Sessie 5 en Sessie 6

General Summary

After leaving Madam Eva, the party was reminded of the quest to bring Madam Eva's granddaughter, Arabella, a wolfman toy from Blinsky Toys.
Another person at the Tser Pool Camp, Artuuri, gave some valuable info to the party.
He mentioned being a friend of Von Richter and that he had given the monster hunter his pet monkey when they departed. He mentioned to watch out for Vistani with red bands on their arms; they are Vistani from Vallaki, and most of them work for Strahd. He also introduced the party to Smirnoff, a merchant moving equipment for Strahd.
The party left with Smirnoff the next morning and came across a decrepit watchtower once used by a knights' order that worshiped a silver dragon named Argenvhost.
The party also met two undead knights guarding a bridge from this same order, who are against Strahd but ordered not to act against him by their leader.
The party came across an old windmill and made the connection between the mill, the papers they found in the Durst mansion, and the old lady selling pies in Barovia.
They also came across monoliths standing in a circle, looking like a place of worship, but dark energy surrounded it. The ravens warned them of danger and people in need of help in the windmill. So, MeNa climbed atop the mill and entered stealthily. The rest were quickly caught by the nice old lady who was making pies. Things took a turn for the worst as MeNA came across some children, "Hansel and Gretel," who were locked inside a box. As well as a young lady well taken care of and bound to the second floor. Later, Nina would recognize her as Gertruda, the daughter of Mad Mary, missing from Barovia.
The ladies living in the mill were soon revealed to be hags who ground the bones of the children in their bone grinder mill into dough for their Dream pastries... highly addictive pies that make you have sweet and happy dreams like small children do.
The party fought the hags and nearly killed one until they disappeared into the ether. Trying to save the children, they were too late as the third member of the hags arrived and made the coven complete. The party was no match for the coven as they used their high-level magic to subdue the party, downing them and capturing them. In defiance, Seraphiel tried to burn down their mill but to no avail.
In the rounding up, their feathered companion, Marchel, escaped and flew off. The hags were debating what to do with the party, as some of them are working for Strahd. They decided to let one go, the merchant, so he could deliver to Strahd. He tried to come back for the party with the help of the druid, Jake, but they were stopped by Gertruda, warning them of the danger.
The Hags decided to use the party even after another attempt to burn down the mill using alchemist fire. For this, they infected Seraphiel while cackling. Of all PCs, they got a hair, toenail, and some dead skin, except from Seraphiel and MeNA due to his quick wit and the lack of those.
They all got deals to be let out of the mill.
Argentus offered his memory from before Barovia, making him colder and more of a killer. He would get this back once he delivered a letter to somebody who knows Lady Belasco at Saint Andreals church.
MeNA agreed to sell pies in Vallaki for payment in blood of their victims; of this, the party is not aware.
Nina had to offer her likeness. If they ever told anybody about the hags before finishing the other two previous tasks, they would send someone familiar after her.
Seraphiel did not get a deal; more of a request. To put a Soullarve underneath Rahadin's desk. The hags knew of his stubbornness and decided not even to try.
The party moved away from the mill, leaving the kids and Gertruda behind.
They came across some Vistani who were riding away and warned them of wolf attacks nearby. Further down the road, Jake saw his ancestral home again, where he saw his family be killed by werewolves when he was a kid. Next to the house, there were four gravestones, but because of his lack of reading, he presumed it is his brother, sister, and parents. He also found the house locked and taken care of after all these years. His bed was made up for him, and he also found dolls looking like him in some of the rooms. They took a short rest in the house as wolves were gathering outside.

But the valiant battle cry of Victoria took them by surprise as they finished their short rest. The smuggler stood on top of her broken wagon as the party stepped in and made the wolves back off. Seraphiel, Argentus, and Jake found the situation very funny and were incapacitated by an infectious cackle. With only a bite and some scratches, the party made easy work of the wolves, who retreated after seeing they were not fighting one person.
Victoria offered them 100 gold if they could take her to Vallaki, and so the party did. While guarding her from wolves, they arrived at the gates. They found the Barovian refugees at the gates, held there for malicious unhappiness. At the gates, a hysterical man shouted of an impending attack from the vampire Strahd.
This resulted in the man and his caretaker being burned alive, as in Vallaki, "All is well."

Report Date

10 Oct 2023