Chapter 16: December the 21st
General Summary
Hark ye, Mummers and Mums,
The last we saw of our brave heroes, the Guardians of the Horizon recuperated in the once deadly Durst House. The spirits of the house flocked to their aid in repayment for breaking their torturous curse. The soul of one Thorm Quietsong found Ocarin in the night and shared with him how he had died hiding in the the secret basement of the Death House. He shared that Strahd subverted the peoples' support out from under the Harpers 13 years ago, turning the Barovian people against each other and using the chaos to stamp out the resistance that they had worked so hard to muster. The people of Barovia fear Strahd and his retribution, and though some of them might hope for a better future, that hope is just another tool that Strahd uses to reap his dreadful harvest.
During the night, Vorthos saw a vision granted to him by the spirit in his Soulsword, Sergei von Zarowich. Vorthos saw Sergei's wedding to a beautiful Barovian woman named Tatyanna -- the spitting image of Ireena Kolyana. It was apparently during this wedding that Strahd fell into darkness, slaying the guests and his own brother with a crystal sword whose hilt matches the Soulsword. Though the details of Strahd's death and Tatyanna's fate are still obscured it seems certain that some great power wishes to taunt the Dreadlord with the facade of his brother's bride.
Come morn, the Guardians and Doru Donavich set out to enter the Burgomaster's Mansion and liberate it from the control of the Hags of Old Bonegrinder. Doru was unable to enter the residence as a vampire, but waited outside to support Ocarin should the hags attack him before crossing the threshold. Vorthos, Warren and Charlemagne snuck to the back and scaled the mansion's wall, crawling into the second story window. However, while leaping between the outer wall and the wall of the mansion, Warren's foot slipped and grazed the grass of lawn o' so slightly: a signal fire to the creature that laired inside.
Ocarin wandered up the pathway to the front door and called on the hags to answer while his friends made their way around the inside of the mansion. Once Vorthos, Warren, and Charlemagne entered the overlook to the library and dinning area, they saw the hags, waiting for their prey to venture into what they thought would be a fool proof trap. Lining every fixture and furnishing were the bodies of villagers. victims of the hag's cruelty.
As Ocarin was invited inside by Morgantha herself, a podling villager emerged from the mansion's kitchen and told one of the sisters that intruders had entered through the back of the building. Thinking quickly, Ocarin cast slow on two of the sisters while Warren silenced them. Charlemagne summoned an army of nature spirits and Vorthos used his waterlogged pocket watch to ravage the sisters. Podlings came pouring out from the kitchen, but Charlemagne's animal spirits held the line and kept them from overwhelming the Guardians. Warren shadow-stepped down and attacked one of the sisters with all his might, throwing blow after unrelenting blow. Ocarin readied himself to attack as well, but not before the blue hag began to eat one of the comatose villagers lying on the dinning table -- her manner so horrific and disturbing that the Guardian lost all sense. Finally, the hags' trap was sprung and the bodytaker plant hidden in the kitchen of the mansion began its part, using the flowering bodies of its expansive network of foliage to envelope the Guardians in spores and pollen -- stunning them and putting Vorthos to sleep. Finding within herself a great tactician, Charlemagne divided the elements of the hags' trap and conquered them: using her spirit animals to push back against the overflow of podlings and her own fire magic to destroy the toxic flowers poisoning her friends. Warren dashed across the floor and finished the blue hag, leaving Morgantha herself alone. Magically slowed and fearful for her life, Morgantha faded into the ethereal plane and floated slowly over to the sleeping Vorthos, hoping to gorge herself on his unconscious psyche, but the Guardians had other plans. They forced her away from their friend and woke him, and together, Vorthos, Warren, and Charlemagne finished the jealous hag off once and for all.
In the meantime, Ocarin used his own growing powers over death to become a spirit himself and found the bodytaker plant in the kitchen. He surmised that a grim fate had found all those who had been cast into it's carnivorous maw, including Ismark, Ireena's brother. With the enemy defeated and the Village of Barovia cleared of its corruption, the Guardians resigned themselves to delivering the bad news of Ismark's death to Ireena in Vallaki.
As they prepared for their venture, the Guardians saw something approach: coming up from the Ivlis River crossing, the Guardians saw a hauntingly familiar Black Carriage. The Guardians hid and watched as Majordomo Rahadin, now dressed in battle ready armor, exited the cabin and ventured out into the fields just west of Barovia. A strange streak of crimson red cloud seemed to spiral out from the spires of Castle Ravenloft to the north and amassed into heavy, dark clouds above Rahadin. The rain falling under the dark cloud seemed thick and black, and a metallic smell penetrated the air -- blood. The blood rain began to call up from the earth hundreds of restless soldiers and monsters from the muck and mud of the Barovian marches. More blood rose up from the ground like a pale red mist, and this mist began expanding out toward the village, toward our Guardians.
The Guardians ran for the River Ivlis, crossing it just in time to avoid contact with a vampiric blood mist. Perhaps the Dreadlord has grown fearful of our Guardians, perhaps he has tired of their game, or perhaps the culling and destruction of all of Barovia was always his plan, after all, one must reap before one sows. To whatever ends, Strahd has summoned an army, an army of numbers greater than what the people of Barovia could contend with -- the living people anyway.
The last we saw of our brave heroes, the Guardians of the Horizon recuperated in the once deadly Durst House. The spirits of the house flocked to their aid in repayment for breaking their torturous curse. The soul of one Thorm Quietsong found Ocarin in the night and shared with him how he had died hiding in the the secret basement of the Death House. He shared that Strahd subverted the peoples' support out from under the Harpers 13 years ago, turning the Barovian people against each other and using the chaos to stamp out the resistance that they had worked so hard to muster. The people of Barovia fear Strahd and his retribution, and though some of them might hope for a better future, that hope is just another tool that Strahd uses to reap his dreadful harvest.
