Session 11

## Session 11 (February 20, 2023) - Day 7 - Here we win a battle

This session opens with us waking up from a long rest. This is finally our 7th day in Barovia. In the past week, our heroes have lost their possessions twice, fought ghouls, encountered and got possessed by ghosts of children, almost gotten completely killed by hags who eat little kids, chased by wolves and other supernatural kinds, and encountered the devil incarnate. We have made a few friends along the way, but more enemies than we can count. Yet, we soldier on, trying our best to help the people of this depressing and vitamin D deficient country.

After leaving the children off at the orphanage, we only need two rooms instead of three. In the morning, Orio and Stubbs awoken to Ireena getting ready for the day, having already had her things packed and weapon ready to go. "I can't sit around anymore. I just have to do something to help!" After yesterday's revelations, Ireena is more determined than ever to be a useful member of the party, and to do something to truly make a difference in the city.

The rest of the party slowly trickles down to the dining hall for breakfast. Unfortunately, some imbibed in too much of the Purple Grape Mash #3. Ireena and !! both had raging headaches. Fortunately, none suffered alcohol poisoning. Ireena also revealed last night that she didn't have anymore money, so she cannot possibly pay for our services.

After some much ado, as is the usual with our party, we head over to the orphanage to see what Milivoj knew of the lost bones of St. Andral. On the way, Stubbs treated the party to a rousing marching tune to inspire courage and energy. Unfortunately, not all were receptive to such melodies at the time. !! tried in vain to command Stubbs to be silent. He succeeded for 6 seconds, but that just spurred Stubbs on to further encourage the spirit of the party with her song.

To everyone's relief, we made it to the orphanage without issue, and !! was greeted by an overwhelming number of children ready to swing from his many arms. Succeeding at an athletics check, !! handled the attention with aplomb. Stubbs reminded the children that they had to take turns on playing with the bug man. Madam Bilaseo arrived, dispersed the children, and took us to see the still-recovering Milivoj.

Milivoj was sitting up with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders in his room. He still looked a little bit pale and under the weather, but very much alive. Orio and 777 combined efforts and returned to him the "shovel of the morning Lord" while questioning him about his role in the theft of St. Andral's bones. Milivoj confessed to have needed the money to help the orphanage, especially when he was getting more ill and couldn't work. He was bribed and threatened by Henrik van der Voort, the coffin maker, to steal the bones of St. Andral. He was actually approached several months ago, but had always assumed there were no bones of the saint at the church, until he learned otherwise from Yaska. He did it all for the good of the church. He was rebuked by our party and was very remorseful for his actions.

We learn from Madam Bilaseo that it takes an average of 20 gold/day to upkeep the orphanage and take care of the 24 children.

Madam B didn't know anything about Henrik, so we headed back to the inn to gather more information. Unfortunately, Danica also didn't know much about the mysterious coffin maker.

### At the Coffin Maker's Shop

Our party approached the coffin maker shop to find it quite uninviting as shops go. The windows were closed, the shutters shut, the lights off. There were no noises of coffin making, and no indication the shop was even open. Undeterred, determined to bring the bones of St. Andral back to their rightful resting place, Stubbs and Tarlet knocked on the door. At the same time, suspecting nothing good can come of stealing the bones of a saint, Stubbs asked the rest of her companions to scout out the premise in case of anything more sinister. Orio with 777's prestidigitation help, decided to collect donations for the church and the orphanage

After the first couple of knocks, a voice calls out, "Go away! We are closed!" Encouraged that someone is actually in the shop, Stubbs knocked with greater persistence, and called out demanding to buy coffins. After some persistent knocking and shouting, the door finally opened to reveal a 50-ish year old human with graying hair and slightly stooping posture who angrily repeated that they are not open for business. Seeing an opening, Stubbs and Tarlet muscled their way into the store. Stubbs took the opportunity to grapple Henrik while Tarlet caressed his lance gently against his neck, asking about the bones of St. Andral. Henrik claims to know nothing about them. Meanwhile, Orio came into the shop and started opening the doors to the back rooms. The back room revealed to be full of unmarked coffins. There were no sales information or price tags. Orio began opening all the windows around the room. Orio and Tarlet began opening the coffins one at a time, only to find out they are all empty.

