Sunny Barovia

  7/14/25 Day 43 Laz moved back to the northern group of cells to open the few remaining locks.   I waded through the fetid water and watched him work.   Behind me I heard Wolfram talking to Lady Ireena.   Seldom had I heard the Paladin so tongue tied. He explained the circumstances of finding the magic sword, but he was stumbling over his words like a nervous teenager talking to the prettiest girl at the fair.   I had suspected that he was developing stronger feelings for Lady Ireena, and this conversation seemed to confirm it. I won’t (because I can’t) try and quote everything Wolfram told her.   But he ended it with, “…And that’s why I want you to have this sword.” She accepted the sword with her expected grace and confirmed that she also detected the sword’s emotions. Oh, gods.   My eyes rolled so hard I could see the back of my skull.   I moved closer to Laz to escape any further awkwardness. Oloch was poking around in the cell La...

 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...

 8/8/23 Between the zombie fight and the tour of Ireena’s past lives, we decided that we really weren’t up for a confrontation with Baba Lysaga right now, if we could possibly help it. I was exhausted, Connell even more so, or so it looked. It was getting late, but we figured we could likely make it back to Vallaki by nightfall.   I was still in the hellhound form, so I scouted forward to lead our little group, which now included the goat, apparently.   We waded back through the muck of the swamp and finally got back to solid ground. My spell dropped and I regained my normal shape and faculties. After about 45 minutes or so, we came to the part of the path where we had seen glimpses of an old castle through the fog.   Laz raised a finger as he looked about, clearly listening for something.   We paused, then from the south the sound of hoofbeats.   Many hoofbeats. Getting closer.   Soon, a dark banner designating some unrecognized military unit ...

 5/16/23 Well, the zombies ended up being a little tougher (and more numerous) that we originally thought.   Two of them were easily twice the size of a man, and a couple were downright fast.   When we realized we couldn’t outrun them, we fought.   It was a pitched battle, but not to the level that we had just faced.   Nevertheless, we were all tired and at one point Connall was pulled down.   Wolfram revived him, however, and eventually we prevailed. We made it to Vallaki, and fortunately the guards on duty recognized us.   We were let in without issue. (Hell, we had only been gone for the day…) Nothing new seemed to have happened in our absence, except some sort of minor disturbance at the Blue Water.   The guard didn’t have any more details though. We decided to head straight to the Manse.   Laz thought he saw someone lurking around the building but wasn’t sure.   He took a quick peek around but didn’t find anyone. Ireen...