Session 13: Return to Barovia Report
General Summary
Rewards Granted
Notes
Ludmilla's Night
After that short journey from Ivlis to Barovia, Ludmilla needed a drink. The air for the journey was a tense one, like riding on a razer's edge, making her thirsty for battle and blood. She wanted to rip that priest, Gravetender, from limb to limb, just on principle. Not to mention his and DJ's treatment of her and Thiala was decidedly less than friendly and borderline disrespectful. If it were any normal day she would have killed them both, but her husband still a has use for them, so that would have to wait. Luckily she knew just the thing to take the edge off.
"Arek, a bottle of the special stash, and make it quick." About ten years ago now, Ludmilla had given the bartender of the Blood on the Vine Tavern a small case of Volenta's Blood Wine to keep for her in the cellar. She could feel Arek's heart race with fear as he saw her enter, but not fear of her, curious. With a grunt that came out more as a whelp, Arek went to task.
While Arek descended down the ladder to the wine cellar, the strong smell of body odor, wet fur, dried blood, and the whispers from the other patrons flowed to Ludmilla while she sat at the bar waiting. There were only three of them, Vistani by dress, all sitting around a table on the second floor balcony. She could only see the one closest to the railing clearly from the bar. Ludmilla took note of them, either they had yet to notice she was a vampire, or didn't care, as their whispers concerned the return of the "adventurers". Curious.
Arek arrived with the bottle of Blood Wine and set it on the bar, Ludmilla slid an electrum piece for his trouble. Pocketting the money Arek went back to cleaning and polishing glasses and mugs, his usual way to avoid making any conversation. He was hiding something, she could sense it. She saw Arek glance nervously at the three other patrons and go back to his cleaning. Curious.
Ludmilla opened the bottle of Blood Wine and took a nice long drink. Blood wine was a special concoction Volenta devised, blood that could be bottled and preserved and used when other prey was in short supply. A special side effect of the preserving agent causes Vampires who drink it to feel the same as if they were a human drinking wine, a few hours of sweet oblivion, followed by a nasty hangover if one were to drink their fill.
With a sigh of contentment and release she set the bottle back on the bar, glancing once again to the other patrons as one of them yelled out, "More wine!". Arek hopped so quickly to task, it was if Strahd were placing the order.
Ludmilla had never seen the pudgy fellow ever move that fast, not even for her, and he knew exactly who she was. Too curious, this might have something to do with why Lazlo called the Sheriff here. Another man in Vistani dress then entered the bar heading directly up join the others, the smell of his blood clear as a full moon night, werewolf.
Most of the werewolves in the domain of Barovia followed Mother Night and were loyal to Strahd and stuck to the western side of the domain, caring for their hidden mountain shrine, but throughout Barovia's history there have been several uprisings within their ranks, making the pack's loyalty ephemeral. This many in one place, this place, could only mean one thing, an attack on the village was imminent.
"Fuck," Ludmilla exclaimed under her breath. She then took a long gulping chug of her blood wine. She would observe for now, this was a job for the new Sheriff. She would wait and see if he and his companions could figure it out on their own.
A couple hours of Ludmilla nursing her wine bottle later and the men hadn't moved from their table where they played cards, and no one else joined them or left. It was then that her husband's voice reached into her mind. "We have newcomers, at the eastern gates, the wolves are holding them. Their leader spoke of "The black cat, DJ". Take him and investigate."
Ludmilla replied within her mind, "As you command my husband. I've confirmed a werewolf attack on the village is imminent. I'm leaving it in the sheriff's hands for now." Damn, she was hoping to track these werewolves, but that would have to wait for another time. Finishing off the last of her bottle, she stood with a slight waver of drunkenness, placed two copper on the bar for Arek, and left the tavern.
It had been over a hundred years since Ludmilla first stepped into this village from the mists and it hadn't changed one bit. Turning north up the stretch of road towards Durst Manor she almost felt queasy from the memories. That house was haunted and cursed, and she'd lost a good friend to that place. Ludmilla didn't know how Thiala and the others managed to survive that place, let alone how Lazlo managed to live in it. Reaching the front gate, she pulled the chain, sounding the bell's dissonant tone within the house.
Once out of sight of the refugees Ludmilla changed from her "noble" side saddle position to a riding one and leaned into the dire wolf's ear whispering "To my heart home, Morty". Strahd would already know the events at the gates and be watching them for a while, and she would not be expected for any duties in Barovia until morning. This gave her a rare opportunity, to visit the only person she loved more than Strahd. Perhaps it was the blood wine or maybe it was seeing the refugee children, but her heart ached to see them again. Morty bound through the deep woods taking her far into the north eastern Svalich woods. It had been 5 years since her last visit, she wondered how much they had changed in that time, a small blip in time to a vampire, but the last 16 years, every minute away, seemed like an eternity. But such was the curse of keeping secrets from Strahd. Through the woods Morty carried her into a gorge that opened up into a shaded grove hiding the small waterfall fed lake of her Heart Home. There she bid Morty go back to Volenta and she walked across the small field to the small cottage. With Morty's howl of both greeting and departing, the door to the small cottage burst open, the light silhouetting a young female form the firelight behind reflecting off red hair. "Mother's home!", the girl shouted back into the house as she ran forward embracing Ludmilla. "My sweet child Ravenovia, I've missed you so much. My how you've grown, now you must tell me about everything I've missed."
Aukan "Gravetender" Katho-Olavi
twilight cleric 5
18
14
14
12
18
12
Thiala Galanodel
Wizard 9
Fighter 3
10
16
14
18
12
16
DARK JADE CLOUD
Ranger 3
14
18
15
15
17
14
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