As Dorol, Eravan and Banshee arrive at the inn and start to unload the wagon with Dante (where have you been?) they all realise that Virgil is not with them. "Where did he sneak off to?" They finish their job and Dorol starts licking his lips in anticipation of a quick pint when he is interrupted by RIctavio, the town's bard, asking him for a moment of our time. Eravan tries to show off again and casts Levitate to soar high in the sky (Let's go fly a kite!) and see if he can spot Virgil.
Meanwhile, Virgil arrives at the Barron's home wanting to have a moment with his dear friend Isaac and ask him about the fetish with the dolls. Before knocking he decides it is better to regroup instead of running solo. As Virgil turns to leave he notices something odd going on across the street. A small group of people wearing black robes entering a basement door of the Watch Lady's manor. This seems very suspicious and feeling that he shouldn't go in their alone, he decides to race it back to the Inn to come get us.
On his way back, Eravan spots him from a far and calls out to him, making a scene, and Virgil starts to think that this kid is in need of a some tact. He explains to the group what he saw and the ominous feeling that he has about what is about to happen and urges us to come immediately. Dorol, being torn about needing to go talk with Rictavio, concedes to go inspect the manor but first tells the bard that we will have to postpone our discussion for a bit. Rictavio says that is fine but Dorol notices that he is packing as if he is going on a trip. Hmmm, that is odd for the bard to leave.
As we arrive back at and the Lady watcher's estate, we don't even go to her front door but go immediately to the basement door (are we the good guys here or burglars?). We notice that it is locked and Eravan, once again wanting to try out a new spell, says, "Ooo, I've got this one!" and performs the Knock spell,, forgetting in his excitement that a side effect of the spell is that it causes a really loud knock sound that you could hear across the street. "Ooops". After pushing aside the desire to throw Eravan down the cellar door, Dante enters the basement. All is quiet and clear below which seems odd to all of us. Yet, upon a quick investigation, Dante finds tracks that lead to a wall and finds a secret door that opens up to a room that has a black pentagon drawn on the floor with chairs at each point. As he contemplates what he is seeing, he hears the sound of moving dirt behind him and as he turns around, and all of us look to see what the sound means, a bunch of skeletons come crawling out of the basement floors, brandishing short swords. Virgil, Dorol, Banshee and Dante look at them with no fear yet Eravan has to steal himself for a second as this is something that will give him nightmares for a week or two. As the battle commences, Virgil, Dante, and Banshee decimate all of these walking bag of bones and Eravan holds his own against a small group though some of us receive some cuts from the rusty short swords. From the stairs Dorol is surprised by a set of cloaked figures who call upon unrighteous power to inflict wounds. He recovers enough to return the favor to one of the new attackers and Dante (or was it Virgil?) finishes off one of them. The remaining one has fear in his eyes as Eravan decides to finish off the last skeleton on him and then turn his rapier on the black cloaked assailant and says, "Yield or die!" The idiot decides to die and takes poison. "AH man! Why can't we get some answers!" After the battle, Virgil, feeling really bold, heads up the stairs that the 2 attackers came down from and it opens up into a kitchen where a surprised servant is cleaning. We question her and she tells us that her mistress has left for the festivities with her small group of cloaked figures. We discuss what we could do and decide that the greatest threat is to the Baron, though there is still no love for his way of ruling, and we decide to tell the Baron and let him deal with the Lady Watcher's plot. The maid at the Baron's mansion tells us that the Barron and his entourage have already left for the festivities and has left a message that if we were to show up, to let us know that he will be in the main square. We make our way to the main square. On our way back we run into Rictavio and talk with him briefly in a side alley. He reveals to us that he really isn't a bard but a hunter by the name of Rudolf Van Richten, a vampire hunter who came to these lands years ago to try and over throw Lord Strahd (ptoo!) but was not able to. He has caught wind that Lord Strahd has noticed him and will most likely send hunters after him and decides to retreat to his tower, which is about 100 miles to the west. He has an accomplice who will help him but he invites us to his tower where hopefully we can devize a way to defeat Strahd. After that quick meeting, we go inform the Baron what we know and he sends Isaac into the crowd to watch for the cloaked figures. We also spread out in hopes to find them too. The Baron starts the festivities and as he approaches the stand to light the wicker ball, a heavy rain starts, dampening the mood of the 'party'. With this ominous sign, the lady watcher yells out her threatenings against the Baron and his pitiful leadership. The Baron calls on his guards to take her. Rictavio...Rudolf causes a small earthquake to scare the peasantry away so that they can get to safety and not be caught in the battle.
Eravan is not sure who to attack. He is struggling with the fact that his friends and himself have such great power to cause death coupled with the fact that he doesn't like the Baron nor the lady watcher with her hellish imp. He decides to cast Faerie Fire as his first spell and see how the battle unfolds.
The battle quickly turns into a blood bath for the Lady watcher's group and for the lady who Dorol paralyzes with his divine abilities. And, as the battle ends against them and all of the cultists are massacred, the Baron turns on us! "Really!? We just helped you win that fight!" Now Eravan sees that both sides were equally corrupt and evil and all misgivings on who should come on top are gone. Especially when he is surrounded by the Baron and two of his lackies. "what a jerk!"
Virgil and Dante on the other hand relish in the thought that they don't have to have an excuse to take down Isaac. This evil looking guy has bugged them from first sight. And the dolls! Virgil is sickened by his dolls! But, Dante seeing Eravan in trouble focuses his attentions on that small group after Eravan moves away from them. He casts Spiked Growth around the trio and the two henchmen, who aren't very bright, try to move out and die from their wounds. Even the Baron moves to escape and even though he succeeds, he is heavily wounded from the thorny briar patch. Banshee and Rictavio...I mean Rudolf cause havoc among the other guards not letting them get gain any advantage.
In the end, Eravan plays snowball with the Baron, Virgil finishes off Isaac. Dorol finishes off the Baron With a better than average handaxe throw and the crowds cheer when it is all over. "Best Sun festival day ever!" and the rain stops. Virgil asks to borrow Dorol's hammer then immediately heads to the Baron's mansion. The dolls never stood a chance. Dante drags both the Baron and Isaac up to the stocks and places donkey heads on them. Dante takes the Baron's breast plate, Eravan finds a cool new ring and as we are heading back to the inn, a bird drops a note in the ground. It is a message in spidery handwriting that reads,
My friends,
Know that it is I who have brought you to this land, my home, and know that I alone can release you from it. I bid you dine at my castle so that we can meet in a civilized surroundings. Your passage here will be a safe one. I await your arrival.
Your host,
Strahd Von Zarovich
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