From The Shadows (A Ravenloft Campaign)

[Mordmorgan the Mad]

This omnipresent fog seems endless. You’ve been walking for what must be hours by now without any indication of ever emerging from this hazy prison. Your companions faded from view long ago, but they can still be heard trudging along nearby.

Just when all hope of ever seeing anything that isn’t fog is slipping away, the mists seem to part all at once, revealing a thick forest beneath a moonlit sky. The stars seem different somehow, like the gods rearranged them during your mist-bound trek. The moon, too, seems larger than before, and oddly menacing. The trees around you are not like the ones of the forest you entered. These are far more ancient…

Something has definitely changed.

As you’re pondering your new surroundings, a light and playful melody reaches your ears. It’s source lies beyond a stand of trees to your left, and you feel oddly drawn to it, like moths to a flame.

 

[CoolHand]

Brother Thadeus

"Well if this ain't the goblins' arse," Thadeus grumbled as he tripped over yet another in a seemingly endless line of broken roots and vines. Though the fog had lifted, the way remained unfamiliar. For hours he had walked, yet no path appeared to guide him. Even the stars, it seemed, were playing tricks this night.

"Might there be any way from these damnable . . .", Thadeus started to say, but a sound caused him pause. He stopped to listen. Off in the distance, somewhere to his left, a light and playful melody caught his ear. The sound was as intoxicating as any drink, it's warmth washing through his chill bones. Where there be music there may be food and drink, he thought. Gathering his torn and muddied robes about him, he followed the sound.

 

[Nightcloak]

Varren D'Cor

I would have really thought this morning fog would have blown off by now. The solitude was welcome, but past it’s purpose. It is one thing to be alone with one’s thoughts, but quite another for one’s thoughts to have to much time alone with yourself…

Varren’s thoughts were broken by the sudden change. He softly stepped out of the mists, but it was the suddenness of this simple step that startled him. He hadn’t realized just how use to the quite solitude and serene comfort he had become during the walk to…

Here?

“Where?”
But he couldn’t finish. It was dark. It had been morning when he entered the morning mists…

But there were no mists.

“Well I didn’t walk for that long. Or that far either.” as Varren’s gaze ascended to the night sky with the strange stars in foreign patterns.

The sweet sirens song of music drifted to his ears. “Well. Time to find out.” As Varren started towards the music, he claimed, “At least it’s a happy tune. It’ll be nice to find a settlement that is pleasant and peaceful to rest…”

 

[Xen155]

As Erasmus steps from the mist he breaths deeply. "Ahhh, something other than boring mists!" He stops in his tracks when he hears the beautiful melody. "Oh excellent! Music!" He takes off for the huanting melody.

 

[Mordmorgan the Mad]

As you follow the music’s alluring melody, a heartening smell reaches your nostrils: that of a suckling pig roasting over an open campfire. Approaching closer, the source of the music becomes apparent. An alluring, raven-haired woman sits comfortably atop a broken tree stump plucking lightly on an old crimson violin. The roaring campfire before her roasts a suckling pig, and illuminates the brightly colored wagon resting just inside the ring of trees.

She looks up as you enter the clearing, but does not stop playing until you approach within a few paces. “Step not upon the silver line, welcomed guest.” Looking down, you notice a thin line of silvery powder before your feet. It seems to circle the campfire and the wagon.

“Please, sit with me and share my food. There is much danger lurking within these woods, and strangers such as you would be wise to seek shelter.”

 

[CoolHand]

“Don’t mind if I do,” replies Brother Thadeus with a wide grin. The intoxicating smell of roast pig nearly overwhelming him, he sidesteps the silver line and pulls off a loose piece of meat. He finds a seat on the ground beside the young lady and enjoys his meal. “So what be you doin’ out here by yerself, lass?” he manages to ask between bites. Then issuing a pork-filled toothy smile, “I don’t suppose you’ve any strong drink to go with this?”

 

[Xen155]

"Greetings Fair Lady. I appreciate the fine fair and beautiful music you have graced us with. I must confess, the question my collegue has put forth is one I would also like an answer to." Erasmus pulls out a travel worn viola and begins strumming the strings while waiting for an answer.

 

[Nightcloak]

Varren quitely steps over the line and crouches by the fire, across from the lady. He warms his hands by the fire, but remains silent. He looks up from the flames and nods his thanks to the lady.

"Indeed. and where is here?"

 

[Mordmorgan the Mad]

"Forgive me, honored guests, for not introducing myself. I am Anja of the Canjar." As she speaks, she lays down her violin and reaches for a small sack laying next to her tree stump.
"I am a traveler, of sorts. My people, known here as the Vistani, travel these lands providing what services we may to the local people. The name your people might give us is 'gypsy', I believe."

From the bag, she pulls a bottle of a dark red liquid, presumably wine or liquor. She uncorks it, takes a very unlady-like swig, and passes it to Thadeus.

"To answer your other question, here is the Old Svalich Woods, just three miles west of a small village. But as I said, travel within the woods is best not attempted while the moon's gaze is upon us. There is danger lurking in the shadows." Her eyes move slowly and purposefully, drawing your attention beyond the campfire's warm glow. As you stare into the darkness, you can sense a presence just out of reach of the light.

"Stare not for too long, my friends. Your eyes are but a gateway to your very soul. When they open, how can you be sure what enters?"

 

[Nightcloak]

"Well..."

"I'm not from these parts. But if you would be kind, I would like to take your advice and wait by the fire 'till morning. Then I could start out fresh for this village."

"Hmmm... Start out fresh, on a new day in a strange land."

With a smile, "May I also trouble you for a drink fair lady?"