Darkness at the Door
The heroes have to deal with a killer in the town of Eschbach.
Plot points/Scenes
The heroes have travelled down to Eschbach from Aachen as part of a convoy of supplies that are needed to help the town grow. There has been some strange murders in town where the victims are of different ages, genders and species. Different body parts are missing, and there is a small near untraceable mark of magic per kill. They are treated as suspicious persons as they have only arrived at the exact same time as a body has surfaced.
They are tasked by the local Council to prove it's not them, and will be compensated accordingly. The only clue is that a strange element to the fog that seems to be regularly appearing each time the murders happen. Each has had different organs, body fluids etc removed and rather messily. Even in locked buildings / rooms does not seem to bar the killer.
Each case has a small piece of sack cloth & a dried twig left behind. The local militia (the Burgeaters) are tasked with finding them and they need the help of someone. They do report that a cackling noise has been reported in each area of the murder during the time it happened, and seems to drift off towards the woodland to the northeast. The heroes may be informed that the east forest is classed as being looked upon as haunted / cursed due to many evil places & happenings happening there in a thin strip running down there a few miles long and a couple of miles wide.
If they ask around they find out that a young child called Christophe found a small twig wrapped in a small bit of sack cloth on his bed the night before. If they wait till night in roughly where he lives, they will find the killer and it is a Barovian Witch. If not they can follow said Witch when she leaves to a portal in the woods that go to her lair.
Alternatively, if they hide in the woods to the north east, they have the chance to find the portal and catch the Barovian Witch coming through.
In any case, they have the chance to kill her. They will be thanked and paid in gold & silver for their services. The Witch will have a bit of gold & silver too, along with two bits of onyx. The portal leads to Ravenloft if they go through or study it in some way.
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