Remove the stirring rod now Orning. While we let that dry, we have another project to work on. Over here please, I’ll need you to hold my book on this one.”

Once the brew had dried, Krel transferred it to a crucible. Once incinerated, Krel then applied the ashes to a silver mesh circlet and set it aside on the workbench, next to Orning’s armor. After brewing a couple more potions with Orning’s assistance, Krel pointed Orning towards the armor Thundina had brought in and said, “Orning, please go and put on your new armor. It’s there on the workbench. The final infusions for it will require a binding and that requires that you be wearing your armor. I’ll help you fasten the cinches once I make a couple more notes in my journal.”

After fastening the leggings and hanging on the main chest piece, Orning looked for the helmet to go with the rest of the platemail, but the only piece of silvery metal headgear nearby was the silver mesh headband just completed earlier that evening. With a shrug, Orning lifted the headband and placed it on his own head like the helmet would have gone. As soon as the headband settled over his brow, Orning let out a terrible scream, “Aaaah. Burning. Good wins!” Then Orning fell over backwards and crashed to the floor.

Krel dropped his quill and whipped around at the scream. “What? Orning!?” Krel began, then added, “What?” as he realized that Orning had said “burning” which he had never done before. Reaching the fallen mithril clad figure Krel immediately saw what had happened. Krel attempted to remove the silver headband from Orning only to realize that the circlet had constricted and partially dug itself into Orning’s head. Krel dashed up the stairs and into the foggy night and over to the inn. Glancing around the common room and not seeing what he was searching for he ran to the barkeep and panting said, “Thundina. Where is Thundina?”
“I think she is retired to her room.”

Then dashing up the stairs to the residence level of the inn, Krel reached Thundina’s door and began pounding on it. For a moment nothing and then the door opened a sliver and finally opened fully. Standing in her nightdress, Thundina looked a little sleepy, but still battle-ready, especially as with the door fully open it became obvious that Thundina was armed. Leaning her guisarme against the wall Thundina asked, “Krel! What is it that you’re pounding on my door at this time of night?”

“It’s Orning. Something’s happened to him. Please come quickly.”

After rushing back to the laboratory, Krel and Thundina found Orning right where Krel had left him. Thundina knelt down to better inspect Orning, “What happened here?”
“He put on the headband I had been working on, screamed, and fell.”
“Well, in my professional opinion, he’s out cold. What more do you expect me to be able to do? I’m not a cleric you know.”
“I know, but our cleric has gone on a retreat for a couple days. We can’t leave him here. Can you carry him back to the inn? We’ll put him to bed.”

After she pulled off the main pieces of Orning’s armor, Thundina lifted him and carried him back to the inn. Meanwhile Krel fetched the sleeping Bravo who hadn’t left his bed of cloaks since Orning placed him there. Krel figured that seeing his cat would be comforting to Orning when he awoke.


The next morning, Krel and Thundina were discussing what could be done for Orning over breakfast when Orning came down the stairs clutching his head.

“Good morning, Orning,” Krel called out. “I see you’re awake. How are you feeling?”
“Head hurts,” groaned Orning.

Thundina’s eyes went wide. “I thought you were joking or something.”
Krel responded, “That’s a whole nother phrase. I think maybe the headband is positively affecting him as well.”

Once Orning joined Krel and Thundina, Krel followed up, “Orning, do you remember what happened?”

Orning shook his head and said, “Good wins.”
“Well, I think you had better stay close to me today. Or rather, I had better stay close to you. I don’t think I’ll be getting much work done today.”

Over the next several days, Krel stayed close to Orning while Orning’s vocabulary expanded. Finally, Orning asked Krel, “I have come to believe that something is wrong with Bravo. Any other kitten of his age should be able to follow and chase a toy, but as soon as one is out of Bravo’s sight, he no longer has any interest in it. I have repeated this experiment several times and replicated the results. I wonder, could we formulate some device like my own headband for Bravo.”

Krel considered a moment, “I do not know if a cat’s physiology would react in the same way. Plus those components are extremely valuable. To experiment in this way, I don’t know, it’s just not worthwhile.”

“Ah, but Krel, not all of the ash was used in the making of this headband. I estimate that sufficient quantities remain that only the base silver circlet would be required. I believe that I can acquire one in relatively short order.” Orning replied.

“There is one more potion that would be required. It will take at least three days to make all the preparations for this. I have other tasks which need to be completed to have the all the equipment in place for the next mission. I’m sorry Orning, it’s not going to happen.”

“I have actually been looking over your journal. Do not look so shocked, it was a very simple password on your chest. I have some ideas that will boost the effectiveness in a couple instances, and reduce cost in materials and time in a couple other instances. We can work on this together. All I ask in exchange is that we equip Bravo with a headband.”


Three days later, Bravo too had a little silver mesh sunk slightly into his head. Orning brought Bravo to Thundina to ask her, “Thundina, Krel and I are going to be doing some intense calculations. I will be unable to properly care for Bravo today. Would you please watch over and play with him today?”

Thundina shrugged her shoulders, “Okay. But how much longer are you and Krel going to be tied up with this work? I’m getting bored here, it’s time that we get back to adventuring. I was not meant to sit around all day, at least not in a place like this.”

“Just a few more days, Thundina. You will appreciate the tools once we have completed our work.”

Later that afternoon, at the house where Krel, and now Orning, were working, Thundina arrived. Hopping down the stairs, she burst into the laboratory.

Orning turned as she entered, “Thundina, I thought you were going to be with Bravo.”

“I was. He fell asleep, so I thought I’d come visit you.” Poking her head over a bubbling beaker, she took a breath in. “Phew, that stinks. What is it?”
“It is half a Cure potion; a new formula that maximizes its strength.”
“I hope that you can do something about that smell before you ask any of us to choke that down. Does it taste as bad as it smells?” Thundina begins to dip her finger in before Orning grabs her wrist.
“Please, Thundina, do not touch. Not those books I can see you looking at now. And especially not the jewelry, we need that to finish some of the items.”

Before the argument could become heated, a mewing from the stairs is heard. Crawling down the stairs is a grey kitten which Orning immediately moved to scoop up. Scratching Bravo’s head, Orning asked, “I thought you said that he was sleeping.”

“He was. I had left him in my room, how do you think he got over here then?”
“He is a clever cat. Bravo, if you stay, will you stay out of the way?” Orning held Bravo up near his face. “Okay, you can stay. Thundina, do you not have something to do? You will be terribly bored here.”
“Yeah, yeah. You boys have fun, okay?”

A couple days later, Thundina stormed down the stairs to the laboratory. Brandishing the red cloak, Thundina shouted, “Krel! Krel! The cloak, the cloak isn’t working. You said it would poof, it’s not poofing. It’s become a non-poofing cloak!”

Turning to the stairs, Krel said with a sigh, “I told you, Thundina, it only works once per day. If you’re attempting to use it more than that, it simply will not work.”
“I remember. But I didn’t use it yesterday at all, and when I tried to use it today, nothing. Flap, flap, flap; flourish, flourish, flourish, nothing!”
“Okay, okay, leave it with me, I’ll look at it and see what’s happening.”

Before leaving, Thundina went to the other bench where Orning was working. “Hey Orning, hey Bravo.” Thundina said as she scratched Bravo behind the ears. “What new wonders have you invented since last I’ve been down here?”

Frowning, Orning replied, “Do you really want all the technical details? Most of this morning, I have spent with Bravo. His pupils are dilated and he has been confused today. Yesterday, I thought I heard almost primitive speech out of him, but today there has been nothing even close.”
“Orning, you know animals can’t speak.”
“Normal animals cannot speak. Certain druids have the power to Awaken an animal with human intelligence. The principle is sound.”
“Neither you nor Krel are druids. You’ve been cooped up in here for too long. You’re having quicksilver dreams. What you need is fresh air. Do you want me to take Bravo out for some fresh air?”
“A change of scenery could do Bravo some good. I cannot spend all day tending to him, knowing that you are always watching will give me some peace of mind.”
“Ha! That’s a joke, right? Okay, I will watch Bravo.”

Once Thundina had carried Bravo out, Krel brought the red cloak over to Orning. “As I’m sure you heard during her entrance, Thundina says there is something wrong with the cloak. Could you look into what it is so we can tell her exactly what is wrong with it. I expect it is something fairly basic, but we can humor her.”

An hour later, Orning raised the point, “This was one of the first in the new formula items you crafted. Could I please see the notes you made while working on it?”
“Sure, um, the second-to-bottom hide bound journal should have the research notes.” Krel indicated a stack of volumes.

Perusing the book, Orning muttered, “Is that right? I think I ought to recheck the calculations from the top.” Finally, Orning reached a conclusion. “Krel, I need you to work with me through these calculations. Here, this simplification, you cannot do that. It is a divide by zero. If we keep it in the long form, see, the calculations indicate an inverted parabolic function over time. The gains are unstable and will not last. Please, find an error in this conclusion.”
Krel followed the numbers with his finger, “Uh, ah, I see, yes, that was a divide by zero. I cannot find any error in the new calculations.”
“You do realize the implications?”
“Yes.”
“I am going to go find Thundina and Bravo. I am sorry, but I do not think I can be of any further assistance.”

At the knock on the door, Thundina answered, cradling Bravo. “Orning, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to be in that lab all day?”
“I need to spend time with Bravo. How is he?”
“He’s been sleeping basically all day. Kind of reminds me of when you first found him.”
“Yes. That is why I need to spend time with him.”

The following day Bravo died. Orning and all his close friends held a small funeral for Bravo. Tears rolled down Orning's cheeks as he placed a small bouquet of flowers on top the little grave, all the while repeating the name Bravo.

Thundina patted Orning on the shoulders, “I know Bravo was your good friend. It’s going to be alright. He’s gone up to kitty heaven from where he can always be watching over you.”
“I’m always watching.”
Tearing up herself, Thundina gave Orning a grand hug. “Oh Orning, don’t go.”
Orning faintly whispered, “Good wins.”

 

[Ealli]

Chapter 5: Dark Dreams

With the new dawn, the threatening mists finally began to turn into rain. A light drizzle at first with the promise to become a heavier rain later in the day. The first thing Thundina noticed when coming down the stairs from her beauty sleep was Romann and Orning huddled over a note on a table. “Hey, what’s that?”
Romann replied, “It’s a note from our Leader, Halas Martain.”
Reading the note, Thundina could almost hear Halas reciting the text. She moved through elation that he finally recognized that his lack of performance was a problem, to bemusement that he thought he could recover the two artifacts by himself, to annoyance at the constant repetition of Halas’s name, and finally to disgust that Halas thought he was the leader able to delegate leadership and frustration at him leaving instructions for Karl to make ready a chain shirt.

When everyone had gathered for breakfast and had a chance to read the note, Romann stepped forward, “As your new party leader, we need to go to the church to begin looking for the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind.”

Thundina immediately objected, “Hold it. Who made you the leader?”
“Halas did in the note.”
Thundina snatched the note and held it behind her back and smiled sweetly, “What note? However, yes, the plan had always been to start at the church, if only to pick up the shovels there.”

By this time Ireena had arrived from her mansion and with the party complete, it was time to set out for the church. Around the back of the church, as was remembered from the funerals of the day before, were several shovels.

“Are we going to be searching here first or the graveyard at the crossroads?” Romann asked.
“The crossroads.” Thundina stated.
“Why do you think it’s going to be there?”
“Call it a woman’s intuition. Let’s grab those shovels and set out.”
“We can’t just grab the shovels. That’d be stealing.”

Krel interjected, “It wouldn’t be stealing if we leave gold.”
Thundina insisted, “It’s okay, it’s redistribution.”
Cyron meanwhile had his own rationalization, “We’ll bring them back when we’re done.”

One of those must have been acceptable to Romann because he looked at a shovel and told Cyron to pick it up and bring it. Once at the crossroads, everyone looked at the graves with a little concern. Finally Romann grabbed one of the shovels and began excavating one of the graves. Cyron said a quick prayer so as to not offend any gods. Once the coffin was unearthed, he looked inside only to discover that it was empty. Romann ordered Cyron to fill the grave back in and moved on to digging the next grave while Cyron desperately divided his attention between blessing the excavations and filling in the holes.

Meanwhile, Orning was pointing at the gallows at the crossroads and insisting, “Stinks of evil.” Curious as to what upset Orning so much, Thundina inspected the gallows, but could find nothing unusual. Eventually, both Thundina and Orning returned to watching Romann and Cyron work with Orning even chipping in a little. Some coffins were empty, a couple held long rotted corpses, and some graves were simply empty. One coffin inexplicably held the remains of a small cat. Defeated at the crossroads, Thundina turned to Ireena and asked, “Are there any other graveyards in the area? Any where else where there are the dead?”

“There are no other graveyards, although the vitches of Lysaga Hill may know something about dead. They are vile creatures who curse our crops.” Ireena replied.

Romann wanted to know, “Can we go meet the vitches at this time?”
Thundina scolded Romann, “Don’t you know anything about vitches? Vitches are always dancing naked under the full moon.”
Ireena coughed, “I don’t know about naked, but the vitches do gather under the full moon of Nymm. We have often tried to catch them, but they have always evaded the townsfolk.”
“See, full moon. So, when is the full moon?”
“The full moon is tomorrow night.”
“Can we go there now and scout the terrain?”
“They would know we had been there and would not come.”
“Alright then, I guess we’re going back to the church to continue our search there.”

