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Message: <blockquote data-quote="not-so-newguy" data-source="post: 9673110" data-attributes="member: 6786140">Here's a half narrative and half abbreviated recap from a session a couple of weeks ago.Face Meets PalmFour Harpers had answered the call. There was Elyrion the High Elf Thief, Mamol the Hill Dwarf Cleric of Twilight, Grant the Shifter Monster Slayer Ranger, and Thordin Lightfoot the Halfling Oath of Vengeance Paladin mounted on his mastiff.The call was for some stalwart Harpers to investigate the Hamlet of Egzand which was located just east of Daggerford. They reported some werewolves harassing the good folk. So far it was just stealing livestock, poultry and pigs, but things seemed to be escalating.Zel, the local Harper Agent, had silvered the four heroes favored weapons and allowed them each to take a magic item, which was two potions of Remove Curse, a potion of Gaseous Form (insert fart joke here), and a scroll of Water Walking.The four Harpers proceeded out to Egzand Hamlet and began questioning the locals. The folks there confirmed that they were being harassed by werewolves and, in fact, a son of one of the farmers had been kidnapped the night before. His name was Jad who was big for his age (12 years old) and kind of a bully. Despite the kid’s jerky nature, he certainly did not deserve the curse of lycanthropy. So, the four headed east of Egzand where the werewolves were last spotted.Grant picked up the creatures’ tracks quickly and soon they were trekking their way through the Misty Forest. About thirty minutes later the quartet were surrounded by a strange, stifling mist. They continued eastward through the obscuring fog, and they soon found themselves in a completely different environment, a dark and inhospitable land. They continued east.About thirty minutes later they spotted a walled town to the north, and they made their way towards it. Several guards were mounted on the walls; one raised his hand in greeting while another headed into a gatehouse where she rang a large bell twice. The sound reverberated and was obviously some sort of signal.“Greetings!” The guard called out. “Our Burgermeister will soon be here to treat with you.” Sure enough, a man soon arrived. His name was Dmitri, and he informed the party that they normally don’t allow anybody into the town, but if they delivered a late shipment of wine then he would make an exception for them. The Harpers agreed. After receiving directions from Dmitri, they headed south towards the winery.A Festival of Crits As the four were about to cross a bridge, they spotted a pack of wolves led by a dire wolf bearing down on them. They obviously had bad intentions, so the Harpers readied themselves for a fight. Grant mentally singled out the dire wolf and readied his bow. Elyrion hid, which would prevent his target from evading his arrows when the time came. Mamol used his clerical powers to buff Thordin’s reaction speed (he cast a spell that granted advantage on initiative). Finally, Thordin blessed the group then proceeded forward on his mastiff mount.Things started well with the archers picking off a few of the wolves, including the dire wolf; but these creatures seemed to have a particularly malignant nature and were not deterred. Thordin soon found himself surrounded by the remaining wolves and that’s when things went badly. The mounted Paladin was whittled down with crit after crit. (The wolves had advantage with pack tactics and I rolled 6 crits.) To make matters worse, the melee combatants were locked down in place because of the Ranger’s spell of Spike Growth.What was intended as an “Introductory Encounter” for the PCs soon became another notch on the DM’s belt as one of the few remaining wolves scored one final crit which killed the dying Paladin. The Cleric had the spell Revivify, unfortunately he lacked the expensive spell component to cast it.Meanwhile Back at the Winery…The Wizard of WinesDAY 10: Smugly and Moss returned in the mid-morning with Darsha arriving in the afternoon. They shared their stories.DAY 11: Marta and Hans, two wereravens living in Vallaki, arrived in the morning. They tell Davian that Vallaki is in chaos:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lady Wachter along with two dozen cultist arrived at the Baron’s mansion on the night the PCs left.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">She has claimed rulership over town and openly declared allegiance to Strahd.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Captain Korga has switched sides to Wachter.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Wintersplinter destroyed part of the southern wall. Killed 6 guards, 2 Cultists, and 10 townsfolk. Finally killed by guards and cultists.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Some cultists used divine magic to fight Wintersplinter.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Baron is in public stocks under constant guard</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Baroness is imprisoned in her mansion.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Baron’s son Victor escaped out the attic window, turns out he’s a mage of some power.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Victor warded the attic, two cultists were killed, and now nobody will go up there in fear of more traps.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ireena still in St Andral’s.</li> </ul>DAY 11 (cont’d): The Harpers arrive around noon.Sleeps, the Tabaxi Monk Cleric, arrives an hour later. He is a Harper who was late to meet the Harpers back in Daggerdord. He conveniently replaces the dead Thordin.Davian trusts the Harpers because of prior dealing with the faction. The new Gang have a long talk with Davian. The decide to fix things in Vallaki.</blockquote>

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