# The New Adventures of Thundina Seong!  Completed May 4



## Ealli (Feb 4, 2007)

Before we begin the tale of Thundina Seong, let me give you some background on what to expect in this thread.

SPOILER WARNING:  This is the module _Expedition to Castle Ravenloft_, set in Eberron.  There will be module spoilers.  Underlying the story is the game as its being played.  I first e-mail to the other players the dramatization of the session before posting it here.

This tale is how Thundina envisions it, which means she is the primary protagonist.  In reality, it is much more of a team effort than is being portrayed here.

This is the tale of Thundina, but she does not have plot immunity.  I write this story because she is an interesting character.  Should she fall in battle and be replaced by another PC, this tale will conclude.

If this is the "New Adventures", where are the "Old Adventures"?  They don't exist.  Since the characters are starting at sixth level, the Old Adventures presumably are whatever Thundina did to get to sixth level.  It is loosely written that she has done other adventures, mostly solo, but nothing has become canon.

The Rogue's Gallery for the cast. 

The adventure is now complete.  We will be taking the next couple weeks off before beginning a new adventure.  Because the next adventure will also be a module, I will make a new thread for it when it starts.

I may visit this thread to rearrange some bits and pieces of this story, and to trim down/space out some of the longer posts, but I do not expect for there to be any further new content generated for this thread.  Look for Thundina's next adventure, coming in a couple weeks.


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## Ealli (Feb 4, 2007)

*Chapter 01:  The New Adventures of Thundina Seong*

Thundina looked back towards the receding docks of Thronehold.  It had served for two years, but had never truly been home.  This is what she was meant for, the start of a new adventure.  The silky rattle of mithril plates turned Thundina’s attention away from the island-city.  Striding forward was Tourg, a holy man of the Lightbringer Guild; the mithril being the newly forged full plate from Thundina’s forge.  

That mithril full plate had sparked the new adventure.  A slip of the tongue by Tourg had revealed the formation of a new adventuring group to chase after a lost artifact.  It had been Thundina’s quick talking, and threat of having insufficient motivation to otherwise have the armor set ready by the necessary mission start date, that had convinced Tourg to recruit her.  As Thundina was packing her bags to move on, Krel, the artificer who owned the shop and had assisted in the forging of her new weapon, packed his bags as well.

“Krel, what are you doing?  I’ve never known you to be interested in going outside urban environments.”  

“Thundina, you’re not the only one who wants to see the rest of the world.  I know there are infusions whose lost secrets I can only dream of.  I’ve talked to Tourg, and he’s said that a ready supply of potions and scrolls could be of assistance to the expedition.”

Again, Thundina was startled back to the present and the rocking of the boat.  Tourg was clearing his throat, apparently waiting for some sort of response.

“We are approaching Korth.  There we will be catching a lightning rail onwards.  Here is your rail pass.  We have a car five reserved on the afternoon rail.  You will have the afternoon to do any final shopping you need in Korth.  I need to visit the guild headquarters here to pick up a couple items.  Please be certain to be on time.”

For all her journeys, Thundina had never actually ridden on the lightning rails that criss-crossed the continent.  Confident in her previous packing, Thundina immediately sought out the lightning rail station.  The cars came in, passengers disgorged and embarked, all in a hustle.  Not quite the experience she had hoped for.  Soon the shouters were announcing that the lightning rail for Irontown was loading.  Thundina passed through the train, finding coach five and peeking in.  Four people were already there, Tourg and Krel, as well as Orning, the human paladin whom Thundina had also made a mithril full plate suit for, and a hobgoblin also with Lightbringer insignia.

“Is this the entire Lightbringer expedition?”  Thundina enquired as she dropped into her seat.

At the question, Orning piped up, “I’m a Lightbringer!”  Although he did not offer any further elaboration.

“Yes, this is our entire force.”  Tourg announced.  “We are Lightbringer Guild Expeditionary Force 2.3017, officially formed Eyre 20th, 998 YK.  You and Krel may find reviewing the official chartering of this expedition helpful.”  Tourg then placed on the table a document.

A quick scan of the document showed that this expedition would be more than just the recovery of the Sunsword.  And there was something about the Sunsword being classified as a Class VIII artifact.  The expedition would also be to locate a previous and missing expedition consisting of Ashlyn the paladin, Thendrick the cleric, and Mathilda the swordswoman.  A transcription of the final _Sending_ from the lost party told of an attack by undead upon Barovia and concluded with an assessment that the area could not be secured and back-up was urgently requested.

After the lightning rail reached its destination, horses were acquired and began to ride cross-country.  As night fell, the party found itself in a nearly deserted inn.  Suddenly a strange man strode through the door and directly to the table where Thundina and her companions were having dinner.  He threw down on the table a paper and then turned to leave.  BarBar began reading while everyone else was trying to formulate a question that made sense to ask.  BarBar passed the note to Thundina who quickly read the note aloud and even then, no one seemed to know quite what the mysterious stranger was about.  The letter was a request to mighty and valorous heroes to come rescue a girl cursed by witches near Barovia.  The best part of the letter however, was the promise of great wealth of the community should assistance be rendered in the saving of the girl. Questions about how precisely the messenger knew that to find adventurers at this particular location were not answered as he quickly slipped back out the door.

Ominously perhaps, Orning muttered, “Stinks of evil,” as the stranger departed.

The next morning, once more the horses were saddled and everyone continued on towards Barovia.  The morning fog never burned away as the party descended into a forest.  A gate in the middle of the forest flanked by old, worn statues blocked the path.  Thick forest on either side made going around the gate impractical.  Suddenly, the gate swung open with no one apparent on the other side.  Bravely Thundina and companions rode on, for Barovia was further down the road.  Once all were past the gate, the doors swung back shut, and once more there was no force obvious.

Not long after the gate, the tree line moved back from the road and a glimpse of a village was spotted.  A sign by the road told that the destination had been reached, it was Barovia, and it was under the protection of the Lightbringers.  Thoughts of a warm inn and a hot meal danced to be followed by finding the Burgomaster to discuss the predicament that had prompted his plea for heroes danced through Thundina’s head.  It was late and a long day slogging through the constant mist and drizzle were taking their toll on her.

It was not far into the town when trouble became obvious.  Doors were boarded and barricaded and Thundina slowed her horse from a trot to a walk.  An overturned hay cart in the intersection up ahead sent her hackles to raising.  BarBar lit a sunrod and then wondered aloud why it was not improving his vision.  He passed the brightly glowing rod over to Krel when reminded that a sunrod could not illuminate any further than his natural ability to see in the dark allowed anyway.  Suddenly, chanting from the alley just passed.  Tourg went rigid in his saddle and Thundina jumped ahead to see if it would be safe to pull Tourg and his mount forward.  Quite the opposite proved to be true as just around the corner were some zombies shambling towards Thundina.  She pulled her guisarme from her Quiver of Ehlonna and prepared.  From other houses around the square, more zombies poured out.  BarBar dismounted and disappeared down the narrow alley to engage whatever strange cultist could so affect Tourg in that way.  Thundina was left holding the front line while Orning displayed his holy symbol to push back the undead.  He was somewhat successful and forced two to flee, but that still left four more.  Thundina’s horse was clobbered and killed almost immediately after she had dismounted.  Enraged, Thundina layed into the approaching zombies tripping them and inflicting dire wounds as they attempted to swarm over the party.  The zombies often refused to collapse even after taking numerous blasts of raw positive energy and vicious pounding.  Just as it appeared that perhaps the zombies would be driven back, strange badger-like creatures burst out of the ground and hustled to join the fray on the side of the zombies.  Once BarBar returned from the alley after pulverizing what he would later call a deathlock, he began to try beating on the zombies, but without having much effect.  Thundina’s flashing, slashing cuts proved more effective than BarBar’s thundering punches.  BarBar’s greatest surprise came as the dead horse started to rise again and attempt to pin him.  Orning sliced the former horse to shreds and mop-up operations began.  Though resilient, eventually the zombies were all nothing but dust and the badger-creatures were dead. 

After the battle finishes, wounds are checked, but fortunately most are simply scratches.  Tourg patches up any who need patching up and Orning touched himself in appropriate manners.  With the crisis averted, Orning felt the most important task would be righting the overturned cart.  He succeeded as much as one could succeed when the cart has a broken wheel and let out a hearty, “Bravo!”  Meanwhile, Thundina felt checking for survivors in nearby houses was the highest concern.  Huddled in the house nearest the battle scene, she found three peasants dressed as zombies.  Once more battle ensued, but a timely turning forced all three to cower and all three were efficiently cut to dust.

Another house nearby, with a barricaded door instead of an unlocked door, did prove to have survivors.  A family who said the town’s last stand was made in the town square and that no other survivors would be found on the eastern edge.  A deal was struck that the locals would bring the expedition to the town square and the party would protect them in return.  Half a block past the now upright but leaning hay cart, another ambush awaited.  In three waves, different monsters attacked.  First a pair of zombies, having freshly murdered some poor soul, then a pair of flying heads which we believe to be vargoyles, and finally a pair of slug-like creatures.  Victory came more rapidly this second time as the party had a greater understanding of fighting together, although Orning was frequently paralyzed and the filth in the zombies’ claws finally worked into Thundina’s system sickening her.  Tourg looked at the wound, but declared he could do nothing for her until the next morning when he could try a _Remove Disease_ spell.

Further down the street and closer to the town square, a barricade blocked the road.  Through the mist, a female figure could be seen holding back an advancing zombie hoard.  Her cries to the Sovereign Host for aid and strength were about to be answered in a most unexpected fashion -- Thundina was prepared to charge to save this damsel in distress.


But here I must leave off the tale, at least for another week, for I grow weary.  Have no fear, the exciting adventures of Thundina Seong are not done.  Return next week and I will continue the tale from this exciting cliffhanger.


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## Ealli (Feb 5, 2007)

*Chapter 2:  What Lies in the Middle of the Mist*

Through a ruined barricade, in the mists hanging over the empty town of Barovia, Thundina caught the first glimpses of the battle.  A horde of zombies, greater than any horde faced so far, was about to descend on a warrior in gleaming mail in Lightbringer colors.  Between the Lightbringer colors and the distinct sword style of a holy warrior, there were some mutterings as to whether or not this might be Ashlyn and perhaps all member of the previous expedition survived as well.  Before anyone could act to repulse the zombie menace, half the zombies broke away from the square and charged out the ruined barricade effectively sealing the party in the road and away from the heroine of Barovia.  

Taking a heavy beating, Ashlyn was forced to begin to retreat.  In an attempt to rescue her, both BarBar and Krel weaved through the mess of zombies to engage the other half of the zombies.  Orning would have dashed forward as well, but he was pinned down unable to advance past the remains of the barricade or around the zombies engaging the party.  

BarBar’s presence immediately had an impact as the zombies now had two options to eat brains.  He also made an important discovery rather quickly – by chance the one zombie he hit, though it looked no different, was not so resistant to the bludgeoning of fists.  This weirdness of the zombie became greater when it turned and tried to pull BarBar to the ground after a powerful strike.  Bleeding heavily, Ashlyn was forced to retreat and quaff a potion.  With her withdrawal, all the zombies in the middle of the town square turned on BarBar and sunk their claws into him.  Krel had skirted off to the side near Ashlyn to get a clear shot with his wand.  So fierce was the zombie attack on BarBar that the nimble hobgoblin was forced to retreat as well.  

While a couple zombies did pursue BarBar back to the breach, there were still several who pursued Krel and Ashlyn across the square.  One of the four who did was the odd one and soon it became dreadfully apparent just what it was trying to do.  On a mighty swing, the creature drove Ashlyn into the ground and out of sight.  Now, Krel was surrounded and he attempted a desperate maneuver of infusing a sorcery into his shirt to be thrown at the horde.  Before he could complete the action, the zombies were upon him, grasping and clawing.  Just before he would have succumbed to their attack, he too was driven deep into the dirt.

Back at the entrance, Thundina, Orning, and Tourg worked methodically to knock out the zombies that had cut them off from the town square.  BarBar returned and absorbed some healing.  As the fight looked like it was about to be turned, the zombies which had assaulted Ashlyn and Krel joined the fight at the barricade.  Tourg was overwhelmed in the renewed assault.  Orning layed into the strange zombie with the full might of his god and Thundina leaped onto the barricade to improve her positioning against the zombies.  Almost immediately after the boss zombie fell, so too did Orning.  Fortunately, Ashlyn had dug herself out of the ground and hastened to the battle.  In a desperate maneuver to quicken the end of the battle against the zombies, BarBar attempted a vicious uppercut to one of the zombies.  The air chilled as BarBar missed.  With Ashlyn back in the battle, she knelt and returned Tourg to the battle.  Humorously, Tourg was trapped between the two final zombies and could not stand lest he attract too much attention and risk another near-death experience.  After one final swipe at Thundina, the zombie menace was concluded.  Orning was healed and restored to his feet and Krel was dug out of the ground prior to suffocation.

With the zombies no longer an immediate threat, it became apparent that there were indeed other survivors.  Two brightly colored workers later called vestani and a tall humanoid named Periwumple came forward and began repairs on the breached barricade.  Ashlyn formally introduced herself but relayed that Thendrick and Mathilda had gone missing searching for the source of the zombie infestation with rumors taking them towards the church three days past.  Her investigations on the subject of the Sunsword had progressed hardly at all before she needed to defend the living.  At Thundina’s inquiry about Kolyan Indirovich, Ashlyn said that Kolyan was dead, but his son was inside and pointed to the Blood of the Vine Inn.  

Tourg, BarBar, and Krel investigated the Inn and found that the survivors of the town were packed inside.  At a table way in the back, they found Ismark, son of Kolyan.  Ismark denied that his father could have possibly sent the call for heroes and had been dead for more than a week.  He spun a tale of woe about the residents of Barovia borough being trapped by the lord of the vale, Strahd, who would not permit anyone to leave.  Ismark offered that perhaps Strahd had murdered Kolyan and stolen an artifact of worth, the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind and could possibly also be the source of the zombie troubles.  Then, almost as an afterthought Ismark mentioned that Strahd is a vampire.  On the subject of Ireena Kolyana, Ismark says that she is his sister and that she has likely holed up in the burgomasterial mansion.

One name came up in conversations with Ashlyn and Ismark, that of Madame Eva who lives at the Seer Pool west of town.  Perhaps Bildreth, father of Periwumple, knows something that could be of assistance.  Except that Bildreth wishes for nothing more than to barricade himself in his shop and see and assist no one.  Well stocked, but fearful that the zombie presence meant he would be unable to restock if his supplies were purchased, Bildreth refused to negotiate.  Tourg tried to reason with him that the way to end the zombie menace would be to offer supplies for sale to those who oppose the zombies, but Bildreth was impervious to logic.  Eventually wheedling and cajoling got him to say that he’d consider selling his goods, but only after an initial payment of 50 gold.  Tourg was outraged at such extortion and Thundina had trouble seeing any use for the man, but Tourg was willing to consider the offer and ask the rest of the party their opinions.  Krel said that he was desperate for supplies and suggested using the traveling expenses for the bribe.  As this proved acceptable to all, Bildreth’s emporium was now open for business.

As Krel dug through the shelves looking for all his various unguents, Thundina glanced around and decided to see what strange and wonderful items might still be in a place that so tightly refused to release anything.  She chanced upon a map of the region.

“I wish to make a purchase,” Thundina exclaimed.  In response, Bildreth quoted the price to be 150 gold.

“Outrageous!  This map is worth no more than 70 gold.”  Thundina countered.

Bildreth attempted to defend his map by saying, “It is my only copy and would be far too dangerous for me to attempt to go out and make another.”

“You’ve seen the countryside once, you do not need to visit it again to make a second map.  You will sell this map for 70 gold.”  Thundina insisted, waving a finger under Bildreth’s nose.

“Impossible, I could not do such a thing.  The map is 150 gold,” Bildreth obstinately repeated.

Thundina went to another shelf, grabbed another parchment and ink and laid them on the counter and said, “Fine, then make a copy.  You can even keep the original.”

At this Bildreth wavered uncertain how to defend against the sudden storm.  “Well, maybe I could let you have it for 100 gold then, but that’d be cutting me own throat.”

“Deal,” Thundina agreed.  With a prize in hand, Thundina then watched as BarBar attempted to haggle over a warhammer for Orning, and Krel slowly went through an extensive list of materials that he required.  Orning pushed forward a warhammer and five gold.  BarBar tried to translate Orning’s intentions to Bildreth who ultimately declared that he was keeping the five gold.  At this, BarBar handed the warhammer to Orning and hilarity ensued.

Outside, Tourg and Ashlyn were discussing the defenses of the barricades.  At least, Ashlyn discussed the defenses and Tourg nodded along.  He guided her on to the subject of how to approach the various problems besetting the town and they reached the conclusion that a visit to Madame Eva would be a good start for further information.  Ashlyn did not possess the knowledge of the seer’s location and Tourg bemoaned a lack of good directions from anyone local.  Perhaps resting the night, healing the wounds, and then approaching the problem again in the morning would give new light onto the quandaries.  

Sick of watching Bildreth bilk her companions, but unwilling to pull a blade and challenge him, Thundina burst out of the shop to join Tourg and Ashlyn outside.  Ready for bed, Tourg asked, “Thundina, could you please gather everyone still in the shop so that we can finalize our plans for tomorrow?”  

“Sure, but hold this.”  Thundina pushed the map into Tourg’s hands as she turned and dashed back inside to herd her companions out.  As Thundina left, Tourg could only stutter and stammer as to what she had given him, it was the answer to his prayer.  Clearly marked on the map was the route to the Tser Pools as well as Lysaga Hill and Castle Ravenloft.

Once Thundina had brought everyone outside, Tourg asked, “What is this?  Where did you find it?”

“Oh, that’s a map.  It was on one of the shelves in the shop, I thought it looked interesting.”  Thundina shrugged.

Right as the party was about to return to the inn for the night, someone came strolling out.  “Hello, my name is Halas Martane, and I’m an adventurer.  Say, aren’t you the ones who defeated all those zombies?  Where are you all going, perhaps I could join you.  I am an adventurer you know.  I bet I could be of great help if you’d just tell me where you’re going, maybe I could join you.”

Thundina was temporarily taken aback, but quickly countered, “We already have one, why do we need you?  But since you’ve come out into the night, maybe you can help us with setting watches against any further zombie attacks tonight.”

Halas went pale at the suggestion, “No, I can’t fight zombies.  I’ve got a rapier, see, and those aren’t any good against zombies.  Nope, can’t even scream properly if I see one, because I just cannot fight zombies.”

Thundina shook her head and proceeded into the inn, noticing that someone had vandalized the sign at one point, changing it from “Blood of the Vine” to “Blood on the Vine.”  A meal was ordered at the bar, but Halas immediately claimed a seat in the middle to force someone to talk to him.  In the end, the joke was on him as Orning was seated next to him with Tourg placed on the other side giving him a cold shoulder.  Due to the crush of humanity, no further rooms were available, but a space could be made by the door (so the party could leap to the defense if the zombies returned.)  Such accommodations were not for Thundina though, Ashlyn offered to share rooms.  The two stayed up later than they should have discussing girlie things such as is the best way to a man’s heart really through his stomach when it’s clearly more efficient to go through the ribcage?  Orning stood watch out in the dark all night and raised the alarm the few times zombies showed up, but the barricades held and the zombies were quickly dispersed.

At the crack of dawn, hopes of sneaking away without letting Halas know the party’s destination were dashed as Halas was already awake and by the exit.  Ashlyn mentioned that she should stay and defend the peasants.  With three possible destinations, mansion, pools, or church, the party layed out the possibilities to Orning.  He seemed to recognize what a church was, and that also seemed to be the destination least likely to have Halas trail along and so the church was decided to be the first destination.  With Halas backing out, Ashlyn decided perhaps the church wasn’t so far after all and she would accompany the party.


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## Ealli (Feb 7, 2007)

*Chapter 3:  The Accursed Church*

“There is a saying, nothing new under the sun,” Thundina muttered as she looked out the window of the Blood on the Vine Inn.  Barovia was in deep fog again and the mists did not look like to burn off any time soon.  As Thundina rolled out of bed she nearly stumbled, feeling queasy still from where the zombie filth infected a wound from yesterday. “Only thing to do is get some breakfast I guess, maybe that’ll settle my stomach.”

As the innkeep served up bread and a weak mulled wine, he inquired, “Are thee Thundina?”

When she nodded in the affirmative, he pushed towards her a pair of strange parchments.  “What are these?”  Thundina asked as she picked them up.  The innkeep just shrugged in boredom.  One was a picture of some leafy green vegetable and the other looked like some novice painter was organizing his paints.  What was truly odd was that both had witty little expressions of love and were then signed one by Halas and one by Tourg.  With a little chuckle, Thundina tucked the pair away into her haversack.  Surely today was not a holiday in Kharnnath, and Thundina did not think it was the holiday of love in any other nation at this time either.  What precisely she was going to do, besides encourage both of course, would have to be decided later.  For now, she was walking with an extra spring in her step.

Finally, Tourg rumbled down the stairs in his full plate with Orning following just behind.  “How are you doing today, Thundina?  Did I prepare the _Cure Diseases_ only to convert them into _Cure Wound_ spells?”

Thundina turned and began when a bout of nausea swept her.  She squeezed her eyes a moment and then smiled sweetly, “You know, Tourg, you didn’t need to get all dressed up on my behalf.  I wasn’t intending to kill you for attempting to cure me.  But yes, the cut still burns and my head still hurts.”

Tourg laid his hand on Thundina’s head and invoked, “Olladra, we ask for your blessing to cast out the disease that afflicts Thundina.  Now, let’s see that arm.”  Tourg peeled back the bandages on what had been a festering wound and continued, “Ah, yes, that’s looking much better.  I need to go see to Krel as well now.  Has he come down yet?  No, well it is well known that the elderly are more susceptible to illness.”

Thundina fidgeted while waiting for the rest of the group to assemble.  Once everyone was outside, and Halas was inside with assurances that the group was intending only zombie hunting at the church, the chilly mist wasted no time in getting beneath Thundina’s armor while the warmth of her blade she now carried openly pushed the fog back slightly.    Over the barricades and into the mist, north towards the church tromped the party.

As the outline of the church began to form in the mist, something nearer drew more immediate attention.  Three zombies stood at a crossroads feasting on a dead horse.  Tourg, first to spot them, held up a hand and said, “Something’s not right here.  It looks like a …”  But before he could finish, Thundina leapt forward screaming, “Die, you blasted undead!”

With Thundina charging forward, BarBar and Orning kept pace while Tourg, Ashlyn, and Krel struggled to keep up.  Sure enough, the ambush materialized.  Once the fighters were engaged with the zombies, a trio of ghasts came out of surrounding houses to join the fray.  As the zombies were about to be vanquished, and the tide turned against the ghasts, one of the ghasts grabbed Ashlyn and began to run towards the church.  Quick as a flash, BarBar was running down the street after it.  With his greater speed and agility, he was on it immediately, cutting it off from the church and wresting Ashlyn back.

With the ghast’s flight confirming the guilt of the church as the source of the zombie infestation, Krel piped up, “Hey, does anyone need any enhancements for weapons or armor before we enter the church?”

“I could always use an improved blade,” Thundina said with a grin, “but you know who would put that to great effectiveness, Orning.  He has proven very capable with his sword.”

“Bravo?”  Orning replied.

Krel went over to Orning and prepared his materials, “Orning, hold your blade steady a moment.  There, your sword is now _Bane_ to undead.  Thundina, did you want your blade enchanted too?”

“Nah, save your spices and minerals.  I think I’ll be fine.”

Finally the misty streets ran up to the run down church.  An old iron gate barred the grounds.  The oak doors of the church stood closed with carved ravens visible even from the street.  Off to each side of the church headstones were visible each with an inscription to one of the Sovereign Host to take care of the deceased.  A chain fence ran along the path from the gate to the church doors.  A closer inspection of the iron gates showed that they had been installed by Creaking and Sons.  Orning and BarBar pushed open the gates which swung into the fencing.  The attempt to repeat the trick at the actual doors met a different result; those were truly barred.

“Ah, this is my specialty,” said Thundina as she pushed BarBar to the side.  “Hmm, door is clean, apart from being locked.  This should just take a moment.”

“Do you need any help with that?  I’ve got a scroll of _Knock_ prepared.”  Krel volunteered.

“No, no.  This’ll just take a moment.  And, there, got it.”  Thundina swung the door open.  The church was well lit with numerous torches.  Four doors, two on each side, lined a short hallway leading to the main section.  A pit in the floor, ten feet across, just past the hallway obstructed the direct access to the altar at the far side of the church.  As Thundina’s eyes traveled up the altar to the figure standing behind the altar, the air around Thundina buffeted her, her head felt worse than it had ever before, and just as quickly it was gone with the final bitten off word from the figure by the altar.  Moans from around her indicated that the others had felt it as well.  A trickle of blood ran from Thundina’s nose; no one else seemed to have been as badly affected.  Any possibility of parlay or negotiation obviously gone, Thundina charged directly, leaping the pit and sailing all the way to the altar.  Landing there, Thundina let out a great yell as she drove her guisarme past a hastily raised steel shield and into the full plate mail protecting the fleshy cleric.

BarBar and Ashlyn quickly moved to support Thundina against the cleric at the altar.  As Krel moved forward too, the four doors in the hallway burst open to reveal a trio of zombies and one of the spellcasting skeletons from the very first encounter in Barovia.  While the zombies simply laid into the lightly armored artificer, the skeleton was heard muttering, “Do I attack his will?  Do I attack his body?  Ah, forget it, keep it simple stupid.”  With the monologue complete, a pair of energy bursts slammed into Krel, staggering him.

With threats before, and threats behind, BarBar turned to assist Orning and Tourg in dealing with the new menace.  The strange cleric did some very fancy chanting which seemed to have no effect; Krel would later describe it as an attempt to _Dispel_ any strengthening auras we had, made all the more humorous by the fact that none were using any such auras.  Krel did however scurry off to the side, between some pews, and dropped to the ground covering his head.  Slowly, and with great care, he pulled out a potion and then quickly chugged it.

Back at the altar, the cleric stepped away from the wall and reached out an icy hand to Thundina.  Goosebumps ran along her skin and her breath momentarily caught in her chest before it all passed.  Thundina somersaulted off the altar and pirouetted to put the cleric in a pincer between Thundina and Ashlyn.  Sensing his time near an end in such a disadvantageous position, the cleric tried to flee by climbing over the altar, only to find Thundina’s guisarme in his kidneys, which has a tendency to ruin escape attempts.  Glancing back to the entrance, only a single zombie remained, and BarBar had it well under control.  Thundina guarded the new prisoner and made sure he’d sleep well, while Ashlyn tended to Krel.  “Come on BarBar, you can do it!  Finish that zombie off already!”  Thundina shouted encouragingly back to BarBar, and almost immediately a slash from his kama drew an angry line across the zombie which expanded as it crumbled to dust.

With Tourg tending to the wounded, and Thundina inspecting the boss for loot and unused scrolls, BarBar went to inspect the pit.  “Only 20 feet down, I can make that jump no problem,” and so BarBar jumped down into the gloom.  Almost immediately after, “Oh, .”  With that, everyone ran to the edge of the pit to see what could shake the resolve of the heroic BarBar.  At the edge of the light, one desiccated skeleton, and one gaunt skeleton had confronted BarBar.  As Thundina was drawing her bow, Orning drew his holy symbol and shouted, “Good wins!” and brandished the symbol at the creatures.  BarBar dashed out of sight with the skeletons in close pursuit.

Ashlyn turned to Tourg and asked, “What do we do now?”

Tourg, shocked for a moment, replied, “I must rescue BarBar.”  Tourg jumped down to begin the rescue operation.  Shortly thereafter, Ashlyn too jumped down.  Thundina shook her head and reached for her guisarme instead of her rope like she had been intending to use.  With her favored weapon ready, Thundina joined the two heroic Lightbringers in the gloom of the church’s sublevel to find and rescue BarBar.

Fiercely muttering, “Bravo … bravo … bravo.  Bravo?” something about one of the closets in the hallway was disturbing Orning and he was desperately poking and prodding around.  Orning’s pure heart swayed Krel to join in the search of the closet.

The desiccated skeleton had returned to the line of heroes, charging forward with unnatural speed and strength.  As it hit the line, there was a terrible crunch, and Tourg crumbled to the ground.  The skeleton turned it’s bloody maw towards Ashlyn, a quick glance down at Tourg showed no hope, the entire top of his head had been ripped off; instant death.

Krel had found something hidden under one of the boxes in the closet.  Pushing back the box fully, revealed a trap door.  Pulling back the slab revealed a stairs descending down into darkness.  A horrifying visage stood right beneath as a seven foot zombie reared up.  Orning began his attack.  The zombie fought back, scratching Orning.  Filth already under its claws, the zombie’s attack seemed to infect Orning’s wound.  Suddenly Orning’s eyes went wide while he attempted to resist the disease, he had realized that the seven foot zombie bore many resemblances to a hobgoblin, specifically BarBar.  The torches all flickered momentarily.

Thundina had tumbled a little past the desiccated skeleton to create a flanking position on it.  Ashlyn meanwhile glanced down at Tourg’s corpse next to her feet and saw it begin to stir.  In her professional opinion regarding undead, the desiccated skeleton by itself was likely to present more difficulty than the two could handle, but to then add a zombie to the mix as well, and it was definitely an overwhelming force.  She made the tough decision and shouted, “Thundina, get out of here.  Save yourself!  I’ll hold the attention of the undead.”

Thundina hesitated a moment, but Ashlyn was no longer attempting to tag the skeleton, only to draw it slowly back, and Thundina too realized that combat was futile and she fled into the same darkness that BarBar had.  Off to her left were a set of stairs going up and she quickly got on them and began to dash up them.  A square of light up ahead showed a likely exit, but there was something in the way.  A large, dark shape was clawing and reaching up into the light.  Larger than life was Orning in his flashing armor on the other side.  When she heard the zombie moan of the creature between her and the exit, Thundina’s path was obvious, it was a foe in her way.  A mighty swing of the guisarme distracted the creature allowing Orning to deal it the final blow to put the thing to rest.

Thundina bounded up the final steps, shouting to Orning, and fortunately Krel as well, “Close that!  Lock it!” and continued her run out of the closet.  Orning, not comprehending, peered down the stairs only to see the desiccated skeleton surging upwards.  When the foul creature took a bite out of Orning, causing Orning’s eyes to glaze over momentarily, Krel understood what Thundina was so worried about and slammed the door into the creature’s face.  He beckoned Orning, to stand on the trap door a moment while he pushed multiple boxes back over the trap door.

Reaching the altar, Thundina had pulled her silk rope out of her pack and secured it to the altar.  Looking down into the pit, Thundina saw the crumpled form of Ashlyn laying where she had stood defiantly.   With the first hope that Ashlyn would be able to climb out on her own gone, there was only one course, and that was to go in to get her.  Krel glanced out of the closet just in time to see Thundina’s head disappearing down the pit once more.  “Thundina, no!  That’s suicide!”

With no breath to spare for shouting, Thundina climbed as quickly as she could.  Reaching the bottom, Thundina glimpsed the reanimated Tourg as well as the desiccated skeleton out in the gloom.  No time to spare, Thundina simply grabbed Ashlyn and began climbing back up.  As she reached the lip of the pit, Krel was there to help pull Ashlyn out and then immediately administer a charge of _Cure Wounds_ from one of his wands.  Thundina nodded, for if Ashlyn lived, that would help, and if she was dead, it would help as well.  Still, to be on the safe side, Thundina moved such that she could push Ashlyn back into the pit should it be no longer Ashlyn but a new zombie.  Fortunately, Ashlyn recovered from the tap of the wand and was able to give assurances that she was still alive.  No thumping came from the trapdoor, an almost unnatural quiet.

Reasonably sure that they were safe, relatively speaking, Thundina moved to check on the cleric from before.  The kidney shot had indeed been fatal; there would be no hard decisions on captive versus execution here today.  A quick ransacking of the altar turned up a fragmented book, a ragged diary, a gold chalice, silver bells, and a couple potions.  Securing the items, with no objection from Ashlyn, Thundina recommended returning to the Inn.  With Ashlyn and Krel in agreement, Orning was convinced to leave his watch in the closet.

During the walk back, Thundina finally understood what her dad had been talking about in all those stories of the times he worked with others.  He had always said the first rule of party adventures was “Never split up the party.”  Thundina would always ask, “So what is the second rule?”  And Father would say, “Never.  Split.  Up.  The.  Party!”

Returning to the Blood on the Vine, Halas came out to greet the returning heroes.  “Say, weren’t there more of you earlier this morning.”

“Yes, Tourg and BarBar fell in combat at the church.”  Thundina replied.

“Mmm, that’s too bad,” Halas began, but promptly ruined the effect with, “So, does that mean I can join the group?”

A quick step forward and Thundina’s fist drove into Halas’s gut knocking the wind out of him.  “No.  Have some respect for the dead, man.”

Still larger than life, Orning step forward, picked Halas up by the neck, briefly looked him in the eye, said, “Bravo,” and dropped Halas back to the ground.

“Let’s get inside, and decide what we’re doing next.  That church was a disaster.”  Thundina ushered everyone inside.  At the mention of a church, Orning perked up.

“Disaster at the church.  Accursed church!  Terrible church!”  Thundina shouted.  At each mention, Orning temporarily perked up, not seeming to be able to put the two words together.

With everyone inside, it came time to tally what had been taken from the church.  Thundina passed a scroll and a trio of potions over to Krel, “You’re the expert in these, can you find out what we’re dealing with here please.”  Next was the fragmented book.  The book described the procedures necessary for the creation of undead.  Thundina passed the book over to Ashlyn, “Would you guard and keep this book?”

As she looked over it, Ashlyn replied, “I would prefer to burn it.  It is an evil book.”

Orning, who had been staring intently at the book chimed in, “Stinks of evil.”

“Yes, I’m okay with burning it.”  Thundina nodded and left the book by Ashlyn.

Krel glanced up and said, “Thundina, I would have thought that you would have wanted to sell something like that.”

“No, that wouldn’t work.  Besides, we have this we can sell,” as Thundina pulled out the golden chalice.

Slightly shocked, Krel said, “What about your friends?”

“Yes, they knew the risks coming in, though.  The whole point of undead infested temples is to raid for treasure!”

The final item to be inspected was then the fragmented diary.  Thundina leafed through the journal, picking up a few important phrases.  Only a few pages, but it spanned over 45 years.  Strahd was mentioned many times in relation to multiple murders and disappearances.  In addition, several mentions of the Sunsword, the Tome of Strahd, and the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, all three items which are rumored to be around the area and of great importance.  The church seems to have been the source of the zombie plague indeed, with a strange undead being the originator and the cleric attempting to build an undead army to take on Strahd.  When Kolyan objected, he was murdered by the author of the diary.  We will need to find Kolyan’s son and inform him.  So many names to put to people.  As Thundina came to the end of the diary, a realization struck her, the angles were all wrong!  She had been careful to check for traps on all doors, but then was struck by a Lovecraftian trap on a book.

