As they press on through the gloaming, Cerio repeatedly looks back over his shoulder. The darkness seems to weigh heavily, smothering him like a thick blanket. "Ya sure ya didn't hear that?"he asks Dallid and Dadeveth periodically, picking at his ear to remove the wax. "Why ain't folks outside at all? 'N this wolf's head on a stick? What kinda festival is that? This place gives me tha creeps."
He freezes when they encounter the others. This is a strange lot, for sure. Had Isolde given them a code word? A hand signal? A secret dance? What was he supposed to say to indicate they were sent by Isolde? "Evenin' folks," he tries.
Dormark, Galqarin, and Sandu - Making haste, you leave the Burgomaster's Mansion, keen to stop Izek before any blood is unnecessary shed. The mood is sombre as you know that the man you hunt has a track record of bullying, torture, and killing, knowing that he is unlikely to cede power.
You walk towards the town square, wondering whether you may yet catch Izek and his mob. "Do we really think Izek will see reason, or should we be prepared for more..." Ireena says as she clutches at her rapier. "Have hope, my dear Wren, people follow Izek out of fear, take that fear away and his support collapses," Vasili says cooly, his demeanour is calm and collected, as though accepting of the fate that awaits him.
Turning into the town square an unusual sight awaits. It appears to be a number of travellers, for that is surely what they are, they look like outsiders, unfamiliar with Vallaki.
They total 3. A half-woman, half-horse creature, a centaur you believe they are oft referred to, standing some six and a half feet tall; in the streetlight, you can make out that she has silvery-white skin and hair. Next to her stands a man with light blonde hair, dressed in leathers, with an agile frame. Finally, and most curiously, is a man, tall and slender, with what appears to be blue, hairless skin, a broad, flat nose, and without any discernable ears.
Ireena stops as she sees them. "Who are they?" she asks, perplexed.
((Dallid - I am not sure whether Ferelyon stands in clear view.
Welcome to the thread - Cerio, Dadeveth & Dallid!
Hopefully, I got everyone's character descriptions correct, feel free to correct me otherwise!))
The pale man he glances over. Pallid skin is not unusual in Barovia. The horse-woman - he has heard folklore of forest creatures, half horse, half human, but he assumed them to be just that; children's stories. Yet had he not thought the same of Sir Osric, the unliving knight of the Silver Dragon? The bald blue creature without ears he has no clue about. A fish out of water in one sense or the other.
(Ferelyon the wolf stays close to Dallid, I’ll try to make a distinction if he is otherwise for some reason)
Dallid looks up from his book, and says to the others.
“Do you see those three over there? That one looks like a construct of some kind, but not any kind I’m familiar with. It’s all an odd grouping anyway. But there was the man before who had the mutated arm, so maybe there are many oddities in this place. It doesn’t seem likely but it’s incorrect to assume with so little data yet.”
Dadeveth steps forward, her silvery-white coat matching her silvery white length of hair. She gives a bow with her human torso as she approaches the trio. "I am Dadeveth." She offers in greeting. "The guards at the city gates told us to find an inn around here for the night. Would you be able to point us in the right direction?"
"You're not from around here," says Dormark looking at the group. "We can talk more about this, but at the moment it also looks like you're from out of town. Have you seen a group led by a man with a monster arm? It is urgent that we find them. We bare news from the Baron," says the Warforge.
((Did we see the mob walk off away from or toward town?))
"Nope, we's travelers got lost in tha mist,"says Cerio, the slight human man with wispy, white-blonde hair. repeating the familiar refrain. "But we did spot that feller with the strange arm, 'bout a mile outside tha gates. They was all worked up for sure, carryin' pitchforks and not even any hay! Talkin' 'bout murders most foul 'n lookin' fer Rictavio."
“I’m not sure ‘monster arm’ is technically correct, but I’m pretty sure I understand who you mean. You should not go after him, even his guard captain thinks he’s a murderer.” Dallid gets a bit of concern in his voice, but begins to examine the warforged body with a somewhat embarrassing intensity
"As my companions have said, we did meet that individual." Dadeveth confirms what her other companions have stated. "From what we gatehred he is not much liked by those he is currently traveling with." She adds on with a swish of her tail. "What are you seeking him for? Are you too after this fellow the man with the strange arm is seeking?"
