Sunny Barovia

  6/10/25 Day 43 As there didn’t seem to be a way down from here, we headed back to the main tower where the Heart hung.   Based on what we’d seen so far, I figured that if we managed to destroy the heart, there was very good chance the stairs would stop moving.   However, I felt there was also a chance the entire tower would just collapse on us. We talked about the degree by which the stairs would buck and shift when we were on them, and decided that if we crawled, rather than walked down the stairs, we had a much better chance of getting to the bottom. We began our ignominious descent and reached a landing point about mid-way down.   (Laz, with his superior balance scouted ahead of us.) On this landing there were exits to the battlements on the east and northwest.   Laz took up a position to the east.   As I came down a figure caught my eye out of the northwest exit.   The Chamberlain was standing there, watching us.   “Laz,” I sai...

  5/20/25 Day 43 Laz felt confident he could make it up the stairs, but he agreed to be secured with a rope, just in case.   I offered him Kasimir’s ring of protection, even though we did not yet identify what sort of protection it provided.   He declined and said I should keep it.   I declined his declination.   We continued back and forth like two old yentas trying to get the other to accept the last slice of cake.   I think Dacso took it just to get us to shut up. What then followed was an extensive exercise in knot tying with Dacso, Laz and Wolfram all arguing about what sort of knots would work best.   Eventually Laz ended up with some sort of hempen pelvic harness tightened around his nether region. (He later admitted to somewhat enjoying the sensation as he felt it might heighten his sexual prowess.   I walked away from the conversation before he could elaborate further.) We tied a couple of ropes together and looped one end around ...

  5/13/25 Day 43 Before I could fully drop the Eagle form, an arrow cut across one of my wings.   I reverted back to human form which, fortunately, let me seek cover behind one of the crenelations. Several undead, including at least one vampiric archer, came charging across the short bridge that separated the two towers. First across the bridge were a couple of ghasts – recognizable by their sickening stench.   They were followed by a handful of wights.   Ghast.  You'll smell them long before you see them. Dacso hit one of the ghasts with a well-placed arrow.   Oloch finished it off with a couple of firm blows from his mace.   I took a moment to cast Mage Armor on myself. Laz snuck up on one of the ghasts and did significant damage with his green flamed blade.   Wolfram drew his Sunsword, and we were all bathed in daylight.   He finished off the ghasts, then turned to face the wights. More undead rushed in – ghouls, I think. ...

 7/9/24 & 7/16/24 Day 40 While Wolfram had reduced their numbers by almost half, there were still many more in the fight.   I was surrounded; hands reaching, grabbing. I flew up 15 feet, out of the fray, then zoomed over to the cover of trees.   More undead approached.   Once climbed up the tree next to me, but I simply flew out of his reach and observed the battlefield. Chaos.   Undead literally exploded around Ireena and her protective circle.   Oloch, Wolfram and Laz were dragged back into the pool by the crayfish creatures but a flurry of blade strokes told me they were cutting their way free. Dasco was stabbing wildly about himself but was being overrun. “Fireball!!   Fireball!!” I heard him yell. Yes.   Fireball indeed. Hovering above, I shot a fireball down into the thick of them. More bodies exploded out. Trees caught fire. No matter. These are just delays.   Distractions to be dealt with.   Our real...

 7/2/24 (Note Abe provided significant narrative to this entry - I could have never remembered this much detail.  Thanks Abe!) Day 40 “We should leave,” Kasimir said.   His tone was one of absolute certainty. “Yeah, well, you know we can’t do that,” responded Wolfram. As a group, we moved forward.   The bodies were hanging from hempen ropes from the battlements.   Wolfram and Oloch moved through the gate first, the rest of us following.   Inside the vestibule, in a bit of grim irony, blood was dripping down from the murder hole above us. We passed through the barbican and gatehouse.   Once inside, we saw dozens of Krezkans: men, women, children, are impaled on thick sharpened branches taken from the many trees of the village. The impalements took many forms. Through the chest, through the back and, most prominently, up through the nethers. Among the displayed corpses, Oloch spotted Lucas, the hard-working old pipe-weeder who shared his garden...

