Sunny Barovia

  6/14/2022 That vampire girl escorted us through the rest of the picket lines.   Strahd was there with about a dozen mixed humans in various forms of old or improvised armor.   Of more concern was Strahd’s entourage.   His horse and groom were there, of course. But I also counted at least three of those big wolves as well as a number of clearly vampiric followers.   Strahd politely thanked us for coming, believe it or not.   The new Baroness briefed us on what happened after we left the festival. Apparently, the Burgomaster (who was reportedly drunk) made his way into the stands to greet Lady Wachter who, in turn, introduced him to Lady Ireena.   For some reason this seemed to unnerve him, and he quickly excused himself, leaving his wife Lydia behind.   For her part, Lydia was apparently sporting several bruises to her face which were poorly covered by makeup.   When asked, Lydia confided that her husband does abuse her, which sent Ire...

  5/17/22 Dasco found that the moonbeam was effective on him as well as the vampire, so he moved out of the way. Laz suggested we find or fashion a wooden stake and started trying to cut down one of the planks with his dagger.   It always pains me to see amatures butchering wood and tools that way, so I went down to the workshop, found a proper knife and a decent piece of wood and brought them back up.   I quickly fashioned a stake, handed it to Laz who hammered in into the vampire’s chest.   I don’t know what we were expecting, but we were underwhelmed by the lack of, well, anything. Trusting that this would do the job, Finn and Dasco went to wake Henrick and ask him about the bones.   He quickly revealed that they were in his wardrobe.   He said that some sort of “vampire queen” forced him to invite her and her minions into his home and they were just waiting for tonight’s festival.   Finn struggled into his armor. I don’t know if it was Finn...

  5/3/2022 While we were engaged in our burglary recon mission, Wolfram was standing dutiful guard over Lady Ireena.   At least until Muriel arrived.   She appeared with two of the servants from the Manse and had the foresight to bring Finn’s armor with her.   She also volunteered to stay with Lady Ireena if Wolfram felt it was necessary for him to leave for any reason.   Reading between the lines, Wolfram grabbed up our cleric’s armor and headed out to join us. In the meantime, I still hadn’t located any magical aura on the second floor.   We went back to the stairway and opened the western door.   This led to a kitchenette with another door to the north.   Given the relatively poor state of the town’s supplies, I was surprised to see such a generously well-stocked larder. We opened the North door and found Henrick in a small bedroom. He looked up at our entrance and sadly told us we shouldn’t have come. Finn told him that the town was...

  4/26/2022 We returned to the Manse and got cleaned up.   Well, as cleaned up as we could with shared bathing water.   (Note to self, research ways to magically filter dirty water). We headed over to the Wachter house and were admitted by her sons.   Lady Ireena, of course, joined us.   Up to this point, we had only seen her wear every day, adventuring gear.   She was quite stunning in her formal clothing, looking every bit the Noble that she is. We were treated to a fine meal – better than anything we’ve had since entering these lands.   In the course of dinner, we learned that the Wachter’s have been in these lands for hundreds of years and had an understanding, if not alliance with Strahd and the von Zarovich lines.   She makes no mistake for her disdain for the Burgomaster and his festivals.   She feels Strahd rules these lands and, for now, chooses not to interfere in Vallaki. While the Burgomaster purports that it is his festival...

  4/19/2022 I spent the rest of the day with Kasimir, talking primarily of the Arcane.   It was refreshing to be exposed to someone with a very different perspective on things than my original instructors.   At one point he mentioned that when we were ready for the Amber Temple, we would want to make sure we had procured some good, cold-weather clothing and gear. He walked me back to the gates around 6 p.m.   He seems a good man, but deeply troubled.   His hate for Strahd runs deep.   Very deep.   I almost wonder if he hangs on just for the opportunity to revenge himself on Strahd. When I got back, I found my compatriots had not been idle.   Wolfram and Dasco had clearly been sparring, Laz was sweaty from some sort of gymnastic venture and Finn had that contented look he gets after long meditations. After eating, Finn took some time to mend the components a disassembled lock Muriel had brought by.   She promised to return and rebuild ...