Instead I will be exploring provincial parks while someone else takes care of house and elderly dog.
I’ll try to get some queued up but today is busy.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Off for a few weeks
This is planned I'm staying away from electronics, and since the mechanism for the Curse of Strahd posts is PC-dependant, I won't be doing those.
Monday, July 7, 2025
Actual Play, Curse of Strahd: Chapter 19 - The Winery
Iron & Gold, Curse of Strahd
Previous chapter: 18 - The Abbey — Next chapter: 20 - Yester Hill
19 - The Winery[1]
A sign on Old Svalich Road pointed to the Wizard of Wines, and they obeyed it. The road turned into a gravel track and split; a sign that said “Vineyard” indicated one direction, and instead of forest, they were now in meadow, with unpainted fences along the sides. The gravel track turned into a muddy track, and Ninefingers said, “I don’t get it. These are the only people who actually travel in Barovia, going to each town. Why is the road in such terrible shape?”
“Good question,” said Felewin.
The area was clearly a vineyard, and the road was headed toward a stately building. Grapes and abandoned half-buckets for hauling grapes were on either side of the road. There was a stand of trees off to one side. “Is that a person?” asked Ninefingers.
It looked like a man in a dark cloak and cowl. He was waving them over.
“Be ready,” said Felewin, “but let’s talk first.”
They traipsed over to the man. Others appeared well behind him, out of the trees, but they were a motley group: four other adults and four children of ages ranging from toddler to young teenager.
The man—an older man, with a resemblance to Urwin back in Vallaki—said, “We need help. Did you come for wine?”
Felewin said, “Yes, but what do you need help with?”
“I am Davian, owner of this winery. Forest folk and blight-monsters have taken over, two days ago.”
Ninefingers said, “Why? As near as I can tell, wine is the only thing that makes it livable for most people.”
Felewin shook his head. “Never mind. How many?”
“I saw at least two of the forest folk, and there were maybe a hundred of various blight monsters. They’ve been gathering from Yester Hill, down the road.[2]”
“Good to know,” Felewin said. He said to the others, “Do you know anything about these blight monsters?”
“Oooh, I hate those,” said Hrelgi. “The really small ones are kind of flammable, if that helps?”
“Might.” Felewin said to Davian, “If there are that many, we might need to get into the winery as a defensible position. Are there keys or something that we need to do that? Or is it locked up?”
“Most of us were in the fields when they forced us out. Nothing is locked.”
“Secret entrances we should know about?”
“My father always said there was one, but he never told me where it was.”
Felewin nodded, trying to project an image that was calm and trustworthy.
One of the others behind Davian said, “The horses….Flora and Coop….They have food but will probably be beside themselves with worry. They pull the wagon.”
Davian nodded. “Coop’s clever about stealing food but their bedding’s going to be a sight.”
Felewin said, “Best draw me a map in the dirt here.”
Davian did, pointing out the entrances and warning Felewin that the loading dock had an open upper area. “Windows?”
Davian nodded. A woman behind him said, “They’re poisoning the vats,” and everyone in Davian’s family nodded. “You have to hurry.”
Felewin said, “We will talk later about how you know that, but obviously securing the building is first. Hrelgi, you and Uthrilir take the door the family left by, here. Ninefingers, you can take the front door, and I’ll go in the loading dock. Once the building is secure, we deal with the crowd.” He turned. “Hrelgi, we know we’ll need to set some things on fire. Figure out how as we run.”
“I can’t read and run!”
“Learn.” Felewin turned and started to sprint, though he knew the others would beat him.
As they jangled and ran, dry leaves rustled along their sides as things came out toward them.
“To the building!” Felewin abandoned the zig-zag pattern he had been using and aimed straight for the loading dock.[3] According to Davian, there were two doors that led into the winery proper. The front door actually led into the cooper’s room.
Ninefingers beat him, no surprise, but discovered that the front door had been blocked already; by the time he had tried it and diverted course, Felewin had caught up, and charged straight into the loading dock. The change in lighting made it difficult for him to see, but he[4] saw the door to the south, ajar, and he headed for it.[5]
Ninefingers said, “Hey, wait up!” When he got beside Felewin, he said in a low voice, “Forest folk upstairs on winch; I can’t reach him,” and pointed through the door to the ramp up.
Felewin nodded and headed that way, saying, “This door’s damaged; see what you can find to barricade it.” He looked around. “If you’re not busy.[6]”
Felewin managed to steal up the ramp, and his eyes were now used to the darkness, so he saw the forest folk sitting on the winch. He fired his crossbow[7] and got the forest folk in the side, near the kidney. The forest folk gasped, and turned to look; the man or woman (Felewin couldn’t tell) was carrying an elaborate staff of black wood that looked like dozens of intertwined or overlapping branches. The forest folk said something that Felewin couldn’t understand (in a man’s voice), and dropped off the winch into the wagon below.[8]
The forest folk landed badly, however, and the staff slipped from his hand. It hit the railing of the wagon, flipped over to the ground, and whacked itself against the ledge of the loading dock. Then it rolled under the edge.
The forest folk, however, screamed and died, having pushed the arrow all the way into his body and out the other side.
Felewin knew that it would be bad to let the forest folk or their army get that staff. He abandoned his crossbow, ran to the winch, grabbed the rope, and lowered himself to the wagon.[9]
Meanwhile, Ninefingers saw a female forest folk with a horned headpiece pouring something into the farthest of four vats; she had either already poisoned one or two vats, depending on which direction she was going. Ninefingers also saw the door opening at ground level; he hoped that was Hrelgi and Uthrilir, because his interest at the moment was grabbing one of those barrels and barricading the broken door.
So he shed all stealth and made himself loud and obvious, hoping to keep attention away from Hrelgi and Uthrilir. As he watched, something small, maybe his size, maybe smaller, skittered across the floor and hid behind one of the barrels.
What was that?
Ninefingers could spot Hrelgi coming through the door. He said loudly to the forest folk, “Busy but you’re next!” He trotted over and grabbed a barrel other than the one he knew was hiding a…thing.
Hrelgi was flipping pages again. Why doesn’t she ever prep anything? Ninefingers thought. Magic, go figure. He started hauling the barrel, which fortunately was empty. An empty barrel was easier to move but a worse barricade. Still, you had to start somewhere.
With luck, she would attack him, giving Hrelgi enough time—
The woman cried, “Attack!” And pointed at Ninefingers.
Well, I’ve distracted her.
Small humanoids a little smaller than Ninefingers cerpt out from under the barrels and the balcony around the room. There were maybe two dozen of them, and they all headed for Ninefingers.
He dropped the barrel and ran.
He heard Hrelgi chanting.[10] He heard the shriek as the forest folk, like the flesh golem that morning, shot across the room and hit the wall. Her horned headpiece came off her head and fell off the balcony and down to the floor.
Five of the creatures (plants?) were ahead of Ninefingers; he drew his sword and swung it around him. Surely even one of…these…wouldn’t charge into an arm’s-length of steel.
Outside, Felewin had finally grabbed the staff, as the first of the blights made it to the loading dock. Felewin got onto the dock. The door into the winery was still ajar; Ninefingers hadn’t blocked it off yet.
Something must have got him busy, thought Felewin.
He sprinted for the broken door; he was going to have to hold it shut with his body.
The female forest folk tried to say something but couldn’t.[11]
Ninefingers slowly advanced; if he could get his back against a wall, at least they couldn’t sneak up on him.
“Bring her to me,” Uthrilir said. He had his mace out. Most of the weird plant things were after Ninefingers, but there were a half-dozen near him.
Uthrilir hit one blight and felt the fibres of the plant break, but not enough.[12] How could you tell if the thing was wounded?
Several of them tried to tear at him with their twig-like hands; one managed to scratch him.
Hrelgi cast almost the same spell[13] and the forest folk flew toward her; Hrelgi stepped out of the way and the forest folk hit the other wall, and did not get up.
