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donegeonsndragons · 7 years

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CoS: Session 4b Highlights

Allies are made, werewolves are confronted, and a way into the castle is discovered.

Wondered what happened to the other half of the party during the shenanigans of Buzzlorn, Vogal, and Raynn? Well wonder no further! This adventure is focused around what happened to Mu, Damakos, and the varana during those hours they just disappeared in the previous session

Premise: the group, after visiting the village of Barovia and getting the quest to bring Ireena to a safe place, headed out to Krezk to find one of the items on their quest and drop off Ireena. After going through some harrowing terrain, getting exhausted, and finding their own bodies hanging from a tree (puppets or illusion who knows), they found their ways to Krezk and the Abbey of St. Markovia....

Warning: this session isn’t as action-packed as the other group, but they get a lot of important information which makes this a very long post

After being dropped off by the abbey’s guard in the middle of the compound, Mu, Damakos, and the varana all spot the raven that lead them to Krezk flying above and landing on the gates, seeming to want to lead them out

They spot the other 3 ducking into one of the sheds, and decide to go follow the raven to where it wants them to go

The raven leads them outside of Krezk to the woods more to the south of the village

Through the fog, the group can hear the sound of a man cursing and a distressed horse

They come across a half elf man in very non-Barovian colourful clothing trying to push a caravan out of a muddy rut

He calls for the group’s help, and with their aid, is able to push the caravan out with no problem

After grabbing his cane, the man introduces himself as Rictavio, a simple entertainer on his way to Vallaki to find some people

Damakos immediately casts dancing lights in an attempted show of magical entertainment and trying to persuade Rictavio to let them tag along

Specifically, creating a humanoid figure out of lights that does 8 backflips while fireworks go off

Performance didn’t go so great, and Rictavio insists that he’s more of a solo act

Rictavio points out that he’s assuming they’re adventurers and “the devil’s new playthings” as he doesn’t really expect to see an oni, a tiefling, and a varana in Barovia

The group confirms this, and he says he can provide them a ride to Vallaki

The group then starts to talk among themselves as to whether to take this offer, as they’re still looking for the item that might be at the abbey

Rictavio takes interest in the fact that they’re talking about items, and says that it’s probably best to get inside of the caravan away from possible prying ears

Once inside, he offers them some bread and meats and they settle down for a bit

He asks about the items, and the group explains that they got their fortune told by a vistani fortune teller, and tells him the fortunes

Rictavio says he can shed some light on what the items are, though the locations are cryptic to even him

He says that the items are the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, the Sunsword, and the Tome of Strahd

He also mentions that the werewolf ally part was interesting to him, as most werewolves around here are allied with Strahd, and he would’ve expected something more like wereravens

No one in the party knew about wereravens, and Rictavio says that they’re good werepeople, and they’re the people he’s looking for in Vallaki as they all share a mutual enemy

The group decides that Vallaki is a good place to go next, and take up Rictavio’s offer

Rictavio takes a quick peek outside, and says with night falling, he suggests that the group just camps out in the caravan and avoid bumping into any of Strahd’s minions outside on the way back to Krezk

The group gratefully take the offer and sleep the most comfortably they have in 3 days and get a long rest

In the early morning, after getting a good night’s sleep, the group awakens to the sound of scratching and howling outside of the caravan and Rictavio pulling out a sword from his cane and putting on a hat of disguise to appear more typically Barovian

Rictavio: have you all dealt with werewolves before? The varana: I mean...sort of Damakos: we ran away from them Rictavio: you don’t have to help, I can do this myself

In response, Damakos disguises himself as Mayor Urso

Unfortunately, because he can only shrink himself by about a foot, he’s a human sized halfling

Damakos rushes forward and throws the caravan doors open, jumping down onto the ground

Damakos: *ok Mayor Urso impression* NOW WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

The werewolves don’t seem to be fooled and they don’t give a fuck, surrounding Damakos

Combat!

With a strong opening, Mu rolls a crit fail on the first attack and just...drops his javelin

Damakos is immediately attacked by all three werewolves, and is able to avoid two while getting scratched across the chest by the third, which makes him drop the disguise

The dropping disguise thing had to be retconned in because we all imagined it, yet neglected to say it aloud, so Damakos was fighting as a human sized not super convincing Mayor Urso the entire time

The varana gets some solid shots in before climbing onto the top of the caravan

Rictavio, who was standing at the edge of the caravan, leaps over Damakos and plunges his sword down into the werewolf, which looks super cool

Damakos, in a panic, casts thunderwave which knocks everyone except the varana and Rictavio prone

