Sunny Barovia

  9/23/25 Day 43 I know I’ve referenced how quickly I’ve developed new spells and skills over the past month or so, but I should point out my companions’ skills have also increased at an unbelievable pace. Case in point – this young lady (Gertruda) was clearly under the thrall of Strahd. Charmed, if you will.   But just the act of Wolfram moving in closer to her was enough to break this charm, and all the horror of what she suffered under Strahd came flooding back.   She collapsed on the bed, sobbing.   Wolfram and Ireena tried to comfort and calm her.   It was at that point they saw the multiple bite marks on the girl’s neck.   Strahd had apparently been keeping her around to “snack” on. We discussed the pros and cons of taking her with us.   Although she begged us to take her, we felt that it would place her in more peril.   For now, she seemed safest here.   If we were successful, we would return to rescue her.   At her reques...

  9/16/25 Day 43 (Again, Abe was kind enough to provide segments from his descriptions.  These are in italics.  Thanks Abe!) Heinrich told us that Strahd’s library was located in his personal chambers almost directly above us.   We headed up several flights of stairs until we exited out onto the parapet. “As the door to the stairwell creaks open, the full weight of Barovia's fury descends upon you. A wall of cold wind hits like a battering ram, flaying your skin with stinging rain that moves sideways, flung by a storm that howls like wolves in mourning. The very air feels wrong , crackling with witchlight and static dread. Thunder rolls like war drums over the castle's broken bones. The parapet before you is slick with rain and slicker still with moss and grime. Ten feet wide, it loops the outer walls like a gallows rope, a narrow ribbon of stone perched high above the courtyard below. Far below, barely visible through the rain and darkness, lie the cobblestone...

  9/9/25 Day 43 A Lich’s Gift - Abe Barker “Master Carl?” Heinrich says. “Will you sit with me?” “My master truly enjoyed your company, magus,” Heinrich relays after Carl, knees creaking in accordance to his age, settles down before him. “It recollected him to his guiding purpose, before the mists rose, which was to provide the material planes with a centralized place of study of the arcane and to instruct those with great potential in the highest mysteries of magical thought.” “If our time here is coming to an end at last, my master feels that, should both of you survive the aftermath, there is a place for you in such an organization. Your rapid ascent in ability, due to your natural talent, unusual circumstances, and noteworthy willingness to ‘do the work’ has pushed your practical skills to dizzying heights, but considering your current lack of a mentor, and the unlikelihood that you will find one in the absence of higher arcane learning in the ‘Great Kingdom’ of your origins, y...

  9/2/25 Note - a significant portion of this was written by Abe.  I had thought about re-wording it to Carl's style, but Abe's descriptors were too good not to use. Day 43 I poked my head around out from cover to see what effect my fireball had on the three spawn.   They were singed but still standing.   I considered the staff in my hand.   Might as well give it a test run. (A brief aside on spell craft for the lay person.   When casting a spell, whether from memory or from a ritual, the caster draws power up inside themselves. They then shape that energy by using prescribed phrases and/or gestures which thereby causes the power to manifest externally into the desired arcane effect. It’s not terribly dissimilar to singing or speaking.   A person draws breath (power) and directs it up past cords in the throat.   Tightening and loosening these cords causes sound to form.   As the sound exits the mouth, we use the lips and tongue to fur...