With the prime leadership of the expedition gone, Thundina was growing into command.  She made the decision, a visit to Madam Eva at the Tser Pools for guidance as to the nature of the church and the unnatural creature there.  With the sun only reaching its noon position, although still obscured, Thundina was once more driving her friends and colleagues to set off.  As they prepared to leave, a voice called out to them…


----------



## Ealli (Feb 9, 2007)

*Chapter 4:  New Faces*

The party turned to see who was calling out.  There at the eastern barricade stood a human and a dwarf in matching breastplates.

“Come along, Cyron,” called the human to the glum dwarf.  “Ah, people.  We haven’t seen anyone else in town.  Where are you going?”

Thundina turned and approached the two strangers.  “We are a party of Lightbringers.”  Orning of course piped in with, “I’m a lightbringer.” Thundina continued without pausing, “soon to be setting off in search of new allies and greater insight to the mysteries of the town.”

The reply came, “I’m Romann Ardell.  And this is my assistant Cyron.  We heard rumors that perhaps the answer to what happened to Cyre may be found here.”

Halas hurried over and introduced himself, “Halas is the name, and adventuring’s the game.”

Once more Romann introduced himself, “I’m Romann Ardell.  And this is my assistant Cyron.  May we join your group?”

While Thundina took a moment to look over the newcomers, Halas immediately jumped in with, “Why yes, you may join us.  As I said, I’m Halas, and the lovely lass is my companion, Thundina.”  Thundina immediately proved what a head-turner she is by delivering a hard slap to Halas.

“Halas is neither the leader of our group, nor even a full member.  He is a follower who is auditioning for a spot on our team.  However, yes, we are in need of additional allies.  We are about to set off to the west in search of a seer who can guide our quest.  You are welcome to join us.”

One final thing to be resolved as Thundina and Krel discussed whether or not to allow Halas to travel with the party.  Krel made what Thundina considered to be a very good point, “If we allow Halas to travel with us, maybe he’ll get eaten by the zombies and we’ll be rid of him?”

With Halas firmly entrenched in the party, Ashlyn bowed out to stay with the peasants and protect them from any further zombie attacks.

Perhaps twenty minutes outside of Barovia town, Thundina thought she heard something off in the woods.  She signaled a halt to discuss the possibilities of friend versus foe.  “Have weapons ready, I hear voices.  Halas, scout the woods.”

“No, no, no.  I’m not a scout.  I’m a leader.  Karl, scout the woods.”  Halas stuttered.

“Halas!  You are not the leader, I’m in charge here.  Are you of any use?  I’m having trouble seeing why we bring you along.”  Thundina retorted.

Halas appealed to the new recruits, “Of course I’m the leader.  Romann, who is the leader?”

Romann nodded, “Right, it is only reasonable that Halas would be the leader.”

“Uh, sir.  I think the lady is the leader, not Halas.”  Cyron whispered to Romann.

Romann followed, “I’m being told that perhaps I was under a misimpression.”

“Oh, screw this.”  Thundina shook her head and then called out, “Ho there!  Who is out there?”

No response.  With no one skilled in woodcraft or scouting, it was decided to continue on, but still keeping weapons at the ready.  The fog had broken a little, and the sun was beginning to show through.  A little further up the road, at the crossroads splitting off to either the Tser Pool versus the castle, stood a gallows and graveyard.  The party’s non-investigation of the woods proved to be an important time saver for as the party came into view of the graveyard, a battle was already under way.    Five shadowy creatures were attempting to swarm a man in platemail emblazoned with ravens.  The man pointed to one of the shades and commanded, “Hurn”, and the raven which had been flying nearby began to attack and distract one of the shades.

The first to be ready to react was Halas, “Yes, I think I will take up a position at the rear to ensure that nothing catches us from behind.”

While Halas looked slightly yellow, the rest of the party charged forward to assist the man in distress.  “The enemy of undead is my friend.  The power of the Host compels you,” Cyron said when he rushed forward.  The shadows ignored him, but one did reach through Romann’s armor inflicting no apparent harm but after that Romann had a very glazed over look.  A second round and Romann fell to the ground, motionless.  After so many cuts had passed harmlessly through the ethereal forms, the party refocused and began making the right cuts to actually harm and dispel the darkness.  Cyron made another attempt at compelling the creatures and this second channeling of holy energy caused the shades to flee, directly down.

With the threat turned, the knight introduced him as Sir Urik, and an actual Knight of the Raven.  Thundina turned to Halas to have a quick chat with him over expectations.  Running away while everyone else is putting their souls on the line, for instance, is an unacceptable choice.

Cyron knelt down in an attempt to restore Romann to consciousness.  Such a _Lesser Restoration_ attempt however failed.  Sir Urik reached into his pack and withdrew a potion.  Passing it to Cyron, Urik said, “Try this.”

After the potion fully brought Romann back, he tried to thank Cyron for tending to him.  Cyron then needed to explain to Romann what truly had happened and that it was Urik who had saved Romann.

“Thank you for your assistance.  You said something about coming from the town.  I do not recognize you, are you new there?  What are you doing out here?”  Sir Urik inquired of the party.

“Yes, we are new to Barovia.  We came to reinforce a previous Lightbringer expedition to the area.  We are now on the road to seek Madam Eva for insight on the zombie infestation in town.”  Thundina answered for the party.

“Madam Eva is a good woman, although too cryptic for my taste.  But what of this zombie infestation you speak of.  I have not been back into town recently but I have not heard of this!”  Urik seemed agitated by the news.

“From the church at the edge of town, a plague of zombies have been attacking the village.  We engaged those forces, but our attack was repulsed and we lost two of our party.  They are very dangerous and that is why we seek Madam Eva.”

“If it so dangerous, it must be dealt with immediately!  You may travel on to Madam Eva, but I am going to return to town and put an end to this threat.”

“Dangerous enough for a team, the threat is much greater to a single man without allies to assist.”  Thundina protested and looked to Orning and Krel.  “Madam Eva can wait, we will also return to the church.  The way you handled that blade was very impressive, I know that this time we will prevail.”

The journey back to town should have been uneventful, except Romann and Halas were exchanging some words, culminating with the challenge from Halas, “Shall we duel for my lady’s honor?”

Taken aback, Romann looked to Thundina for how she viewed this declaration of chivalry.  Thundina glided over to Romann to whisper, “If you take him up on his offer, I’ll aid you in the fight.  Might not strictly be a duel anymore, but that’s fine by me.”

Seeing Thundina beginning to circle around behind, Halas gave a jolly laugh, “Oh, I was only joking.  Besides, I have no wish to kill you.”

Eventually arriving at the church once more, Krel and Cyron both spoke up, offering services for the imminent battle.  “Does anyone need any enhancements to blade or armor?”  Krel volunteered.  Like the previous time, Thundina pointed Krel over to Orning.  

“I can cast something to _Hide from Undead_ for the party, but it can only affect 6 of us,” Cyron followed with. 

“Well, Halas is always going on about how great he is; I think he would be most capable of succeeding without your spell.  He’d be the one to leave out,” Thundina directed.

Once Cyron had touched his holy symbol to each person in turn, leaving out Halas, and Halas had protested how he was both less competent in fighting and more competent and would be ‘allowing’ everyone else to prove their worth, the doors to the church were once again thrown open.  A lack of planning became obvious as everyone then proceeded to do their own thing.

First Thundina attempted to cajole Halas to join the fight, going so far as to threatening to toss him down the pit if he didn’t.  Halas steadfastedly clung to his cowardice, preferring to hide behind the now open door.  Disgusted, Thundina stalked forward on her own, towards the altar.

Urik began kicking each storeroom door open, looking for undead.  Orning proceeded to where the boxes covered the trapdoor and began shifting boxes about with Krel close behind.  Romann and Cyron each peeked into the pit, with Cyron lighting a sunrod to toss down to provide light for Romann.  By the time Urik had finished kicking doors, Orning had cleared the trapdoor.  Urik immediately flipped the door open and charged down the stairs.  Orning followed and took up a defensive position just up the stairs from Urik.  Thundina had once again tied a rope to the altar and lowered herself a little down to get a clear view of what was in the basement.  Cyron, lying on the edge of the pit to look in, decided a Prayer was in order on the eve of battle.

As everyone was still taking their places, Thundina let out a little gasp as the desiccated horror suddenly whipped around from its at ease position to charge Orning.  Hard pressed, Orning managed to keep both shield and sword between the creature and himself, but only just.  “Cyron oversold the strength of his spell, so much for being hidden.”

Yelling an oath to the gods, Urik drove his sword deep into the horror.  Not to be outdone, Orning, shining with the strength of righteousness, twice smashed the terrifying creature.  Recovering from her shock, Thundina dropped the final couple feet down the rope and charged into battle.  Urik’s strike into horror’s left side had turned it just enough to open its entire back to the full force of Thundina’s blow.  Krel, from the top of the stairs, thinking of the lost friends, took slow and careful aim to burn the monster.  Its counter attack was furious, tearing into Orning and shoving him against the wall, dazing him for a moment.  The other lesser zombies joined in the fight grasping at Thundina who was in a vulnerable position. Eyes wide at the danger of losing another of her friends, Thundina once more drove her guisarme into the horror’s back.  This time, no mere flesh wound, it struck home, severing the spine and dropping the creature.  As soon as the desiccated horror dropped, so too did all the other undead trying to swarm.  With a flourish, Halas dropped to the basement level to proclaim that he was now ready for battle.

Acting on a hunch, Thundina checked the zombies, looking for identification.  As she suspected, the three zombies bore strong resemblance to Mathilda, Thendrick, and BarBar.  She asked Urik to help her carry the corpses upstairs so they could be given a proper burial.  BarBar was buried promptly, but before burying Mathilda and Thendrick, Thundina sent word to Ashlyn to come and identify them and mourn the loss of her friends.  Urik insisted that the horror, which bore a resemblance to a villager named Doru, be buried as well.  Burying Doru was the easiest as there was already an open grave with a headstone for Doru.

Returning to the fortified town square, Thundina found that word of the defeat of the zombies had already spread through the town.  Apparently all the zombies throughout the whole town had stopped at the same time and the villagers were ready to return to their individual homes.  Ismark came out of the inn and asked if the party would accompany him to his manor to check on his sister, Ireena.

On the southern edge of town stood the manor, with a crumbling stone wall and unkept exterior.  Ismark approached the gate and called out to Ireena to open the door.  A young lady, almost more of a girl really, opened the door to admit the party.  Behind her lay the body of an older gentleman, placed on a table in formal garb with his arms folded on his chest.  The first breath in the room was enough to identify that this was a man dead for around ten days.  On the walls portraits of a series of stately gentlemen stared down.  The portrait at the end of the row matched the deceased with the title, “Kolyan Indirovich.”

“Welcome to the Kolyanavich manor, I am Ireena Indirovich,” began the dark haired girl who had answered the door.  “I hear you are responsible for ending the zombie infestation and cleansing the church.  I wish to hire you now to help me bury my father at the church.”  She indicated the corpse laid on the table.

“Yes, we can help bear your late father to the church and see that he has a proper burial.” Thundina answered, mentally adding, “Finally, someone actually willing to pay us for services rendered.”

“And then I will be accompanying you to seek vengeance on Strahd for the murder of my father,” Ireena declared.

“We may have already avenged your father, dear.  How did he die?”  Thundina asked, desperately trying to hold together the small force she now commanded.
“It was poison.”
“The priest Danovich, in his own hand, confessed to plotting to murder your father by poison.  You can rest, your father has been avenged.”
“No, I am certain that it was Strahd who killed my father.”  Ireena drew up indignant.  Thundina drew out Danovich’s journal and pointed to the passage about a plan to poison Kolyan, but Ireena repeated, “The writings of a madman.  It must have been Strahd.  Just before my father’s death, Strahd came, but my father drove him off with the Symbol of Ravenkind.  Then my father died and the symbol disappeared, it is no coincidence.  My father was protecting me, and Strahd killed him.”

“Why is Strahd trying to harm you?”  Thundina inquired.  She had been hoping to rescue princes in distress, but one could always take the classical route to make a reputation by rescuing damsels in distress.

“He has been haunting my dreams.  He has been calling out to me, calling me Titania, chasing me.  Except, that morning, when I awoke, this…” and she pulled down the high neck of her dress to reveal two spots on her neck.

Everyone started, with Cyron exclaiming, “Vampire bites!  Are you feeling alright?  Can you see yourself in mirrors still?  How do you feel about the sun?”
“Yes, I’m fine.  I am coming with you, I will avenge my father, and it is settled as I have already paid you.”

“Why do you think you think you have the strength to face Strahd?  This is not the place for a child, this will take a warrior’s training.”  Thundina objected.

In response, Ireena took a sword down from above the mantle, and sliced cleanly through a vase.  Orning’s eyes lit up and he too pulled his sword to slice through a vase with a declaration of, “Bravo!”  As he started eyeing a second vase, Ireena spoke up, “One vase per person only.”

“Very well, you do have some training.  Let’s take your father to the church, and then we’ll visit Madam Eva,” Thundina said and directed Orning and Romann to honorably bear Kolyan.

With Kolyan laid to rest, once more Thundina, her immediate party, plus Halas and Ireena, set off towards the Tser Pools and Madam Eva.  At approximately the same place where Thundina had previously heard something, Romann and Cyron called a halt.  

“I heard something off in the woods,” Romann boldly declared.
“Yes, I heard something too,” Cyron mumbled dejectedly.

Once again, for all the peering into the woods, nothing and no one was willing to venture into the woods to scout.  Continuing on, just shy of the crossroads and the gallows and the graveyard, Orning declared, “Bravo!” and started pointing and then walking into the woods.

Thundina started to hold Orning back and then turned to Ireena and said, “What kinds of things would be in the woods around here?”
Ireena replied, “It could be vere-volves, or it could be vestani.”
Romann needed clarification, “What was that, I didn’t catch what that first one was.”
“Vere-volves.  You know, men turn into volves.”
“Ireena, what exactly are the vestani?” Thundina needing clarification on the other half.
“The vestani are tinkers and travelers.”

No longer able to hold Orning back, Thundina turned to Halas and said, “Orning seems to want something.  Please accompany him on the scouting.”
“How about we both scout the woods, eh?”  Halas winked.
With a sigh, “Fine, come along.  Orning, what is it that you saw?”  While thinking to herself, “Oh gods, oh gods, we’re all going to die.  What am I doing splitting off from the group?”

Orning lead Thundina and Halas through the first layer of trees.  Thundina caught sight of brightly colored forms dashing further from the path.  Remembering the vestani from town, Thundina concluded that it was more vestani who had been shadowing the party.  Presumably Madam Eva now knew that she’d be having guests soon.

Past the graveyard, the trees along the path that lead to the Tser Pool became less dense eventually opening up into a clearing.  A series of brightly painted wagons encircled a dancing bonfire with several brightly colored tents outside the wagon circle.  Several unsmiling vestani stood by their wagons with one eventually approaching the party to ask, “Why have you come here?”

Thundina answered the challenge, “We have come to seek counsel from Madam Eva.”
“Very well, proceed to Madam Eva’s tent,” said the vestani and pointed to the large, rectangular tent at the far side of the clearing.

Approaching the tent, two more vestani stood guard and once more challenged Thundina and her party.  Once more Thundina answered, “We have come to seek…” However, before she could finish, the bony claw of a hand reached out from the tent to beckon.  From inside a voice like dry reeds spoke, “Yes, come in.  I’ve been expecting you.”

Thundina strode into the tent.  Cushions in every color filled the tent.  Sitting behind a small table at the back was an ancient and wrinkled lady.  A step further and Thundina realized it was not that the table was small, but the lady behind it was large.

“You come seeking counsel.  What is it that you wish to know?”  Madam Eva said looking into Thundina’s eyes.

“We need to know about the Sunsword.”
“I can tell you.  There is more though.”
“What, yes.  We also need to find the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind and the Tome of Strahd.”
“I can tell you.  Anything else?”
“When will I find my true love?”
“Your true love is dead.  He died five years ago.”
Choking a little, Thundina protested, “I’m only 19.  How could my true love already be dead?!”
“He was a young one.”
“Who summoned us to Barovia, pretending to be Kolyan.  Both his children deny that he wrote the letter.”
“My lips are sealed.  I wish I could tell you.  It would help you immensely.”

Thundina looked around, “Did anyone else have any questions they needed answering?”

Romann came forward then, “Will I find the end to my quest to learn what happened to Cyre?”
Madam Eva replied, “All quests have an end.”  Satisfied, Romann moved back.  Madam Eva addressed the party once again, “If I am to answer your questions, you must tell me of yourselves.”  She looked at each in turn.  Romann told of his military experience and started to speak of Cyron before Madam Eva cut him off and said that Cyron needs to speak for himself.  Krel told of how he became an artificer.  Thundina claimed to be the hero of many adventures and Madam Eva did not press her further.  Halas copied Thundina in the adventuring career, and Ireena spoke of her heritage.  Finally Madam Eva’s eyes fixed on Orning.  Orning had been getting more and more excited as Madam Eva went around the table and burst out, “Bravo!  I’m a Lightbringer.  I’m always watching.”

With the introductions and histories done, Madam Eva once more made a demand.  “And why should I give to you the answers of these questions?”
Orning was the first to take a crack at it with, “Good wins.”
Thundina reached a new resolution, “For we have the strength and will to oppose Strahd.”
Finally Cyron matched Madam Eva’s mysticism with, “Because you think we can use them.”
Madam Eva gave the tiniest of smiles to each of Thundina’s and Cyron’s answers before beckoning to Thundina, “Come and sit, pet.  I will tell you your fortune.”

Taking out a deck of cards from her robes, Madam Eva shuffled and dealt a card.  “The Blade of Light, weapon made for vengeance.  This card, covering card, is location.  Place of Holiness, where humans reach to the sky.  The blade sleeps.  To awaken, bring to place where hellish magic made.  This what you wanted to know?”
Thundina scratched her head, “You know, a little more concrete would have been nice.”
“Ah, this card is aspiration and religion.  Find the blade in the church in the highest place.  Hell comes to castle, servants work atop a tower.”
“The rumors say that the Sunsword will not work for just anyone.  How do we get it to work for us?”
“It is powerful magic.  Bind to the soul.”

Madam Eva then dealt a new card, into a new pile.  “Symbol of Ravenkind, powerful for good.  Seek in place of death, among dead.”
“The Symbol also will not work for everyone.  How do we use it?”
“Holiness in item.  It waits for hands of holiness.  Bring to dizzying heights, all loathe to climb, reaching to heaven.”  Madam Eva glanced up.
Thundina coughed and indicated that continuing would be appreciated.
Madam Eva continued on the pile, “Find in the graveyard.  Take to the top of the castle.”

Madam Eva then began a third pile.  “The tome, ancient knowledge of land.  Find with other treasures of castle.  Hmm, not good, your quest is doomed.  To gain the power of land, take tome to three defiled places described in tome.  Hold vigil through night.”
Thundina nodded but Cyron asked for further clarification and so Madam Eva continued, “Blazing fire offers protection.  The vigil very dangerous to soul.  Reading tome will strip lord of protection.”

“Is there anything else you need to know?”
Thundina thought a moment, “Um, no, I think that’s what we needed.  Wait!  Yes, tell us about Strahd please.”
Madam Eva then dealt a fourth pile.   “Strahd, dwells in Ravenloft, with powers beyond mortals.  He shall find you many times, but you shall find him only once.  On his throne, there are good influences in that place, and your blows shall strike hard and true.  This card, finds purpose and reason.  The key to life, death, and beyond.  Darkness seeks light.  Death seeks warmth and a bride.  Darkness fears darkness.”

After a final look over all the cards, Madam Eva collected all the cards back up and asked, “Have at the fire tonight?”
Thundina, having heard too many stories from her father of strange lands where that would constitute a double entendre was uneasy and asked, “Uh, I’m … by what do you mean ‘have at’?”
Madam Eva responded, “Food, … bed.  Dance, eat, share stories.”
Around the dancing bonfire, the vestani served bowls of stew.  Orning laid into his with gusto, though others seemed to be less impressed.  Madam Eva had retired back into her tent and none of the other vestani seemed to be leading the dancing.

Romann came up to Thundina and asked, “My I ask the young lady for a dance?”
“Why, yes.  Let’s dance.”
Thundina and Romann took a whirl before Halas slyly came forward and interjected, “May I cut in?”
Thundina smoothly countered, “Of course, you may have the next dance with Romann.”

With the vestani seemingly not joining in the festivities, Thundina lead the party back to town before dark.  Instead of leading them back to the inn for lodging, she first lead them to the church.  “I want to find the sword tonight still.  We have a little light.  Do we wish to search outside or inside first?”

Romann suggested looking for a ladder and began looking in the store rooms.  Thundina made an inspection of the store rooms, but on a hunch went to check behind the altar.  Overlooked previously, she spotted a fine vertical line.  Feeling along it, she then found a latch and pushed aside the stone.  A narrow ladder ascended in the recess.  Scampering up the ladder, Thundina found another, hidden storeroom and in this storeroom she found the hiltless golden blade made of crystalline-glass-steel.  “This must be a fantastical blade of legend.  Nothing ordinary could require that many adjectives to describe,” Thundina said aloud before securing the blade and climbing back down the ladder.

Showing the blade to Krel, Thundina asked, “How important do you think the hilt is to the swords powers?”
Krel poked and scratched and sniffed at the blade before answering, “Well, there’s no power in the blade currently, but I think that’s because of what Madam Eva mentioned, we need to hold that ritual atop the castle.  I think we could make a replacement hilt if it came to that.”
“Will that be difficult?”
“Not too bad, just a matter of finding sufficient quantities of platinum to shape into a hilt.”

Halas took that opportunity to sidle up and eye the blade, “So Thundina, perhaps you should tell us where you will keep that so that you will not run off with it?”
“I will be keeping it on my person.”
As Krel handed the blade back to Thundina, he said, “Shouldn’t we put it somewhere Halas doesn’t want to look?”

Back at the Blood on the Vine, over dinner, Romann shared the tale of how Cyron and he came to be in Barovia, looking for the cause of the destruction of Cyre, while Cyron offered corrections and clarifications on the more outlandish statements.  Thundina then told what had been happening in Barovia just before they had arrived and began another run down of what she had read in Danovich’s journal.  Finally she just said, “You know, read it yourself.  Um, but this page, icky.”  After tearing out the offending page, Thundina passed the diary over.

While Thundina talked, Orning ate the served stew with even greater gusto than he had eaten the vestani’s stew.  Krel declared it to be a better stew.  After dinner Thundina asked the innkeep if he knew where Ismark could be found.  Thundina and companions traveled to the Kolyanavich manor to speak with Ismark again.

“Greetings again, Ismark.  Your father found the Sunsword, did he ever say anything about the hilt?”
“No, he did not speak of it.”
“A personal question, who is older, you or your sister?”
“I am.”
“Do you remember anything of her birth?  Danovich, admitted mad, seems to think she may have been found in the woods and adopted.”
“There is nothing unusual about my sister.  I do not like all these questions about my family.  We’re done here, I want you to leave.”
With a faint growl in the back of her throat, Thundina stormed out of the manor.  “Useless git.  No wonder he couldn’t use the Symbol, I’m not sure that he’s ever learned anything from his father.”  The others in her party lingered a moment more in silence before deciding perhaps there was nothing more to be said.

Back to the inn once more, and the end of a very busy day.  Everyone settled into their own rooms, while Orning stood watch outside all night long.  The squeaking of a flight of bats drew Orning's gaze heavenward.  He watched the bats circling the town for most of the night before they turned and flew away.


----------



## Ealli (Feb 12, 2007)

*Chapter 99:  Flowers for Bravo*

_Editor's note:  The following chapter is entirely fictitional.  It was inspired by a comment made by the player of Orning after session 4.  He is looking forward to when a headband of intellect +4 can be made for Orning because he's having a lot of frustration from recognizing things, but being unable to tell anyone else due to Orning's limitations._

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“By the gods, I thought I had swore I would never again stoop to making a living by working,” Thundina declared as she came in carrying the last pieces of platemail and placing them on the workbench.

“Thank you for bringing all that in.  And yes, you did.  I quite clearly heard you say so back in Thronehold,” Krel replied with a faint smile.  “You saw the remnants of Orning’s armor.  You yourself declared that it was irreparable.  Besides, I think I’ve finally gotten this new formula figured out and a clean slate to work on will be a benefit.”

“Yeah, I get all that.  Why was I the one who had to slave over a forge making the armor though?  I could have been spending our well deserved reward on pampering.  I could have been introducing Orning to all the fun that I’m sure he never dared experience back at that Lightbringer monastery of theirs.”
“Guildhall, not monastery.”
“Whatever.  Question stands, why was I working instead of partying?”
“Because you’re the only one in Barovia who can work mithril.  Are you sure you don’t have a trace of elven or dwarven blood in you?”

Laughing, Thundina replied, “You’re welcome.  If you need me, I’ll be over in the inn enjoying their finest wine and trying to find a pretty boy with strong hands to help get the soreness out of my shoulders.  I’m out of practice with swinging a hammer.”

“Oh, Thundina, before you go, I have a new toy for you.  The red cloak there, exceeds the protective qualities of your current cloak, and let’s you vanish in a puff of smoke,” Krel said while gesturing towards the far bench of his laboratory.

Spotting the folded red square, Thundina swept the cloak off the table and onto her shoulders with a grand flourish.  “Both!  I thought you said you’d only be able to one or the other and wouldn’t be even getting around to it until beginning of next week.”

“I implemented my research on the cloak.  It went much quicker than expected.  Do you know where Orning is?”
“I think he’s at the inn with that new kitten of his.”
“There’s something wrong with that cat.  It may be young, but it still should be more active than it currently is, I’m worried that it’s not going to survive.”
“Orning loves it already.  They seem to suit each other quite well.”
“Thundina, that’s not very nice.  Anyway, I think I’m done with you for now.  Go have fun.”

“Oh, I will.”  Thundina smiled broadly, winked at Krel, and flourished the cloak.  Vanishing from Krel’s current laboratory, she reappeared at the inn.  Smiling broadly, Thundina spotted Orning with a bowl of stew near the kitchen.  Approaching Orning, Thundina noticed that Orning was feeding the kitten they party had found the previous day.  “Orning, have you decided you’re going to adopt that cat?” 

Glancing up, Orning replied, “Good wins.”
“Have you decided on a name for it yet?”
“Bravo.”
“Why am I not surprised?  Anyway, once you’re done here, Krel is looking for you.”
“I’m always watching.”
Thumping Orning on the back, Thundina said, “That’s what I love about you.”


Orning carried his kitten to the house that Krel had been given permission to use for a laboratory.  Knocking on the door, Orning called out, “Bravo.”
“Yes, come in Orning,” came the reply from inside the house.

In the cellar, surrounded by books and beakers bubbling with alchemical solutions, Krel bent over a journal.  He gestured Orning closer and pointed at something written down.  “See my new formula, this should be much better than anything previously produced.”

Orning stared intently, nodded, and said, “I’m always watching.”

Hearing a faint mew, Krel glanced up to see the kitten nestled in Orning’s arms.  “Ah, I see you brought your cat.  I think I have a basket around here somewhere that we can make into a bed for it.”

Krel pulled out some ruined scraps of fabric from other cloaks which did not take the infusions and piled them into a basket.  Orning then gently placed Bravo into the basket and stroking the cat’s grey head said, “Bravo.  I’m always watching.”

“Right.  Anyway, Orning, I need your assistance in preparing an elixir.  Could you please stir this pot while I measure in the needed ingredients?”  Krel indicated a small cauldron.  “Remember how I’ve always been talking about how I was going to make an ornate circlet that’d enhance my focus, well, this is it.  If my calculations are correct, on a scale of three to eighteen, this is going to boost my intelligence by sixteen!  The best I’ve ever heard any one else ever accomplish would only rate a six on that scale.  Being able to make this kind of contribution to magic is why I became an artificer.”

Stirring intently, Orning nodded and said, “I’m a Lightbringer.”

Working all through the afternoon and late into the evening, Orning maintained a steady stroke stirring the solution while Krel measured ingredients and adjusted heat sources.  Slowly, the potion thickened and congealed.  Krel gave the next instructions, “Remove the stirring rod now Orning.  While we let that dry, we have another project to work on.  Over here please, I’ll need you to hold my book on this one.”

Once the brew had dried, Krel transferred it to a crucible.  Once incinerated, Krel then applied the ashes to a silver mesh circlet and set it aside on the workbench, next to Orning’s armor.  After brewing a couple more potions with Orning’s assistance, Krel pointed Orning towards the armor Thundina had brought in and said, “Orning, please go and put on your new armor.  It’s there on the workbench.  The final infusions for it will require a binding and that requires that you be wearing your armor.  I’ll help you fasten the cinches once I make a couple more notes in my journal.”

After fastening the leggings and hanging on the main chest piece, Orning looked for the helmet to go with the rest of the platemail, but the only piece of silvery metal headgear nearby was the silver mesh headband just completed earlier that evening.  With a shrug, Orning lifted the headband and placed it on his own head like the helmet would have gone.  As soon as the headband settled over his brow, Orning let out a terrible scream, “Aaaah.  Burning.  Good wins!”  Then Orning fell over backwards and crashed to the floor.

Krel dropped his quill and whipped around at the scream.  “What?  Orning!?” Krel began, then added, “What?” as he realized that Orning had said “burning” which he had never done before.  Reaching the fallen mithril clad figure Krel immediately saw what had happened.  Krel attempted to remove the silver headband from Orning only to realize that the circlet had constricted and partially dug itself into Orning’s head.  Krel dashed up the stairs and into the foggy night and over to the inn.  Glancing around the common room and not seeing what he was searching for he ran to the barkeep and panting said, “Thundina.  Where is Thundina?”
“I think she is retired to her room.”

Then dashing up the stairs to the residence level of the inn, Krel reached Thundina’s door and began pounding on it.  For a moment nothing and then the door opened a sliver and finally opened fully.  Standing in her nightdress, Thundina looked a little sleepy, but still battle-ready, especially as with the door fully open it became obvious that Thundina was armed.  Leaning her guisarme against the wall Thundina asked, “Krel!  What is it that you’re pounding on my door at this time of night?”

“It’s Orning.  Something’s happened to him.  Please come quickly.”

After rushing back to the laboratory, Krel and Thundina found Orning right where Krel had left him.  Thundina knelt down to better inspect Orning, “What happened here?”
“He put on the headband I had been working on, screamed, and fell.”
“Well, in my professional opinion, he’s out cold.  What more do you expect me to be able to do?  I’m not a cleric you know.”
“I know, but our cleric has gone on a retreat for a couple days.  We can’t leave him here.  Can you carry him back to the inn?  We’ll put him to bed.”

After she pulled off the main pieces of Orning’s armor, Thundina lifted him and carried him back to the inn.  Meanwhile Krel fetched the sleeping Bravo who hadn’t left his bed of cloaks since Orning placed him there.  Krel figured that seeing his cat would be comforting to Orning when he awoke.


The next morning, Krel and Thundina were discussing what could be done for Orning over breakfast when Orning came down the stairs clutching his head.

“Good morning, Orning,” Krel called out.  “I see you’re awake.  How are you feeling?”
“Head hurts,” groaned Orning.

Thundina’s eyes went wide.  “I thought you were joking or something.”
Krel responded, “That’s a whole nother phrase.  I think maybe the headband is positively affecting him as well.”

Once Orning joined Krel and Thundina, Krel followed up, “Orning, do you remember what happened?”

Orning shook his head and said, “Good wins.”
“Well, I think you had better stay close to me today.  Or rather, I had better stay close to you.  I don’t think I’ll be getting much work done today.”

Over the next several days, Krel stayed close to Orning while Orning’s vocabulary expanded.  Finally, Orning asked Krel, “I have come to believe that something is wrong with Bravo.  Any other kitten of his age should be able to follow and chase a toy, but as soon as one is out of Bravo’s sight, he no longer has any interest in it.  I have repeated this experiment several times and replicated the results.  I wonder, could we formulate some device like my own headband for Bravo.”

Krel considered a moment, “I do not know if a cat’s physiology would react in the same way.  Plus those components are extremely valuable.  To experiment in this way, I don’t know, it’s just not worthwhile.”

“Ah, but Krel, not all of the ash was used in the making of this headband.  I estimate that sufficient quantities remain that only the base silver circlet would be required.  I believe that I can acquire one in relatively short order.” Orning replied.

“There is one more potion that would be required.  It will take at least three days to make all the preparations for this.  I have other tasks which need to be completed to have the all the equipment in place for the next mission.  I’m sorry Orning, it’s not going to happen.”

“I have actually been looking over your journal.  Do not look so shocked, it was a very simple password on your chest.  I have some ideas that will boost the effectiveness in a couple instances, and reduce cost in materials and time in a couple other instances.  We can work on this together.  All I ask in exchange is that we equip Bravo with a headband.”


Three days later, Bravo too had a little silver mesh sunk slightly into his head.  Orning brought Bravo to Thundina to ask her, “Thundina, Krel and I are going to be doing some intense calculations.  I will be unable to properly care for Bravo today.  Would you please watch over and play with him today?”

Thundina shrugged her shoulders, “Okay.  But how much longer are you and Krel going to be tied up with this work?  I’m getting bored here, it’s time that we get back to adventuring.  I was not meant to sit around all day, at least not in a place like this.”

“Just a few more days, Thundina.  You will appreciate the tools once we have completed our work.”

Later that afternoon, at the house where Krel, and now Orning, were working, Thundina arrived.  Hopping down the stairs, she burst into the laboratory.

Orning turned as she entered, “Thundina, I thought you were going to be with Bravo.”

“I was.  He fell asleep, so I thought I’d come visit you.”  Poking her head over a bubbling beaker, she took a breath in.  “Phew, that stinks.  What is it?”
“It is half a Cure potion; a new formula that maximizes its strength.”
“I hope that you can do something about that smell before you ask any of us to choke that down.  Does it taste as bad as it smells?”  Thundina begins to dip her finger in before Orning grabs her wrist.
“Please, Thundina, do not touch.  Not those books I can see you looking at now.  And especially not the jewelry, we need that to finish some of the items.”

Before the argument could become heated, a mewing from the stairs is heard.  Crawling down the stairs is a grey kitten which Orning immediately moved to scoop up.  Scratching Bravo’s head, Orning asked, “I thought you said that he was sleeping.”