At the church once more, Romann began digging near the church with Cyron hopping back and forth blessing and filling in holes. A survey of the grounds found a place where some graves had been dug included one instance where a shovel was left stuck in the ground next to a hole. Thundina, still reluctant to be the one desecrating graves in town, explored the inside of the church once more looking for another hidden passage, or maybe to find Halas hiding inside.

Satisfied that the church was still empty and without further hiding places, Thundina emerged back into the rain. After watching Romann dig up another grave in the oldest section of the cemetery, Thundina announced, “I’m going back to the inn to take care of some business there. If anything moves, just give a scream”

Krel huddling miserably in the soaking rain said, “Um, yes, I think I’ll be returning as well.” Before she knew it, Thundina was also being trailed by Orning and Ireena as well.

At the inn, Thundina approached the barkeep and asked, “Has Halas Martain been back since dawn, telling any tales?”
“No, he hasn’t.”
“If he returns, I want a messenger sent to the church to inform us that he’s back. Can we arrange that?”
“I can send one of the serving girls. But I think a little compensation in return for her time would be in order.”
With a sigh, Thundina counted out a few coins to the barkeep, “Alright. I expect to hear the moment he walks in the door though.”

Turning to Krel, Thundina posed the question, “Well, do we want to go watch Romann and Cyron dig more?”
“Perhaps we should pay Bildreth a visit. Maybe he has some platinum that we could use for crafting a new hilt on the Sunsword.”
“Good idea. Prices should be normalized now that the zombies are gone.”

Walking across the square, Thundina paused a moment. Something was tugging at her mind, though she couldn’t place what it was. A thought, fleeting, she simply couldn’t remember something important.

Thundina knocked on the door to Bildreth’s shop and not getting an immediate response opened the door. “Ahh, Bildreth, you scoundrel, it’s always a special day when we see you again. We are looking for metals, steel, silver, gold, platinum, copper, and the like. Do you such resources?”
“Are you intending to steal my supplies?” Bildreth replied with narrowed eyes.
“We are intending to buy, if you have them to sell.”
“I have a little. Raw iron, copper, platinum, even silver. No gold though.”
“Let’s see the platinum.”
“This crate here. How much are you looking for?”
“Krel, how much are we looking for?”
“Umm, I’d say about one pound should do for what we need,” Krel answered.
“There you go Bildreth, we need one pound.”
“Platinum is 750 gold per pound.” Bildreth smirked.
“Seven hundred fifty, that’s ridiculous. The zombie infestation is gone, you have no further cause to inflate your prices,” Thundina insisted.
“It’s very difficult to get supplies out here.”
“You got that supply simply enough I’m certain. Where did you get that from?”
“Oh, it came from the vestani. But it’s very difficult to get supplies out here.”
“It’s very difficult to get customers out here. How long do you think that’s going to be gathering dust on your shelf?”
Bildreth simply stated, “750.”
Thundina countered, “500.”
Absolutely flat, “750.”
“We’ll walk. You have no cause.”
“750.”

Thundina and Krel walked out and stood outside for a moment considering where to go next. Thundina suggested, “Let’s try the vestani. It’s upsetting that they didn’t mention such trade goods when we saw them yesterday, but now we know exactly what we’re asking for, maybe we can get it.”

The visit to the vestani at the Tser Pools was brief. The vestani denied trafficking in platinum, although they did have deer available if that was more what Krel wanted to make the hilt. Krel however insisted that only platinum could be used for the hilt.

Back at town, Krel had made up his mind, “I’m going back to Bildreth’s. We need the platinum and he’s the only one who has it.”
Thundina shook her head, “If you must. I’m not going back to him if I can help it. You’re going to need someplace to work on this, I’ll go track down the smithy and get things arranged.”

As Krel entered the shop Bildreth smiled broadly and said, “I knew you’d be back. 750.”

“Well Krel, do you have the platinum?” Thundina asked as Krel arrived at the smithy. “I’m ready to work on this.”
Krel took down the smithy tools and asked, “Thundina, I thought you specialized only in armor?”
“Weapons, armor, should be all the same. You know, here, use my hammer. That hammer isn’t as well balanced as mine.”
Despite Thundina’s assistance, Krel managed to pound out a new hilt and fit it to the blade by early afternoon. “Thank you for your help, Thundina, but now I need to meditate on this. I will see you late tonight.”

For the rest of the afternoon, Thundina relaxed in the inn, warm by the fire, while Romann and Krel were out digging. Orning and Ireena wandered the town talking to people. Orning would earnestly point up towards the castle and look excited while Ireena would translate his eagerness into questions which the villagers then answer because Orning was just so darn cute.

As dusk fell turned into darkness, Romann and Cyron came back dejectedly, covered in mud.
“Welcome back, boys. Make much progress in your grave robbing?” Thundina asked.
Romann proudly declared, “Though we did not find the Symbol, we must have dug up half the graves there.”
“That’s very impressive. Very well done.”
Cyron leaned over to Thundina and whispered, “It wasn’t half. It was maybe ten percent. Five percent was more likely. It was terrible, and he’s going to make me fill in all the graves again tomorrow.”

Orning and Ireena wandered back just before Krel came down from his room. “Come up to my room for a moment, I have something to show you all.” In Krel’s room the Sunsword was repaired as much as Krel could without having access to the top of the castle where hellish servants work. The sword glowed a faint blue and Krel said, “I want to keep the sword a little longer so I can Identify it. We need to consider who we want to wield this.”

With night fully fallen, Romann and Krel retired to their room, Thundina retired to her room, Ireena retired to the Koylanavich manor, and Orning stood watch over Krel and the Sunsword. In the middle of the night, Romann woke up, thinking he heard something out back of the inn. He knocked on the doors of the others waking them. “I heard animals making a commotion outside, we need to go investigate.”
Cyron immediately agreed, “As you say, we should investigate.”
Krel looked blearily Romann, “Have you ever been around animals? They make a commotion all the time.”
Skeptical, Thundina replied, “I don’t hear anything, Romann. Will you feel better if we humor you?”

It was thus that Thundina found herself outside in the middle of the night. Approaching the stables, it was quickly obvious that the horses were frightened of something. Looking in Thundina could see that the horses had kicked down their stalls and we’re getting ready to bolt. Romann peaked in and declared, “Cyron, I can’t see a thing. Light a sunrod already!” The spark of light was the final straw for the poor horses and they ran out into the night.

The innkeep rushed out from the inn and ran up to the trio standing by the stables. “What happened here?”
Thundina was the first to recover from nearly being trampled, “I don’t know. Just as soon as we got here, the horses all bolted. It looks like they kicked down their stalls.”
“Go back inside. I’ll round up the horses, I’m not going to ask paying customers to go around in the dark on a rainy night.”

Fifteen minutes later, as Thundina was settling back to sleep, she heard the innkeep scream, “Help! Come back!” Dashing outside once again, Thundina saw the innkeep clutching his chest, blood oozing. “No, no need to worry. The horse just clawed me, I’ll be okay.” With Romann and Cyron right behind Thundina, he was going to get assistance. Cyron offered the innkeep some healing, closing most of the wound.

Thundina looked suspiciously into the stable and muttered, “I wish I had my armor; I feel naked without it.”
Romann came up behind Thundina and whispered, “Naked you say?”
“Don’t even think it.” Thundina said without turning around.

Returning to her room once more, Thundina strapped on her armor, waiting, expecting, further disturbances. An hour passed, and yawning, Thundina decided perhaps nothing was going to be happening after all and went back to sleep.

The next morning, against all expectations, everyone was alive and well. Planning at breakfast focused on if there was anything to do before visiting the vitches that night around midnight. Krel announced that he had learned more about the nature of the Sunsword and that someone with the heart of a child would find it to be lighter than it looked. The sword was immediately passed to Orning who easily lifted it. Once it was determined that nothing was likely to happen, Romann and Cyron returned to the church to continue their excavations. Thundina pulled aside Orning, “Let’s do a little sparring so you can get used to that new weapon of yours.”

After sitting around inside for half an hour, Krel came out to ask, “Thundina, could I see that map of Barovia?”
“Sure, but you’re not bringing it out here in the rain. Let me get it.”
Pointing at the map, Krel traced the paths out of the village, “If we think that Halas has the Symbol and was going to the castle to find the Tome, perhaps the vestani saw him.”
“That would be more productive than sitting around here all day. Sounds good, let’s go.”

Setting out on the road with Orning, Krel, and Ireena, Thundina’s conscience niggled at her a little for not grabbing Romann and Cyron. She had some foresight that perhaps it would be wise to have everyone along. Quashing those feelings, Thundina set off towards the vestani camp.

At the crossroads, one of the vestani came out of the woods. Thundina always knew there were vestani in the woods, but having one come out to meet the travelers was unusual. This particular vestani looked nervous though. As he approached, he stuttered, “I bring greetings from Strahd. He wants you to come to the castle.”
Thundina had to ask, “And if we refuse?”
“I suspect Strahd vill be displeased.”
“Will anything happen to you?”
“If I didn’t deliver the message, he said he’d kill me. He didn’t say anything about if you refuse.”
“One final question, did you see anyone on the road yesterday?”
“Or the previous night?” Krel added.
With a shake of his head, the vestani melted back into the woods.
“I guess we’re going back to town quickly to fetch our final two members before we visit the vestani.” Thundina said.

With everyone assembled, the party once more approached the dancing fire of the vestani encampment. One of the vestani came forward to inquire of the party, “Why have you come to our encampment again?”
Krel was the first to speak, “We’d like to consult with Madam Eva again.”
The vestani speaker replied, “She is now here. She has gone to the woods to meditate.”
“When will she back?”
“Not until about midnight.”

Thundina, knowing a dismissal when she heard one, asked the final question, “Have you seen anyone coming towards the castle yesterday or the night before? Specifically, Halas, if you remember him.”
“No, we haven’t seen anyone matching that description.”
“Alright. I know your people haunt these woods, so I’m giving you fair warning, we’re intending to follow the river upstream to the Tser Falls.”

Leading the party up the river, Thundina spotted a flickering light in a clearing a little away from the river. The party moved to investigate and found Madam Eva in her meditative trance. A hushed discussion on whether or not to disturb Madam Eva before it was decided to leave her alone and continue up the river.

Reaching the Tser Falls, the party found the road up to the castle once again and set off along it. Finally the castle loomed in the rain. An old, partially crumbled castle which hadn’t been well kept up. Before entering the castle, the party would have to cross a drawbridge with a gatehouse on each side. Romann muscled his way to the front of the party and attempted to cross the drawbridge. As soon as he had entered the first gatehouse, a green slime dropped on him. “Aaaah! Cyron!”

Cyron rushed forward, drew a dagger, and started scraping the slime off of his friend. No sooner had the slime been scraped off of Romann then the dagger being used had been completely destroyed by the slime. Cyron looked over Romann, “You lost a lot of blood, even from that very brief contact. Be careful, this is beyond what I can heal.”

With the drawbridge and second gatehouse still looming, Romann moved to the back and refused to come forward unless someone else had already crossed. Thundina walked up to the second gatehouse, looked up into the shadows, muttered, “Fortune favors the bold,” and dashed through into the courtyard. When nothing dropped onto Thundina, everyone else came into the courtyard as well.

Had it been night, surely a rich warm light would have been spilling out of the castle into the courtyard. However, it was day and no light sources, warm or otherwise, were to be seen. Bypassing the recessed portcullises set to either side, the party advanced to the main doors. Krel opened it only to be met with a wall of darkness.

From the back, Romann called out, “Cyron, light a sunrod. I want to see in.”
“Uh, sir, there are no more sunrods.”
“What? Alright, I guess we can use my Everburning Torch.”
“Sir, why haven’t we been using this before now?”
“Cyron, just take the torch and go light the way.”

The flickering green light of the Everburning Torch did not illuminate very far into the castle. Cyron, recognizing that something was wrong with that, decided that when the interior needed was some Daylight. That created enough light to see into the next room as well. A couple of statues in stood near the back of the entry parlor, perhaps to lull visitors into a false sense of security for in the next room the statues were actually gargoyles. They held their position even once Thundina was in their midst. From off to the left, from up the grand staircase came a cackling laugh.

“Velcome to Castle Ravenloft.” Sweeping down the stairs with a long flowing cloak was a tall, handsome man. Thundina realized immediately that this must be the dark figure which had haunted all the tales of the town, Strahd. Strahd continued, “Please, come dine with me. I will tell you why I summoned you.”

In the adjacent room, food was laid out on a banquet table. Strahd took a seat and invited everyone else to sit and eat. Thundina sat next to Strahd and began shoveling the fine foods onto her plate. Romann took a seat as far from Strahd as possible and mostly refused to eat. Cyron glared at the food suspiciously and then said, “Does anyone mind if I say grace?” He then walked around the table blessing every morsel. While everyone was eating, or not, Strahd simply sipped a glass of red wine. Eventually Strahd said, “I have a proposition. There is a coven of vitches who are harassing my townsfolk. I want you to eliminate them.”

