Ravenloft Session 1 - 20210315 - Introductions
General Summary
It is the year 1493DR.
As the start of the month of Flamerule sees both the Founders' Day festival in Waterdeep, on the first of the month, and the longer Sornyn festival, dedicated to the gods Waukeen and Lathander, just a few days later, it is a busy time on the Sword Coast. The accompanying markets bring lots of trade, merchant caravans, bustle, and above all, lots of people. So it was that four such wanderers came to share a table, and then a journey, as they met by chance in the town of Daggerford.
Daggerford lies some days travel to the south of Waterdeep, and is a popular stop on the Trade Way and the High Road, which winds its way from Baldur's Gate all the way to Waterdeep, then beyond to Neverwinter.
Finding the Lady Luck Tavern to be full to bursting, Carson Brightwood (human paladin), Etain Ciardhubh (dwarven ranger), Hymn (tiefling bard) and Nerissa Armador (human... merchant), strangers to each other, waited together for a table. Overheard conversation included one Captain Romulus de Ferra urging his dining companion to gather all the iron ingots he could to trade in Waterdeep - war with Neverwinter wouldn't happen, despite that business with the dragons, but the threat from Lord Neverember of Neverwinter was enough to make investment in weapons a sure thing...
The four travellers got to know each other, somewhat, over bread, bowls of stew and several tankards of ale - and a bottle of red wine, from Thay, for Nerissa. Hymn joined in with the local band for a couple of songs, performing admirably.
Warned by locals of the dangers on the road from small animated trees, known as Twig Blights, that had recently been seen in the area, these four, finding they were all bound for Waterdeep, agreed to travel together. After resting that night in the inn, they set out on foot, the next morning, heading north along the High Road.
The day passed uneventfully, as they trudged on in the dry summer heat. As dusk fell, they made camp in a stand of oak and chestnut trees, a couple of hundred meters from the road. The summer night grew chill, and a fog rolled in from the sea. The next morning, Etain noticed that the trees were somehow... different - they were now surrounded by willow and larch. The fog did not burn off. How odd! They attempted to find their way back to the High Road, but all they could find was a track, not the well travelled highway. Nerissa climbed a tree to see above the fog, but found herself exhausted, and unable to climb above the mist.
Deciding to continue on, the party walked for several more hours through the mists, eventually coming to a village. Entering, the architecture looked strange, different to the usual styles of the Sword Coast. Hearing the whimpers of children, the party rounded a corner to find a boy and a girl standing in the street, looking forlorn.
Comforting the children, they learned their names - Rose, and Thorn. Rose and Thorn claimed to be from a house further along the street, but their parents had gone - "to find us food, they said" - and there was a monster in the basement of their house! Prompted by Carson, the party quickly agreed to help, and approached the house. A quick circuit showed it to be quiet and dark, with nothing really visible through the dark windows. Entering through the portico, the party found a very well-appointed but apparently abandoned townhouse. A motif repeated throughout the house was the coat of arms of the house owners - a stylised golden windmill on a red field.
Exploring the ground floor, the party found no apparent way to enter a basement. They returned to the main room that spanned the ground floor and climbed the red marble staircase to the first floor. This floor contained servant's quarters (including a dumb waiter to the ground-floor kitchen), a music room, and a library. Searching carefully, some hidden details of the house emerged: a carving around a set of doors of dancing youths, on closer inspection, showed the youths were actually fighting off a swarm of bats; alabaster figurines of well-dressed dancers, adorning the mantelpiece, revealed that several are carvings of well-dressed skeletons.
In the library, Hymn discovered an oddity - a book without a title on the spine. Pulling on this book caused a secret door to open, revealing a small room. This room contained some shelves, laden with tomes describing fiend-summoning rituals and the necromantic rituals of a cult called the Priests of Osybus. A chest contained a skeleton - the victim having being killed, evidently, by poisoned darts sprung from a trap. Clutched in it's hand was a sealerd letter, which read:
Daggerford lies some days travel to the south of Waterdeep, and is a popular stop on the Trade Way and the High Road, which winds its way from Baldur's Gate all the way to Waterdeep, then beyond to Neverwinter.
The four travellers got to know each other, somewhat, over bread, bowls of stew and several tankards of ale - and a bottle of red wine, from Thay, for Nerissa. Hymn joined in with the local band for a couple of songs, performing admirably.
Warned by locals of the dangers on the road from small animated trees, known as Twig Blights, that had recently been seen in the area, these four, finding they were all bound for Waterdeep, agreed to travel together. After resting that night in the inn, they set out on foot, the next morning, heading north along the High Road.
The day passed uneventfully, as they trudged on in the dry summer heat. As dusk fell, they made camp in a stand of oak and chestnut trees, a couple of hundred meters from the road. The summer night grew chill, and a fog rolled in from the sea. The next morning, Etain noticed that the trees were somehow... different - they were now surrounded by willow and larch. The fog did not burn off. How odd! They attempted to find their way back to the High Road, but all they could find was a track, not the well travelled highway. Nerissa climbed a tree to see above the fog, but found herself exhausted, and unable to climb above the mist.
Deciding to continue on, the party walked for several more hours through the mists, eventually coming to a village. Entering, the architecture looked strange, different to the usual styles of the Sword Coast. Hearing the whimpers of children, the party rounded a corner to find a boy and a girl standing in the street, looking forlorn.
My most pathetic servant, I am not a messiah sent to you by the Dark Powers of this land. I have not come to lead you on a path to immortality. However many souls you have bled on your hidden altar, however many visitors you have tortured in your dungeon, know that you are not the ones who brought me to this beautiful land. You are but worms writhing in my earth. You say that you are cursed, your fortunes spent. You abandoned love for madness, took solace in the bosom of another woman, and sired a stillborn son. Cursed by darkness? Of that I have no doubt. Save you from your wretchedness? I think not. I much prefer you as you are. Your dread lord and master, Strahd von ZarovichThe chest also had three unused books, bound in black leather and containing high quality vellum pages, a set of three spell scrolls (bless, protection from poison, and spiritual weapon), and a leather document pouch. This contained the deed to the house, the deed to a windmill (situated in the mountains east of Vallaki), and a will, signed by Gustav and Elisabeth Durst. This will bequeathes the house, the windmill, and all other family property to Rosavalda and Thornboldt Durst, in the event of their parents’ deaths. Finding nothing else of interest on this floor, the party returned to the stairs, to continue up the second floor...
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments