Curse of Strahd

Ask the Raven if he's carrying any souls

Before leaving the Vistani camp, the party asked a Vistani named Waltar if he offered any goods for sale.  Noelle traded some dwarf tobacco for a silk tunic. Xiao Wen purchased a necklace that offered protection from the undead, plus 4 potions to protect against the choking fog, for a half-dozen gold pieces.  When asked about weapons, especially weapons effective against undead, Waltar said flatly that the Vistani did not deal in weapons, and that the undead in Strahd's domain were best left alone.  Before they left, Waltar advised the party against going to the windmill that lay between the Vistani camp and Vallaki.

The party left the Vistani camp while it was still early in the morning, heading west toward Vallaki.  Ultimately, they hoped to take Ireena to safety in the fortified abbey/village of Krezyk, somewhere to the west of Vallaki.

Spotted and investigated an apparent blood stain on bridge.  Attacked by 4 Needle Blights.  Killed them; a copper ring dropped from their branchy corpses.

Spotted a decrepit windmill a little to the west of the main road.  Party debated about whether to heed the advice from the Vistani to avoid the windmill.  Carric cast a "Detect Good/Evil" spell while standing at the unlocked front door, and detected evil (type fiend) inside.  Party decided to explore around the outside of the windmill next; the discovered a desecrated ancient ring of stones. The stones had carvings of cities; after investigation, Xiao Wen realized it was the same city but appearing in different seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter).  Noelle got a feeling (premonition?) involving a dead dragon.  Found a pile of a dozen children's teeth next to one of the stones.  A raven on windmill seemed agitated; Carric believed it was a warning.  Party decided not to go into windmill.  At some point, received a warning about "Don't eat the cookies," but unclear what that meant.

Nearing Vallaki, heard moaning in woods alongside road.  Went into the woods a few hundred feet; found dead wolf, but no obvious source of the moaning, which disappeared.

Entered town after briefly being challenged by two guards who manned a closed gate. The town, slightly larger than the village of Barovia, appeared to be preparing for a celebration called "The Festival of the Blazing Sun."   Party went to Blue Water Inn, near the town square.  

Using a spell (special ability?), Xio Wen spoke to a raven, which seemed remarkably talkative. The raven said to seek out Urwin inside the Blue Water Inn; the raven offered vague favor if the party helped Urwin with a task.  The entered, and spoke with Urwin; he wanted them to fetch an overdue shipment of wine from Wizard of Wines winery to west of town.  The party arranged rooms for the night for themselves and the Indiroviches.  Urwin said other travellers from "outside" occasionally came, but most disappeared; but he added that there was such a traveller currently staying at the inn, a bard by the name of Rictavio.  Urwin spoke scathingly of the Vistani, saying they were "in league with the devil Strahd," and further suggested that the magic necklace purchased by Xiao Wen was a fake.

In the inn's main room, Xiao Wen was pproached by a noble-looking man who they saw when entering the Inn.  The man rudely accused Xiao Wen of being uncivilized, but he backed down and returned to his own table after the other party members stood beside Xiao Wen.

Rictavio didn't show up in the main room that evening, so the party went to find his caravan, allegedly parked in the Arasek Stockyard on the east side of town.  The brightly-painted caravan said "Rictavio's Carnival of Wonders" on the side.  The night was overcast, with no moon to be seen, and was dark enough that the party felt they weren't being watched by the town guards.

The group heard animal-like growling from inside the van.  Suspecting it might be Rictavio himself in some warewolf form, they first tried to pick, then later broke the lock. They were immediately attached by sabre toothed tiger that leapt from the van.  They killed tiger, with a freezing ray from Crinaria dealing the final below.  In a hidden compartment in the caravan, they found a large cache of treasure, including some silvered weapons.

Returned to Inn for night, where they had two rooms for the party, and a seperate room with Ismark and Ireena.

Memorable character quotes from this session:

"The best tasting maggots are those from the body of your dead enemies"

"Tonight, I'm vegetarian"

"You couldn't hit a blind tiger with four broken legs standing in front of you"


Passage to Barovia