During the night, Vorthos saw a vision granted to him by the spirit in his Soulsword, Sergei von Zarowich. Vorthos saw Sergei's wedding to a beautiful Barovian woman named Tatyanna -- the spitting image of Ireena Kolyana. It was apparently during this wedding that Strahd fell into darkness, slaying the guests and his own brother with a crystal sword whose hilt matches the Soulsword. Though the details of Strahd's death and Tatyanna's fate are still obscured it seems certain that some great power wishes to taunt the Dreadlord with the facade of his brother's bride.
Come morn, the Guardians and Doru Donavich set out to enter the Burgomaster's Mansion and liberate it from the control of the Hags of Old Bonegrinder. Doru was unable to enter the residence as a vampire, but waited outside to support Ocarin should the hags attack him before crossing the threshold. Vorthos, Warren and Charlemagne snuck to the back and scaled the mansion's wall, crawling into the second story window. However, while leaping between the outer wall and the wall of the mansion, Warren's foot slipped and grazed the grass of lawn o' so slightly: a signal fire to the creature that laired inside.
Ocarin wandered up the pathway to the front door and called on the hags to answer while his friends made their way around the inside of the mansion. Once Vorthos, Warren, and Charlemagne entered the overlook to the library and dinning area, they saw the hags, waiting for their prey to venture into what they thought would be a fool proof trap. Lining every fixture and furnishing were the bodies of villagers. victims of the hag's cruelty.
As Ocarin was invited inside by Morgantha herself, a podling villager emerged from the mansion's kitchen and told one of the sisters that intruders had entered through the back of the building. Thinking quickly, Ocarin cast slow on two of the sisters while Warren silenced them. Charlemagne summoned an army of nature spirits and Vorthos used his waterlogged pocket watch to ravage the sisters. Podlings came pouring out from the kitchen, but Charlemagne's animal spirits held the line and kept them from overwhelming the Guardians. Warren shadow-stepped down and attacked one of the sisters with all his might, throwing blow after unrelenting blow. Ocarin readied himself to attack as well, but not before the blue hag began to eat one of the comatose villagers lying on the dinning table -- her manner so horrific and disturbing that the Guardian lost all sense. Finally, the hags' trap was sprung and the bodytaker plant hidden in the kitchen of the mansion began its part, using the flowering bodies of its expansive network of foliage to envelope the Guardians in spores and pollen -- stunning them and putting Vorthos to sleep. Finding within herself a great tactician, Charlemagne divided the elements of the hags' trap and conquered them: using her spirit animals to push back against the overflow of podlings and her own fire magic to destroy the toxic flowers poisoning her friends. Warren dashed across the floor and finished the blue hag, leaving Morgantha herself alone. Magically slowed and fearful for her life, Morgantha faded into the ethereal plane and floated slowly over to the sleeping Vorthos, hoping to gorge herself on his unconscious psyche, but the Guardians had other plans. They forced her away from their friend and woke him, and together, Vorthos, Warren, and Charlemagne finished the jealous hag off once and for all.
In the meantime, Ocarin used his own growing powers over death to become a spirit himself and found the bodytaker plant in the kitchen. He surmised that a grim fate had found all those who had been cast into it's carnivorous maw, including Ismark, Ireena's brother. With the enemy defeated and the Village of Barovia cleared of its corruption, the Guardians resigned themselves to delivering the bad news of Ismark's death to Ireena in Vallaki.
As they prepared for their venture, the Guardians saw something approach: coming up from the Ivlis River crossing, the Guardians saw a hauntingly familiar Black Carriage. The Guardians hid and watched as Majordomo Rahadin, now dressed in battle ready armor, exited the cabin and ventured out into the fields just west of Barovia. A strange streak of crimson red cloud seemed to spiral out from the spires of Castle Ravenloft to the north and amassed into heavy, dark clouds above Rahadin. The rain falling under the dark cloud seemed thick and black, and a metallic smell penetrated the air -- blood. The blood rain began to call up from the earth hundreds of restless soldiers and monsters from the muck and mud of the Barovian marches. More blood rose up from the ground like a pale red mist, and this mist began expanding out toward the village, toward our Guardians.
The Guardians ran for the River Ivlis, crossing it just in time to avoid contact with a vampiric blood mist. Perhaps the Dreadlord has grown fearful of our Guardians, perhaps he has tired of their game, or perhaps the culling and destruction of all of Barovia was always his plan, after all, one must reap before one sows. To whatever ends, Strahd has summoned an army, an army of numbers greater than what the people of Barovia could contend with -- the living people anyway.
Warren Peace
None Swiftstride (Acolyte)
Monk 7
Monk 7
52 / 52 HP
STR
9
9
DEX
18
18
CON
15
15
INT
14
14
WIS
18
18
CHA
14
14
Charlemagne
None Shadar-kai (Hermit)
Druid 7
Druid 7
66 / 66 HP
STR
13
13
DEX
15
15
CON
18
18
INT
17
17
WIS
20
20
CHA
12
12
Vorthos D'Artagnan
None Changeling (Pirate)
Rogue 7
Rogue 7
45 / 45 HP
STR
9
9
DEX
19
19
CON
13
13
INT
12
12
WIS
12
12
CHA
16
16
Ocarin Stonehollow
None Reborn (Haunted One)
Bard 7
Bard 7
52 / 52 HP
STR
12
12
DEX
13
13
CON
15
15
INT
18
18
WIS
16
16
CHA
20
20
Report Date
21 Dec 2024
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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