“He was.  I had left him in my room, how do you think he got over here then?”
“He is a clever cat.  Bravo, if you stay, will you stay out of the way?”  Orning held Bravo up near his face.  “Okay, you can stay.  Thundina, do you not have something to do?  You will be terribly bored here.”
“Yeah, yeah.  You boys have fun, okay?”

A couple days later, Thundina stormed down the stairs to the laboratory.  Brandishing the red cloak, Thundina shouted, “Krel!  Krel!  The cloak, the cloak isn’t working.  You said it would poof, it’s not poofing.  It’s become a non-poofing cloak!”

Turning to the stairs, Krel said with a sigh, “I told you, Thundina, it only works once per day.  If you’re attempting to use it more than that, it simply will not work.”
“I remember.  But I didn’t use it yesterday at all, and when I tried to use it today, nothing.  Flap, flap, flap; flourish, flourish, flourish, nothing!”
“Okay, okay, leave it with me, I’ll look at it and see what’s happening.”

Before leaving, Thundina went to the other bench where Orning was working.  “Hey Orning, hey Bravo.”  Thundina said as she scratched Bravo behind the ears.  “What new wonders have you invented since last I’ve been down here?”

Frowning, Orning replied, “Do you really want all the technical details?  Most of this morning, I have spent with Bravo.  His pupils are dilated and he has been confused today.  Yesterday, I thought I heard almost primitive speech out of him, but today there has been nothing even close.”
“Orning, you know animals can’t speak.”
“Normal animals cannot speak.  Certain druids have the power to Awaken an animal with human intelligence.  The principle is sound.”
“Neither you nor Krel are druids.  You’ve been cooped up in here for too long.  You’re having quicksilver dreams.  What you need is fresh air.  Do you want me to take Bravo out for some fresh air?”
“A change of scenery could do Bravo some good.  I cannot spend all day tending to him, knowing that you are always watching will give me some peace of mind.”
“Ha!  That’s a joke, right?  Okay, I will watch Bravo.”

Once Thundina had carried Bravo out, Krel brought the red cloak over to Orning.  “As I’m sure you heard during her entrance, Thundina says there is something wrong with the cloak.  Could you look into what it is so we can tell her exactly what is wrong with it.  I expect it is something fairly basic, but we can humor her.”

An hour later, Orning raised the point, “This was one of the first in the new formula items you crafted.  Could I please see the notes you made while working on it?”
“Sure, um, the second-to-bottom hide bound journal should have the research notes.”  Krel indicated a stack of volumes.

Perusing the book, Orning muttered, “Is that right?  I think I ought to recheck the calculations from the top.”  Finally, Orning reached a conclusion.  “Krel, I need you to work with me through these calculations.  Here, this simplification, you cannot do that.  It is a divide by zero.  If we keep it in the long form, see, the calculations indicate an inverted parabolic function over time.  The gains are unstable and will not last.  Please, find an error in this conclusion.”
Krel followed the numbers with his finger, “Uh, ah, I see, yes, that was a divide by zero.  I cannot find any error in the new calculations.”
“You do realize the implications?”
“Yes.”
“I am going to go find Thundina and Bravo.  I am sorry, but I do not think I can be of any further assistance.”

At the knock on the door, Thundina answered, cradling Bravo.  “Orning, what are you doing here?  I thought you were going to be in that lab all day?”
“I need to spend time with Bravo.  How is he?”
“He’s been sleeping basically all day.  Kind of reminds me of when you first found him.”
“Yes.  That is why I need to spend time with him.”

The following day Bravo died.  Orning and all his close friends held a small funeral for Bravo.  Tears rolled down Orning's cheeks as he placed a small bouquet of flowers on top the little grave, all the while repeating the name Bravo.

Thundina patted Orning on the shoulders, “I know Bravo was your good friend.  It’s going to be alright.  He’s gone up to kitty heaven from where he can always be watching over you.”
“I’m always watching.”
Tearing up herself, Thundina gave Orning a grand hug.  “Oh Orning, don’t go.”
Orning faintly whispered, “Good wins.”


----------



## Ealli (Feb 16, 2007)

*Chapter 5: Dark Dreams*

With the new dawn, the threatening mists finally began to turn into rain.  A light drizzle at first with the promise to become a heavier rain later in the day.  The first thing Thundina noticed when coming down the stairs from her beauty sleep was Romann and Orning huddled over a note on a table.  “Hey, what’s that?”
Romann replied, “It’s a note from our Leader, Halas Martain.”
Reading the note, Thundina could almost hear Halas reciting the text.  She moved through elation that he finally recognized that his lack of performance was a problem, to bemusement that he thought he could recover the two artifacts by himself, to annoyance at the constant repetition of Halas’s name, and finally to disgust that Halas thought he was the leader able to delegate leadership and frustration at him leaving instructions for Karl to make ready a chain shirt.

When everyone had gathered for breakfast and had a chance to read the note, Romann stepped forward, “As your new party leader, we need to go to the church to begin looking for the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind.”

Thundina immediately objected, “Hold it.  Who made you the leader?”
“Halas did in the note.”
Thundina snatched the note and held it behind her back and smiled sweetly, “What note?  However, yes, the plan had always been to start at the church, if only to pick up the shovels there.”

By this time Ireena had arrived from her mansion and with the party complete, it was time to set out for the church.  Around the back of the church, as was remembered from the funerals of the day before, were several shovels.

“Are we going to be searching here first or the graveyard at the crossroads?”  Romann asked.
“The crossroads.” Thundina stated.
“Why do you think it’s going to be there?”
“Call it a woman’s intuition.  Let’s grab those shovels and set out.”
“We can’t just grab the shovels.  That’d be stealing.”

Krel interjected, “It wouldn’t be stealing if we leave gold.”
Thundina insisted, “It’s okay, it’s redistribution.”
Cyron meanwhile had his own rationalization, “We’ll bring them back when we’re done.”

One of those must have been acceptable to Romann because he looked at a shovel and told Cyron to pick it up and bring it.  Once at the crossroads, everyone looked at the graves with a little concern.  Finally Romann grabbed one of the shovels and began excavating one of the graves.  Cyron said a quick prayer so as to not offend any gods.  Once the coffin was unearthed, he looked inside only to discover that it was empty.  Romann ordered Cyron to fill the grave back in and moved on to digging the next grave while Cyron desperately divided his attention between blessing the excavations and filling in the holes.

Meanwhile, Orning was pointing at the gallows at the crossroads and insisting, “Stinks of evil.”  Curious as to what upset Orning so much, Thundina inspected the gallows, but could find nothing unusual.  Eventually, both Thundina and Orning returned to watching Romann and Cyron work with Orning even chipping in a little.  Some coffins were empty, a couple held long rotted corpses, and some graves were simply empty.  One coffin inexplicably held the remains of a small cat.  Defeated at the crossroads, Thundina turned to Ireena and asked, “Are there any other graveyards in the area?  Any where else where there are the dead?”

“There are no other graveyards, although the vitches of Lysaga Hill may know something about dead.  They are vile creatures who curse our crops.”  Ireena replied.

Romann wanted to know, “Can we go meet the vitches at this time?”
Thundina scolded Romann, “Don’t you know anything about vitches?  Vitches are always dancing naked under the full moon.”
Ireena coughed, “I don’t know about naked, but the vitches do gather under the full moon of Nymm.  We have often tried to catch them, but they have always evaded the townsfolk.”
“See, full moon.  So, when is the full moon?”
“The full moon is tomorrow night.”
“Can we go there now and scout the terrain?”
“They would know we had been there and would not come.”
“Alright then, I guess we’re going back to the church to continue our search there.”

At the church once more, Romann began digging near the church with Cyron hopping back and forth blessing and filling in holes.  A survey of the grounds found a place where some graves had been dug included one instance where a shovel was left stuck in the ground next to a hole.  Thundina, still reluctant to be the one desecrating graves in town, explored the inside of the church once more looking for another hidden passage, or maybe to find Halas hiding inside.

Satisfied that the church was still empty and without further hiding places, Thundina emerged back into the rain.  After watching Romann dig up another grave in the oldest section of the cemetery, Thundina announced, “I’m going back to the inn to take care of some business there.  If anything moves, just give a scream”

Krel huddling miserably in the soaking rain said, “Um, yes, I think I’ll be returning as well.”  Before she knew it, Thundina was also being trailed by Orning and Ireena as well.

At the inn, Thundina approached the barkeep and asked, “Has Halas Martain been back since dawn, telling any tales?”
“No, he hasn’t.”
“If he returns, I want a messenger sent to the church to inform us that he’s back.  Can we arrange that?”
“I can send one of the serving girls.  But I think a little compensation in return for her time would be in order.”
With a sigh, Thundina counted out a few coins to the barkeep, “Alright.  I expect to hear the moment he walks in the door though.”

Turning to Krel, Thundina posed the question, “Well, do we want to go watch Romann and Cyron dig more?”
“Perhaps we should pay Bildreth a visit.  Maybe he has some platinum that we could use for crafting a new hilt on the Sunsword.”
“Good idea.  Prices should be normalized now that the zombies are gone.”

Walking across the square, Thundina paused a moment.  Something was tugging at her mind, though she couldn’t place what it was.  A thought, fleeting, she simply couldn’t remember something important.

Thundina knocked on the door to Bildreth’s shop and not getting an immediate response opened the door.  “Ahh, Bildreth, you scoundrel, it’s always a special day when we see you again.  We are looking for metals, steel, silver, gold, platinum, copper, and the like.  Do you such resources?”
“Are you intending to steal my supplies?” Bildreth replied with narrowed eyes.
“We are intending to buy, if you have them to sell.”
“I have a little.  Raw iron, copper, platinum, even silver.  No gold though.”
“Let’s see the platinum.”
“This crate here.  How much are you looking for?”
“Krel, how much are we looking for?”
“Umm, I’d say about one pound should do for what we need,” Krel answered.
“There you go Bildreth, we need one pound.”
“Platinum is 750 gold per pound.” Bildreth smirked.
“Seven hundred fifty, that’s ridiculous.  The zombie infestation is gone, you have no further cause to inflate your prices,” Thundina insisted.
“It’s very difficult to get supplies out here.”
“You got that supply simply enough I’m certain.  Where did you get that from?”
“Oh, it came from the vestani.  But it’s very difficult to get supplies out here.”
“It’s very difficult to get customers out here.  How long do you think that’s going to be gathering dust on your shelf?”
Bildreth simply stated, “750.”
Thundina countered, “500.”
Absolutely flat, “750.”
“We’ll walk.  You have no cause.”
“750.”

Thundina and Krel walked out and stood outside for a moment considering where to go next.  Thundina suggested, “Let’s try the vestani.  It’s upsetting that they didn’t mention such trade goods when we saw them yesterday, but now we know exactly what we’re asking for, maybe we can get it.”

The visit to the vestani at the Tser Pools was brief.  The vestani denied trafficking in platinum, although they did have deer available if that was more what Krel wanted to make the hilt.  Krel however insisted that only platinum could be used for the hilt.

Back at town, Krel had made up his mind, “I’m going back to Bildreth’s.  We need the platinum and he’s the only one who has it.”
Thundina shook her head, “If you must.  I’m not going back to him if I can help it.  You’re going to need someplace to work on this, I’ll go track down the smithy and get things arranged.”

As Krel entered the shop Bildreth smiled broadly and said, “I knew you’d be back.  750.”

“Well Krel, do you have the platinum?”  Thundina asked as Krel arrived at the smithy.  “I’m ready to work on this.”
Krel took down the smithy tools and asked, “Thundina, I thought you specialized only in armor?”
“Weapons, armor, should be all the same.  You know, here, use my hammer.  That hammer isn’t as well balanced as mine.”
Despite Thundina’s assistance, Krel managed to pound out a new hilt and fit it to the blade by early afternoon.  “Thank you for your help, Thundina, but now I need to meditate on this.  I will see you late tonight.”

For the rest of the afternoon, Thundina relaxed in the inn, warm by the fire, while Romann and Krel were out digging.  Orning and Ireena wandered the town talking to people.  Orning would earnestly point up towards the castle and look excited while Ireena would translate his eagerness into questions which the villagers then answer because Orning was just so darn cute.

As dusk fell turned into darkness, Romann and Cyron came back dejectedly, covered in mud.
“Welcome back, boys.  Make much progress in your grave robbing?” Thundina asked.
Romann proudly declared, “Though we did not find the Symbol, we must have dug up half the graves there.”
“That’s very impressive.  Very well done.”
Cyron leaned over to Thundina and whispered, “It wasn’t half.  It was maybe ten percent.  Five percent was more likely.  It was terrible, and he’s going to make me fill in all the graves again tomorrow.”

Orning and Ireena wandered back just before Krel came down from his room.  “Come up to my room for a moment, I have something to show you all.”  In Krel’s room the Sunsword was repaired as much as Krel could without having access to the top of the castle where hellish servants work.  The sword glowed a faint blue and Krel said, “I want to keep the sword a little longer so I can _Identify_ it.  We need to consider who we want to wield this.”

With night fully fallen, Romann and Krel retired to their room, Thundina retired to her room, Ireena retired to the Koylanavich manor, and Orning stood watch over Krel and the Sunsword.  In the middle of the night, Romann woke up, thinking he heard something out back of the inn.  He knocked on the doors of the others waking them.  “I heard animals making a commotion outside, we need to go investigate.”
Cyron immediately agreed, “As you say, we should investigate.”
Krel looked blearily Romann, “Have you ever been around animals?  They make a commotion all the time.”
Skeptical, Thundina replied, “I don’t hear anything, Romann.  Will you feel better if we humor you?”

It was thus that Thundina found herself outside in the middle of the night.  Approaching the stables, it was quickly obvious that the horses were frightened of something.  Looking in Thundina could see that the horses had kicked down their stalls and we’re getting ready to bolt.  Romann peaked in and declared, “Cyron, I can’t see a thing.  Light a sunrod already!”  The spark of light was the final straw for the poor horses and they ran out into the night.

The innkeep rushed out from the inn and ran up to the trio standing by the stables.  “What happened here?”
Thundina was the first to recover from nearly being trampled, “I don’t know.  Just as soon as we got here, the horses all bolted.  It looks like they kicked down their stalls.”
“Go back inside.  I’ll round up the horses, I’m not going to ask paying customers to go around in the dark on a rainy night.”

Fifteen minutes later, as Thundina was settling back to sleep, she heard the innkeep scream, “Help!  Come back!”  Dashing outside once again, Thundina saw the innkeep clutching his chest, blood oozing.  “No, no need to worry.  The horse just clawed me, I’ll be okay.”  With Romann and Cyron right behind Thundina, he was going to get assistance.  Cyron offered the innkeep some healing, closing most of the wound.

Thundina looked suspiciously into the stable and muttered, “I wish I had my armor; I feel naked without it.”
Romann came up behind Thundina and whispered, “Naked you say?”
“Don’t even think it.” Thundina said without turning around.

Returning to her room once more, Thundina strapped on her armor, waiting, expecting, further disturbances.  An hour passed, and yawning, Thundina decided perhaps nothing was going to be happening after all and went back to sleep.

The next morning, against all expectations, everyone was alive and well.  Planning at breakfast focused on if there was anything to do before visiting the vitches that night around midnight.  Krel announced that he had learned more about the nature of the Sunsword and that someone with the heart of a child would find it to be lighter than it looked.  The sword was immediately passed to Orning who easily lifted it.  Once it was determined that nothing was likely to happen, Romann and Cyron returned to the church to continue their excavations. Thundina pulled aside Orning, “Let’s do a little sparring so you can get used to that new weapon of yours.”

After sitting around inside for half an hour, Krel came out to ask, “Thundina, could I see that map of Barovia?”
“Sure, but you’re not bringing it out here in the rain.  Let me get it.”
Pointing at the map, Krel traced the paths out of the village, “If we think that Halas has the Symbol and was going to the castle to find the Tome, perhaps the vestani saw him.”
“That would be more productive than sitting around here all day.  Sounds good, let’s go.”

Setting out on the road with Orning, Krel, and Ireena, Thundina’s conscience niggled at her a little for not grabbing Romann and Cyron.  She had some foresight that perhaps it would be wise to have everyone along.  Quashing those feelings, Thundina set off towards the vestani camp.

At the crossroads, one of the vestani came out of the woods.  Thundina always knew there were vestani in the woods, but having one come out to meet the travelers was unusual.  This particular vestani looked nervous though.  As he approached, he stuttered, “I bring greetings from Strahd.  He wants you to come to the castle.”
Thundina had to ask, “And if we refuse?”
“I suspect Strahd vill be displeased.”
“Will anything happen to you?”
“If I didn’t deliver the message, he said he’d kill me.  He didn’t say anything about if you refuse.”
“One final question, did you see anyone on the road yesterday?”
“Or the previous night?”  Krel added.
With a shake of his head, the vestani melted back into the woods.
“I guess we’re going back to town quickly to fetch our final two members before we visit the vestani.” Thundina said.

With everyone assembled, the party once more approached the dancing fire of the vestani encampment.  One of the vestani came forward to inquire of the party, “Why have you come to our encampment again?”
Krel was the first to speak, “We’d like to consult with Madam Eva again.”
The vestani speaker replied, “She is now here.  She has gone to the woods to meditate.”
“When will she back?”
“Not until about midnight.”

Thundina, knowing a dismissal when she heard one, asked the final question, “Have you seen anyone coming towards the castle yesterday or the night before?  Specifically, Halas, if you remember him.”
“No, we haven’t seen anyone matching that description.”
“Alright.  I know your people haunt these woods, so I’m giving you fair warning, we’re intending to follow the river upstream to the Tser Falls.”

Leading the party up the river, Thundina spotted a flickering light in a clearing a little away from the river.  The party moved to investigate and found Madam Eva in her meditative trance.  A hushed discussion on whether or not to disturb Madam Eva before it was decided to leave her alone and continue up the river.

Reaching the Tser Falls, the party found the road up to the castle once again and set off along it.  Finally the castle loomed in the rain.  An old, partially crumbled castle which hadn’t been well kept up.  Before entering the castle, the party would have to cross a drawbridge with a gatehouse on each side.  Romann muscled his way to the front of the party and attempted to cross the drawbridge.  As soon as he had entered the first gatehouse, a green slime dropped on him.  “Aaaah!  Cyron!”

Cyron rushed forward, drew a dagger, and started scraping the slime off of his friend.  No sooner had the slime been scraped off of Romann then the dagger being used had been completely destroyed by the slime.  Cyron looked over Romann, “You lost a lot of blood, even from that very brief contact.  Be careful, this is beyond what I can heal.”

With the drawbridge and second gatehouse still looming, Romann moved to the back and refused to come forward unless someone else had already crossed.  Thundina walked up to the second gatehouse, looked up into the shadows, muttered, “Fortune favors the bold,” and dashed through into the courtyard.  When nothing dropped onto Thundina, everyone else came into the courtyard as well.

Had it been night, surely a rich warm light would have been spilling out of the castle into the courtyard.  However, it was day and no light sources, warm or otherwise, were to be seen.  Bypassing the recessed portcullises set to either side, the party advanced to the main doors.  Krel opened it only to be met with a wall of darkness.

From the back, Romann called out, “Cyron, light a sunrod.  I want to see in.”
“Uh, sir, there are no more sunrods.”
“What?  Alright, I guess we can use my _Everburning Torch_.”
“Sir, why haven’t we been using this before now?”
“Cyron, just take the torch and go light the way.”

The flickering green light of the _Everburning Torch_ did not illuminate very far into the castle.  Cyron, recognizing that something was wrong with that, decided that when the interior needed was some _Daylight_.  That created enough light to see into the next room as well.  A couple of statues in stood near the back of the entry parlor, perhaps to lull visitors into a false sense of security for in the next room the statues were actually gargoyles.  They held their position even once Thundina was in their midst.  From off to the left, from up the grand staircase came a cackling laugh.

“Velcome to Castle Ravenloft.”  Sweeping down the stairs with a long flowing cloak was a tall, handsome man.  Thundina realized immediately that this must be the dark figure which had haunted all the tales of the town, Strahd.  Strahd continued, “Please, come dine with me.  I will tell you why I summoned you.”

In the adjacent room, food was laid out on a banquet table.  Strahd took a seat and invited everyone else to sit and eat.  Thundina sat next to Strahd and began shoveling the fine foods onto her plate.  Romann took a seat as far from Strahd as possible and mostly refused to eat.  Cyron glared at the food suspiciously and then said, “Does anyone mind if I say grace?”  He then walked around the table blessing every morsel.  While everyone was eating, or not, Strahd simply sipped a glass of red wine.  Eventually Strahd said, “I have a proposition.  There is a coven of vitches who are harassing my townsfolk.  I want you to eliminate them.”

Romann first had to register a complaint, “When we arrived at the castle, some green slime dropped from your gatehouse.  What are you going to do about it?”
Thundina meanwhile had a more pressing question, “If we do this, what kind of compensation can we expect?”
Strahd replied, “You can have something from my treasury.  Do we have an accord?”
Before a deal could be struck, Krel inquired, “Why is it that someone of your nature cannot deal with this yourself?”
“I am an aristocrat.  This is something that is better suited for adventurers, like yourselves.”
Romann tried again, “At your gatehouse, some green slime dropped on me.  Are you going to do anything about it?
“I just don’t see why we …” Krel began.  Strahd caught his gaze momentarily and Krel sat back, relaxed and continued, “We should go fight the witches.”

Cyron looked momentarily from Strahd to Krel and back to Strahd again, bursting out, “You invited us as guests and then you attack us!”  A glance from Strahd held Cyron’s gaze.  They stared at each other for a moment before Cyron said, “We should go fight the witches.”

Sensing things slipping out of control and desiring access to that treasure room, Thundina made the statement for the remainder of the party, “Yes, we will go to Lysaga Hill tonight.”
“Excellent.”  Strahd stood and began to walk towards the back of the room.
Romann tried once more, “The green slime at your gatehouse fell on me.  You should do something about that.”
“Shut up.”  Thundina snapped at Romann, then turned back to Strahd, “before you go, we were wondering if we might wander the castle a bit between now and when we go to Lysaga Hill?”
“If that’ll please you.  However, not all the inhabitants are accommodating to vandering guests.  You do so at your own risk, and you still have that appointment on Lysaga Hill tonight.”  Strahd reached the back of the room and tapped on the wall.  A portion of the wall slid back and Strahd walked through.  As soon as he was through, the wall slid back into place.  Always excited to imitate, Orning went to the same section of wall and tapped, but there was no sliding action for him.

“Well, I guess dinner is done.  Let’s see if we can find the top of the castle.”  Thundina perked up.
“We should leave.” Krel declared.
“I agree.  We should leave.”  Cyron immediately added.
Krel and Cyron began to leave without waiting for any further discussion.
Ireena added, “I do not like the feel of this place, I too wish to leave now.”
“Cyron, wait.  I demand you come back here with my torch.”  Romann hurried to keep up with Cyron.
“Well Orning, I guess it’s left to just you and me to explore.”  Thundina began.
With the edge of the green torchlight about to leave him behind, Orning said, “Stinks of evil,” and he too exited.
Standing alone in the dark, Thundina felt like screaming.  “Where is everyone’s sense of adventure!  Why, I am so confident, I feel like I could remove my armor and wander around this strange castle like that!”  With a final glance at the enticing spiral stairs, Thundina stomped her foot and stalked back to the entrance where the rest of the party had already gathered.

“Since we have a couple extra hours before the vitches will be gathering, I’d like to pay a visit to this other gate at the northwest edge of the map of Barovia.”  Thundina led the party.  At the gate, closed and looking basically like the one they had first encountered while entering Barovia, Thundina touched the gate and began walking.  “I think I’m just going to take a little walk around this.”  As Thundina walked, she lost sight of her friends through the mists and rains and inexplicably began to feel nervous.  The pressing mists finally was just too much and Thundina practically ran back the way she came.  “Okay, I’m satisfied, let’s go on to Lysaga Hill.”

Approaching Lysaga Hill from the north, Thundina spotted a bright green glow a top the hill.  An old, ruined monastery with just pieces of its outer walls still standing, rubble strewn about, and other walls fallen into rocks formations was now occupied by a coven of witches.  In green flame, they had drawn a seven pointed star with a witch standing at each point.  A green bonfire in the middle of star burned brightly.  On the far side of the ruins stood a twenty-foot tall giant with many tigrish features also bathed in green flame.

Once the bright firelight was spotted, the party doused their own light sources and began to sneak up to the ruins.  Thundina turned to the others, the light of the fire seeming to catch in her eyes, causing them to appear to glow.  “This doesn’t feel right.  Do we really trust Strahd, do we really want to be doing his bidding?”
“We want to kill the vitches,” Krel and Cyron said in unison and began advancing the final distance to the star.  Slowly everyone advanced to within striking distance and commenced the attack.  The witches at the nearest two points fell in the opening barrage.  At the third near point, a witch taller than any of the others lashed at Romann with a clawed green hand which glowed black right as it struck him.  “I feel weak.” Romann moaned.

With the first two witches down, Ireena moved to assist Romann against the tall witch.  The witch spotted Ireena and shrieked, “You are the one Strahd has chosen!  Then die!”  Before she could carry out her threat, the tide of battle turned against her as Orning too joined his sword against her.  With a final screech, she disappeared.

While the other minor witches were being dispatched, Cyron ran into the center of the star to set up a _Magic Circle against Evil_.  The flaming green tiger-man spotted Cyron.  Its eyes glowed red as it gestured towards Cyron.  A black flame sprung up around Cyron before jumping to singe Orning as well.  Bursting through the lines, Thundina stood ready to battle, balancing on the balls of her feet.  “Come on you beast, let’s see you do that to someone who is ready for you?”

The tiger-man gestured towards Thundina and the black flame leapt out to her.  It slammed into her and she bit back a scream.  “You’re going to pay for that,” and Thundina weaved forward deftly evading the claws of the beast.  Supported by Ireena with the others too moving forward after downing all the witches, Thundina began the assault on the flaming tiger-man.  Thundina’s assault was short lived was rather short lived as a swipe from the tiger’s claws and the ensuing blast of dark flame brought Thundina to her knees.

Seeing the severely wounded Thundina, Cyron dashed to Thundina’s side only to catch a claw when the creature’s reach was greater than he had expected.  Thundina glanced up towards the towering inferno of the tiger-man and decided this was the time to make her retreat.  Weaving past the creature’s claws, Thundina made it to the edge of the ruins where she crouched behind a broken wall and drank one her healing potions.

The tiger-man took another swipe at Cyron and in his heavily battered state, Cyron was unable to get his shield up and the claw plus dark energy shattered what remained of his health.  Eyes full of bloodlust, the creature immediately pounced on Ireena as well, cleaving her.

Orning’s entrance to the battle was ferocious.  He charged, his sword glowing bright with holy energy and the charging _Smite_ bit deep into the creature.  A follow-up stroke sent more righteous fury penetrating the creature.  Romann, inching around the creature, looking for the perfect opening, found it and struck.  His blade sliding up between the creature’s ribs and into its vitals.  The monster wavered an instant, and became nothing but a puff of acrid green smoke.

Romann dashed over to the lifeless form of his brave companion and screamed, “Cyron, no!  You can’t be dead.  Drink, drink this and live!  Cyron!”
Cyron woke up coughing, “I saw a light, but I couldn’t leave you.  I don’t feel very heroic after that though.”

Thundina surveyed the carnage.  The witches’ power was broken surely, for good or for ill, but there was still that one witch who got away and she had surely been the most powerful.  Thundina shuddered a moment as she looked at Ireena.  The girl had been something special, both to the villagers and to Strahd.  Breaking the news of her death would not be pleasant.  For now though, Thundina had the wounded of her party to tend to.  Reporting on the events at Lysaga Hill could wait until morning.


----------



## Ealli (Feb 22, 2007)

*Chapter 6: Confusion, Castles, and Commands*

“Now what?”  Romann asked.
“First thing we need to deal with,” Cyron said, “Krel, I need you to come here.  Everyone, please, gather close.”

Everyone approached Cyron with Cyron gesturing them closer until everyone was within ten feet of him.  “Now that we’re within my _Magic Circle against Evil_, we can discuss important topics without Strahd being able to overhear.  Krel has been dominated by the vampire.”
“No way!”  Krel protested.
“I saw the vampire break your will.” Cyron insisted.
Krel remained incredulous.
Cyron sighed, and then sighed again.  Finally he muttered, “I don’t know how to deal with this.”  He spoke up, “Something has happened to Krel.  We need to be careful.”

“Okay, so we watch Krel.  Again, now what?” Romann started again.
“What does one do with dead witches?”  Thundina need to know.
“Bury them, I guess.”  Cyron said.
“Really?  I know that you burn a witch when she’s alive.  Seems odd that there’s not some ritual you need to do with dead witches.”  Thundina said puzzledly.
“It depends on local customs.” Cyron confirmed.
“Then I say we should camp here until morning.  Then we can go tell the town what happened here and ask for their help in dealing with the dead.”  Thundina said.
“I don’t like this hill.  I’d like to get off it.” Krel protested.
“At the risk of agreeing with Krel, I do not like this hill either.” Cyron added.
“Well, I don’t like the idea of leaving the corpses unguarded.  I think that witch which got away might spirit them away.  That’s no good.  We need to stay the night.” Thundina insisted.
“Thundina’s got a point.” Romann said.  “We set up camp on the hill for tonight.”

With Romann and Thundina in agreement, the issue was decided.  The bodies of the witches were piled, Ireena was arranged honorably, and bed rolls were set out.

As Thundina was bringing the last of the witches to the pile, Cyron spoke up.  “Thundina, there’s something about the way you move.  Out, beyond the firelight, you still stride entirely confidently.”
“Yes?  What’s your point?”  Thundina replied.
“How can you see, out near the walls?”
“I just can.  What?”
“Walk with me a little.  Do you see that notch in the wall?  Okay, how about that small pile of rubble?  And that tree?”
With Thundina assuring Cyron that she could see each thing he was pointing out, Cyron came to the conclusion, “You’ve got darkvision, as good as a dwarf’s.”

Back near the fire, Orning had already curled up and gone to sleep.  The others set to deciding the watch.  Suddenly, Romann, Cyron, and Thundina cocked their heads for a moment.
“Did you hear that?” Romann asked.
“Yes.” Thundina nodded.
“My name, whispered on the wind…” Romann continued.
“No!  It was my name!” Thundina insisted.
“Err, sir, and Thundina, I heard my name on the wind” Cyron added.
The three looked at each other momentarily before dropping the subject as entirely too weird.  Assigning watches finished quickly and Thundina was able to begin her sleeping.

A couple hours into the night, Romann shook Thundina awake.  “Your turn.”
Crawling out of her bed roll, Thundina strapped her breastplate on again and began pacing around the ruins of the monastery on Lysaga Hill.  Each of her companions were sleeping soundly and nothing moved out in the night.  Eventually, her watch ended and Thundina went over to Cyron and shook him awake.  “Wakey, wakey time.  Have fun staring into darkness for two hours; it’s back to bed for me.”

Later, Thundina awoke to the light of day; the fog had broken for the first time since Thundina had been to Barovia.  Knowing that the fight with the witches had lasted until midnight, Thundina reckoned that she must be waking up a little early so she rolled over to get a bit more sleep.  She could sleep with some light.
“Krel!”  Cyron shouted.  “What are you doing, asleep on your watch?”
Instantly alert, Thundina surged out of her bedroll.  Glancing around, Thundina knew that Cyron was right; it was too light out.  “Krel, this is not good.  How could you sleep through your watch?”
Krel could only sheepishly say, “I must have nodded off.  I don’t know what happened.”

Unable to mount any further righteous fury, Thundina set to putting the morning plans into action.  Thundina drafted Orning to return to town with her, while Romann and Cyron would stay, watching Krel and the corpses.  As Thundina and Orning were about to depart the hill, Cyron called out, “Thundina, wait a moment.  While you’re in town, I need some diamond dust.  I think I figured out how to help Romann on his blood loss.”

Thundina trudged back to the camp, “Okay, how much will you need?  Oh, I’m going to have to deal with Bildreth again.  Crud.”  Thundina’s shoulder’s sagged.
“Yes, you’re going to need to deal with Bildreth.”  Cyron said, and looked over Thundina.  “You look a little out of it still.  I think I better cast the _Restoration_ on you as well.  Let’s have a back up dose available as well, so get three grams; it would normally cost 300 gold, all told, but you know Bildreth.”
“Um, Krel, can I borrow a little money?” Thundina said sweetly.
“What?  Why are you asking me?” Krel was a little shocked.
“The third dose of diamonds could be a group investment.” Cyron put forth.
“Orning, we need to see what funds you have, okay?” Thundina tried again.
Orning dutifully held out his purse, but a quick count showed that he had less than eighty gold.  “Hmm, Cyron, I’m going to need to borrow some still.” Thundina smiled.
“Oh, Cyron.  Just take it all from my stash.” Romann snapped.
Once Cyron had counted out 450 gold, Thundina and Orning were on their way once more.  Walking down the road to town, they heard the howling of wolves off to the south.  Picking up the pace, Thundina and Orning made it safely to town and began making their way to the Kolyanavich manor to inform Ismark of what had happened.  Before they could make it that far, a gathering in the town square halted their progress.
“Hey, what’s happening here?” Thundina asked one of the peasants on the outer edges of the crowd.
“Ismark is giving his first speech as the burgomaster.  We held elections last night.”
“Huh.  I didn’t hear of any news about this.”  Thundina weaved her way to the front of the crowd.  Ismark went on and on about how honored he was to have been chosen to follow his father as the leader of the burough.  Thundina added her polite applause where appropriate getting more annoyed by Ismark and his droning.  Finally, he finished and began to step down.  Thundina stepped to him and said, “Ismark, hello, friend, neighbor.  If I said, ‘Witches of Lysaga Hill’, what you say?”
“The vitches are evil; a scourge on the town.” Ismark replied.
“Ah, good news then.  Last night we encountered them and dispersed them.”
“Very good.”
“But,” Thundina began.
Ismark’s mood immediately changed.  He could sense that the good news would be tempered by some terrible news.  He had no idea how terrible.
“But,” Thundina tried again, “your sister Ireena fell in battle against the demon summoned by the witches.  As it sounds like you are now the leader, we need you to organize the disposal of the witches’ remains.  I really have no idea what to do with dead witches.”
“Whatever.  Burn them or bury them or something.” Ismark replied, depressed.
Thundina turned to the dispersing crowd and called, “The witches of Lysaga Hill have been defeated.  We are looking for some volunteers to help us with the disposal of their bodies.”  The peasants let out a ragged cheer and several stepped forward to volunteer.  Thundina asked them to meet her in the town square in ten minutes with a cart or two.