Uthrilir said, “Thanks but Ninefingers needs help.”
Outside, Felewin pressed against the door, and tried to break the staff while waiting.[14] The staff resisted like a living thing, and then gave a human-like scream that even Ninefingers, Hrelgi, and Uthrilir heard.
“What the hell?” Ninefingers said, as every blight dropped dead.[15] The pressure against the door behind Felewin stopped, but he did not move, mindful that it might be a trick.
“Oooh, they were being controlled by a Gulthias staff! Good job, breaking it!”
Ninefingers said, “They’re gone?”
Hrelgi nodded. “All the local ones. Out to the fields, but not beyond.”
“But that still leaves the forest folk,” said Uthrilir. “Hrelgi, you check upstairs. Ninefingers, you check the basement; I’ll check this floor. Yell if you spot something.”
Ninefingers grabbed the barrel and hoisted it up. “Felewin might want to know.”
Hrelgi nodded and sprinted up the stairs nearby. Once she was on the balcony, she paused to look up a spell in her book; the headache from reality-backlash was almost gone.[16] She had both knives out, though it was difficult holding the book and the knife and the other knife.
The first door was ajar, and Hrelgi found a…woman, caked in mud and twigs, looking through a cabinet and tossing things on the floor. Hrelgi wasn’t trying to be quiet but she wasn’t trying to be loud, either, and the woman hadn’t noticed her.[17] She softly spoke the spell, and the knife flew from her hand into the forest folk, who hadn’t yet noticed that her blight servants were dead.[18]
“Attack!” the forest folk cried, and the blights did not move.
“Got one!” yelled Hrelgi, and she drew her other knife.
Uthrilir heard her, but had entered a room full of barrels for storage. There was a door in the wall, and he headed for it.
Ninefingers and Felewin wrestled the barrel into place to keep the door closed, while Ninefingers told him what was going on.
Just then they heard Hrelgi’s yell. “You know that room; I’ll do the cellar,” said Felewin.
“I can see in the dark,” Ninefingers said. “You go up; I’ll go down.”
Felewin didn’t say anything; he started running up the ramp as Ninefingers started running down. Felewin made it into the house proper, but there was nothing in the hallway, and there was only one other door. He took it.
Ninefingers made it down to the cold cellar. Wooden pillars and beams held the ceiling up, and a thin mist covered the floor. Most of this half of the room was taken up by a rack of bottles. Ninefingers spotted a pair of antlers over behind a barrel, and heard the words of a spell.[19] The wood of the wine rack exploded, causing bottles to shatter and fly out.[20] Some hit Ninefingers and bounced off his armor; some lightly cut his arms, legs, and face.
Upstairs, the forest folk swung her staff but missed Hrelgi, who came in close to slash her with her other knife. Felewin could hear the grunts and screams, and hurried as fast as he could. He yelled, “I’m coming! Uthrilir, cellar!”
Uthrilir hadn’t found anything yet; he checked the cooper’s workshop with the barricaded door in a perfunctory way and started for downstairs.
The growth of the wine rack presented a difficult shell for a human to get around, and Felewin or Hrelgi couldn’t have done it, but Ninefingers was small. He spotted an opening and squeezed through it. While he was doing that, though, the forest folk hit him with a staff. Fortunately, his armour absorbed some of the blow, but the forest folk was at a disadvantage: there wasn’t enough room to use the staff effectively.[21] Ninefingers could and did stab with his sword.
Upstairs, the forest folk managed to hit Hrelgi, and she missed, but the quarterstaff didn’t do much except throw her aim off. The forest folk’s next shot was easily blocked, and Hrelgi managed to stab her again, but the damage from the knife wasn’t enough: the forest folk was still moving.
Felewin arrived and said, “Need help?”
“Please!”
“Get behind me.” He elbowed his way forward, in front of Hrelgi. With one stroke, he took the forest folk’s head off. “You were doing pretty well, there,” he told her.
“She got a couple of shots in.”
“My first sort-of real fight was in a tournament. Lost terribly.” He grinned. “Stopped assuming that because I was big, I was better.”
In the cellar, Ninefingers stabbed the forest folk again and killed him. The coppery smell of death and blood filled the air, as Uthrilir said, “Ninefingers?”
“Back here. With a dead one. That makes four of them.” Ninefingers squeezed out. “Think there are more?”
“Haven’t checked the glassblowing room or the stables.”
“Maybe we do those together, huh?”
The glassblowing workshop was empty of forest folk; the horses were glad to see them. Ninefingers wrinkled his nose. “Oh, yeah, that bedding needs to be cleaned out.”
Felewin joined them. “Good girls,” he said to the horses. “I can’t take you out yet because we don’t know if there are more things out there.”
There were not; they met Davian’s family already walking back to the house. Davian looked at the sky. “Early afternoon. You have time to Krezk — I think that’s where you said you came from, right?”
“I didn’t say,” said Felewin. “You have sources of information I’d like to know about.”
“They’re entirely good,” said Davian.
“I’ll judge that,” said Felewin.
Davian set his mouth, and finally, his youngest son said, “Shapeshifters. We’re shapeshifters.”
“Werewolves?” asked Ninefingers. His hand went to the hilt of his sword.
“No. No, wereravens,” said the young man.
“Cool,” said Hrelgi. “So you can fly over an area and see what’s happening?” The young man nodded.
“And you’re good?”
“We’re people,” said Davian. “Some of us are good, some are not.”
“But mostly we’re good,” said his daughter.
“I’ll get you a drink and explain our problem,” said Davian.
“Um, she might have put something in the one vat,” said Hrelgi. “Maybe a spoilage agent, maybe a poison. I’m just going to call it poison. It’s not my area, but I think I can purify it out.”
“Do all four,} said Felewin. “We don’t know which end she started from.”
Hrelgi got the vial that the forest folk woman was pouring from. “So the poison remembers being in this vial, right? I just need to convince the poison that it needs to be in the vial again.[22]” There was much flipping of pages and then Hrelgi cast the spell. The magic went fine but she had a terrible headache afterward.
Davian poured wine out for each of them. “We only work as a winery because we use magic.”
“Understandably,” said Ninefingers.
“Each of our grape varieties has a magical seed or gem planted with it. That’s what lets us harvest so often despite the weather.”
“How big are these seeds?” asked Uthrilir.
“About the size of a pine cone, maybe as long as my hand. They shine with a green light. They’re gone. I know that the forest folk took one of them. While we were out of the house, Baba Lysaga took another one.”
“And the third?”
“It’s been gone for months; I don’t know who took it.” Davian looked around the table at each of them. “Without those seeds, we cannot produce more wine. Once this batch is finished fermenting, that’s it. No more wine.” He held Felewin’s gaze. “Please get them back.”
Felewin rubbed his eyes. “We’ve already failed at our first venture. The person we were guarding is gone.”
“But she’s safe now,” said the young man. “I saw it.”
“You saw?” Felewin sighed. “Right. Wereravens. So what happened?”
“I’ll tell you if you get one of the gems back.”
Felewin turned to the others. “Apparently we’re going to Berez anyway, but Yester hill is close.”
“We need to be rested,” said Ninefingers.
“Can we stay here for the night?” asked Felewin.
“Of course,” said Davian.
“Then I need one more favour,” said Felewin. “I need someone to keep an eye on Yester hill. I need that person to be able to tell me the terrain and what we’re likely to meet. If possible, tell me where the gem is.”
“We don’t know where it is; we just know they took it.”
Felewin said, “Well, someone needs to keep an eye on it. We need to know how many of them there are. You can tell me about the terrain now, but how many people are there? What about those plant things?”
“Blights,” said Hrelgi.
“Those. Are there more? Can they make them?”
“Oh, no. Not unless they had access to a Gulthias tree. Of course, they had a Gulthias staff…so yes? The blights are produced by a Gulthias tree, and those are really rare.”
