Barovian Adventure

This details the adventure of members of the Guild of Majestic Glitter Cats as they ventured through the Curse of Strahd campaign before streaming as a practice run.

DM- ChoroiBelmont

Players -

* JulietStillman as Oleesa Hartseel
* EyeAmTheDanger as Lao Chen
* Chonkercorn as Arou Raios

## Session One

The team arrived in Barovia separately. Oleesa and Arou were traveling companions grouped from younger days that traveled to the strange country investigating the disappearance of Oleesa's brother Brendus. The two were both considering a romance but had not begun one. The weather turned bad on their travels as a thick fog began to gather and they took shelter at a tavern.
At this tavern, there was the monk Lao Chen, who was traveling to sample foreign alcohol. The appearance of Oleesa and Arou did not interest him at first.
In this tavern they met a strange man in brightly colored clothes who asked for their help, carrying a letter from Kolyan Indirovich asking for help for his daughter.
The three decided to help this man and he disappeared in to the night. The three introduced themselves and discussed how to proceed. The three made their way slowly to the village of Barovia after discovering a corpse with a similar letter by Kolyan with discrepancies between them. They reached the village as wolf howls had begun to surround them but they entered safely in time.
The villagers seemed full of distrust and refused to interact with the strangers.
The trio did make their way to a tavern and met Ismark Kolyanovich drinking heavily. Ismark continued drinking and bought each of them a drink, but sobered at the sight of the letter said they carried, which he identified as fakes. He decided to ask his sister Ireena and brought the team to meet her. She was hesitant to open the door until Ismark insisted.
The team noted that Ireena was showing signs of being turned into a vampire, describing a handsome man who appeared in the night. Ismark told them of how their house had been assaulted by werewolves until recently, strangely the attacks had stopped with the passing of their father.

## Session Two

Ismark led the group to the nearby Vistani encampment. He did not go into the encampment but respectfully waited outside, as he is a Barovian and there is bad blood between them and the Vistani. The group saw a man whipping another man and decided to intervene. The man who was whipping the other was a Vistani named Luvash and he was punishing the man for failing to guard the camp as Luvash's daughter Arabelle had vanished. Luvash's brother Arrigal joined the meeting to settle his brother down and all of them waited for the search parties to return. After some time, a few parties returned with no news.

While waiting, the group met with the village mystic Madame Eva. She fortold their fortunes, talking of silver dragon knights and the end of the curse on the land. She also informed that group that no search parties were being dispatched to Lake Zarovich, so it was likely Arrabelle may have wondered there, as children do not take part in adult superstitions.

Ismark rejoined the group and led them to Lake Zarovich. There, the group saw a lonely fisherman who seemed out of consciousness, wholly focused on his task. As the group bothered him, Oleesa spotted a small bag that seemed people-shaped. They did not reach the boat before he dumped the sack in the water. Oleesa jumped off the boat and grabbed the sack, which she confirmed held an unconscious child body. Arou, Lao and Ismark tried to nonlethally deal with the man, but he stabbed himself with his dagger, feeding his blood into the lake.

From this, a large water being shaped similarly to a woman made of water appeared. She explained that the man was sacrificing the child to her, as Arrabelle bore the same blood as Strahd. She offered the group a choice; to give her the child and protect the land from that blood becoming a problem, or to take the child away and suffer the consequences that may come of this action. She also offered a reward, a mighty weapon to defeat Strahd, should they give her the child. After much discussion they decided not to sacrifice the child and the water being vanished.

They returned the child to her father, who was so grateful that he invited the party to join their festivities and rewarded them well. Arrabelle in thanks gave Oleesa a cookie that she had made, which Oleesa treasured. As the night wore on and the party got tired, they were invited to stay in Arrigal's tent, which they made use of. Unbeknownst to them, Arrigal then took some of their belongings as they slept and rode off with them into the night.

## Session Three

The next morning, the party was quick to discover that their belongings had been taken. They questioned Luvash was terribly sorry for his brother's actions and tried to repay the heroes for what had been taken. He suggested that Arrigal may have made for the city of Vellaki, as it was a good place to sell things and was not too far away. Upon meeting back up with Ismark, he offered to lead the group to Vellaki.