Thundina and Orning entered Bildreth’s shop.  Bildreth smiled broadly; Thundina didn’t smile so much.  Bildreth asked, “So what are you hear for today?”
“This noble Lightbringer paladin needs diamond dust, three grams.” Thundina said.
“That’ll be 450 gold.”
“Look at him!  Would you cheat this paladin?”
“It’s not cheating.  Supplies are hard to get out here.”
Thundina nudged Orning and whispered, “Do your charming thing.”
Orning declared, “Good wins!”
Thundina raised her eye brow at Bildreth.  “See, it’s for a very noble cause.”
“450.”
Thundina managed to stifle a scream as she counted out the 450 gold for the three grams of diamond dust needed for the three doses of _Restoration_.

With the diamond dust tucked safely away, Thundina and Orning gathered the Barovian townsfolk and set out back to Lysaga Hill.  The continued hollowing wolves did not cause any panic and the procession reached the hill without incident.

Reaching the top of the hill, Thundina was shocked to see Ireena up and walking around.  Shocked, Thundina could only stammer, “I thought you were dead!  I don’t understand.”
Cyron came over and said, “Krel had a scroll of _Raise Dead_.  He asked me to read it and then use it after you left this morning.”
“Krel, why didn’t you mention this before?” Thundina stalked over to Krel.
“I don’t know.  I just found it.” Krel said.
“Just found it?  You’re not making any sense.”
“I just found it.  I wish I could tell you more.”
“Ireena, you need to go see your brother,” Thundina turned to Ireena.  “He believes the worst has befallen you.” 

Ireena was still unsteady on her feat; her body still battered from the previous night’s fight.  Cyron prayed with her a while and she began to look much better, even better then Thundina remembered Ireena appearing before.  Seeing healing being distributed, Krel spoke up, “I’m still somewhat sore from last night, could I get a little help?”
Orning came over Krel, coughed, slapped Krel on the back, and walked away.
“Thank you, Orning.” Krel said.

The witches were piled like wood into the cart to be taken back to town.  The next step needed to be determined.  Thundina attempted to get the cart moving, “Ireena, could you take the villagers back to town?  We’ll go collect the reward from Strahd.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?  I’m coming with you to deal with Strahd!” Ireena protested.
“You need to see your brother, and someone needs to protect the villagers.”
“I’ve got it!  We can all return to the village and talk to Ismark.  I’m sure he’ll want the full story from someone who was there.” Romann said.
“I already told him.” Thundina insisted.

Thundina lost that argument and soon found herself once more walking towards town.  Fuming at the waste of time walking up and down the road, Thundina thought she was approaching the point where she could walk it blindfolded.  Maybe she’d try that the next time, if only for her own amusement.

Reaching town, the witches were taken away and soon the black acrid smoke visible over the top of the cottages, it became obvious what was done with dead witches.  Meanwhile the party approached the Kolyanavich manor once again.  Romann knocked on the door and Ismark opened the door with his eyes downcast.
“Greetings noble Ismark.” Romann spoke for the party. “I hear you have become the burgomaster, congratulations!”
“Thank you.” Ismark then glanced up, “Ireena!  I had heard you were dead!”  Ismark embraced his sister but still sparing a glower for Thundina.  Thundina tried to look away and avoid his gaze.
“Uh, she was dead.” Cyron came to Thundina’s rescue.  “She was extremely heroic last night and we all mourned when the demon creature cleaved through her.  We realized this morning that we had a scroll with which we could return her to life.”
“Happy family reunion.” Thundina piped up.  “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we need to go see Strahd to collect our promised reward for dealing with the witches.  Hint.”
“You are dealing with Strahd?” Ismark said with a shock.  “He is evil, and you brought my sister to him!”
“He demanded we come to him, you don’t refuse such an invitation.  And your sister is a grown woman, she came of her own free will.”
“What kind of deal were you making with Strahd?”
“He wanted us to drive the witches away.  Everyone seemed in agreement that the witches needed to be defeated.  I saw nothing wrong with such an agreement.”

Ismark pulled his sister aside and had an animated whispered conversation.  If Ismark had been angry with Thundina, he was doubly so with Ireena.  For a moment it looked like their argument would end in a stalemate, but then Ireena backed down from her older brother.  Ismark returned to the party and said, “Ireena will be staying here at the manor.  We thank you for saving the town from the witches, but please do not make any further deals with Strahd.”

Promptly putting Ismark’s plea out of her mind, Thundina led her friends up towards the castle.  The bright sun on her face and the thought of soon receiving something of value, Thundina began to feel the best she had ever about the little town of Barovia.  She even began to feel like maybe Strahd was the nicest person in the town; he was not a greedy bastard like Bildreth, a dour stick-in-the-mud like Ismark, or a hollow braggart like Halas.

Glancing up at the gatehouse where Romann had been slimed, Thundina still saw nothing, shrugged, and crossed the bridge.  She needed to have been looking forward instead of up.  Standing in the bright sun light at the doors to the castle was a figure in a billowing cloak.  As the party approached, the figure pulled the hood back showing that it was Strahd.  He yelled at the party as they approached, “Leave these grounds!”

Thundina was shocked.  “You promised a reward from your treasury if we dealt with the witches.  We dealt with the witches and we’ve come to collect.”
Strahd responded, “Your reward is your lives.”
“That’s not a reward from your treasury.”
“All of the valley is mine, so take the reward I have offered and go.”
“You lied!  We want what is due to us!”
Strahd turned to more fully size up Thundina.  His eye twitched ever so slightly.  Thundina, thinking about what Cyron had said about Krel, realized something – Strahd was not going to keep his end of the bargain and give Thundina her reward, she’d have to take it herself.  Biting back the rest of her outburst, Thundina assessed the rest of her party and saw no one else trying to stand up to Strahd.  Since no one else was raising objections to his actions, Strahd reentered his castle and closed the door behind himself.

“Okay then, are we ready to go get what is ours?” Thundina took a step towards the castle.
Cyron grabbed Thundina and said, “Vampires shouldn’t be able to stand in the sun like that.  There is something very wrong about this.  I suggest we do as he says and we leave.”
“Nonsense.  That castle is our fate.  We need treasure.  We deserve treasure.  The castle is where we’re going to get treasure.”
“Remember Thundina, we still need the Symbol too.  Let’s go dig more graves looking for it first.”  Romann offered.
“Forget digging.  Halas almost certainly has found it already and he’s almost certainly a prisoner in the castle.”  Thundina pleaded.
“What else do we need still?” Cyron asked.
“We need the Tome from the castle and we need to take the Sunsword to the top of the castle.  We need to enter the castle.”  Thundina insisted.
“I still say we should dig more.  Either dig more or visit Madam Eva and ask for her insight.” Romann said.

In the confusion of the argument, Orning stepped up to the castle door and opened it.  Catching sight of this, Cyron scurried forward and quickly closed it again.  “Here’s what I can’t figure out, why are we discussing whether or not to raid the castle right under Strahd’s nose?”
“Why not?  Do you really think we could hide it from him wherever we do our planning?” Thundina countered.
“We’re talking about the most dangerous man in the valley,” Krel mentioned.  “Perhaps the most dangerous man on the continent.”
“The King of Karnnath.” Cyron said.
“What?” Krel couldn’t follow.
“The King of Karnnath is the most dangerous man on the continent.” Cyron clarified.

Romann once again drew the conversation back to the local.  “We should either visit Eva to learn where Halas has gone, or we should go to the church and resume digging.”
“Fine,” Thundina said exasperated.  “We can go visit Madam Eva, then find Halas and the Symbol, and then return to the castle to find the Tome.”

Whether out of agreement or no further desire to argue the finer points further, the party returned down the trail once more, on their way to vestani encampment.  Met by a rough vestani at the edge of the wagons, the party was challenged, “Why have you returned to our camp once again?”
Romann stepped forward, “We need to speak with Madam Eva.”
“Then go and see her.”

As the party entered Madam Eva’s tent, she regarded them somewhat scornfully, “You have not fulfilled all that I said you vould.”
“Well, that’s why we came to see you,” Romann began.  “Do you know where Halas is?”
“I know all things.”
“Where is he?”
“I know all things.”
“Why won’t you tell us?”
“I cannot tell all I know.”
“We need to find Halas?”
“Why should I tell you where to find him?”
“Because we are attempting to overcome Strahd.  That is what you wish as well.”
“Yes.” Madam Eva began.  Suddenly she stopped and sniffed the air.  Her finger jabbed out at Krel and Cyron, “You two, leave.  Now.”
Krel backed out of the tent but Cyron stayed to argue, “Why?  I know Krel was dominated by the vampire, is this something to do with that?”
“Leave!”
“I just want to know what’s the matter.  Is it the vampire?”
Madam Eva raised her hands at Cyron who once again asked, “It’s Krel that is dominated, nothing to do with me.”
Madam Eva began paging through a book of mystical symbols in her lap.  It was at this point that Cyron muttered, “Okay, okay, I’m going.”

When Cyron was gone, Madam Eva resumed, “I may have just compromised my life.  Those two are under the sway of Strahd.  He now knows I have opposed him.  The Symbol is still in town, the Tome is still in the keep.  Do not return until you have found them.  In fact, best that you do not return; I sense the camp may be moving soon.”

Outside the tent, around the vestani’s dancing fire, Romann and Thundina confronted Cyron.  Cyron, still in disbelief, “What did she have to say?”
Thundina answered him, “You are like him.” Thundina point at Krel.
“She said that?”
“You are like him,” Thundina repeated, again pointing at Krel.  “That was a clever ruse, selling out your traitorous compatriot to further worm your way into our group.  I just want you to remember one thing from here on out.  Orning!”
Orning took his cue, “I’m always watching.”
Thundina then continued, “All of us, we always watching you now.”

Thundina pulled Romann aside to consult with him, trying to keep both Krel and Cyron out of the loop, although she wondered if Romann really would be any good at keeping secrets from Cyron.  She didn’t really have any choice, it was either plan with Romann, or plan with Orning.
“Well Romann, you may have been right.  The Symbol is still in town somewhere.  What’s our plan?” Thundina asked.
Romann swelled with pride at hearing he had been right.  “To the graveyard of course.”
Krel came up behind the pair to interrupt, “Excuse me.”
Both Romann and Thundina whipped around, Thundina glowering.  “What?”
“I’m sorry,” Krel said.  “Last night, I had a vision.  It’s somewhat fuzzy, but I think it may be of importance.  I dreamed of a chapel with markings of ravens.”
“Ravens, eh?” Romann said while scratching his chin.  “Those mean something I’m sure.”
Thundina rolled her eyes a little.  “Let’s start heading back to town.  Romann and I will need to continue having a private conversation on the way though.”

Thundina and Romann walked a couple paces in front of the other three on the road back to town.  “We’ve been investigating the church, but now Krel thinks there’s some importance to a chapel.  It does mean something.”
Romann had an idea, “What about the ruins on Lysaga Hill.  That could be a chapel, and there were dead witches there.”
“That was a monastery, not a chapel.  And anyways, it wasn’t a place of the dead until we killed the witches; well after our prophecy.”
“Perhaps the Kolyanavich manor has a chapel?”
“Perhaps, but you’re going to be the one to talk to Ismark.”
“Why don’t you want to talk to him.”
“Ismark and I, we’re not close.  Is Cyron still good at filling in holes?”
“That has been how I planned to use him this evening all along.”
“Then maybe I can take him and Krel to the church to do more digging while you talk with Ismark about what he knows.”

The debate on who should visit Ismark and who should proceed directly to the church continued until everyone reached town square.  Romann made one final question, “We’re at town, what’s our final plans?”
Thundina responded, “You need to make this choice.  Either we visit Ismark together or we split up to start digging.  I can’t order Cyron around though, not easily at least.”
“Very well, we go to Ismark’s,” Romann declared.

Halfway down the street to the Kolyanavich manor, Thundina stopped dead in the streets, thinking she heard a woman sobbing in a nearby home.  When others confirmed that it was not just her imagination, the party halted outside the house.  While the party equivocated about investigating the crying versus ignoring the trouble and going directly to Ismark, Orning simply opened the door.  Thundina then stepped through and followed the crying up the stairs and into a room.

The room was painted pink with a faerie castle surrounded by knights in shining armor and princesses in long fancy dresses.  The ceiling was a bright blue with fluffy white clouds and a smiling sun.  Toy dolls also representing princes and princesses littered the floor.  A matron was seated in the middle of the floor clutching one of the princess dolls while sobbing hysterically.  Thundina approached the woman, knelt down beside her, and put an arm around the sobbing woman’s shoulders.

“There, there.  What’s the matter?” Thundina cooed.
“Gertruda…” The woman sobbed.  “Gertruda’s gone!”
“When did Gertruda go?”
“She left.  Ran away last night!”
“It’s going to be okay.  We can find her.  Can you describe Gertruda?”
“She was safe, and now she’s gone.  She was fair-skinned, fair-haired.”  The woman was wracked by sobbing.  “I fear the master has taken her.”
“How old is your child?”
“She was 16.  I fear the master has taken her.”
“We’ll search for her, I promise.  If we can find her, we’ll bring her back home.”  Thundina rocked the woman, holding her until she seemed to cry herself out.  Thundina then rose, and shooed her companions out of the house, closing the door softly as she exited.  Thundina had feared for a moment while comforting the woman that the missing person she would describe would be match to one of the witches encountered the previous night, but that fear passed because none of the witches had been particularly young.

When Romann knocked at the Kolyanavich manor, Ireena opened the door.  “Have you come to rescue me from this prison?  I’ll go get my gear together.”
“We have come to see your brother.” Romann said while following Ireena into the manor.
“Romann, what can I do for you?” Ismark greeted the party.
“Does your manor have a chapel in it?”
“No.  The only chapel in the area is the church up the street.  There may also be a chapel in the castle.”
“Is there another entrance to the castle, one not so well guarded?”
“There is a stained glass window which should give entrance to the catacombs under the castle.  Of course, that window is 900 feet up the sheer cliff side of the castle.”
“Really, how do you know about that?”
Thundina coughed, “Have you looked up at the castle anytime?  It’s kind of difficult to see at this distance, but you should be able to clearly see the windows.”

Stomachs growling, the party returned to the inn to discuss exact plans for the rest of the evening.  While at the dinner table, the waitress Thundina had hired the day before came up to her to whisper a message, “I’ve been looking for you all day.  You weren’t around the church or at the inn like you had said you would be.”
“Go on, have you seen Halas?” Thundina asked the lass.
“He’s taken up an abandoned house on the eastern edge of town.”
“Thank you.  Here, like I promised.” Thundina passed a couple coins over to the girl.  Then, turning to the rest of the party, “Finally, good news.  Halas is in town.  Let’s finish up and go pay him a visit.”

Near the outskirts of the village, only one house was lighted.  The party approached and then realized they hadn’t decided on their plan of approach.  Thundina and Romann looked at each other silently to figure out who was going to be talking to Halas.  While they looked back and forth, Orning went to the door and opened it.

“Ah, Thundina, Romann, how good to see you again.”  Halas called from a chair.
“We’ve been wondering what happened to you, Halas,” Thundina said as she came in.  “We’ve been surprised not to see you bragging in the inn, or at least hanging around it.”
“I said I would return when I found both artifacts, but alas, I have only found one.”
“Okay, we’re sorry we ran you off.  We’ll be setting off to recover the Tome soon.  Please, come with us.”
“No, I’m just not seeing the profit in it.  I’m bringing the artifact, and know how to bind it.  I just don’t see what you’re bringing to the group anymore.”
Thundina drew up angrily, “We of course have the repaired Sunsword and we have also figured out how to activate the Symbol.  You are not that special.”
“Plus I really don’t feel like going to the castle with you.  I’ve already been all over the castle, from top to bottom, and the Tome simply isn’t there.  You’ll just be slowing me down as I continue my search.”
Cyron spoke up, “Can we see the Symbol please.”
Halas pulled out a symbol of a raven of wrought iron with a small jewel set in the middle of it.  Cyron shook his head, “That’s not the Symbol.  The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind is made of gold.”
Halas replied, “Oh, I am quite certain this is it.”
Romann spoke up, “The easiest way to be certain is to take it to Ismark, he should have no difficulty positively identifying it.”
“An excellent plan, Romann,” Halas said slyly. “This is exactly why I left you in charge.  Have you been leading the party well?”
Too tired from trekking up and down and all around the town all day long, Thundina just let it slide.  She just wanted to get the business settled and get the Symbol.

Back once more to Ismark.  Ismark was able to quickly identify that the item Halas carried was indeed the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, even if it looked made of iron.  Then, giving everyone a look for disturbing him that late in the evening, dismissed his guests and closed his door.

On the way to Halas’s abode, Cyron brought up the subject of activating the Symbol.  “You know, Halas, you can’t activate the Symbol.  It requires a person of pure heart who can _Turn Undead_.”
Halas replied, “What’s your point?”
“Let us borrow the Symbol.  We’ll use it against Strahd, and when we’re done we’ll return it to you.  You have nothing to lose on this.”
“No, no.  If you bind it, it will hurt the resale value of the Symbol.  Bildreth has already offered five thousand for it and I expect I can get considerably more from Ismark.”
Suddenly devious, Cyron asked Halas, “Can I see the Symbol one more time.  I think a jewel may be missing.”
His face gave it all away and Halas said, “No, I think it’ll be staying safely in my bag.”
Cyron whispered to Romann, “Get ready to grab the bag.”  Cyron drew himself up to as great of a height as he could manage, and gave a _Command_ to Halas, “Drop your bag.”

Surprise registered on Halas’s face for a moment and then tension filled the air.  Halas stepped away from Cyron, pulled a potion from his pack, and vanished.  “Your little cleric friend tried to do something to my mind.  Just so you know.”
Romann shouted at Cyron, “Cyron, you did what?”
Cyron calmly explained, “I tried to get him to drop the bag so we could get the Symbol.  I didn’t want anything else.”
Invisible still, Halas continued the story, “He tried to get me to drop the bag by magic.  I think I will try going to the authorities about this.”
Romann burst at Cyron again, “Cyron, we possibly could have reasoned with him.  Magic was unnecessary.”
Cyron continued his rationale, “He seemed like he was going to sell the artifact and then we’d never see it again.  We need the Tome, Strahd…”
Before Cyron could finish, Halas interrupted, “Well you’ll never be seeing it now.”
With the tension dissipating, Thundina had a line of questions for Cyron, “Were you trying to steal the Symbol for Strahd?”
“No!  I was worried he was going to smuggle the artifact out to the King of Karnnath.” Cyron protested.
“You’re not going to be trusted with any of the artifacts after this.” Thundina said coldly.

With Halas disappeared, and the night far too dark to consider setting out to the castle through where the wolves had been howling, there was nothing to do but sleep on the frustrations of the day.  Over breakfast the next morning, Ismark came to visit the inn.  “Halas came to me last night with a very serious claim.  He claimed you assaulted him last night.  Please, assure me there is no truth to this.”

Krel immediately began pointing at Cyron and Cyron was forced again to explain his justifications for attempting to ensnare Halas.  Ismark sighed, “You have been the heroes and saviors of the town.  We can let this one slide, but our town has enough problems without outsiders starting fights.  Please, do not let this happen again.”

“Before we leave, are there any preparations we should make?” Krel asked.  “Are there any new items I should be crafting?”
“Not really Krel.  We’re so desperately poor, we need to get our reward from Strahd’s treasure vault so you will have the resources to do your enchanting.” Thundina replied.
Approaching Strahd’s castle, Krel came up with another objection to barging in, “There are so many possible allies back in town: Ashlyn, Urik, Ireena.  We should ask some of them to come with us.”
Thundina shook her head, “We’ll be fine.  Urik is quite capable, and I respect Ashlyn a lot, but I strongly suspect neither wish to brave Castle Ravenloft.  Ireena is grounded, remember.  Let’s just do it.”

Finally at the doors to the castle, Krel made his final objection, “I’m not going in there.  I want to come up with another plan.”
Romann was upset, “We’ve come all this way, and this is the first you’ve said anything like that.  We’re here now, if you have another plan, we’ll listen.”
Krel stuttered, “Do you remember those gargoyles?  We’ll never survive.  Let’s find another way.”
Thundina said, “The other way is a 900 foot sheer cliff.  I could maybe climb, but not dragging a 900 foot rope behind me.  I’m afraid it’s this door or giving up.  I intend to collect what Strahd owes me.  Propose another plan if you have one.”
Krel turned and began walking back down the road, “I’m not going in, that’s it.”

Orning, not following all the conversations, simply walked up to the door while the debate raged, and opened the door.  This time, he stepped inside before Cyron could close the door.  Strahd’s voice boomed out as soon as Orning entered the castle, “I gave you your lives and you want more.  Very well.”  The two carved statues of dragons began to shake and rumble.  Their hinged jaws dropped slightly and the pair emitted a short burst of flame to char Orning.

Thundina dashed in to begin lashing at the stone dragon.  Before anyone else could act, the dragons let out a second burst of fire.  Thundina nimbly evaded all the flame, but Orning became further singed.  Romann charged in shortly after Thundina to begin chipping rocks away from the other dragon.  Cyron chanted, “Balinor, God of the Hunt, who teaches us the wisdom of _Celerity_, please, grant us _Haste_ to smite our enemies.”

Before Orning could give himself his healing touch, the four gargoyles from the next antechamber joined the fray.  Some flying, some striding, but all felt the bite of Thundina’s guisarme as they attempted to reach Thundina’s friends.  Sturdy creatures, the gargoyles shrugged off the first hits from Thundina.  One barreled into Orning, knocking him down and out.

Cyron, ignoring the harm to his own person as he entered the room, pumped one of his most powerful _Cure_ spells into Orning, bringing him back to consciousness.  Thundina shorted the grip on her guisarme and slashed one of the gargoyles attempting to overrun the line of heroes.  The stone dragons fell back a little and belched forth two cones of flame through the gargoyle line.  Thundina once again nimbly dodged all the fire, but the flame again overwhelmed Orning who once again went unconscious.

Romann stepped forward and with a powerful blow shattered a gargoyles and proceeded to assault one of the stone dragons, only to realize that he really couldn’t see the dragon and was attempting to strike at mere shadows.  He called out, “Cyron, light!”  Cyron inched forward pulling out Romann’s ever burning torch and tossing it down near Romann’s feet before healing Orning again.

Slightly backing away from the light, a fourth double barreled blast of fire knocked Orning out again, singed Romann badly, but couldn’t touch Thundina.  Fortunately, the remaining gargoyles, weakened by the previous blast of fire and Thundina’s attacks, the gargoyles succumbed to the fire.  Thundina pressed the attack on against the stone dragons.  Romann, dead on his feet and should have been retreating, instead leapt forward to assist Thundina.  Cyron, looking from Orning, burnt and bleeding, to Romann, burnt and bleeding, but alert, Cyron decided he needed to help Romann first.  Driven by Thundina and Romann and trying to escape the torchlight, the stone dragons had been forced far enough away from Orning that their flames could no longer touch him.

One stone dragon shattered under the attack and Thundina saw an opportunity to get behind the other while it was distracted by Romann, but Romann drove another powerful attack through it.  Cyron was already shaking Orning awake with a healing spell.  “Orning, you awake?”  Orning replied weakly, “Bravo.”

Perhaps, a minute away from the castle, a thought suddenly struck Krel.  He could brew potions of _Fly_.  That’d allow access to the catacombs.

Standing around near the entrance to the castle, Thundina, Romann, Cyron, and Orning assessed their strength.  They had taken a terrible battering in this first encounter and Krel had disappeared.  How far he had wandered off it was impossible to tell in the chaos of the battle.  Thundina wanted to press on while they still had some element of surprise, but she was meeting resistance.  A complete review of strength and expectations would be needed before a decision could be made.


----------



## Ealli (Mar 2, 2007)

*Chapter 7: To Once Again Jump Down to Undead*

“Cyron, look at this leg wound!  How could you let this happen to me?”  Romann yelled at Cyron.

Thundina couldn’t decide how serious Romann’s anger was.  She figured it must have been alright because Cyron pulled out a wand and tapped Romann and the wounds began to slowly close.  “Sorry sir.  Does this feel better, sir?”Another couple taps and Romann was looking quite healthy again.  “Very good, Cyron,”  Romann replied.  Though she was certain she had dodged all the fire, Thundina’s side was aflame where the gargoyles had raked their claws.  “Cyron, I think I need a tap as well.”

Once the spell had run its course, finishing its healing, Thundina began to rally her friends to return to the castle.  However, before she could get everyone moving again, two figures came hustling up the road.  Thundina recognized the two at once, Krel had returned and Halas had come along as well.

As soon as they got within speaking distance, Halas began, “Ah, hello everyone!  I met Karl here heading back to town.  He told me how Cyron didn’t mean what he did, it was one of Strahd’s cunning plans to sow dissent in those who seek to sack his castle and you were in dire need of help up here.  Being the every forgiving and generous man that I am, I agreed to come assist.  Aren’t you glad to see me?!”

Thundina was of mixed emotion.  Having Halas around seemed like it would be more trouble than he was worth, but to have the Symbol nearby would do much good should they reach they top of the castle.  Smiling as sweetly as she could to Halas, Thundina said, “Of course we’re happy to have you around again.”

Halas asked, “Karl, have you got that chain shirt ready for me?”
Krel started to say, “No, I haven’t made it yet.”
Thundina reminded Halas of his promise however, “Do you have the Symbol and Tome for us then?”
Halas then said, “Right, right.  Well, Karl, why don’t you see about making that shirt ASAP so that when I find the Tome, it’ll all be set.”

Romann gave Halas a hearty slap on the back, “It is great to see you again.  Look, I’m real sorry about what Cyron did.  He hasn’t been himself recently.  So, are you ready to get back into the castle and find the treasure room?”

Krel objected to this plan.  “There are more allies back in town we should recruit.  You remember, Urik, Ashlyn, and Ireena.  Plus, we really should be sneaking into the castle, like through the catacombs, not through the main gate.  I can prepare a way for us to fly up to the stained glass windows which are supposed to lead to the catacombs.”

“Fly, you say…” Romann mused.

Thundina pulled Romann aside to have a conference.  “Are we going to continue in the front or go around to the catacombs?  We did pretty well with the entry and we’ve got some reinforcements now.”
“I don’t know, flying seems pretty cool.”
“It does sound like it’d be cool,” Thundina agreed.
“And I’d like to get some extra help.  Ashlyn, if no one else, as a back-up healer.  Urik is also a really good fighter.”
“Do we really need anyone else?  Sharing the treasure out so that we get one-quarter less each might not seem like a lot right now, but when we finally start getting our rewards, it’s going to be that much more precious.”
“Never fear Thundina, more help means we’ll get that treasure that much quicker!”
“I’m not going to bar Ashlyn from joining, but I’m not going to ask her either.  We’ll go back to the village and you can try recruiting while Krel prepares to make us fly.”

Back at their base of operations once again, everyone began their preparations.  Krel sequestered himself up in his room with the promise that he could have everything ready in two days.  Romann had tracked down Urik and began trying to convince the Knight of the Raven to join the raid of Castle Ravenloft.  Sir Urik declined, saying that his previous experience and the loss of his friends in that dark castle made him never want to return there again, but he would pray for success.  He did offer a few details about the layout, such as Strahd’s court and offices were on the second floor with a study and library up on the third floor.  When Romann found Ashlyn, she considered a moment, and then agreed to join.

At breakfast on the third day, Thundina greeted Krel, “So, is today the day we get to fly?”
Krel shook his head, “No, I’ve only got two of the six scrolls complete.”
“I thought you said you could be done in two days?!”
“I said I could finish in two days, if everything went right.  Not everything has gone right.  It’s going to take a couple more days yet.”

Later that afternoon, Thundina was still sitting around the inn when Romann came up and nudged her.  He pointed across the room to where Orning was leaning back in his chair, mouth open, and eyelids mostly closed.  Laughing, Romann said, “He’s asleep.  So much for his, ‘I’m always watching.’”

Thundina shot back a glance at Romann, “Hey now, you know how he stands watch all night.  He’s been needing to catch up on his sleep.  Besides, he looks so simple and uncomplicated when he’s asleep like that.”

Romann laughed again, “Simple?  Do say.”
Thundina replied, “You know what I meant.  He’s just so cute.  Or is it handsome?  Whatever, just let him be.”
“Why Thundina, do you have a crush?”
“What?  He’s just a nice guy who is nice to look at.  I mean, he’s a paladin, that just comes with who they are.  That doesn’t mean I have a crush.  Just, go back to your drinking.”

With a shrug, Romann called for another round of ale and returned to the other townsfolk in the inn to tell them once again one of his exaggerated stories of bravery and heroics.  Thundina didn’t think many of them were buying it, but it kept Romann out of trouble.  Thundina stalked out of the inn.  She had been cooped up too long without anything happening and she needed to stretch her legs.  She prowled around the town for awhile, just itching for a fight, but the village seemed peaceful.

The next day, at dinner, an exhausted looking Krel joined the meal.  After a moments silence, Krel asked, “Well, Thundina, aren’t you wondering why we weren’t able to resume the adventure today?”

A quick glance out the window showed that the wind was still howling like it had been all day.  “Nope.  I was just as happy to stay inside today with the weather like it is.”

Krel sunk into his seat and began to take his meal, “Really, I guess I didn’t notice.  I managed to make a lot of progress today.  I’m nearly done, except, I’ve run out of supplies to finish the last little bit.”

“We’ll get you restocked, of course.” Thundina comforted Krel.  “How much are you needing?”
“Well, I spent a total of 1680 gold coins worth of supplies on this.”
Thundina was taken aback.  “That’s… that’s… That’s a lot.  That’s a problem.  I’m flat broke, which is why I’ve been so eager to find Strahd’s treasure room.  Orning is not much better off either.”
Krel turned to Romann and Cyron, “I supposed we’ll split it as evenly as possible.”
Romann asked Cyron, “Cyron, how much money do I have still?”
Cyron opened the money pouch he carried for Romann and replied, “You have 1300, sir.”
“Excellent.  Krel, we can give you 1300.”
Krel replied, “An even split will be fine.  Just give me 840 please.”

Around noon on the fifth day, Krel announced that he had completed all the scrolls.  Everyone settled in to finalize the plans.  Krel described how he envisioned the magic working.  “We’ll go up near the castle.  That’ll make for a shorter flight.  I’ll cast _Fly_ on Romann, he’ll go break open the window, then I’ll cast _Fly_ on the rest of us and we’ll join him.  Does that sound okay?”
Cyron wondered, “Uh, not to be grim, but that’s putting Romann at a lot of risk.  What if the spell expires while Romann is up in the air?”
“_Fly_ always gives you a _Feather Fall_ effect when it ends.  That’ll be fine.” Krel assured Cyron.
“And what if, after he’s inside, there turns out to be some creature which attempts to kill him and he needs to retreat?”  Cyron followed up with.
Thundina laughed, “What, it’s only 900 feet down.  I bet a hero like Romann wouldn’t have any trouble with that.”
Romann scoffed, “You worry too much Cyron.  I think I can handle any creature.  Remember the time during the war when we fought that mercenary company?  We just kept coming at them until they reached the kill limit imposed by their contract and they withdrew.”
Cyron sighed, “Too well.”

Krel thought a moment about falling 900 feet and sighed, “Let’s see if Bildreth has any potions of _Feather Fall_.  If he doesn’t, I can brew some up this afternoon and then we can start out bright and early tomorrow.”

The next morning Krel distributed to each person a potion he had brewed the previous afternoon and everyone set off to the castle yet again.  Reaching a good spot as near to the windows in the cliff as possible, Krel pulled out the scrolls he had prepared, unrolled one and gulped.  “Oh, .  I still need to activate the scrolls.  Okay, slight change of plan.  Romann, after you break the window, come back here and start ferrying us over.  That’s the funny thing about magic, those who are stronger on ground can carry more while in flight.”

The first scroll completed fine and Romann was soon airborne.  Romann flew down to the stain glass window.  Presented with a choice of three windows to break open, Romann settled in front of the middle window; also the largest.  With a yell, he slammed his gauntleted right fist into the windows.  His fist rebounded off the thick glass with little apparent damage.  He followed with at slam from his left fist, but again meeting no success.  Drawing his greatsword, Romann smashed through the window with a single mighty swing of the sword.

Upon hearing the crashing glass and Romann’s cry of triumph, Krel unrolled another scroll and stood near Thundina.  “Hmm, Thundina, err, I don’t suppose you can help me remember what this symbol is?  No, well, shouldn’t make too much of a difference.  Anyway, I just scribed these so I’m certain I remember all the words.  Navi! Nala! Na*cough*”

Watching the scroll begin to crumble to dust in his hands, but Thundina still standing on the ground, Krel exclaimed, “Oh come on!  I said the words!  Everyone heard me, clearly say the words.  Fine.”  Krel unrolled another scroll and tried again.  This time, Thundina immediately began floating an inch off the ground.  She shouted, “I can fly!  Ooh, let’s see, what should I do.”

Krel insisted, “You should take Orning and Halas down to the opening.  Romann has already taken Cyron and he’ll be back for Ashlyn momentarily.”  Thundina held Orning close and told him to hold on.  She then picked Halas and set off for the open window.

Halas protested, “This is no way for your party leader to travel.  Are you sure this is safe.  I should be carefully holding on to you like Orning gets to.”
“Hmm, yeah.  You’re scrawny enough that it’ll be fine.  And if you want treatment like Orning gets, you should learn a lesson or two from him.”

After depositing Orning and Halas, Thundina somersaulted through the air, back to where Krel was waiting on the cliff.  Carrying him back to the room with the ruined window, Thundina and Krel encountered everyone still standing around near the window, nearly giving Thundina no room to land.

Carved from stone, the walls were sculpted into a fine relief pattern.  The far side of the room was bathed in a light blue glow.  Through the blue glow, stairs continuing further up could be seen faintly.  Two marble coffins stood in the middle of the room.  Thundina’s eyes brightened, this room looked rich.  Thundina practically skipped over to one of the coffins and lovingly ran her hand over it, reading the name on the coffin, “Ravonovia von Zarovich”.  

Peeking at every crevice, Thundina was finally convinced that it held no dangerous traps and shoved the lid off the coffin.  Halas, who had been standing over Thundina’s shoulder immediately leaped back to avoid the monster in the coffin.  However, his maneuver was in vain since the only thing the coffin contained was a non-animated corpse wrapped in a faintly glimmering burial shroud.  Thundina, recognizing magic when she saw it, called to Cyron and Krel, “Hey, magic guys, come take a look at this.”

The other coffin was inscribed with the name Barov von Zarovich.  Pushing back this lid as well, Thundina found another mummified corpse.  Finding a green enameled ring on the corpse’s finger, Thundina thought it matched some of the locks of her hair.  Taking the color as a sign, Thundina took the ring and tucked it away.  Thundina returned to investigating the coffin, really expecting to find something shiny and valuable, the coffin turned out to contain nothing but disappointment.