Felewin said, “So there’s probably only one or two in Barovia. What do they look like, Hrelgi?”
“A tree. I mean, blackened and twisted, I suppose, but like a tree.”
The young man, whose name was Elvir, said, “There’s lots of trees there, but there is one big one.”
Davian said, “Here. You’ve got the trail in. The hill is mostly bare but there are two rings of big mounds of rocks—”
“Cairns,” said his daughter.
“Cairns. They’re maybe half again as tall as you are. At the very top of the hill is a ring of boulders and stones.”
“Tight, like a natural wall, or spread out?” asked Felewin.
“Tight. Height varies, but at the low parts it’s still taller than this fella” (he indicated Uthrilir) “and at the tall parts, it’s taller’n you. There’s two places the path go through; we never fly near it because the ring gets hit by lightning a lot. Inside that ring is a statue made of branches and vines all grown together. The statue is maybe ten times as tall as you are.”
“But it doesn’t get hit by lightning?”
Davian shook his head.
“We might have to burn that statue. We’ve got some oil, but do you have some?”
“Lantern oil, yeah.”
“We’ll need some. But none of that is a tree.”
“There are trees and shrubs in a little grove, still inside that second set of cairns. Most of them are small, but one is black and twisted.”
“How do you kill a Gulthias tree?” asked Felewin of Hrelgi.
Hrelgi said, “Well, they come from the body of someone with evil magic. The first came from the stake used to kill the vampire Gulthias. You can burn it, and that gets rid of it for a while, but they grow back.”
“Can we purify the area?” asked Uthrilir.
Hrelgi shrugged. “I’ve never gone after them. I know about them mostly because those little plant blights can wreck all the plant life in a garden. I know a town that got destroyed because of them.”
“So in the short term we should burn it and in the long term purify the area?” asked Uthrilir.
“Couldn’t hurt,” said Hrelgi.
Ninefingers said, “The gem might be in the tree, or shoved into the statue, or buried somewhere. What do they want with it?”
Hrelgi said, “The gem gives life to plants; that’s why you can plant things here.” She looked around the table. “They want to bring life to some kind of big plant, something bigger than their Gulthias tree can do.”
“But Baba Lysaga—” started Davian.
“Different thing,” said Hrelgi. “She came the next day.”
Felewin asked, “Are they going to do it tonight? Do we have to stop this right now?”
Hrelgi shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“If that’s the kind of ritual thing they’re going to do, how many people do they need?”
“Two, three?”
“More is better,” Uthrilir said, “but if it’s like any ritual I know, you just need enough people to keep the chant going.”
“And we think they need the gem and the tree,” said Felewin.
“Get rid of one of them and the ritual doesn’t work,” said Ninefingers. “The easy one to get is the gem except it’s hard to get into the wall of stones there. The hard one to do is destroy the tree, but it’s easier to get to.”
“How far away is Yester Hill?” asked Felewin.
“Two and a half, three hours by foot,” said Elvir.
“We can’t get there by nightfall,” said Felewin. “Not unless we had riding horses. Those fine beasts out there are draft horses, not riding horses.”
“I can make them riding horses,” said Hrelgi.
“You’re not taking our horses,” said Davian.
“I’m just going to make them fast,” said Hrelgi. “You can come with us and protect the horses. They’ll be strong enough to carry all of us and a bundle of clothes for you.”
“Uthrilir? Ask the Lady for healing for Ninefingers.[23] We’re heading out.”
Previous chapter: 18 - The Abbey — Next chapter: 20 - Yester Hill
Monsters
Needle Blight
F3 A2 C1 R1 I1
Skills: Athletics 3 (6-), Brawling 3 (6-), Stealth 3 (6-)
Gimmicks: Natural Weapon[+1 fat], Natural Weapon [1 inj]
Twig Blight
F2 A2 C1 R1 I1
Skills: Brawling 4 (6-), Stealth 4 (6-)
Gimmicks: Undersized, Vulnerable[Fire], Natural Weapon [1 inj]
Forest Folk
AKA Druid. F3 A2 C2 R2 I4
Skills: Melee 4 (Quarterstaff) (7-), Brawling 4 (7-), Umbral Change 5 (9-), Umbral Flesh 5 (9-), Umbral Shell 5 (9-) or Umbral Sense 5 (9-) (Influence; Difficulty of all Umbral spells is 2 for your tied element and 6 for others)
Gimmicks: Umbral Tie (plant, animal, earth, fire, air, or water)
Weapon: Staff (+1 fat) Armour: Leather (1 fat only)
Mechanics
[1] Mythic suggested theme: Transform Enemies (Ambiguous Event)
[2] Davian is a wereraven. He knows this because he’s done looking.
[3] Felewin tries to load and cock the crossbow as he runs. He rolls a 3, margin 7, so even though it’s nearly impossible he does it.
[4] It’s difficulty 2 to see the door in the dimness and Felewin is awareness 3, so he spots it
[5] Ninefingers, however, can see in the dark and rolls a 7 on his investigation roll.
[6] Felewin does not have Stealth but his is Fitness 5, and he rolls a 3, making is Stealth by 2, which is the Difficulty that Heavy-Footed gives him. So he’s actually quiet.
Ninefingers does have Stealth, and rolls successfully, getting margin 3.
[7] Druid is man-sized and not moving; distance is about 7 meters, and long range on a crossbow is 60 meters, short range is 15 meters…so this is point lank, difficulty -2. Felewin rolls a 6, making it margin 6. 3 Inj for the Druid.
Mythic: does Druit have barkskin? CF 8, roll 87: No. Druid takes 3 Inj, has -2 to all rolls.
[8] By rules as written, the fall will cause 2 Fat damage, so while Felewin is reloading, he falls down. Felewin’s only chance is that the druid does something stupid with the staff.
Mythic: Does he drop the staff? let’s say likely becasuse the injury makes him have an extra 2 difficulty on every roll. CF 8. Rolls 3, so he does drop the staff with an exceptional failure. roll d6 and odd: he breaks the staff or even he injures himself fatally: Even: he dies.
[9] Felewin makes his Athletics roll, rolling a 6 and having a margin of 4.
[10] Hrelgi’s using Fabrica Motus; she rolls 6 (margin 3) and she rolls 9 on her Reason+Composure (margin 2 because it’s trivial). She rolls 8 o the athletics skill to hit the Druid, so she succeeds.
The question is, does the druid have barkskin active? She does, and it provides armor 2…but 3 of the 4 damage get through;
[11] Reactions Felewin: 12 Ninefingers 10 Hrelgi last Uthrilir 12 forest folk 9 Twig Blights 7 Needle Blights 8
[12] End of Wednesday.
[13] Hrelgi makes the Athletics roll, margin 0; she makes the spell roll, margin 2; she makes a second Athletics roll margin 0 to get out of the way. The Druid hits the ground and bark skin protects her from 2 of the 4 Fat damage, but 2 more renders her unconscious. Hrelgi rolls 9 on the R+C spell, which fails it by 1. She’s not casting magic next turn.
[14] Felewin needs to make an Athletics roll, difficulty 2. He does, rolling an 8.
[15] Does Hrelgi know this stuff? Let’s say it’s Reasoning+any Fabrica spell, and she’s already shown that she knows pests, so dificulty 0. Hrelgi rolls a 6, which makes any Fabrica spell by a margin of 2.
[16] Mythic: left or right? Odd left, even right: 2 on a 1d6, so she goes right, and approaches upstairs from the west.
[17] Hrelgi rolls 3 on Athletics, 5 on motus, and 5 on R+C. I’m going to say the force of the propelled knife is equivalent to a Fitness 4 person; 2 Inj.