Galqarin is transfixed by the horse-lady. Could such a being truly be real? Fortunately, his rude stare is disguised by his cowl and his raven mask. The swish of her tail breaks his reverie. "Rictavio friend. Izek not", he spits, sounding rather like an accused child blaming another, "He the monster".
Dormark, Galqarin, and Sandu - Making haste, you leave the Burgomaster's Mansion, keen to stop Izek before any blood is unnecessary shed. The mood is sombre as you know that the man you hunt has a track record of bullying, torture, and killing, knowing that he is unlikely to cede power.
You walk towards the town square, wondering whether you may yet catch Izek and his mob. "Do we really think Izek will see reason, or should we be prepared for more..." Ireena says as she clutches at her rapier. "Have hope, my dear Wren, people follow Izek out of fear, take that fear away and his support collapses," Vasili says cooly, his demeanour is calm and collected, as though accepting of the fate that awaits him.
Turning into the town square an unusual sight awaits. It appears to be a number of travellers, for that is surely what they are, they look like outsiders, unfamiliar with Vallaki.
They total 3. A half-woman, half-horse creature, a centaur you believe they are oft referred to, standing some six and a half feet tall; in the streetlight, you can make out that she has silvery-white skin and hair. Next to her stands a man with light blonde hair, dressed in leathers, with an agile frame. Finally, and most curiously, is a man, tall and slender, with what appears to be blue, hairless skin, a broad, flat nose, and without any discernable ears.
Ireena stops as she sees them. "Who are they?" she asks, perplexed.
Sandu was both glad and sad to be leaving the Baron's manor. The former because the entire place now reeked of death after the armour's murderous rampage, the latter because, loath as he was willing to admit, it might just be one of the few actual safe placed in Vallaki and perhaps Barovia as a whole. Well, they now were the owners of Henrik's shop so they could turn that into a - temporary - base of operations but it was still just a shop and not a stone fortress with palisades on all sides. And there was to consider what had transpired there. Did the theft of the bones leave a yet undetermined curse or lingering effect upon the former owner and his abode? How would the townspeople react? How would the town be handled now that Vasili was put in charge? These were all questions Sandu could not answer at the moment. At the very least he hope that having a place of residence did not mean they would take up permanent residence here. He had far too much, or at least more than he cared to admit, back where he came from that settling down in Barovia was out of the question.
What was a question though were the three unusual strangers that popped into his view when he and the others made their way through the streets of Vallaki. They were odd to say the least, which Sandu himself found odd to admit considering he had been travelling with a man of living metal and a creature plucked straight from children cautionary tales. One appeared to be human like him, in so far as one could consider anything human at first glance in this accursed land. The other two definitely stood out more. Sandu knew there was a festival coming up in Vallaki but he had not spotted any sign that it would include costumes and people dressing up. The tall thin one with the blue skin he guessed might be something undead. Like a cold corpse whose ears, nose and hair had frozen off, now shambling about to drag more unwilling people into the cold embrace of the grave.
The third one, now that was a classic: two people joined together to dress up as a horse. Normally one would be the rear and the other the head but it seems like this pair had opted for a more different approach. The rear was still there but rather than the traditional horse head, it seemed this costume had made some modifications to form what Sandu believed to be a centaur. He had never seen one before but he had read about them: half horse, half man people who roamed the plains and forests in some faraway distant land filled with all sorts of monstrosities like harpies, half bird half man, minotaurs, half bull half man, sphinxes, half lion half man, lamias, half snake half man, ... Come to think of it, there were a lot of half man half animal monsters out there. He briefly wondered why that was.
