Endur's Expedition to Castle Ravenloft

[Legildur]

A bleary-eyed Ismark the Lesser reluctantly meets an overly bright day. Squinting in the light, the large man smoothes his moustache with his left hand. Seeing the other adventurers he nods a silent greeting before watching as the villagers wander back to their homes.

"Well then," he starts in his rough gravely voice. "Are we going to save my sister or not?"

 

[Le Noir Faineant]

Dareios, a bit ill-temered and still very tired, silently joins Ismark, holding Dammerung's reins while walking next to his companions. Yawning, he pats Skorl on the shoulder. "Let's go."

 

[Rhun]

Skorl looks bright eyed and bushy tailed as he steps out into the sunlight. What little sleep the half-orc got appears to have done him well. He is clad in his new plate armor, and bears his weapons and heavy pack easily. With a nod to Ismark, he waits to follow the man and rescue his sister.

 

[hafrogman]

Cedric rises with the dawn, eager to see the sun again. He does not seem tired, having finally managed to fall asleep, but he still looks haunted by the events of the previous night. The sun is harsh, but it is still a welcome change.

He stands in the daylight with the others, checking over his weapons and armor.

"Yes, we should move on."

 

[industrygothica]

Willow see's the others as she continues her morning ritual. Her gear is already packed and laying on the ground next to her. When she is finished, she will gather up her things and be ready to go.

ooc: I'll have to update her spells a little later - running a tad short on time at the moment.

 

[Voadam]

Jack whispers what he learned to Willow not sure yet of its importance but feeling an underlying dread nonetheless. Steeling his will, Jack continues reading long into the night, fighting the urge to put down the book. Several times he rereads those early passages "He is cursed, the land is cursed, and we are doomed." He finally reads the passages of Danovich's descent and corruption in the path of the Liber Blaspheme all the way to the bitter end.

ooc Jack has endurance and Iron will .

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

Alessandra rises early to pray to Pelor at Dawn. After saying prayers over the bodies, she gathers her items and prepares to leave with the others to resuce Ismark's sister. Quietly, she murmurs a prayer that Ismark's sister is still alive and well.

 

[Endur]

Jack grits his teeth and forces his way through the rest of the journal. The evil within Danovich's words causes Jack to neglect everything going around him as he reads the book.

Danovich describes his decision to end his nighly prayer sessions to protect the village from the great curse and instead focus on restoring his son to life.

Danovich describes in great detail the awful process that conferred life (undeath) upon his former son. A cursed life, but life nonetheless. The zombie plague is described in Danovich's journal as an unfortunate side effect (or perhaps an unknown part of the spell, intended to happen but overlooked by the obsessed Danovich).

Danovich describes his feelings that life itself is unfair, that the master had life eternal, but his curse did not involve becoming an abomination such as the Blasphemy that Doru became.

Danovich also described sneaking into Castle Ravenloft during the daytime to steal the Liber Blaspheme from the Count Strahd von Zarovich's library. The castle was empty and lacked guards. Danovich does not speculate on why the Count would have such a book in his library, other than to mention that the Count has an interest in such matters and that Danovich somehow knew that the book (or something like it) would be there.

The evil writings caused Jack to acquire 2 points of taint (mild depravity) and the neglectful trait. Jack's obsessions causes him to disregard cultural mores and hygiene and he takes a -2 penalty on charisma based checks. (Heroes of Horror taint rules).

 

[Voadam]

Having finally finished the journal and feeling dirtied by its contents Jack blinks at the unexpected sunlight. "Its already morning?" Distractedly he gathers his bow and other equipment and joins the others, considering the implications of the Liber's connections to the Count. "This is a foul, foul journal, it is good we slew the necropriest. The Dark Book and the ritual Danovich did to return his son were the source of the undead plague. He got the book from the unguarded count's Castle and believed the Count was cursed beyond the span of men's lives as is the land here. There is a journal, the tome of Strahd which he could not find in the castle library that might speak more about the curse. The vistani seer told him something but he could not make it out enough to record anything."

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

"That is dire news, indeed," Alessandra says. "We should determine if this is the truth, or just the ravings of a madman. It the Count himself is meddling in forces beyond human comprehension..." she trails off thoughtfully.