Romann first had to register a complaint, “When we arrived at the castle, some green slime dropped from your gatehouse. What are you going to do about it?”
Thundina meanwhile had a more pressing question, “If we do this, what kind of compensation can we expect?”
Strahd replied, “You can have something from my treasury. Do we have an accord?”
Before a deal could be struck, Krel inquired, “Why is it that someone of your nature cannot deal with this yourself?”
“I am an aristocrat. This is something that is better suited for adventurers, like yourselves.”
Romann tried again, “At your gatehouse, some green slime dropped on me. Are you going to do anything about it?
“I just don’t see why we …” Krel began. Strahd caught his gaze momentarily and Krel sat back, relaxed and continued, “We should go fight the witches.”

Cyron looked momentarily from Strahd to Krel and back to Strahd again, bursting out, “You invited us as guests and then you attack us!” A glance from Strahd held Cyron’s gaze. They stared at each other for a moment before Cyron said, “We should go fight the witches.”

Sensing things slipping out of control and desiring access to that treasure room, Thundina made the statement for the remainder of the party, “Yes, we will go to Lysaga Hill tonight.”
“Excellent.” Strahd stood and began to walk towards the back of the room.
Romann tried once more, “The green slime at your gatehouse fell on me. You should do something about that.”
“Shut up.” Thundina snapped at Romann, then turned back to Strahd, “before you go, we were wondering if we might wander the castle a bit between now and when we go to Lysaga Hill?”
“If that’ll please you. However, not all the inhabitants are accommodating to vandering guests. You do so at your own risk, and you still have that appointment on Lysaga Hill tonight.” Strahd reached the back of the room and tapped on the wall. A portion of the wall slid back and Strahd walked through. As soon as he was through, the wall slid back into place. Always excited to imitate, Orning went to the same section of wall and tapped, but there was no sliding action for him.

“Well, I guess dinner is done. Let’s see if we can find the top of the castle.” Thundina perked up.
“We should leave.” Krel declared.
“I agree. We should leave.” Cyron immediately added.
Krel and Cyron began to leave without waiting for any further discussion.
Ireena added, “I do not like the feel of this place, I too wish to leave now.”
“Cyron, wait. I demand you come back here with my torch.” Romann hurried to keep up with Cyron.
“Well Orning, I guess it’s left to just you and me to explore.” Thundina began.
With the edge of the green torchlight about to leave him behind, Orning said, “Stinks of evil,” and he too exited.
Standing alone in the dark, Thundina felt like screaming. “Where is everyone’s sense of adventure! Why, I am so confident, I feel like I could remove my armor and wander around this strange castle like that!” With a final glance at the enticing spiral stairs, Thundina stomped her foot and stalked back to the entrance where the rest of the party had already gathered.

“Since we have a couple extra hours before the vitches will be gathering, I’d like to pay a visit to this other gate at the northwest edge of the map of Barovia.” Thundina led the party. At the gate, closed and looking basically like the one they had first encountered while entering Barovia, Thundina touched the gate and began walking. “I think I’m just going to take a little walk around this.” As Thundina walked, she lost sight of her friends through the mists and rains and inexplicably began to feel nervous. The pressing mists finally was just too much and Thundina practically ran back the way she came. “Okay, I’m satisfied, let’s go on to Lysaga Hill.”

Approaching Lysaga Hill from the north, Thundina spotted a bright green glow a top the hill. An old, ruined monastery with just pieces of its outer walls still standing, rubble strewn about, and other walls fallen into rocks formations was now occupied by a coven of witches. In green flame, they had drawn a seven pointed star with a witch standing at each point. A green bonfire in the middle of star burned brightly. On the far side of the ruins stood a twenty-foot tall giant with many tigrish features also bathed in green flame.

Once the bright firelight was spotted, the party doused their own light sources and began to sneak up to the ruins. Thundina turned to the others, the light of the fire seeming to catch in her eyes, causing them to appear to glow. “This doesn’t feel right. Do we really trust Strahd, do we really want to be doing his bidding?”
“We want to kill the vitches,” Krel and Cyron said in unison and began advancing the final distance to the star. Slowly everyone advanced to within striking distance and commenced the attack. The witches at the nearest two points fell in the opening barrage. At the third near point, a witch taller than any of the others lashed at Romann with a clawed green hand which glowed black right as it struck him. “I feel weak.” Romann moaned.

With the first two witches down, Ireena moved to assist Romann against the tall witch. The witch spotted Ireena and shrieked, “You are the one Strahd has chosen! Then die!” Before she could carry out her threat, the tide of battle turned against her as Orning too joined his sword against her. With a final screech, she disappeared.

While the other minor witches were being dispatched, Cyron ran into the center of the star to set up a Magic Circle against Evil. The flaming green tiger-man spotted Cyron. Its eyes glowed red as it gestured towards Cyron. A black flame sprung up around Cyron before jumping to singe Orning as well. Bursting through the lines, Thundina stood ready to battle, balancing on the balls of her feet. “Come on you beast, let’s see you do that to someone who is ready for you?”

The tiger-man gestured towards Thundina and the black flame leapt out to her. It slammed into her and she bit back a scream. “You’re going to pay for that,” and Thundina weaved forward deftly evading the claws of the beast. Supported by Ireena with the others too moving forward after downing all the witches, Thundina began the assault on the flaming tiger-man. Thundina’s assault was short lived was rather short lived as a swipe from the tiger’s claws and the ensuing blast of dark flame brought Thundina to her knees.

Seeing the severely wounded Thundina, Cyron dashed to Thundina’s side only to catch a claw when the creature’s reach was greater than he had expected. Thundina glanced up towards the towering inferno of the tiger-man and decided this was the time to make her retreat. Weaving past the creature’s claws, Thundina made it to the edge of the ruins where she crouched behind a broken wall and drank one her healing potions.

The tiger-man took another swipe at Cyron and in his heavily battered state, Cyron was unable to get his shield up and the claw plus dark energy shattered what remained of his health. Eyes full of bloodlust, the creature immediately pounced on Ireena as well, cleaving her.

Orning’s entrance to the battle was ferocious. He charged, his sword glowing bright with holy energy and the charging Smite bit deep into the creature. A follow-up stroke sent more righteous fury penetrating the creature. Romann, inching around the creature, looking for the perfect opening, found it and struck. His blade sliding up between the creature’s ribs and into its vitals. The monster wavered an instant, and became nothing but a puff of acrid green smoke.

Romann dashed over to the lifeless form of his brave companion and screamed, “Cyron, no! You can’t be dead. Drink, drink this and live! Cyron!”
Cyron woke up coughing, “I saw a light, but I couldn’t leave you. I don’t feel very heroic after that though.”

Thundina surveyed the carnage. The witches’ power was broken surely, for good or for ill, but there was still that one witch who got away and she had surely been the most powerful. Thundina shuddered a moment as she looked at Ireena. The girl had been something special, both to the villagers and to Strahd. Breaking the news of her death would not be pleasant. For now though, Thundina had the wounded of her party to tend to. Reporting on the events at Lysaga Hill could wait until morning.

 

[Ealli]

Chapter 6: Confusion, Castles, and Commands

“Now what?” Romann asked.
“First thing we need to deal with,” Cyron said, “Krel, I need you to come here. Everyone, please, gather close.”

Everyone approached Cyron with Cyron gesturing them closer until everyone was within ten feet of him. “Now that we’re within my Magic Circle against Evil, we can discuss important topics without Strahd being able to overhear. Krel has been dominated by the vampire.”
“No way!” Krel protested.
“I saw the vampire break your will.” Cyron insisted.
Krel remained incredulous.
Cyron sighed, and then sighed again. Finally he muttered, “I don’t know how to deal with this.” He spoke up, “Something has happened to Krel. We need to be careful.”

“Okay, so we watch Krel. Again, now what?” Romann started again.
“What does one do with dead witches?” Thundina need to know.
“Bury them, I guess.” Cyron said.
“Really? I know that you burn a witch when she’s alive. Seems odd that there’s not some ritual you need to do with dead witches.” Thundina said puzzledly.
“It depends on local customs.” Cyron confirmed.
“Then I say we should camp here until morning. Then we can go tell the town what happened here and ask for their help in dealing with the dead.” Thundina said.
“I don’t like this hill. I’d like to get off it.” Krel protested.
“At the risk of agreeing with Krel, I do not like this hill either.” Cyron added.
“Well, I don’t like the idea of leaving the corpses unguarded. I think that witch which got away might spirit them away. That’s no good. We need to stay the night.” Thundina insisted.
“Thundina’s got a point.” Romann said. “We set up camp on the hill for tonight.”

With Romann and Thundina in agreement, the issue was decided. The bodies of the witches were piled, Ireena was arranged honorably, and bed rolls were set out.

As Thundina was bringing the last of the witches to the pile, Cyron spoke up. “Thundina, there’s something about the way you move. Out, beyond the firelight, you still stride entirely confidently.”
“Yes? What’s your point?” Thundina replied.
“How can you see, out near the walls?”
“I just can. What?”
“Walk with me a little. Do you see that notch in the wall? Okay, how about that small pile of rubble? And that tree?”
With Thundina assuring Cyron that she could see each thing he was pointing out, Cyron came to the conclusion, “You’ve got darkvision, as good as a dwarf’s.”

Back near the fire, Orning had already curled up and gone to sleep. The others set to deciding the watch. Suddenly, Romann, Cyron, and Thundina cocked their heads for a moment.
“Did you hear that?” Romann asked.
“Yes.” Thundina nodded.
“My name, whispered on the wind…” Romann continued.
“No! It was my name!” Thundina insisted.
“Err, sir, and Thundina, I heard my name on the wind” Cyron added.
The three looked at each other momentarily before dropping the subject as entirely too weird. Assigning watches finished quickly and Thundina was able to begin her sleeping.

A couple hours into the night, Romann shook Thundina awake. “Your turn.”
Crawling out of her bed roll, Thundina strapped her breastplate on again and began pacing around the ruins of the monastery on Lysaga Hill. Each of her companions were sleeping soundly and nothing moved out in the night. Eventually, her watch ended and Thundina went over to Cyron and shook him awake. “Wakey, wakey time. Have fun staring into darkness for two hours; it’s back to bed for me.”

Later, Thundina awoke to the light of day; the fog had broken for the first time since Thundina had been to Barovia. Knowing that the fight with the witches had lasted until midnight, Thundina reckoned that she must be waking up a little early so she rolled over to get a bit more sleep. She could sleep with some light.
“Krel!” Cyron shouted. “What are you doing, asleep on your watch?”
Instantly alert, Thundina surged out of her bedroll. Glancing around, Thundina knew that Cyron was right; it was too light out. “Krel, this is not good. How could you sleep through your watch?”
Krel could only sheepishly say, “I must have nodded off. I don’t know what happened.”

Unable to mount any further righteous fury, Thundina set to putting the morning plans into action. Thundina drafted Orning to return to town with her, while Romann and Cyron would stay, watching Krel and the corpses. As Thundina and Orning were about to depart the hill, Cyron called out, “Thundina, wait a moment. While you’re in town, I need some diamond dust. I think I figured out how to help Romann on his blood loss.”

Thundina trudged back to the camp, “Okay, how much will you need? Oh, I’m going to have to deal with Bildreth again. Crud.” Thundina’s shoulder’s sagged.
“Yes, you’re going to need to deal with Bildreth.” Cyron said, and looked over Thundina. “You look a little out of it still. I think I better cast the Restoration on you as well. Let’s have a back up dose available as well, so get three grams; it would normally cost 300 gold, all told, but you know Bildreth.”
“Um, Krel, can I borrow a little money?” Thundina said sweetly.
“What? Why are you asking me?” Krel was a little shocked.
“The third dose of diamonds could be a group investment.” Cyron put forth.
“Orning, we need to see what funds you have, okay?” Thundina tried again.
Orning dutifully held out his purse, but a quick count showed that he had less than eighty gold. “Hmm, Cyron, I’m going to need to borrow some still.” Thundina smiled.
“Oh, Cyron. Just take it all from my stash.” Romann snapped.
Once Cyron had counted out 450 gold, Thundina and Orning were on their way once more. Walking down the road to town, they heard the howling of wolves off to the south. Picking up the pace, Thundina and Orning made it safely to town and began making their way to the Kolyanavich manor to inform Ismark of what had happened. Before they could make it that far, a gathering in the town square halted their progress.
“Hey, what’s happening here?” Thundina asked one of the peasants on the outer edges of the crowd.
“Ismark is giving his first speech as the burgomaster. We held elections last night.”
“Huh. I didn’t hear of any news about this.” Thundina weaved her way to the front of the crowd. Ismark went on and on about how honored he was to have been chosen to follow his father as the leader of the burough. Thundina added her polite applause where appropriate getting more annoyed by Ismark and his droning. Finally, he finished and began to step down. Thundina stepped to him and said, “Ismark, hello, friend, neighbor. If I said, ‘Witches of Lysaga Hill’, what you say?”
“The vitches are evil; a scourge on the town.” Ismark replied.
“Ah, good news then. Last night we encountered them and dispersed them.”
“Very good.”
“But,” Thundina began.
Ismark’s mood immediately changed. He could sense that the good news would be tempered by some terrible news. He had no idea how terrible.
“But,” Thundina tried again, “your sister Ireena fell in battle against the demon summoned by the witches. As it sounds like you are now the leader, we need you to organize the disposal of the witches’ remains. I really have no idea what to do with dead witches.”
“Whatever. Burn them or bury them or something.” Ismark replied, depressed.
Thundina turned to the dispersing crowd and called, “The witches of Lysaga Hill have been defeated. We are looking for some volunteers to help us with the disposal of their bodies.” The peasants let out a ragged cheer and several stepped forward to volunteer. Thundina asked them to meet her in the town square in ten minutes with a cart or two.