[18] Reactions: Hrelgi is always last, so the druid goes first and then Hrelgi. Uthrilir isn’t going to meet anyone; Felewin 12, Ninefingers 11, basement druid 6
[19] The druid gets this as a freebie: the wood of the wine rack behaves as if it were still in a living plant and it’s an Umbral Change. It’s the shattering bottles that really do the damage, and we’ll treat it like an explosion, of a 2 inj charging powder .His armor protects him from 1 Inj but 1 gets through.
[20] Reactions: Felewin 11, Ninefingers 9, Uthrilir 9, Druid upstairs 9 (hrelgi last), Druid in basement 7
[21] Reactions down below: Ninefingers 13, Druid 6 Felewin gets Margin 2, druid margin 0;
[22] Hrelgi uses a Fabrica Ge and Fabrica Materia pair, with a Reasoning+ Composure after each. Materia casting, though the second one doesn’t count. The Materia is 6, which makes it, and the R+C is 10, which also makes it (barely); the ge is 8, which makes it. The second R+C is 11, so Hrelgi has a headache.
After a while she does it three more times. 8 and 8, 8 and 7, 6 and 10.
[23] Uthrilir rolls a 7 for the Lady’s blessing, and gets 2 levels of help, for Felewin. Hrelgi has healed herself.
Friday, July 4, 2025
Actual Play, Curse of Strahd: Chapter 18 - The Abbey
Iron & Gold, Curse of Strahd
Previous chapter: Planning A Rebirth — Next chapter:
18 - The Abbey[1]
At dawn, they gathered around Ilya’s body. The smell of death was still evident in the room despite the herbs brought in. Ilya was due to be buried today, so they had little time: funerals, as Donavich had said, were normally done at dawn.[2]
Hrelgi was nervous: using a spell scroll should be easy, but there was always the chance of failure. She said to Anna, “Are you ready?”
Anna nodded. Dmitri looked nervously around.
Hrelgi looked at Uthrilir, who smiled up at her, and she began reading.
It felt like forever but it took only a dozen heartbeats to read. She felt the threads of reality altering, just as she felt them when she did her own magic, but this felt….different. More powerful, perhaps. Something in this made it more permanent.
She read the spell and then, as the instructions dictated, she laid a hand on Ilya’s dead brow.
Another heartbeat passed.
Ilya inhaled and screamed in terror. Hrelgi was afraid to take her hand away but she could feel that the magic was done. She left her hand there, pressing on Ilya’s forehead. Anna broke from the circle of witnesses and rushed to Ilya’s side. The young man’s scream faded into sobbing, and he weakly put his arm up to hold his mother.
Felewin whispered to Uthrilir, “Are they supposed to scream?”
“I’ve only seen one other resurrection, but she didn’t scream,” Uthrilir whispered back.
Ninefingers added, “He’s been dead in Barovia. That’s worth a scream.”
Hrelgi stepped back. The scroll was disintegrating in her hands, so even if she wanted to check that she had done everything right, she couldn’t. “It’s done,” she said. “Up to you to check him, now.”
Anna held the young man as he wept; she soothed him, making sounds in his ear, listening to him sob. Finally, he spoke. “Mother…I’ve had the most terrible dream.”
“It’s all right,” Anna said to him.
“I have to check,” apologized one woman. Anna went to stop her, but Dmitri protected the woman, who pulled out a needle like the one used to test the fingers of the group. She plunged it into the teenager’s shin.
The boy gasped when the needle went in, said “Ow!” And then tried to swat the needle away.
“Not a monster,” the woman said.
And then Anna laughed and cried at the same time; Dmitri was stony-faced until it sank in, and he grabbed Felewin’s hands and began to dance.
Hrelgi murmured to Uthrilir, “I did good?”
“You did good.” To Anna, Uthrilir said, “He is weak, but should be fine if he rests for as many sleeps as he was gone. He is young and will want to start moving by tomorrow, but make him rest.” To Ilya, he said, “Ilya, it is a pleasure to meet you. We do not expect you to remember our names, but I am Uthrilir. She who brought you back is Hrelgi; the big fellow is Felewin, and the small green one is Ninefingers. Welcome back.”
Ilya nodded, mute with surprise.
The group left the happy family and stood outside in the yard: chickens to one side, family graves to the other, the house ahead. The dawn was cool; hundreds of feet above, the Abbey loomed.
Felewin said, “Now that we know that Ireena can stay, we need to go to the Abbey. Arm up: I don’t know how exposed it is. I think that road is the only way.”
Hrelgi asked, “Must we go? I’d like to stay and bask in their approval for a bit.”
Felewin said, “Remember the reading? We’re supposed to find an ally there.”
Ninefingers said, “I don’t know about that. Look, the Vistani are supposed to be allied with Strahd. The fact that we found the book in Madame Eva’s camp is awfully convenient.”
“You think the whole thing’s a trap?”
Ninefingers shrugged. “Maybe. There’s motivation there in that text and an allusion to…something. A sword that he feared. Not much, really. It’s possible that we go into the abbey looking for help and it’s a second trap, and another chance for Strahd to catch us.”
“But if it’s real and we don’t go, we lose out on an ally,” said Uthrilir.
Hrelgi said, “Why does he need to trap us? If the book is correct, he thinks that he’s the land. He can catch us anywhere.”
Felewin thought about it and then said, “If the Abbot is actually allied with Strahd, any ally might be imprisoned there and the Abbot won’t let her free. Going through the abbey without the Abbot might be best. But if it is a trap, we should probably leave Ireena here.”
“But I want to go,” Ireena said.
“We’re trying to keep you safe, and we’ve arranged for you to be safe here,” said Felewin.
Ireena looked disappointed. “I don’t suppose I could order you?”
“You could,” replied Felewin, “but I would not obey and then we would be angry at each other.”
Ireena pouted to show disappointment but in an exaggerated fashion to show acceptance. “I will have Dmitri give me the grand tour,” she said. “Maybe there will be some ideas I can take back to Ismark.”
Felewin nodded. “Even if the place is run by magic, as Uthrilir thinks, people can make some changes. They can make their lives better.” He looked up at the Abbey. “I don’t see a way to get up there without taking the road.”
“If we take the road once, I can get us there afterward, but I need to be some place before I can get us there,” said Hrelgi.
“But you did at the coffin maker’s shop,” began Ninefingers.
“I was lucky. Once in a million happening.”[3]
Felewin said, “So we should walk up there once, visibly, so we can go up there later, in secret.”
“If it’s all visible, then by all means, let’s meet the Abbot,” said Felewin.
“Then I can go!” Ireena said. “With me along, you are safer from the Abbot.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” said Felewin.
“With her, we do have some degree of noble immunity,” said Uthrilir.
“No! We are supposed to be protecting her!” said Felewin. “Ireena, you stay here, in the village walls, where you are as safe as you can be. I’m not going to order you to stay inside because you wouldn’t obey me—”
“I would not,” said Ireena.
“And I know that. But stay in the village. Not up by the Abbey, not outside on the road. In the village.”
“I am not an idiot,” she said.
Felewin softened. “I know, and I apologize for implying that. But you have to get to know these people. You rely on them now.”
“You’ll come back?”
“From the abbey? Of course.”
“I mean…back here.”
Felewin smiled. “We’ll be going back and forth in pursuit of the big plan, which is to make you…and all of Barovia safe. In the meantime, Kasimir wants us to accompany him somewhere, and according to the reading we have an ally in the abbey and a weapon in the mountains, and really…nothing in Barovia seems more than two day’s walk from anything else. We’ll be here again. Any reason for the question?”
“Just a fear that I won’t see you again.”
Hrelgi said, “Kind of a reasonable fear in Barovia.”
“True. We can make no guarantees, and he is powerful…but we’re going to do our best not to die.”
“Unfortunately, if Felewin makes a promise, he’ll keep it unto death,” said Ninefingers. “So we’ll be back.”
“Good,” said Ireena. “I will wait here unless something extraordinary happens.”
“That’s all we can ask,” said Felewin.
“Let’s go to the abbey,” said Hrelgi.
