Day 1 (year 735): Travelers crossing paths camped just outside Daggersford. The human's
camp fire drawing the tiefling forward with a brace of rabbits offered
for the spit. A cleric and rogue each on his own journey 'till morning
fog and eerie mist changed the landscape. Malformed trees bracketed a
muddy road that wasn't there yesterday.
Domine the cleric and Morthos the rogue stayed together as they explored their new surroundings. The rogue suspecting the magic user of tricks; the cleric suspecting his god testing him fresh out of his temple studies.
Miles walking the rutted road 'till a large wall stretched across the path. Length unknown as the mist limited their vision. A 40ft tall arched gate before them, bracketed by stone guardians fallen into aged ruins...their heads toppled off. Reluctantly or inquisitively, the pair moved forward despite the eerie realization the squeaking gates opened on their own...as a lone wolf howled from the distance behind them. The gates closing behind them.
Miles before the forest falls away then more miles before they come upon a village. Hope that the inhabitants can answer their questions...
Domine the cleric and Morthos the rogue stayed together as they explored their new surroundings. The rogue suspecting the magic user of tricks; the cleric suspecting his god testing him fresh out of his temple studies.
Miles walking the rutted road 'till a large wall stretched across the path. Length unknown as the mist limited their vision. A 40ft tall arched gate before them, bracketed by stone guardians fallen into aged ruins...their heads toppled off. Reluctantly or inquisitively, the pair moved forward despite the eerie realization the squeaking gates opened on their own...as a lone wolf howled from the distance behind them. The gates closing behind them.
Miles before the forest falls away then more miles before they come upon a village. Hope that the inhabitants can answer their questions...
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Dom... Pious Exemplar warned of the evils sharing our world. He didn't mention OTHER worlds! Only days since leaving the Helm temple, and my campfire draws the tiefling Morthos. A morning shroud of fog reveals strange trees and a road not there before. Hours trudging the offered ruts, our vision limited by the ever-present mist. Then a wall looms before us. The tall gates opening, inviting us forward, a lone howling wolf encouraging us onward. More hours before the stench of death assaults our noses. Maggots already crawling out of the orifices of the human body days dead. Cloths and skin shredded by claws and teeth. Paw prints dance around the corpse...wolves? Morthos notices the hand clutching a crumpled envelope...a broken wax seal stamped with the letter "B". The letter itself an invite from "the Burgermeister" seeking heroes to help save his daughter bitten by a vampire. Strange names and places adding to our mystery. More walking until a village sprawls before us at the foot of a mountain with an ominous castle perched on a high ridge.
ReplyDeleteAll uninviting...the streets empty, windows boarded up, and a wailing sob echoing up the street. A chance to ask questions of an old woman once we buy some of her pastries. Two bites and I 'm frozen in a trance. The tiefling drags me to a nearby inn...posing me at one table as he seeks answers from the humans within. I'm frozen only to watch and listen as Morthos approaches a lone patron who speaks a strange dialect. An exchange of names before the tiefling begins to tell Ismarc about the letter. Speaking as if he knows more than we really do. Greeted with disbelief until he mentions "the Burgermeister" then reveals the letter. Turns out Ismarc is the Son of "the Burgermeister" who recently died. Ismarc asking our help in saving his sister. "You can find me at the end of this street when you are ready to accept."
Six hours before my trance wears off. Yet the wailing sob still echoes up this street. No answers at the door, a little rogish check of the lock, and we soon enter climbing the stairs to the source. A despondent mother clutching the doll of her beloved daughter now missing. "She broke out weeks ago." Escaped? I can only offer to keep a lookout for her...asking for the doll as a means to show "Gertruda" we come with her mother's blessings. Pause as I stare at the malformed doll before putting it in my backpack.
We continued to the mansion at the end of the street. It's rusting fence and walls heavy with claw marks and blackened with fire. Once again Morthos encourages the lock to let us in when no-one answers our knock. Confronted by a woman wielding a two-handed sword who only lets down her guard when Morthos mentions Ismarc...her brother...who soon arrives. Irena agrees she needs to be safely removed from this village, but not till the body of her beloved father is laid to rest at the chapel cemetery. "You still have a few hours before dark."
As Ismarc led the way, Morthos and I precariously carried the coffin...me a good foot taller than the tiefling. Upon arrival and entry at the church on the other side of town, we were assaulted by loud prayers drowned out by the screams of something below, "Father, I'm hungry...PLEASE feed me!" Yet when confronted, the priest Danovich only offered, "Ignore those cries. Come back in the morning and we'll bury your father." But the sounds of evil drew us to a trap door, then down into the cellar, me leading the way with light upon my mace pommel. And there in the corner, something almost feral, pleading for us to leave, "I can smell your blood." Undead, vampire spawn...it must be laid to rest. The 'radiant' benefits of "Divine Favor" cast upon my mace denied the beast its regeneration. Morthos near death, Ismarc wounded...doubt starting to tickle my mind as the thing still stood. Finally the evil aura floating away as the body collapsed into ashes. What have we stepped into?
GM...They press on until they smell death only to discover a body holding a sealed note from someone called the Burgomaster who summons for help. A few miles on and the forest gives way to open grasslands. The mist dissipates somewhat and in the distance can be seen buildings of a village. Some 1000 feet above the village is an impressive castle sitting on a precipice. As they enter the lifeless town the see an old woman selling pastries for a gold. They buy them, eat them and succumb to their sleepy effect...well one of them does. The other carries sleeping "beauty" to an Inn where he orders drink and chats with the locals. One local, Ismark the Lesser, asks for their aid in getting his sister out of the village to a safer local. Once the human awakes they go to the Burgomasters mansion as that is where Ismark lives with his sister and the body of his dead father.
ReplyDeleteThe mansion is in disarray on the outside as there is evidence of attacks on the walls and a clear path around the perimeter where creatures have been. Once inside they speak to the sister, Ireena Kolyana has been bitten twice by a creature names Strahd the Devil, a vampire. Her father died of a heart attack after nightly assaults by unknown creatures. She asks the two to help her brother take her father’s body to the Church for a proper burial before she will let them take her to a safer place. Once at the church they meet with Donavich the priest but keep hearing someone screaming to be feed from below. The priest requests that he be ignored. No chance! After locating a trapdoor they descend to find a madman who says "I can smell your blood, please leave." No Chance! A fight starts between the two and the Vampire Spawn that is the priest’s son. Ismark aids in the destruction of the foal best for which they tell the priest they only feed to sate him. The priest requests that they return in the morning to bury the body. Xoji walks into the church to see what is going on after being informed by his spy that strangers have arrived. The introduce each other and decide to head back to the mansion for the night. Xoji stays at an empty house next to the mansion. The night is uneventful.