Thundina and Orning entered Bildreth’s shop. Bildreth smiled broadly; Thundina didn’t smile so much. Bildreth asked, “So what are you hear for today?”
“This noble Lightbringer paladin needs diamond dust, three grams.” Thundina said.
“That’ll be 450 gold.”
“Look at him! Would you cheat this paladin?”
“It’s not cheating. Supplies are hard to get out here.”
Thundina nudged Orning and whispered, “Do your charming thing.”
Orning declared, “Good wins!”
Thundina raised her eye brow at Bildreth. “See, it’s for a very noble cause.”
“450.”
Thundina managed to stifle a scream as she counted out the 450 gold for the three grams of diamond dust needed for the three doses of Restoration.

With the diamond dust tucked safely away, Thundina and Orning gathered the Barovian townsfolk and set out back to Lysaga Hill. The continued hollowing wolves did not cause any panic and the procession reached the hill without incident.

Reaching the top of the hill, Thundina was shocked to see Ireena up and walking around. Shocked, Thundina could only stammer, “I thought you were dead! I don’t understand.”
Cyron came over and said, “Krel had a scroll of Raise Dead. He asked me to read it and then use it after you left this morning.”
“Krel, why didn’t you mention this before?” Thundina stalked over to Krel.
“I don’t know. I just found it.” Krel said.
“Just found it? You’re not making any sense.”
“I just found it. I wish I could tell you more.”
“Ireena, you need to go see your brother,” Thundina turned to Ireena. “He believes the worst has befallen you.”

Ireena was still unsteady on her feat; her body still battered from the previous night’s fight. Cyron prayed with her a while and she began to look much better, even better then Thundina remembered Ireena appearing before. Seeing healing being distributed, Krel spoke up, “I’m still somewhat sore from last night, could I get a little help?”
Orning came over Krel, coughed, slapped Krel on the back, and walked away.
“Thank you, Orning.” Krel said.

The witches were piled like wood into the cart to be taken back to town. The next step needed to be determined. Thundina attempted to get the cart moving, “Ireena, could you take the villagers back to town? We’ll go collect the reward from Strahd.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me? I’m coming with you to deal with Strahd!” Ireena protested.
“You need to see your brother, and someone needs to protect the villagers.”
“I’ve got it! We can all return to the village and talk to Ismark. I’m sure he’ll want the full story from someone who was there.” Romann said.
“I already told him.” Thundina insisted.

Thundina lost that argument and soon found herself once more walking towards town. Fuming at the waste of time walking up and down the road, Thundina thought she was approaching the point where she could walk it blindfolded. Maybe she’d try that the next time, if only for her own amusement.

Reaching town, the witches were taken away and soon the black acrid smoke visible over the top of the cottages, it became obvious what was done with dead witches. Meanwhile the party approached the Kolyanavich manor once again. Romann knocked on the door and Ismark opened the door with his eyes downcast.
“Greetings noble Ismark.” Romann spoke for the party. “I hear you have become the burgomaster, congratulations!”
“Thank you.” Ismark then glanced up, “Ireena! I had heard you were dead!” Ismark embraced his sister but still sparing a glower for Thundina. Thundina tried to look away and avoid his gaze.
“Uh, she was dead.” Cyron came to Thundina’s rescue. “She was extremely heroic last night and we all mourned when the demon creature cleaved through her. We realized this morning that we had a scroll with which we could return her to life.”
“Happy family reunion.” Thundina piped up. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we need to go see Strahd to collect our promised reward for dealing with the witches. Hint.”
“You are dealing with Strahd?” Ismark said with a shock. “He is evil, and you brought my sister to him!”
“He demanded we come to him, you don’t refuse such an invitation. And your sister is a grown woman, she came of her own free will.”
“What kind of deal were you making with Strahd?”
“He wanted us to drive the witches away. Everyone seemed in agreement that the witches needed to be defeated. I saw nothing wrong with such an agreement.”

Ismark pulled his sister aside and had an animated whispered conversation. If Ismark had been angry with Thundina, he was doubly so with Ireena. For a moment it looked like their argument would end in a stalemate, but then Ireena backed down from her older brother. Ismark returned to the party and said, “Ireena will be staying here at the manor. We thank you for saving the town from the witches, but please do not make any further deals with Strahd.”

Promptly putting Ismark’s plea out of her mind, Thundina led her friends up towards the castle. The bright sun on her face and the thought of soon receiving something of value, Thundina began to feel the best she had ever about the little town of Barovia. She even began to feel like maybe Strahd was the nicest person in the town; he was not a greedy bastard like Bildreth, a dour stick-in-the-mud like Ismark, or a hollow braggart like Halas.

Glancing up at the gatehouse where Romann had been slimed, Thundina still saw nothing, shrugged, and crossed the bridge. She needed to have been looking forward instead of up. Standing in the bright sun light at the doors to the castle was a figure in a billowing cloak. As the party approached, the figure pulled the hood back showing that it was Strahd. He yelled at the party as they approached, “Leave these grounds!”

Thundina was shocked. “You promised a reward from your treasury if we dealt with the witches. We dealt with the witches and we’ve come to collect.”
Strahd responded, “Your reward is your lives.”
“That’s not a reward from your treasury.”
“All of the valley is mine, so take the reward I have offered and go.”
“You lied! We want what is due to us!”
Strahd turned to more fully size up Thundina. His eye twitched ever so slightly. Thundina, thinking about what Cyron had said about Krel, realized something – Strahd was not going to keep his end of the bargain and give Thundina her reward, she’d have to take it herself. Biting back the rest of her outburst, Thundina assessed the rest of her party and saw no one else trying to stand up to Strahd. Since no one else was raising objections to his actions, Strahd reentered his castle and closed the door behind himself.

“Okay then, are we ready to go get what is ours?” Thundina took a step towards the castle.
Cyron grabbed Thundina and said, “Vampires shouldn’t be able to stand in the sun like that. There is something very wrong about this. I suggest we do as he says and we leave.”
“Nonsense. That castle is our fate. We need treasure. We deserve treasure. The castle is where we’re going to get treasure.”
“Remember Thundina, we still need the Symbol too. Let’s go dig more graves looking for it first.” Romann offered.
“Forget digging. Halas almost certainly has found it already and he’s almost certainly a prisoner in the castle.” Thundina pleaded.
“What else do we need still?” Cyron asked.
“We need the Tome from the castle and we need to take the Sunsword to the top of the castle. We need to enter the castle.” Thundina insisted.
“I still say we should dig more. Either dig more or visit Madam Eva and ask for her insight.” Romann said.

In the confusion of the argument, Orning stepped up to the castle door and opened it. Catching sight of this, Cyron scurried forward and quickly closed it again. “Here’s what I can’t figure out, why are we discussing whether or not to raid the castle right under Strahd’s nose?”
“Why not? Do you really think we could hide it from him wherever we do our planning?” Thundina countered.
“We’re talking about the most dangerous man in the valley,” Krel mentioned. “Perhaps the most dangerous man on the continent.”
“The King of Karnnath.” Cyron said.
“What?” Krel couldn’t follow.
“The King of Karnnath is the most dangerous man on the continent.” Cyron clarified.

Romann once again drew the conversation back to the local. “We should either visit Eva to learn where Halas has gone, or we should go to the church and resume digging.”
“Fine,” Thundina said exasperated. “We can go visit Madam Eva, then find Halas and the Symbol, and then return to the castle to find the Tome.”

Whether out of agreement or no further desire to argue the finer points further, the party returned down the trail once more, on their way to vestani encampment. Met by a rough vestani at the edge of the wagons, the party was challenged, “Why have you returned to our camp once again?”
Romann stepped forward, “We need to speak with Madam Eva.”
“Then go and see her.”

As the party entered Madam Eva’s tent, she regarded them somewhat scornfully, “You have not fulfilled all that I said you vould.”
“Well, that’s why we came to see you,” Romann began. “Do you know where Halas is?”
“I know all things.”
“Where is he?”
“I know all things.”
“Why won’t you tell us?”
“I cannot tell all I know.”
“We need to find Halas?”
“Why should I tell you where to find him?”
“Because we are attempting to overcome Strahd. That is what you wish as well.”
“Yes.” Madam Eva began. Suddenly she stopped and sniffed the air. Her finger jabbed out at Krel and Cyron, “You two, leave. Now.”
Krel backed out of the tent but Cyron stayed to argue, “Why? I know Krel was dominated by the vampire, is this something to do with that?”
“Leave!”
“I just want to know what’s the matter. Is it the vampire?”
Madam Eva raised her hands at Cyron who once again asked, “It’s Krel that is dominated, nothing to do with me.”
Madam Eva began paging through a book of mystical symbols in her lap. It was at this point that Cyron muttered, “Okay, okay, I’m going.”

When Cyron was gone, Madam Eva resumed, “I may have just compromised my life. Those two are under the sway of Strahd. He now knows I have opposed him. The Symbol is still in town, the Tome is still in the keep. Do not return until you have found them. In fact, best that you do not return; I sense the camp may be moving soon.”

Outside the tent, around the vestani’s dancing fire, Romann and Thundina confronted Cyron. Cyron, still in disbelief, “What did she have to say?”
Thundina answered him, “You are like him.” Thundina point at Krel.
“She said that?”
“You are like him,” Thundina repeated, again pointing at Krel. “That was a clever ruse, selling out your traitorous compatriot to further worm your way into our group. I just want you to remember one thing from here on out. Orning!”
Orning took his cue, “I’m always watching.”
Thundina then continued, “All of us, we always watching you now.”

Thundina pulled Romann aside to consult with him, trying to keep both Krel and Cyron out of the loop, although she wondered if Romann really would be any good at keeping secrets from Cyron. She didn’t really have any choice, it was either plan with Romann, or plan with Orning.
“Well Romann, you may have been right. The Symbol is still in town somewhere. What’s our plan?” Thundina asked.
Romann swelled with pride at hearing he had been right. “To the graveyard of course.”
Krel came up behind the pair to interrupt, “Excuse me.”
Both Romann and Thundina whipped around, Thundina glowering. “What?”
“I’m sorry,” Krel said. “Last night, I had a vision. It’s somewhat fuzzy, but I think it may be of importance. I dreamed of a chapel with markings of ravens.”
“Ravens, eh?” Romann said while scratching his chin. “Those mean something I’m sure.”
Thundina rolled her eyes a little. “Let’s start heading back to town. Romann and I will need to continue having a private conversation on the way though.”

Thundina and Romann walked a couple paces in front of the other three on the road back to town. “We’ve been investigating the church, but now Krel thinks there’s some importance to a chapel. It does mean something.”
Romann had an idea, “What about the ruins on Lysaga Hill. That could be a chapel, and there were dead witches there.”
“That was a monastery, not a chapel. And anyways, it wasn’t a place of the dead until we killed the witches; well after our prophecy.”
“Perhaps the Kolyanavich manor has a chapel?”
“Perhaps, but you’re going to be the one to talk to Ismark.”
“Why don’t you want to talk to him.”
“Ismark and I, we’re not close. Is Cyron still good at filling in holes?”
“That has been how I planned to use him this evening all along.”
“Then maybe I can take him and Krel to the church to do more digging while you talk with Ismark about what he knows.”

The debate on who should visit Ismark and who should proceed directly to the church continued until everyone reached town square. Romann made one final question, “We’re at town, what’s our final plans?”
Thundina responded, “You need to make this choice. Either we visit Ismark together or we split up to start digging. I can’t order Cyron around though, not easily at least.”
“Very well, we go to Ismark’s,” Romann declared.

Halfway down the street to the Kolyanavich manor, Thundina stopped dead in the streets, thinking she heard a woman sobbing in a nearby home. When others confirmed that it was not just her imagination, the party halted outside the house. While the party equivocated about investigating the crying versus ignoring the trouble and going directly to Ismark, Orning simply opened the door. Thundina then stepped through and followed the crying up the stairs and into a room.

The room was painted pink with a faerie castle surrounded by knights in shining armor and princesses in long fancy dresses. The ceiling was a bright blue with fluffy white clouds and a smiling sun. Toy dolls also representing princes and princesses littered the floor. A matron was seated in the middle of the floor clutching one of the princess dolls while sobbing hysterically. Thundina approached the woman, knelt down beside her, and put an arm around the sobbing woman’s shoulders.

“There, there. What’s the matter?” Thundina cooed.
“Gertruda…” The woman sobbed. “Gertruda’s gone!”
“When did Gertruda go?”
“She left. Ran away last night!”
“It’s going to be okay. We can find her. Can you describe Gertruda?”
“She was safe, and now she’s gone. She was fair-skinned, fair-haired.” The woman was wracked by sobbing. “I fear the master has taken her.”
“How old is your child?”
“She was 16. I fear the master has taken her.”
“We’ll search for her, I promise. If we can find her, we’ll bring her back home.” Thundina rocked the woman, holding her until she seemed to cry herself out. Thundina then rose, and shooed her companions out of the house, closing the door softly as she exited. Thundina had feared for a moment while comforting the woman that the missing person she would describe would be match to one of the witches encountered the previous night, but that fear passed because none of the witches had been particularly young.

When Romann knocked at the Kolyanavich manor, Ireena opened the door. “Have you come to rescue me from this prison? I’ll go get my gear together.”
“We have come to see your brother.” Romann said while following Ireena into the manor.
“Romann, what can I do for you?” Ismark greeted the party.
“Does your manor have a chapel in it?”
“No. The only chapel in the area is the church up the street. There may also be a chapel in the castle.”
“Is there another entrance to the castle, one not so well guarded?”
“There is a stained glass window which should give entrance to the catacombs under the castle. Of course, that window is 900 feet up the sheer cliff side of the castle.”
“Really, how do you know about that?”
Thundina coughed, “Have you looked up at the castle anytime? It’s kind of difficult to see at this distance, but you should be able to clearly see the windows.”

Stomachs growling, the party returned to the inn to discuss exact plans for the rest of the evening. While at the dinner table, the waitress Thundina had hired the day before came up to her to whisper a message, “I’ve been looking for you all day. You weren’t around the church or at the inn like you had said you would be.”
“Go on, have you seen Halas?” Thundina asked the lass.
“He’s taken up an abandoned house on the eastern edge of town.”
“Thank you. Here, like I promised.” Thundina passed a couple coins over to the girl. Then, turning to the rest of the party, “Finally, good news. Halas is in town. Let’s finish up and go pay him a visit.”

Near the outskirts of the village, only one house was lighted. The party approached and then realized they hadn’t decided on their plan of approach. Thundina and Romann looked at each other silently to figure out who was going to be talking to Halas. While they looked back and forth, Orning went to the door and opened it.

“Ah, Thundina, Romann, how good to see you again.” Halas called from a chair.
“We’ve been wondering what happened to you, Halas,” Thundina said as she came in. “We’ve been surprised not to see you bragging in the inn, or at least hanging around it.”
“I said I would return when I found both artifacts, but alas, I have only found one.”
“Okay, we’re sorry we ran you off. We’ll be setting off to recover the Tome soon. Please, come with us.”
“No, I’m just not seeing the profit in it. I’m bringing the artifact, and know how to bind it. I just don’t see what you’re bringing to the group anymore.”
Thundina drew up angrily, “We of course have the repaired Sunsword and we have also figured out how to activate the Symbol. You are not that special.”
“Plus I really don’t feel like going to the castle with you. I’ve already been all over the castle, from top to bottom, and the Tome simply isn’t there. You’ll just be slowing me down as I continue my search.”
Cyron spoke up, “Can we see the Symbol please.”
Halas pulled out a symbol of a raven of wrought iron with a small jewel set in the middle of it. Cyron shook his head, “That’s not the Symbol. The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind is made of gold.”
Halas replied, “Oh, I am quite certain this is it.”
Romann spoke up, “The easiest way to be certain is to take it to Ismark, he should have no difficulty positively identifying it.”
“An excellent plan, Romann,” Halas said slyly. “This is exactly why I left you in charge. Have you been leading the party well?”
Too tired from trekking up and down and all around the town all day long, Thundina just let it slide. She just wanted to get the business settled and get the Symbol.

Back once more to Ismark. Ismark was able to quickly identify that the item Halas carried was indeed the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, even if it looked made of iron. Then, giving everyone a look for disturbing him that late in the evening, dismissed his guests and closed his door.

On the way to Halas’s abode, Cyron brought up the subject of activating the Symbol. “You know, Halas, you can’t activate the Symbol. It requires a person of pure heart who can Turn Undead.”
Halas replied, “What’s your point?”
“Let us borrow the Symbol. We’ll use it against Strahd, and when we’re done we’ll return it to you. You have nothing to lose on this.”
“No, no. If you bind it, it will hurt the resale value of the Symbol. Bildreth has already offered five thousand for it and I expect I can get considerably more from Ismark.”
Suddenly devious, Cyron asked Halas, “Can I see the Symbol one more time. I think a jewel may be missing.”
His face gave it all away and Halas said, “No, I think it’ll be staying safely in my bag.”
Cyron whispered to Romann, “Get ready to grab the bag.” Cyron drew himself up to as great of a height as he could manage, and gave a Command to Halas, “Drop your bag.”

Surprise registered on Halas’s face for a moment and then tension filled the air. Halas stepped away from Cyron, pulled a potion from his pack, and vanished. “Your little cleric friend tried to do something to my mind. Just so you know.”
Romann shouted at Cyron, “Cyron, you did what?”
Cyron calmly explained, “I tried to get him to drop the bag so we could get the Symbol. I didn’t want anything else.”
Invisible still, Halas continued the story, “He tried to get me to drop the bag by magic. I think I will try going to the authorities about this.”
Romann burst at Cyron again, “Cyron, we possibly could have reasoned with him. Magic was unnecessary.”
Cyron continued his rationale, “He seemed like he was going to sell the artifact and then we’d never see it again. We need the Tome, Strahd…”
Before Cyron could finish, Halas interrupted, “Well you’ll never be seeing it now.”
With the tension dissipating, Thundina had a line of questions for Cyron, “Were you trying to steal the Symbol for Strahd?”
“No! I was worried he was going to smuggle the artifact out to the King of Karnnath.” Cyron protested.
“You’re not going to be trusted with any of the artifacts after this.” Thundina said coldly.

With Halas disappeared, and the night far too dark to consider setting out to the castle through where the wolves had been howling, there was nothing to do but sleep on the frustrations of the day. Over breakfast the next morning, Ismark came to visit the inn. “Halas came to me last night with a very serious claim. He claimed you assaulted him last night. Please, assure me there is no truth to this.”

Krel immediately began pointing at Cyron and Cyron was forced again to explain his justifications for attempting to ensnare Halas. Ismark sighed, “You have been the heroes and saviors of the town. We can let this one slide, but our town has enough problems without outsiders starting fights. Please, do not let this happen again.”

“Before we leave, are there any preparations we should make?” Krel asked. “Are there any new items I should be crafting?”
“Not really Krel. We’re so desperately poor, we need to get our reward from Strahd’s treasure vault so you will have the resources to do your enchanting.” Thundina replied.
Approaching Strahd’s castle, Krel came up with another objection to barging in, “There are so many possible allies back in town: Ashlyn, Urik, Ireena. We should ask some of them to come with us.”
Thundina shook her head, “We’ll be fine. Urik is quite capable, and I respect Ashlyn a lot, but I strongly suspect neither wish to brave Castle Ravenloft. Ireena is grounded, remember. Let’s just do it.”

Finally at the doors to the castle, Krel made his final objection, “I’m not going in there. I want to come up with another plan.”
Romann was upset, “We’ve come all this way, and this is the first you’ve said anything like that. We’re here now, if you have another plan, we’ll listen.”
Krel stuttered, “Do you remember those gargoyles? We’ll never survive. Let’s find another way.”
Thundina said, “The other way is a 900 foot sheer cliff. I could maybe climb, but not dragging a 900 foot rope behind me. I’m afraid it’s this door or giving up. I intend to collect what Strahd owes me. Propose another plan if you have one.”
Krel turned and began walking back down the road, “I’m not going in, that’s it.”

Orning, not following all the conversations, simply walked up to the door while the debate raged, and opened the door. This time, he stepped inside before Cyron could close the door. Strahd’s voice boomed out as soon as Orning entered the castle, “I gave you your lives and you want more. Very well.” The two carved statues of dragons began to shake and rumble. Their hinged jaws dropped slightly and the pair emitted a short burst of flame to char Orning.

Thundina dashed in to begin lashing at the stone dragon. Before anyone else could act, the dragons let out a second burst of fire. Thundina nimbly evaded all the flame, but Orning became further singed. Romann charged in shortly after Thundina to begin chipping rocks away from the other dragon. Cyron chanted, “Balinor, God of the Hunt, who teaches us the wisdom of Celerity, please, grant us Haste to smite our enemies.”

Before Orning could give himself his healing touch, the four gargoyles from the next antechamber joined the fray. Some flying, some striding, but all felt the bite of Thundina’s guisarme as they attempted to reach Thundina’s friends. Sturdy creatures, the gargoyles shrugged off the first hits from Thundina. One barreled into Orning, knocking him down and out.

Cyron, ignoring the harm to his own person as he entered the room, pumped one of his most powerful Cure spells into Orning, bringing him back to consciousness. Thundina shorted the grip on her guisarme and slashed one of the gargoyles attempting to overrun the line of heroes. The stone dragons fell back a little and belched forth two cones of flame through the gargoyle line. Thundina once again nimbly dodged all the fire, but the flame again overwhelmed Orning who once again went unconscious.

Romann stepped forward and with a powerful blow shattered a gargoyles and proceeded to assault one of the stone dragons, only to realize that he really couldn’t see the dragon and was attempting to strike at mere shadows. He called out, “Cyron, light!” Cyron inched forward pulling out Romann’s ever burning torch and tossing it down near Romann’s feet before healing Orning again.

Slightly backing away from the light, a fourth double barreled blast of fire knocked Orning out again, singed Romann badly, but couldn’t touch Thundina. Fortunately, the remaining gargoyles, weakened by the previous blast of fire and Thundina’s attacks, the gargoyles succumbed to the fire. Thundina pressed the attack on against the stone dragons. Romann, dead on his feet and should have been retreating, instead leapt forward to assist Thundina. Cyron, looking from Orning, burnt and bleeding, to Romann, burnt and bleeding, but alert, Cyron decided he needed to help Romann first. Driven by Thundina and Romann and trying to escape the torchlight, the stone dragons had been forced far enough away from Orning that their flames could no longer touch him.

One stone dragon shattered under the attack and Thundina saw an opportunity to get behind the other while it was distracted by Romann, but Romann drove another powerful attack through it. Cyron was already shaking Orning awake with a healing spell. “Orning, you awake?” Orning replied weakly, “Bravo.”

Perhaps, a minute away from the castle, a thought suddenly struck Krel. He could brew potions of Fly. That’d allow access to the catacombs.

Standing around near the entrance to the castle, Thundina, Romann, Cyron, and Orning assessed their strength. They had taken a terrible battering in this first encounter and Krel had disappeared. How far he had wandered off it was impossible to tell in the chaos of the battle. Thundina wanted to press on while they still had some element of surprise, but she was meeting resistance. A complete review of strength and expectations would be needed before a decision could be made.

 

[Ealli]

Chapter 7: To Once Again Jump Down to Undead

“Cyron, look at this leg wound! How could you let this happen to me?” Romann yelled at Cyron.

Thundina couldn’t decide how serious Romann’s anger was. She figured it must have been alright because Cyron pulled out a wand and tapped Romann and the wounds began to slowly close. “Sorry sir. Does this feel better, sir?”Another couple taps and Romann was looking quite healthy again. “Very good, Cyron,” Romann replied. Though she was certain she had dodged all the fire, Thundina’s side was aflame where the gargoyles had raked their claws. “Cyron, I think I need a tap as well.”

Once the spell had run its course, finishing its healing, Thundina began to rally her friends to return to the castle. However, before she could get everyone moving again, two figures came hustling up the road. Thundina recognized the two at once, Krel had returned and Halas had come along as well.

As soon as they got within speaking distance, Halas began, “Ah, hello everyone! I met Karl here heading back to town. He told me how Cyron didn’t mean what he did, it was one of Strahd’s cunning plans to sow dissent in those who seek to sack his castle and you were in dire need of help up here. Being the every forgiving and generous man that I am, I agreed to come assist. Aren’t you glad to see me?!”

Thundina was of mixed emotion. Having Halas around seemed like it would be more trouble than he was worth, but to have the Symbol nearby would do much good should they reach they top of the castle. Smiling as sweetly as she could to Halas, Thundina said, “Of course we’re happy to have you around again.”

Halas asked, “Karl, have you got that chain shirt ready for me?”
Krel started to say, “No, I haven’t made it yet.”
Thundina reminded Halas of his promise however, “Do you have the Symbol and Tome for us then?”
Halas then said, “Right, right. Well, Karl, why don’t you see about making that shirt ASAP so that when I find the Tome, it’ll all be set.”

Romann gave Halas a hearty slap on the back, “It is great to see you again. Look, I’m real sorry about what Cyron did. He hasn’t been himself recently. So, are you ready to get back into the castle and find the treasure room?”

Krel objected to this plan. “There are more allies back in town we should recruit. You remember, Urik, Ashlyn, and Ireena. Plus, we really should be sneaking into the castle, like through the catacombs, not through the main gate. I can prepare a way for us to fly up to the stained glass windows which are supposed to lead to the catacombs.”

