Curse of Strahd [CLOSED]

[Baba Luga]

Ina & Syvis
Porch of the Blue Water Inn

Danika puts a hand on her hip and huffs. "I told you, Eli, I'll have nothing to do with this. Be sure to hurry up and finish your speeches so you can scamper away before Mister Strazni comes by." She turns and gives Ina a last, tense smile before going back inside with the tray of empty mugs. The man continues his arch complaints to the people on the porch, but only a handful are actively listening, and without Danika as a foil, he soon loses momentum. He grumbles, pulls his hat down and finds a half-finished drink to nurse.

 

[jfish]

Ina frowns at Syvis' reply. Of course. Relaxing when she realises that the man's - Eli's - bluster has dissipated, she moves quickly to join the other elf. She raises an eyebrow at the discovery.

"Riiight," she coughs then adds, "This place isn't huge, hopefully it won't be hard to find the others...?" she trails off in case Syvis wants to act on her discovery of the strange man.

 

[Abrahms]

Syvis broke her gaze away from the man and back towards Ina, "Yes ... hopefully I can help in trying to find them. If we're done here ...?"

 

[Baba Luga]

Ina & Syvis
The Streets of Vallaki

The two elves leave the Blue Water Inn, with Ina confidentially leading the way by the general directions given by the seller of birds and her own memory of Baron Vallakovich's model of this town. It turns out, however that the model was not a perfect representation of the actual layout, and the pair are soon turning back to the secure reference point of the inn, only to set out again in a new direction. This jaunt seems more auspicious at first, but as before, an anticipated intersection does not arrive, and the street instead veers away in a counterproductive direction.

By some miracle, a shuttered green and yellow house comes into view, perhaps Pullo's place by some freak of geography. As the elves approach, the front door opens and four unfamiliar, cagey looking individuals emerge, two men and two women, all dressed a bit smarter than the local norm.

"What's this?" the foremost man demands with a start when he sees Ina and Syvis. "Is this how it happens, then? Strangers made the Baron's mercenaries? We're not even worth his dog Strazni's time? Well, don't think we're not prepared to defend ourselves!"

The woman behind him, who holds a book in one hand, reaches under her cloak with the other. Their two companions, looking nervous, step off to the left a bit, apparently undecided between breaking into a run and flanking the women with the birdcage.

 

[ZombWie]

Hircus feels hands grasp his ankles and pull to free him of the once Faria, now vampire's grip. With a quick roll and sit up, Hircus is on his feet again turning to face the hole from where he was freed.

Hircus turns and tries to make eye contact with Moire, but sees an all too familiar stillness and the cleric realizes that she is off in another place and time. "Damned visions, damned place, damned vampires! Nina! Try to rouse Moire!" He grabs the shield from Moire and turns to face the threat even though every muscle in his body wants to run for the door.

Using an abbreviated battle prayer the cleric calls forth yet another gift from Torm. "Torm, grant us your aid in our time of need." No visible change is apparent in Moire, Nina and Hircus, but instead, they each feel a swelling of internal fortitude. With a nod of his head, almost as an afterthought, Hircus sends the floating blade toward the retreating vampire but is unable to connect.

 

[Abrahms]

Wandering back and forth, back and forth, Syvis had quickly become tired of the small village. All the people, the cramped structures, the noise, the smells ... if she were in her wolf form, her ears would be drooping from weariness. At least she had Otrev to mutter to as they walked, but he offered little aid given anything outside his cage was not his concern.

At the man's words, Syvis wore a very obviously confused expression, glancing towards Ina as she held the birdcage with both arms. Seeing the other two start to shift their stances, she turned her amber eyes on the speaker, eventually asking, "... what?"

 

[Baba Luga]

Hircus & Moire
The House on Bow Lane

Prone in the tunnel, Faria smiles when Hircus steps closer to stop her from entering the room. Suddenly the door at the front of the house opens and Mykola leans in. He sees the creature leering from the hole, intones, "No," in a flat, emotionless voice and shuts the door again.

Nina, approaching the open rear door, also sees Faria. She cries out, and averts her eyes. "I'm sorry! I didn't know you were here! I didn't see anything! I don't know anything!"