They were out of the village by the time the sun had noticeably moved, and starting the climb up the switchbacks of the road. The Abbey of St. Markovia was up the mountainside: a person alone could make it up without using the road, but there was no way an army could. The abbey was, as far as Felewin could see, defensible.
At the top of the road was a pair of iron gates and matching guardhouses, set in a stone wall that was taller than Uthrilir or Ninefingers but not as tall as Hrelgi or Felewin. The guardhouses were occupied by sleeping animal-man hybrids. One was patchy with wolf parts, including a wolf snout and muzzle; the other had lizard scales across the portion of face they could see. Uthrilir reached out for them, but Felewin stayed him. He said in a low voice, “Let’s look a moment before waking them. Ninefingers, what do you see?[4]”
Ninefingers pointed. “Entrance over there. Garden beyond it, so they’re probably self-sufficient. I can’t see how big the garden is, but can’t be more than twenty people.”
Uthrilir said, “Dmitri hinted that the abbey and the village don’t interact for anything but wine. The winery wagon can’t make it up that road, so it has to wait in the village for a couple of hours.”
“The Abbot sometimes comes down,” Hrelgi pointed out.
“We can ask him,” said Felewin. He rattled his knife against the bars. “Hello? Hello!”
The guards jerked awake. “Who goes there?” said one of them. He looked at Hrelgi for a long minute and then winked. She smiled politely at him.
“We are travelers, who would like to see the Abbot and possibly tour the Abbey.”
The other guard was a woman, and though one half of her face was lizard scales, the other half was a bird’s feathers, with a strip of human skin between as border. One eye was feline; the other was brown and human. She said, “We can take you to the Abbey, of course.”
“Walk with me,” said the first guard. He was a little taller than Uthrilir and almost as wide. He pulled open the gate, which squealed, and let them enter; then he leapt through air, landing about two dozen paces away.
“Show off,” muttered the other guard, who led them to the abbey’s wooden doors, where he was already waiting for them. The curtain wall above the doors held armed guards.
“Dummies,” muttered Ninefingers.[5] “Dressed as guards.”
Felewin acknowledged by squeezing Ninefingers’ shoulder.
The leaping guard smiled and opened the door to the abbey. He held Hrelgi’s hand as she crossed the threshold, then bent over Hrelgi’s hand and licked it. He wiggled his eyebrows as though this were clearly the most seductive thing she had ever encountered.[6]
“Thank you,” she said.
The female guard said, “Wait here,” and traipsed over to the door on the right.
They were in a courtyard, open to the rain. Chicken coops were scattered along the edges; straight ahead were the ruins of three horse troughs; off to the left was a well; and further in the corner was a tethering pole, with someone tethered to it: another of these mongrel people with bat wings and spider mandibles. When any of the group showed a chance of coming near, she took off, flying until her restraints stopped her, and she stayed in the air, making piteous mewling sounds.
The guard accompanying them said, “Don’t worry about Marzena, there; she’s more scared of you than the other way.”
“Why is she tied up like that?” Hrelgi asked.
“If she weren’t tied up, she’d fly away. This way she gets some exercise.”
“And the chicken coops? You keep chickens?”
“Sometimes. If it rains, don’t go into those.”
“They’re padlocked,” said Ninefingers. Otto ignored him.
Otto said to Hrelgi, “I’ll keep you dry.” His wolf-like tongue came out suggestively. “I’m Otto, by the way.”
She looked at Felewin, who shrugged. “Hrelgi. And what’s her name? The other guard?”
“Zygrek. She’s my second cousin.”
The door opened. “The Abbot’s down in the village.”
Ninefingers asked, “How? We didn’t pass him on the road.”
Zygrek said, “I don’t know. They just told me he’s down in the village.”
Otto said, “You can stay here in the courtyard and wait.”
“Whatever,” said Zygrek. “Otto, we have to go back to the gates.”
Otto nodded. “Of course. I am always in demand,” he explained to Hrelgi. “For guarding and…other things.”
Zygrek rolled her eyes. “Come on. You know I hate being near other people.”
Otto blew Hrelgi a kiss and they left. As soon as the door closed behind them, Hrelgi started wiping the back of her hand against her tunic. She asked, “Do we just wait here?”
Horrible screams came from one of the sheds. That caused several of the other sheds to emit screams.
“Why are they padlocked?” asked Uthrilir.
“Our possible ally might be in one of them,” said Felewin.[7]
“While I could pick those locks,” Ninefingers said, “it would be a very public act. I know the Abbot is away but this abbey is still occupied by the likes of Otto and Marzena. I’m shy and prefer privacy.”
“You sound like Otto.”
“Don’t be insulting,” said Ninefingers. “There’s a door to that wing of the abbey over there. Could we try that first?”
Marzena screamed and flapped harder; the voices from inside the sheds paused a moment and then all started.
Felewin headed for the other door. That took them nearer to Marzena who responded with more frantic screaming. Hrelgi started flipping pages in her spell book and then changed her mind.
It was dark inside the abbey and Hrelgi unshipped and opened the lantern. Ninefingers pushed his smoked goggles up, and Uthrilir kept moving.
Felewin muttered, “That lantern cost me a lot. It’s my lantern.”
Hrelgi said, “If you want to live without magic….”
Felewin didn’t bother answering.
The room hadn’t been cleaned since the desk and chair had been smashed to pieces; the wood had the grayness that comes with age and exposure. There were two hallways out: one led to a stairwell, and the other was full of whispers and mad laughter. The odours of animals wafted out of that hallway.
“Upstairs,” said Felewin. The stairs were stone, rather than wood; Felewin took them several at a time.
“Uh, hi,” said Ninefingers to something else, Felewin didn’t know what.
“It” was a monstrous assemblage of dead body parts that had come out of the hallway and both Ninefingers and Uthrilir could see it. Hrelgi played the light over it and made a yeep sound.
“We’re looking for the Abbot,” said Uthrilir.
With a roar the assemblage of dead body parts attacked, aiming for[8] Ninefingers and sending him across the room against the wall. Ninefingers staggered up afterward.
Uthrilir drew his mace and hit it[9] to little effect. The thing turned its attention to Uthrilir.[10] Its swing went wild.
Hrelgi started flipping pages in her grimoire. Felewin heard the noise and started back down the stairs, drawing his sword.[11]
Uthrilir swung but missed to avoid hitting Ninefingers.
Felewin got up front[12] and smote the thing with a blow that would have disabled a mortal man.
Hrelgi cried, “We don’t want to kill it!” She cast spell[13] that shot the flesh golem to the far end of the hallway, where it lay in a twisted lump. “We don’t want to get on the Abbot’s bad side!”
“Yet,” said Felewin. He asked Ninefingers, “You okay?”
“I hurt a lot,” replied Ninefingers. “Did Hrelgi put it down?”
The thing was unfolding itself and getting up.
“No,” said Uthrilir.
A woman’s voice came from the stairwell. “It attacks if you are not with the Abbot. If it has not seen you, you can hide but it sees in the dark.”
The thing was charging.[14]
Felewin got his shield up. “Clear behind me!”[15] At the last moment he stepped aide, letting the thing ram into the wall.[16] It collapsed and did not get up.
A woman in Vistani man’s clothes came down the stairs, her rapier in her hand. “Ah. You do not need my help.” She sheathed her blade. “Ezmerelda d’Avenir. And you are?”
Felewin introduced them quickly. “Should we stand here?”
“I’ve made a space upstairs; come on up.”
She led them upstairs; the room at the top of the stairs had a wooden counter, but she didn’t stop; she went out a door on the left that led to the ledge that circled the courtyard. On one side were the dummies that looked like guard, but she led them away to another door. In that room were some beds, one of which had been fixed and made sturdy. Ezmerelda’s travel bag was on one side of the room, by the door.
Once inside, she said, “I do not invite you in.”