Thundina glanced up to see Cyron gazing reverently at the glowing shroud in the other coffin.  “This is the burial shroud of Saint Ecaterina.  This may be a sign that this is not the grave of Ravonovia von Zarovich.”

As Thundina crossed back to the other coffin, Krel asked, “Find anything over there?”

Thundina furrowed her brow for a moment before shaking her head, “Nothing fun.”  Leaning over the first coffin to get another better look at the glowing shroud, Thundina addressed Cyron, “You say this belonged to a saint.  What else can you tell us about it?”

Cyron thought deeply before speaking, “The burial shroud is something of an artifact.  Saint Ecaterina disappeared many years ago and none knew where she was laid to rest.  Her holy body became infused into the burial shroud layed over her making it a holy item.  Now that I think of it, I guess that doesn’t mean the name on the coffin is in error.  Um, how did the head of my order know about the existence of the shroud.”

“That’s great and all,” Thundina said, “but what are we going to do with it?”
“Well, I guess we can probably take it,” Cyron mused.  “I don’t think St. Ecaterina is going smite us.”
“That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear.  So pick it up already.”

With nothing further of interest in the room, Thundina, Krel, Romann, and Cyron all lined up next to the glowing blue barrier to investigate.  Two orbs set on pedestals in contact with the walls generated the field.  A close investigation of the orbs revealed no way to disable the field and the orbs themselves resisted Thundina’s attempts to dislodge them.  With stairs visible through the barrier, Cyron tossed a shard of glass from the broken window through as well.  Everyone stared back and forth for a moment wondering what to do before Thundina and Krel both stepped forward, Thundina a single step ahead.  Both appeared at the top of the stairs, fifteen feet away from the barrier, but on the far side.  After Thundina gestured to the rest, everyone else came through as well.  Most appeared at the top of the stairs, but Cyron and Ashlyn each simply passed through the barrier and stayed near it.  Cyron could pass back and forth at will, but when Krel tried it, he found himself back at the top of the stairs, away from the coffins.

On the far side, a wide hallway led straight away from the blue field with a maze of hallways leading off to both sides.  Between the hallways, rows of iron doors marked other, smaller tombs.  Thundina scouted a little to each side, but all she could see were rows upon rows of more tombs.  Going down the main hallway eventually led to a spiral stair leading up and out of the catacombs.  The first eighty feet up went very well until a brick wall was then blocking the path.  A small chink in the wall caught Thundina’s attention, but she could find no way to use that or anything else to cause the obstruction to release.

Shouldering his way forward, Romann boldly declared, “No problem!  I just dealt with something blocking our path earlier.”  He drew his great sword and took a swing at the wall.  After the clang of the sword rebounding off the wall, Romann swung again.  Sparks flew from the sword scraping along the brick, but the wall did not shatter.  “Hmm, perhaps brick is stronger than glass.  Interesting.”

As Romann began another assault of the wall, Thundina began going back down stairs, “You have fun with that.  I’m going to see what else there is down here.”  

Back at the bottom of the stairs, Thundina wanted to find the walls parallel to the main corridor so she began moving off to the south.  Thundina paused a moment when Orning called out, “Bravo!”  He was attempting to pry open one of the doors to a random tomb.

Thundina doubled back to Orning to ask, “What is it about this door that you want to open it?”  Thundina peered at the name plate on the door and read, “Thorgen the Grasping; Gold Is His Only Legacy.”  Thundina smiled and began pushing on the door as well, “Very good Orning.  An excellent find.”

Working together, Thundina and Orning managed to open the door to the tomb.  Inside was a corpse still grasping a small wooden chest.  Thundina approached carefully and looked over the chest.  Finding a hole for a pin, Thundina chuckled before stopping the hole.  “Alright now Thorgen, let’s see your legacy.”  Thundina opened the chest and pulled out the treasure – a single gold coin.  She laughed the maniacally laughter of someone trying not to cry.

Past a couple more rows of tombs and the party spotted the southern wall.  A black iron gate in the wall was drawn shut preventing any further explorations to the south.  Over the gate a skull had been affixed to the wall; and it wasn’t one of those happy skulls occasionally seen in castles.  Through the gate Thundina could see a black coffin on a mound of dirt in the middle of a room.  A giant stone statue of a man stood watch over the coffin.  A light mist extended a few feet from the gate in all directions.  Although Romann wanted to return to the brick wall in the stair case and Orning insisted on opening another crypt, Thundina stepped towards the gate and into the mist.

After a flash of light, Thundina found herself in darkness.  Instead of her armor, she was wearing only some filthy rags.  Wood enclosed her on all sides, pressing in.  Thundina pounded on the wood for a moment before she forced herself to relax and think.  It felt like a coffin so all she needed to do was find the lid and either push it off or break it open.  She shoved the lid open and gazed around the room.  In the dark room, Thundina could see a horde of twisted figures.  The smell of decay in the room and the way the figures were standing made Thundina immediately think of wights, a creature she had hoped never to see again.  Not seeing any exit anywhere in the room, Thundina made one more search of the coffin she had found herself in, hoping to find the way back.  Nothing there either and the horde of wights shambled to surround Thundina.

Back in the corridors near the gate, when Thundina had disappeared, a corpse had appeared in her gear at the location where she vanished.  The lump of flesh fell to the ground as everyone stood shocked.  Krel crouched down near the floor and peered through the mists.  Krel announced, “There’s a trap here.  Stepping into the mists would be a bad idea.  Let me see if I can disable it.”

Romann picked up the corpse, then dropped it again.  When nothing happened to it, he reached the conclusion that the trap couldn’t kill anyone else.  “Well done Krel.  Stick with me, you’ve got a bright future ahead.”  He stepped forward into the mists before Krel could yell at him to stop.  A corpse dressed identically to Romann fell to the ground.

Surrounded but with a second wave of wights yet to come, Thundina took one last hard look around the room, desperately praying that there was some exit.  There, on the eastern wall Thundina saw some recesses which looked like they might be handholds running up the wall.  Thundina dodged over, under, and around the nearby wights and made a dash to the wall.  Nearing the wall, she relieved to see that the handholds were real and they led up to a shaft climbing further out the room.  Grabbing on to the wall, Thundina hauled herself up out of the reach of the wights before they could react to her burst of speed.

Once Romann disappeared, Cyron lunged forward to chase after him and another corpse fell to the ground.  Orning, after watching others walk forward, stepped forward too and a fourth corpse fell with a meaty smack.  Ashlyn and Halas were stupefied by what they had seen, but had no good ideas on what could be done and so simply stared at Krel as he continued to inspect the trap looking for a way to reverse, or at least disable, whatever had taken his friends.

Thundina reached the top of the wall she had been climbing and could see the cracks on the ceiling indicating a trap door.  Clinging to the wall, Thundina pushed at the slab of stone and pushed it open.  She had found an escape and was getting ready to run back to her friends to tell them she was safe when from below she heard Cyron calling out, asking if anyone was around.  When both Romann and Orning answered, Thundina yelled down the shaft, “Stay put, I’m going for help!”  She was now standing in a small room filled with junk but with a door very reminiscent of all the tomb doors she had passed in the hallways in the catacombs.  Pushing open the door, Thundina called out to her friends.  Soon, the flickering green light of an everburning torch appeared around a corned and Thundina could hear Krel calling out, “Thundina!  Thundina, where are you?”

Once Thundina had reunited with Krel, Ashlyn, and Halas and had explained what had happened to her plus learned of what had happened to Romann, Cyron, and Orning, she described a plan.  Time being of the essence, Thundina only stopped at the pile of flesh and equipment long enough to grab her weapons and pack.  “Krel, can you provide a firestorm to clear out a pack of wights?”

“No, but I can create a _Fireball_.”
“Perhaps fire isn’t right anyway.  An ocean of holy water would be better.”
“Not that either.”
“Sea?” Thundina suggested.  Krel stared back uncomprehendingly a moment before she continued, “Lake?  Puddle?  Fine, go with the _Fireball_.”

Upon return to the door that led down to the wight’s lair, Thundina paused long enough to note the inscription saying that Shuhul Ishai-Bal and his family were buried with honor there.  Thundina pulled her rope out of her pack and began measuring out the length she’d need to lower Krel down the hole.  Krel asked, “How dire is the situation?  Will I be able to take my time preparing?”

“I don’t know,” Thundina replied.  Leaning over the shaft, she yelled down, “Are you safe still?”
Everyone strained their ears to hear what was happening down below.  Finally, Halas looked up and said, “Did you hear anything?”
After Thundina and Krel both shook their heads, Halas spoke again, “They say they’re in dire trouble, in need of immediate rescue.  We can’t spare a moment!  Oh, the wailing!”

Krel concentrated for a moment on his shirt.  Runes appeared on his shirt and Krel looked up.  Satisfied with the result, Krel retraced the runes along his shirt again concentrating.  Once he had completed retracing all his work, Krel announced, “I’ve got two charges of _Fireball_ stored in my shirt.  Let’s do this before I realize what I’ve agreed to do.”

After Thundina had nodded to Ashlyn to light her sunrod and toss it down the shaft, Thundina tied a harness around Krel.  Hand over hand, Thundina lowered Krel down.  Krel quietly called up, “How far do you intend to lower me down?”
Thundina called back, “It’s your call.  Let me know when you’re ready.”
“Okay.  How about one tug on the rope to continue lowering and two tugs to pull me back up.”
“You know, I can see you just fine.  Gesturing will suffice.”

Getting below the ceiling in the wight room, Krel spotted one figure partially in shadow at the very edge of the sunrod’s light.  Krel grasped his shirt to begin pulling the energy out when he was overcome with a sudden desire to rip his shirt off and drop it.  He tried to figure out how to remove his shirt through both his breastplate and the harness he was tied into when the ridiculousness of the thought registered.  His friends were in danger, dropping the shirt would only leave them in danger.  Krel summoned all his sense of self and repelled the outside thought and continued with activating the fireball.  He threw it just past the creature he could see.  The blossoming of the _Fireball_ was accompanied by the inhuman screams of several creatures and the splintering of wood.

Thundina pulled Krel ten feet up just before a wave of wights reached his former position.  From his position out of reach of the wights, Krel took careful aim to catch the ones below him in the blast radius while leaving him safe.  More screams and several of the visible ones fell motionless.  Thundina began hauling Krel up and out and called on Ashlyn and Halas to help pull.  As soon as Krel was out of the hole, Romann appeared in the light of the sunrod, looking confused and weak.  Thundina could tell that he hadn’t spotted the handholds and tossed down the rope that was still attached to Krel.  Once Romann had climbed back up, and a wight which had tried to give chase had been dispatched, the next step needed to be planned.  Neither Cyron nor Orning had been spotted so the fighters would need to go down to engage in melee combat to finish clearing out the undead.

Since the room had once again fallen quiet, Thundina and Romann decided they could take the time to put their armor on before climbing down.  A pair of ropes were secured and Thundina, Romann, and Ashlyn climbed down.  The members of the party charged forward to meet the wights.  Only four had survived the initial rescue mission, out of approximately a dozen Thundina had spotted during her escape.  Fully armed and armored, the party made quick work of the undisciplined wights.

Romann pulled Cyron safely from a coffin, but Orning was not in evidence.  Thundina searched the room to eventually find him beyond rescue in the farthest corner of the room.  Apparently the first fireball had broken open his coffin and he had then retreated farther and farther into the darkness.  Tears rolled down Thundina’s cheeks as she bent down to close the eyes of her fallen friend.


----------



## Ealli (Mar 9, 2007)

*Chapter 8: Door Number Three*

Cyron came out of the coffin he had been imprisoned in clutching a scroll.  Thundina took that as a cue to ransack every other coffin in the subvault.  With each piece of loot, Thundina felt a little better.  Krel had come down into the hole and began following Thundina around, inspecting each item.  The wands and scrolls he kept for himself, the potions he identified as non-standard potions to be researched more fully later.  When she found a silver necklace with a diamond set into it, Thundina asked Krel, “Do you think this is pretty?”

Krel touched the necklace and shook his head, “It’s not magical.”
“I didn’t ask if you thought it was magical, I asked if you thought it was pretty.”
“Umm, yes, it’s very nice.”
Thundina put the necklace on and asked, “Do you think this is pretty on me?”
Krel blanched and quickly asked, “Was there anything else for me to identify?”
“No, just some gold and platinum coins.  Looks to be about 400 gold worth all together.  Or 270 Bildreth bucks.”

While Thundina and Krel were rummaging through the coffins, Cyron noticed how weak Romann looked.  Cyron sprinkled some diamond dust over Romann and invoked the gods for healing.  The warrior’s fire quickly returned to Romann’s eyes.  He strode around once more like he owned the place.

After climbing out of the hole, the party returned to the southern half of the catacombs and began systematically opening the crypts, looking for the key to the stairwell blockage.  The tomb of King Dastrum, Hellborn and Hellbound, seemed promising, but contained nothing more than a scattering of ashes.  Many however, had the name plate epitaph missing and the tomb had nothing more interesting than a skeleton in rags sitting on a marble slab.  Thundina and Romann fell into a rhythm; Thundina inspecting the door, Romann shoving it open, and Thundina scouring the room.

After many disappointments, the tomb of Praefect Cyrel at last yielded excitement.  The skeleton on the marble slab in tomb was dressed in still immaculate white clerical vestments instead of decayed rags.  The high priest’s skeletal remains clutched a small chest in which Thundina found a strand of prayer beads and some silver arrows.  After Krel had confirmed magic in both the beads and the arrows, Thundina and Romann moved on to the next tomb.

With Krel and Cyron close on their heels, Thundina and Romann looked back to see the vestments still in the high priest’s tomb, looked to each other and then looked quizzically at Cyron.  Thundina said, “You know Cyron, if I see a sword, or a shield, or a helmet, or something I like, I’m going to take it.”

Cyron, not following, asked, “Of course you would.  I don’t understand your point.”
“The point is, if you see some robes you like, you should take them.”
“What?”
“There’s something unusual about those robes.  Everything else here has been decaying rags, but those are still in perfect condition.”

In the next tomb, Thundina found a jeweled dog collar but something about the back wall caught her attention.  Tossing the dog collar up and catching it while staring at the back wall, Thundina rolled her head side to side trying to figure out what was so strange about the wall.  Romann noticed the unusual behavior and asked what was going on.  Thundina replied, “I think Cyron should come take a look at this.”

Romann bellowed, “Cyron, attend to me.”

Cyron came hurrying up clutching the vestments of Praefect Cyrel, “These are indeed magical.”
“Very nice,” Romann said hardly looking, “but Thundina wants you to look at something.”
“So what is this place?”
Thundina, still staring at the wall, answered, “Something something, dog sled champion.  His tomb anyway.  If you’re curious as to the exact name, check the epitaph outside, I can’t pronounce it.”

Cyron stood next to Thundina and followed her gaze to the wall.  He too noticed something odd about it.
Thundina asked, “Well Mr. Dwarf, what do you think about it.”
Cyron replied, “It’s new and not well constructed.  Maybe it’s a passage out of the castle?”
“Hmm, could well be.  I can’t find a way to open it so I guess we ask Romann to deal with it.”

Romann stepped up the wall and smacked it once with his greatsword.  Under the powerful blow, the wall exploded revealing a shaft with obvious handholds running both up and down.  Romann took his everburning torch and climbed down a short way.  Right as the handholds ended Romann could see the shaft growing wider and a couple dog-sized bugs scurrying about.  Romann quickly climbed back up and reported what he had seen.  No one had any particular desire to encounter bugs in a confined space so the party continued on to another tomb.

At the door to the tomb of Kudan Doranol, Cyron had something to say, “Kudan was an ascetic monk of the order from the burned out monastery on Lysaga Hill.  He was supposed to be so holy and pure that his body ascended after his death.”

After the tomb was opened, Thundina found a faint outline of a body on the otherwise empty marble slab.  “I guess he did, because there was a body here once but no more.”

Once all the southern tombs had been ransacked, Cyron wondered aloud, “It’s like an entire castle staff was buried here.  We’ve found the councilor, the chef, the high priest, the dog sled champion, a knight.  Did any of the epitaphs have any dates?”

Along the main hallway, next to the stairwell going up, the party found two very interesting names.  First was the tomb for Patrina Velacova who was listed as bride.  The second was already open and was not one the party had opened.  The epitaph on that one read, “Ireena Kolyana – Wife”.  When Thundina looked inside she saw no body on the marble slab, but did find a golden jewel studded comb entwined with several dark hairs.  Thundina took the comb; something to show Ireena back in town and ask her about, and then get kicked out of the Kolyanavich manor again.  Though very curious, the party soon moved on because there was nothing further to find in Ireena’s tomb.

Thundina read off the epitaph of the next tomb, “Pavit Builder – This Castle is a monument to his life.”  When she searched his tomb looked for gold and valuables, she instead found a switch hidden beneath the marble display slab.  After considering a moment what the switch might be to, Thundina shrugged and threw the switch.  As soon as the switch had been shifted, the slab began to creak and move.  Once it had completed its move, Thundina could see a narrow staircase spiraling down into darkness.

Thundina began descending the stairs and was perhaps a minute down when she realized that none of her party members were following.  Re-emerging from the secret passage, Thundina and her friends had a quick conference and decided that they should follow this passage to its end.  During the descent, Cyron called out every 100 feet down to say how far underground it felt.  Almost immediately after he called out that the party was now 900 feet underground, the stairs ended in a straight passageway which then led to a door.  After pushing it open and walking into the Svalich Woods beneath the cliff and beneath Castle Ravenloft, Thundina noted how well the outside of the door blended into the cliff.

The party pushed its way through the forest.  As they approached a clearing in the woods with a single, large tree in the middle of it, an elf stepped out from behind the tree and called to the party in elvish, “What evil do you bring into these woods?”

Krel called back, also in elvish, “We bring no evil.  In fact, we oppose Strahd; we just came from his castle where we were fighting his minions.”  Thundina was content to let Krel negotiate with the elf, the elvish tongue was useful to know, but not one she particularly enjoyed.

The elf challenged Krel, “Do you have proof of this?”

Krel dropped back into common and told the party, “The elf wants proof that we oppose Strahd.  Halas, I think the Symbol would be good proof.”
“Ah, Karl.  Remember, I told you, I hid the Symbol in town.  I feared for its safety if I had brought it up to the Castle.”
“Ashlyn, the Sunsword would be the next best bet,” Krel said.  He then returned to elvish to tell the elf, “We have reforged the Sunsword.”

A rustle in the woods from both the north and south gave the party scant warning before a pair of large white wolves charged the party.  At the same time as the wolves charged, the elf whipped out his bow and began firing at Romann.  The arrow missed and the underbrush slowed the wolves just enough that they could not begin biting as soon as they arrived.

Cyron was the first to react and said a _Blessing_ for the party.  As he attempted to back away, the underbrush hindered him such that the wolf near him pulled him to the ground.  From on his back, Cyron brandished his symbol and the wolf and _Commanded_ it to flee.  That wolf bounded off to the south.

Meanwhile, Thundina had maneuvered her way around and behind the other wolf.  Romann got up into the wolf’s face and began swinging his greatsword about.  His first swing looked very impressive but only drew a little blood to stain the wolf’s white fur.  The second blow however separated the head from the body.

Thundina began looking for the second wolf, not expecting much respite from it.  A scream indicated a human in trouble, just a little south from the ongoing battle.  Chasing towards the sound, Thundina found the white wolf standing over what looked like a traveler who had taken a bad turn.  With a sudden pop, the figure disappeared and reappeared in the midst of the party.  Thundina advanced on the wolf with Romann attempting to get behind it to set up flanking.  The two of them quickly dispatched the second wolf as well.

While Thundina and Romann were dealing with the wolves, the elf had continued its mostly futile attempt at raining down arrows on the party.  Ashlyn began advancing through the underbrush as quickly as she was able.  Krel kept a small distance behind her so as not to attract too much attention from the elf.  As soon as they made it into the clearing, they charged forward towards the elf.  Thundina and Romann pulled out their bows and began trading fire with the elf rather than trying to run through the woods.  The stranger joined in the fray on the side of the party with a small barrage of _Magic Missiles_ which ended the battle against the vastly outnumbered elf.

When forced to melee, the elf had wielded a greatsword.  Romann asked Krel to inspect the quality of the sword and once Krel said that was of masterly quality, Romann added a third sword to his collection, next to the two magical greatswords he carried.

The party then surrounded the stranger.  At first he was oblivious to the party, muttering to himself.  A raven alighted on his shoulder and he continued his monologue, except including the raven now as well.  Finally he noticed the others, “Oh, right, yes, I should introduce myself and thank you for rescuing me.  Thank you.”

Thundina interrupted him, “What are you doing in the woods here?”
“I’m looking for a town, well more of a village really, that’s somewhere nearby.  I seem to have gotten a little lost.”
“Looking for Barovia?”
“Yes, that’s it!  Does that qualify as a town or as a village?”
“Village I’d say.  We can escort you back to the village; we’re heading that way ourselves.”  

The party resumed their progress through the woods with the stranger in tow.  Whenever he wasn’t specifically engaged with someone in the party, he began talking to the raven which rode on his shoulder.

 Now, you were going to introduce yourself.”
“Right, right.  My name is Grim d’Orien.”
“d’Orien, as in House Orien?”
“Yes.  I was supposed to be delivering a message out here, to a Mr. Layson, only I’ve lost the letter.  If don’t deliver it, I’m certain to be fired.”

Thundina had to think a moment.  That name sounded familiar, but she was having trouble placing it.  Romann spoke up saying, “Sorry, but I don’t think we know a Mr. Layson.”

It was then that Thundina recalled that, yes, the party did know a Mr. Layson; Mr. Orning Layson.  Thundina mentioned this and Romann, somewhat confused, asked, “Bravo had a last name?”

“Yes, Orning had a last name,” Thundina confirmed.  “Who has his papers?”

Cyron pulled out the papers Orning had always carried with him in case he became lost and needed assistance.  Cyron and Romann looked at the papers again and Cyron told Grim, “I’m sorry, but Mr. Layson has recently died.”

“That’s a problem,” Grim muttered.  “I need to deliver the message in someway still.  If I don’t, it’s more than I’m worth.”
Thundina grinned mischievously, “We can give you directions to where he lays.  You can take the letter and tuck it into his hands for a mission accomplished.”

Grim glanced up and took a hard look at each member of the party.  “You’re Miss Seong.  And you’re Mr. Hauldak.  I must admit that I peeked at the letter.  It was from Mr. Layson.  I mean, the father, not the Mr. Layson you know.  The two of you were also mentioned.  Mr. Layson was supposed to be retrieving something called the Sunsword.  Perhaps if I bring the item back in addition to the news of what has befallen Mr. Layson that will be acceptable in place of delivering the actual letter.”

Thundina protested, “The Sunsword does not belong to Orning’s father.  It belongs to the Lightbringers.  We have it, but it is not yet restored to its full powers.  We still need to do that before we can take it back to the organization.”

The party had reached town and was at the central square, outside Bildreth’s shop.  Thundina said, “We need diamond dust first, and pearls second.  Who wants to deal with Bildreth?”

Grim spoke up, “What was that?  Hmm, I think I have some of each of that which I could share.  That is, if I can join you and be of assistance in returning the Sunsword and Mr. Layson’s papers.”

For the rest of that evening, and beginning again the next morning, Krel and Grim worked on _Identifying_ the various magical objects recovered from the catacombs to that point.  The green enamel ring that Thundina had thought so pretty was of no use to her however; she passed it first to Cyron who then passed it to Grim.

In the morning, Thundina bounded up to Cyron and with a flutter of her eyelashes she asked, “Do you have a diamond for me?”
“Yes, I have the _Restoration_ prepared.” Cyron said.  He sprinkled the dust over Thundina and began praying.  Thundina stared transfixed at the sparkling motes that hung around her.  As Cyron finished his chanting, a feeling of completeness returned to Thundina.  She hadn’t realized how cold she felt until the cold had broken and left only warmth in her soul.
“Thank you Cyron.  You’re my hero.”

As the party, with their new recruit, gathered to begin another assault on Strahd’s stronghold, they needed to discuss which way to enter.  Thundina wanted to try the main gate again, but the rest insisted on taking the hidden entrance up into the catacombs.  Thundina acquiesced but sulked all the way through the Svalich Woods and up the stairs back into Castle Ravenloft.  Once back to exploring the catacombs, Thundina found her professionalism and examined the nearest unopened door.

“Sasha Ivliskova.  I think I’ve seen this name somewhere before.” Thundina thought aloud after examining the door.  “I remember now, it was in the accursed diary.  Forty years ago she was able to keep Strahd at bay until she disappeared one day.”

Halas began inching away from the door and towards the glowing blue barrier, even trying to go through it, only to be teleported back to where he started.  At the strange looks from the party he attempted an explanation, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Thundina shook her head and told Romann to open the tomb to find out what had become of Sasha.  When the door was thrown open, instead of the expected skeleton in rags, Thundina spotted a pale beautiful woman standing ready.  Her brilliant red hair was pulled back highlighting a widow’s peak in front.  Her deep blue eyes locked with Romann’s eyes, drawing him in before he blinked.  Her bright red lips parted revealing two prominently fanged teeth as she sweetly called out, “Help me, to my defense!”  Tears then welled in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks as she pleaded softly, “Kill me.”

Cyron’s eyes went wide and he shouted, “Vampire!  Feel the power of the gods and despair!”  Not only did Sasha not blink at the shout, but a tomb down the hall opened and two humanoids with red eyes began to move to the fray.  One reached Cyron and clawed at him.  Very little physical damage seemed evident, but Cyron wilted a little.

In response to Sasha’s call, a celestial dire lion appeared in the hall, next to Halas.  It pounced on him, shaking him about like a rag doll before dropping a heavily savaged body.  Romann charged at the lion to rescue his friend.  Both Krel and Grim pumped magic into the dire lion; Krel with his wand of _Scorching Ray_ and Grim with basic _Magic Missiles_.

Thundina and Ashlyn stepped into Sasha’s tomb to fulfill her wish.  Thundina’s strike slipped past Sasha’s defenses but then struck some invisible force and rebounded just shy of Sasha’s body.  Ashlyn and Sasha both reached out towards each other.  They clasped hands and both narrowed their eyes in concentration to force their will on the other.  When they let go, both seemed weaker from the contest.  Sasha tapped a brick next to her and a hidden door swung open beside Sasha.

Cyron brandished his holy symbol at the creature with the glowing red eyes and shouted, “Be gone creature of darkness!  The light of the gods shines even in this darkness!”  The creatures could not resist Cyron’s holy energy and began to run away into the darkness of the catacombs.

Meanwhile Romann’s plan of rescuing Halas from the lion met an acute problem.  The lion bit Romann, grabbed him, and wrestled him to the ground.  Romann struggled against the lion, trying to turn it onto its back.  The first attempt appeared to go well before one of Romann’s feet slipped out from beneath him leaving him no leverage.  Far away, a wolf howled and the faintest echo of the howl reached even the deep bowels of the catacombs.  The lion growled as it looked at the soft targets in front of it.  Romann made a second try and caught the celestial dire lion by surprise and flipped it onto its back.  The lion flailed helplessly as Romann shouted in triumph and shock, “I pinned it!”

Thundina sensed the rare opportunity presented by Romann’s heroics and if the opportunity passed, there was a very real danger that Romann would not survive a second round of wrestling with the lion.  Thundina withdrew from facing Sasha to get close enough to the lion to aim a deadly blow at the helpless creature.  Since the lion was pinned, Thundina was able to line up a very precise blow which snapped the creature’s neck.  Sparkling lights replaced the lion which then faded out and Romann dropped to the ground.

Cyron moved over to where Thundina stood and Romann lay and considered a moment before putting a _Death Ward_ on Thundina and telling her that she need not fear the dark touch of the vampire for a couple minutes.

Sasha burst out of the tomb via the secret door and began retreating down the hall.  Grim, who had been waiting for just that maneuver, dropped a _Fireball_ on her, singeing her before beginning to concentrate and gather more fire for a larger blast.  Thundina tumbled past Sasha to cut off the escape path Sasha appeared to be heading towards.  Thundina drove her blade low towards Sasha’s back only to have it rebound off the same invisible field that had protected Sasha previously.  This confused Thundina because she had always heard from her father that the best way to get at a shielded wizard was to get behind it.

Sasha, tears still streaming down her cheeks, feinted at Thundina putting Thundina on the defensive before whirling and flinging five _Magic Missiles_ at Grim who was deep in concentration.  The sudden damage stunned Grim and the magic between his fingers dissipated.  Sasha slid to her left while keeping Thundina at arm’s length.  

Romann jumped up and ran into battle even though he was half dead while Ashlyn limped after Sasha brandishing the brightly glowing Sunsword.  The three trapped Sasha against the wall and prevented her escaping.  Grim retaliated with his own barrage of _Magic Missiles_ which forced Sasha into a gaseous form to flee the short distance back into her coffin.  Ashlyn quickly strode over, pulled out a _flare stake_ and hammered the stake into the vampire’s heart.

Thundina called out to her allies, “Quickly, after the spawn, while they are demoralized!”  Thundina raced through the dark passages attempting to track the one spawn she had seen fleeing.  Upon reaching the corner where she was expecting to find one cowering but finding no enemy, Thundina slowed to consider her options for which other paths to follow.  Listening to her heart beat from the fighting and running, Thundina realized she wasn’t hearing anything else; she was alone away from the party.  She retraced her steps back to Sasha’s tomb.  As she approached, Grim started chanting an incantation.  Before Thundina could call out a greeting, Grim threw a _Fireball_ down the main hallway orthogonal to Thundina’s approach and out of her sight.  The party rushed to see what had set him off and discovered the smoldering remains of a large swarm of dire rats.

With the monster defeated, Thundina set to looting while Cyron healed the wounded Romann and near-dead Halas.  Thundina chuckled as she thought about taking the rouge for the rogue before also tucking away a trio of bottles of perfume.  She held a golden locket up to get a better view of its inscription, ‘Strahd’.  Finally, Thundina found a diary.  She shuddered a moment remember how the previous diary had treated her, but still she opened it and skimmed through.



> If you are reading this then I am released and at what peace I may find.  I beg you who have come this far, destroy Strahd.  You will need the Hellheart Locket which is carried by a devil on the highest parapet.  In the adjoining tower is the Dayheart which protects Strahd from light and can only be destroyed by the Locket.  Only then will he be fully vulnerable to the Sunsword.
> 
> He toys with me and torments me.  I hate what he has done to me.  He could make me love him, but he seems to delight in seeing my hate.  There is another who he intends to marry so it is my place to watch with jealousy and hate.  In the small parts of my mind, I fight him, but those parts seem smaller with each passing year.  I do not know how long before I am nothing at all.




“Well, Thundina, that was useful,” Krel said after Thundina completed the reading.  “And you didn’t want to come back this way.”

“Yes, it was important information,” Thundina agreed, “but I still don’t like this place.”

Grim requested a couple moments to review his spellbook before the party continued their adventure through the catacombs.  The party agreed while they mulled over the new implications of what they learned and the final healing spells used to restore health.

Creatures of shadow silently advanced on the meager flickering light at the center of the party.  Unseen for the poor oculary capability of the heroes they homed in on.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 9 will be delayed for a week while we take a break.


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## Ealli (Mar 23, 2007)

*Chapter 9:  Red Haze Shadow*

Flickering shadows engulfed the party where they stood outside of Sasha’s tomb.  In the blink of an eye, the light of the everburning torch was reduced to a mere pinprick and the surrounding darkness provided its own black light.  Thundina felt some intangible force pulling her attention to the presence of something down the hallway.  Quick glances around her friends revealed that her vision was only good to about ten feet and that everyone else was also aware that something was out there.

“Cyron, do you think you could give us some light here?” Thundina called.
“Can’t,” came Cyron’s reply.  “I don’t have any light available.”

Before Thundina could ask for clarification, she staggered from a wave of vertigo.  As it passed Thundina felt relaxed, bold, giddy; in short, she felt drunk.  No more wasting time on Cyron, there was something to discover and maybe something to conquer.  Putting one foot in front of the other, Thundina stepped away from the party and into the shadows.  

Just as soon as she lost sight of her friends, Thundina spotted a large spider emitting shadows in the middle of the hallway.  She took the final steps towards it, stumbling a little, only to have the spider take a swipe at her with one of its legs.  The hairy leg swept over Thundina’s head, only because the stumble was driving Thundina down already.  She retaliated with a sweeping cut at close range.  Ashlyn soon took up a flanking position opposite Thundina with the Sunsword hovering over the creature, ready to stab down.

From back where the party was, a scream was cut short to be followed by the meaty sounds of two chunks of something smacking to the floor.  “Owww,” Krel cried out, “Romann, what are you doing?”

Halas stepped up to Romann, whispered to him, “This is the end of you, for such a shocking act.”  Halas stabbed Romann, the rapier pricking Romann in the arm and drawing a trickle of blood.

“Halas, no,” Cyron protested.  “Romann is not feeling himself.  You will stand down.”  To make certain that Halas terminated his attacks, Cyron wrapped Halas in his own mind, causing Halas to freeze up.

Romann was enraged at the presumption of Halas to betray their friendship and turned his greatsword on Halas.  The first blow crushed Halas’s chest while the second blow battered the bloody body further.  The crushed form of Halas slipped to the ground completely motionless.

Krel waved a wand at Romann, “I’m sorry to do this my friend, but you need to stop.”  Romann froze in place, like Halas had when Cyron enspelled him.

The dual threat of Thundina and Ashlyn spooked the creature between them and it vanished.  The shadows vanished too, though a boundary of darkness was just off to their side.  Thundina struck at the space where the spider had just vanished and then continued her strike on and out the far side of the space with the guisarme’s head running harmlessly over Ashlyn’s armored foot.  Thundina then flicked her guisarme up.  Ashlyn looked surprised at the wild strike and asked Thundina, “Were you attempting to attack me?”

“What?” Thundina asked innocently, “Just because you are so holy and make everyone feel judged by the gods, doesn’t mean I would ever try to get rid of you.”

“You are a Lightbringer, Thundina, you took an oath.” Ashlyn scolded gently, “I am going to bring the Light into the shadows.”  Ashlyn strode into the shadows in search of the badger-like creature.

Thundina considered a moment and decided that there was something about the creature that just annoyed her to no end.  As soon as she took a step into the shadows, she could feel the draw of something.  Following the draw to its center, Thundina found the creature crouching by a corner.  Thundina silently stalked up to it taking that it would not attempt to grab her with a hairy leg again.

Ashlyn came out of the shadows from the other direction and again took up a threatening position on the creature.  As soon as Ashlyn appeared, the creature vanished again leaving Thundina in normal darkness and Ashlyn in the unnatural shadows.  Frustrated at the target vanishing again, Thundina lashed out at the only target she could still see, missing Ashlyn badly.  Ashlyn walked deeper into the shadows without a backward glance.  “I’m sorry, Ashlyn, I didn’t mean it,” Thundina shouted after her before muttering to herself, “I’ve had enough of chasing after that thing through the shadows.  The others can handle the situation for once, or flush it back here.”