“Fly, you say…” Romann mused.

Thundina pulled Romann aside to have a conference. “Are we going to continue in the front or go around to the catacombs? We did pretty well with the entry and we’ve got some reinforcements now.”
“I don’t know, flying seems pretty cool.”
“It does sound like it’d be cool,” Thundina agreed.
“And I’d like to get some extra help. Ashlyn, if no one else, as a back-up healer. Urik is also a really good fighter.”
“Do we really need anyone else? Sharing the treasure out so that we get one-quarter less each might not seem like a lot right now, but when we finally start getting our rewards, it’s going to be that much more precious.”
“Never fear Thundina, more help means we’ll get that treasure that much quicker!”
“I’m not going to bar Ashlyn from joining, but I’m not going to ask her either. We’ll go back to the village and you can try recruiting while Krel prepares to make us fly.”

Back at their base of operations once again, everyone began their preparations. Krel sequestered himself up in his room with the promise that he could have everything ready in two days. Romann had tracked down Urik and began trying to convince the Knight of the Raven to join the raid of Castle Ravenloft. Sir Urik declined, saying that his previous experience and the loss of his friends in that dark castle made him never want to return there again, but he would pray for success. He did offer a few details about the layout, such as Strahd’s court and offices were on the second floor with a study and library up on the third floor. When Romann found Ashlyn, she considered a moment, and then agreed to join.

At breakfast on the third day, Thundina greeted Krel, “So, is today the day we get to fly?”
Krel shook his head, “No, I’ve only got two of the six scrolls complete.”
“I thought you said you could be done in two days?!”
“I said I could finish in two days, if everything went right. Not everything has gone right. It’s going to take a couple more days yet.”

Later that afternoon, Thundina was still sitting around the inn when Romann came up and nudged her. He pointed across the room to where Orning was leaning back in his chair, mouth open, and eyelids mostly closed. Laughing, Romann said, “He’s asleep. So much for his, ‘I’m always watching.’”

Thundina shot back a glance at Romann, “Hey now, you know how he stands watch all night. He’s been needing to catch up on his sleep. Besides, he looks so simple and uncomplicated when he’s asleep like that.”

Romann laughed again, “Simple? Do say.”
Thundina replied, “You know what I meant. He’s just so cute. Or is it handsome? Whatever, just let him be.”
“Why Thundina, do you have a crush?”
“What? He’s just a nice guy who is nice to look at. I mean, he’s a paladin, that just comes with who they are. That doesn’t mean I have a crush. Just, go back to your drinking.”

With a shrug, Romann called for another round of ale and returned to the other townsfolk in the inn to tell them once again one of his exaggerated stories of bravery and heroics. Thundina didn’t think many of them were buying it, but it kept Romann out of trouble. Thundina stalked out of the inn. She had been cooped up too long without anything happening and she needed to stretch her legs. She prowled around the town for awhile, just itching for a fight, but the village seemed peaceful.

The next day, at dinner, an exhausted looking Krel joined the meal. After a moments silence, Krel asked, “Well, Thundina, aren’t you wondering why we weren’t able to resume the adventure today?”

A quick glance out the window showed that the wind was still howling like it had been all day. “Nope. I was just as happy to stay inside today with the weather like it is.”

Krel sunk into his seat and began to take his meal, “Really, I guess I didn’t notice. I managed to make a lot of progress today. I’m nearly done, except, I’ve run out of supplies to finish the last little bit.”

“We’ll get you restocked, of course.” Thundina comforted Krel. “How much are you needing?”
“Well, I spent a total of 1680 gold coins worth of supplies on this.”
Thundina was taken aback. “That’s… that’s… That’s a lot. That’s a problem. I’m flat broke, which is why I’ve been so eager to find Strahd’s treasure room. Orning is not much better off either.”
Krel turned to Romann and Cyron, “I supposed we’ll split it as evenly as possible.”
Romann asked Cyron, “Cyron, how much money do I have still?”
Cyron opened the money pouch he carried for Romann and replied, “You have 1300, sir.”
“Excellent. Krel, we can give you 1300.”
Krel replied, “An even split will be fine. Just give me 840 please.”

Around noon on the fifth day, Krel announced that he had completed all the scrolls. Everyone settled in to finalize the plans. Krel described how he envisioned the magic working. “We’ll go up near the castle. That’ll make for a shorter flight. I’ll cast Fly on Romann, he’ll go break open the window, then I’ll cast Fly on the rest of us and we’ll join him. Does that sound okay?”
Cyron wondered, “Uh, not to be grim, but that’s putting Romann at a lot of risk. What if the spell expires while Romann is up in the air?”
“Fly always gives you a Feather Fall effect when it ends. That’ll be fine.” Krel assured Cyron.
“And what if, after he’s inside, there turns out to be some creature which attempts to kill him and he needs to retreat?” Cyron followed up with.
Thundina laughed, “What, it’s only 900 feet down. I bet a hero like Romann wouldn’t have any trouble with that.”
Romann scoffed, “You worry too much Cyron. I think I can handle any creature. Remember the time during the war when we fought that mercenary company? We just kept coming at them until they reached the kill limit imposed by their contract and they withdrew.”
Cyron sighed, “Too well.”

Krel thought a moment about falling 900 feet and sighed, “Let’s see if Bildreth has any potions of Feather Fall. If he doesn’t, I can brew some up this afternoon and then we can start out bright and early tomorrow.”

The next morning Krel distributed to each person a potion he had brewed the previous afternoon and everyone set off to the castle yet again. Reaching a good spot as near to the windows in the cliff as possible, Krel pulled out the scrolls he had prepared, unrolled one and gulped. “Oh, . I still need to activate the scrolls. Okay, slight change of plan. Romann, after you break the window, come back here and start ferrying us over. That’s the funny thing about magic, those who are stronger on ground can carry more while in flight.”

The first scroll completed fine and Romann was soon airborne. Romann flew down to the stain glass window. Presented with a choice of three windows to break open, Romann settled in front of the middle window; also the largest. With a yell, he slammed his gauntleted right fist into the windows. His fist rebounded off the thick glass with little apparent damage. He followed with at slam from his left fist, but again meeting no success. Drawing his greatsword, Romann smashed through the window with a single mighty swing of the sword.

Upon hearing the crashing glass and Romann’s cry of triumph, Krel unrolled another scroll and stood near Thundina. “Hmm, Thundina, err, I don’t suppose you can help me remember what this symbol is? No, well, shouldn’t make too much of a difference. Anyway, I just scribed these so I’m certain I remember all the words. Navi! Nala! Na*cough*”

Watching the scroll begin to crumble to dust in his hands, but Thundina still standing on the ground, Krel exclaimed, “Oh come on! I said the words! Everyone heard me, clearly say the words. Fine.” Krel unrolled another scroll and tried again. This time, Thundina immediately began floating an inch off the ground. She shouted, “I can fly! Ooh, let’s see, what should I do.”

Krel insisted, “You should take Orning and Halas down to the opening. Romann has already taken Cyron and he’ll be back for Ashlyn momentarily.” Thundina held Orning close and told him to hold on. She then picked Halas and set off for the open window.

Halas protested, “This is no way for your party leader to travel. Are you sure this is safe. I should be carefully holding on to you like Orning gets to.”
“Hmm, yeah. You’re scrawny enough that it’ll be fine. And if you want treatment like Orning gets, you should learn a lesson or two from him.”

After depositing Orning and Halas, Thundina somersaulted through the air, back to where Krel was waiting on the cliff. Carrying him back to the room with the ruined window, Thundina and Krel encountered everyone still standing around near the window, nearly giving Thundina no room to land.

Carved from stone, the walls were sculpted into a fine relief pattern. The far side of the room was bathed in a light blue glow. Through the blue glow, stairs continuing further up could be seen faintly. Two marble coffins stood in the middle of the room. Thundina’s eyes brightened, this room looked rich. Thundina practically skipped over to one of the coffins and lovingly ran her hand over it, reading the name on the coffin, “Ravonovia von Zarovich”.

Peeking at every crevice, Thundina was finally convinced that it held no dangerous traps and shoved the lid off the coffin. Halas, who had been standing over Thundina’s shoulder immediately leaped back to avoid the monster in the coffin. However, his maneuver was in vain since the only thing the coffin contained was a non-animated corpse wrapped in a faintly glimmering burial shroud. Thundina, recognizing magic when she saw it, called to Cyron and Krel, “Hey, magic guys, come take a look at this.”

The other coffin was inscribed with the name Barov von Zarovich. Pushing back this lid as well, Thundina found another mummified corpse. Finding a green enameled ring on the corpse’s finger, Thundina thought it matched some of the locks of her hair. Taking the color as a sign, Thundina took the ring and tucked it away. Thundina returned to investigating the coffin, really expecting to find something shiny and valuable, the coffin turned out to contain nothing but disappointment.

Thundina glanced up to see Cyron gazing reverently at the glowing shroud in the other coffin. “This is the burial shroud of Saint Ecaterina. This may be a sign that this is not the grave of Ravonovia von Zarovich.”

As Thundina crossed back to the other coffin, Krel asked, “Find anything over there?”

Thundina furrowed her brow for a moment before shaking her head, “Nothing fun.” Leaning over the first coffin to get another better look at the glowing shroud, Thundina addressed Cyron, “You say this belonged to a saint. What else can you tell us about it?”

Cyron thought deeply before speaking, “The burial shroud is something of an artifact. Saint Ecaterina disappeared many years ago and none knew where she was laid to rest. Her holy body became infused into the burial shroud layed over her making it a holy item. Now that I think of it, I guess that doesn’t mean the name on the coffin is in error. Um, how did the head of my order know about the existence of the shroud.”

“That’s great and all,” Thundina said, “but what are we going to do with it?”
“Well, I guess we can probably take it,” Cyron mused. “I don’t think St. Ecaterina is going smite us.”
“That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear. So pick it up already.”

With nothing further of interest in the room, Thundina, Krel, Romann, and Cyron all lined up next to the glowing blue barrier to investigate. Two orbs set on pedestals in contact with the walls generated the field. A close investigation of the orbs revealed no way to disable the field and the orbs themselves resisted Thundina’s attempts to dislodge them. With stairs visible through the barrier, Cyron tossed a shard of glass from the broken window through as well. Everyone stared back and forth for a moment wondering what to do before Thundina and Krel both stepped forward, Thundina a single step ahead. Both appeared at the top of the stairs, fifteen feet away from the barrier, but on the far side. After Thundina gestured to the rest, everyone else came through as well. Most appeared at the top of the stairs, but Cyron and Ashlyn each simply passed through the barrier and stayed near it. Cyron could pass back and forth at will, but when Krel tried it, he found himself back at the top of the stairs, away from the coffins.

On the far side, a wide hallway led straight away from the blue field with a maze of hallways leading off to both sides. Between the hallways, rows of iron doors marked other, smaller tombs. Thundina scouted a little to each side, but all she could see were rows upon rows of more tombs. Going down the main hallway eventually led to a spiral stair leading up and out of the catacombs. The first eighty feet up went very well until a brick wall was then blocking the path. A small chink in the wall caught Thundina’s attention, but she could find no way to use that or anything else to cause the obstruction to release.

Shouldering his way forward, Romann boldly declared, “No problem! I just dealt with something blocking our path earlier.” He drew his great sword and took a swing at the wall. After the clang of the sword rebounding off the wall, Romann swung again. Sparks flew from the sword scraping along the brick, but the wall did not shatter. “Hmm, perhaps brick is stronger than glass. Interesting.”

As Romann began another assault of the wall, Thundina began going back down stairs, “You have fun with that. I’m going to see what else there is down here.”

Back at the bottom of the stairs, Thundina wanted to find the walls parallel to the main corridor so she began moving off to the south. Thundina paused a moment when Orning called out, “Bravo!” He was attempting to pry open one of the doors to a random tomb.

Thundina doubled back to Orning to ask, “What is it about this door that you want to open it?” Thundina peered at the name plate on the door and read, “Thorgen the Grasping; Gold Is His Only Legacy.” Thundina smiled and began pushing on the door as well, “Very good Orning. An excellent find.”

Working together, Thundina and Orning managed to open the door to the tomb. Inside was a corpse still grasping a small wooden chest. Thundina approached carefully and looked over the chest. Finding a hole for a pin, Thundina chuckled before stopping the hole. “Alright now Thorgen, let’s see your legacy.” Thundina opened the chest and pulled out the treasure – a single gold coin. She laughed the maniacally laughter of someone trying not to cry.

Past a couple more rows of tombs and the party spotted the southern wall. A black iron gate in the wall was drawn shut preventing any further explorations to the south. Over the gate a skull had been affixed to the wall; and it wasn’t one of those happy skulls occasionally seen in castles. Through the gate Thundina could see a black coffin on a mound of dirt in the middle of a room. A giant stone statue of a man stood watch over the coffin. A light mist extended a few feet from the gate in all directions. Although Romann wanted to return to the brick wall in the stair case and Orning insisted on opening another crypt, Thundina stepped towards the gate and into the mist.