Felewin stopped short. “Oh. Vampires.” He walked in anyway, as did the others. Ninefingers staggered and Uthrilir said, “Just a moment,” and he prayed to the Lady for help.[17] He then laid his hand on Ninefingers, who said, “I didn’t feel anything.”
“This is a difficult place,” said Uthrilir.
“I might be able to help,” Hrelgi said. She flipped pages in her grimoire and then touched Ninefingers.
The goblin stretched and said, “Thank you, Hrelgi.”
“I might want to ask you about that later,” said Ezmerelda.
“Oh, it’s easy if you know how,” said Hrelgi.
“She’s looking for more compliments,” said Uthrilir, smiling.
“Are you looking for someone in particular?” Felewin asked.
“A few people,” she said, “but for different reasons.”
“Your mentor, maybe?” Hrelgi asked.
“What?”
Ninefingers looked at Felewin. “You’re going to tell her, aren’t you? Even though there are advantages to keeping it a secret and checking her out.” He shook his head. “Good thing you’re a third son because you couldn’t keep a state secret on threat of tickling.”
“Truth shortens things,” Felewin said. He said to Ezmerelda, “We were told to look for a Vistana searching for her mentor.”
“And?”
“She will help us in our fight.” He looked around to make sure they were not overheard. “Against Strahd.”
“And where did you hear this bit of advice?”
Hrelgi said, “A reading of the cards. It told us to look in the Abbey.”
Ezmerelda said, “Well, I always take the cards seriously. Who did this reading?”
“Madam Eva was her name.”
Ezmerelda sucked her breath in. “Tell me more. Why were you with Madam Eva? The Vistani are allied with Strahd.”
“And your clothes identify you as a Vistani,” Felewin said carefully. “My impression is that, while most are allied with Strahd, some are not. That might reveal itself only as a failure to act for him but it is sometimes sufficient.” He shrugged. “We were on our way from Barovia to Vallaki and fell in with them. They offered us a lift.”
“For free?”
“No.” He grinned. “While we were there, Madame Eva insisted on doing a reading for us.”
“If it were a fraud you’d think it was your idea.” Ezmerelda sat on the sturdy bed. “I fear that Strahd has taken my mentor.”
“You are the one in the reading?”
“Probably,” said Ezmerelda.
“We are visitors.”
“I gathered.” She indicated Hrelgi’s ears. “But you’re here now,” she said.
“That’s what they tell us,” Felewin said. “We escorted a local to Krezk to keep her from Strahd’s interest; we hoped that the Abbey would be a refuge for her.”
Ezmerelda snorted. “The Abbot is mad. This is no refuge.”
Uthrilir said, “Mad how? I admit he doesn’t seem to have helped the residents much.”
“The thing you fought? The Abbot made that. It was his practice for the one in the other wing.”
The dwarf said, “To what end?”
“He has built a woman like the one that Strahd desires and plans to offer her to Strahd, so that the curse will be lifted.”
“What does she look like? I need to see her,” Uthrilir said.
“I can take you to her but do not attack her. The Abbot has told me that Strahd will come to take his bride, and I plan to attack Strahd then.” Ezmerelda frowned. “Planned. This news about Madame Eva makes me reconsider.”
“Apparently we need a holy symbol, which is probably in Berez, and some kind of sword which is in a wizard’s tower.”
“Huh. I might know of that.”
“She was specific,” said Felewin. “There is a weapon there.”
“I have been in the tower, and there is no weapon,” she said. “Is there a chance that the whole thing is a trick? That she’s sending you to places where you might die?”
“Sure,” said Felewin. “But you were foretold, and you are where she said.”
“Unless of course you’re lying,” said Ninefingers.
“Ninefingers!” Felewin said.
“He’s quite right,” said Ezmerelda. “The other items will be the real test.”
“Or,” said Ninefingers, “the items might be things that Strahd can’t touch, which is why he needs us to get them.” He shrugged. “A thought.”
Felewin said, “Which we’ll keep in our heads but proceed as if we believe the reading. The first item might have been planted; you are less likely to be so; and then we’ll try to find the next one, probably in Berez.”
“Let’s get you started.” Ezmerelda stood up. “The construct is named Vasilka, by the way. The Abbot is quite protective of her. Why do you need to see her?”
Uthrilir stood too, which caused the others to stand. “I have an idea that Strahd responds to women who look like someone he knew when he was alive.”
“She must have been important to him.”
“He was obsessed with her, I think. Really, I need a description of her,” said Uthrilir. “I suspect that our friend, Ireena, resembles her, which would make his interest easier to understand and harder to foil. Ireena has some unusual features, and if Vasilka has them too, then it’s circumstantial evidence that Tatyana had those features.”
“That’s very complicated,” Ezmerelda said.
“I can explain in more detail if you need, but—”
“But your theory is not appropriate for this time or place,” Felewin said.
Ezmerelda said, “I have to think about that. I can show you Vasilka.”
“Please. Because if the Abbot has a plan for Strahd, its consequences might be bad for Ireena.”
They didn’t go by the flesh golem (“Don’t know if it’s still unconscious; I’m safe but you won’t be,” said Ezmerelda.) Instead, Ezmerelda took them along the curtain ledge. She paused at the door. “Wait!” said Hrelgi. “I can get us to the courtyard. Bunch together. Touch me.” She checked the grimoire and said the spells.[18]
They were in the courtyard.
“I like that,” said Ezmerelda.
“It’s her new trick,” said Ninefingers.
“I’ve been studying,” said Hrelgi, pleased with herself.
Ezmerelda led them to the door that Zygrek had gone in earlier. She knocked and said, “Vasilka? Some people would like to meet you. They are safe.” She said, “Come in,” to the group.
The hall was dimly lit; the lights on the wall had gone out, and no one had re-lit them. From the smell, they had not been out for long. Vasilka was sitting by the dead fireplace, attempting embroidery.
“Vasilka? You remember me, Ezmerelda. I have brought some people to meet you.”
Vasilka shyly ducked her head.
“Greetings, my lady,” said Felewin. “I am Felewin, and these are my companions Ninefingers, Uthrilir, and Hrelgi.”
Felewin could not see her clearly in the dimness, but Uthrilir could, and he said, “The fault is mine that we are here. I wished to see you because I have heard of your beauty.”
Vasilka bowed her head. She might have blushed; the fine scars on her neck changed colour briefly. Her body language suggested that she did not believe him.
Uthrilir said, “They did not lie; you are as lovely as I expected.”
Vasilka said nothing.
Hrelgi said casually, “He doesn’t lie, which is really annoying.”
Vasilka relaxed slightly.
Felewin saw what was on her lap, and said, “Embroidery? My mother did that. Might I see some of your work? You are free to refuse.”
Vasilka shook her head.
“Of course.” Felewin nodded and stepped back against the wall.
Somewhere down in the town was a tremendous thunderclap, and everyone jerked.
“Ireena!” said Felewin. “Pardon us.” He started running.[19]
Three minutes later, he had reached the village. There was a crowd around the pool and Felewin joined them. A statue lay on the ground, and there was a crack in the stone surrounding the pool. The others were already there.
“How…?” He asked as he muscled others out of his way to the others of his group. Even Ezmerelda was there.
Hrelgi said, “My new trick. I’ve been to Dmitri’s wine cellar.” A Krezk-ite looked at her. “Which is empty, by the way,” she said to the local.
“Ireena is gone,” Ninefingers told him.
“Strahd?”
“No,” said Uthrilir. “She was the reincarnation of Tatyana.”
A stunningly handsome man came toward him; the Krezk inhabitants moved aside in reverence or fear. He was dressed in simple monk’s robes. “You must be Felewin,” said the man.
“I am. And you are Abbot….?” He let the question hang there.
“They just call me the Abbot,” the man said, not giving his name. “I understand you were responsible for Ireena’s arrival in Krezk.”
