Lae flares his nostrils and grunts, “Mmm.. it is a smell I am all too familiar with.. we should be on guard indeed.. I don’t like the looks of this place and it’s even darker than I remember...”
The foul scent leads you to a human corpse half-buried in the underbrush about fifteen feet from the road. The young man appears to be a commoner. His muddy clothes are torn and raked with claw marks. Crows have been at the body, which is surrounded by paw prints. The man has obviously been dead for several days. He holds a crumpled envelope in one hand.
With a look of disgust Lae shoos away the crows, bends down, takes the letter from the dead mans hands and passes to Zander saying, “Well I guess we know where the smells coming from.. Zander be a good man and take a look at this letter while I try to discern what happened to this poor man...”
Lae, looking at the tracks, teeth and claw marks, you have a feeling it might have been wolves that attacked this man.
Zander, the letter has a large "B" set into the wax seal. The parchment is worn and flimsy. You carefully break the seal and begin to read, first noting the letter is dated one week ago.
"Hail to thee of might and valor.
I, the Burgomaster of Barovia, send you honor--with despair. My adopted daughter, the fair Ireena Kolyana, has been these past nights bitten by a vampyr. For over four hundred years, this creature has drained the life blood of my people. Now, my dear Ireena languishes and dies from an unholy wound caused by this vile beast. He has become too strong to conquer.
So I say to you, give us up for dead and encircle this land with the symbols of good. Let holy men call upon their power that the devil may be contained within the walls of weeping Barovia. Leave our sorrows to our graves, and save the world from this evil fate of ours.
There is much wealth entrapped in this community. Return for your reward after we are all departed for a better life.
Lae looks up from his study of the corpse, “Zander, I can’t make out much due to the mess the wolves have made of this poor soul, maybe they killed him, but I can’t tell for certain... what do you make of this letter?”
"After you guys are done i will burn the body and give this poor soul a proper burial. One fit for a noble. Seems like what happened to my town a bit different but end result still the same the complete extinction of s town. When we make for camp tonight i will tell you my story and see if you guys still whant md to travel with you."
“Necros is right, we should burn this body straight away... these wolf tracks... they’re unnaturally large...” Lae says to the group with concern in his voice.
Zander seems lost in the note. He didn't answer Lae at first and seems to be oblivious to the conversation until; Va... Vampires. It speaks of vampires... It looks like this man thought the best idea was to close off the whole of Barovia and let it die. Is it that far gone? He looks at Stanimir. Is this the curse you spoke of? Is this what you expect us to fix?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
-We are all just one failed saving throw away from someone else's fantasy...
You hear a howl off in the woods. A few seconds later it is answered by another, then another. Stanimir glances around nervously. "We should return to the wagons and press on. Madam Eva can tell more."
Lae adjusts his grip on his quarterstaff and continues to eye the woods, “Necros care to burn this body with me?” he says then casts sacred flame on the corpse, “may your soul find peace, after this torment”.
As soon as you return to the road, the howling stops. Stanimir climbs up the wagon and takes the reins once more as everyone returns to their previous positions. The wagons begin rolling once more and, after a bit, you emerge into a very large clearing. In the distance to the south, you can see a river. The river flows clear as a blue winter sky through the valley.
As you continue, tall shapes loom out of the dense fog that surrounds everything. The muddy ground underfoot gives way to slick, wet cobblestones. The tall shapes become recognizable as village dwellings. The windows of each house stare out from pools of blackness. No sound cuts through the silence except for mournful sobbing that echoes through the streets from a distance. The shops appear to have been closed down for some time, and the walls and claw marks cover many of the walls.
Lae flares his nostrils and grunts, “Mmm.. it is a smell I am all too familiar with.. we should be on guard indeed.. I don’t like the looks of this place and it’s even darker than I remember...”
Lae then looks to the treeline for any sign of trouble and attempts to discern where the smell is coming from.
OOC: Is he able to spot, or hear anything coming from the woods nearby?
The foul scent leads you to a human corpse half-buried in the underbrush about fifteen feet from the road. The young man appears to be a commoner. His muddy clothes are torn and raked with claw marks. Crows have been at the body, which is surrounded by paw prints. The man has obviously been dead for several days. He holds a crumpled envelope in one hand.
