3/2/21 Session 5 - Village of Barovia

While our adventurers are batting Lorgoth the destroyer in the sub-basement sewer of the haunted house, Grinfiddeus Nobbles reaches into the beast and pulls out the exposed infant assumed to be the youngest Durst child, Walter. The shambling mound of flesh that was once Lorgoth falls to pieces and the child in Grinfiddeus’ arms oozes black ichor as it grows cold and icy to the touch at an unnaturally quick pace. Grinfiddeus passes the child’s corpse to Adrid who wraps it in his cloak and the party leaves the dungeon-like room once the gate has been raised on the portcullis. Out of the room the rusty chain breaks and the gate comes crashing down, as this happens the house itself seems to lurch and settle in strange ways. The party notices that the items in the reliquary look even older and dustier than before. Making their way back to the family crypts, the party decides the best course of action is to bury Walter’s remains in a small lockbox, swaddled in a blanket in his marked tomb. They do so and then decide to do the same for Rose and Thorn as well. The party collects their remains from the attic and intern them in their proper tombs. Roses’ ghost appears before the party before she is fully buried asking that they take a piece of her with them so that she may travel the world. The party declines believing that she is better suited to rest and needs to ascend to the next plane of her existence rather than to continue languishing here. The party leaves the basement and then the attic, descending the stairs through the structure, noticing the house seems to be actively falling apart and is in even worse shape than they had noticed before. The windows are bricked up and the wood floors have holes and look very perilous. They find a very tired looking Lancelot and coax him out of the house. The party seems to escape the wrecked mansion without issue. Shortly thereafter, visions of the Durst family appear to the party in the distance, Mr. Durst thanks the adventurers for their help, he and his children seem happy and at peace, Mrs. Durst appears set off even further in the distance crying, but as the party engages with them the visions of the family turn to a silver mist and disappear. Meanwhile, Lancelot catches wind of something familiar and begins to follow his nose. The inquisitive party follows the dog into town hoping he will lead them somewhere interesting.
The town looks run down, but there is more life about than there was in the last house they entered. The party passes several disheveled looking townsfolk as they make their way through town and eventually find a crying woman on the stoop of her home. Lancelot stops here and the party inquires with the woman (Mary) as to what is wrong. She sees the emaciated Lancelot, proceeds to feed him and the party explains where they found him without going into much detail about the house. She seems shocked that he was found in the long abandoned Durst manor. Through her persistent sobbing they discover that her 9-year-old daughter, Gertruda, had gone missing with Lancelot some time ago. The party lets her know they will keep an eye out and try to find Gertruda. They ask Mary about the Burgomaster and she points them down the street to yet another rundown looking mansion. Before the party leaves she hands them Gertruda's favorite toy. A misshapen doll in a sack dress. A tag is sewn in "Is no fun, Is no Blinsky"
The party approaches the home to discover it’s covered in fire damage, claw marks from large wolves and that many of the broken windows are now boarded up. There’s no light coming form inside and they see no signs of life, even after knocking. Deciding it’s not a good idea to go inside another sinister looking house just yet, the party seeks out lodging and heads back toward the middle of town where they run into an old woman selling baked goods. “Granny” introduces herself and asks the party if they’d like to purchase one of her pastries. It’s customary for many people around town to eat them before they go to sleep so they can have “Sweet Dreams”. Adrid and Lilithus purchase one for 2 Silver each and the rest of the party declines. They ask her about lodging and she points them across the street to the “Blood of the Vine” Tavern. Before proceeding over to the tavern, they inquire about how long the Durst manor had been abandoned, Granny indicates that it’s been that way her whole life. She notes that it’s very hard to tell time here with no sun. Grinfiddeus makes a flattering joke that it couldn’t have been that long, she doesn’t look any older than 50. Taking the compliment wholeheartedly, Granny gives Grinfiddeus a free pastry. They find that the house has been abandoned and in a state of decay for at least 70 years… Granny bids the party a good evening after informing them that she sells her pastries here every night and they make their way into the tavern. Grinfiddeus notices that the sign by the door has been altered with graffiti to read “Blood ON the Vine” tavern instead of "Blood OF the Vine". This seems odd. The party happily convenes around a table in the adequate looking place of business. They see 3 Vistani women with scars under their eyes sitting at the bar where a bartender is intently washing his glass wear. A man sipping a glass of wine is sitting in the corner alone. Grinfiddeus eavesdrops on the Vistani women and hears they are talking about being excommunicated and that they need to get some woman back. They also seem to think the bartender is useless. Adrid is still reeling a bit from the encounter in the house and isn’t able to appreciate any humor Fredriech Carlston is attempting to lay down. To cut the tension Fredriech purchases the party food and drinks from the bartender (Arik).