“Several of us guarded her,” said Felewin cautiously.
“I have congratulated them already. Her arrival in Krezk is what allowed her soul to escape the terrible cycle of reincarnation that besets so many residents of Barovia.”
“Pardon?” From the corner of his eye, Felewin could see Dmitri afraid to talk to him—no, afraid to interrupt the Abbot.
“She has been taken into the afterlife. She recognized her previous existence as Tatyana and has joined her beloved Sergei.”
Carefully, Felewin said, “And did anyone see this?”
“Several people,” said Uthrilir, leaving who were not the Abbot left unspoken.
“I think that’s going to work out wonderfully,” said the Abbot. “She is free from the cycle of reincarnation and now Strahd must search for another solution to his curse!”
“His curse?” Ezmerelda asked. “Is he not the curse on Barovia?”
“Yes. All of this is a vast punishment for Strahd. I’m sorry that some souls are trapped in it but he is the one who has committed the heinous acts.” He held his palms up. “He desires Tatyana but cannot get her. He has never been able to get her, and now never will be able to get her.”
Uthrilir said, “The departure of Ireena’ soul furthers this punishment?”
“It brings Strahd closer to salvation, for he must now confront the futility of his actions. Sometimes we must fall to the bottom before we can climb back up into grace.”
Felewin noticed the mood of the crowd. “Perhaps we could discuss this elsewhere?”
“She went into the pool!” one cried.
“It’s not safe to drink now!” someone else asked.
“It’s the Abbot! He led her to the pool!”
“But the strangers brought her here!”
“No water, no wine!”
“We can get you wine!” said Hrelgi. The group looked at her; the crowd subsided. She muttered to them, “Like we weren’t going to look into it anyway.”
The Abbot held up his arms. “The water is safe! I prevented harm to it, but at the cost of the blessing upon it. Now, go about your business! We shall handle this!”
People slowly dispersed. Dmitri stayed behind.
Wringing his hands, Dmitri said, “I am grateful for your help, but Strahd will be displeased and active here. You must leave.”
“Even if we return with your wine?” Hrelgi said.
“I— The people need wine,” Dmitri said. “Perhaps.”
“I too have a task for you,” said the Abbot. “Return with the wine, and I shall put it forth to you. Aside that, from my brief talk with Ireena, it seems that you, Felewin, are a noble?”
“I have that responsibility,” said Felewin.
“I have been teaching Vasilka to dance, but it would be good to have a second partner for her. She needs the experience of dancing with others. I have many gifts, but a knowledge of courtly dances is not among them.” The Abbot smiled[20] and Felewin could understand why people were charmed by him. He tried not to let it affect him.
“If we do not get the wine, I fear we will not be able to approach the Abbey,” said Felewin. “My willingness to dance with Vasilka thus hinges entirely on this next enterprise.”
“Of course,” said the Abbot. “It is not yet mid-morning. You should be able to walk there by noon and implore them to send more wine.”
“Of course,” replied Felewin.
The Abbot left, gracefully but covering a suspicious amount of ground.
“I’ll get your things,” said Dmitri; he grabbed two passers-by and pulled them along, moving almost at a run.
Felewin looked at Hrelgi. “We can get you wine?”
“Everybody wants wine,” said Hrelgi. “The inn was low on wine—both of them were, in Barovia and in Vallaki. There’s something going on at the winery, and it’s on the way to the tower.”
Ezmerelda said, “No, it isn’t. Different direction.”
“Ooops,” said Hrelgi. “Same difference.”
“I’d love to join you on this fool’s errand, but I have to wrap up at the abbey,” said Ezmerelda, “I’ll see you when you come back….even if it’s outside the village.”
“Thanks,” said Felewin.
“Great,” said Ninefingers. He said to Hrelgi, “We’re not the Barovian National Guard, investigating every problem.”
Felewin intervened. “I’m sure Dmitri has our stuff out by now. Let’s go.”
Monsters
Flesh Golem — There are golems presented in the Iron & Gold Enhancement Pack, but this was done before I had that supplement, and it does not have a Flesh Golem. Still, it’s pretty close, so you can use that the wood golem but increase the Fitness to 4 (it could be 3, but I had it as 4).
Previous chapter: Planning A Rebirth — Next chapter:
Mechanics
[1] Triumph Intrigues (NPC Positive) The immediate interpretation is Ireena in the pool, so I guess it’s happening.
[2] Hrelgi must still make a magic roll, at nine or less. Because it’s all on the scroll, difficulty zero (one target, -2 difficulty for range, +2 for complex). She rolls a 6, for margin 3. It works!
[3] That is, unwitting GM intervention. I’m not going to change it in the past, but will make it so that we don’t do it again (without a justification).
[4] Ninefingers rgets margin 0 on his Investigation roll, and spots the sleeping guards.
[5] Ninefingers rolls a 6 to notice; Felewin an 8, Uthrilir an 8, Hrelgi a 7.
[6] Hrelgi is stunningly beautiful, so must play that up sometimes.
[7] Mythic: do they try to go into the sheds? CF 7 92, they do not.
[8] 1d2: 1 is Ninefingers, 2 is Uthrilir. I rolled a 1.
The Flesh Golem rolls a 5, margin 4; Ninefingers rolls a 9 margin 0, so it hits for FAT; Armor cuts off 2 of that. Ninefingers takes 2 FAT.
[9] Uthrilir rolls 5, margin 4 but reduced by 2 because he does fast draw. He does 4 Inj, but 2 are topped by the flesh golem’s armor. That’s 2 Inj, half by its resistance.
[10] It’s a second attack, so the golem rolls a 10 which is margin -5. Uthrilir rolls a 6, margin 3, and avoids it easily.
[11] Reactions: Felewin 12 Ninefingers 10 Uthrilir 13 Hrelgi last, Golem 7
Uthrilir rolls 10 (margin -1) vs Golem (margin 0) and misses.
[12] He rolls 5, margin 10 versus the flesh golem’s 7 margin 0. His weapon is magical, so we’ll see how much the armor protects it from the 4 Inj … rolls 5, 6, 6, 6 so not at all.
[13] Hrelgi rolls an 8 on her Fabrica Motus spell, which is difficulty 0. The flesh golem rolls a 12 on its Fitness task to land properly, so it doesn’t. We’ll call that a 4 Fatigue landing but armor protects against only 1 of that, so 3 Fatigue…halved by its resistance. 1 Fatigue damage to go with the 4 Injury damage.
Let’s roll an influence task to see if it goes berserk: rather than difficulty, we’ll do it the D&D way, and roll a d6; berserk on a 6. Rolled a 1, so not berserk.
[14] Reactions: Ninefingers 12-3=9, Felewin 11, Uthrilir 11, Hrelgi last, Golem 9, Ezmerelda needs to be written up.
[15] Felewin actually does an Athletics thing, dodging out of the way at the last minute. He gets margin 2, the golem gets margin -1, so he dodges out of the way. The charge does 4 Fat to the golem, two removed by armor, 1 removed by resistance.
[16] I think a charge is +1 fat so that’s 5 fat, and according to D&D any attack from a form is magical. So check 5 fat va 3 armor: 5, 6, 5, 6, 6 — it all gets through. I’m calling it unconscious. It gets 1 fat level back every 8 hours so it’s out for a while.
[17] Uthrilir rolls a 10, which does not make it. Hrelgi looks up the correct words and rolls a 6, so she gives him back her four levels.
[18] Hrelgi rolls an 8 for Materia a 5 for the R+C roll, a 3 for Ge and a 7 for the R+C. Easy peasy.
[19] Felewin rolls an 11 and fails his composure roll.
[20] Felewin rolls 6 on Reasoning+Composure, which meets the difficulty of 2.