After a flash of light, Thundina found herself in darkness. Instead of her armor, she was wearing only some filthy rags. Wood enclosed her on all sides, pressing in. Thundina pounded on the wood for a moment before she forced herself to relax and think. It felt like a coffin so all she needed to do was find the lid and either push it off or break it open. She shoved the lid open and gazed around the room. In the dark room, Thundina could see a horde of twisted figures. The smell of decay in the room and the way the figures were standing made Thundina immediately think of wights, a creature she had hoped never to see again. Not seeing any exit anywhere in the room, Thundina made one more search of the coffin she had found herself in, hoping to find the way back. Nothing there either and the horde of wights shambled to surround Thundina.

Back in the corridors near the gate, when Thundina had disappeared, a corpse had appeared in her gear at the location where she vanished. The lump of flesh fell to the ground as everyone stood shocked. Krel crouched down near the floor and peered through the mists. Krel announced, “There’s a trap here. Stepping into the mists would be a bad idea. Let me see if I can disable it.”

Romann picked up the corpse, then dropped it again. When nothing happened to it, he reached the conclusion that the trap couldn’t kill anyone else. “Well done Krel. Stick with me, you’ve got a bright future ahead.” He stepped forward into the mists before Krel could yell at him to stop. A corpse dressed identically to Romann fell to the ground.

Surrounded but with a second wave of wights yet to come, Thundina took one last hard look around the room, desperately praying that there was some exit. There, on the eastern wall Thundina saw some recesses which looked like they might be handholds running up the wall. Thundina dodged over, under, and around the nearby wights and made a dash to the wall. Nearing the wall, she relieved to see that the handholds were real and they led up to a shaft climbing further out the room. Grabbing on to the wall, Thundina hauled herself up out of the reach of the wights before they could react to her burst of speed.

Once Romann disappeared, Cyron lunged forward to chase after him and another corpse fell to the ground. Orning, after watching others walk forward, stepped forward too and a fourth corpse fell with a meaty smack. Ashlyn and Halas were stupefied by what they had seen, but had no good ideas on what could be done and so simply stared at Krel as he continued to inspect the trap looking for a way to reverse, or at least disable, whatever had taken his friends.

Thundina reached the top of the wall she had been climbing and could see the cracks on the ceiling indicating a trap door. Clinging to the wall, Thundina pushed at the slab of stone and pushed it open. She had found an escape and was getting ready to run back to her friends to tell them she was safe when from below she heard Cyron calling out, asking if anyone was around. When both Romann and Orning answered, Thundina yelled down the shaft, “Stay put, I’m going for help!” She was now standing in a small room filled with junk but with a door very reminiscent of all the tomb doors she had passed in the hallways in the catacombs. Pushing open the door, Thundina called out to her friends. Soon, the flickering green light of an everburning torch appeared around a corned and Thundina could hear Krel calling out, “Thundina! Thundina, where are you?”

Once Thundina had reunited with Krel, Ashlyn, and Halas and had explained what had happened to her plus learned of what had happened to Romann, Cyron, and Orning, she described a plan. Time being of the essence, Thundina only stopped at the pile of flesh and equipment long enough to grab her weapons and pack. “Krel, can you provide a firestorm to clear out a pack of wights?”

“No, but I can create a Fireball.”
“Perhaps fire isn’t right anyway. An ocean of holy water would be better.”
“Not that either.”
“Sea?” Thundina suggested. Krel stared back uncomprehendingly a moment before she continued, “Lake? Puddle? Fine, go with the Fireball.”

Upon return to the door that led down to the wight’s lair, Thundina paused long enough to note the inscription saying that Shuhul Ishai-Bal and his family were buried with honor there. Thundina pulled her rope out of her pack and began measuring out the length she’d need to lower Krel down the hole. Krel asked, “How dire is the situation? Will I be able to take my time preparing?”

“I don’t know,” Thundina replied. Leaning over the shaft, she yelled down, “Are you safe still?”
Everyone strained their ears to hear what was happening down below. Finally, Halas looked up and said, “Did you hear anything?”
After Thundina and Krel both shook their heads, Halas spoke again, “They say they’re in dire trouble, in need of immediate rescue. We can’t spare a moment! Oh, the wailing!”

Krel concentrated for a moment on his shirt. Runes appeared on his shirt and Krel looked up. Satisfied with the result, Krel retraced the runes along his shirt again concentrating. Once he had completed retracing all his work, Krel announced, “I’ve got two charges of Fireball stored in my shirt. Let’s do this before I realize what I’ve agreed to do.”

After Thundina had nodded to Ashlyn to light her sunrod and toss it down the shaft, Thundina tied a harness around Krel. Hand over hand, Thundina lowered Krel down. Krel quietly called up, “How far do you intend to lower me down?”
Thundina called back, “It’s your call. Let me know when you’re ready.”
“Okay. How about one tug on the rope to continue lowering and two tugs to pull me back up.”
“You know, I can see you just fine. Gesturing will suffice.”

Getting below the ceiling in the wight room, Krel spotted one figure partially in shadow at the very edge of the sunrod’s light. Krel grasped his shirt to begin pulling the energy out when he was overcome with a sudden desire to rip his shirt off and drop it. He tried to figure out how to remove his shirt through both his breastplate and the harness he was tied into when the ridiculousness of the thought registered. His friends were in danger, dropping the shirt would only leave them in danger. Krel summoned all his sense of self and repelled the outside thought and continued with activating the fireball. He threw it just past the creature he could see. The blossoming of the Fireball was accompanied by the inhuman screams of several creatures and the splintering of wood.

Thundina pulled Krel ten feet up just before a wave of wights reached his former position. From his position out of reach of the wights, Krel took careful aim to catch the ones below him in the blast radius while leaving him safe. More screams and several of the visible ones fell motionless. Thundina began hauling Krel up and out and called on Ashlyn and Halas to help pull. As soon as Krel was out of the hole, Romann appeared in the light of the sunrod, looking confused and weak. Thundina could tell that he hadn’t spotted the handholds and tossed down the rope that was still attached to Krel. Once Romann had climbed back up, and a wight which had tried to give chase had been dispatched, the next step needed to be planned. Neither Cyron nor Orning had been spotted so the fighters would need to go down to engage in melee combat to finish clearing out the undead.

Since the room had once again fallen quiet, Thundina and Romann decided they could take the time to put their armor on before climbing down. A pair of ropes were secured and Thundina, Romann, and Ashlyn climbed down. The members of the party charged forward to meet the wights. Only four had survived the initial rescue mission, out of approximately a dozen Thundina had spotted during her escape. Fully armed and armored, the party made quick work of the undisciplined wights.

Romann pulled Cyron safely from a coffin, but Orning was not in evidence. Thundina searched the room to eventually find him beyond rescue in the farthest corner of the room. Apparently the first fireball had broken open his coffin and he had then retreated farther and farther into the darkness. Tears rolled down Thundina’s cheeks as she bent down to close the eyes of her fallen friend.

 

[Ealli]

Chapter 8: Door Number Three

Cyron came out of the coffin he had been imprisoned in clutching a scroll. Thundina took that as a cue to ransack every other coffin in the subvault. With each piece of loot, Thundina felt a little better. Krel had come down into the hole and began following Thundina around, inspecting each item. The wands and scrolls he kept for himself, the potions he identified as non-standard potions to be researched more fully later. When she found a silver necklace with a diamond set into it, Thundina asked Krel, “Do you think this is pretty?”

Krel touched the necklace and shook his head, “It’s not magical.”
“I didn’t ask if you thought it was magical, I asked if you thought it was pretty.”
“Umm, yes, it’s very nice.”
Thundina put the necklace on and asked, “Do you think this is pretty on me?”
Krel blanched and quickly asked, “Was there anything else for me to identify?”
“No, just some gold and platinum coins. Looks to be about 400 gold worth all together. Or 270 Bildreth bucks.”

While Thundina and Krel were rummaging through the coffins, Cyron noticed how weak Romann looked. Cyron sprinkled some diamond dust over Romann and invoked the gods for healing. The warrior’s fire quickly returned to Romann’s eyes. He strode around once more like he owned the place.

After climbing out of the hole, the party returned to the southern half of the catacombs and began systematically opening the crypts, looking for the key to the stairwell blockage. The tomb of King Dastrum, Hellborn and Hellbound, seemed promising, but contained nothing more than a scattering of ashes. Many however, had the name plate epitaph missing and the tomb had nothing more interesting than a skeleton in rags sitting on a marble slab. Thundina and Romann fell into a rhythm; Thundina inspecting the door, Romann shoving it open, and Thundina scouring the room.

After many disappointments, the tomb of Praefect Cyrel at last yielded excitement. The skeleton on the marble slab in tomb was dressed in still immaculate white clerical vestments instead of decayed rags. The high priest’s skeletal remains clutched a small chest in which Thundina found a strand of prayer beads and some silver arrows. After Krel had confirmed magic in both the beads and the arrows, Thundina and Romann moved on to the next tomb.

With Krel and Cyron close on their heels, Thundina and Romann looked back to see the vestments still in the high priest’s tomb, looked to each other and then looked quizzically at Cyron. Thundina said, “You know Cyron, if I see a sword, or a shield, or a helmet, or something I like, I’m going to take it.”

Cyron, not following, asked, “Of course you would. I don’t understand your point.”
“The point is, if you see some robes you like, you should take them.”
“What?”
“There’s something unusual about those robes. Everything else here has been decaying rags, but those are still in perfect condition.”

In the next tomb, Thundina found a jeweled dog collar but something about the back wall caught her attention. Tossing the dog collar up and catching it while staring at the back wall, Thundina rolled her head side to side trying to figure out what was so strange about the wall. Romann noticed the unusual behavior and asked what was going on. Thundina replied, “I think Cyron should come take a look at this.”

Romann bellowed, “Cyron, attend to me.”

Cyron came hurrying up clutching the vestments of Praefect Cyrel, “These are indeed magical.”
“Very nice,” Romann said hardly looking, “but Thundina wants you to look at something.”
“So what is this place?”
Thundina, still staring at the wall, answered, “Something something, dog sled champion. His tomb anyway. If you’re curious as to the exact name, check the epitaph outside, I can’t pronounce it.”

Cyron stood next to Thundina and followed her gaze to the wall. He too noticed something odd about it.
Thundina asked, “Well Mr. Dwarf, what do you think about it.”
Cyron replied, “It’s new and not well constructed. Maybe it’s a passage out of the castle?”
“Hmm, could well be. I can’t find a way to open it so I guess we ask Romann to deal with it.”

Romann stepped up the wall and smacked it once with his greatsword. Under the powerful blow, the wall exploded revealing a shaft with obvious handholds running both up and down. Romann took his everburning torch and climbed down a short way. Right as the handholds ended Romann could see the shaft growing wider and a couple dog-sized bugs scurrying about. Romann quickly climbed back up and reported what he had seen. No one had any particular desire to encounter bugs in a confined space so the party continued on to another tomb.

At the door to the tomb of Kudan Doranol, Cyron had something to say, “Kudan was an ascetic monk of the order from the burned out monastery on Lysaga Hill. He was supposed to be so holy and pure that his body ascended after his death.”

After the tomb was opened, Thundina found a faint outline of a body on the otherwise empty marble slab. “I guess he did, because there was a body here once but no more.”

Once all the southern tombs had been ransacked, Cyron wondered aloud, “It’s like an entire castle staff was buried here. We’ve found the councilor, the chef, the high priest, the dog sled champion, a knight. Did any of the epitaphs have any dates?”

Along the main hallway, next to the stairwell going up, the party found two very interesting names. First was the tomb for Patrina Velacova who was listed as bride. The second was already open and was not one the party had opened. The epitaph on that one read, “Ireena Kolyana – Wife”. When Thundina looked inside she saw no body on the marble slab, but did find a golden jewel studded comb entwined with several dark hairs. Thundina took the comb; something to show Ireena back in town and ask her about, and then get kicked out of the Kolyanavich manor again. Though very curious, the party soon moved on because there was nothing further to find in Ireena’s tomb.

Thundina read off the epitaph of the next tomb, “Pavit Builder – This Castle is a monument to his life.” When she searched his tomb looked for gold and valuables, she instead found a switch hidden beneath the marble display slab. After considering a moment what the switch might be to, Thundina shrugged and threw the switch. As soon as the switch had been shifted, the slab began to creak and move. Once it had completed its move, Thundina could see a narrow staircase spiraling down into darkness.

Thundina began descending the stairs and was perhaps a minute down when she realized that none of her party members were following. Re-emerging from the secret passage, Thundina and her friends had a quick conference and decided that they should follow this passage to its end. During the descent, Cyron called out every 100 feet down to say how far underground it felt. Almost immediately after he called out that the party was now 900 feet underground, the stairs ended in a straight passageway which then led to a door. After pushing it open and walking into the Svalich Woods beneath the cliff and beneath Castle Ravenloft, Thundina noted how well the outside of the door blended into the cliff.

The party pushed its way through the forest. As they approached a clearing in the woods with a single, large tree in the middle of it, an elf stepped out from behind the tree and called to the party in elvish, “What evil do you bring into these woods?”

Krel called back, also in elvish, “We bring no evil. In fact, we oppose Strahd; we just came from his castle where we were fighting his minions.” Thundina was content to let Krel negotiate with the elf, the elvish tongue was useful to know, but not one she particularly enjoyed.

