Session Six: We've Barely Even Started, Now Dearly Departed...

General Summary

Stunned from their loss, our party retreat back inside of the church with the incapacitated Father Lucian, the real one this time, after disposing of the bones within the now dormant grave. Lysette offered to stay with him while he came around to consciousness, while the others retreated to The Blue Water Inn to reflect. This was, however, not before Bray had flown past our adventurers seeking to aid them, in return for a similar quantity of gold pieces that his brother had been given. They deemed it responsible to pass one of the wooden figures of the mysterious girl onto him, with hopes he'd show his father. Having had the Keepers of the Feather be previously described as an inside network spies, Bite Club believed that they would be the best lead into gathering further information regarding her identity...

  The girl is later revealed to be an individual residing within the Village of Barovia by one of Urwin's personal watchers: the very place that Strahd had previously tried to lure them whilst disguised as Father Lucian. Bite Club take the bait, agreeing to set out at dawn. However, they are offered one final journey under accompaniment of one a were-raven from the farm. Their service to both the Blue Water Inn and their promise to aid in the retrieval of the crystals has earned them that much. A moment of deliberation leads our party to conclude that Adrien is the best qualified to serve as a guide.

Adrien arrived to the chimes of 4am, eager to set out just in-case their journey had some unexpected blockades. Nevertheless, on the back of his string, their journey to the village took just shy of two hours without interception.

  The party discovered two landmarks while inbound to The Village of Barovia:

1. An old mill. It smelled pleasantly of freshly baked goods and had a singular raven perched on it's door-frame. This could possibly be the one that Cedar was lead to via his invitation to the country...
2. A campsite, filled with extravagantly dressed men and women. Each one appeared to live in hand-made tents, and were currently sat around a campfire singing what could be considered folk-songs.

Adrien remained at the camp and instructed the party to go on ahead without him. He planned to use the lake there to water the horses and gauge the demeanor of the locals.

  Bite Club journey on to the village with little to no clue where to begin searching for their mystery woman. The most obvious thing about this town is it's sheer lifelessness, people walking around as if they were the very husks of human life: soulless, empty. The first individual who breaks this stereotype is a woman who refers to herself as: Granny, an honest baker who's family legacy is their home baked pies. Each one is large enough to feed a family of four, with varieties including: beef, pork, chicken, vegetarian and wolf meat. While some of our party remains skeptical, others take one out of respect, offering to, "save it for later", after the adrenaline of their journey had worn off. When asked, Granny confessed that she couldn't pinpoint their desired individual off of her description alone, however directed them to the tavern in the center of town, where gossip thrives and everyone who is anyone seemed to know each-other.

The Blood of the Bean tavern: a much more elaborate structure when compared to the Blue Water Inn. Several individuals sat within its crimson walls, including a group of Vistani, three barkeeps and a lone man watching the adventurers from the corner. His name is Ishmark Kolyanavich, the son of the late Burgomaster who sadly passed away that morning due to heart failure. His sister, Ireena, fit the description given from Bite Club perfectly. The condition for their meeting her was that each person broke into their residence uninvited. Ultimately, the party correctly presumed that this was due to a possible vampire predicament.

  Ireena had recently been pursued by Strahd, personally. This had left her addled and weak, unable to do much for herself despite her stubbornness and insistence that she was fine. Additionally, she had been inviting the Count inside of their home with no retained memory of the events that followed. She'd been bitten twice now, a week apart, and Ishmark knows that the danger now is greater than ever... He expresses his desire to have her rid of this town, taken to a safe place where Strahd cannot find her. Our party suggest Vallaki: now that the conundrum with the bones had been resolved. This piques his interest.

As expected, Ireena refuses to leave the village until her father had received a proper burial at the church. He was currently in the backroom, resting in a coffin built by his son, however the journey across town was far too great for the Kolyanavich siblings to carry him, unaided. Fortunately, Cedar offers to help with the heavy labor.

  The church, alas, has its own kettle of fish to fry. Father Donovitch, the town's only priest, has gone altogether mad. His son has been relentlessly screaming for over a decade, never aging, never dying and locked in the basement in complete isolation. Count Strahd had courted the boy under the priests nose, and Doru, his son, had fallen for him. The man had been trapped in the abyss between human and vampire with not so much as a drop of blood at his disposal. He was in crippling agony, leading Donovitch to fall into a state of perpetual prayer to The Morninglord in hope that his son will be returned to his former self. Lysette and Mordecai, the party clerics, offer to take a look at him while Ireena and Ishmark see to their fathers burial, under the strict condition that no harm will come to him.

  This, however, didn't apply to his son. Doru begged for a feeding, begged to be sated, and as the ever optimistic Mordecai approached, he took his chance and latched into his neck. Most of the party attempted to restrain him or escape, though Lysette saw what he craved and also allowed him a moment of respite from the hunger. Blaidd, on the other hand, chose his gun over a compassionate hand. Doru's suffering came to an end, as did his fathers upon discovery that his son had passed. After the party vacated the premises by order of the priest, they split up. Blaidd offered Mordecai a lift while transformed to the camp of which Adrien was waiting, while Lysette and Cedar went in search of the siblings they sought to escort. The latter heard a singular church bell rang throughout the village; its source was later discovered to be the aftermath of Donovitch hanging himself from the bell rope.

Ishmark had originally planned to stay behind in the village to fill the absent seat of a Burgomaster, however his better consciousness told him that this had become a ghost town. The people were husks, lifeless and without purpose. He's always known it, just never believed it. He'd lived in his fathers shadow for far too long- now in his absence, it was time he took strides in his life with full control. He asks the party if he too could be escorted to this safe haven of Vallaki, of which they accept without falter.

Our party reunite at the camp, however get little time to rest before they are beckoned by an elderly woman, cloaked from head to toe.

  "Welcome, Adventurers~"