His musings were interrupted when the three strangers addressed them. It seemed they were people from out of town, like Sandu and his group were, and were now looking for an inn. Perhaps they are travelling performers. Sandu thought. From up close he noticed that a large pile of fur was sitting behind the blue man's legs. Some sort of large dog clearly bred or ruffled up a bit to look like a wolf. He knew some circuses employed animals in their acts. Oooh. Sandu realised it. The blue guy must be some kind of clown! And the blond haired man must be something like, He gave the man another glance, a knife juggler or so. And perhaps these two are a comedy duo. Like the horse end seperates in the middle of their act. Bet that would scare and delight some kids.
Sandu vaguely overheard Dormark mentioning someone named Rictavio but he was much too enthralled by the circus act standing before him. He had never been to a circus before, properly been that is: he did manage to sneak into one once but one third into the performance they had found him and unceremoniously kicked him out so he had to enjoy it second hand from the repeated jokes and laughter in the inn that evening. So he was going to gamble on this chance.
'Remarkable craftmanship.' Sandu said. He gave the horse's flank a light poke in the side. 'You can't even see the stitches, superbly done. How are you holding up in there?'He asked the one playing the rear end. To everyone else he looked like he was quite literally talking to a horse's ass.
Dadeveth glanced to the man who had just poked her on her hind quarters. "I am doing quite fine if that is what you mean." She says with a bit of a baffled look. She glanced to the other two who traveled with this one. Her eyes clearly say 'is he all there?' Side-stepping away from the possibly mad person, she swished her tail again. "Yes, we would like to accompany you, if you wish to aidd this person the man with the monster's arm is after. We were told to seek this Rictavio out, as he would have information we would need."
'Oh, even the tail moves realistically.' Sandu said with all the giddiness of an excited kid. He did turn his attention to what the lady in the front said, vaguely recalling that she introduced herself as Dadeveth. 'I'll leave you to it then.'He whispered to the horse's flank before straightening his back and joining in on the ongoing conversation.
'Rictavio?'Sandu recalled seeing something from a bird's eye view. 'Is he the colourful one with the tiger? Shouldn't be too hard to spot.'
Dormark grabs Sandu by the shoulder and says, "I'm sorry Sandu has had a rough few days since landing in Barovia. I'll talk to him while you lead us to the mob."
Dormark spends the time moving to towards Izek explaining to Sandu that these people were outsiders and that Dadeveth was actually a centaur. Dormark at this point is not weirded out by what he has been thrown against in these lands.
Keeping introductions brief the group head east towards the Morning Gate. It had undoubtedly been a number of years since Vallaki had seen an eclectic bunch such as they; local Vallakians peer in curiosity out of their windows as the group passes.
It has become dark now, streetlamps providing limited visibility and casting long shadows. Approaching the gate, even a cursory glance would inform you that something is wrong, there is no sign of the guards at the top of the gate tower. Drawing close you see a dark form slumped against the gate itself, torchlight reflects off of its metallic helmet. Lying on the ground next to the figure there is an extinguished torch and a shield.
You see them then - dark, wet, smears on the side of the walls and gate.
"Gods..." Ireena mutters, unable to contain her shock, "What do you reckon happened?"
Galqarin sidles up next to Dadeveth and attempts to engage in conversation; not something he is artful at. “I Gal… er, Raven”, he begins. After a long pause, “Are horse-people common from…” - another pause - “beyond the Mists?”
What he desperately wants to ask, but cannot form the words for, is whether Dadeveth’s kind is considered monstrous in her homeland. Not to mention the fish-man with the scraggy wolfhound.
—
On encountering the scene at the gate, Galqarin looks around for existential threats, before turning his attention to the victim of this latest violence.
(Perception 15; Medicine 23. He is not trying to analyse the situation)
(Bump for notifications)
Paladin - warforged - orange
As they press on through the gloaming, Cerio repeatedly looks back over his shoulder. The darkness seems to weigh heavily, smothering him like a thick blanket. "Ya sure ya didn't hear that?" he asks Dallid and Dadeveth periodically, picking at his ear to remove the wax. "Why ain't folks outside at all? 'N this wolf's head on a stick? What kinda festival is that? This place gives me tha creeps."