The young woman takes a step back from the doorway and shouts, "Moire, get out of there! What's the matter with you? Run!" With one arm over her eyes, she bends down, picks up a rock and throws it at the motionless paladin. When the rock misses, she makes a yelp of agonized indecision, then turns and flees across the meadow.

Faria flails at Hircus' ankles, but being confined to the tight passage, can't get hold. "You're a slippery old trout, teacher," she hisses. "I should have had my fisherman teach me to catch your kind. But too many prying eyes here now." She pushes back against the sides of the tunnel and the pale, grinning face sinks back into the darkness below the floorboards.

 

[ZombWie]

Hircus kicks out and catches the vampire in the head with his boot as the creature slithers deeper into it's den. "Moire! Come, let us get into the light." Still, Moire seems to be in another place and time, so he grabs his friend and forces her to the door just in time to see the young woman, Nina disappear into a grouping of trees. "Gods! I knew she was a treacherous girl." Hircus turns to watch the hole under the bed to make sure that the vampire stays there until they can regroup and attack again.

 

[Baba Luga]

Hircus & Moire
The House on Bow Lane

There is no more stirring from the hole under Pullo's bed, Nina has vanished into the small grove, and there is no sign of Mykola either. Hircus and Moire are alone behind the house with yellow and green flowers on its shutters, which stands between larger homes on either side. A few minutes later, Moire blinks and shudders, conscious once more.

Ina & Syvis
Elsewhere in Vallaki

The man who has moved off a bit to Syvis' left—he is clean-shaven, with black hair and a good-sized paunch—holds out a shaking hand. "Maybe they're not..." he gets out before the woman with the book cuts him off.

"Nonsense!" she says, "she has brought her familiar to hex us! Now!" she pulls the hand from her cloak. It holds a dagger with an oddly-curved blade. She lets the book drop to the ground and chants, "Du maldifidii vi!"

The man in blue robes next to her nods and draws a similar blade himself, as do the man and woman off to the left, though the hesitant man's hand continues to shake as he grips his knife.

 

[jfish]

To say Ina was annoyed was almost an understatement at this point. I could've sworn there were fewer streets than this on that damned map. She's almost stomping along the paths at this point, gritting her teeth. "This is embarrassing, sorry," she grumbles unhappily, running a hand through her hair. She's about to say something else when they approach the fourth house and I swear if this isn't it- and come up short as a group of people exit.

Ina stops short at their expressions and is caught off-guard momentarily when they accuse her and Syvis of being the Baron's mercenaries. Seriously?! She sees the pair beginning to flank a confused Syvis, and positions herself between them, an eyebrow at the woman with the book, reflexively eyeing it when it drops to the floor.

"We're just fucking lost, okay?! That's a damned songbird from the festival!" She gestures forcefully at the birdcage. Sorry, Otrev. "Syvis, if they attack us, get her first." She then glares at the hesitant one before them, fingers hovering over one of her daggers.

 

[Epiphany]

Blinking slowly, Moire's consciousness rises from the depths of memory and she takes a long, ragged breath.

"We came here with Markovia. We didn't meet her here, she was one of us. I-" And a moment later, Moire's arm comes up with the handaxe as more recent memory reasserts itself. Her eyes roll wildly as she searches for the vampire before realizing she's standing outside of the hut in the daylight. Panting, the Paladin turns to face her clerical friend before patting him on the shoulder. She looks briefly confused as she spots her shield on his arm but Moire says nothing about it. Instead, she clears her throat and says "Clearly we survived that. Did you slay the fiend yourself or is she still on the loose? Either way, the people of this village need to be informed. Need to know that one of their own has a monster among them. A monster who might very well have fed that poor girl to...that poor girl."

For as easy as it is to call Faria a monster, Moire can still remember a beautiful woman with golden eyes.