The adventurers being to eat and decompress as the man from the corner of the bar approaches them. They invite him to sit and eat with them, however he declines the food but does sit to ask the party for help with a few tasks. They question the man and find that his name is Ismark, and that he lives at the Burgomaster mansion with his sister, he asks that they join him now at his home to speak. The party is interested in speaking more with him but are in no condition to do so right now. They briefly speak about the “Dread lord” and a few other topics regarding Barovia and the nature of their travels. We receive some answers but, he still needs a more discrete space to speak noting a distrust of the Vistani women at the bar. He offers to pay for their lodging under the condition that they meet him in the tavern in the morning. Before he goes, they ask about Mary and her daughter Gertruda. He replies that “Mad Mary” is indeed very distressed about her daughter’s disappearance and that he’s concerned for Lancelot, he doesn’t seem to think she should be caring for the dog. On that note he leaves, and the party takes off to their rented rooms for the evening. Lilithus reveals that she’s already eaten her pastry and Adrid volunteers to keep a bit of a watch of her overnight in case the pastry was nefariously laced with poison or a drug of some kind. The party has a good night sleep and is fully rested. Lilithus dreams of her happy place and things seem fine. The party wakes up and gathers downstairs to meet Ismark. They follow him to the Burgomaster's mansion and sees that the sky is lighter and that the daytime sky is only vaguely lighter than it is at night. Upon reaching the home, Ismark bangs on the door and asks his sister Ireena to let him in. The party remarks that it seems odd he as to be let into his own home. They enter and meet his sister Ireena who, unlike everyone else in town, seems to have auburn hair (BAD LUCK?). Grinfiddeus notices in an adjacent room lies a makeshift coffin surrounded by wilting flowers. Ismark tells the party that he inherited the title of Burgomaster after his father recent death, has received the title of “Ismark the Lesser” because he has yet to fill his father’s shoes at the Burgomaster and needs to prove to everyone he’s worthy. The party recounts to him their tale of how they ended up in Barovia and their misadventures in the Durst house. Intrigued, Ismark explains his situation regarding his fathers’ death from a heart attack after countless attacks on the home from wolves and vampire brides. Strahd von Zarovich is the “Dread lord” listed in the letter found in the Durst house and he rules the land from a large castle overlooking the town, “Castle Ravenloft”. The party shows him the letters they’ve acquired and tell him about the courier near the gates killed by wolves holding a letter that appears to be from his father. Ismark tells that that this isn’t his fathers handwriting and compares the letter to the one from Strahd they found in the Durst house. Same handwriting. Ismark notes that it’s very in character for Strahd to toy with people and plant false information like this. Ismark also explains that Strahd has an obsession with his sister Ireena and will send attackers to the home to kidnap her. On several occasions he himself has come and fed on her. Ireena shows her neck and the party is taken aback but learns that unless she is killed by Strahd and then buried, she will not become a vampire. The party is concerned about helping with burying Ismark’s father and goes to examine his corpse in the other room. They find no holes from vampire bites, just a decomposing corpse. As a side note Ismark also tells the party about a “Parade of the Dead” that people seem to be talking about but doesn’t seem to think is a big deal or anything… The party agrees to help and will first assist with the burial of Ismark’s father. He pays them 20 gold (4gp each rounded up) pieces for their services and they being to help him.