The absurdity of the situation caught up to Thundina and she laughed.  The laughter soon gave way to dread and she attempted to flee.  The soft force urging her into the shadows to track down the creature at the center became a hard force preventing her from taking even a single step away from it.  This too was hilarious and Thundina resumed laughing even harder.

The edge of the shadows shifted slightly and sobriety returned to Thundina.  The sudden onset and sudden departure of a drunken state worried her and the numerous screams from that time which had pretty well died away worried her more.  Once she had stepped in to the shadows, she could feel that gentle force pushing her back towards where she first encountered the creature.  Thundina moved orthogonal to the force as much as possible looking for where the party had started.

Blood covered the entire area, in splatter patterns around two corpses.  Grim had been cut in half, he had died fast at least.  Halas however looked to have died more slowly and brutally.  Thundina considered the violence and the losses.  Grim had been a fine boy for the brief time Thundina had known him, his death was truly a shame.  Halas, on the other hand, was not a fine boy and Thundina did not mourn his death at all.  There was that one little problem about how he had supposedly hidden the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, but maybe he was lying about that like he lied about everything else.  Too much blood and too many screams, it was time to get out if at all possible.  Thundina scooped up Halas’s pack with the intention of taking it out of the castle.  Before she could take a step towards the stairs, another wave of vertigo caught her.  Beginning to feel giggly, Thundina also recognized that this was an external effect and refused to give in to it again.  The vertigo passed without leaving inebriation behind.

Thundina began walking with the force and in the direction of the stairs out.  She passed Ashlyn, Romann, and Cyron on her way forward.  She could only quickly glance at them, but Romann and Cyron were covered in blood, additionally flecks of foam were all around Romann’s mouth while Ashlyn was looking a little tipsy.  The field of force brought Thundina to face the creature once more, just shy of the exit to the stairs.

The force was a gentle push so long as Thundina moved towards the creature and even as she moved around the creature, but attempts to move away were met with a much firmer force that prevented any retreat.  The only way out for Thundina would be to defeat the creature.  Her heart began racing as she prepared for battle, wishing furiously that she could have some assistance in the battle.  From the shadows, Cyron stepped forward dropping his holy symbol back to his chest as he took up a position on the far side of the creature, not quite flanking it, but something easy enough to remedy.

The raised up on its back legs and lashed out at Thundina with hairy legs.  Thundina dodged the first leg entirely.  She deflected the second leg up and away harmlessly with her guisarme but deflecting the leg then left Thundina exposed as two more legs came crashing in at waist level.  The breastplate absorbed the majority of the blows, but Thundina knew she’d have bruises there in the morning.  The spider landed on all its legs again and surged forward to grab Thundina in its mandibles.  As it tore away a chunk of flesh from Thundina, it pulled something else out as well.  To Thundina, her weapon seemed heavier than it had ever before and the armor weighed on her shoulders more than usual.

Thundina slipped to the side so that she was directly across from Cyron and brought her guisarme down towards the spider.  It watched the guisarme closely and the shadows seemed to gather around it as the spider watched until the creature began tracking Cyron as well.  The instant not all of its attention was on Thundina, Thundina’s strike connected with the cephalothorax.  The creature writhed at the massive gash and Thundina only regretted that the shadows had prevented her from going after something intimately vital. She wasted no time in quickly flicking the guisarme again and again.

“Come on Cyron,” Thundina shouted, “let’s finish this!”
“Dammit, Thundina, I’m a cleric, not a fighter.  The _Blessing_ of the Sovereign Host be upon us.  Err, and by us, I mean you and me, I’m a little leery of letting Romann have divine guidance on his sword at the current time.  You won’t repeat that to him, right?”

The spider scuttled towards Romann, who had neared the battle.  Again the spider rose on its hind legs and pummeled its target with four legs before landing and biting.  Shadows trailed from the bite wound back to the spider’s maw and Romann staggered a moment before retaliating with a powerful blow that split open the creature’s head.  The force that had been pushing Thundina towards the creature vanished and the unnatural shadows which had surrounded the group rushed into the creature.  The pinprick of light from the everburning torch flared back to its normal pale glow.  Even that little bit was reassuring.

Thundina made eye contact with Romann to congratulate him on finishing off the spider, but he was not looking her way.  His eyes were darting back and forth as he was laughing manically.  He spotted Cyron and took a step forward with his greatsword raised high.  Thundina snared one of his legs and pulled it out from beneath him, dropping Romann heavily on his back.  She then hopped back another step so that even if he rolled over, she’d still be out of the reach of the greatsword.

“Over here, you oaf.”  Thundina taunted as Romann fell.  “Pick on someone your own size and leave Cyron to tend to the wounded!”

Romann climbed to his feet and ran towards Thundina.  She was set to deflect any strike, but no attack came.  Whatever insanity or confusion was whipping Romann into such a blood frenzy faded as he came face to face with Thundina.  Meanwhile Cyron reported from back outside Sasha’s crypt that Ashlyn was beyond help in another pool of blood.

A quick count of the bodies told Thundina that Krel was missing.  “Krel, where are you?  The battle is over, it’s safe to come out!”
“When the pressure shifted the second time, he stepped into the shadows following the pressure flow,” Cyron said and pointed in the direction that Krel had gone.  “I haven’t seen him since then.  He was using his wands, but I haven’t heard anything recently either.”

A little ways into the catacombs they found Krel’s unmoving body.  He had suffered multiple blows to the head but was still holding a wand, looking like he was ready to use it.

“A warrior’s death.”  Thundina proclaimed.  “I mean, I know he wasn’t a warrior, but as deaths go, this was a good one.  He died opposing a vicious creature in defense of his friends.  So why do I feel so terrible?”

“Ah, Thundina, there you are,” Romann interrupted, “I need your help with words for when I describe this fight to the villagers.  Would you say I crushed the spider or was it more that I smashed the spider?  Or maybe squished?  Hmm, squished doesn’t seem to invoke the right proportions though.”  Romann wandered away again musing on how to wow the villagers with his combat prowess.

“If you’re feeling responsible,” Cyron counseled, “you shouldn’t.  Krel, from everything I heard, joined the quest for his own reasons, and you didn’t contribute to his death.  That was all the fault of the spider, and the master of this castle.  Umm, but I think we need to be leaving, those vampire spawn should be on their way back soon.”

After collecting Krel and bringing him back to the staging area, the remaining group noticed how there were four corpses but only three people to carry.  Thundina made the first suggestion, “I guess we leave Halas here.  Worst case, stick him in one of these empty crypts.”

“We can’t leave Halas here!” Romann decried.

“Bringing Halas back may be of a good plan,” Cyron mediated. “Tomorrow we could then _Speak with Dead_ to learn where he hid the Symbol.”

Thundina drew a long knife and grabbed Halas by the hair, “We only need the head, right?”

Cyron closed his eyes a moment before replying, “No.  The body needs to be mostly intact.”

“Okay, so we bring back Halas.  I guess Grim is the one who gets left here.  He was such a nice boy, that’s a shame.”

Romann had been playing around with some of Halas’s gear and rejoined the conversation, “Why don’t we put one of the corpses in the _Bag of Holding_?”

----------------------------------
Chapter 9 to be concluded in a couple days.


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## Ealli (Mar 25, 2007)

*Chapter 9, part 2: Matters of the Dead*

Once back in the burough, the trio of survivors visited the church to give rites to those who fell in the battle.  Thundina retrieved Orning’s papers and Ashlyn’s holy symbol and put them with the other Lightbringer symbols that needed to be returned to the guild headquarters in Korth.  With the last of the Lightbringer expeditions being put to rest, Thundina had to consider what the loss of everyone who had shared her goals meant.  

Of all the people Thundina had met since leaving Thronehold, it was Ashlyn she had respected the most.  A competent warrior who had been chosen by the Sovereign Host, she had been willing to give her life to save Thundina once.  Thundina idly turned Ashlyn’s holy symbol over and over in her hands wondering what would inspire someone to act like that.  She was having trouble thinking of anyone that she’d be willing to do that for.  As the last of the funerals ended, Thundina tucked the holy symbol away.

Later that evening, after Romann had gone to bed, Thundina was finally able to get Cyron alone.  “Cyron, what in the name of all the Sovereign Host happened back in the castle?”

“Romann was not in his right mind,” Cyron repeated dejectedly.  “You know he would never strike me intentionally, but you saw the greatsword wounds.”

“I saw the wounds, but didn’t want to believe.  Did Romann really kill Ashlyn, Grim, and Halas?”

“It wasn’t Romann’s fault.  I think the creature exerted some sort of control over Romann, and over you, Ashlyn, and Halas too.”

“Aren’t you at all disturbed by what he did?”

“I mourn our lost allies, but it was the spider thing that killed Ashlyn, Grim, and Halas just as surely as it was the spider that killed Krel.”

Not entirely satisfied, Thundina let the subject drop.  She was still disturbed and upset by the encounter, but couldn’t articulate her problems or any further objections.

The next morning, both Romann and Thundina were complaining of continued weakness.  The bite wound from the spider wound had not healed.  Cyron attempted a _Lesser Restoration_ only to discover that the damage was more severe than that spell could handle.  A full _Restoration_ restored Romann, but that was the last of the diamond dust and only one had been prepared.  Some of Halas’s and Ashlyn’s equipment was bartered to Bildreth for additional diamond dust.  Once resupplied, the party visited the church where Halas was still laid out waiting for burial.

“I will be able to ask three questions to Halas,” Cyron described, “What do we need to ask him?”

“Where the Symbol is hidden, of course” Thundina listed.  “I dunno what else.  Wait, didn’t you once say that you didn’t actually know how to activate the Sunsword?”

“Didn’t I ever mention how to activate the Sunsword?” Cyron was surprised.

“Not, that I ever recall, and I have good memory.” Thundina insisted.

“Okay, although we should clearly specify ‘Holy Symbol of Ravenkind’, and I think ‘bond’ is a better word than activate regarding the Sunsword.”

“If that’ll please you.  Does magic really need to be that precise?”  Thundina said with a look of boredom.  “We still get a third question.”

“Ask what he knows about the castle or Strahd, I’d say.  Whatever it is, it’ll be the lowest priority incase we need clarification on one of the other questions.”

“Ask about Strahd, I really don’t believe he ever had been into the castle before he came with us.  So cast your spell already.”

Cyron sank into a deep concentration over the body of Halas while Thundina paced about the room.  Ten minutes later, Cyron gestured everyone to gather round to begin the questioning.

“Halas, where is the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind hidden?” Cyron asked the corpse.

The corpse of Halas groaned and answered in a raspy voice, “Hidden safe and sound, buried in a box beneath the town.”

“Halas, how does one bond the Sunsword?” Cyron continued.

“Pray to your gods for salvation,” came the reply from the dead.

“Okay, third question then.  This is the one about Strahd.” Cyron looked to Romann and Thundina.

Thundina was frowning, “I didn’t like that first answer.  It’s too general.  Ask him what building the symbol is nearest to.”

Cyron mentioned, “We could ask him what building it’s in instead of what building it’s closest to.”

Thundina shook her head, “He could have buried it outside of a building though.  I don’t want him getting the last laugh.”

Cyron nodded and turned to the dead Halas one final time, “Halas, to what building is the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind nearest?”

“A house made of stone,” croaked the corpse.

“Well, that’s that.” Cyron said.  Then musing on the stonework of the town, “I seem to remember the shack Halas was hiding in was made of wood, but most of the houses here are made of stone.  I think the first place to search would the be the Kolyanavich manor.”

Thundina and Romann looked to each other before telling Cyron, “Well, if you really want to talk with Ismark, you’ll be the one who does.”

At the Kolyanavich manor, an angry Ismark answered Cyron’s knock, “So, you’re back again.  Where is Ireena now?”

While Cyron stammered, Thundina cut in, “Why are you asking us about Ireena?”

Ismark continued scowling, “A day and a half ago she ran off to join you.  Where is she?”

“We haven’t seen her since you grounded her.  We’ve respected your wishes on Ireena.”

“First time you’ve respected anything,” muttered Ismark.  He then sighed, “Will you please find her and return her here then please.  I’ll ask Urik to assist you.”

“Of course, she is a dear girl, we will find her,” Thundina said, then added, “if only for her sake.”

Ismark began to close the door, but Cyron stopped him to fulfill the purpose of the visit, “We have learned from Halas that he hid the Symbol near a house of stone.  We would like to around your grounds to see if he hid it here.”

“Very well,” Ismark sighed.  “Just so long as you find Ireena.”

The manor grounds were nicely kept up; Halas had not hidden the Symbol in the Kolyanavich manor.  The party took to the inn to ask the nature of Halas’s movements.  After a brief debate on who would be most effective at gathering information, Thundina declared that it would obviously be her since everyone loved her.  When Cyron objected and attempted to use Ismark as a counter-example, Thundina shushed him and repeated that she would be the one who was most likely to learn what was needed to learn.  The villagers the party talked to reported that Halas had spent most of his time between the town square and the church, but had been furtive and keeping mostly to himself.

The party began by searching the town square, but the only disturbed dirt looked like it had been done by the mole-like creatures from when Thundina had first ridden into town.  The church basement was likewise clean, and while several of the graves had been filled back in, not the one that had originally held the Symbol.  The party decided it would sweep abandoned stone houses, starting on the outskirts nearest the church.

The house nearest the church was both made of stone and abandoned.  Thundina looked around inside, but found nothing.  Then, looking around the yard outside, she found a suspicious pile of dirt.  Digging out the dirt, she found a small steel box hidden in the ground.  Thundina noted how oddly sticky the box was as she pulled it out just a moment before her hands began to shake and the box slipped from her grip.

“Ooh, I feel weak,” Thundina mumbled.  “It’s coated in a contact poison.  What a bastard.  I feel like I could faint.  Let’s see what I can do before that happens.”

Thundina checked the box over three times before being satisfied that there were no other problems and popped the lock on the first try.  As she opened the box, a puff of orange vapor flew out.  As Thundina coughed, she fell backwards away from the box.  Cyron stepped forward to see what the problem was, but Thundina waved at him.

“No, keep back,” Thundina coughed and crawled away from the box.  “That bastard burnt othur!  Gods blast him, do you have any idea how much gold he must have spent trapping this box.  If it weren’t so expensive, I’d ask you to _Raise_ him so I could kill him.”

When Thundina felt that the vapor had dissipated, she peeked into the box again.  In the bottom of the lead lined box was a steel raven-symbol.  After inspecting the symbol for any further poison, Thundina took it out of the box.  She then collapsed in another fit of coughing.  Romann and Cyron attempted to tend to Thundina, but the poison was in her lungs and they could do nothing but wait and pray that she’d be fine on her own.  After a minute of coughing, Thundina spit out an orange-tinted phlegm mass on to the ground.  Her breathing calmed and she climbed weakly to her feet.

Cyron hovered anxiously around, “Well Thundina, what do you have there?”

Thundina opened her left hand to find Ashlyn’s holy symbol.  “I don’t remember grabbing that,” she said somewhat abstractedly.  The right hand was the prize she had grabbed from the iron-lined box, the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind.  Thundina offered it to Cyron, “I think you’ll be the best one to handle this.”


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## Ealli (Mar 30, 2007)

*Chapter 10: An Encounter Too Soon*

Thundina slept soundly after finding the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind.  She sank into her bed relieved that it was time to rest.  The dual poisons of Halas had left her weak and exhausted.  In the morning Cyron had promised he’d have enough _Restoration_ prepared to make her whole again.

After breakfast and after Thundina was twice being sprinkled with diamond dust, the party went to pay a visit to Sir Urik.  He had a small house near the edge of town and when they arrived, he invited them in.  He said that he’d need a couple minutes to get all his gear together, but he was essentially prepared having heard from Ismark the previous day about Ireena’s disappearance.  The four then set off towards the main entrance of the castle.

When the castle loomed large and the trees were about to give way for the final approach, two rough figures stepped out of the woods to stand in the middle of the road.  Thundina smiled to herself; these brigands had chosen about the worst possible place to take up their banditry.  It would also be a very welcome change from the horrors of the castle.  One was ugly with wrinkled skin, short bristly hair, and a pug nose while the other was dressed in hide armor and had kind of a feral look to him.  If she could just get close enough to take them by surprise with her reach, maybe she could finish this without any hurt to her or her friends.  Before she could slide close enough, Urik ruined her plan without seeming to realize what he was doing.

“Ho there travelers, who are you?”  Urik called.

The feral one responded, “Can you feel the curse that consumes this land?”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Thundina asked somewhat confused.
“There is a curse in this land and it disrupts Nature for great distances all around.  At its center is a creature called Strahd.  Do you know anything of it?”
“You’re standing right outside his castle, maybe you could ask him about himself.  He’s kidnapped a fair maiden from the village.” Thundina replied, thinking that they’d provide an excellent distraction to Strahd while Ireena was being rescued, “But as for disruptions to Nature, I know nothing.”

“This valley is filled by a strange mist and the trees scream,” the feral one said.  “Listen to the trees.” 
“Trees don’t scream, silly,” Thundina laughed.  “Have you been eating bad mushrooms?”
“I eat many mushrooms.”

“Thundina, don’t you recognize what he is?” Cyron exclaimed, “that’s a druid.  You can see the holly sprig.  If he wishes to destroy Strahd, like we do, I think we may be able to make common cause.”

“All you want is for Strahd to be defeated and Nature’s Treasures restored, right?” Thundina asked the druid who then nodded, “Yes, excellent.  Then let’s go do the Strahd slaying.”

The druid introduced himself as Ivo Milinkovic and the pug-nosed man as Talor.  Thundina introduced herself and her brave companions.  They set off across the bridge to the castle keeping careful watch of the arches overhead.  They should have been watching their feet for one of the planks cracked and gave way beneath him.  Romann was quickly by his side and pulled him back onto the bridge.

As the newly expanded party entered the castle, Talor turned and screeched.  A giant bat flew to him, hovered a moment whipping the party with wind from its large wings.  The bat then landed by Talor’s feet and crawled to him and Talor scratched its head.  Thundina immediately reacted, “What the hell is that?  Why are you consorting with a creature of the night?  Are you in league with the vampire?”

Talor appeared somewhat shocked at the charge, “No, no, my bat has traveled with me across the continent.  It’s a good bat.”

“Alright, but I’m still upset that it messed up my hair.  Do you have any idea how long I spent this morning trying to get it right?”

Romann looked at Thundina, “Your hair looks like it always does.”

“I know,” Thundina said somewhat depressed, “I said trying, not succeeding.”

Upon reaching the first chamber, Thundina immediately veered left to take the stairs up to what she thought was either the study or the library.  Too lifelike stone statues stood on the landing, but she could find nothing more unusual than the detailing.  She led her party up the ten-foot wide stairs continuing up.  A fine red carpet ran down the middle of the next room to the back of a high-backed throne facing the far wall at the far end of the room.  As soon as she spotted the throne, Thundina realized that she didn’t want to be in that room at that time.  She turned and tried to usher her friends back down the stairs and away.

A voice boomed out, “Do you seek an audience with the lord of the castle?”
Thundina called back over her shoulder, “No, not today, thank you.  We’ll just be going.”

The voice boomed out again, “Karavashta!”  Strahd stood up from his throne and began walking down the red carpet towards the party.  He looked different from how he had appeared before.  He looked hairy and he was hunched over.  He flicked a thin long tongue out a grotesque mouth.  Thundina could hardly believe this was the same vampire she had seen so composed standing in the light a few days prior.  She lost sight of him as he neared the end of the room.

“He’s trying to cut us off by going down the other stairs, move it!”  Thundina shouted at her party.  When they wouldn’t move back down, she pushed her way past them to encounter the two statues having come to life.  They were attacking Talor’s bat and looking likely to cut off the escape route.  Thundina engaged the statues distracting one off the bat.

“Why am I not surprised?  That’s it, I’m smashing every statue in this castle from here on out.”

Strahd reappeared on the stairs above the party.  Urik and Romann formed the front line but Strahd’s attacks quickly left them weak.  Ivo summoned a dire wolverine behind Strahd and directed it to grab on to the vampire.  The wolverine latched on and pulled Strahd down momentarily before the vampire turned himself gaseous and drifted back towards his throne.  With vampire distracted, and the statues destroyed, it was time to retreat.

Strahd struggled with the wolverine but sensed that he had repelled Thundina and her party.  He shouted, “Thundina, I gave you your life once before.  Take it now and leave.”

Thundina while directing her friends down the stairs shouted back, “Release Ireena, you fiend!”

Strahd chuckled menacingly, “I will never release my bride.”

Thundina made it out of the castle. The last little distance, Thundina needed to direct some of her friends who had been hugging the walls trying due to a lack of light.  Outside, Thundina counted up the survivors.  Ivo was missing and no one seemed to know what happened.  Thundina asked, “Was he really a brigand all along, working for Strahd to lure us to our deaths?”  No one seemed to believe it of him, but still he didn’t come out.  After waiting a minute, the party decided they needed to put more distance between the castle and themselves.

Within the castle, Ivo realized that at the beginning of the combat he had dropped his everburning torch.  As he ran back up the stairs, Strahd finished dispatching the summoned wolverine and growled, “I told you to leave.”  He swept down the stairs to loom over Ivo.  Ivo had snatched his torch and tried to flee, but Strahd grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.  Strahd slammed Ivo into the wall and lifted him off his feet.  Ivo struggled against Strahd’s grip, but couldn’t free himself.  The vampire sank his fangs into Ivo’s neck and drank deep.

The survivors regrouped in town.  Even though the day was still early, they huddled in the inn.  Romann and Sir Urik were both pale from the touch of Strahd.  The party asked Sir Urik to remind them of what he knew of the castle.  He sketched out the rooms he had seen.  Though there was some worry that the back stairs would take them too close to the throne room, the party ultimately decided that was the only way to reach the very top of the castle.

The next morning, Cyron used _Restoration_ on both Romann and Sir Urik to dispel the vampire’s draining touch.  The party snuck back into the castle and snuck up the back stairs.  With the clear ideal of reaching the peak, the party bypassed each landing and quickly passed out of Sir Urik’s zone of previous experience.  Facing the stairs at the next landing was a painting of a noblewoman – a striking but cruel looking woman.  Thundina could see a similarity to Ireena in the painting.  More important than the painting on the wall was a statue in the corner.

As soon as Thundina had stepped on the landing and reached for her pick-axe, the painting shrieked.  The piercing shriek caused Thundina to freeze up.  Sir Urik pushed past her looking for a threat and several arrows whipped past from Talor to stick in the painting with no noticeable effect.  The statue animated into a whirling mass of chains and advanced to Urik.  The whirling chains shredded his flesh and Urik cried out in pain.  More arrows flew past striking the statue beneath the whirling chains.  The chains moved closer to Thundina.  She could see how to dodge and protect herself, but she was still rooted in place.

Thundina struggled to move.  The first contact with the whirling chains had drawn lots of blood and she wasn’t certain if she could survive a second contact.  From the corner of her eye, she could see the desperate attempts to destroy the statue.  Romann had broken free of the magical compulsion which had rooted him and a single blow from his greatsword sheared through the whirling chains and shattered the underlying statue.  Romann then tried to slash the painting apart, but it resisted his efforts.  Sir Urik stepped up to the painting, took it off the wall, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it for good measure.  Behind the painting was a small safe set into the wall.

The spell holding Thundina in place had dissipated and she stepped up to the safe in the wall.  She quickly popped the safe open and pulled out a selection of royal finery.  Holding the jewelry, Thundina asked Cyron, “Is it magical?”

He meditated over it a moment before replying that it was not.

“Well, that’s a shame,” Thundina said.  “It’s very pretty and should still be worth a tidy sum anyway.”  Thundina smiled broadly; finally she was being so justly rewarded.


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## Ealli (Apr 6, 2007)

*Chapter 11:  Fighting for Every Inch, Twice*

From behind the nearby door came cries for help.  The cries were a deep male voice rather than the Ireena, but rescuing a prince inspired Thundina more than rescuing the sister of the burgomaster anyway.  Thundina picked the lock on the door and entered into a plush sitting room.  Several fine plump chairs and several stuffed bookshelves lined the edges of the room, lit by a trio of barred windows.  Thundina padded through the room to the door on the far edge from where sounds of pounding could be heard.

Thundina snicked open another lock and opened the door.  Immediately inside was a tall, dark, and handsome man with a sturdy breastplate and silver cloak over fine clothes.  A pale green flickering everburning swatch of cloth surrounded an upper arm casting dancing shadows across his otherwise gentle face.  The dark stranger asked, “Are you here to rescue me?”

Thundina replied, “Possibly?  Who are you?”
“I am Jessuf Rezinus, a nobleman from Breland.”
“Nobleman, like a prince?  Is there a reward for your rescue?”
“No, I’m not a prince, merely noble, and I doubt there’s a reward.”
“Hmm, unfortunate,” Thundina sighed, “What were you doing here?”
“I had come to arrange to sell some land to the Baron of Barovia, but negotiations seem to have turned sour and he locked me in here.”
“That’s what happens when you deal with vampires; you get nicked.”
“What are you doing here, if I may ask?”
“We’re rescuing a maiden-fair and slaying the vampire Strahd.”
“Do you think I may join you, Strahd has impugned my honor.”
Thundina looked Jessuf’s shaggy black locks over approvingly before stating, “Sure, come along.  Um, is there anything of interest in this room?”

Thundina cased the sitting room quickly and pulled out a scroll which she handed over to Cyron and prepared to leave.  Romann was staring intently at one corner of the room insisting that he had heard a kitten mewing.  Cyron swept the room for magic, with most of the room not pinging, but in the same corner Romann was fascinated by, Cyron saw a wriggling fungus, but solely with his magic sight.  The fungus did not attack and no one could find it without Cyron’s _Detect Magic_, Thundina eventually declared that it was time to leave.  She locked the door behind once the party had filed out.

Thundina lead the adventurers once more up the stairs, carefully checking each step on the way.  Thundina spotted a couple of splatters of blue ooze which soon became a trickle rolling down the stairs.  Shortly after that Thundina caught a whiff of fresh air, but that was quickly replaced by the odor of vinegar.  Thundina made it out to beneath the sky; she felt like she could touch due to the low clouds of the overcast sky.  

She stood on the open parapet and looked around.  The blue slime had collected in pools in a couple places around the parapet with tiny pale slugs crawling from pool to pool leaving streaks of the blue ooze behind them.  All around the parapet stood bushes resembling fleshy anthropodal bulbs.  A walkway led from the parapet over to another tower which emanated a bloody red glow.  Above the parapet loomed an even taller tower.

Thundina pointed our her observations, “This looks like where we should find the devil with the Hellheart locket, because over there is the adjoining tower and I bet that glow is the Dayheart.  And this,” Thundina slapped the tower by the stairs, “is the tallest tower; we’ll need to make it to the top of this too eventually.”

Talor hopped over the railing, drew his bow, and began scanning for enemies.  Nothing moved to attack him and he did not move to search out the enemies.  Meanwhile, Thundina turned to Romann and Cyron, “Do trees count as statues?”

“What?” Romann asked.
“Do you think these weird trees count as statues?  Should we chop them down here and now or are they actually going to remain non-animated?”

Jessuf coughed interrupting, “What was that about a devil and a locket?”
Thundina answered, “Up on the high parapet there is supposed to be a devil wearing a locket.  We need the locket to destroy one of Strahd’s protective elements.  Maybe its across the way, let’s go.”

As the party approached the tower, the glow of Dayheart intensified.  The Dayheart looked like a giant uncut ruby floating over a large open pit.  The red glow reflected off four eyes up a spiral staircase off to the side of the Dayheart.  The blood-red glow of the Dayheart only enhanced the naturally red eyes.  Two additional vampires dropped right in front of the party from overhead.  Startled, Thundina felt like she was standing back on her heels, but she was still able to make a couple quick, light cuts at each of those vampires.  The one that landed next to Thundina slipped past her guard.  The claw scrape was not as painful as the tearing of the soul that accompanied the scrape.

One more vampire misted into the area, standing right before the Dayheart.  He was dressed in a fine chain shirt with a flapping scarlet cloak.  He drew a blood-red bastard sword and charged into the fray.  One of the vampires had already been forced to revert to a _Gaseous Form_ and begin to retreat up the stairs, but the remaining vampires seemed to grin evilly at the arrival of their commander.  Their resurgence was short lived before Cyron flooded the battlefield with holy light and the three minor vampires fled.

The scarlet vampire struck at Romann, stabbing him in the shoulder.  The sword became a deeper blood-red as energy flared from its tip down the blade and into the vampire.  With the vampire concentrating on draining Romann, Thundina snuck behind it and ripped its legs out from beneath it, dropping it face first into the stone floor.  When the vampire struggled to its feet, Romann rapped it hard leaving it more vulnerable to everyone else’s attacks.  The vampire disorientedly swung at Thundina, but she easily blocked his blade with hers and then ripped its feet out from beneath it again.

The vampire stared up at its four attackers and decided not to open itself to another round of free attacks and so stayed down while attempting to flail at Urik.  Urik stepped on the sword and brought his gleaming silver blade down on the vampire.  The scarlet vampire turned into mist and began drifting directly upwards.  Thundina tossed a stake to Romann and both began running up the stairs.

Three-quarters of a turn up the stairs, the stairs changed to longer, shallower steps.  The glow of the Dayheart no longer clearly illuminated the tower and Romann was forced to stop and begin shouting for Cyron to bring light.  Thundina made it a short ways into the darkness and caught side of a crimson cloud sliding under the door past the collection of coffins in the room.  She came to a sudden stop though when she spotted a horrifying creature lurking in the room.  It was like a pile of skin which had been sloughed off but now had been reanimated and was shuffling about.

Thundina stared at the sack of skin, waiting for it to attack.  Urik came panting up the stairs with a sunrod out and escorting Romann.  Romann stood too close to the side of the stairs and the monster attacked from the landing above.  Thundina took a quick swipe at the creature and then sprang up the rest of the steps to get behind it.  As she stepped on the top stair, a wave of life-draining energy burst through the entire room.  The wave barely paused Thundina as she pushed through unharmed.  Glances back at the rest of her compatriots showed they had suffered no harm either.

The creature had briefly grabbed Romann, but Romann squirmed free.  It then turned on Thundina and snatched her.  She had dropped her guard a little thinking that it was paying greater attention to her compatriots below.  Thundina held the creature in place long enough for Romann to destroy the creature.

No sooner had the animated skin horror been shredded, than three coffins opened.  The three vampires that Cyron had forced to turn stood up from their coffins.  Thundina kept one distracted while Talor pumped multiple silver-tipped arrows into the vampires.  One by one, the vampires were put down and staked.  However, while trying to get into position against the last vampire, Jessuf walked too close to the iron door and set off a pit trap.  He quickly slid out of view.

Foot steps on the stairs from below indicated that someone was coming up.  Thundina turned to tease Jessuf for taking her job of finding traps and then missing the end of the vampires, but it was not Jessuf striding up the stairs.  Thundina found herself standing face to face with Strahd.  He snarled, “I cannot allow you to destroy my treasure.”

Thundina defiantly stared back, “If you had just paid us in the first place, we wouldn’t still be having this trouble.”  Strahd locked his gaze on Thundina but she stood firm and repulsed his intrusion from her mind.

Romann moved from the coffers and began descending the stairs to meet Strahd.  Thundina scampered up and over to take a place by the door to gain access to the room with the scarlet vampire.  Talor stood by the open hole next to the iron door, glancing down at the hole like he was considering jumping.  At the appearance of Strahd, Cyron quickly moved to Romann’s side and laid a _Death Ward_ on the fighter.

Strahd began casting a spell, and Cyron shouted, “Fel-draining _Magic Missiles_!  Brace yourselves!”
With all her concentration on the lock on the iron door while balancing over the pit in front of the door, Thundina muttered, “What in the name of Dol Dorn is fel … augh!”  Thundina winced as the _Magic Missile_ tore at her soul.  Everyone had been hit by one missile.

Jessuf came jogging up the stairs, “I’m alright.  That chute dumped me outside, but Strahd never stripped me of my dimensional hop boots, so I was able to pop back inside.  Are there any vampires remaining?  … Oh.”

Romann and Urik advanced on Strahd, each making it past the vampire’s defenses to scratch it.  Strahd caught Romann’s glance and overwhelmed his will.  “Romann, assist me in killing these intruders.”  Strahd’s will so completely _Dominated_ Romann’s will that he moved against his friends.  Jessuf was quick to act and immediately reached Romann to slap a _Protection from Evil_ on Romann to hedge out the vampire’s will, at least temporarily.

Romann pressed the attack with Strahd retreating down the stairs step by step.  Each step down, Strahd fired a spell off at Romann to incapacitate him.  Jessuf and Cyron each stayed right behind Romann breaking Strahd’s enchantments.  A pair of _Scorching Rays_ from Strahd knocked Romann out, but Cyron caught Romann and healed the wounds.  Strahd _Blinded_ Romann, but Jessuf removed that through targeting a _Dispel_ on the magic.  Romann’s heavy blade time and again smashed through Strahd’s loamy shields to draw raised red welts on the otherwise pale skin.

Thundina popped the lock on the iron door and hopped over the pit and into a small room which had a simple iron coffin with a vent in the top as the only furniture.  She began inspecting the coffin and discovered both a lock and a trap.  With Thundina in the scarlet vampire’s mausoleum, Strahd called an offer to the party, “If you spare my servant, I will spare your life.  Your lives.”

Urik immediately charged Strahd, shouting, “Never!”
Romann closed once more on Strahd and struck while cleverly declaring, “You never said anything about yourself.”

Thundina concentrated on the lock first so that if the battle turned sour, she could risk the trap to get at the vampire inside more quickly.  Strahd spoke once again, “The deal stands for the rest of you, I must kill these two.”  Thundina had heard defensive sounding spells from Jessuf and Cyron, but she couldn’t figure out what Talor was doing.  He would bear watching once this battle was resolved.

Romann continued roaring defiance, “Strahd, you got another thing coming!”  The heroic strike cut Strahd deeply, leaving the vampire very battered.  Thundina disabled the trap and threw open the iron coffin.  Inside the scarlet vampire lay.  It begged, “Please, spare me.  Get back.”  Thundina raised a stake, smiled malevolently and answered, “Here’s my answer.”  The stake struck the heart of the vampire true and it crumbled to dust, leaving behind significant treasure.

Strahd limped back five feet to get beyond Romann’s reach and snarled, “I will return in one minute.  Enjoy your final breaths.”  Strahd vanished in a flash of light.

