Werebats!--Barovia

General Summary

This one is pretty fuzzy in my memory but was also a monster-of-the-week, so there weren't much in the way of world-shattering events in it.
You wanted to go to the village of Barovia to find Madam Eva, since Elena's reading had directed you there. Figuring there was safety in numbers, you hooked up with a trade caravan that was taking the Old Svalich Road from Krezk to Barovia. There were three other groups in the trade caravan. The largest was a lumber company taking trees to Nova Vaasa, since Barovia is chockablock with forests and Nova Vaasa is almost entirely plains (I can't believe I finally got to use the "major imports and exports" sections! the leaders of that group, a husband and wife named Casimir and Gabriela, were also the de facto leaders of the caravan. There were also two Nova Vaasan horse traders, Soren and Astrid, who had just made a major sale in Borca and were on their way home, and a father-son pair of silversmiths named Dimitri and Ilya who were delivering a decorative sword to a hospice of Hala in the village. Like you, the silversmiths had joined at the last possible minute--otherwise, no sensible lycanthrope would have hooked up with the caravan.
Everything seemed normal at first. Dmitri was boisterous, Ilya was shy and had an enormous crush on Rose, Astrid thought Barovia was just the cutest place, and Casimir and Gabriela were levelheaded and sensible leaders. The first night you made camp, though, when Dmitri and Ilya had watch, Dmitri heard a sound in the woods and went to investigate. Ilya woke you when he heard his father screaming. You found Dmitri's body drained of blood and covered with bat bites.
Being Barovian and not stupid, you immediately told Casimir, and all of you agreed to wear garlic and carry holy symbols, and everyone agreed to do take this mildly inconvenient but very simple step to protect public health. You also staked and decapitated Dmitri's body before burying it.
That night, Astrid ran out of her tent screaming, and you went in to see an enormous human-bat hybrid crouched over Soren and drinking his blood. (Astrid had already gotten her dinner before handing him over to her mate. Errol needs fresh meat, werebats need fresh blood, everyone needs a hobby.) You got a few hits in on the werebat before it flew away.
I don't remember if you figured out at this point that you were dealing with a lycanthrope instead of a vampire or if you thought that maybe vampires could turn into bat people. At any rate, you decided silver couldn't possibly be a bad idea, so when you got to the town of Vallaki you had Ilya start silvering weapons and looking for anything silver he had that could be used as a weapon. That night, two werebats broke into the room of one of Casimir's lumberjacks and drained him. You killed one, and with his dying breath, he gasped for the other one to run, which she did, shrieking in rage. The body changed into a Barovian man you'd never seen before, but you figured out from the way they'd been acting that you were dealing with a mated pair and the other would want revenge. You also discovered that Ilya's wagon had been completely trashed, so you didn't have any silver stuff except the items that were with you when the werebats attacked.
When you went back to your rooms, Rose saw that Astrid had a cut matching one that the surviving werebat had gotten. At this point in her life, Rose wasn't so much "innocent" as "criminally naïve," so she gave Astrid a chance to explain herself without telling anyone else what she'd seen beforehand. Astrid told her that she really did love Barovia and find it charming--so much that she'd taken a Barovian mate. And the best thing about it was that whenever someone was exsanguinated by a bat, they assumed it was a vampire, so a woman who went out during the day, handled holy symbols, and ate garlic could just keep going about her business and escorting trade caravans along the Old Svalich Road . . .
Even Rose couldn't come up with a plausible excuse for that, so she started yelling for help right as Astrid shifted. Vanya, Casimir, Gabriela, and Ilya came in, and together you killed her.
When you arrived in the village of Barovia, Casimir thanked you profusely and gave you some gold for the work you'd done protecting the caravan. You asked him to keep an eye on Ilya for you, since Ilya was all alone in the world now. And with that, you were off to see Madam Eva!

Rewards Granted

Gold! But I don't remember how much. You made friends, though.

Character(s) interacted with

Krezk lumber merchants--Casimir and Gabriela (allies)
Krezk silversmith--Ilya (ally)
Astrid (werebat horse trader), Soren (human horse trader), Dmitri (silversmith, Ilya's father)--all deceased

Related Reports

Previous storyline: The Curse of Ashington Manor
Next session: First Meeting With Madam Eva--Barovia

Report Date

01 Jul 2020

Primary Location

Barovia

Secondary Location

Krezk