He freezes when they encounter the others. This is a strange lot, for sure. Had Isolde given them a code word? A hand signal? A secret dance? What was he supposed to say to indicate they were sent by Isolde? "Evenin' folks," he tries.
Mid-Evening - Day 6 - Vallaki Town Square
Dormark, Galqarin, and Sandu - Making haste, you leave the Burgomaster's Mansion, keen to stop Izek before any blood is unnecessary shed. The mood is sombre as you know that the man you hunt has a track record of bullying, torture, and killing, knowing that he is unlikely to cede power.
You walk towards the town square, wondering whether you may yet catch Izek and his mob. "Do we really think Izek will see reason, or should we be prepared for more..." Ireena says as she clutches at her rapier. "Have hope, my dear Wren, people follow Izek out of fear, take that fear away and his support collapses," Vasili says cooly, his demeanour is calm and collected, as though accepting of the fate that awaits him.
Turning into the town square an unusual sight awaits. It appears to be a number of travellers, for that is surely what they are, they look like outsiders, unfamiliar with Vallaki.
They total 3. A half-woman, half-horse creature, a centaur you believe they are oft referred to, standing some six and a half feet tall; in the streetlight, you can make out that she has silvery-white skin and hair. Next to her stands a man with light blonde hair, dressed in leathers, with an agile frame. Finally, and most curiously, is a man, tall and slender, with what appears to be blue, hairless skin, a broad, flat nose, and without any discernable ears.
Ireena stops as she sees them. "Who are they?" she asks, perplexed.
((Dallid - I am not sure whether Ferelyon stands in clear view.
Welcome to the thread - Cerio, Dadeveth & Dallid!
Hopefully, I got everyone's character descriptions correct, feel free to correct me otherwise!))
DM - The Call of Strahd (CoS); Feyrealm Campaign, Chapter 0 - Bleak Prospect (BP), Chapter 1 - Destination Unknown (DU)
Galqarin breathes, "What are they?"
The pale man he glances over. Pallid skin is not unusual in Barovia. The horse-woman - he has heard folklore of forest creatures, half horse, half human, but he assumed them to be just that; children's stories. Yet had he not thought the same of Sir Osric, the unliving knight of the Silver Dragon? The bald blue creature without ears he has no clue about. A fish out of water in one sense or the other.
(Ferelyon the wolf stays close to Dallid, I’ll try to make a distinction if he is otherwise for some reason)
Dallid looks up from his book, and says to the others.
“Do you see those three over there? That one looks like a construct of some kind, but not any kind I’m familiar with. It’s all an odd grouping anyway. But there was the man before who had the mutated arm, so maybe there are many oddities in this place. It doesn’t seem likely but it’s incorrect to assume with so little data yet.”
Paladin - warforged - orange
Dadeveth steps forward, her silvery-white coat matching her silvery white length of hair. She gives a bow with her human torso as she approaches the trio. "I am Dadeveth." She offers in greeting. "The guards at the city gates told us to find an inn around here for the night. Would you be able to point us in the right direction?"
"You're not from around here," says Dormark looking at the group. "We can talk more about this, but at the moment it also looks like you're from out of town. Have you seen a group led by a man with a monster arm? It is urgent that we find them. We bare news from the Baron," says the Warforge.
Dormark Calling of Strahd (warforged cleric) 4
((Did we see the mob walk off away from or toward town?))
"Nope, we's travelers got lost in tha mist," says Cerio, the slight human man with wispy, white-blonde hair. repeating the familiar refrain. "But we did spot that feller with the strange arm, 'bout a mile outside tha gates. They was all worked up for sure, carryin' pitchforks and not even any hay! Talkin' 'bout murders most foul 'n lookin' fer Rictavio."
((You saw them heading eastbound along the Old Svalich Road. You crossed paths with them about a mile to the east of Vallaki.
Dormark - this would have been a little way further to the east than where you met Rictavio earlier in the day.))
