Burr nodded then looked outside again, grumbling something about it not looking like fecking morning....

Stepping out onto the balcony of the spider room, Soren and Burr have an unobstructed view of the overgrown gardens, the path leading up to the house, and the woods beyond.

The sky overhead is a near uniform gray.  Low-hanging, thick clouds stretch from horizon to horizon.  It’s reminiscent of a sunless winter day, as the clouds don’t seem to be rain or storm related.  There is a brisk wind but it doesn’t feel like winter… if anything the temperatures seem a tad warmer than the early Spring you left behind in Daggerford.

Below, pockets of cotton-like fog cling to low lying areas and coil like strangling fingers around tree branches, but gone are the thick walls of impenetrable fog you encountered yesterday.  Gone too are the wolves it seems.  Scanning the forest, you both catch a hint of movement, but quickly recognize it is the spider; having scaled down the building it now continues its escape away into the shadowy woods around the manse.

Looking at your surroundings, there is a nearby range of low mountains.  In the other direction, much further off, rise taller, snow capped peaks that disappear into the clouds.  It’s especially hard to tease out cardinal directions here, even for the Druid.

Giles walks into the room, holding the gold ring, a wedding band?  He says, “What’s going on in here?  I thought I heard something…”. He looks around, puzzled.  “Look what I found… hey, what have you guys been doing?  How much more is in here, should we leave this place?”

"There was a large spider which attacked us, but fled once Zefla hit it with a well-placed arrow."

Soren tries to match what he is seeing from the balcony, the woods and two different mountain ranges, with the map of Barovia, but there just isn't enough information to be sure of their location.  Not that Soren has much experience with maps anyway.

"Unless there is some part of this man-dwelling that we have missed, there is not much more here.  I no longer see the wolves.  We should choose a direction and set out through this forest, hoping to find a town while we have light.  Or a clearer view that will let us find our location on the map."

In Soren's mind, there is not even a question of finding their way back to the area they had been, just south of Daggerford.  The surrounding nature makes it clear they are elsewhere, even without the map and the letter from the Barovian ruler.

[If you depart the house, make sure to add any items you looted to the inventory on your character sheets.  Resources can be hard to come by in this campaign.  It would be a shame to forget to bring that holy water or map with you....]

Giles holds his light up high, looking around.  “Are there any other doors we have missed?  I wonder what really happened to the people in this place…. Soren, you don’t sense the werewolves outside anymore?  Should we leave?”

Perception : 23 

" Do we have enough daylight to get to that town you mentioned?  I don't fancy a night under the.....are there stars here?", Burr finished awkwardly.

(Sorry - very busy weekend)

Zefla nods in agreement with the rest on getting out of this creepy old house.  She leads the way back down the stairs and out in the now unobstructed forest that is unfamiliar to them.  "So, which way do we want to head?  Think we can find the nearest settlement and maybe that can help us find our bearings on the map?"

Survival (to try and figure out where the nearest settlement may be)   18

It appears you have accessed all the rooms of the decaying manor.

Zefla walks out into the gloomy morning, past the overgrown cherry trees and the 'Keep Out - Haunted' sign.  Back at the road, you have two options, left or right.  The road sees light wagon traffic based on the tracks and ruts in the wet earth.  But there is nothing to indicate which - if any - way leads to a settlement and safety.

Soren looks at the map and at the road.  He tries to determine if one direction of the road travels towards the closer, lower mountain range he had seen upstairs and one away from it - or whether the road runs more parallel to that range.  (If towards and away, he would vote for heading away).

"Journeying off-road through forests suits me just fine, most times, but these woods are strange.  I admit sticking to the road is best here, but survival may depend on guessing the closest way to a town.  Giles, we need Tymora's fortune now, selecting our direction blindly as we are.  The flip of a coin."

