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• We make our way to the first floor from the trap door we found.
• Everything in the house is old, run-down, decrepid. Furniture is rotted, walls are peeling. House is creaking to all fuck.
• Seir and Lilly hear whooshing. Lilly and Arkan notice the windows are bricked over.
• Belial goes to the door and notices swinging blades. He gives Lilly the broom to put between the blades. She fails and the broom goes flying.
• Arkan hits the wall with his staff and makes a hole. A swarm of rats come out.
  • Arkan slaps the rats with Shocking Grasp. Crit hits.
  • Lilly uses VM. "I'm the giant rat that makes all of the rules." They are unaffected.
  • River tries to throw a javelin, but they're fucking rats, so it missed.
  • The rats crawl all over Arkan. They try to bite and he does not react.
  • Seir starts picking them up and chucking them into the blades. Lilly gets covered in rat blood. Seir climbs on top of a dresser, away from the rats.
  • Belial skewers the rats on Arkan.
  • Arkan zaps the last few ones and kicks them off.
• Lilly notices the fireplace in the other room is spitting out black smoke.
• Arkan beats more holes in the wall and goes through. Blades cover the door out. He jumps through and gets fucking eviscerated.
• Lilly jumps through the hole and easily passes through the blades. She then takes Arkan's healing kit and bandaids up his face.
• Seir goes through the hole and gets bladed, but doesn't pass out.
• River easily goes through the blades.
• Belial does a terrible job, but is somehow still up.
• They walk out of the house. The doors slam behind them. When they go out the gate, the gate closes and chains itself behind them. The house shakes for a while more, and eventually stops.
• The fog receeds and dissipates. It's still foggy in general, but the death fog is gone, at least.
• We're on a city street with cobblestone. It's early in the morning. All the buildings in the town look worn down, old, lived in, and beat up. Some are boarded up and probably uninhabited. Town is overall wet and dark and weird.
• They go south. To the left, they can go left, out of town. There's a bit of grass and a wall of fog. To the right, is the city.
• In the far, far distance, a castle sits on a mountain. It's a big fucking castle.
• They find an inn and go inside. There's no one but an old grumpy guy.
• They get a room and rest.
  • River dreams the temple again. Moves closer. Hears wind inside... or whispering?
  • Lilly dreams about the cave. In some woods. Comes around a tree, sees cave down a path. Hear wolves howling and gets scared.
  • Belial hears music again. Sees shadows of people singing and dancing around a big bonfire.
  • Seir is meditating.
  • Arkan dreams something new. Sees himself walking down hallways of a very nicely appointed castle. Not sure where he's going. Can hear a bit of music. Keeps turning around corners, but feels endless. Behind him, torches are going out, and gaining on him. Turns around to back where he was coming, gets a strong sense of dread. Feels like someone was there.
• Seir opens his eyes to find a broom on the bed. He kicks it off the bed while screaming.
• Lilly and Belial walk in and notice the broom of immovability! It's cut, but it's there. No one is sure why it's there, but Belial recollects it.
• Lilly says she misses the fog. The wind picks up outside. She feels reassured
• They go downstairs and find a guy drinking. We settle to talk. We mention the death house and he's like haha yeah that crazy place. We know to avoid it.
• Lilly and Belial are pretty sure he's not that drunk, but the rest of us are like no he definitely is.
• River begins drinking heavily.
• His name is Izmark. His dad is the burgomaster. He wants us to be impressed and we are not.
• Lilly calls the town shit and begins defending the fog when Arkan points out that it tried to kill them. He covers her mouth. She licks his hand. He gets disgusted and pulls it away.
• Izmark asks why we're here. We explain the caravan and ask how to leave. Izmark laughs and drinks. Arkan notices everyone is staring at them and makes an effort to be handsome.
• Izmark is distinctly avoiding looking at Arkan.
• We ask how to leave. He avoids the question. We ask again and he offers a tour of the town. We say no. He gets up and opens the door and gestures for us to follow anyway.
• Izmark tries to drag us to the mansion. Belial does not want to go because the death house tried to kill them. Izmark assures not.
• Once out of the town square, Arkan notices Izmark isn't stumbling anymore and demands to know how to leave. Izmark says you can't, unless you die.
• He wants us to go to the mansion and meet someone and do a favour for him.
• Arkan does not want to and demands to know what he wants us to do. Lilly clings to him and gives puppy eyes and wags her tails. She wants to go. He sighs and agrees. Can't resist the eyes.
• Belial asks what the favour is, but kindly and without intimidation. Izmark wants us to help him carry his dad's corpse to the church.
• We start toward the mansion and hear wailing from a house. We ask what's up with that. Izmark tells that he's been hearing it all day and night for a couple days. No one answers when he knocks. River wants to go, but Belial tugs him away.
• We go to the mansion. There are gates, but they're twisted and torn. One is open and clanging as it sways in the breeze. The ground are littered with weeds. Against the wall of the house, they've been trampled down all along the walls. Claw marks and black scorch marks dot the building. All the windows are broken and boarded from the inside. The planks have warding glyphs against evil on them.
• Izmark bangs on the door and says to let him in. A woman moves furniture and cracks the door to look out. She questions who we are and Izmark says we're able bodied people. She does a double take on Arkan, who looks traumatised 24/7.
