Day 47: Berez
General Summary
Day 47 (Xololuna 23, 735/?)
With the cailleacha starting to get antsy about timelines — they still have to find Azuth's spellbook and staff after they finish helping the party, and from there wish to travel to tuama beanniehaite before the winter solstice in a handful of days — when Bodaway's arm finally moults and Sylvain has washed the vomit taste out of his mouth, the party heads for Berez as dusk settles over Barovia, sheltered once again by the cailleacha druid's stealth magic. The druid and Makar wait on the outskirts of the ruins as the party begins to explore, bypassing multiple really fun encounters to go almost directly to the boss fight. They find the skull of Argynvost outside the hut of Baba Lysaga, which has a faint green glow inside that puts the party in mind of certain purloined gemstones. There's also a crib with an angelic-looking baby and a middle-aged woman hanging naked above an iron tub, her blood slowly dripping into it, somehow still alive, but whatever, that's just Barovia for you. Osrin and Sylvain go to free the ravens, with only Osrin succeeding at first, prompting a swarm of ravens to attack Baba Lysaga, initiating combat. Ayduin gets the ball rolling by casually critting the old witch, putting her in an altogether foul mood; she responds with a drastically upcast fireball. As the battle ensues, both sides take good chunks out of each other, but the tides start to turn when Sylvain and Bodaway remove the gem from beneath her hut's floorboards, leaving the DM with only one round of sweet, sweet murderhut. Baba Lysaga starts flying around in Argynvostholt's skull, making the matter of "hurt Baba" vs. "protect skull" rather complicated. “Hurt Baba” begins to take precedence when Baba Lysaga turns into a fucking dinosaur, with Sylvain busting out his own fucking dinosaur — the promise of an epic dinosaur battle is promptly destroyed when, after Baba loses concentration on her spell, Ri-An wrecks her shit. With Baba's malevolent spirit destroyed, most of her scarecrows cease fighting, though Berez's witches make various attempts to take the party down before getting the message that they're not of a high enough CR to challenge this party. Sylvain is perpetually exasperated as he tries to stick to as non-fatal damage as possible; his friends do not struggle with such qualms. Inside the hut, Bodaway has a heck of a time with — irony of ironies, given his recently regenerated limb — a bunch of undead hands. However, he is rewarded for his many pinches, thwacks and scratches with a whole lot of loot. Outside the hut, everyone just makes peace with the sight of Ayduin groping around in a dead witch's chest to tear her heart out. When the dust has settled and those witches foolish enough to attack have been subdued, the party gathers the loot and the skull, rigged up on the soiled mattress from Baba Lysaga's hut, dragged by Sylvain's dinosaur. They meet up with Makar and Brádan, returning to the mansion to drop off the skull and fetch Azuth, intent on presenting the heart at the sanctuary of the Weaver as soon as possible. Though the woman who Baba Lysaga had been torturing — Inga — came with them partway through Berez, she chooses to return to her home alone, saying the party can come see her when they're ready, and that they'll be able to find her when that time comes. Judging by how well she was doing after being bled out over a bathtub for a prolonged period, it's possible she's not entirely human, but hey, who knows. The party is escorted, with a fresh druid for stealth, to the sanctuary, Azuth becoming a plesiosaur to transport the party across the river. Sylvain, at this point, has surely met his dinosaur quota for at least a tenday by now. While their allies wait outside, the party enters the sanctuary, presenting the heart, at which point they experience a series of visions. First, they see the destruction of Berez, Strahd casually waving a hand to summon a tidal wave that eclipses the one they experienced only a few days before. Then, they see a night-time scene, a bonfire in the distance, people sobbing on the far side of the river, a lone woman screaming. After another brief skip, they see Strahd again, his expression far more tender than they've ever seen, holding a young woman in his arms who they know, instinctively, to be one of the previous incarnations of Ireena — the pair aren't identical, but they look similar, and there is something innate in their mannerisms that feels too familiar to ignore. He is asking her to come away with him to Castle Ravenloft, to live as his queen, and unlike what they've seen of Ireena's interactions with Strahd, this previous incarnation looks at him with tender hope and trust, promising to return to the space to come away with him just as soon as she's said her goodbyes to her family. A longer skip ensues, and the party find themselves watching a far more grisly scene: Strahd and Baba Lysaga methodically torturing three priestesses of the coill cailleacha before Lysaga cuts out each of their hearts, giving them to Strahd to eat each one in turn. They watch as a group of wolves approaches and, in a thoroughly unsettling sight, bows in unison to Strahd. Finally, they see Baba Lysaga again, but this time the sight is different as she looks right at them, seemingly aware of their presence. Just as she moves towards Ayduin, who still clutches her dead grey heart in his hand, an arm bursts out through her chest: a green arm with long, clawed fingers. This clawed hand closes around Baba's heart, fingers interlacing with Ayduin's, and the figure of Baba Lysaga melts away to reveal instead the Weaver, undeniably inhuman and unsettling to behold, though the sharp-toothed smile she gives Ayduin as she takes the heart and eats it is a warm one. With a promise that they'll meet again, she vanishes, leaving the party once more alone in the sanctuary, returned to their present time. Returning to the manor, the party discusses what to do next. Sylvain suggests the temple should be their next stop, though other possibilities include the windmill and returning to visit with Madam Eva once again. All of them worry what Strahd will do now that he'll surely be aware of the general area they've been in, and what he's been up to while they've been off the grid. During their discussion, Makar comes to notify them that Jeny has passed away; his obvious guilt is eased somewhat by their seeming lack of surprise and assurance that it's okay. The party tells Makar, in turn, about having collected the winery gem, and warning that the winery may have been put in danger by their disappearance. Makar says he'll scout out the location when he can, though his obligation to Oileán and the cailleacha must come first. Agreeing that after Argynvostholt, their next step will be to journey south, in search of the temple, the tower, and the sunsword, they begin what will surely be their last comfortable night's sleep for some time. That night, Osrin finds herself in a strange dreamspace, which she deduces is likely Mount Celestia. There, she meets a cleric named Helena Farlight, who is happy to speak with Osrin but has little to offer by way of answers for why she's there. Osrin deduces that this has something to do with her most recent request for aid from Alandras, but doesn't quite reach the point that night.
Report Date
14 Nov 2022
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Comments