Session 29

—19th of Octyavr, 735 BC

Entry 29. Staking out the caravan entering the misty forest, an elven man named Medullon followed behind it after seeing the elf with the mutilated ears walk among the people following it. Shortly after, he had arrived in a strange land with trees tightly lined next to each other, their branches obscuring the gray light of the sunless sky. At the same time Valyra and Brando were heading towards a tavern in Vallaki to kill some time whilst waiting for their outfits to be made. Bored, Valyra decides to read Strahd's journal but Brando interrupted her inquiring about the book. She allowed him to read a bit from it and gasped at the vampire's story. Rictavio then approached them, joking about Brando's gasping and inquiring what instigated that reaction. After revealing to him that it was a book written by Strahd himself, Rictavio immediately attempts to convince the players to let him read it. Suddenly concerned about the crowd of people listening to the conversation, he drops his voice acting and commands them to follow him. Being lead to his room, after he puts the tiger back to her cage he invites them in and then drops his disguise. Revealing that he was actually Dr. Rudolph Van Richten, a vampire hunter who came to Barovia long ago in an effort to exterminate Strahd. His efforts as he confessed were impeded by lack of information about Strahd therefore any information that they could offer him was valuable. Valyra decides to let him have the book for the night so he could analyze it and take notes. In the meantime, she and Brando return to the seamstresses shop to check for their outfits, offering her an incentive to work faster, which she eagerly accepted before going back to work. Unable to collect their outfits, they both head to the inn to rest for the night. Lana, worrying about Valyra and Brando not having returned yet proceeded to ask Emeric to contact them through his spells but overheard him talking to someone before she knocked on his door. He agrees to contacts the players and reassures Lana that they would be back the next day.

Medullon having arrived in Barovia is greeted by the Vistani who offer him wine, a seat by the fireplace and a warning that nobody gets out of Barovia. He leaves soon after that, seeing the elf from his dreams leaving the camp, deciding to follow and catch up to him. Scared, the man prepared to attack this stranger following him but Medullon convinces him against that, instead revealing to him a portion of his dreams, beckoning him to find the elf with the mutilated ears. The man thinking that he is insane for coming willingly to Barovia decides to escort him to Vallaki, aware of the dangers of the forests at night. Arriving at Vallaki and noticing the many patrolling guards, the man decides to politely leave Medullon to go his own way, while he would go to the tavern. Medullon politely thanks him and heads towards the inn to rest for the night.

Waking up in the morning, Brando and Valyra return to Van Richten's abode to retrieve the book. They are greeted instead by his disguise, Rictavio but are quickly welcomed inside. He shares part of his insight into Strahd's weaknesses from the Tome that he had spent the whole night analyzing, then returns it to them. The players ask him to join their group in their efforts to kill Strahd but he politely declines, knowing that he would paint a huge target on them by being near them. The two friends leave his room albeit dissatisfied and head  towards the seamstresses shop. Soon they noticed that an elven man was following them, a rare sight in Barovia. The decide to pay no mind and tend to their business first. After picking up the newly made outfits, they head out of the store only to see the strange man wait for them across the road. Valyra decides to finally approach him and inquire about his strange behavior. Medullon confesses that he had a Remembrance in which an elven woman much like him was searching for something, perhaps for herself but was in need of aid and looked strikingly like Valyra.

This encounter left her confused that all these new people come harboring visions of her sent by gods. She appreciated the attention but was left with many questions. After being asked if he would join them against Strahd and being warned that he might die in the process, he responded with eagerness to join them, surprising Valyra who then welcomed him to the party.

Medullon's mention of another elf in Barovia piqued Valyra's interest who proceeded to find this Kasimir drunk in the corner of the tavern. Valyra and Medullon attempted to interrogate him and found out about his sister Patrina and his plans to bring her back to life and put an end to Strahd. Bidding him adieu later, he manages to make three steps before passing out. Brando then dragged him all the way to the Blue Water inn and let him sleep in a room he rented. In the morning they picked up their outfits and headed towards their sanctuary to reconvene with the rest of the group to introduce Medullon to them. Lana, Ismark and Ireena kindly greeted him while Emeric was starring at him from a distance. After inviting Medullon to join them in their adventure to have dinner with Strahd, the party goes on to change to their new outfits. Emeric found a chance to interrogate Medullon while the rest of the party was getting ready. Finally at noon, they decide to head out towards Castle Ravenloft. Reaching the castle in the evening they witnessed the drawbridge being lowered for them and the gates spring open loudly at their arrival. Nothing but two torches lighted the way towards the huge gates of the castle. After being let inside by Rahadin, he led them to an enormous audition room. Strahd patiently waited for them to approach before rising from his throne to greet them. Ambrose, now changed into a pale reflection of him, was sitting on the stairs before the throne, giving a cold stare to Valyra. Apologizing for his earlier fail at being a hospitable lord, Strahd invited them to enjoy a good dinner with him but not before having a discussion about certain items. Making a point of his knowledge that the party had "stolen" some of his objects lead Brando to inquire whether he was spying on them. Strahd was flattered but revealed that a member of the group was responsible for his knowledge, calling Emeric to kneel before him who then gave him the Holy Symbol of the Ravenkind before being lead away by Rahadin. Valyra then made an interesting preposition that piqued Strahd's interest, offering the tome in exchange for Emil's release from his prison. A deal the vampire accepted with a smile on his cold face. After Emil was escorted out of the castle, Ambrose spoke with a threatening tone against Valyra and prepared to cast a spell towards her before Strahd cut in to propose another deal. He wanted the group to let Ireena stay at his castle and in exchange he would "fix" and allow Ambrose to walk out of the castle with them. Ismark attempted to attack him after being belittled, wanting to protect his sister but failed. Strahd used this to attempt to convince Ireena to stay with him, adding the threat that if anything were to happen to her, he would kill every single one of them. Valyra cut in to let Ireena decide, who denied Strahd's invitations. Proceeding to properly fireball him after his advances, his illusion faded and were now left with Ambrose resuming his attacks, joined by three of Strahd's companions.

“Is there salvation for the damned?”

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