Deserter

## Summary

The party sleeps in after fending off Strahd. Both Jade and Talice are sore as Warwick talks about going to either Vallaki or the Amber Temple. The party decides to head back to Vallaki with an unconscious Salem. They come out in the middle of a storm with the epicenter of it being on the Amber Temple.

The party walks through the forest with Jade playing a song to pass the time. However wolves hear the tune so Warwick slips into the trees. Talice spots a dark-skinned man ahead wielding a spear reacting to the wolves. He goes by the name Emil Toranescu and he escaped Strahd's dungeon only to be chased by dire wolves. Warwick scares him only to be attacked with Emil's spear. Warwick deflects it and apologizes for the scare. Emil is also anti-Strahd which gets the party's respect.

Larger wolves then attack the party which are revealed to be werewolves. Warwick tries to show off but fails as Talice summons her black bears and spirit bear to attack the enemy. During the attack, Emil reveals himself to be a werewolf himself. Jade ends up using the pipes of haunting to help them win the fight.

It turned out Emil was one of the pelt peddlers. Ezmeralda helps cure the lycanthrope wounds on Jade and Sorin with Talice helping out. Warwick also gets some poison ivy to fill half a vial.

They continue to follow the road passing by the ruins of Van Richten's Tower. They eventually arrive in Vallaki with Emil getting nervous. Ismark talks about staying in town with Ireena but promises to be there when the group has to fight Strahd. Talice decides to write down Edmund's name when the time comes. Jade says her farewells to her 'family' before joining the party at the Inn. Unfortunately the Blue Water Inn is out of business. The group decides to offer the ewyer but Talice doesn't want to part with it. Instead she decides to loan it to them for free room and board. The patriarch discovers that the ewyer makes more than just wine so he lets them in.

They ask about Rictavio only to find that he left the town's west exit a few days ago. They also learn some more tricks with the ewyer while Jade decides to make a sweet caramel vodka. Emil then talks about how he deserted his pack because their leader followed Strahd. They also mention the new recruits would kill each other to become a part of the pack. Talice thinks the missing children are involved but sadly Emil mentions that he couldn't read. He also challenged the pack leader, Kiril but lost when Strahd was involved. The party talks about their recent fight against him. He did see Miss Tewin in Van Ritchen's tower as his pack was tasked with capturing her. Miss Tewin managed to escape thanks to Emil's wife, Zulieka. The party decides to help him become the new leader of the pack for their assistance in taking down Strahd.

Jade tries making a shot and drinks it only to throw up. Ezmeralda is infuriated by this and gets Jade to take more wolfsbane. She then grounds Jade to her room with Krik's help. Krik then gets an idea to use some water with Gragarius to keep the group warm on the mountains where the Amber Temple is. Talice then decides to help make some lycanthrope candy to protect them should the werewolves attack again. Ezmeralda and Emil reluctantly go with her while Sorin and Krik tan the hides.

Jade dreams about her past life working for Strahd. It turned out her past incarnation had feelings for him. She wakes up in a cold sweat and admits she learned her lesson. She is allowed back downstairs. When night falls everyone finishes their chores with everyone getting a wolf pelt cloak and wolfsbane candy. Talice makes a new healing potion and Jade talks with Gregarius as they head to bed. She thinks about who would know Strahd personally after the chat and Ireena comes to mind.

Jade hurries to the church where she finds out that Ireena also had a dream about Strahd in a past life. They talk about each others dream while Jade indirectly mentions that she had feelings for Edmund Edmer. They mention how her ancestor likely felt spiteful at Strahd's feelings for Tatiyana and gave Strahd a hateful melody. Jade believes it's her fault as Ireena pulls her into a hug and says that Tatiyana didn't love Strahd the same way she did for Sergio. They decide to race to see who will kill Strahd first much to Ismark's dismay.

Krik and Warwick get the idea of coating the weapons with silver during the night and decide to head out during the morning. Talice also gets rope, torches and tinderbox from her explorer's pack in storage. They find a new blacksmith named Alec. He mentions that silvering a weapon costs 50 gold without materials and 50 silver with materials. Krik gives Warwick two gold so he can pay for the silvering process. While they're coming up with the payment, Jade comes by looking for better armor. She gets some armor at a discount thanks to her feminine wiles. She then admits that she didn't want to use it when Edmund was around. Warwick tries to pull it off and it actually works.

The party then begins to head out towards the Amber Temple with their new gear in hand and promises of new allies to fight Strahd.

## Notable Events

* AeonOfDreams was unable to make it to this session
* The party meets Emil Toranescu and fights off some werewolves
* The party returns to Vallaki
* The party parts with Ireena and Ismark
* The ewyer is discovered to make more than just wine. With bread it makes beer, with potatoes it makes vodka, with corn it makes whiskey and with alcohol it makes a shot.
* Jade has a dream about her past life in which she was in love with Strahd Von Zarovich
* Sorin's new axe is revealed to be named Treebane