Thundina scooped up the emeralds, blood-red bastard sword, scarlet cloak, chain-shirt, ring, statue of three-headed hound, bag, trio of potions, and even the dirt from the scarlet vampire’s coffin, stuffed it all into her own haversack and various bags and leaped the pit once more.  “There was no locket, we need to find that devil and quick.  If the Dayheart is still active when Strahd returns, we’ll be trapped and I doubt we’ll be able to penetrate this far again if we can’t confine Strahd to the night.”

The party dashed down the stairs and onto the parapet.  They began sweeping through the bushes looking for the devil.  Hidden in one of the ooze pools, obscured from view at the stairs by the shrubbery, was a dark shape.  The party surrounded the pool and Thundina poked at the shape.  The shape surged up from the ooze pool: a heavily armored and barbed female, all spiky and radiating malevolence and Talor named it a barbed devil.  A small golden locket hung from her neck.

Thundina asked the barbed devil, “Hand over the Hellheart Locket, and this can all be over.”
The devil stepped back and called, “By the terms of our contract, Treena, I summon you.”  She got a somewhat far look in her eyes as concentrated.

The party responded quickly to the devil’s distraction and attacked ferociously.  The onslaught disrupted the barbed devil and she screeched, “You and your do-gooders, ruining my garden!  This’ll teach you to be good.”  A burst of unholy power spread from the creature causing minor headaches all around.  The wriggling slugs ceased their random walks and began converging on the party.

Cyron called upon the Sovereign Host to _Bless Weapon_ the arrows of Talor.  Thundina, Romann, Jessuf, and, Urik harried the barbed devil to the edge of the parapet while squishing any slugs which got underfoot.  The barbed devil vanished and reappeared.  The four turned and dashed across the parapet following it.  Jessuf arrived first.

While he was off balance from the charge, he swept up into an embrace by the barbed devil.  She pressed him close, impaling him on her spikes.  One of the remaining slugs had crawled up Cyron’s leg and into Cyron’s mouth.  Cyron managed to pull it cough it out and throw it to the ground and even stomp on it, but it still lived and managed to crawl its way right back.  The barbed devil tightened her grip on Jessuf which produced a loud cracking of bones.  The devil dropped Jessuf and he fell limply to the ground.  He looked alive, but only barely, and no longer carried the heroic aura he had previously.  The barbed devil turned on Romann and Thundina, nicking both and filling their minds with fear.

Cyron continued choking on the slug, bent over, and growing blue.  Talor dropped his bow, drew a battleaxe and said, “Just hold still a moment.  You won’t feel a thing.”  He swung the axe with all his might, perfectly skewering the slug while not touching Cyron at all.  The slug absolutely exploded from the vicious strike.  Talor calmly put away his axe and picked up his bow again.

The fear in her own mind overwhelmed her and Thundina dropped her guisarme in a panic and fled from the barbed devil at top speed.  She reached the edge of the parapet and gazed down at the dizzying drop below considering if the devil or the drop were more frightening.  At her side, Romann seemed to be making the same calculation.  From behind came the triple twang of three shots in quick succession followed by the loud crack of a massive form smashing to the ground.  Thundina turned to look back and saw the barbed devil down with a trio of arrows which had penetrated deep into its chest.  The fear no longer held Thundina and she could see the Hellheart locket ready for the taking and the first real victory against Strahd.  They’d have to act rapidly, Strahd was certain to return any second.


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## Ealli (Apr 12, 2007)

*Chapter 12:  Friendly Contact*

Thundina dashed back to the fallen barbed devil to scoop up her own guisarme and the locket the devil had worn.  Thundina flipped open the blood-red heart-shaped locked suspended on a golden chain to gaze upon the face of a handsome bearded devil.  Thundina began running across the walkway towards the Dayheart while calling out, “Cyron, there are no instructions in here.  How do we use the locket in destroying the Dayheart?”

The entire party reached the adjoining tower and Thundina looked questioningly at Cyron and Jessuf.  Both shook their heads to indicate they did not know anything about how to break the Dayheart.  Thundina shook the locket at the giant crystal, “Look, I’ve got this locket, so you’re supposed to break now.”  The crystal and the locket beat in unison with red glows, the Dayheart looking even more like a heart than it already did.

Talor muttered, “Maybe, I don’t know, I’m going to try this.”  He fired an arrow at the Dayheart.  The arrow deflected harmlessly off the giant floating crystal, but both the Dayheart and Hellheart Locket briefly flared red together.

Thundina narrowed her eyes, “Fine, you don’t want to play nice, we’ll play rough.”  She whirled the Hellheart Locket in a circle and smashed it to the floor.  The locket disintegrated as it hit causing the Dayheart to flare strongly a bright red.  That light was matched only by the red light from the crushed locket.  The glow faded leaving behind the bearded devil from the locket.  The devil looked down upon Thundina and spoke in a gravely voice, “How can I serve you, mistress?”

Thundina shouted and pointed to the Dayheart, “Smash that!”

Strahd came striding up the stairs near the Dayheart, shrieking and screaming, “What have you done?  Do you have any idea what you are doing?”

Thundina and her devil were using their polearms to hack at the Dayheart while Talor was throwing flights of arrows into it.  The first hits from bearded devil put a small crack in the Dayheart near the top.  Each hit, from guisarme, glaive, or arrow, caused the Dayheart to shudder and slowly widen the crack.  Strahd moved against those who were attacking his Dayheart, draining the devil of its energy, banishing it.

Thundina looked shocked that her minion fell so quickly before Strahd.  “That was my servant, my minion.  We could have been great friends.  Why, Strahd?”

Thundina and Talor retreated up the stairs away from Strahd to continue their attacks on the Dayheart.  Romann and Urik interposed themselves between Strahd and Thundina to keep him away from the demolitionists.  Strahd’s form began melting.  His jaw elongated and his skin spouted fur, while he continued to shriek.  Strahd then barged through Romann and Urik anyway and Thundina barely caught Strahd’s claws on her guisarme.  She then laughed and dodged her way down the stairs, past the protective wall of warriors.

Talor retreated further up the stairs and away from Strahd and called to his bat.  Thundina didn’t catch the bat’s name, but it soon landed on the edge of the landing by the pit.  The bat began leaning out over the pit and slamming against the giant red crystal, further exacerbating the slowly growing crack.  Cyron had run back to the devil’s parapet to heal Jessuf.  Jessuf created a _Spiritual Halberd_ to assault the Dayheart and then both set to healing themselves and Romann.

Strahd once again pushed past Romann and Urik, ignoring them like they were inconsequential pests incapable of hurting him.  Thundina again deflected Strahd’s attack and put the warriors between her and the vampire and then continued to chip at the Dayheart, expanding the crack inch by inch.  Strahd looked up towards Talor and Talor realized there was no one between himself and Strahd.  Talor’s arms changed into giant bat-like wings and he leaped across the open pit and flapped his way down to the lower stairs.

Romann hefted his greatsword and challenged Strahd, “I will not let you near Thundina.”  The strike penetrated Strahd’s loamy earth defenses and plunged into the vampire’s flesh.  The combined relentless assault of Romann and Urik was slowly wearing Strahd down, threatening to force him to abandon his defense of the Dayheart, but Strahd once again brushed past them to chase Thundina.

When Thundina again eluded Strahd, he howled in rage and slowly reverted to his elegant form.  He then called to the sky, “To me my children of the night.”  He then turned to the intruders and growled, “Sleep, sink into a _Deep Slumber_.”

Thundina wobbled on her feet and then sank to the floor.  Romann, Cyron, and Talor’s bat had all succumbed to sleepiness as well.  Urik quickly shook Romann back awake.  Strahd took a step over to the bat and whispered in its ear, “You should have been on my side, now I need your life force.”  Strahd raked his claws across the bat, drawing energy into himself, restoring himself.

Thundina felt a sharp prick.  She roused from her sleep and the pain intensified where she had felt the prick; a trickle of blood on her left arm gave visual evidence of the wound.  She didn’t remember taking such a wound.  She bounced to her feet and looked at the Dayheart.  The crystal had fractures running through it, and the crack reached nearly from top to bottom.  Thundina lined up her target and struck directly at the crack.  The crystal shattered.  It dropped down into the pit, falling from sight.

Strahd screamed once more and filled the space around him with fog.  Thundina pulled out one of the alchemical sunflashes provided by the Lightbringers and hurled it at Strahd.  The flask hit Strahd and splashed its daylight and fire.  As it struck Strahd, the sound of a trickle of water like a fresh running creek filled the area.  Thundina moved down the stairs and back towards the exit, “Well Strahd, it’s been fun and all.  We’ll have to do this again sometime.”

Strahd began imposing his will on several of the party members.  Those in the mist were completely unable to put up resistance to the suggestions.  Jessuf and Talor were simply told to leave the castle with Talor taking the direct way out by jumping off the walkway and flapping his way safely to the ground.

Once everyone was outside, Cyron spoke, “I don’t think anyone else saw this because you were all already on the stairs, but the consistency of Strahd’s fog changed at the very end.  It sent out tentacles like they were questing to drain life.  I can only thank Balinor for giving me the speed to keep ahead of those tentacles.  Without him, I surely would have been consumed.”


----------



## Ealli (Apr 20, 2007)

*Chapter 13:  Let’s Make a Date*

Back in town, Thundina took pieces of the treasure pulled from the scarlet vampire to Bildreth.  Sir Urik and Cyron came along as well.  As soon as Urik entered, Bildreth perked up, “Ah, Urik, my old friend.  What are you doing with these outsiders?”

Sir Urik gruffly replied, “They’re good people.  I’ve been working with them some, they genuinely oppose Strahd.”
“Ah, well, then, perhaps I can extend them a modest discount.”  Bildreth smiled slyly.

Thundina and Bildreth bartered over exchanging some of the trinkets and jewelry from the scarlet vampire for diamond dust.  Thundina consulted with Cyron to measure out enough doses to fix all the negative energy the party had suffered.  While waiting for Bildreth to measure out all the little diamond dust doses, Thundina wandered the shop, running her hands over some of the various weapons.  She stopped in front of a guisarme with an unusual blade.

Urik came to stand beside Thundina, “See something you like?”
“I think I like that guisarme.”  Thundina replied.
“Silver, good for fighting vampires if you can also infuse some magic into it.”

After Restorations to fix the drained energy from the vampires, the party decided to take the rest of the day off.  While Jessuf and Cyron were studying their holy texts, Romann once more bragged to any townsfolk who would listen about his latest exploits.  For once quite a few townsfolk seemed genuinely interested in the destruction of the Dayheart, although a few muttered that the outsiders were likely to bring Strahd’s wrath down upon the village.

After the crowd dissipated some, Romann walked over to Thundina, “Did you see all that?  They all loved me.”
“Most, yes,” Thundina nodded.  “There were a few who were less than pleased.  I was watching them.”
“Going to knife them?” Romann winked at Thundina.  “If you know what I mean.”
“Yes.  Not right away, but it might come to that.”
Romann looked a little shocked, “You’re joking, right?”
Thundina smiled, and laughed.  “Of course.”

Sir Urik found Romann and Thundina lounging in the inn.  “I’m sorry I won’t be able to assist you tomorrow.  I’ve heard from Madam Eva and she has asked me to come attend to her.  You deserved to know.”

The next morning, the party, sans Urik, set out to Castle Ravenloft.  Thundina and Romann discussed the direction to try in the next approach.  Thundina sketched out what they knew and recommended trying to find the secret door in the dining room.

“Dining room?” Romann asked, “when were we ever in a dining room?”
“Our first visit to the castle, when we were still on friendly terms with Strahd.”  Thundina replied.
“I was kind of distracted I guess.  Say, didn’t we search that exit at that time?”
Thundina thought a moment, “Orning poked around, but we didn’t really search.”

Thundina quickly located a secret door, poorly concealed.  She flicked the switch and pushed open the door.  The hidden chamber was stark and bare, illuminated by thin slashes of sunlight poking through the arrow slits all along the outer walls.  A narrow corridor led out of the room first to a high domed room with more arrow slits, and then to a stairwell running up and down.

Thundina led the way up the stairs and pried open the door on the first landing.  Cobwebs and dust filled the hallway, tickling Thundina’s nose.  She turned to her companions, “Anyone feel like plowing through all that?”

After a rousing lack of responses, Thundina decided that since she was going to be in the lead and she didn’t feel like getting covered in cobwebs, the door would simply be closed again and the party would continue up to the next level.

The stairs opened up to a wide walkway aside the keep, still damp from the previous day’s rain.  The walkway atop the wall extended only 10 feet in one direction, but in the other ran towards the tall tower, but gave no entrance.  Three sets of double doors led back into the castle from the open-air walkway.  Thundina stopped at the first one and began working at the lock.  Cyron cocked his head as if listening to something.

“Does anyone else hear that song?” Cyron asked.
“Hmm?” Thundina replied as the lock yielded to her nimble fingers.  She swung the door open to reveal the room.  The opening of the door caused a puff of dust to suspend in the air making the room look hazy.  A large table filled the middle of the room, covered by an old rotting table cloth and dusty place settings.  Also on the table was a moldy cake topped by a small figure of a woman in a dirty white dress.

More important than the unoccupied table with its forgotten wedding cake was another figure in the far corner of the room.  The ghostly figure wore ghostly court minstrel attire and held a ghostly lute.  The creature struck up a horrendous screeching on its lute, dazing Thundina, Romann, and Talor.  Jessuf dashed into the room brandishing his halberd, ready to attack if the creature moved forward.  Meanwhile, Cyron, having recognized the incorporeal spirit as a crypt chanter, knew that he needed to silence the song quickly.  He glanced towards the open door, sizing up the likelihood that closing it behind Jessuf would cut off the song.  Instead, Cyron stepped into the doorway, called for Jessuf to get out of the room.  Cyron raised his holy symbol before him and concentrated through it, sending holy energy flooding into room.  The crypt chanter fled from the holy energy, straight through the wall and out of sight.

Cyron sighed a breath of relief as the others snapped out of their reverie.  “That could have been bad.  The song of the crypt champion is very dangerous.”
Romann shrugged, “I kind of liked it.”
“Well, there’s no accounting for taste,” Thundina said.
“There’s another song I’m hearing.  Does anyone else hear it?” Cyron mentioned next.  When everyone shook their heads, he continued, “A local folk tune, sounds like it’s being sung by someone not undead.”
“So where is it?” Thundina asked.

Cyron indicated that it was coming from the next room over.  That suited Thundina fine as she was eager to investigate the next room anyway.  The next door had a sturdier lock than the previous, but it opened just as quickly to Thundina’s gentle ministrations.  As the door opened, the singing Cyron had mentioned swelled for all to hear – a sweet song of a young lady singing about love in the spring.  Several wardrobes stood around the room, overflowing with fancy dresses.  On the far side of the room two heavy red curtains covered the entrance to the back half of the room.  Thundina padded over to the curtains.  Romann and Cyron moved to follow and were quieter than Thundina would have expected out of a fighter and a cleric, but still she waved them to be still and quiet.  She then peeked through the curtain and spotted the young lady who was singing.  The lady had blonde hair, to Thundina’s surprise, and was completely nude sitting in a large, ornate, iron bathtub.

Thundina moved to slip through the curtain, but Cyron grabbed her arm.  “What do you see?  Should we be entering as well?”
“Stay here, I’ll scream if I need any assistance,” Thundina slipped through the heavy curtain and next to the tub.  “Who are you and what are you doing in this castle?”  Thundina said putting her hand on the girl’s shoulder.
“Eeep!”
Thundina looked into the now terrified girl’s eyes, “Wait, are you Gertruda?”
The girl nodded and Thundina kneeled down beside the tub, “Your mother has been distraught.  Her child has gone missing, and she doesn’t know you’re up here in the castle.”
“I hate my mother,” Gertruda declared.  “Besides, Strahd is so romantic.  I’m happy here.”
“You do know that he considers Ireena his wife.”
“What?  No, no, he loves me.  That’s why he is so romantic.  He gave me all those pretty dresses, and he treats me to such wonderful banquets.”
“He is a vampire, a monster.  I’m sorry, but Strahd is evil and has already chosen his love of eternity.”

“Hey, Thundina, is there a problem?” Romann called from the other side of the curtain and began to pull on the curtain.
“No!  I didn’t scream, you don’t need to come, so just stay there.” Thundina shouted back.
Gertruda wrapped her arms around herself and sank down into the tub slightly further, “Who’s out there?”

“Come child, you need to return to your mother.  She’s been crying her eyes out, missing you.”
Gertruda splashed the bath, “I am not a child.  I will be twenty in less than two months.”

Thundina counted quickly on her fingers to count out the months and came to a startling realization, “You’re older than I am.  Very well, you’re old enough to make choices on your own.  But, as someone who hasn’t seen her mother in three years because she thought she hated her mother, I really think you should go home to your mother.  Now, what’s on the other side of that door?”

Gertruda considered Thundina’s experience and said, “I guess you’re right.”
Thundina looked around the room, “Do you have a dress in here?”

When Gertruda shook her head, Thundina went back to the red curtains, and asked the duo from Cyre, “Is there a red dress in that near wardrobe?  Hand one through please and see if you can pack up a few other dresses.”

Once Gertruda had toweled off and dressed, she and Thundina returned through the curtain to meet the others.  As soon as Romann saw Gertruda, he began gushing, “Fair lady, your beauty amazes me.  Never have I seen something so fair as yourself.  Let me introduce myself.  I am Romann Ardell, and, not to be too immodest, I am something of a hero.  I have fought my way through this castle to rescue you.  I have stared down Strahd to come to your aid.”  Romann took Gertruda’s hand to give it a kiss.

Thundina tapped her foot and rolled her eyes, “Are you done here yet?  Let’s get going back down to the village.”

Romann transferred Gertruda’s hand such her hand rested on his arm and he escorted her out on to the walkway.  As they walked, Gertruda giggled and whispered into Romann’s ear, “I thought Strahd was romantic, the way he’d come through a secret passageway behind the fireplace in my sitting room, but you’re so much more romantic.  I hope you accomplish your goal of killing him.”

Back in the village, at Gertruda’s house, Romann knocked on the door.  Gertruda’s sobbing mother came to the door and spotted her daughter.  “Oh, my precious Gertruda, you’ve returned!”

Romann, with Gertruda still on his arm, said, “Ma’am, I would like to take Gertruda out tonight for dinner.”
“My precious baby Gertruda?  No, she must be kept safe!”
Thundina put a hand on the mother’s shoulder, “Gertruda’s older than I am, have you ever considered letting her train with weapons?  I’ve been wielding a sword since I was about six.  Gertruda isn’t a baby anymore.  You might want to repaint her room while you’re at it.”
[OOC:  "Interior design, how do you role-play that?"]

Jessuf asked Talor, “Do you think Gertruda is now going to start dying her hair like Thundina?”
“I don’t dye my hair.” Thundina protested to Jessuf.

“Ma’am, you have nothing to fear,” Romann said again.  “We will only be having dinner over at the inn, I can protect your daughter.  I am, after all, a hero.”  Romann gave his best, brightest smile striking up a heroic pose.

“Mother, look at all the nice dresses Romann carried for me.” Gertruda begged her mother.  Cyron began pulling out the various dresses he had packed up back in the castle.  Romann took one and held it in front of Gertruda’s mother, “Yes, I can see why Gertruda looks so pretty in these dresses.  It definitely comes from her mother.”

Gertruda’s mother blushed a moment before snatching the dress away from Romann, “Fine, but I expect her back by nine.”

Romann bowed to Gertruda, “My dear, until tonight then.”

As the party departed the village on the road up to the castle once more, Romann turned to Cyron, “Cyron, that is how you get the girl, eh.  Sometimes, to win the girl, you need to woo the mother as well.  Stick with me and I will teach you all the ways of romance.”
Cyron sighed, “Of course, sir.  That all makes sense now.”

The room beyond Gertruda’s bath chamber was immediately obvious as her bedroom in the castle.  Heavy red drapes hung over stained glass windows.  A large canopy bed with silk and a head board carved with a “Z” stood dominating the room.  Thundina resisted the urge to jump on the bed and proceeded to far set of doors.  Those opened into a sitting room.  The rolling wave of amber light from a blazing fire gave a cheery glow to the sitting room.  The blazing fire popped and crackled from its heat as dark plumes of smoke funneled up the chimney.  A polished poker stood gleaming by the fireplace while a large gilded painting of Ireena hung over the hearth.  Two heavy plush chairs were placed in front of the fire.  Ancient tomes sat on polished bookshelves lining the walls.

Jessuf walked over to near the fire while Thundina investigated the bookshelves.  “Romann, you said something about Strahd coming through the fireplace.  We’ll never get through it with this fire going, we’ll need to _Make Water_ to put it out.”  A rushing stream of water flowed from Jessuf’s hands quenching the fire.  Jessuf began investigating the fireplace looking for the latch to open the secret passage.  Thundina, satisfied that none of the books were of interest, had come to stand by the fireplace.  Jessuf unable to find any entrance took a step back to announce his findings.  Thundina grabbed the poker and gave it a tug which caused a large section of the back of the fireplace to slide away soundlessly.

“You only grabbed the poker because it’s shiny.” Jessuf told Thundina.
“I do not only grab things because they’re shi...,” Thundina began a retort before exclaiming, “Ooh, look, money!”

Behind the fireplace, a small chamber was now visible.  At the back of the chamber stood a squat wooden chest surrounded by around 150 coins in silver and gold.  Two sconces on the wall above the chest perked everyone’s interest as well – one sconce with an unlit torch while the other torch was clutched by a corpse laying beside the chest.  Thundina rushed forward to the chest and began looking over it.  She found evidence of Ungol dust on the chest and stopped the distribution mechanism of it.  However, after opening the chest, Thundina was disappointed to find that the chest was empty.  She gathered up the coins, and put the torch into the sconce to trigger another secret door.

The corridor beyond the secret door was filled with cobwebs again, but Romann quickly burned it away and the party proceeded further down the corridor.  From there the party entered a large chamber with a rope hanging down from above.  Thundina looked up along the rope up into the dark hole it descended from, but could not see the end.

“So, do we pull or do we climb, or what?” Thundina asked with a hand on the rope.
Jessuf said, “We could tie another rope to this one and then pull it from back behind those doors.”
“Sounds good,” Thundina said.  “Then, if nothing drops on us, we can try climbing.”  She spliced her rope to the one hanging and ushered the party back.  

The party pulled Thundina’s rope tight and then gave a yank to pull the original rope.  A loud, deep, mournful bell tolled several times after the yank on the rope.  The melancholy tolling attempted to seep into Thundina’s soul, but neither she, nor any of her friends were affected.  Looking back into the chamber, Thundina saw a pair of human-sized spiders with strange tuning fork-like antennae on their heads.  The spiders spit strands of webbing at each of Talor and Thundina, entangling both, however the webbing was quickly cut away by Jessuf and Romann.  Thundina advanced on one of the spiders.

One of the spiders skittered forward and grabbed Thundina while the other skittered and latched onto Talor.  The spider grappling with Thundina was an expert at such close quarter fighting.  It wrestled her down and began injecting a venom.  Thundina attempted a trick she had recently realized which would have broken the spider’s grasp, but it wasn’t fooled.  Thundina struggled to push the spider away and only just managed to hold the spider at bay, but she could not break free.  Suddenly, the spider’s head went flying by Thundina and she was able to free herself.  Romann was standing over the combat, ichor dripping from his sword.  He offered Thundina a hand and pulled her to her feet.

“Thanks.  What about the other spider?”  Thundina said.
“You should have seen it.  The spider had Talor in its grasp when Jessuf delivered a near perfect strike dealing massive damage to the spider.  I have no clue how it survived,” Romann said.  “On the whole, it didn’t I suppose, he finished it off with a second strike.”

“Is this a dead end, do you think?” Jessuf asked while cleaning his halberd’s blade.
“Seems like it, but I’ll take a quick look around,” Thundina said and walked around the edge of the room, lightly running her fingers along the wall.  A quarter of the way around, she stopped, “Huh, that’s odd.”  Digging at the recess which had caught her attention, Thundina found and threw a switch which opened another secret door.

Thundina gasped at what she saw.  It was one of the most wonderful sights she had ever seen.  Strahd’s plundered riches filled the room – weapons and armor, statues and tapestries and more buried in piles of gold, silver, and platinum.  Then her heart nearly skipped a beat when she spotted a central object of her quest, a large book, black as night, sitting a little to a side on a pile of gold.

The party set to scooping up all the various pieces of loot ultimately culminating with the black book, the Tome of Strahd.  Holding the Tome, Thundina said, “We should take this out into the sunlight and read this.  I don’t think we want Strahd being able to drop in.”

For the second time that day, the party returned down from the castle to the village below.  They took over Halas’s old shack since no one else was using it.  Thundina set the book on the ground between herself and Cyron and they looked at each other.

“I heard what happened the last time you read a book,” Cyron said, “I’ll understand if you don’t want to read this one.”
“I’m not scared,” Thundina said.  “I want to know how to take Strahd’s defenses away from him.”
“Let me look through it,” Cyron insisted. “I think that my greater religious knowledge means I might spot something of importance, plus clerics are trained for dealing with dark books.”
Thundina sighed, “Fine, just give us a full report.  I’ll be counting the treasure.  Hmm, yeah, this’ll work out just fine.”

Thundina had just finished sorting the treasure and counting the coins when Cyron announced that he had finished reading the book.  Cyron said, “Basically, there are three fanes we need to visit: the Ivlich Swamp fane, the Svalich Forest fane, and the Lysaga Mountain fane.  In addition each fane has a saint and a fane-servant.  Madam Eva is called the all-knowing and is one of these servants.  The other two are Zelenna the green disciple and Anya the drowned.  Strahd became a vampire after Tatyana rejected him in favor of his younger, handsomer brother Sergei so Strahd killed his brother.  There doesn’t seem to be anything else too horrific in here.”

Cyron finished speaking and then jumped as a vestani had whispered in his ear, “Madam Eva asks everyone to come to the Tser Pool tonight.”
Cyron responded, “I thought she had left the area.”
“She has returned.  You must come tonight.”
Romann protested, “But what about my date with Gertruda tonight?”

As evening fell, Romann went to Gertruda’s house to pick her up for their date.  They walked to the inn, arm in arm, chatting idly.  Romann told of the great treasure he was receiving as his share from the castle’s loot and Gertruda was quite impressed.  They entered the inn and Romann pulled out a chair for Gertruda to sit.  Cyron quietly sat in a corner watching Romann.

Thundina huffed at seeing Romann actually go through with the cockeyed idea of taking Gertruda on a date and so stalked upstairs away from the common room.  She stopped in front of Jessuf’s door and pounded on it and shouted, “Jessuf!”

Thundina could hear the sound of scrambling from the other side of the door.  Jessuf flung open the door and asked worriedly, “Is something wrong?  Is there an attack or is someone hurt?”

Thundina grabbed Jessuf’s hand, smiled sweetly, and said, “I’m starving.  Let’s have dinner.”
Jessuf drew back a moment and stuttered, “Uh, uh, okay.  Why do I have a really weird feeling about this?”

Thundina smiled broadly and held to Jessuf’s arm as they walked down the stairs to the dining area.  They found a table and ordered dinner.  Thundina asked Jessuf to talk about his background and history and fished for compliments, but Jessuf was so nervous and shocked that the story was stilted and Thundina didn’t receive nearly as many compliments as she was expecting.  It was a relief to her when Romann and Gertruda left and she and Jessuf could end their dinner.  She retreated to her room to grab her armor and check over her weapons in preparation for whatever would come up while meeting with Madam Eva.

The party traveled out to the Tser Pool and was met there by a single vestani.  He led them into the woods to where they had previously encountered Eva in meditation, “Madam Eva wishes for the connection to be broken tonight.  Needless to say, should you fail tonight, her life will be in dire peril.”

Around the clearing, the vestani were ready for a battle.  Dozens held crossbows and they were joined by a hill giant and a pair of ogres.  Sir Urik was directing them to cover behind rubble in preparation for a fight.  Cyron walked over to the vestani who seemed to be in charge and said, “I am ready to begin the ceremony, where's Madam Eva?”

-----------------------
Chapter 14 and maybe Chapter 15 too has a high likelyhood of being delayed a week or two due to other deadlines.


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## Ealli (Apr 29, 2007)

*Chapter 14:  Ill Met by Moonlight*

The vestani shook his head, “Madam Eva is not present tonight.  From sundown to sunrise, you must hold the vigil.  She has instructed us to assist you in any manner.  Is there anything we can do before the vigil commences?”

Thundina paced through the woods, getting a feel of the surrounding land.  Twilight began to darken the forest and Thundina’s eyes began their faint glow as she looked around in the dark.  She heard Jessuf from back by the altar, “It’s getting awful dark.  Maybe we could light some bonfires to illuminate the area.”

Jessuf directed the vestani and their monstrous allies to setting up and lighting five fires, spaced around the clearing which represented the fane.  Thundina returned just as the fires were lit.  She looked at the spacing and positioning and commented, “That’s a fairly regular pentagram.  But shouldn’t the altar be in the middle of the star?”

Jessuf looked startled at the implication, “It wasn’t intentional.  That’s just what was needed for full coverage.”

Cyron _Consecrated_ the altar and settled down to begin his vigil, warning the party to not disturb him under any circumstances.  The other party members spread out around the clearing, ready to reinforce the vestani positions wherever trouble began.

About an hour into the night the trouble began, but quietly.  The first indication that Strahd had begun his assault on the vigil was when Talor suddenly stepped back and drilled an arrow into the back of the vestani nearest him.  Thundina and Jessuf hurried over Talor.  Thundina attempted to knock Talor’s feet out from beneath him, but due to her cautious approach she wasn’t able to hook her guisarme around his leg.  Talor retaliated by firing a volley of arrows back at Thundina, but she anticipated each arrow and was well out of its way.  Jessuf laid his hand upon Talor’s head and spoke firmly, “Dol Arrah, _Protect from Evil_ this warrior.  Be free of Strahd’s domination.”

The frenzy which had gripped Talor passed and he grunted, “Thanks.  I can’t believe I attacked the party.”

Jessuf shook his head, “Oh, it’s far worse than that.  You were utterly pathetic in your attempts.”  Jessuf grimly skewered Talor with his halberd, devastating Talor.  Talor attempted to retreat and sic his wolf onto Jessuf, but each step drew another hammering blow from the cleric.  Once more the party exploded into action, with the ogres joining in the efforts to restrain Jessuf.  Each time they tried to grab him to restrain him he would rap them hard and they would give up the attempt.  Finally Urik arrived from the far side of the clearing, huffing with the exertion, and laid a firm hand on Jessuf placing upon him a ward _Protecting from Evil_.

Thundina and Romann were standing next to Cyron.  Impatient, Thundina grabbed the everburning torch that Cyron usually carried, stuffed it into her belt, and began stalking towards the forest, “Come on Romann.  Let’s take the fight to Strahd, wherever in the forest he is.  I’m not going to wait around here for him to turn our party against itself one by one.”

Romann watched Thundina move towards the forest, delaying his movement, confident that he could catch up.  A line of afflicted vestani skulked out of the woods away from the concentrated might of the party.  Romann however was able to charge over to the nearest and immediately cut it down.  The new vestani allied with Strahd and the vestani loyal to Madam Eva began trading fire.  The good vestani, healthy and sheltered by low walls, slowly whittled the ranks of the evil vestani.  In addition, each boulder hurled by the hill giant would crush one of the afflicted vestani.

A gnomish ranger stepped out of the forest and drilled an arrow into the hill giant.  Talor took a small step to give himself a clear line of fire and launched several arrows back.  The gnome crumpled immediately, and forgetfully.

Romann was about halfway down the line when the one of the killed vestani rose back to its feet with a groan.  Most of the party reinforced Romann to deal with the zombie vestani.  Thundina would trip a zombie vestani which allowed Romann to deliver powerful, crushing blows to it.  Jessuf filled with holy light and turned several of the zombies, causing them to flee into the darkness.

With the minor elements all dispersed, a gate of light opened in the middle of the clearing and Strahd stepped through, just outside of the _Consecrated_ circle.  A ravening, slathering vampire stepped out of the woods on the far side of the clearing again while a feral looking vampire in hide reinforced the zombie vestani.

Romann shouted, “Strahd!  I’ve been waiting for you.  I swear I will drop you this time!”  He rushed back to Cyron and interceded himself between Cyron and Strahd.  Thundina took up a position next to Romann forming a wall against Strahd.

Jessuf waved them away saying, “I will deal with this one.  I feel a weird sort of kinship with him and like it is my responsibility.”  Jessuf launched a _Searing Light_ against the vampire.

The vampire snarled, “Ah, another delusional hero who thinks he has a chance against Lord Strahd.  I have seen despair, I know the darkness that is Ravenloft.  You are damned, only death awaits you here.”  The vampire looked to the sky and followed with his gaze the descending arc of a lightning bolt onto Jessuf.

Jessuf called upon Dol Arrah, “Know the power of the Sun!”  A second strike of _Searing Light_ struck the vampire.  The light burned the vampire and it screeched and turned into a cloud of gas.

Strahd smiled at the cluster of adventurers who had formed a wall in front of him.  He threw a _Fireball_ centered on Cyron, blasting those who opposed him.  Thundina saw the blossom of fire open in slow motion.  She leaned way back, nearly flattening herself to the ground and watched the blaze pass over her.  The blast buffeted Romann, the cloak he had taken from the scarlet vampire flapping wildly in the wave of fire.

Romann then stepped forward and dealt a pair of devastating blows in quick succession.  Thundina moved into a flanking position against Strahd and hooked her guisarme around Strahd but he resisted her attempts at pulling him to the ground.  He responded by launching a series of _Magic Missiles_ at each of his attackers.

The ravening vampire was running towards Cyron throw a hail of silver arrows from Talor.  As it tried to rush past Talor, Talor stepped to the side and back and unleashed another storm of arrows and the vampire stumbled and became a cloud of gas misting past Cyron.

The vestani closed in on Strahd, surrounding him.  Romann smashed Strahd again and Thundina knocked Strahd to the ground.  On her follow-up strike, Strahd caught the silver head of her weapon, unharmed for the rich loamy earth smell.  Strahd laughed, “Foolish girl, this is my domain.  I grow tired of your insolence.”

Thundina smirked, “I can tell you’re tired.  You’re laying there on your back.”

Strahd considered his options and concluded that practically no action could be safely executed with both Thundina and Romann ready to exploit any weakness.  A gate of light opened up around Strahd and pulled him away.

Jessuf dispensed healing around for those who had taken _Fireball_ wounds.  Then Jessuf and Talor stood around staring at each other, counting down the seconds that Strahd’s domination was hedged out.  After a few minutes passed and neither felt the urge to resume attempting to kill the other, the party relaxed.

As morning broke over the fane, a rippling wind rustled through the trees and Cyron had a vision of green leaves.  The party asked if they could visit Madam Eva now and the vestani escorted the party to where Madam Eva had hidden herself.  Thundina thought that the forest seemed brighter, but then she decided that it was probably just because of the sun rising.