DM - The Call of Strahd (CoS); Feyrealm Campaign, Chapter 0 - Bleak Prospect (BP), Chapter 1 - Destination Unknown (DU)
“I’m not sure ‘monster arm’ is technically correct, but I’m pretty sure I understand who you mean. You should not go after him, even his guard captain thinks he’s a murderer.” Dallid gets a bit of concern in his voice, but begins to examine the warforged body with a somewhat embarrassing intensity
Paladin - warforged - orange
"As my companions have said, we did meet that individual." Dadeveth confirms what her other companions have stated. "From what we gatehred he is not much liked by those he is currently traveling with." She adds on with a swish of her tail. "What are you seeking him for? Are you too after this fellow the man with the strange arm is seeking?"
Galqarin is transfixed by the horse-lady. Could such a being truly be real? Fortunately, his rude stare is disguised by his cowl and his raven mask. The swish of her tail breaks his reverie. "Rictavio friend. Izek not", he spits, sounding rather like an accused child blaming another, "He the monster".
Great, so these folks are friends of Rictavio's. Much progress in little time. If befriended, they might lead the group to Rictavio.
Cerio smiles. "Welp, let's kick off together, then. We can help find this mob 'n deliver yer message."
Sandu was both glad and sad to be leaving the Baron's manor. The former because the entire place now reeked of death after the armour's murderous rampage, the latter because, loath as he was willing to admit, it might just be one of the few actual safe placed in Vallaki and perhaps Barovia as a whole. Well, they now were the owners of Henrik's shop so they could turn that into a - temporary - base of operations but it was still just a shop and not a stone fortress with palisades on all sides. And there was to consider what had transpired there. Did the theft of the bones leave a yet undetermined curse or lingering effect upon the former owner and his abode? How would the townspeople react? How would the town be handled now that Vasili was put in charge? These were all questions Sandu could not answer at the moment. At the very least he hope that having a place of residence did not mean they would take up permanent residence here. He had far too much, or at least more than he cared to admit, back where he came from that settling down in Barovia was out of the question.
What was a question though were the three unusual strangers that popped into his view when he and the others made their way through the streets of Vallaki. They were odd to say the least, which Sandu himself found odd to admit considering he had been travelling with a man of living metal and a creature plucked straight from children cautionary tales. One appeared to be human like him, in so far as one could consider anything human at first glance in this accursed land. The other two definitely stood out more. Sandu knew there was a festival coming up in Vallaki but he had not spotted any sign that it would include costumes and people dressing up. The tall thin one with the blue skin he guessed might be something undead. Like a cold corpse whose ears, nose and hair had frozen off, now shambling about to drag more unwilling people into the cold embrace of the grave.
The third one, now that was a classic: two people joined together to dress up as a horse. Normally one would be the rear and the other the head but it seems like this pair had opted for a more different approach. The rear was still there but rather than the traditional horse head, it seemed this costume had made some modifications to form what Sandu believed to be a centaur. He had never seen one before but he had read about them: half horse, half man people who roamed the plains and forests in some faraway distant land filled with all sorts of monstrosities like harpies, half bird half man, minotaurs, half bull half man, sphinxes, half lion half man, lamias, half snake half man, ... Come to think of it, there were a lot of half man half animal monsters out there. He briefly wondered why that was.
His musings were interrupted when the three strangers addressed them. It seemed they were people from out of town, like Sandu and his group were, and were now looking for an inn. Perhaps they are travelling performers. Sandu thought. From up close he noticed that a large pile of fur was sitting behind the blue man's legs. Some sort of large dog clearly bred or ruffled up a bit to look like a wolf. He knew some circuses employed animals in their acts. Oooh. Sandu realised it. The blue guy must be some kind of clown! And the blond haired man must be something like, He gave the man another glance, a knife juggler or so. And perhaps these two are a comedy duo. Like the horse end seperates in the middle of their act. Bet that would scare and delight some kids.
Sandu vaguely overheard Dormark mentioning someone named Rictavio but he was much too enthralled by the circus act standing before him. He had never been to a circus before, properly been that is: he did manage to sneak into one once but one third into the performance they had found him and unceremoniously kicked him out so he had to enjoy it second hand from the repeated jokes and laughter in the inn that evening. So he was going to gamble on this chance.