He takes the moment to run into the caravan away from the werewolves

Mu redeems himself by hitting one of the werewolves with two arrows already sticking out of it with a javelin

Rictavio attempts to attack the werewolf again, but he misses and crit fails, slipping on the mud and falling flat on his face while the werewolf just grabs Rictavio and starts to shake him

Damakos casts hellish rebuke, setting the middle werewolf slightly on fire

The varana casts hail of thorns and shoots the werewolf in the middle straight in the forehead, while the other 2 werewolves fail their saving throws and are pelted by magical thorns

Two werewolves drop dead, while the other one is badly wounded

Damakos casts suggestion and yells “CALM”

The werewolf fails its saving throw, and just sits down calmly with Rictavio still in its jaw

Damakos hops down and starts petting the werewolf

The varana (OOC): why didn’t you tell it to let Rictavio go? Damakos: I thought calm would do that!

The varana from his perch sees a much larger werewolf come running into the clearing, and instead of attacking the group, growls and snaps at the one remaining werewolf

After some snarling, the smaller werewolf submits, drops Rictavio, and scampers off

The very large werewolf turns around and sits down, ears flattened and seems very calm and friendly

Now with a closer glance, the werewolf is a brown colour with grey streaks, lots of scars, and is missing part of its left ear

The varana casts speak with animals and starts talking with the werewolf

The werewolf tells them to follow it to somewhere safe to talk, and that it doesn’t have much time

The group plus Rictavio follows the werewolf into an abandoned guard house, where it transforms from wolf to hybrid to human in a series of disconcerting bone and joint cracking and snapping into place

Surprise, it’s Lincoln from Luna

Lincoln immediately asks Rictavio for chalk, which Rictavio hands over

As Lincoln starts scribbling sigils on the walls, Mu and the varana are able to recognize these as the same symbols on Ireena and Ismark’s house in Barovia while Damakos is too painfully aware that Lincoln is currently stark naked

Damakos casts dancing lights very strategically on Lincoln

After he’s finished, Lincoln turns to the group and tells them to not be alarmed, and asks where the rest of the party is

The group tells him that they left the rest of the party in the abbey

The varana: so our fortune says we’re looking for a werewolf ally with a hatred for Strahd, I’m assuming that’s you Lincoln: oh good I can jump straight to the chase

Lincoln explains that he hates Strahd, as Strahd killed his entire pack and his mate, and the only reason Lincoln is alive is to be kept as a trophy and to run useful errands for Strahd

But he also says that he can’t defeat Strahd on his own, and he’s willing to help the group if they’ll help him get rid of Strahd

He tells them that he knows most of the inner workings of the castle, including most of the secret rooms minus the resting places of Strahd and his companions

He can also get them in and out without raising too much suspicion, though obviously getting in will be easier than getting out

In return, he asks that the group first kill all of Strahd’s companions, and then kill Strahd himself

The party asks Lincoln whether he knows the weakness of vampires, and he says that he unfortunately doesn’t know too many

Rictavio pipes in and says that vampires tend to be weak against running water and wooden stakes, and that vampires can’t be completely destroyed unless they’re killed in sunlight or in their resting place

After some questions from the varana and Mu, Rictavio clarifies that the resting place is usually where the body was interred though it’s not always the case, and that no Mu, you can’t just attach the cross from Father Donavich onto the javelin and make it work like a stake

Lincoln says that if the group agrees to work with him, he’ll rendezvous with them on Tsolenka Pass whenever they decide to make their way there

At first he tells them to send a message when they’re on their way, but then he realizes that it’s a dumb idea

The varana asks questions about the book, and he doesn’t know much other than the fact that it’s very precious to Strahd, and would likely be in his study

As a final question, the group asks what’s Strahd’s deal with Ireena is

He says he doesn’t know much other than the fact that he was sent to spy a bit, but that in the couple of times he’s been in the study, he remembered seeing a painting that looks sort of like Ireena

At this point, the group hears the sound of unnaturally fast approaching thunder

Lincoln transforms into his hybrid self and runs outside, grimacing

He tells the group that he has to leave, because Strahd is coming and he’s angry

He reminds the group to meet him at Tsolenka Pass, and disappears into the mists

The varana casts pass without a trace, and the group is able to meld into the shadows as they step outside

Past the trees, above the abbey, they see the terrifying visage of Strahd’s face in the clouds right before it screams “SHE IS MINE” and sends down a bolt of lightning

Grabbing Rictavio’s caravan, the group rushes back towards Krezk and the abbey, hoping to find their party and Ireena intact and unharmed

#cos vampires #donegeons and dragons #curse of strahd #d&d #dnd

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