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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dr Midnight" data-source="post: 3667200" data-attributes="member: 69">Session 4 - Chapter 2 CAST OUT“You’ve been to Ravenloft?” Ismark asked. Every eye was on Arianna. The elf squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. “Um. Yes, but… it was just the first place we visited on Farplane.”“It was?”“Actually, uh, no… we passed through a town after calling at port. Palervale.”The villagers jostled at this. “So,” Ismark continued. “You arrived from the south and still went first to Castle Ravenloft, when traveling there would take you through or past Barovia.”Arianna shook her head and rubbed her temples. This wasn’t going well. “No. I mean yes, but it wasn’t our fault. A carriage came to us on the road and picked us up last night. It took us to the Castle.”Someone in the back of the tavern gasped. Ismark seemed aghast. “You rode in the black carriage. You had business with the devil.”“No! Strahd just wanted to talk to us, that’s all.” Several of the villagers spat on the floor. Looking around, Ashlyn saw that the mood had quickly gone very dark. She leaned over the Gerrit. “Who is this Strahd? I’ve heard the villagers curse with the word- I thought it merely a local equivalent of the evil eye.”Gerrit cleared his throat and spoke up. “What Arianna means to say is that we were taken to the castle beyond our control.”“So Strahd wanted you there,” Ismark said with baleful eyes. “He has a purpose with you.”“He sent us to fight the undead. That’s the truth. He sent us to fight the zombie scourge for his people.”“His people?” Ismark and others stood up. “His people?? We, who have suffered under the thumb of that monster since time out of mind? His people?”Gerrit held his hands up. “It’s not what you think.”The bartender said “I think you’d best leave.” He looked at Ashlyn. “You too.”The paladin blinked in surprise. “Me? I swear to you, I have no idea what’s going on! I don’t know this Strahd and I don’t know these two!”“He seeks to subvert us with ill-meaning ‘heroes,’” Ismark told the crowd. “There is some darker purpose here.”Ashlyn, Arianna, Gerrit and Jade walked out of the Blood on the Vine Tavern and were followed by a slowly stalking mob. Some had picked up pitchforks, others had torches. The undead moaned from all around, beyond the barricades, hidden by mists. Arianna felt the first stirrings of panic again.  “Where will we go?” she asked. “Anywhere,” Ismark said. “Run back to your master and tell him we’ll not be so easily ground under his heel.”The paladin, the cleric, the leopard and the ranger climbed over the barricade that led to the northwest road. No zombies were milling on the other side. They looked back at the townspeople and saw no pity there, so they turned back and began walking.“We must find shelter soon,” Gerrit said. “The day is young but we’ve already done more fighting than we’d expected, and with stronger zombies than I’ve ever known. We must rest and replenish our magic.” His eyes searched the fog ahead, leery of moving shapes.Ashlyn nodded. “We have several hours until nightfall. We just have to find a suitable building and hole up in it for the night. In the morning we can move on.”Arianna asked “Where?”“Well, two members of my group went on to the church at the end of this very road. That was three days past and I haven’t heard from them. It may be a good place to start. Or we can escape Barovia and find Madam Eva.”“Madam Eva?”“Yes,” Arianna said as they walked. “She’s reportedly a seer of hidden truths. She lives in a gypsy encampment to the west. The villagers seemed to think she’d be able to give us answers.”Something shifted ahead and the adventurers stopped. A shape, then another, emerged from the fog. The zombies began groaning with dry, hungry throats as they advanced.Gerrit looked around and spotted a door. It was hammered shut and the building looked secure. “Hold them off,” he said. “I can get this door open and we can block ourselves in for the night.”There were four of the zombies now. Arianna said “hurry, then.” She drew her longbow and  Ashlyn took out a crossbow, loading it with a glass-tipped bolt. Liquid sloshed inside the bolt’s bulb. “What’s that?” Arianna asked.“Alchemical flare bolt.”“What does it do?” Ashlyn fired at the closest zombie and the bulb shattered as it struck the chest. A reddish flame bloomed from the wound and the thing’s torso was on fire.Arianna nodded as she began firing her arrows. “Nice. I might have to pick up some of those.”Gerrit called upon Vennia to turn the undead from them. A pulse of white light shot from him and several of the zombies gurgled in fear and fled. Still more were melting from the fog, though… there were seven now.Ashlyn dropped the crossbow and drew her longsword. She laid into the zombies and it became clear immediately just how much more effective a slashing weapon was against these creatures.While the women fought, Gerrit ran to the door and slammed against it. The door was well secured. He spun and kicked it. Dust fell from the door’s jamb but the door itself barely budged. Arianna fired arrow after arrow, and Jade ran amongst the zombies, slashing them and biting. “Hurry Gerrit, there are more coming!”A zombie lurched forward and sunk his teeth into Ashlyn’s arm. She cried out and smashed the thing in the face with her pommel. She backed away as the zombies closed in. Gerrit reared back and with a grunt planted his foot through the door’s crossbeams, smashing the door in. The group rushed through and then began pushing heavy pieces of furniture into the doorway, blocking the zombies’ entrance. The half-rotted arms reached through the barrier and clawed at the air. Arianna sat in a chair and breathed. Outside, there must have been about two dozen zombies by now, each of them slamming at the walls, gray shadows through the windowpanes. There were more by the minute. After a while, she began singing to herself just to drown out the sounds of the groaning dead.Next session GOING TO THE CHAPEL.</blockquote>

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