'Remarkable craftmanship.' Sandu said. He gave the horse's flank a light poke in the side. 'You can't even see the stitches, superbly done. How are you holding up in there?' He asked the one playing the rear end. To everyone else he looked like he was quite literally talking to a horse's ass.
William Brackwater: Human Fighter - The Windward Isles
Tyrgram, the Butterfly Knight: Dwarf Warlock - Secret of Greenwold
Iòlinder Corrach: Half Elf War Cleric - Allansia Adventure
Valerius Sergius Publius: Dhampir Paladin - Vae Victus
Dadeveth glanced to the man who had just poked her on her hind quarters. "I am doing quite fine if that is what you mean." She says with a bit of a baffled look. She glanced to the other two who traveled with this one. Her eyes clearly say 'is he all there?' Side-stepping away from the possibly mad person, she swished her tail again. "Yes, we would like to accompany you, if you wish to aidd this person the man with the monster's arm is after. We were told to seek this Rictavio out, as he would have information we would need."
'Oh, even the tail moves realistically.' Sandu said with all the giddiness of an excited kid. He did turn his attention to what the lady in the front said, vaguely recalling that she introduced herself as Dadeveth. 'I'll leave you to it then.' He whispered to the horse's flank before straightening his back and joining in on the ongoing conversation.
'Rictavio?' Sandu recalled seeing something from a bird's eye view. 'Is he the colourful one with the tiger? Shouldn't be too hard to spot.'
William Brackwater: Human Fighter - The Windward Isles
Tyrgram, the Butterfly Knight: Dwarf Warlock - Secret of Greenwold
Iòlinder Corrach: Half Elf War Cleric - Allansia Adventure
Valerius Sergius Publius: Dhampir Paladin - Vae Victus
Dormark grabs Sandu by the shoulder and says, "I'm sorry Sandu has had a rough few days since landing in Barovia. I'll talk to him while you lead us to the mob."
Dormark spends the time moving to towards Izek explaining to Sandu that these people were outsiders and that Dadeveth was actually a centaur. Dormark at this point is not weirded out by what he has been thrown against in these lands.
Dormark Calling of Strahd (warforged cleric) 4
Late-Evening - Day 6 - Morning Gate
Keeping introductions brief the group head east towards the Morning Gate. It had undoubtedly been a number of years since Vallaki had seen an eclectic bunch such as they; local Vallakians peer in curiosity out of their windows as the group passes.
It has become dark now, streetlamps providing limited visibility and casting long shadows. Approaching the gate, even a cursory glance would inform you that something is wrong, there is no sign of the guards at the top of the gate tower. Drawing close you see a dark form slumped against the gate itself, torchlight reflects off of its metallic helmet. Lying on the ground next to the figure there is an extinguished torch and a shield.
You see them then - dark, wet, smears on the side of the walls and gate.
"Gods..." Ireena mutters, unable to contain her shock, "What do you reckon happened?"
ALL - Perception and Investigation checks please + any other you believe may be prudent.
DM - The Call of Strahd (CoS); Feyrealm Campaign, Chapter 0 - Bleak Prospect (BP), Chapter 1 - Destination Unknown (DU)
Dallid investigation 23
Ferelyon perception 23 (with adv for hearing and smell) 16
Paladin - warforged - orange
Galqarin sidles up next to Dadeveth and attempts to engage in conversation; not something he is artful at. “I Gal… er, Raven”, he begins. After a long pause, “Are horse-people common from…” - another pause - “beyond the Mists?”
What he desperately wants to ask, but cannot form the words for, is whether Dadeveth’s kind is considered monstrous in her homeland. Not to mention the fish-man with the scraggy wolfhound.
—
On encountering the scene at the gate, Galqarin looks around for existential threats, before turning his attention to the victim of this latest violence.
(Perception 15; Medicine 23. He is not trying to analyse the situation)