Meanwhile, Harry tried to climb to the 2nd floor and break the shutters unsuccessfully. When the downstairs shutters opened, it nearly knocked him off the 2nd floor window ledge. He decided to slide into the first floor through the open window. He suffered 3 bludgeoning damage from the fall. We were joined by Koa and Lancelot, and opened the doors to the other two rooms. We found a bedroll with some left over food crumbs, whose owner Henrik refused to divulge. Could it be him, because he didn't have a home? We did not know. The other door led to stairs to the second floor. Stubbs dragged Henrik up them with Koa bringing up the rear. Henrik struggled hard against the action, but couldn't break her grapple. This struggle reconfirmed Stubbs' resolve that Henrik is hiding something, and it was still appropriate to continue the present course of action. After all, thus far our search revealed nothing sinister, and some he said he said accusations. All this time, Henrik continued to deny knowledge of the bones.

On the second floor, we found more coffins with crates next to them. Orio found out the hard way that they are filled with carpenters' kits, and suffered 6 piercing damage by the nails. On the second coffin we opened, we found the body of a young man, reminiscent of Doru, with his eyes open. This surprised the party so much that it had time jump out of the coffin, scurry up the walls and to the far side of the room to where Hairy was opening that stubborn window he failed to open from the outside before. The spawn pushed open the adjacent window and was making for the outside. Fortuitously, 777 and !! were patrolling outside looking for hidden cellars and such, and noticed this creature making such an unhuman screeching noise, and attacked it. We also found out the Hold Person spell was ineffective, as it's not a person and therefore could not be held. Seeing this, Stubbs knocked out Henrik to free both her hands.

Just then, five more coffins burst open, and one of the spawn grabbed a bag and they all made for the outside. Assuming the bag contained the bones of St. Andral, our party went after the spawn in hot pursuit. As with the encounter with Doru, we found out very quickly that the spawns all had high speed, and were very strong. Nonetheless, we tried our best to remove the bag from (the spawn we named) Tyrone's possession. After much trouble, Tyrone was killed and Stubbs finally gained possession of the bag, only to be knocked out by Tyrone's friends soon after.

As much as we tried to stop them, the spawns broke free from our containment efforts and scattered around the town, wrecking havoc and killing people as they go. Our party runs west, in hot pursuit of the spawn with the bag. We encountered various obstacles and tried to slow down the spawns and save any civilians we could save. We managed to also warn the Bluewater Inn, alert the guards, and saved 1 child, 1 guardsman, and 1 person trampled by a horse.

### The Church of St. Andral

As we got closer to the church, we saw Strahd riding across the sky and descending upon the church on the back of a flaming steed. While we were still 90 feet from them, we saw the spawn running towards Strahd and handing him the bag we have been after. Our party gave one last push to restore St. Andral's bones to their rightful place, and restore the protection to the church.

Tarlet catapulted a flask of oil in front of the spawn in an effort to make it trip. Unfortunately, grease, not oil, would have had the intended effect. We tried to shoot the bag out of its hand but failed. Hairy, in a moment of desperation and cunning calculation, turned into a direwolf and approached Strahd pretending to be still under the charmed effect. To cement the deception, Hairy willingly took burning damage from the demon steed. His facade was quickly broken as he tried to take the bag from Strahd's hands but failed. Koa successfully got a hand on the bag. However, when Stubbs tried to move her away from Strahd, she could not maintain her grip.

