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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dr Midnight" data-source="post: 3695738" data-attributes="member: 69">Session 6 - Chapter 4 IREENAThe group approached the burgomaster’s mansion at the south end of town. The house was aged and dilapidated and behind a rusting iron fence. The gates had been twisted open; one lay torn from its hinges, while the other swung crazily in the wind, screeching and clanging with mindless repetition. The house beyond was marked by claws, fires, and ominous stains. Every window was boarded, every door barricaded.They walked to the main door and knocked politely. No one answered. “Looks like this house has been more harried than the others,” Toufghar observed. “It’s not just zombies been bangin’ on this door.” His fingers traced some deep clawmarks in the wood.Out of the corner of her eyes Ashlyn caught movement. Someone had parted the curtain and peered through the window, between the boards. She knocked again. “Hello… are you Ireena? Can we speak with you for a moment?”A muffled woman’s voice from inside said “Where are the walking dead?”“They’re gone. The zombies are all gone.”The door opened slightly. A nervous eye peered out and surveyed the area. “Who are you?”“We are the Lightbringers,” Ashlyn said graciously. “We’ve destroyed the plague on Barovia, and have come to ask you about something your father had.”“Father’s dead.” It wasn’t so much the passing of information as it was something the woman acknowledging to herself. “I’m Ireena. Come in.”The well-furnished mansion showed considerable wear, though the holy symbols hung in every room of the house drew attention from the soiled divans and ratty carpets. A man’s body in burgomaster’s robes lay in state in the front room. The smell of decomposition was cloying. The woman had clearly attended to her father’s corpse with care, but it had been a fortnight since he’d passed and the body was quickly giving in to the more graceless aspects of death.Almost as jarring was the appearance of the woman herself. She was young, no older than eighteen, but as haunted as any veteran the group had ever seen. Her eyes looked exhausted and wide, her hair was lank, and her cheeks were hollow. Through the strain of the past troubles, though, it could be seen that she had very fair features. An oil painting hung over the fireplace and it depicted her in a happier time with bright eyes and the hint of a smile.Arianna cleared her throat and attempted to ignore the smell of the decaying burgomaster. “We’ve come because we heard your father was the last man to stand up to Strahd Von Zarovich. We want to know how he did it.”Ireena’s eyes looked to the corpse. “The master of the castle punished my father for standing against his commands. My father held him off with the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, until he paid with his life. He was poisoned! It had to be Strahd. That devil. That black fiend.”“So you don’t know how he was poisoned, or by whom?”“No. I woke up and he was dead and there were no marks on him and then the zombies started and now the zombies are gone but he’s still d...” She covered her mouth, seemingly out of shame that she might run on like that forever.  “Take it easy,” Ashlyn said soothingly. “It’s all over now and we’re going to help. Can you tell us where the Symbol of Ravenkind is now?”Ireena shook her head. “I no longer have it. I couldn’t make it work and nor could my brother Ismark, though it was still precious to me. Some nights ago something evil slipped in and stole it in the dead of night.”“Who might have taken it, do you know?”“The thief could have been a servant of Strahd, but if so, I don’t know which one. It could have been something else entirely. Evil of every sort has begun to collect in the woods around Barovia. The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind could be anywhere… Strahd’s reach is long, and if he had it stolen, he likely wants it as far from the castle as possible. Maybe the wise woman knows.”Thendrick said “You mean Madam Eva.”Ireena nodded. “Yes, you have seen her?”“No, but she’s apparently very popular in these parts.”Ireena looked at them and seemed to come on an idea. “Are… are you going after Strahd? Up to the castle, I mean.”The heroes traded doubtful looks. “At this point we don’t know what we’re going to be doing,” Ashlyn said diplomatically. “We’re just gathering information.” Ireena nodded again and looked as though she might say something further. She kept quiet. Ashlyn decided not to push the issue. “You’ve been most helpful, Ireena. Would you permit us to carry your father to the graveyard, that he might have a decent burial?” The girl’s eyes welled up with tears. “Yes. Yes, please. That would be very kind.”Thendrick, Toufghar, Arianna and Ashlyn walked from the burgomaster’s house carrying him on a litter. Ireena walked behind. They passed villagers on the streets collecting their dead, and each of the townsfolk noted the procession, stood up straight and bowed their head out of respect for a good man who’d died too soon. They buried him in the family plot at the Church of Bellethanne, beside his wife. Ashlyn performed the service. The group left Ireena at the grave to mourn her father in peace.Next Session SPOKESMAN.</blockquote>

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