Wednesday, July 2, 2025
Actual Play, Curse of Strahd: Chapter 17 - Planning a Rebirth
Iron & Gold, Curse of Strahd
Previous chapter: To Kreszk — Next chapter: The Abbey
Being The Curse of Strahd, with Mything as GM, using Iron & Gold
17 - Planning A Rebirth[1]
The meal was a simple affair of pasta, a vegetable sauce, and cheese. Dmitri said, “All of it is local, though we trade between families. We’re reasonably self-sufficient here.”
“It’s very impressive,” said Ireena. “We have grains in our village, of course, but are not nearly as self-sufficient as you are. You make nearly everything?”
“We must import wine, yes.”
“So must we all,” said Ireena.
Dmitri continued, “We can repair many things, but sometimes you need metal. There is a tiny hamlet in the mountains, built at the entrance to a mine, that trades us metals for cheese.”
“Ah!” said Ireena. “We must trade with the Vistani for metals.”
“Trading! That reminds me,” Hrelgi said. “Felewin, you told Ireena that your father was like a ruler but you’ve talked about him making money selling bears. Which is it?”
“Both. We are a small tribe. Father insisted on our independence but we have to make money somehow because all the other nations insist on coin. I am told the rules are somewhat different here.”
Dmitri nodded. “There is some limited trade; the Vistani can provide some things and you can request items from them, but never very powerful things because Strahd could be listening. Fortunately, the Vistani buy some things as well…I think that’s how the winery continues.”
The abbey bells began to chime again. Uthrilir looked puzzled. “Is there some event that we should know of?”
“The bells ring at strange times,” admitted Dmitri. “We are cordial with the Abbot, but many suspect him of being an agent of Strahd or Strahd himself.” He held up a hand. “I myself do not believe this: I have seen him at the shrine of the White Sun, and a vampire could not go there. However, he has been at the Abbey since my great-grandfather’s time and he has not aged a day in that century. He is something not human. As a consequence, no one from the village goes to the Abbey. It’s a shame: once they had a hospital, and such a thing might have saved my Ilya.”
“So I should not go to the Abbey?” asked Ireena.
Dmitri said, “Why would you want to? Let me clean up, and we will meet at the inside room, where we discuss matters of state. Felewin, would you stoke the fire in the fireplace? I started the fire earlier so the inside room should be comfortable, but we need the fire to stay going while we are absent.”
While they were cleaning up, Anna arrived home. She did not see surprised to see them.
“How is the Antikov baby?” Dmitri asked.
“Healthy boy, but the midwife thinks he has no soul. He did not cry when she pricked him.”
Hrelgi, who was helping put away, said, “Is there a lot of that, babies without souls?”
“According to the midwife, almost half. Yet we seem to be functioning,” said Anna. Dmitri started to prepare a plate for her, and she refused, saying, “I will eat later.”
In a few moments, Anna, Dmitri, and Hrelgi met in the inside room. There were comfortable if threadbare chairs for everyone.
“Now we are in a place where we are less likely to be heard. Why have you come to my village?”
Ireena said, “I bring you the sad news that my father, Kolyan Indirovich, has passed away. His heart, we think.” She smiled sadly. “Precautions were taken.”
“I am so sorry,” Anna said. She took Ireena’s hand.
Dmitri said. “This is why your brother is not with you.”
“Ismark is assuming the role of burgomaster. You will hear officially at some time in the future.” She stared at her hands in her lap for a moment. “There is another, darker reason we are here. Strahd has taken an interest in me. Ismark felt it was best to get me out of Strahd’s sight. Father Donavich suggested the Abbey but of course we are not as current with the facts of the Abbey as you are.”
Anna let go of Ireena’s hand.
“How interested is he?” Dmitri asked.
“Very,” said Felewin. “But we got her out of the village of Barovia, so his attention should turn elsewhere.”
“Monsters assailed our house every night for weeks, until Father just…died,” said Ireena.
“And why would the lord be interested in you?” Dmitri asked Ireena.
Felewin answered instead. “She’s pretty,” said Felewin. “He has an eye for beauty. She’s smart. She can think tactically.”
“Thank you,” said Ireena[2], smiling at Felewin.
“I also think there is more. I think she’s the reincarnation his lost love,” said Uthrilir. “I need to see a painting of Tatyana to be sure, though.”
“I could not be!” Ireena said.
Anna and Dmitri looked bewildered. “Who’s Tatyana?”
“Strahd was enamoured of a woman Tatyana, who was engaged to his brother Sergei, when he was alive,” said Hrelgi. “Because of logic we don’t actually understand, he became a vampire to be more attractive to her, and he killed Sergei.”
“For some reason,” said Ninefingers mildly, “she didn’t want the vampire as a husband, partly because he’d just killed her fiance.”
Dmitri shook his head. “I am too kind to exile you at night but in the morning you must leave Krezk. I cannot allow you to bring Strahd down on our heads.”
“What if we did something for you? Like the winery,” said Felewin.
Dmitri seemed unmoved. “If you brought wine back to the village, you could come in, but I would not let Ireena stay here.”
“We might be able to restore your son to life,” Hrelgi said.
Anna started. Dmitri said, “I… No, he is dead. It would be black sorcery.”
“No, it’s not black at all,” said Hrelgi. “We could do it, but only once.”
“Maybe,” said Uthrilir.
Anna said, “How would you do it? Ilya is four days dead.”
No one spoke. Felewin took a deep breath. “Yesterday we came into possession of a magical scroll. To work, it must be read by a wizard. It will raise one person from the dead, if they have not been dead for too long.” Felewin said, “I only found out just before dinner, Ireena. I was planning on telling you once we were alone, but someone decided to blurt it out.”
“Dmitri was going to throw her out,” Hrelgi said. “That would be bad.” She explained to Dmitri and Anna, “We would have to do it tomorrow, in the light. I don’t want to mess up, and there’s a lot there. We make sure there’s nothing black about it. But it’s powerful magic that I can only do once, ever.”
“If you can honestly bring Ilya back to life, Ireena can stay,” Anna said.
“Anna!” cried Dmitri.
“This is our last son! I cannot have more children! Without this chance, the Krezkov line ends.”
Dmitri took her hand. “All right,” he said heavily. “But Ireena, you must sleep in the wine cellar tonight.”
“Oh, it’s going to be cramped,” said Ninefingers.
#
Later, in the wine cellar, they had to move one of the trestles with empty barrels, creating a precarious pile on one side of the room. That gave Ireena enough space. Hrelgi heated the rock of the wall so it radiated heat for a few hours as it cooled.
In the darkness, Ireena said to Felewin, “When did you get the scroll?”
“When we met Rictavio. Apparently Ninefingers stole it to look at it and never got a chance to put it back.”
“Oh.”
“I just wanted to look at it. I was meaning to give it back,” said Ninefingers, “but the scroll can only be used by a wizard, so Rictavio is probably a wizard.”
“Or he was holding it for someone,” Hrelgi said, “but that’s really unlikely.”
Ninefingers said, “Now you’re making me feel bad.” Ireena giggled.
“So we’re going to use it in the morning?” Uthrilir asked.
“Better than my other plan: kill Strahd and then revive him so he can work to amend his actions,” said Felewin.
“Wouldn’t work,” said Hrelgi, “because he’s been dead too long. Same reason we couldn’t use it on Doru.”
“I was joking,” said Felewin.
“I never know when you’re joking,” said Hrelgi.
Ninefingers said, “Felewin never jokes. He’s just wrong sometimes and passes it off as a joke.”
Ireena giggled again.
Felewin said, “Go to sleep, people. We have a busy day tomorrow. We’ve got to revive someone from the dead and find an ally in the abbey.”
Previous chapter: To Kreszk — Next chapter: ?
Mechanics
[1] Mythic suggested theme: NPC Negative - Mistrust Love
[2] Everyone has the info from Tome of Strahd; everyone knows about reincarnation from Kasimir. Now it’s time for idea rolls. Felewin rolls 9; Ninefingers 12, Hrelgi 3, and Uthrilir 2.
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