Ravenloft Game Log - Session 11
Once more into the Barovian night...
In hushed tones, the party whispers their plans in the church. Ismark will remain to guard the dwarven prisoner, and the rest will hurry to Lysaga Hill, where they hope to find Ireena. To confuse any scrying, they split into two directions and circle around. Niccolo, Rikhard, and Zidara arrive first. Their encounter with the woman guarding Ireena is fraught with misunderstanding, and she leaves angrily, after being healed of an unfortunate sword wound. The rest of the party then arrives, and all are relieved to find Ireena safe.
However, when Ireena wakes, she is quite upset to be told that she must remain bound hand and foot until the morning. This is heightened by her sense, also felt by the others, that the magic circle is not a place where they are truly safe. Rikhard makes an impassioned speech, pleading her to stay, and she agrees reluctantly to do so.
When night falls, the group has an unexpected visitor. Appearing from a pool of mist, the Countess Sasha von Zarovich materializes! Equally surprising is the fact that she asks for and receives Yves-Michel's promise of protection from the rest of the party, who are quite suspicious of her motives. She asks only to be allowed to remove the enchantment from Ireena, which she succeeds in doing. She admits to Yves-Michel that Ireena is the result of a past indiscretion on her part, that she cares for the girl, but that her husband the Count must never know of their relationship. She then exits as mysteriously as she arrived.
Once she recovers from the shock of the spell's removal, Ireena's manner is entirely changed. She demands weapons and armor, and leads the party to retrive her brother. Where before there had been confusion, now only vengeance burns in her eyes, but they are equally filled with pain. Retriving Ismark, the party realizes that the dwarf is more liability than asset, and he is swiftly executed in the name of justice by Yves-Michel. There is some discussion of exploring Ismark and Ireena's burned home, but the party decides to seek the advice of Madam Eva at the Vishtani camp.
Arriving at the outskirts, they are asked to wait by a Vishtani scout, as Madam Eva has another visitor. Once admitted, Niccolo and Rikhard speak to her, and gain much information about Strahd's power over the lands of Barovia. He controls the mists, as all have now realized, but he also controls the land itself, in the form of three fanes: mountain, forest, and swamp. The Mountain Fane is in Lysaga Hill, but Madam Eva warns that the Count will be present there soon and, discovering that it is unguarded, the Hill is likely to be a trap. Instead, she directs them to the Swamp Fane, deep in the Ivlis Marsh. She warns that it, too, will be guarded, by undead and by the Drowned Lady, a figure from Barovian folklore.
The party decides to brave the swamp during the daylight, and rest for the remainder of the evening in one of several hiding places in the Zvalich Wood. The place they choose has been discovered by two poor souls who, bereft of life, still hunger for human flesh. However, they are easily dispatched by the party and sink, as mist, into the ground below...
In hushed tones, the party whispers their plans in the church. Ismark will remain to guard the dwarven prisoner, and the rest will hurry to Lysaga Hill, where they hope to find Ireena. To confuse any scrying, they split into two directions and circle around. Niccolo, Rikhard, and Zidara arrive first. Their encounter with the woman guarding Ireena is fraught with misunderstanding, and she leaves angrily, after being healed of an unfortunate sword wound. The rest of the party then arrives, and all are relieved to find Ireena safe.
However, when Ireena wakes, she is quite upset to be told that she must remain bound hand and foot until the morning. This is heightened by her sense, also felt by the others, that the magic circle is not a place where they are truly safe. Rikhard makes an impassioned speech, pleading her to stay, and she agrees reluctantly to do so.
When night falls, the group has an unexpected visitor. Appearing from a pool of mist, the Countess Sasha von Zarovich materializes! Equally surprising is the fact that she asks for and receives Yves-Michel's promise of protection from the rest of the party, who are quite suspicious of her motives. She asks only to be allowed to remove the enchantment from Ireena, which she succeeds in doing. She admits to Yves-Michel that Ireena is the result of a past indiscretion on her part, that she cares for the girl, but that her husband the Count must never know of their relationship. She then exits as mysteriously as she arrived.
Once she recovers from the shock of the spell's removal, Ireena's manner is entirely changed. She demands weapons and armor, and leads the party to retrive her brother. Where before there had been confusion, now only vengeance burns in her eyes, but they are equally filled with pain. Retriving Ismark, the party realizes that the dwarf is more liability than asset, and he is swiftly executed in the name of justice by Yves-Michel. There is some discussion of exploring Ismark and Ireena's burned home, but the party decides to seek the advice of Madam Eva at the Vishtani camp.
Arriving at the outskirts, they are asked to wait by a Vishtani scout, as Madam Eva has another visitor. Once admitted, Niccolo and Rikhard speak to her, and gain much information about Strahd's power over the lands of Barovia. He controls the mists, as all have now realized, but he also controls the land itself, in the form of three fanes: mountain, forest, and swamp. The Mountain Fane is in Lysaga Hill, but Madam Eva warns that the Count will be present there soon and, discovering that it is unguarded, the Hill is likely to be a trap. Instead, she directs them to the Swamp Fane, deep in the Ivlis Marsh. She warns that it, too, will be guarded, by undead and by the Drowned Lady, a figure from Barovian folklore.
The party decides to brave the swamp during the daylight, and rest for the remainder of the evening in one of several hiding places in the Zvalich Wood. The place they choose has been discovered by two poor souls who, bereft of life, still hunger for human flesh. However, they are easily dispatched by the party and sink, as mist, into the ground below...