 

[ZombWie]

When Moire looks to Hircus she sees him examining his shaking hands. The cleric releases a long sigh then notices that Moire has returned to this time and place. He goes to speak but stifles it to listen to her work it out the situation for herself. After a moment he says, "Aye, it's true. I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure. If these visions don't kill us they will eventually tell us what is going on here. This is not the time nor place for this conversation. We must get our heads right and make a decision. Here, take this." Hircus hands MOire the shield "We did not finish the creature, the vampire. Faria." He rubs his hand over his face. "She said I was her teacher. She said that she must tell her Lord that we are back. Her Lord? This means she is spawn of a more powerful vampire. As for this town's inhabitants? I am not sure telling them will do us any good. They seem to already be aware of this infestation but choose not to share that knowledge freely. They fear them, so we risk our lives by letting them know that we have figured it out." Hircus points out across the field where Nina ran, "Your poor girl ran that way, but not until she apologized to the undead elf beneath the house. Mykola has presumably made himself just as scarce. I say we find the only allies we know of, Nina and Syvis and them come back here to deal with this, this abomination. If these Vallakians already know that vampires live amongst them then we can expect no help from them. This is Torm's design for me! This is why I am in this land of the dead! We have been given a second chance. Let us use it!" Hircus ends his rant with a heaving chest and a pounding heart. He reaches his right hand out toward the paladin of Ilmater and waits for her return gesture.

 

[Abrahms]

Seeing the strangers move to combat positions, Syvis felt her lips raise in an elven-equivalent of a snarl -- only becoming more intense as the woman pointed at Otrev, accusing him of being a familiar. Seeing the daggers drawn she tensed, considering wrapping the group in vines, or potentially having the earth erupt beneath them ... she paused however waiting to see what Ina would do. Syvis wasn't one of the pack leaders here, especially in unfamiliar territory, and she said she'd follow their lead.

At Ina's instruction, the amber eyed wood elf nodded, setting Otrev's cage on the ground next to her, beginning the hand movements to shift her nails into long curved claws that could easily tear through skin in addition to the acidic wounds they would leave behind.

 

[Epiphany]

As Hircus speaks, the Paladin's somber expression slips into a frown and then grim resignation. "The poor girl I meant is the missing Vistani child, of course. If she fell into the hands of this fisherman, there's little doubt of her fate now."

Moire lets a moment of sober silence stretch between then before she reaches forward and clasps Hircus' hand. "If I'm slower to credit one of our Gods for our return, I'm not slow at all to take up their cause again. This land is in the grip of powerful evil, my friend. We must deliver these people from it, free them from the vampire's thrall however we can. I am with you. Now, let us return to at least collect Ina and perhaps our new elven adventurer. I would seek out Tegan if I knew where he was, or could get word to him timely, but I doubt we have longer than nightfall. One vampire of any kind is a fearsome foe but a lord of vampires? We will need all the strength we can gather."

If Hircus is willing, Moire makes for the Blue Water Inn.

 

[Baba Luga]

Ina & Syvis
Elsewhere in Vallaki

The woman who seems to be the head of this small bunch stops her chanting. Her eyes narrow and she chews her lip as she considers. "Well," she says at last, "perhaps mistakes were made. Festival goers? Hmmph! No matter. You go your way, we'll go ours, and never meet again. Stay clear of unknown byways." She gestures to her three companions. The man closest to her stoops to pick up the dropped book, and they all begin cautiously moving away through the space between their house and one next to it. The clean-shaven man seems most relieved by this end to the confrontation.

 

[jfish]

"By the gods," Ina mutters in elvish, "I'm sorry I lost my temper." She looks guiltily at Syvis, gently picking up Otrev's cage and hands it back to her companion. She exhales raggedly - the other man wasn't the only one relieved it didn't come to a fight. She tried to remind herself mentally that she was in an unprecedented situation and she couldn't change that, at least yet. Ina was prone to outbursts when she was scared or annoyed - a rather inconvenient and childish flaw, as her mother would constantly remind her. She takes a last glance at the house the others had exited, thinks better of a little... survey, and then turns to Syvis.

"Perhaps we should just head back?" she offers, exasperated, "Clearly this didn't go to plan."

