"Dhampir"

> *"Get away from me before I hurt you! I'm a monster! I'm a monster..." - Lucy to Cordi.*
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## "Dhampir"

### Campaign

The Band of Fortune and the Curse of Strahd

### Players

Deirdre
Levi
Willow

"Dhampir" was the twentieth session of The Band of Fortune and the Curse of Strahd.

## Synopsis

The session began where the last left off, with the group in the room where Lucy had just gone under. Cordi left to do something, and Reevis struck up a conversation with Ireena expressing sympathy. During this conversation, Ireena admited to Reevis (and everyone else in the room) that she didn't love Lucy. She liked her, but didn't want to not lie and ruin Lucy's chances of waking up. Reevis expressed understanding, and left to go talk to Cordi, who was in the Horse Stalls. She and Reevis talked for a bit, discussing current events and where to go next, and Cordi showed off her new creation, Hairy Micena, which she thinks will help kill Strahd. As the two finished their conversation, Cordi saw a man following them, who gave the two of them an invitation from Strahd to have dinner at his castle with him. The group decided against that, especially after Ez said that it was probably a trap. They decided that they would wait for the following morning for if/when Lucy woke up to determine what they would do then.

The following morning, Lucy did indeed wake up, but was confronted with intense sensory overload, and a burning hunger. Ireena was in the room sleeping at the point, and Lucy almost bit her, but with all of her willpower stopped short and ran to the corner of the room to cower in fear. This woke Ireena up, who ran out of the room as soon as she saw Lucy's newly-formed vampire teeth. Cordi saw the commotion, and entered the room. Lucy at first reacted in fear, not wanting to hurt Cordi, but Cordi told her to drink her blood, turning into Nallia just before it happened. With her thirst slaked, Lucy was able to control herself a bit more, and returned to the bed as Cordi went to tell the others what occurred. Cordi also knew that Lucy was a Dhampir and not a full Vampire due to being able to "smell the life on her."  She offered to feed Lucy with her blood (and also volunteered Reevis for said offer without his permission), and told Ireena to not let Lucy feed from her under any circumstance, which Ireena agreed to. Cordi brought Reevis from the taproom to Lucy's room, and he reacted rather pragmatically to Lucy's transformation, which nearly made Lucy fly into a rage, but she held back. Reevis backtracked a bit, and the conversation became more positive, but Lucy had some mood swings, and advocated for going to Castle Ravenloft after learning of Strahd's letter. Ez showed up and checked in on Lucy, and after being asked, told Lucy that she knew that Lucy would become a Dhampir after taking the poison. Lucy reacted with anger, but managed to calm herself down. She also requested to talk to Ireena, so Cordi went to go fetch her.

Cordi found Ireena, and Ireena said that she would talk to Lucy, but wanted Godfrey there because she thought it would be safer. When she entered the room, Lucy apologized, which Ireena said she shouldn't. Lucy responded expressing fear about how she almost hurt Ireena, to which Ireena responded that she didn't. Ireena told Lucy that despite being monstrous now, her actions would determine if she was a monster. This brought Lucy to tears, who was at a loss for words in how to respond to everything. Towards the end of this conversation, Ez, Reevis, and Cordi went back out into the hallway, and met Rictavio again. Rictavio asked about the commotion, and offered to heal Cordi's hand that Lucy bit, and whispering to her to protect Ezmerelda. After Rictavio left, Ez went into Lucy's room, and taught her the basics of vampirism, mentioning her own romantic and sexual relationship with a vampire in the past, Jander Sunstar, a vampire who kills others of his kind. From this, Lucy learned that she could walk on walls and ceilings, that she wouldn't age (but could still possibly die when her mortal life would normally end), and that the sun would not be as hard on her as it would on other Vampires. At this point, Lucy outwardly began to accept her newfound Dhampirism, appearing much less sullen about it, and not being as actively depressed.

She decided to show the other party members her wall climbing abilities, and had a nice conversation with Reevis about the whole ordeal. Concurrently, Ez and Cordi talked about Rictavio and Ez's mentor, Rudolf van Richten, who trained her but went his separate ways from her a decent amount of time ago. Cordi drew a connection between him and Rictavio, which Ez picked up on, and Ez also mentioned van Richten's deceased son, Erasmus, who was the one who warned the party about the Vampire attack two nights ago. From there, the group reconvened, and talked about their next stop. The group decided to head to Berez, and possibly stop at Krezk to drop the wedding dress off for The Abbot after a fair amount of deliberation. The group set off and saddled up, and while on the road, ran into a figure they had seen before, the hooded man with the blue eyes and the lantern from when they fought the giant wolf. The figure pulled back their cloak to reveal Nim as they remembered her, but… different. She had draconic eyes and a deep gravelly voice, and spoke to the party, calling them friends. The session ended with her saying "I don't have much time."

## Important Characters

* Lucy Gremory
* Cordyceps of the Green
* Reevis Silverfang
* Ireena Kolyanna
* Ezmeralda D'Avenir
* Godfrey Gwillym
* Rudolph van Richten (as Rictavio)
* Nim