Session 2: The One That Got Away

## The One That Got Away

In the village of Barovia, the party is introduced to Morgantha and the sweet taste of meat pies. From there, they went to Ismark's home and met Ireena where they learned Strahd has been obsessed with her and killed her father. Ismark explains that the house is no longer safe for Ireena and asks the party to get Ireena out of Barovia. Ireena, however, won't leave until their father is buried, so he can't become an undead thrall to Strahd. However, the Burgonmaster can't be properly buried as Father Donavich hasn't been seen in about a month, when his son was lost to an attack on Ravenloft castle. The party goes to the church to speak with the Father and learn he has been keeping his son - who is turning into a vampire - in the church's basement.

## Synopsis

### Meat Pies

The group returned to the bar the next morning, and Menyn immediately greeted the bartender, Erik, as well as the two Vistani he’d had a drinking contest with the night before. He woke them up, asking if Morgantha had arrived yet, then explains to the group she’s a merchant who sells meat pies. The two Vistani tell him no, she's not here yet and Erik offers Menyn some sugar grapes while he waits.

Bogdan sat at the table with his hood still up and Seril watched him like a hawk. V sat next to him and listened in on Erik and Menyn’s conversation. Erik explained that there’s no wine coming in anymore and if Menyn is willing, could he go check the vineyards northwest of here? Menyn agrees then joins the group.

After a bit of discussion, Menyn explained to the group that there are oracles who told him of people of prophecy, and explains those people are most likely Seril, Bogdan, and V.

Seril and V then tell Menyn and Bogdan about the Ireena/Ismark situation and how V apparently looks like Ireena, who the devil is obsessed with, which caught Bogdan’s attention. V tried to say she would go handle that situation on her own, as its her problem, but Menyn objected, saying they are bound by the chains of fate.

They leave the tavern and find it gloomy and overcast, despite being morning. Across from the tavern, a line of Barovians wait against the bar. An old woman with a handcart smiled at the line and handed out pies to the customers. Many of the Barovians seemed happy to see her and others seemed nervous about not having enough money or there not being enough pies. Bogdan explained that while he doesn’t eat, his mother overheard stories of the pies and told them to him, and they’re apparently quite good. Hearing this, Menyn finds his Vistani friends in the line and joins them to buy a pie. He returned a few moments later and offered some to everyone. Bogdan declined.

The pies give each of them visions of something that made them happy.

Menyn saw a vision of having just finished giving his life story, in some form of aria or ballad, though he didn't know what form it was in, only that he'd just given it. His large audience went into an overwhelming amount of emotion - tears of joy and sadness, cheers and stunned silence. Any and every state and response that a bard wishes from his performances, and it was all in reaction to who he was and what he'd done.

Seril imagined sitting by a warm hearth, with a young girl of about eight years sitting in her lap. The girl has dark hair and is what Seril imagines her niece would probably look like now.

V saw a memory of learning how to use her dagger and beheading a practice dummy. Her mentor, behind her, praised her, telling her how quickly she’s picked this up.

Bogdan, who didn’t eat the pie, was then stuck with the three of them standing there, trapped in their euphoric dreams. He tried to get them to move, but to no avail. Snapping his fingers in front of their faces didn’t work, and he could even see the memories playing in their eyes. He then punched V in the arm, waking her up, and explained what happened to her. V then woke Seril and apologized to her as she did, who then woke Menyn with an unapologetic kick.

Seril then started being rude to Bogdan again [I don’t remember what about] and V walked away.

### Meeting Ireena

They eventually made it to Ismark’s mansion and found it covered in claw marks as if it had been assaulted. The gate was wide open, allowing them to enter. At the top of the stairs in front of the door was a rose and parchment left for ‘Tatyana’. Bogdan pointed out that vampires need permission to enter a home so the devil might have had permission to enter once before and no longer does.

V caught sight of movement in the window and went to look through, where she found a woman wearing a chain shirt and pacing back and forth. She had long, auburn hair, but otherwise looked uncannily like V. The woman turned and saw V staring at her and stared back.

After knocking a few times to no response Bogdan suggested pretending to be an emissary of Strahd, but Menyn said it would be best to be honest in this situation. He went and drew V away from the window. V went to the door and knocked, to which Ireena said “followers of Strahd are not welcome here.” The group tried to explain that her brother sent them but she claimed he hadn’t said anything about them and was still asleep.

“Are you Ireena?” V asked. “Yes.”

“Was it you in the window just now?” “Yes.”

“Why do you look like me?” “Why do *you* look like *me*?” Ireena countered.

They asked again to be let in and she said no, they might be followers of Strahd, but they were able to convince her to go get her brother.

After a moment he came down, let them in, and apologized for Ireena’s behavior. He explained that the house had been attacked by zombies, ghouls, and wolves, so they were a bit on end. Ireena glared at V as she walked in.