 

[Abrahms]

Syvis continued to hold her stance until the group moved further away, claws retreating back into her normal nails. Still longer than most would keep them, but no longer looking quite so deadly. Keeping her eyes on the strangers she nodded as Ina handed her the birdcage, muttering in Elvish, "Such a reaction to being found, even by accident ..." shaking her head she continued, "I expect they will likely kill someone from being so on edge."

Looking down into the cage she switched to Sylvan, "Apologies Otrev -- if you were not in your cage you could have fled to better safety."

Turning back to Ina she continued in Elvish once more, "... maybe this time we will find our path?"

 

[ZombWie]

"You are right, Moire. I am sorry that I misunderstood you. The spirit of battle still courses through me like a river. I will take a moment to calm myself. Let us walk toward the inn to see if we can locate Ina and Syvis." Hircus looks back over his shoulder toward the house. "I think we have time to do this right."

As they walk, Hircus mulls the events of the previous few minutes. "I hope that the child is safe. I did not see any..." The cleric pauses to choose his words carefully, "Evidence that the girl was ever at that house, so let us not jump to conclusions. As for Nina, maybe I am too quick to judge. The red gauze of my anger may have misinterpreted the situation. It is clear that Nina was aware of the existence of the monster, but she was not expecting to see Faria's husk in the house."

Hircus continues to think about the attack as they plod along toward the inn. "I think our priority is keeping Faria from reporting our existence to her lord. Do you agree?"

 

[Baba Luga]

Ina & Syvis
Streets of Vallaki

Once the four testy citizens have disappeared behind the houses, Otrev does a little dance of admiration for the way Syvis "puffed up her feathers". He then transitions to the subject of his appetite; he's growing a bit peckish. The little food dish in his cage is down to just a few stray seeds.

Syvis is confident that she can at least retrace their latest steps back to the Blue Water Inn, and there are no further incidents along the way. Hircus and Moire stumble up a few minutes after the two elves arrive, looking a little the worse for wear.

Although it's been daylight for a few hours now, the sun has yet to present itself directly. It appears only as a somewhat brighter spot in the clouds that it is uncomfortable to stare at for too long. Nina's prediction that the foot traffic in the main thoroughfare would change course has been born out in your brief absence. The people there are now slowly milling in an eastward direction. The watchers on the porch seem a bit more bored than they were previously. Glancing over beneath the outside stairs, Syvis no longer sees the gray-haired man who was hiding there earlier.

 

[Epiphany]

As the pair stroll back to the inn, Moire smiles and pats her friend affectionately on the shoulder. "Between you and me? I'll confess to finding Nina a pretty girl. But I spent years as a pirate. I've seen what a lack of restraint will do to a person, to their judgement, and how they become victims for it. Something brought us back to this dark land, possibly something just as dark. Caught between two mysteries, with more accumulating every hour we tread Barovia...well, no matter how pleasing the villagers might be to look at, nothing will distract me from solving what's before us. And saving those we can save. Ilmater witness my words."

"Now, with that confession out of the way, I agree. As long as that...Lord..." Strahd, whose name I can't even bear to think about let alone pronounce, "...remains unaware of our presence, we may yet have time to solve those mysteries I just mentioned. Faria is a clear and present danger to us all. She must be dealt with. More's the pity." The Paladin sighs. "I remember better times in her company."

She then walks the remainder of the distance to the inn with Hircus, in hopes of meeting up with the rest of their party.

Upon returning to the Inn, the dark-haired warrior gives both elves a wan smile before beckoning them to stand beside the building. If she can't find a spot out of the reach of casual eavesdropping, she affects as bored and indifferent of an expression as she can manage. Which only makes her softly spoken words that much more striking. "There's a vampire. Here, in this village, in a concealed tunnel beneath the home of our lead suspect. We remember her, Hircus and I, and I'd tell you her name Ina but for fear of setting off another spell in you as it did me. She's determined to warn her Lord. And there's some evidence the villagers of this town know of her, or those like her, and are under their thrall. Right now, we walk these lands safe in the relative ignorance and indifference of Barovia's master. If she alerts him, I suspect our time will end shortly thereafter. We must deal with her, now, while the sun still stands."