Along the way, they encountered and hid from a ghostly female rider calling out for someone. They discovered a nearby male body who was clutching a ring that matched one on his own finger. The party then searched for the female ghost and found her. They gave her the ring and she sobbed in happiness. the spirit of the man appeared and Ismark identified him as a Barovian who had gone missing after supposedly eloping with a Vistani woman. The two ghosts embraced, thanking the party and vanished. Oddly the rings disappeared as well.

They reached the town of Vellaki and Ismark pulled his hood up to hide his identity. They were met with a warm welcome. The town guards offered no answers as to Arrigal's whereabouts. Instead they referred the party to meet with the Burgomeister. To the party's shock, the guards then locked them inside the town. They went to the mansion and witnessed a man being sentenced to execution for not being happy enough. The meeting was tense, the Burgomeister Vargas Vallakovich being a man who forces all to pretend happiness for his sake. Arou noticed a heavily armed stranger hiding behind the Baron's chair.

During this meeting, the Baroness Lydia Petrovna rushed over to Oleesa and insisted that she attend the Baroness's tea party. She slipped Oleesa a note that said "Help me" and Oleesa very reluctantly agreed. On their way out, they met the Baron and Baroness's son Victor, who was dressed in a black cloak and muttered in Infernal to sound evil. However, as a Tiefling Oleesa was able to understand his words and noted that he was simply reciting a grocery list.

The group explored many houses, including the shop of Gadof Blinsky. Inside the shop, Oleesa was delighted with Blinsky's toys and his manner and decided to purchase it all. Blinsky was so delighted he started packing up his stuff, asking where to send it. Ismark had it sent to his house for safekeeping and Blinsky politely asked for a favor, offering to return some of their gold if they should find his master's great work, hinting that it was likely within the castle.

The group also met the coffin maker next door, Henrik van der Voort. The gentleman was more than happy for their company, speaking of his children having left. He mentioned having given shelter to a few travelers. Oleesa decided to snoop around, finding a pristine room that belonged to Henrik's late wife. She found a box labeled "My darling" and decided not to look in it. She noted an interest in stealing some of the wife's pretty dresses but did not.

Investigating the basement, Oleesa found several coffins, many boxes and a strange symbol on the ground. She found a sleeping bloody vampire inside one of the boxes and panicked, heading back upstairs and rejoining the party. She told Henrik of the vampires and he was surprisingly ok with their state, only confused by the number, as he had only been giving shelter to three and she distinctly saw seven. Asking about the symbol, he explained it as a Transportation Circle, which he used to transport his goods. After realizing that his had been being used to smuggle vampires into the city, the group pleaded with him to change it around.

The three settled into a nearby inn where they watched two bigger gentlemen intimidating the barkeep. However, Arou and Lao were decidedly bigger than both of them and they decided to back off for now. the bartender apologized and gave them a discount on the rooms and food/supplies. They then went into their rooms to rest.

## Session Four

The next morning, Ismark went down to the bar to learn what he could. Oleesa got prepared for the tea party as Lao and Arou considered their next action. Oleesa stayed long enough to listen to the bard playing badly and then left in a carriage sent for her by the Baroness.

A little while after she had left, Arou and Lao headed down, hearing a commotion. They went downstairs to see Ismark being beat up by Karl and Nicholai. They sneered and Karl attempted to look tough by licking the blood off his own knuckles. Lao intimidating him, asking if he knew how unsanitary that was. Karl began to panic and the brothers scurried off, saying that their mother had sent them to invite the group over so she would know what had happened.

Oleesa found a tense situation waiting for her at the tea party, as the Baroness explained that the tea party was the only place she could talk freely.

Upon returning to Blinsky's shop, they found a sign on the door saying he was out and realized he was taking the goods to Barovia in person. They decided their next stop would be to visit the coffin maker next door.

The group returned to the coffin maker and asked him if he could use his Teleportation Circle to Transport themselves to The Wizard of Wines winery. He agreed, saying it would be some time, more than a day, but he would have it ready.