With a look of disgust Lae shoos away the crows, bends down, takes the letter from the dead mans hands and passes to Zander saying, “Well I guess we know where the smells coming from.. Zander be a good man and take a look at this letter while I try to discern what happened to this poor man...”
(Lae, roll a nature check...d20+INT mod, add proficiency if you are proficient)
Nature:16
Zander takes the letter. I was going to suggest the same. He smiles at Lae and then reads it.
-We are all just one failed saving throw away from someone else's fantasy...
Lae, looking at the tracks, teeth and claw marks, you have a feeling it might have been wolves that attacked this man.
Zander, the letter has a large "B" set into the wax seal. The parchment is worn and flimsy. You carefully break the seal and begin to read, first noting the letter is dated one week ago.
"Hail to thee of might and valor.
I, the Burgomaster of Barovia, send you honor--with despair. My adopted daughter, the fair Ireena Kolyana, has been these past nights bitten by a vampyr. For over four hundred years, this creature has drained the life blood of my people. Now, my dear Ireena languishes and dies from an unholy wound caused by this vile beast. He has become too strong to conquer.
So I say to you, give us up for dead and encircle this land with the symbols of good. Let holy men call upon their power that the devil may be contained within the walls of weeping Barovia. Leave our sorrows to our graves, and save the world from this evil fate of ours.
There is much wealth entrapped in this community. Return for your reward after we are all departed for a better life.
Kolyan Indirovich
Burgomaster"
Lae looks up from his study of the corpse, “Zander, I can’t make out much due to the mess the wolves have made of this poor soul, maybe they killed him, but I can’t tell for certain... what do you make of this letter?”
"After you guys are done i will burn the body and give this poor soul a proper burial. One fit for a noble. Seems like what happened to my town a bit different but end result still the same the complete extinction of s town. When we make for camp tonight i will tell you my story and see if you guys still whant md to travel with you."
(Lae, I forgot a part of your back story and should've given u a choice of nature or history on the check, so here is further info)
Lae, you know there are wolves in these woods, but the tracks near the body are bigger than any wolf tracks you have seen before.
OOC: Thank you @mspence :)
“Necros is right, we should burn this body straight away... these wolf tracks... they’re unnaturally large...” Lae says to the group with concern in his voice.
Zander seems lost in the note. He didn't answer Lae at first and seems to be oblivious to the conversation until; Va... Vampires. It speaks of vampires... It looks like this man thought the best idea was to close off the whole of Barovia and let it die. Is it that far gone? He looks at Stanimir. Is this the curse you spoke of? Is this what you expect us to fix?
-We are all just one failed saving throw away from someone else's fantasy...
You hear a howl off in the woods. A few seconds later it is answered by another, then another. Stanimir glances around nervously. "We should return to the wagons and press on. Madam Eva can tell more."
Zander keeps his bow at the ready and stays alert to sounds and movement in the woods.
-We are all just one failed saving throw away from someone else's fantasy...
Lae adjusts his grip on his quarterstaff and continues to eye the woods, “Necros care to burn this body with me?” he says then casts sacred flame on the corpse, “may your soul find peace, after this torment”.
"I do not mind friendi hope he finds peace" casts produce flame and burns the body and readys Eldritch blast
“We should move on now Stanimir... swiftly”.
As soon as you return to the road, the howling stops. Stanimir climbs up the wagon and takes the reins once more as everyone returns to their previous positions. The wagons begin rolling once more and, after a bit, you emerge into a very large clearing. In the distance to the south, you can see a river. The river flows clear as a blue winter sky through the valley.
As you continue, tall shapes loom out of the dense fog that surrounds everything. The muddy ground underfoot gives way to slick, wet cobblestones. The tall shapes become recognizable as village dwellings. The windows of each house stare out from pools of blackness. No sound cuts through the silence except for mournful sobbing that echoes through the streets from a distance. The shops appear to have been closed down for some time, and the walls and claw marks cover many of the walls.
There's not even safety in town? How horrible. Stanimir, how long has this been going on?
-We are all just one failed saving throw away from someone else's fantasy...