 6/11/24 Day 39 As I said, vampires. Laz moved in first and struck one before they knew what was happening, then stepped back.   I scooted around him and cast Slow on the group.   It slid off most of them, but two were definitely affected.   I then moved forward to make room for the others. The Bloodspear flew back and forth from the fissure to a vampire and back, before Dasco stepped into the room to claim it. Suddenly, the room was filled with light as bright as noon on a clear summer day.   Wolfram had activated the Amulet of the Ravenkind.   All the vampires reacted with hisses and shrieks, trying to shield their eyes.   Smoke started to rise from them as their skin crackled under the light.   They tried escaping up the stairs.   The ones not affected by my slow spell shoved their way past the two who had been.   Oloch and Ireena slashed into one of the slow ones while Kasimir and I peppered it with firebolts. One blood...

 6/14/24 Day 39 I should clarify, the sword in question wasn’t really a sword, so much as the hilt of a sword; The broken remains of a blade could be seen emerging from the hilt.   Nevertheless, the urge to pick it up and run was strong.   However, we agreed that it was likely that as soon as we did, it would either wake this giant statue, set off some sort of trap or both.   Additionally, Kasimir had been clear that he would only help us after we had helped him find what he sought in this temple.   If we were to take the hilt now, it was unlikely that we would be able to continue exploring. We decided to return to the shattered bedroom on the west side of the temple to take another short rest.   Kasimir used Prestidigitation to warm the room while we rested.   Once we were feeling a bit better, I ritually summoned Woodhouse to be our light bearer.   We went back into the main chamber to clear the room in the Northwest corner. The room wa...

 2/6/24 Things went very, very quickly after that. Everyone was fighting.   The vampires shrieked in pain, presumably from the sunlight flooding the crypt.    That's going to leave a mark I remember seeing Walter struggling with the vampire on top of him while the spectral Ireenas hacked and slashed around them.  I managed to cast Slow on several of the vampires, but the success was short lived.  I was already lightheaded, when I felt something hit me.  Then everything went black. I don’t know how long I was out, but I came to with Walter standing over me saying, “You’re going to be OK, Mr. Carl.   But we need you!   Come on, we need you!” I slowly got up and saw the fight had moved to the outside.   Dasco was calmly wiping the tip of his Bloodspear as he moved for the door.   I followed him outside. The warriors were engaged with the fleeing vampires.   Laz yelled, “Watch the tower!” At that moment, movement near the...

 1/30/24 After dispatching the specters, we took a short rest in one of the empty bedrooms to gather ourselves.   Sundown was in about an hour, so rather than rush back to town we decided we’d explore the last of the grounds, then overnight here. On the second level, we headed for the yet unexplored eastern wing.   There were two doors which (we later discovered) led to a balcony area which oversaw the cathedral / altar below.    In the center of this balcony was another thronelike chair, it’s back towards us. Wolfram was first through with Oloch and Dasco close by.   Laz and I observed from the other door. Another armored skeleton was seated on the throne, unmoving.   Wolfram must have recognized or sensed something about it, because he moved to the front and greeted it directly.   The creature turned its head and the two appeared to exchange greetings.   (I was too far away to hear what was being said). Apparently, Wolfram recogni...

2/28/23 The Blue Water Inn.  Busier on the Inside. The Blue Water Inn was hopping, as the kids say.  We only recognized about a third of the faces there.  Another third were Vistani and the rest were strangers to us.  Music was being played, boisterous conversations, the sounds of laughter and the clunk of wooden mugs.  We are recognized, and I see multiple people give little nods of acknowledgement to Nikoli. Drinks are ordered and I find my way back into the kitchen to find Urwin.   The small staff is very busy, but Urwin motions me back.   He’s busy filling stew bowls and cutting hunks of meat and vegetables for another batch.   I tell him I won’t keep him long, but I thought he should know that Muriel lives.   He is happy, but not as happy as I expected, given his reaction right after she fell.   I mention this to him, and he tells me that while he’s happy she lives, she is lost to them.   He doesn’t explain further, and I let...

 2/21/23 Abe was kind enough to send me notes from the first encounter.   Rather than me paraphrasing, I’m going to take the lazy route and just post them (with some minor formatting changes) here.   Thanks Abe! Three men and a woman meet the party on the causeway. Additional men and women remain back at the forest and scattered along the lake shore. Lead Male Druid - “We are the People of Baratok” “You stand in the presence of Seer-Sha, Daughter of Baratok” “I am Quade, first of the Lodge of the Crag Cat. I will speak with you.” Seer-Shaw - Perhaps in her late forties, if the years were particularly hard. Pale, blond hair, beginning to transition to white.   She carries what looks like a thin stone rod, approximately the length a walking stick.   She is also wearing furs over some sort of extraordinarily thick hide armor. She is medium height with a lean, athletic build and attentive to her surroundings. When anyone looks at her, she seems to ...