Session 46

General Summary

Lost No Longer

Octyavr 1st

12:00 AM

Traitor in the Court?

The gallows speaker shares freely that it intends to kill Stella’s spirit, followed by Lady Wachter. Once it has done so, it intends to cross over into the Material Plane, where it will kill Lady Wachter’s sons, Nikolai and Karl.
It attempts to persuade the party to stand aside, providing the following information in support of its argument during a tense conversation led by Verce:

In life, it was Leo Dilisnya, a guard of Castle Ravenloft. When Strahd killed his brother, Sergei, and pursued Sergei’s bride, Tatyana, through the castle gardens, it was Leo who gave the order for the guards to kill Strahd to defend Tatyana and avenge Sergei’s death.

When Strahd became a vampire, he slaughtered his castle guards in a bloody and gruesome massacre. Lady Lovina Wachter née Dilisnya, Leo’s sister and a faithful devotee of Strahd von Zarovich, directed her bodyguards to assist Strahd in the bloodshed.

Leo himself barely escaped, and hid himself away in the deserted Abbey of Saint Markovia on a spur of Mount Baratok. However, Strahd and Lovina eventually found him—and when they did, they turned him into a vampire spawn and sealed him in a lightless stone vault beneath Wachterhaus.

They left him there to starve for four hundred years, slowly growing mad as the bloodthirst destroyed his mind and his hatred sharpened and burned. “Do you have any idea what that’s like?” Leo snarls, the faces within its cloak moaning with a chorus of mournful wails. “Feeling your sanity slip away, year by year, as the hunger within you twists and grows, never to be sated?”

More than thirty years ago, Leo finally died, his spirit arising as a ghost that reunited with the tormented spirits of the castle guards, forming a gallows speaker. As he lurked unseen among Wachterhaus, he came to learn that he had been granted the release of death on the same night that Fiona Wachter—then a teenager—had fled her family estate, destroying an enchanted ruby gemstone that Strahd had given Lovina’s family as security should Leo ever escape.

Not long after his death, Leo killed the Wachters that remained at Wachterhaus, but was unable to finish the job when Fiona Wachter sealed him out. Now, however, Leo seeks to “rip out the poisoned Wachter family tree, root and branch,” and finally “see justice done.”

Insightfully discerning that the gallows speaker’s words are a half-truth at best it is tricked into revealing the truth:

In life, Leo was an assassin of the Ba’al Verzi who betrayed his order’s vows when he sought to kill Strahd in vengeance for the death of his brother, Reinhold, who Strahd knowingly sent to die to win a battle against the Order of the Silver Dragon.

On the morning of Sergei’s wedding, Leo climbed to the window of Strahd’s royal chambers, carrying with him a cursed Ba’al Verzi dagger.

When Lovina Wachter’s bodyguards engaged the castle guards to defend Strahd, it was Leo who gave the order to have the Wachters themselves killed, furious that his sister had elected to “betray” him and Reinhold’s memory.

Where Have You Been?!

Ozan, the mother-effin Lost, peers in the opened secret door, getting his bearings for a moment as minutes before he was somehow whisked away from the outer walls of Vallaki where he was tending to some of the Barovian refugees by request of Ireena, whom has retired for the evening to Father Lucian's at St. Andral.
The party visibly emboldened by the reappearance of the Shadar-Kai, greet him briefly and with renewed vigor address the gallows speaker. All save for Vincenzo is is visibly shaken at the reappearance of the Tome in this vile manifestation of hate's hands.
Verce asks about the tome clutched to its chest, the gallows speaker shares that it is a ledger of the hubris and crimes of the Wachters' lord, and a reminder of the hatred that kindled the speaker's strength. It apparently cannot be persuaded to surrender the Tome, even temporarily as the paladin reaches forth in the direction of the Tome, kicking off a tight quarters battle in this shadowy room.
It vows to tear them apart while Stella and Lady Wachter watch.
Lady Wachter leaps to the players’ aid, snarling with defiance. Her spirit guardians which takes the form of thirteen swirling fog-like entities that attack with misty tendrils has already separated a couple of arms from the General Grievous-looking specter.
Erasmus fights by hurling furniture at the gallows speaker from range through the use of his telekinetic thrust feature.
Victor and Stella try desperately to complete the teleporation ritual as quickly as possible.