Looking between Ina and Syvis, Moire reaches out and puts one hand on each of their shoulders. The strength in her hands is matched by the smoldering fire of her still quiet voice. "Will you risk much, my friends, to end a threat and possibly save the innocent from that which preys upon them? And thus save ourselves as well?"

 

[Abrahms]

At Otrev's compliment, Syvis couldn't help but smile slightly, replying to the bird, "See? As I said, you don't need to worry for your cage."

Arriving back at the tavern once again, Syvis couldn't help but pace back and forth, too much nervous energy -- first being riled up from the near fight, and secondly from half of her new pack being missing. Thankfully soon the other two returned, yet carrying unfortunate news. From Moire's tone she understood it was serious and nodded, replying back, "I follow the pack. If you need me I will help ... I hope I will be helpful."

The woodelf frowned for a moment as she watched the crowds pass, "However ... " Syvis bit her lip before continuing, "If they know of this creature ... is it not a nest they are content with? Are all under the thrall?" She thought back to a few people she'd manage to spot who didn't seem in such a haze, "If some seek to be free, they should defend their territory too, not rely on passing kindness."

 

[ZombWie]

A redness fills his cheeks as Hircus begins to slowly nod in understanding. He allows Moire to continue and when she finishes he responds, "You show much restraint in contrast to your hasty, old fool of a companion. I admit I did not consider Nina's charm as a factor in today's events. In a situation like this I have been conditioned to keep an eye out for threats, which leaves very little attention to really see the normal behavior of the people around me. I feel I must tell you that I have great faith in you and your level head. You must have been quite a valuable asset to Markovia."

Mention of Markovia and his fragmented memories brings the cleric's thoughts back to Faria, the elf with the golden eyes. She was my student? How did I allow this to happen to her? Did our previous failure lead to her current condition?

"I wonder if I will have the courage to do what needs done when we confront the creature again?" Hircus reaches to clutch the symbol around his neck, then wraps his fingers tight around the amulet. "I must, Torm commands it."

Hircus remains quiet as Moire tells Ina and Syvis of the events at the fisherman's house. The cleric casually scans the area to see if anyone is paying particular attention to the group.

 

[Epiphany]

The elf's wariness isn't surprising. Moire gives Syvis a slow nod and listens until she's finished.

"You're not wrong," the Paladin of Ilmater says, with careful deliberation. "My faith calls me to sacrifice myself on behalf of others...but even we recognize people must have responsibility for their own lives. Part of my role is to call people to be their best selves, while risking myself to set the example. My first instinct in this matter is to alert the town guard. For a vampire may be too much for even the four of us."

Then Moire sighs. "Except that the guard may be under the vampire's thrall. It's a bind, make no mistake. It's unlikely everyone is dominated by vampires. But anyone could be dominated by vampires. And without a way to tell, the safest course is to deal with the monster ourselves. Before we're next."

 

[Abrahms]

Idly tapping the birdcage with a thumb while she thought, eventually Syvis sighed. "It is also likely they will strike at us for challenging their peace ... I've not dealt with such monsters before ... but I expect if we're going to do this, it will be best to have surprise on our side and strike quickly. I will follow the pack. Let me know what you'd wish me to do ... I have spells that could make it easier to hit, even some healing." She rubbed the large wolf tooth that hung on a leather cord, adding, "I can also ask spirits for aid ... to make us stronger, or to help guide strikes."

Syvis glanced down at Otrev, "I know you like your cage little one ... but if something happens to me, I don't wish to think of you being stuck in there. If I leave the door open, please consider leaving if you must."

 

[ZombWie]

Hircus stands as a sentry at the edge of the building as Moire discusses the situation with his friends. Casually leaning up against the corner he smiles, nods and wishes well to anyone who passes too close in an attempt mask the conversation behind him. He thinks back to the many hours he spent on guard duty traveling with the knights. His duty was to keep the knights healthy on the right path, but in such a small company he had many responsibilities ranging from cooking to battle support. Oh, but I was a much better fighter than cook. Beans! all I could cook was beans. The knights curse was a hot day in the armor after a breakfast of beans. The cleric of Torm chuckles to himself, then remembers himself and straightens up to give another scan of the area around the in.