Giles has a look of questioning and confusion on his face as he leaves the haunted house, looking at the map over the shoulder of Soren, looking down the road and over the woods.  When Soren mentions Tymora and her fortune helping with the decision, a big smile crosses his face.  “Absolutely, *ahem* yes, quite so.  My lady can help us with the difficult decisions in life, a guide for our path, lighting the lamp to our footsteps.”  He pulls the coin with the representation of her face on one side and a four leaf clover on the other.  “Guide us, dear Lady, heads means we travel the road, tails means we keep hidden in the woods.”  

(1 = heads, 2 = tails) : 1 

Burr looked at the coin toss dubiously but had no better idea himself and was unsure exactly how one read a map.....or words for that matter.

"No, ah... not-Father Giles.  I am sorry.  I have spent so much of my life communicating only with beasts that I spoke in circles.  I think it unwise to venture into the woods, so we should not do that.  Instead, I wanted you to flip a coin for Tymora to choose a direction on this road.  Right or left."

Soren looks chagrined.  Also, if he recognizes that the road leads away from or towards the closer mountain range he had seen from the upstairs balcony (rather than parallel to it), then he would lean towards traveling away from the mountain range.

As the cleric tosses his coin and the druid attempts to clarify his request, a gasp is heard behind you.

Just down the road, an old woman is pushing a wheeled, wooden contraption that looks equal parts wheelbarrow and handcart.  She is a hunched figure bundled in rags, a grey shawl covering her shoulders and a red, embroidered clothed tied up around her head like a cowl.  She has the figure of an enormous egg, stout and wide at the bottom and narrowing towards the top.  She has stopped her cart and pushes a pair of thick glasses up her long nose, squinting at you.

"Who might you be, to step out of the woods and startle an old woman?  And out here in the middle of nowhere, with a girl child, no less.  Tsk tsk tsk."  She squints more closely at Zefla.  "Tell me, child, who... Oh.  Oh my.  You're no child, are you?  ... Oh dear."  She hastily picks up her cart and moves to hurry past, coming from the left and traveling to your right.  "I can't be getting involved in any trouble!"

Soren steps aside, leaving plenty of room for the old woman to pass.

Never one to dissemble, he still entreats her verbally.  "Ah, ma'am... we will not impede you of course.  But could you kindly tell us which way is the closest town?  We arrived here in front of this house through the very thick mists last night after being attacked by werewolves and find ourselves in a different, unfamiliar place entirely than where we came from.  Barovia?  Could you point to our location on this map and tell us which direction is which?"

He holds forth the map hopefully, though still gripping it tightly, not wanting it snatched from him, and still giving her plenty of room if she refuses.

Zefla looks at the woman a little taken a back by her reaction when she realizes she isn't a child.  Hasn't she seen a halfling before?  "We're no trouble, ma'am.  Just a bit lost.  Can you tell us, where the nearest town is?  We're very hungry and thirsty after our travels and getting lost.  I mean, we truly didn't mean to startle you."

The woman practically jogs away, moving her heavy cart with surprising speed.  Once she has put 100' between you, she slows, then stops, looking back over her shoulder.  "The mistwalking Vistani have a camp back that way," she hollers, her shrill voice booming through the quiet morning woods.  She points back the way she had just come from. 

Then she turns and continues moving away.  "The old Village of Barovia is this way."  She continues to hurry away with her cart, avoiding you lot as though you carried the plague.

“Ma’am?  What’s in the cart?”  Giles says out of curiosity, calling after her.  “Well.  Let’s look at that map.  Barovia?  A village sounds good to me.  What do you think, follow her?  I just feel better being out of that house..”

" She's scared.......which is the smart thing to be in this place."

" Mist Walking......is that not how we got here? Perhaps these Vistani....or this Vistani....have answers?"

Soren holds forth the map that they had found with the late Raquon of Greyhawk for all to see.

"Barovia appears to be both the name of this land and that of a city, ah... village," (all villages are cities in Soren's mind) "here in red east of center on the map, just north of the river which runs east and west.  It may be that we are in one of the forests shown nearby, or in the Svalich Woods further to the east.  And yet, as Burr suggests, perhaps these 'mistwalking Vistani' may be our chance to return to... our world.  Should we try them first?"