A Cohesive Fighting Force Once More

Throughout the fight, the gallows speaker taunts Lady Wachter, rhapsodizing at length about the agonies that it will visit upon her and her family. However, it never attacks either Lady Wachter, Stella, or Victor, preferring to focus its attention upon the people who have defied it's will and blocked its progress.
The Speaker of the Gallows never retreats, nor does it reposition except to pursue its current target. Launching wisps of light towards the party and really suffering from a concentrated effort of blows until it seemingly was about to discorporate...taking full damage from even normal weapons here in the Ethereal Plane.
Instead, the golden wisps around it wink out, revealing five daggers with wavy blades and lacquered hilts colored red, black, and gold. The shape of the daggers resemble the stone carvings on the wall.
The reinvigorated Ba'al Verzi Avenger becomes mobile, attempting to grapple Verce with its grasp of the grave to drag him into the upper floors of the house isolating him from the battle, when Verce proved too difficult to move, it shot forth one of the daggers towards Ilyson, wounding him severely.
The spirits within the gallows speaker’s cloak let out a maddened, burbling cry, frightening the Rune Kight before it launched itself into the upper floors taking damage in its repositioning and swooped down right in front of Rumex crouched behind a semi-transparent chair.
Finally, seconds before having its semblance of life burned clean from the twilight glow of Ozan's familiar Moonbeam, Leo taunts the party with its dying breath, rasping:

“When I failed to kill him, Zarovich took my cursed blade from me. Perhaps I shall still have my satisfaction when he uses it to carve your hearts from your chests!” It then lurches forward, skeletal claws grasping for Stella’s throat—and dissipates into mist, the maddened whispers of the many spirits within his cloak fading into silence.

When the gallows speaker died, the Tome of Strahd dropped to the ground below where it was picked up by the cleric and handed to Vincenzo.
The warlock received the Tome gratefully, but yet again suffered another setback when he found it clasped shut with no discernable way to pry it open!

Return to the Material Plane

As the teleportation ritual draws to a close, ethereal beads of light emerge around Stella’s ghostly form, clinging to her dress and hair and flickering like fireflies.

Erasmus drifts toward the edge of the teleportation circle. “Are you ready?” he asks quietly. Stella nods shyly, replying, “I think so. A bit afraid.” Erasmus smiles sadly. “Don’t be,” he says. “Victor and your friends will take good care of you. And even if you can’t see or hear me, I’ll never be far away.” Stella hiccups, tears glittering at the corners of her eyes. “Thank you,” she says, reaching out a hand. “For everything.” Erasmus swallows, and reaches out toward her hand in turn. “Stella,” he says, beaming through tears. “It was my honor.” For a brief instant, their fingers touch—and then the beads of light around Stella burst into radiant brilliance. She vanishes, leaving Erasmus touching nothing more than empty air. After a moment, Erasmus wipes his eyes on his spectral sleeve and turns to bid the players farewell. He insists that he is fine. “I’m happy for her,” he says softly. “She’s getting a second chance. Not everyone gets that.” Lady Wachter affixes Erasmus with a long, unreadable look, before her gaze abruptly softens, a flicker of warmth in her eyes. She then hovers a hand over Erasmus’s shoulder and says, “Thank you for protecting my daughter. House Wachter owes you an unforgettable debt. Should you ever be in the presence of Wachterhaus, know that you will always be welcome there.” Erasmus smiles and thanks her.

Victor then asks you if you are ready to depart for the Material Plane. Before they leave, however, Erasmus offers them the following warnings after informing the party that the Ethereal Plane is a dangerous place as well as a poor choice for infiltration to Castle Ravenloft:

Strange giant spiders pass in and out of the Ethereal Plane amidst the ruins of the town to the southwest of Vallaki. If you ever travel there, you should be careful. (Victor recognizes these as phase spiders, which he learned about in Ethereal Entities).
Strahd von Zarovich occasionally visits the Ethereal Plane astride a demonic horse with a charcoal-black coat and a burning, fiery mane. (Victor recognizes this as a nightmare, also described further in Ethereal Entities.)

When the players have bid their farewells, Victor turns to Erasmus and gives him a grateful, knowing nod, which Erasmus returns. Victor then speaks a single syllable, and the Ethereal Plane vanishes in a flare of white light. Reunited, and it Feels Like Level 7

You find yourselves returned to the book-club headquarters beneath Wachterhaus. Victor immediately moves for the exit to the cellar, frantically calling Stella’s name as he climbs toward the cellar entrance.
The party follows and observes as Victor and Stella meet each other in the den on the first floor.
Victor throws his arms around Stella and the two kneel to the floor, sobbing with joy.