The elf challenged Krel, “Do you have proof of this?”

Krel dropped back into common and told the party, “The elf wants proof that we oppose Strahd. Halas, I think the Symbol would be good proof.”
“Ah, Karl. Remember, I told you, I hid the Symbol in town. I feared for its safety if I had brought it up to the Castle.”
“Ashlyn, the Sunsword would be the next best bet,” Krel said. He then returned to elvish to tell the elf, “We have reforged the Sunsword.”

A rustle in the woods from both the north and south gave the party scant warning before a pair of large white wolves charged the party. At the same time as the wolves charged, the elf whipped out his bow and began firing at Romann. The arrow missed and the underbrush slowed the wolves just enough that they could not begin biting as soon as they arrived.

Cyron was the first to react and said a Blessing for the party. As he attempted to back away, the underbrush hindered him such that the wolf near him pulled him to the ground. From on his back, Cyron brandished his symbol and the wolf and Commanded it to flee. That wolf bounded off to the south.

Meanwhile, Thundina had maneuvered her way around and behind the other wolf. Romann got up into the wolf’s face and began swinging his greatsword about. His first swing looked very impressive but only drew a little blood to stain the wolf’s white fur. The second blow however separated the head from the body.

Thundina began looking for the second wolf, not expecting much respite from it. A scream indicated a human in trouble, just a little south from the ongoing battle. Chasing towards the sound, Thundina found the white wolf standing over what looked like a traveler who had taken a bad turn. With a sudden pop, the figure disappeared and reappeared in the midst of the party. Thundina advanced on the wolf with Romann attempting to get behind it to set up flanking. The two of them quickly dispatched the second wolf as well.

While Thundina and Romann were dealing with the wolves, the elf had continued its mostly futile attempt at raining down arrows on the party. Ashlyn began advancing through the underbrush as quickly as she was able. Krel kept a small distance behind her so as not to attract too much attention from the elf. As soon as they made it into the clearing, they charged forward towards the elf. Thundina and Romann pulled out their bows and began trading fire with the elf rather than trying to run through the woods. The stranger joined in the fray on the side of the party with a small barrage of Magic Missiles which ended the battle against the vastly outnumbered elf.

When forced to melee, the elf had wielded a greatsword. Romann asked Krel to inspect the quality of the sword and once Krel said that was of masterly quality, Romann added a third sword to his collection, next to the two magical greatswords he carried.

The party then surrounded the stranger. At first he was oblivious to the party, muttering to himself. A raven alighted on his shoulder and he continued his monologue, except including the raven now as well. Finally he noticed the others, “Oh, right, yes, I should introduce myself and thank you for rescuing me. Thank you.”

Thundina interrupted him, “What are you doing in the woods here?”
“I’m looking for a town, well more of a village really, that’s somewhere nearby. I seem to have gotten a little lost.”
“Looking for Barovia?”
“Yes, that’s it! Does that qualify as a town or as a village?”
“Village I’d say. We can escort you back to the village; we’re heading that way ourselves.”

The party resumed their progress through the woods with the stranger in tow. Whenever he wasn’t specifically engaged with someone in the party, he began talking to the raven which rode on his shoulder.

Now, you were going to introduce yourself.”
“Right, right. My name is Grim d’Orien.”
“d’Orien, as in House Orien?”
“Yes. I was supposed to be delivering a message out here, to a Mr. Layson, only I’ve lost the letter. If don’t deliver it, I’m certain to be fired.”

Thundina had to think a moment. That name sounded familiar, but she was having trouble placing it. Romann spoke up saying, “Sorry, but I don’t think we know a Mr. Layson.”

It was then that Thundina recalled that, yes, the party did know a Mr. Layson; Mr. Orning Layson. Thundina mentioned this and Romann, somewhat confused, asked, “Bravo had a last name?”

“Yes, Orning had a last name,” Thundina confirmed. “Who has his papers?”

Cyron pulled out the papers Orning had always carried with him in case he became lost and needed assistance. Cyron and Romann looked at the papers again and Cyron told Grim, “I’m sorry, but Mr. Layson has recently died.”

“That’s a problem,” Grim muttered. “I need to deliver the message in someway still. If I don’t, it’s more than I’m worth.”
Thundina grinned mischievously, “We can give you directions to where he lays. You can take the letter and tuck it into his hands for a mission accomplished.”

Grim glanced up and took a hard look at each member of the party. “You’re Miss Seong. And you’re Mr. Hauldak. I must admit that I peeked at the letter. It was from Mr. Layson. I mean, the father, not the Mr. Layson you know. The two of you were also mentioned. Mr. Layson was supposed to be retrieving something called the Sunsword. Perhaps if I bring the item back in addition to the news of what has befallen Mr. Layson that will be acceptable in place of delivering the actual letter.”

Thundina protested, “The Sunsword does not belong to Orning’s father. It belongs to the Lightbringers. We have it, but it is not yet restored to its full powers. We still need to do that before we can take it back to the organization.”

The party had reached town and was at the central square, outside Bildreth’s shop. Thundina said, “We need diamond dust first, and pearls second. Who wants to deal with Bildreth?”

Grim spoke up, “What was that? Hmm, I think I have some of each of that which I could share. That is, if I can join you and be of assistance in returning the Sunsword and Mr. Layson’s papers.”

For the rest of that evening, and beginning again the next morning, Krel and Grim worked on Identifying the various magical objects recovered from the catacombs to that point. The green enamel ring that Thundina had thought so pretty was of no use to her however; she passed it first to Cyron who then passed it to Grim.

In the morning, Thundina bounded up to Cyron and with a flutter of her eyelashes she asked, “Do you have a diamond for me?”
“Yes, I have the Restoration prepared.” Cyron said. He sprinkled the dust over Thundina and began praying. Thundina stared transfixed at the sparkling motes that hung around her. As Cyron finished his chanting, a feeling of completeness returned to Thundina. She hadn’t realized how cold she felt until the cold had broken and left only warmth in her soul.
“Thank you Cyron. You’re my hero.”

As the party, with their new recruit, gathered to begin another assault on Strahd’s stronghold, they needed to discuss which way to enter. Thundina wanted to try the main gate again, but the rest insisted on taking the hidden entrance up into the catacombs. Thundina acquiesced but sulked all the way through the Svalich Woods and up the stairs back into Castle Ravenloft. Once back to exploring the catacombs, Thundina found her professionalism and examined the nearest unopened door.

“Sasha Ivliskova. I think I’ve seen this name somewhere before.” Thundina thought aloud after examining the door. “I remember now, it was in the accursed diary. Forty years ago she was able to keep Strahd at bay until she disappeared one day.”

Halas began inching away from the door and towards the glowing blue barrier, even trying to go through it, only to be teleported back to where he started. At the strange looks from the party he attempted an explanation, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Thundina shook her head and told Romann to open the tomb to find out what had become of Sasha. When the door was thrown open, instead of the expected skeleton in rags, Thundina spotted a pale beautiful woman standing ready. Her brilliant red hair was pulled back highlighting a widow’s peak in front. Her deep blue eyes locked with Romann’s eyes, drawing him in before he blinked. Her bright red lips parted revealing two prominently fanged teeth as she sweetly called out, “Help me, to my defense!” Tears then welled in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks as she pleaded softly, “Kill me.”

Cyron’s eyes went wide and he shouted, “Vampire! Feel the power of the gods and despair!” Not only did Sasha not blink at the shout, but a tomb down the hall opened and two humanoids with red eyes began to move to the fray. One reached Cyron and clawed at him. Very little physical damage seemed evident, but Cyron wilted a little.

In response to Sasha’s call, a celestial dire lion appeared in the hall, next to Halas. It pounced on him, shaking him about like a rag doll before dropping a heavily savaged body. Romann charged at the lion to rescue his friend. Both Krel and Grim pumped magic into the dire lion; Krel with his wand of Scorching Ray and Grim with basic Magic Missiles.

Thundina and Ashlyn stepped into Sasha’s tomb to fulfill her wish. Thundina’s strike slipped past Sasha’s defenses but then struck some invisible force and rebounded just shy of Sasha’s body. Ashlyn and Sasha both reached out towards each other. They clasped hands and both narrowed their eyes in concentration to force their will on the other. When they let go, both seemed weaker from the contest. Sasha tapped a brick next to her and a hidden door swung open beside Sasha.

Cyron brandished his holy symbol at the creature with the glowing red eyes and shouted, “Be gone creature of darkness! The light of the gods shines even in this darkness!” The creatures could not resist Cyron’s holy energy and began to run away into the darkness of the catacombs.

Meanwhile Romann’s plan of rescuing Halas from the lion met an acute problem. The lion bit Romann, grabbed him, and wrestled him to the ground. Romann struggled against the lion, trying to turn it onto its back. The first attempt appeared to go well before one of Romann’s feet slipped out from beneath him leaving him no leverage. Far away, a wolf howled and the faintest echo of the howl reached even the deep bowels of the catacombs. The lion growled as it looked at the soft targets in front of it. Romann made a second try and caught the celestial dire lion by surprise and flipped it onto its back. The lion flailed helplessly as Romann shouted in triumph and shock, “I pinned it!”

Thundina sensed the rare opportunity presented by Romann’s heroics and if the opportunity passed, there was a very real danger that Romann would not survive a second round of wrestling with the lion. Thundina withdrew from facing Sasha to get close enough to the lion to aim a deadly blow at the helpless creature. Since the lion was pinned, Thundina was able to line up a very precise blow which snapped the creature’s neck. Sparkling lights replaced the lion which then faded out and Romann dropped to the ground.

Cyron moved over to where Thundina stood and Romann lay and considered a moment before putting a Death Ward on Thundina and telling her that she need not fear the dark touch of the vampire for a couple minutes.

Sasha burst out of the tomb via the secret door and began retreating down the hall. Grim, who had been waiting for just that maneuver, dropped a Fireball on her, singeing her before beginning to concentrate and gather more fire for a larger blast. Thundina tumbled past Sasha to cut off the escape path Sasha appeared to be heading towards. Thundina drove her blade low towards Sasha’s back only to have it rebound off the same invisible field that had protected Sasha previously. This confused Thundina because she had always heard from her father that the best way to get at a shielded wizard was to get behind it.

Sasha, tears still streaming down her cheeks, feinted at Thundina putting Thundina on the defensive before whirling and flinging five Magic Missiles at Grim who was deep in concentration. The sudden damage stunned Grim and the magic between his fingers dissipated. Sasha slid to her left while keeping Thundina at arm’s length.

Romann jumped up and ran into battle even though he was half dead while Ashlyn limped after Sasha brandishing the brightly glowing Sunsword. The three trapped Sasha against the wall and prevented her escaping. Grim retaliated with his own barrage of Magic Missiles which forced Sasha into a gaseous form to flee the short distance back into her coffin. Ashlyn quickly strode over, pulled out a flare stake and hammered the stake into the vampire’s heart.

Thundina called out to her allies, “Quickly, after the spawn, while they are demoralized!” Thundina raced through the dark passages attempting to track the one spawn she had seen fleeing. Upon reaching the corner where she was expecting to find one cowering but finding no enemy, Thundina slowed to consider her options for which other paths to follow. Listening to her heart beat from the fighting and running, Thundina realized she wasn’t hearing anything else; she was alone away from the party. She retraced her steps back to Sasha’s tomb. As she approached, Grim started chanting an incantation. Before Thundina could call out a greeting, Grim threw a Fireball down the main hallway orthogonal to Thundina’s approach and out of her sight. The party rushed to see what had set him off and discovered the smoldering remains of a large swarm of dire rats.

With the monster defeated, Thundina set to looting while Cyron healed the wounded Romann and near-dead Halas. Thundina chuckled as she thought about taking the rouge for the rogue before also tucking away a trio of bottles of perfume. She held a golden locket up to get a better view of its inscription, ‘Strahd’. Finally, Thundina found a diary. She shuddered a moment remember how the previous diary had treated her, but still she opened it and skimmed through.

If you are reading this then I am released and at what peace I may find. I beg you who have come this far, destroy Strahd. You will need the Hellheart Locket which is carried by a devil on the highest parapet. In the adjoining tower is the Dayheart which protects Strahd from light and can only be destroyed by the Locket. Only then will he be fully vulnerable to the Sunsword.

He toys with me and torments me. I hate what he has done to me. He could make me love him, but he seems to delight in seeing my hate. There is another who he intends to marry so it is my place to watch with jealousy and hate. In the small parts of my mind, I fight him, but those parts seem smaller with each passing year. I do not know how long before I am nothing at all.

“Well, Thundina, that was useful,” Krel said after Thundina completed the reading. “And you didn’t want to come back this way.”

“Yes, it was important information,” Thundina agreed, “but I still don’t like this place.”

Grim requested a couple moments to review his spellbook before the party continued their adventure through the catacombs. The party agreed while they mulled over the new implications of what they learned and the final healing spells used to restore health.

Creatures of shadow silently advanced on the meager flickering light at the center of the party. Unseen for the poor oculary capability of the heroes they homed in on.

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Chapter 9 will be delayed for a week while we take a break.