Mists of Barovia 0

## Mists of Barovia - Session 0

We begin the adventure with an assortment of characters making their way into Barovia, a land ruled by a undead tyrant.

Last we left off, Dan Wailin, Bafflegar the Blowhard, Shawn Bolt, Katsanova Sly, and their companions Iarno and Sildar Hallwinter were making chase after a giant werewolf who had spirited away Phandalin's tavern keeper's son, Pip, deep into the woods until they could give chase no longer.

They each get separated for quite some time, with Dan, being consumed with grief and anxiety, resorts to his baser instincts and begins to consume psychedelic mushrooms.

We get introduced to Jet Jaguar, having purposefully allowed himself to get captured and placed into a fighting pit to find any worthy opponents. Having found none, he and some cohorts plan an escape and upon opening the gate, a strange mist surrounds everyone and suddenly he's in a new land, looking around he finds nothing of the same except the same gate he opened. He begins to wander down the lonely dirt road, in search of opponents to satisfy his quest for battle through the mists.

Next we find Juliette Valentine, who's attending a banquet for a fancy noblewoman for whom she just finished a mission for recently. At the dinner, she woos the Lady Susan, and is asked for a favor from her: to get the traveling caravan of Vistani to depart, as she feels they have overstayed their welcome. Heading towards them with thoughts of Lady Susan in her head, she makes her way past the town gates and towards the Vistani encampment where they're partying. Being invited in, she recognizes a companion she fought with before, Radka, during a mission on a battlefield. Sharing some alcohol, she is told that Radka thought of what Juliette told her once long ago, about her desire in searching for one named "The Wanderer". and that he might know someone with information of what she seeks. He also states that he will be leaving shortly so that Lady Susan need not worry about their temporary stay, and that they would be heading towards the person with information. Without hesitation, Juliette joins Radka and departs in the morning.

Then we follow Shalfall Aeschylus, who is found sitting at a tavern table, enjoying a drink, when suddenly a extravagant gypsy Vistani man in fine tailored clothing walks in and goes straight to him, announcing his presence being requested by his lord. While all eyes on him, he tosses the barkeep a pouch of coins and announces to fill a round for all the patrons. With no other current leads for his search, Shalfall decides to take this request as it's somewhere he's never been before, and heads west into the Svalich Woods, quickly getting lost in the mists.

Finally for Dan, during his trip, he hallucinates about his companions, seeing and interacting with Kats Iarno and Sildar, then Shawn and Bo, his long estranged brother, and then finally Bafflegar. During his hallucination, he sees Shalfall but thinks he sees Bafflegar, but can't tell if it's a hallucination of Bafflegar or not. As he approaches, he announces his presence and they decide to join together to find their way.

Radka's wagon eventually comes across Jet Jaguar, to which not much of a conversation occurs. Juliette hears Jet asking for a fight, to which she leaps from the wagon and they begin to battle. Coming to a stalemate, Jet is confused, as he's never fought someone equally. His mask tells him to keep an eye on Juliette, and they decide to hold a truce and travel together.

Shortly after, Shalfall and Dan are approached by the same wagon driven by Radka, and also join in the wagon.

Eventually they make their way and arrive at the Vistani encampment, headed by Radka's father, Stanimir, who welcomes the group with dance and alcohol. When the festivities die down a little, he tells them a story through the flame in the middle of the bonfire. A story of their lord of the land, Lord Strahd.

The story goes on about how he was found and nursed back to health by the Vistani people long ago, then was escorted back to his homeland against assassins from their rival kingdom. He eventually lost his good demeanor and turned into a tyrant, with Stanimir finally asking the party to help them put an end to Strahd and his reign, pointing them in the direction of Madam Eva for advice.