• We enter. Windows are all boarded and there's a lot of holy symbols. Coffin lays in another room with the burgomaster's body. Izmark and the woman put furniture in front of the door again.
• His sister's name is Ireena. Izmark wants us to bring her out of Barovia and to another town. Ireena doesn't want to go and doesn't trust us.
• The house has been attacked for the last couple weeks on a nightly basis. Wolves and other beasts and things do it. Burgomaster couldn't take it anymore and his heart gave out. Izmark is worried the attacks are targeted toward her.
• Arkan asks why. He says that the lord of the area believes Ireena belongs to him. Ireena disagrees and says the attacks are for a different reason, probably just because this is a weird place. No attacks have happened since the burgomaster died, so it was probably to take him (who was a beacon of hope) down.
• Arkan comes to the realisation that everyone in this place is really scared of him for some reason. He's used to weird and concerned look, but this is a bit much.
• Izmark and Belial have a psychic convo. Izmark says, "She doesn't remember when [the lord] got into the house and got her." Arkan nods knowingly. He too represses things.
• We pick up the coffin and head off, except Belial, Lilly, and Seir do fuck all. Arkan tries and does his best and his best is shit.
• We approach the church. Lilly hears a cart being pushed, but doesn't actually see anything. She really wants to investigate, but decides it's better not to leave the coffin.
• Church is very worn and weary. Has a tall bell tower. Shingled roof has holes of light. Rafters are straining and sagging. Front doors are heavy, wooden, clawed and scorched but it's older than the mansion.
• Inside: Hall leads to lit chapel. Hall is mildewed. Chapel has broken pews. Man is inside crying and praying, only to be cut off by an inhuman scream. Lots of candles lit to get rid of any shadows. Altar is clawed up.
• We walk up to the man and say we need a funeral. He's like yes, but we'll have to do it tomorrow at dawn, since it's too dark. River, Seir, and the priest Donovich do though go out and dig a grave.
• Donovich: "Ireena, she's troubled! The devil is trying to get a hold of her, you know. She's drawn his attention. She can't stay here. She must go away." Devil resides in castle, apparently.
• Ireena is not really the burgomaster's daughter. She was found at the edge of the woods, just wandering with no memory.
• While we're in the church, we hear a young man's voice from under the floor. "Please, father, I am so hungry!"
• We search for a way to the lower section we assume exists.
• One room is wet and has a broken window. Wooden door in the corner that has a heavy padlock.
• Arkan stomps on the floor. Voice yells at us. Arkan says we will not give him food until he stops yelling. Voice actually stops.
• Donovich says to leave the room. His son is under there. He is "sick" and needs a special diet. He was cursed, sent by the devil to torture Donovich. Belial asks for more information.
• We get scolded for sticking our noses in things and stirring up trouble. It's what "he" (the lord; the guy in the castle) wants. He is a dark and terrible creature. He has trapped everyone in Barovia. He keeps everyone under his heel like cattle.
• A wizard came through the area. Spoke a lot of overthrowing Strahd. Fucking failed. Donovich's son went with him, but was the only one who came back.
• Arkan has a realisation and realises Donovich is talking about Strahd von Zarovich. Donovich literally spits.
• Donovich asks us all to stay the night to give proof of the curse on the land and what our role in it might be.
• Son's curse is to be an underling to Strahd. He is a form of weaker vampire.
  • Belial: "Strahd is the least valid person I've ever heard of."
• Strahd is a vampire, definitely. Belial thinks he must be really powerful to own an entire land.
• Son has been like this for a month at least (he returned a month ago). Also his name is Doru. Donovich really doesn't want to feed him.
• Arkan slices his arm and shows off the fact that he doesn't bleed. Donovich gets really uncomfortable and demands he spends his time outside. The group stands up for Arkan and he is touched in a rare show of emotion.
• We go back to the chapel and hang out until night, when Donovich calls us over to the windows. The graveyard is glowing green. From it, ghosts of all shapes and sizes rise. They're adventurers, mostly. There's hundreds of them. They march around the side of the church and go through the village, out the other side, and into the woods.
• Donovich thinks we'll be Barovia's saviour. Arkan is very skeptical. They start joking about them killing Strahd and starts pulling out his Haunted One background stuff. Donovich insists this is proof. Arkan replies, "I mean I'm being chased by eldritch horrors and that's why I have this stuff but go off, I guess." Lilly laughs her ass off.
• We hang around for a while. Donovich continues insisting we can take on Strahd. But we have to lay down low and Gain Allies.
• (aka ooc: we need to be higher than level fucking 3)
• Next morning, we hold the funeral. Izmark convinces Ireena to leave town with us. We head out to leave to Krezk. There are monks there that he trusts. He heard it's a holy place, untouched by Strahd.
• We hear the squeaking as we leave. Lilly approaches. Old lady with a cart of pies. She's arguing with some people at a house about them owing payment.
• Lilly tries to buy a pie. Arkan slaps the money out of her hand and drags her away. Pie lady calls after them and says her sisters are in other towns. Arkan promises Lilly that if they find one, they'll buy a pie then.