“I’m so sorry,” Victor sobs, holding Stella tight. “I was so afraid I’d lost you, and it was all my fault.” Stella cries into Victor’s shoulder, hiccuping repeatedly as she clutches his sleeves. “It wasn’t your fault,” she says. “You saved me.” Lady Wachter steps forward, obviously hesitant and unsure. Stella looks up toward her, releases her grip on Victor, and launches herself into her mother’s embrace. Lady Wachter stiffens, then relaxes, lifting an uncertain hand to gently stroke Stella’s hair. Stella swallows, her whole body trembling as she burrows her face into her mother’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she sobs. “It was my fault—please, don’t blame Victor.” Lady Wachter holds Stella tight. “Hush,” she murmurs. “It’s all right. I’ve got you.” When Lady Wachter finally releases her, Stella steps forward toward you—and stumbles, her foot nearly falling out from under her. Victor and Lady Wachter swiftly move to catch her. “You’ve been out of your body for too long,” Victor cautions her. “You need to get used to having legs again.” Stella nods, then looks around at the players, her eyes shining with gratitude. “Thank you,” she says. “It was so quiet in there—so cold. But because of you, I can feel again. I can hear the world again. Thank you—from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

In gratitude for your efforts, Lady Wachter grants them a Lantern of Revealing , as well as a standing invitation to seek her aid or counsel whenever you find yourselves in Vallaki, so long as their efforts do not risk harm to the town or its people.

The following morning, Victor also sends the players the Spirit Mirror from his workroom.

The party rests up overnight at Wachterhaus while discussing how far they've come and what should come next.
They confirm what they believe so far about their Tarokka readings given to them from Madam Eva.

Strange Things are Afoot at the Wizard of Wines

The morning after the night of the players’ first full moon in Barovia, the party sets out to deliver the heartstone back to the hags to avoid any future complications with their current deal.
Urwin Martikov sends a raven that Rumex has a conversation with and the party takes a detour back to the Blue Water Inn.
After exchanging pleasantries, Urwin reluctantly (though quietly) asks if they would be willing to assist him and Danika with a problem that the inn is currently facing.

The Blue Water Inn ordinarily receives regular shipments of wine once a fortnight from the Wizard of Wines, located at the southwest end of the Barovian valley, including both the popular Purple Grapemash No. 3 and the pricier Red Dragon Crush. However, this fortnight’s shipment is late by three or four days, and the inn’s supplies are beginning to run low. Urwin and Danika have enough in savings that this shouldn’t be an immediate problem, but they’re worried about the welfare of the winery, which hasn’t been heard from since the last shipment arrived. Urwin asks the players to travel to the Wizard of Wines and speak with the owner, a man named Davian Martikov, to discern the reason for the delay and resolve it, if necessary. (Pointing out Davian’s last name, Urwin grimly admits that Davian is his father, but refuses to elaborate, sharing only that he and his father have not spoken in many years.) Urwin warns the players that Davian is a “stubborn old bird," and that his short temper might wear on their patience. Urwin notes, however, that the Inn has sufficient wine stock to last at least a few days. If the players have more pressing business to attend to, he’s happy for them to take an additional day or two before departing. Citing the return of the heartstone, Urwin offers to have his ravens undertake the dangerous journey for them ensuring their capability to do so, "It's to the east, my birds can still fly there, it's the west that is the problem." The party takes him up on his offer and free up valuable time. Urwin believes that something terrible has happened to the winery—though what, he isn't sure. Although he sent out a half-dozen ravens to investigate when the first delivery failed to appear, none returned. He and Muriel have decided that the skies are likely no longer safe, and that the best way for her to proceed is on foot, preferably with skilled bodyguards. He asks them to join him in the Blue Water Inn's kitchen in one hour to meet with Muriel Vinshaw, a former employee of the Wizard of Wines who can take you to the winery. (Urwin shares that Muriel has business of her own at the winery and that she is similarly concerned for the winery’s safety, but declines to provide any further information.)

Meeting Muriel

The party takes care of some side business in the meantime (picking up some silver arrows).
Returning to the Blue Water Inn's kitchen after accepting his mission, he introduces you to Muriel Vinshaw.

A young woman leans against the stove, her arms crossed. She is short and dusky-skinned, with jet-black hair and dark eyes. A mud-stained cloak hangs across her shoulders, and a small, dark feather hangs on a leather cord around her neck between two carved wooden beads. A wooden crossbow hangs from a mount on her back, and a shortsword rests sheathed at her hip. Her right hand lifts up to her head, fingers idly twirling the bright blue streak that runs through her hair. She flashes you a grin and holds out the other hand in greeting, her fingers twitching with restless energy.