Sunny Barovia

 6/6/23 Before turning in for the night, we determined that we would set out the next day for the Ruins of Berez, reputed home of Baba Lysaga.   Strahd had given us to believe that my nephew Darius may be her prisoner there.   Additionally, the swamp supposedly contained another of set of these standing stones that could ultimately lead to the overthrow of Strahd. We hiked for some time, and the mists began to slowly thicken around us.   To be honest, we had grown quite used to this.   It was still clear enough to see our footing, and sometimes that’s the best you can hope for. After about an hour or so, the wind picked up and the mists parted for just a few moments.   To our west, we saw a dark castle.   It wasn’t Strahd’s.   As we gazed, the mist returned and hid it from view.   We debated taking a detour to explore, but decided we would stick with our original plan and continue on to confront Baba Lysaga. The swamp was exactly what...

 5/9/23 While I’m happy (and a little surprised) that we dropped Morgantha, we still had two more hags to deal with.   I ran in closer so I could spear Bella with a witch bolt.   She turned, and I saw fear replace the fury in her eyes.   She made a quick gesture with one hand, then started screaming obscenities in my direction.   Just behind me I heard Muriel chuckling, “Got you know you bitch.”   I suspect that Bella had attempted to go Ethereal, but somehow Muriel prevented it.   Unable to magically escape, Bella turned and started to run.   Wolfram and Oloch both got solid hits in, while Ireena just barely missed with her strike. When she was about 30 feet away, I could feel the Witchbolt spell drop.   Fortunately, Oloch kept pace and laid her out with a might swing from his sword.   I saw him swing again at her now prone form.   He looked at Connell who shrugged and told him “If it were me, I’d want to make sure.   Ju...

  5/2/23 The wolf that Muriel was fighting was the last spirit animal.   Multiple swarms fell upon the wolf stone, trying to tear the totem from the center. To my right, I saw Oloch fall under the bite of that giant spider, and heard Laz swear as a wolf tore into him. I looked up and saw even more creatures coming in from the surrounding woods.   We were going to fall just from the sheer number of attackers. The wolf spirit flashed past me and knocked Muriel fully off her feet. She landed flat on her back and was swarmed by insects. Somehow, Oloch fought his way back upright, breathing hard.   A spectral hand shot across the field, touched the spider and I watched rime frost form before it shattered under a blow from Oloch.    That must have been Laz’s chill touch.   Oloch let out a roar and a look of pure fury crossed his face. Just then, I heard Muriel grunt with effort as she stabbed into the ghost wolf, dissipating it. From Abe: Wit...

 4/25/23 I gazed across the field at the three.  Through the mist and drizzle, I could only make out their silhouettes. A song came unbidden into my mind.   A tune I hadn’t heard or even thought of since I was a child. Three little witches coming down the lane, Hiding from the sunlight, clinging to the rain. If their fingers touch you, your dreams will turn to pain, Three little witches coming down the lane. In my mind, I could hear the other children singing it.  So long ago….. A voice broke through my reverie.   “Carl!   CARL!”   I turned to see Connell shouting at me. “You ok?   We need you HERE!” I looked up and the hags were now much closer.   When did they move?   More animals. Oloch was surrounded by wolves and giant centipedes.   He didn’t seem to be smiling anymore. Hell, I was surrounded, and about to get pulled down! I felt a wave of arcane energy move through the air.   It didn’t seem to have any...

 4/18/23 As Muriel defeated the various spectral animals, they reappeared at their respective stones.   I noted that when they did, they seemed a little less grotesque and twisted than they had when this whole thing kicked off.   Curiously, the wounds Muriel received seemed to be healing themselves somewhat.   They weren’t gone, but somehow healed a little with each victory. I didn’t have any time to ponder the deeper reasons behind that.   We were getting overrun with these assorted forest beasts.   Woody had just gotten out of the way and regrouped behind me as we were charged by more animals. Suddenly, I heard an almost happy shout to the south.   Oloch charged across the field to where Wolfram was having real difficulty against a giant spider. With a single stroke of that greatsword, Oloch cleaved the spider in two. He continued the swing to stab out behind him, and eviscerated a black bear coming up on his flank all the while, facing a sli...

 4/11/23 The battle was fully engaged and quite chaotic at this point.   I don’t have a clear blow-by-blow recollection of things, however, I do remember some specific moments.   I remember that at one point a huge centipede had managed to remove the token from the western side.   Ireena quickly slew it and returned the token. In the meantime, I saw Woody lash out at another centipede, but was quickly surrounded by other creatures.   A couple of wolves tore into him, and I was afraid he was done for. I heard Wolfram yell out, and a ghostly, skeletal hand shot forward and touched one of the wolves, killing it.   Laz’s doing, of course.   Woody managed to scamper free.   I told him to stay clear of it all, we didn’t want to lose him. Wolfram, Oloch and Ireena continued slashing away, while Muriel was busy dealing with the spectral Elk and Owl.   I spared a glance to Walter to see he was still casting those blackened tendrils at the be...

 4/4/23 After Muriel gave us that insight on what to expect, she touched the stone.   There was a flash of sickly green light, then the Bear and the Hawk apparitions became slightly more substantial and came at her. At the same time, the spear she had cobbled together transformed into an emerald green weapon that closely resembled the Blood Spear in form.   True to her word, we were unable to interact with these spirit animals, but Muriel certainly was.   Within seconds wolves, rats and bats swarmed into the clearing.   The wolves engaged us, while the swarms of bats and rats tried to pull the tokens out of the megaliths.   Woody did his best to try and cover the openings on one of the stones while the animals tried digging past his hands.   We unleashed into the animals with blades and fire.   Then Walter did something quite unexpected. He stepped back from the skirmish, extended his hands and dark tendrils of …something… shot forward...

  3/28/2023 We returned to the Bonegrinder and the bugs started to come out.   Surprisingly, Connell seemed to be able to communicate with them, after a fashion.   We were allowed to continue, but when we got to the standing stones themselves, we were attacked by hordes and swarms of the little biting bastards.   We manage to hack and smash and burn them all away without too much damage to ourselves, but with the battle at the bridge followed by a near jog to the Vistani camp and now here, we (well, at least I) was starting to feel more than a bit tired. We took a moment to catch our breath and I noticed Muriel having some sort of interaction with one of the ravens there. When she was done, she told us that we needed to match the artifacts we had “liberated” from the Bonegrinder, and place them with each associated stone.   Walter and I started on that chore.   We found each of the monoliths had vague animalistic qualities to them, in addition to a sm...

 8/16/2022 Tser Pool Encampment at night While it was nice to rest with a goblet of wine for a bit, there was work to be done around the Vistanti camp. Dasco, Wolfram and I went out with a couple of Vistani brothers named Stefan & Grigori Vasille to gather firewood.   While the woods have proven to be fairly dangerous, it was clear that these Vistani felt quite safe.   They didn’t even bother to bring weapons. We gathered a bit, then the brothers felt my skills would be better put to use by keeping watch.   Which I was happy to do.   There was one slightly tense moment when I saw 4 or 5 of those big dire wolves coming through the trees.   But they appeared to have no interest in us and moved on. We came back to the camp with enough wood to last several days.   Dasco found a fellow wine hater in the personage of Lee Funar.   Good. They can discuss the relative merits of lake water versus river water.   Well, Lee can.   Dasco...