On top of the table in the room was a large corpse with a sheet over its body. In the dining room was a painting of the man (the corpse in the other room). There were other paintings with him, a tall woman, a boy, and a girl; Ismark and Ireena.

Ismark explained that he wanted help getting Ireena out of Barovia, since she is the target of Strahd’s attacks. Seril showed them the letter and rose that had been left on the steps. Ireena called Strahd a bastard and threw both in the fire.

Ismark confirmed the body in the other room is that of their father’s, and he had been killed by Strahd.

Ireena explained that she’s never been willingly with Strahd and he had gotten more aggressive with his attempts over time. He doesn’t have consent to enter the home but his followers don’t need consent and were able to continue their assaults. Ismark feared that the house wouldn’t hold up much longer, so he suggested taking Ireena to either Vallaki or Cressick.

Seril asked Ireena if Strahd frequently calls her Tatyana, and if she knows what that means. Ireena said she has no clue, that he’s been calling her that for weeks now. Ireena then addressed her brother and said she won’t leave until their father is properly buried so he can’t be raised up by Strahd. She felt guilty and angry since he died because of her.

Ismark explained that the priest, father Donavich hadn’t spoken to anyone in about a month, since his son bought into a stranger’s rallying cry to storm the castle. His son didn’t return and he hadn’t spoken to anyone since. So he can’t lay their father to rest without the priest, but Ireena won’t leave until he’s buried.

Bogdan pointed out that their father’s death might be a tactical decision on Strahd’s part to draw her out of the city and out of safety.

V asked Ireena why Strahd targeted her. “I don’t know,” she admited. She only knew that he claimed to love her and is glad she had returned.

Ireena decided to go to the church and V said it's not safe for her to do so alone. “If you’ll have me, I’ll go with you.” “Your presence would be welcome.”

### The Church

Ireena led them north to the church. On the way there Bogdan asked Ireena about the pies, since they see so many people still affected by the pies along the way. She admits she has avoided them, “but the town loves them and there’s so little to be happy about in town anyways.”

They arrived at the church and find it in bad shape. Ireena pounded on the door and called out to the father, but there was no response. V knelt down and picked the lock of the door. “Impressive,” Ireena said. “If only my hands could do that.” She then kicked open the door, revealing a man praying at the altar.

Bogdan was hesitant to enter but he does so and is relieved to find it doesn’t hurt; it’s just mildly uncomfortable.

As they walk in, V could hear somebody calling out from under the floorboards. “Father, I’m so hungry. Please, it’s so cold. I promise I’ll be good.” V asked if anyone else could hear that, which brought up some confusion and V hesitantly explained she can sometimes hear ghosts so she wasn’t sure if it was a ghost or not.

Ireena approached the priest, but he didn’t respond to them at all, just kept praying. He prayed to the night mother, over and over, asking her to watch over the town and his family. There was dried blood under his knees from where he had been kneeling.

Menyn disguised himself as Ireena, and used minor illusion to sound motherly as he sang, “Salvation lay only before those who act. And those who are present with ceremonial pact.” The priest seemed to grow more alert but didn’t respond.

Bogdan suggested trying to scare the priest out of his stupor, since he is a vampire in a church. He then walked up the wall, across the stained glass ceiling and bared his fangs at the priest. Startled, the priest jumped up and threw a vial of holy water at Bogdan, but V threw a dagger at the vial, dislodging the cork. The water fell uselessly to the ground, sparing Bogdan.

Finally responsive, the priest, terrified, demanded the group leave him to his ritual so he could save his son. Seril and V then ask if his son is under the floorboards, and he glanced nervously over at the trapdoor to the side.

The priest then stood, his legs aching from kneeling for so long. There was a brief moment at the sight and smell of blood that Bogdan’s eyes briefly turned red but he managed to restrain himself.

V went over to the trap door and Menyn took the chance to ask the father about the Night Mother in order to distract him and keep him from doing anything drastic. He explained that the Night Mother used to watch over Barovia and was one with the soil and the land until ‘he’ came, and she has since left.

Bogdan, Seril, Ireena, and V discussed their plan at the trapdoor. They knew it’s the priest’s son under the door, and suspected he might be turning into – or already be – a vampire. Bogdan said he will be the one to go down, since his blood would be useless to another vampire. He could then switch places with his shadow if he needed to. They agreed on their plan, and V unlocked the trapdoor.

## Locations

* The Blood of the Vine
* The village of Barovia
* The church of Barovia

## Featured Characters

### The Party

* Bogdan
* Menyn Kaynen
* Seril Dren
* V

### New

* Morgantha
* Ireena
* Father Donavich

### Returning

* Ismark
* Erik

### Mentioned

* Tatyana
* Strahd
* The Burgonmaster