A Journey and a Goodbye

When we finally got off the Gypsy's Fury, we met a dwarf on the road. The poor lad was covered in blood and injuries... apparently he'd lost his party of friends to some weird beasties in a cave. Must have been pretty bad to take down five or six dwarves...
 
Anyway, we traveled through the forest, there was a creepy mist that kept following us. I don't know what was up with that shit, but it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. We were being tracked by some wolves, dire wolves, according to Trevor. They came upon us in a small clearing. I was ready to set them alight with the power of Moradin, but the manling wanted to handle it differently. I've heard tell of rangers and hunters being able to communicate with beasts, but I've never seen it... it made me nervous. The manling walked right up to the snarling wolves, and holding his hands out began talking to them. It looked like it might actually work, when Errki (the dwarf we picked up) let out a battlecry and charged.
 
What an idiot! I don't think that the dwarf has ever set foot outside a cave. Anyway, that turned into a fight... we made short work of them because there were only five wolves... but the manling was freaked about something in the woods, so we kept moving.
 
We made it to a road and set up camp alongside it. I took third watch, because it is easier for me to see in the dark than any of the others, aside from Oswald. I got stuck with the manchild's horrible spider familiar. He talks. His name is Moru and he gives me the creeps. There was a red light in the woods and he kept trying to get me to go see what it was, but I'm not stupid.
 
The next morning, we came upon a group of gypsies traveling in a wagon along the road. They let us ride with them, so that was appreciated. It felt really good to get off of my feet for a while.
 
We got stopped at a checkpoint on the road. A couple of guards there didn't want to let us by unless we checked out the fate of a couple of their missing comrades. So, we headed off into the woods. We came upon a couple of vampires leaning over the dead bodies. Well, we didn't know they were vampires at the time... we figured it out mighty quickly though. We got one of them. But the other made off with a piece of Errki's beard and the lassie's ear. Tore the ear right off her head! Then it turned into a mist and flew away into the fog. Fucking vampires. The lassie will be okay, although she'll have a nasty scar and missing ear.
 
We brought the bodies back to the guardpost and the guards seemed quite pleased that we'd returned them. That is, until someone said that it was vampires and that we killed one of them. I've never seen color drain from a face so quickly... they took off and ran to the village in the distance.
 
We made it the rest of the way to the village without incident. I was happy to see that there was a tavern. When we entered, I saw that there was a bunch of injured adventurers, a few dwarves scattered among them. Unfortunately, they said the ale was terrible. But, we ordered it anyway.
 
Some young manling came up and said he was the bourgermeister or some such. He bought our drinks for the night and paid for our rooms. Additionally, he paid us the 4000 gold that we'd been promised. He said there would be more if we escorted his sister to a city, apparently the lord, Strahd von Zarovich, wanted the lassie for his bride and she wasn't interested in the arrangement. The others agreed to the job. Admittedly, at the price, it be hard to refuse.
 
Shortly thereafter, everyone went up to bed. I stayed down and talked and drank with the other dwarves for a while. They were talking about this Strahd. Apparently he has a bunch of vampires and other undead creatures under his control. If the manlings take the bourgermeister's sister, then this Strahd bastard will send everything he has after them... I can't allow that to happen. We fought two vampires and they almost killed the manlings. I cannot let them all go off and die in this strange place....