Campaign One Chapter 2: "Barovia; Curse of Strahd"

# **Barovia: Curse of Strahd**

## Chapter 0: "Into the Mists"

Starting a few days before the events of Session 1, the party is residing at Troll-Skull manor; this party being Gleeb, Ballus, Creg, and Sky, along with their many employees. As the morning began a messenger came to their front door, requesting the party to make haste to a grand ball in Daggerford hosted by the Duchess herself, for their bravery in saving the city of Waterdeep a year prior. There at the ball, the Duchess greeted and thanked them, allowing them to roam the ballroom; there, they met Orzai*(see Orzai(Disambiguation))*, a Tiefling noble who was also attending.

As they partied on, the Duchess came to the party's table and requested them to take care of a group of travelers disrupting the "Trade way." Hearing this, Gleeb, out of nowhere; with what is thought to be a *hired* band of Dwarven bards, made a toast to the whole ballroom, stating his departure from Waterdeep to go on more danger-filled adventures, and to defeat Nihiloor the mindflayer; as he did this the Dwarven bards played the classic song of Halboldiran bravery "Diggy Diggy Hole." Giving their goodbyes, Gleeb left in pride; leaving the rest of the ballroom, in confusion. The party would then head out to complete this new quest.

They eventually found a camp of Vistani sitting out behind a bridge, asking them questions they told a story of great evils and goods and a land beyond, after hearing this they made a deal with the Vistani to stop disturbing Daggerford, they agreed and the party fell asleep. Awaking, the party, find themselves in a strange land of darkness and fog *(see Barovia)*, confused they begin to walk around and find some sort of civilization. On their search they find the towering stone walls of Krezk, where they hear howling and screaming from inside. Running fast to trouble, they encounter a Werewolf, that is quickly defeated using spells and Sky's whip. After the kerfuffle, they make way into the city, where they met Gavyn who made the *reluctant* choice to aid them in their journey, seeing how lost they truly were. On the way, passing through Vallaki, they met a hooded stranger, who, coming up closer, turned out to be their long-lost and thought to be dead friend X-Kant, who was now more gaunt and their eyes black with a white pupil glow; the whole party (besides Orzai and Gavyn) were in shock and relief to see their friend once more, who didn't seem to want to answer to many questions.

## Chapter 1: "The Tent of Fate"

The party begins traveling to the village of Barovia. On their way, they encounter a revenant with a longsword that was soon killed. Walking into the village, Creg investigates a woman's scream; investing this, he meets an elderly and seemingly mad woman who describes a daughter she lost, potentially decades ago to the Gargantuan structure of stone that is Castle Ravenloft; he promises that he will save her, and begins to meet back up with everyone else. The rest of the party heads to the "Mirage Library", which is owned and operated by Gavyn. There, Gavyn explains the basics of where they are, and goes further into what he knows of Barovian lore and history to the party. While deeply engaged in the large wealth's of knowledge Gavyn had collected, the party searched around for books on highly desired subjects, especially Creg who was greatly invested in the Shadowfell, a subject he had been researching for the past year after X-Kant's disappearance, then reappearance.

Lurking about the Gavyn's library for a few more minutes Creg thought it the best idea to look for rations, after all, getting food here wouldn't be as easy as it was in Waterdeep. After a quick search, it was easy for the party to find a small shop: "Bildrath's Mercantile." Coming inside, the party asks for a plethora of things; including rations, potions, and small advice. Taking in these new faces, Bildrath determines the party to be outsiders here, in which case, he attempts to hike up the prices of the rations for the Adventurers. Because of this, X-Kant gets stern with the shopkeeper, and the rest of the party decide to leave; except for X-Kant, who attempts to threaten the shopkeeper with a draw of their pistol, made from the shadows of their Skeletal Arm; only for Bildrath's large bodyguard and nephew, Parriwimple to walk through the door. Stalling for a moment, X-Kant recalls their pistol and smiles at Bildrath, walking away saying "One day..."

Making their way to the elusive Madame Eva, a Vistani fortune teller who they were told to go see by the Vistani. The party begins to grow tiresome, so Sky creates an encampment for the party to rest at for the night. In the morning, the party would further their travels towards Eva, and on the trail, X-Kant claims to see their dead body, hanging from the lone gallows; although no-one else seems to perceive the sighting. After a fews hours they make it there, at the camping grounds of the Vistani where Madame Eva is thought to be. The party makes way slowly, into a peaceful interior full of lanterns, barrels of things, plants, and much other clutter; there at the center sits a long table where an elderly Vistani woman sits, this, is Madame Eva. She tells tall of the *fates*, a force that gives her the knowledge she preserves, and the same force that she believes has brought the party together, as well as to her. On the table, she goes around the party, reading their Past, Present, and Future using Tarokka cards, who's power is also told to be that of the *fates*. The fortunes told by the Tarokka cards seemed to be incredibly accurate to the party, who because of this gave lots of trust into this unknown woman. She further went on to answer the many questions the party all had, this is where the party learns that Gleeb may be in grave danger by what is assumed to be Nihiloor. There, they also learned of the many quests they must go on to defeat the Devil that was Strahd Von Zarovich: the Dragon Church(see The Church of Argynvostholt), The Amber Temple, a Mentor(also see Ezmerelda), a Vineyard, and The Abbey; their first quest, was to the Vineyard.

As they made their way to the Vineyard they saw what could only be described as plant-like zombies. Before making their way in however, they spotted the family that owned the Winery/Vineyard, the Martikovs; who warned of the dangers ahead, and pleaded for the heros' help.

## Chapter 13: "Blood on the Snow"

In Session 13, Gavyn and the rest of the party gathered their winter gear, making their last stop at Krezk, before they would start the path to Mount Ghakis. On the path, they dredged through the harsh winter snow that cursed the path to Ghakis, on the way encountering a massive Bird-Like creature smashing into a cliff a few miles out; Creg believing it to be a Roc.