Madam Eva appeared younger and smaller.  She looked up as the party approached, but did not crack a smile.  Thundina approached and asked, “Can you tell us the location of the other two fanes?  We know their general placements, but Lysaga Hill and Ivlis Marsh both look to be large areas.”

Madam Eva shook her head, “No child, I cannot tell you that.  There are secrets I may not share.  One that I may share is that there is a relic buried under the altar of the fane that you may recover.”

Thundina yawned widely, “Sorry, been up all night.  I guess we’ll recover that relic, go to bed, and continue wresting the fanes from Strahd’s control, unless you can add anything more…”

That evening the party proceeded up to Lysaga Hill on the unanimous agreement that denying Strahd the rich loamy earth would be a major amelioration in the difficulty of striking him.  Looking around the ruins of the monastery on Lysaga Hill did not immediately reveal an altar.  As Thundina passed near one of the ruined buildings she heard Talor calling to his wolf, “Come along boy, there’s nothing here.”

Thundina popped in and saw the wolf digging at the ground.  She looked quizzically at Talor who responded, “Found some footprints, but nothing else.  My wolf refuses to leave now; I haven’t had enough time to fully train him I guess.”

Thundina walked over to the wolf and knelt down to take a good look at where the wolf was digging.  “Ah, it’s a smart wolf,” Thundina said and pulled a well concealed handle, opening a door giving entrance to a cavern below.

The party climbed down a ladder into the cavern and began exploring.  At a ledge leading to a twenty foot drop, the party spotted the altar down the drop.  Standing by the altar was a tall woman who cursed at the party, “Who are you?  You shouldn’t be here.  Get out.”

Thundina called back, “Are you Zelenna?  I am Thundina and my party and I have come to break Strahd’s connection to this place.  Work with us.”

The woman shrieked back, “None shall have control of this fane!  Leave this place, it is mine.”  Four creatures covered in horns loped to join her.  A noxious ichor oozed over their black skin.  They flexed their hands with long twisted claws and gnashed their razorlike teeth causing clicking and screeching as the claws and teeth scraped against each other.

Romann and Jessuf leaped down the drop, crashing horribly to the ground before charging on towards Zelenna.  Thundina gracefully hopped down, landing gently, calling out, “Wait for me.  Don’t kill her too quickly, I want to actually get a chance to sneak attack something.”  Zelenna was dead from Romann’s and Jessuf’s blows before Thundina arrived.

The horned creatures and the party formed lines across the cavern to skirmish.  The party fairly quickly overwhelmed the creatures from the combination of greater offensive power and access to healing from Cyron behind the lines.

“Great, could you guys see about setting up some defenses while I prepare for the vigil?” Thundina asked once the fight ended.
“When did we decide that you’d be holding the vigil,” Jessuf protested.  “And why are you always bossing us about?  I’m getting awfully tired of it.”
“Hey, I didn’t ask to be the leader, it was thrust upon me when Tourg fell in battle.  I’m here on a mission and have recruited additional help as it became available.”
“We should have the one Strahd is least likely to be able to dominate hold the vigil, that would be me.”
“By what measure?!  You’ve been dominated once, I’ve never been dominated.  You know, I don’t think he’s capable of it against me.”

Talor spoke up out of the blue, “I support Thundina’s position.”
Jessuf again protested, “It’s not fair.  I should be the one to hold the vigil.”
“Life isn’t always fair,” Thundina said coldly.  “Besides, why are we still discussing this?”

Cyron intervened, “Maybe I can mediate.”  Jessuf nodded and Thundina said exasperatedly, “Ah, Cyron, the voice of reason.  Let’s hear it.”

Cyron went into a meditative trance and when he came out of it said, “In my heart, I believe the gods will favor us if Thundina holds the vigil.”

The party arrayed themselves around the entrance in the best defensive formation they could come up with as Thundina began the vigil over the mountain fane.  Thundina sank into a deep trance.  Over and over she heard her name being called out, but she attempted to push that to the back of her mind while focusing on the feelings of earth and mountain.

A hideous mass of glowing spirits drifted into the cavern by the party’s defensive position.  It gibbered and howled unintelligible words which still managed to convey the promise of undying torment and mind-numbing terror.  The sheer wrongness of it overwhelmed Jessuf at once and he fell upon his blade rather than look at the hideous creature any longer.  Sir Urik charged forward and took a swipe at the creature, his blade passing through its incorporeal body.  He wiped at his nose and found his hand completely bloody.  Sir Urik collapsed before he could swing again with blood seeping from his nose and the corners of his eyes.  Cyron desperately held his holy symbol before him, pulsating with light.  The howling spirits closed in on him, passed through and Cyron fell lifeless.  Romann and Talor arrived from outposts just in time for a circular blast of bluish energy from the creature to take them both in the chest and they writhed in pain.  A second blast and their pain intensified and overwhelmed them.  Time seemed to slow as the mass of spirits floated down to Thundina.  It whispered “Thundina” in her ears over and over, twisting her name into a mockery.  She could feel its hate of the living, and its madness at the sane.  It reached out to her to destroy her mind, but Thundina held firm on the vigil.

Thundina’s next breath brought the odor of rich loamy earth and a feeling of the land.  She realized she was shaking and took a breath to calm down before opening her eyes.  Cyron was at her side, staring at her intently, “You’re back, we were worried there for a while.”

Thundina gasped and caught sight of Romann behind Cyron, “I saw you die.  There was a hideous mass of spirits, it cut right through the party.  What’s happening?”

Cyron shook his head, “No, it’s been nothing but peaceful all night long.  You started shaking and muttering half an hour ago and Jessuf thought he heard voices maybe an hour ago, but otherwise very boring.  Perhaps you should tell us more of what you saw.”

Thundina shivered at the memories, “No, it was nothing.  No, I think … I think we should leave Lysaga Hill and go find that swamp fane.  Two down, one to go.”
-----------------------------
Chapter 15, which we're hoping will see the final defeat of Strahd, will probably be available in one week, a few days behind the normal schedule.


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## Ealli (May 4, 2007)

*Chapter 15:  Lord of Ravenloft*

Later that afternoon, the party set out for the Ivlis Marsh.  The fog of the previous day had coalesced into darker clouds.  A light, cold drizzle obscured vision and made for a somewhat miserable trek through the swamp.  Talor confidently ran through the marsh looks for signs of the Swamp Fane while the rest of the party trudged behind.  The drizzle increased slowly into a steady rain.

Several hours later as the light was beginning to fade, a stretch of dry land jutted out ahead of the party.  A pair of willow trees and a pair of fallen stone columns formed a natural gateway to the land.  A hag of awesome fetid ugliness, crazy and foaming at the mouth stood in the gateway and screeched, “No!  No agent of Strahd may set foot on my land.”

The mere sight of the creature so disturbed Talor and Cyron that they were barely able to hold themselves up right.  Romann sloshed his way through the remaining marshy area to close in on the hag.  It gave him an _Evil Eye_ and he felt his heart flutter before he resorted to a dazed babbling.  Thundina charged in, nimbly holding her footing even through the slippery muck, and brought her guisarme down across the hag.  Talor labored to draw his bow and let fly an arrow.  The arrow struck the hag who then collapsed.

Cyron pulled himself to the land and asked, “Talor, what do you know about this hag?”
Talor wheezed as his wolf pulled him up out of the marsh, “Uh, it’s a hag.”

Cyron took another close look at the still dazed Romann and ultimately decided that Break Enchantment would be the best method to end the effect on Romann.  Romann came to and gave Cyron a hearty smack on the back as thanks for the assistance.

Talor spoke up again, “It’s getting pretty close to night fall.  We should set up some fires.”
Thundina replied, “We’re in the middle of a marsh in the middle of a rainstorm.  Where do you expect to find fuel for the fire?”
“I know a thing or two about surviving outdoors.  We can look around, although I’m going to need assistance in carrying it back.”

Thundina and Talor began exploring the swamp nearby.  Talor led the way, leaning heavily on his wolf companion and panting as heavily as the wolf.  He would point out trees which looked alive but would burn as well as any dead wood.  He would spot a moss-covered log in the muck that was not yet thoroughly soaked and Thundina would wrestle it free of the mud.  In all they gathered enough wood for four fires to burn through the night.

Jessuf began the vigil at sunset, though none could observe the setting for the rain storm had intensified further into a torrential downpour.  Thundina meanwhile kept near a fire to keep out the cold of the rain.  She swept her gaze as best she could, but the sheets of rain prevented her from seeing out beyond the little patch of land which was the fane.  She walked out to the edge to get a better view and to breathe in fresh air.  The roaring fires were turning the rain into a sticky steam and while the wood burned well, it also gave off great black plumes of smoke which smelled of rotten eggs and burned the lungs.

Thundina reached the edge of the fane and splashed a foot into the water.  The rain had raised the water-level and the outermost edges of the fane were now underwater.  She paused to listen.  The hissing of steam off the fires behind her contrasted to the great plopping of rain into the marsh in front of her.  A crackle of lightning seemed to have an echoing cackle left behind.  Thundina sensed they were not alone in the swamp any longer.

Thundina sloshed over to Cyron’s position, making a squelch as she approached.  Cyron looked up, his long whiskers dripping with rain, and said, “Stepped in a puddle, did you?”
“Stepped off dry land.  The marsh is flooding, we’re losing fane.  Worse, I get the feeling that there’s something out there.”
“It’s Strahd.  He’s been watching us since just after sundown.”
“Why doesn’t he attack?  What is he waiting for?”
“It’s the flooding of the marsh that holds him back.”
“He means to let us drown in a flood?  Seems an awfully risky plan, unless he knows more about this weather than we do.”
Cyron shrugged, “It’s not that he expects us to drown; it’s that the flooding has left us as an island in the middle of a river.  The flood waters run all around us, and vampires cannot cross running water.”

Thundina laughed loudly, “Strahd, defeated by the weather, how special.”
Romann rushed over and roared, “Strahd?  Where?  Come out Strahd, face me like a man!”

Throughout the night the river flowing through the Ivlis Marsh continued to rise until the water was lapping at the edges of the fires.  The rain stopped shortly before dawn, but the sky continued to roil with black clouds.  As dawn came so did the sound of a trickle of water like a fresh flowing creek and Jessuf looked up.  The party waded away from the Swamp Fane through water which was up to Thundina’s waist in some places.

With the three fanes under the party’s control, it was time for a renewed push into the castle.  It was time to take the battle to Strahd instead of dodging him and defending against him.

At the castle, Thundina consulted the map she had been sketching as the party had explored Castle Ravenloft.  She pointed out to her companions her best understanding of how the various rooms and towers connected together and where she thought they could still find more stairwells.  

The first place she led her companions was to near Gertruda’s former quarters.  Past those quarters they found a long hallway with six niches each with a suit of armor.  The castle roof down that hallway was exposed and lightning flashed overhead.  Long low moans emanated from down the hallway.  On the second flash of lightning a ghostly figure emerged from the nearest statue.  The ghost was a human woman in armor with a raven emblem.  She waved one hand to the party and chanted, “Blessings to you.  Why do you come to this castle?”

Thundina stepped forward to answer, “We are here to slay Strahd.  I am Thundina Seong, may I ask who you are.”
The ghost answered, “I am Lady VayRalen, once an ancient protector of this castle.”
Sir Urik bowed to Lady VayRalen, “Lady, I do not know you, but I too am a Knight of the Raven.”

Lady VayRalen spoke again, “You keep good company, Thundina.  Is there anything I can do to assist you?”
Thundina responded, “Can you tell us how to get to “Where hellish magic made” or to where “Dizzying heights all loathe to climb”?”
Lady VayRalen, “I am afraid I do not know much outside of this hallway.”
“Have you seen Ireena recently?  She was recently kidnapped by Strahd.”
“I have not seen any other humans in the castle for many years.”
“Then, do you know where Strahd keeps any riches?”
“Being dead, my responses are limited, you must ask the right question.”
“What can you do for us then?”
“If you wish to become a Knight of the Raven, I can sponsor you and initiate you.  One requires a Knight sponsor to become a Knight of the Raven.”
“I have known Sir Urik for several weeks now, and I’m afraid I have no interest in becoming a Knight of the Raven.”
“Then I can warn you that the other statues in this hallway may soon be animated by other spirits, less friendly than I.”
“I thank you for your warning Lady VayRalen,” Thundina concluded and led the party to another set of stairs to attempt to find their destinations.

The next room explored had a large oak desk buried under scrolls, tomes, and ledgers.  A large blue carpet with edges of stone grey spread from the door to the desk.  A pale man sat at the desk scratching at a ledger next to a name tag which read ‘Lief’.  He glanced up startled as Thundina barged into the room.  He rummaged around in the desk eventually drawing a greatsword from one of the wide drawers and began swinging the sword around while flicking a forged maggot-white tongue.  Three gaunt skeletal deathlocks stood at attention by the desk.  As battle began, each deathlock threw a pair of _Magic Missiles_ at Thundina.  Jessuf moved around the desk and engaged Lief.  Thundina then slipped around behind Lief and whispered into his ear, “Nothing personal, but it’s been too long since I’ve encountered a soft and squishy foe.”  Thundina’s blade lodged painfully next to Lief’s spine; he did not die a quick or clean death.

Once the deathlocks had been quickly crushed, Thundina inspected the desk.  Lief had been running the castle’s accounts and had a small pile of money which Thundina scooped up.  She yawned as she glanced through the piles of mostly worthless musty financial records stretching back hundreds of years.  From the accountant’s office, Thundina found a hallway which moaned with sadness and despair linking the office to Strahd’s throne room.

The throne room had a door which led to a balcony with two smaller thrones over the chapel.  A tight stairwell wound down into the chapel.  Broken stained-glass windows littered the floor sending sparkles of color all around the chapel.  A dead body lay next to the altar, reaching out towards a silver raven statuette on the altar.  Thick dust covered the floor, altar, and even the corpse.

Sir Urik spoke with a fond remembrance, “Ah, the altar of Castle Ravenloft, where I took my oath as a Knight of the Raven.  If you wish to become a Knight, you would need to hold a vigil here.”
Thundina rolled her eyes, “No, Urik.  No, I don’t think I’ll be becoming a Knight of the Raven.”  Thundina spotted a wide stairwell on the far side of the chapel, “Sir Urik, I thought you had said there wasn’t any exits to the chapel…”

Up, and up the staircase wound without break or landing.  The tower climbed 300 feet, looming over any other tower in the castle.  The top of the tower was a ruined mesh of girders and the landing at the very top had little in the way of walls to keep any occupants safe.  A dark shaft pierced the middle of the room descending out of sight as cold air wafted back up.  The party squeezed to near the wall to allow Cyron to pass to the front.  When he reached the top he pulled out the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind and pronounced, “The Symbol pulses; this is where we needed to bring it.”

The next eight hours of perching on a narrow stair with wind gusting through the top of the tower and a draft whispering up from below frustrated Thundina.  There was no place to sit other than the hard stone steps and no shelter from the wind.  Eerie sounds drifted from deep below while the whistling of the wind through the tower set her teeth on edge.  She was quite pleased when Cyron announced that he had bonded the Symbol and they could return down to the chapel.

Thundina took out her sketched map and pored over it again, “I just don’t understand.  We seem to have exhausted basically all the places a stairwell up could hide and the prophecy on where to bring the Sunsword does seem to indicate near a tower top.  I’m not sure where to go from here.”
Jessuf looked over the map and pointed to the section with the room where he had been held, “Wasn’t there another floor between here and the top?”
Thundina counted while thinking before answering, “I don’t recall.  We can go check it out.”

Just below the devil’s garden the party found a level not listed on Thundina’s map.  A dead redcap and several dead shocker lizards lay in the shadows near a door.  In the room beyond that door a great black cauldron bubbled.  Spacious tables covered in glass jars with strange bits of creatures suspended in colorful liquids lined the walls.  A large book on a podium stood next to one of the tables.  A man in a long flowing brown robe with a glowing green staff reached into a pouch and pulled out a fistful of gold coins.  He tossed the coins into the air and all the light vanished except for the red glow in the warlock’s eyes.

Thundina whipped forward to pin him near the wall so he couldn’t retreat step by step around the room while slinging spells.  A hidden door opened and a woman in a stiff white shirt and stiff white pants stepped forward to sling an _Eldritch Blast_ at Thundina.  Cyron called for _Daylight_ to counteract the _Darkness_ on the gold coins.  Jessuf moved to engage the brown-robed warlock and was greeted by another secret door opening and a woman in a grey mask unleashed a fiery blast at Jessuf.  The blast simply rolled over Jessuf harmlessly as the sound of a trickling brook could be faintly heard.

Thundina stepped behind the brown-robed warlock and tapped him on the shoulder.  He turned around, running into Thundina’s blade in the gut, running up.  Thundina smirked at the startled look on the warlock’s face, “They say the fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach – straight up and a little to the left.”  As Thundina pulled her blade back the warlock collapsed.  Thundina flicked her blade out to the right attempting to catch the warlock in the stiff white shirt, but she was still standing back from the secret door so the guisarme harmlessly bounced off the door frame.

Talor drilled the warlock in the white shirt with a volley of arrows dropping her and Jessuf, Urik, and Thundina forced the grey-masked warlock into her secret chamber, and overwhelmed the warlock.  A search of the room turned up lots of alchemical items plus a dozen shocker lizard eggs, some still viable.  Thundina and Romann each took a ring off fallen warlocks while Jessuf peeked into the boiling cauldron before exclaiming, “There’s a silver key at the bottom of here.  Let me just get it.”

Jessuf reached into the cauldron for the key, but the bubbling gelatin material started crawling up his arm excreting acid all over the arm.  The acid tickled Jessuf and the trickling brook sound became a continuous stream of sound.  The gelatinous sphere was too small to consume someone immune to its light acid damage and the sphere was removed from Jessuf.

The Sunsword hummed in the room and Jessuf knelt with the sword to begin to pray.  While Jessuf began the bonding process with the sword, Thundina examined the journal on the podium.  The journal belonged to one Afeena Musesco who described her descent into becoming a warlock from contact with a devil and how that devil now ran a garden just above the room of hellish magic.  Thundina laughed at how well useless such revelations were now that both the devil and Ms. Musesco were dead.

With every goal met save one, the party set looking for a path down into the catacombs.  Once they had located the quickest path to Strahd’s coffin they could go searching for the vampire lord himself.  The stairs from the chapel were promising at first, but they quickly encountered the other side of the wall with a small open chink.  The thick wall obviously barred that stairwell while allowing Strahd to gas through if needed.  The second try, near the dining room proved more promising.

In a room off that stairway, a cloaked lady hobbled out to stare accusingly at the descending party, “Are you a spy for Strahd?  I’ve dealt with your kind before.  Oh yes, I will be independent of the Lord Strahd.  So, are you a spy?”

Thundina said slowly, “No.  We’re hunting down Strahd to destroy him.”
“Oh, alright then.  Maybe I can help you.  I know of a ring which resists death effects and the relics hidden in the catacombs.  However, you will need to do something for me first.”
“Sure, how can we help you?”  Thundina responded.  The idea of a ring to protect against Strahd’s energy draining attacks excited her.
“I need the tongue of a living person from the village.  Not just a living person when the tongue is harvested, but a person still alive when you deliver the tongue to me.”

Thundina thought a moment.  That ring would be the perfect defense needed for attacking Strahd, but the price was awfully high.  Would anyone really miss some random villager if it meant the destruction of Strahd?  Maybe Bildreth could give something back.  No, ripping a tongue out of someone is just too vile to be seriously considered.  Thundina just couldn’t bring herself to do something like that.

Sir Urik spoke up, “Well, since it’s for such an important mission, such a sacrifice may be…”
Romann’s eyes gleamed, “Excellent.  Hold still a moment, this shouldn’t hurt much.”
Jessuf shouted, “No!  We aren’t seriously considering this.”
Romann rebutted, “If’s he’s offering willingly, I don’t see a problem.”
“It’s wrong.  It’s disgusting.  We are not maiming Sir Urik.”
“It’s a sacrifice for greater good.  I think we should take the offer.”
“Absolutely not.  Thundina, you’ve been unusually quiet for an offer of treasure.”
“We can’t do this,” Thundina said.  “It’s not just wrong, it passes into vile.  I can handle just wrong, but not vile.”

The party passed the cloaked witch and descended into the catacombs.  The iron gate barring the way to a crypt on a dirt pile no longer was guarded by the mists of transposition.  The party walked up to the black iron gate and smashed it open.  Strahd sat on his coffin, laughing maniacally, “You challenge a Lord of Ravenloft in his own domain?  Do you have no idea the nature of Ravenloft?  There is no hope for you anymore, there is only never-ending darkness.  You haven’t met Lucien yet.  Lucien was a celestial who thought he could cleanse the land.  He is now a loyal servant.  Just like you shall all be.”

Thundina snapped back, “Shut up Strahd.  You’ve become delusional.  Weeks ago, we might have come to some sort of agreement, but then you tried to cheat me.  Now that I’ve bonded with the land, I understand what you’ve done and why you can no longer be the lord here, old one.”

By way of response Strahd summoned a cloud of green gas on top of the party.  The gas weighed heavily on the chest and Talor coughed fitfully.  The party scattered out of the cloud as it slowly rolled away from Strahd.  The large statue of a man on a horse which had been standing behind Strahd began rumbling forward until it filled the entry and blocked passage with its mass.  Jessuf stepped up to it to halt its advance while Thundina applied a silver sheen to her guisarme and Sir Urik gave her _Protection from Evil_ and Cyron cast protective wards over Romann.  Strahd and Lucien buffed themselves as well with Lucien applying _Protection from Good_.

As the _Cloudkill_ passed, the party reformed in front of the statue and Cyron identified it as a cursed-scribe golem instead of a normal animated statue that had been encountered so far throughout the castle.  The nature of the curse inscription became clear when after one of its hammering blows, Romann failed to counterattack.  Each attack from the golem left welts which would surely leave deep purple bruises the next day.  Romann’s and Thundina’s attacks on the golem failed to cut deeply into its magical stone body.

Lucien pushed past the golem to begin assaulting the party directly.  He took a position on the edge of the battle, but Thundina quickly moved to a flanking position on Lucien and tripped him up.  She followed up Lucien’s fall with a quick thrust slipping through a hole in his armor.  He looked up at the party members looming over him and appeared indecisive as to whether or not risking standing in his current predicament.  Thundina mocked him, “Come on Lucien, stand up for yourself.”  He stood up, but that left him vulnerable to first Romann’s and then Thundina’s blades.  Off balance from Romann’s cracking strike, Lucien stumbled towards Thundina.  Her high sweeping blow took off his head and the decapitated corpse fell back to the ground.

Strahd harried the party from behind the golem throwing _Enervation_ at Thundina after lining up the perfect shot via _True Strike_ and then fell draining _Magic Missiles_ spread among the party.  The golem meanwhile swung at Romann, catching him on the temple, knocking him out cold.  Cyron healed Romann as best he could, but Romann was still dangerously low on health.

Talor, after one shot bounced harmlessly off the golem, starting making the tough shot through the combat to hit Strahd with silver arrows.  Jessuf joined in the ranged combat by throwing _Searing Light_ at Strahd as well.  The touch of the _Searing Light_ overwhelmed Strahd and he returned to his coffin.

Thundina observed the course of the battle against the golem and decided that someone had to get behind the golem to provide flanking and allow Romann and Jessuf to better power attack the golem.  The next time the golem attacked and slammed its fist down to the ground on the miss, Thundina dashed up the arm, and over the golem, dropping lightly behind it.  The golem would bash Romann, hitting heavily, and Cyron would desperately heal Romann to keep him in the fight.  Romann chipped away at the golem, crushing it slowly.

Thundina rolled her shoulders and exhaled as the adrenaline surge of battle faded.  She took a step over and peeked into Strahd’s coffin.  He was laying with his arms crossed on his chest, pale face a stark contrast to the dark coffin.  He pleaded, “Please, spare my life.  I’ll do anything.  I’ll give you anything – I’ll give you the valley.  I can tell you where I hid the rest of my treasure.”

Romann stepped up, “Why don’t you tell us where the treasure is first?”
Talor, just behind, “Maybe we can spare you.  Maybe we can find an agreement, a ransom.”

Strahd panted, “Yes, yes.  Do I have your word?  Any agreement.”

“I want one simple thing from you,” Thundina said stonily.  “I want you to die.”  She looked behind her to see Cyron pulling out a stake and offering it to her.  She accepted it and turned back around.

Romann again tried, “Treasure, Thundina, think, treasure.  We can come up with something I’m sure.”

Strahd desperately cried, “I always keep my word.  I will give you my treasure.  We can negotiate still.”

Thundina stabbed the flarestake into Strahd and said, “Negotiations are over.  We’ll hear no more from you.”

Strahd screamed as the flarestake burned.  His screamed continued and continued.  Thundina whispered to Cyron, “I thought stakes through the heart was supposed to be the end of vampire.”

Cyron whispered back, “It’s supposed to be.  You did hit the heart, right?  I know you don’t have quite the same accuracy and control against undead.”

“I’m certain I hit the heart.”  Thundina responded before snapping her fingers, “Oh how dumb of me.  The Tome of Strahd spells out that a stake won’t kill him, only sunlight can.  I guess all we’re doing is torturing him like this.”  She looked at Strahd and said firmly, “Not that you don’t deserve it.”  Strahd could only manage a scream as the stake continued to burn in his shriveled heart.  “Let’s take him outside and burn him in the sun,” Thundina said.

As they carried Strahd outside, Talor whispered to Strahd, “Actually, I guess I did have to kill you.  That was my job.”

The party set the coffin down and glanced up at the sky overhead.  The overcast sky showed no sign of breaking anytime soon.  Thundina asked Cyron, “Can we speed this up any?  I don’t want to sit hear listening to Strahd cry for a day or two or however long it takes us to get some direct sunlight here.”

Cyron shook his head, “A greater cleric than I could directly control the weather, or perhaps a druid of similar strength could control the winds to disperse the clouds for a time, but there is nothing I can do.”

Thundina sat to wait and began looking through all the little items she had acquired during the time.  She had Orning’s identification papers which would need to be returned to his father.  She found the little witty note Tourg had written her way back when they had first arrived in Barovia.  There were the Lightbringers patches from Thendrick and Mathilda, and Tourg and BarBar as well.  From Ashlyn, Thundina now wore Ashlyn’s holy symbol.

Thundina had just reached thinking of Ashlyn when there was a shout from the rest of the party.  A single beam of sunlight was breaking through the clouds, illuminating Strahd.  It only lasted a moment, but when Thundina looked into the coffin, Strahd was gone and a pile of black ash now filled the coffin.  All that was left were the robes that Strahd had worn plus a bundle of papers.  Thundina pulled out the papers and took a quick look, enough to see that these were the deed to Castle Ravenloft and the valley of Barovia.

“So, now what?” Romann asked.
“I don’t know,” Thundina said.  “I guess we go down to the village and start the process of transition of power.”

As the party arrived in town they could see that almost all of the town was out and gathered in town square.  The party walked down the street, approaching the gathered crowd, when Gertruda burst out of the crowd and rushed up to Romann and latched on to him, “Is it true?  Did you kill Strahd?  The town is abuzz that Strahd is dead!”

Romann gaped, “How did you hear?  We only just watched him burn before we came here.”
Gertruda walked with Romann and the party, “A vestani was shouting that Strahd had been slain and a lot of people said they felt different.  There’s something different about the valley, can’t you feel it?  The land is adjusting to a new lord.”

Ismark pushed his way out of the crowd, “Hail heroes.  Will you please come with me, there is much which needs to be discussed.”  He led them through the crowd and back to his manor.  The crowd gaped at the members of the party as they parted to allow the party to pass through.

Ismark took the party to his sitting room and offered seating.  Once everyone had sat, he requested, “Please, tell me all that has occurred and led to the fall of Strahd.”

Thundina responded, “Well, there really isn’t all that much to tell.  Over the past couple days we have held vigils at each of the fanes to strip Strahd of his protections, then we tracked him down by his coffin, forced him to revert and return to it, and then dragged him out into the sun where he burned.”

“And my sister, have you found her?  Is she safe?”

Thundina was about to answer when they all heard a large commotion outside.  When they looked outside, there was Ireena wandering dazedly back to the manor.  Ismark ran to his sister and escorted her inside, asking her if she was okay.

Once settling that Ireena was safe, Ismark resumed the conversation with the party, “With Strahd dead, I presume that one of you will be taking over as the Lord of Ravenloft.”

Thundina said slowly, “Well, we do have the deed to the castle, but hadn’t given it much thought.  I guess we did slay Strahd and do have the bonds to the land.”

“Of course,” Ismark bowed to the party.  “You are welcome to stay here with me while you figure out what is happening.  If you will excuse me, I feel I must tend to my sister.”

Jessuf spoke up once Ismark had departed, “I came here to work out a deal regarding lands, but I have realized that I really am meant to stay in one place and lead the people.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’d like to be new lord of Barovia.  Thundina, are you going to press a claim?”

Visions of ruling Barovia danced in her head.  Her father had told stories of how he would have single-handedly conquered a country, he’d be so proud of her.  She had dreamed of rescuing and marrying a prince and then living a plush life forever after, but this could do.  She looked firmly at Jessuf, “Yes, and why not?  I’ve been opposing Strahd the longest.  I was the one who slew him.  I deserve this.”

Jessuf sighed and turned to Cyron, “And what about you?”

Cyron shook his head, “No, I am not one to rule.  I serve Romann, wherever he will lead.”
Romann chimed in, “I think I’m going to propose to her.  I think we’re meant for each other.”

The rest of the party looked at Romann quizzically, his comment having come out of nowhere.  He clarified, “Gertruda.  She’s beautiful, kind, and gentle.  I’m going to propose to her.”

After the meeting with Ismark, Romann went to Gertruda’s house, dropped to a knee, and proposed with the ring he had taken from the warlocks, and she accepted him.  They set the wedding for the next week, once all the loose ends were tied up regarding the castle and valley.

Thundina walked the ways of the valley, thinking and reflecting on the past few weeks.  She found her feet taking her once more up to the castle, like she had walked so many times before.  In the castle, Thundina visited the ransacked treasury and picked up a silver coin which had escaped the previous sacking.  She climbed to the devil’s garden and then to the Dayheart chamber.  As darkness claimed the valley, Thundina found herself in the throne room.  She decided to take a break and sit on the throne.  It felt like a perfect fit; so comfortable and just the right size for her.  Maybe she could rest a little longer.

Thundina awoke several hours later.  She had dreamed, she had heard the land calling to her, but it was a dark call, and reminded her of Strahd.  The dreams were of blood, of death.  Her heart raced, her breathing came quick.  Was this what she wanted?  The power and strength, and the thrill of domination.  The more she thought on it, and the more she considered the implications, the more she hated the idea.  It was the death of dreams and the death of what made her her.

She got out of the throne and wandered into the accounting office next to the throne and rummaged for some paper and quills.  She had some notes to write.  The first note was to Romann.



> “Romann, sorry I’m going to have to miss your wedding.  I wish you and Gertruda all the best and I hope you have many fat children.  Cyron will always be there to help you; he’ll make a good uncle.  I admired your fighting style; you were a good companion here.  I’m afraid I have to be leaving the valley now, before I’ll be able to say proper good-byes.  T”



The second note was for Jessuf.  He had something she needed and she had something he’d need.  He might not like the idea of a trade, but it needed to be done.



> “Jessuf, I’ve decided to relinquish my claim to Barovia.  I’m hitting the trail before dawn and I intend to be halfway back to Thronehold by noon.  Well, not quite, but I expect certain rewards for my efforts.  I came here on a mission, I hope you understand.  Watch yourself here, there is something dark in the land which I wouldn’t have been able to control.  Don’t give into that darkness.  T”



She took her two notes back down to the village and snuck back to her room and quietly packed up her share of the treasure.  Since she had been tasked with hauling and cataloging most of it in the first place, she knew exactly where all the valuable unclaimed items were and added them to her haversack.  She took the note for Romann over to his room and left it pinned to the door.  Next was a visit to Jessuf’s room.  He had locked the door, but that was no problem for Thundina.  She snuck into the room and found the Sunsword prominently displayed on the dresser.  Thundina took the sword and left the note for Jessuf as well as the deed to the Castle Ravenloft and the valley of Barovia.  She then slipped back out, securing the Sunsword in her haversack.  As she was about to leave the village, she heard a voice from behind her, “Leaving, Thundina?”

She found the source of the voice, Talor was leaning against a building.  “Isn’t it awfully early to be up?”
“I wanted to call another bat to be my next animal companion.  Besides, I’ve always been somewhat more nocturnal.”
“Fair enough.  Yes, I am leaving.  I need to get out of here, this is not where I belong.”
“Mind if I join you on the journey?”
“I thought you didn’t like me,” Thundina said wrinkling her nose.
“You seem to get what you want,” Talor shrugged.  “I want great piles of stuff.  If I work with you, maybe some of that good fortune of yours will rub off on me.”
“Alright then, let’s go.”

The set off along the road to the west, Thundina intending to try the northwestern gate.  As the neared the crossroads, they could see a table had been set up with a woman sitting behind it.  Thundina and Talor approached and Madam Eva hailed them, “Ah duckling, leaving Barovia I see.”

“Yes,” Thundina agreed.  “Funny meeting you here.”
“I’m glad to hear that.  It is a better fate for you this way.  Do you know where your path leads?”
“To the northwest gate and then eventually back to Irontown and then on to Korth.”
“Ah duckling, what surprises you will find.  Ravenloft is not like other places.  It is a demiplane onto itself; a rogue plane that wanders through the other planes, and when Strahd died it departed Eberron.  The mists will not take you home, they will take you to where you need to be.  Sit, let me read your fortune one final time.”

Thundina sat in front of the table and Eva dealt out cards once more.  “Child of Chaos, your path will change those all around you.  You are difficult to read for all the chaos that comes with you.  If you have the courage and strength, the queen holds a great treasure.  Yes, go now Child of Chaos, and see what destinies lie before you.”  Eva waved as she shooed Thundina and Talor back on to the road and towards the gate.  Before they had left earshot, Eva added, “I hope you are not bothered by spiders.”

Thundina and Talor passed through the gate at the edge of Barovia and before long they had left the mists which shrouded the valley.  They stopped and stared at what they saw, it was not the hills of Karrnath but a great, bustling city before them.


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## Ealli (May 4, 2007)

*Author's note*

And with that, we are at the end of the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.  We will be taking a couple weeks off before starting a new adventure.  Because the next adventure is also likely to be a module, I will be making a new thread for it so those who don't mind those spoilers but do mind these spoilers can read along.

Thank you for reading.  Congratulations on making it to the end.  And good night.


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