As such, we are then engaged in a crucial battle against Strahd, his demon steed, and the spawn. Against all odds, 777 fired a critical shot and managed to slice the bag open, spilling the bones of St. Andral onto the ground. (Oh thank goodness they were the bones we were looking for!) Koa moved forward and picked up the bones with her amazing Hadozee ability, and disengaged to run towards the church as much as possible. She saw Strahd raising his hand and pointing at her. In a moment of pure genius, she dropped the bones a split second before 8 magic missiles sprang forth and fired on her hands where the bones used to be. Stubbs continued the relay by picking up the bones and running into the church. Before she started running, she psionically moved !! towards the church to be in better position to continue the relay. Hairy, seeing the turn of events, ran toward Stubbs, heedless of the barrage of opportunity attacks, and placed the bones carefully in his mouth before continuing toward the altar. The end goal is certain: We must restore the bones of St. Andral in their rightful place in the crypt, so that the church can be under the protection of the saint once more!

Seeing the tide turning against him, Strahd got off his steed and commanded it to attack while he strolled into the church. As a measure to stop his advancement, 777 readied an Eldritch blast pointing at Ireena, who was actively stabilizing the downed Orio, and called out, "Leave now, or I hurt her!" Unfortunately, Strahd was not convinced the threat against his obsession was real, and tried to mind fuck Hairy instead. Ireena, however, felt very betrayed by 777, seeing that she saved him from the hags, and was actively trying to stabilize Orio. Will their relationship ever be the same?

Hairy was strong in his wisdom and rebuffed Strahd's mind fuck attempt. Stubbs, realizing her potential as a psi fighter, continued to use telekinetic movement and managed to move Hairy right before the altar. Strahd followed after. Tarlet followed up by pulling Hairy into the crypt, then grappling Strahd to ensure he couldn't follow. Finally, Hairy dropped the bones of St. Andral into the crypt and attempted to ask the Bear Deity for some extra help. Unfortunately BD couldn't be reached at the time and no message was left. But Hairy could feel a warmth emanating from the bones. Realizing there is still danger with Strahd being present, he moved to block the way into the crypt.

Up on the main level of the church, Strahd visibly grimaced at the return of the bones. He then tried to bite Tarlet and missed. The spawns ran away from the church. Seeing the effect of the bones, !! closes the crypt door and yelled for Father Lucien. He then tried to shoot Strahd and hit. But like last time, as fast as the injury was inflicted it was healed. Bucephalus (the demon steed) burst into the church and tried to attack Tarlet but failed as it made its way to its master.

Outside the church, Ireena brought a dagger to her throat, looked Strahd in the eye, and threatened to kill herself. There was finally a true glint of fear in Strahd's eyes. Seeing this, 777 moved closer to Ireena and brought his readied Eldritch blast ever so close, "If she won't do it, I will!" Strahd turned and misty stepped out of Tarlet's grapple, not before saying, "I will remember you, little owl." He mounted his steed and rode over to Ireena with a hurt expression. As he got closer, we noticed some steam coming off of him, perhaps an effect of the now sanctified church? He looked at 777 with pure hatred, "You can consider this round won. But, I will see you again." He then drew a letter out of his pocket and handed it to 777. "I expect you to meet me for dinner one night. If you don’t come, I will be gravely disappointed, and will find you for dinner my own style..."

"You’ll find me difficult to digest"

"Then you best come for dinner yourself"

Strahd turned to Ireena, "You are always welcome at my castle, away from these people who will kill you. Until next time." With those parting words, horse and rider departed for the sky. Some party members resisted the great temptation of a parting shot the horse's rump.

Remembering his multiple threats on Ireena's life, and realizing that he would still have to work with her for the foreseeable future, 777 managed to convince Ireena he wasn't actually going to follow through the attacks on her life. Ireena believed him, but the image of 777 with Eldritch blast in his hand aiming at her will stay with her for a long long time.

Since our lives were not under imminent threat of death, we look around our surroundings once again. We found Father Lucien approaching us, explaining he was chasing off a spawn who had cornered Yaska. There were still a lot of screams of terror around the city. Fortunately, after the rampage they did on the town, the spawns ran off to locations unknown. When we returned to Bluewaters Inn, we saw a spawn burned to a husk with some serious radiant damage marks. (Was this Rictavio?)

As the result of this serious attack on Vallaki, the festival had been delayed by one day, and Lady Watcher had delayed her dinner party invitation to tomorrow.

It is now around 10 o'clock, a perfect time to short rest and level up to 5