Session 2 Report

Our heroes continue their journey into the realm of Barovia. After some morning squats and a hearty Vistani breakfast, the party made their way back onto the Old Svalich Road in the direction of the nearest settlement, Krezk. After an hour or so of walking, they finally broke through the trees to see a snow covered settlement. Built into a mountain upon which sat a huge stone abbey, the village was encompassed by 20ft walls and a large set of gates.
Upon approach, the guards stopped them and fetched the Burgomaster, a man by the name of Dimitri Krezkov. Krezkov refused to let them in, claiming that to do so would anger Strahd, as Strahd was the the one who must have brought them to Barovia in the first place. After some conversation, the party discovered the village was recently subject to a barrage of werewolf attacks, in particular from one known as Whiteclaw.
They agreed to go south and return with Whiteclaw’s head in exchange for being allowed into Krezk. After some searching, they were able to discover a corpse that had been freshly mauled by some kind of animal. They followed paw prints leading further south, to a wide-mouthed cave by a river.
They entered, and upon doing so, found an older looking woman with white hair and a chunk missing from her nose. They decided to speak with her rather than immediately attack, and sat down around the embers of the campfire. She was quite open about how weak she felt the residents of Krezk were, and seemed to hold particular disdain for Dimitri Krezkov. She claimed to have been kicked out from another group of werewolves, to the north of Krezk. She revealed her true name to be Illyria.
Eventually, Magnus had heard enough of her brutality and cannibalistic ways and decided to attack. During the battle, the party members began to reveal their mettle in combat. Martyn sent Mya to hound the beast, while Kyler struck it with his bow and Trinity landed smites upon it. From Magnus’ back sported great wings and a heavenly glow. Fennas underwent a rather unusual transformation, the colour draining from his skin and four ghostly arms sprouted from his form. From Edwyn’s hand blasted a strange beam of energy that seemed to surprise even him.
Eventually, Illyria turned back from her hybrid form into a human and begged for mercy, claiming her actions were not her own to control. Her pleading was met with an axe in the back from Fennas, and then a blow from Magnus that cut her head clean off.
In the aftermath of the fight, there was a fair amount of contention as to whether or not she should have been spared. However, the deed was done, and Illyria’s head was no longer on her neck. Edwyn was horrified to find a jolt of pain run through his hand upon touching his holy symbol, and Fennas seemed to remember none of the events of the fight. Upon scavenging the body, Kyler found a roughly carved holy symbol to Selune around Illyria’s neck. They returned to Krezk, the snow pelting down unrelentingly. They arrived at the gates, where they presented the head, and the gates swung open to welcome the, inside.