With the little hairs on her neck raised much like a hissing cat, Viorela holds her whip taut. She hopes that on her face is a fierce, angry look, but the truth is seeing the devil has scared her. He appeared so suddenly, so quickly, and though it seemed certain Elwarith would lodge an arrow through the beast's heart - it missed.

With eyes widened with fear, Viorela peers around the room grip tightening around the whip to the point her fingers start to numb. She looks for any signs of this cursed monster. Testingly, she speaks, hoping that her voice is still strong, "We possess many pieces to your demise, dreadlord. Soon, you will hold no sway here..."

"You are not the first self important blowhard I have hunted down....and like the rest you shall become another statistic and a completed contract...."

[Deception: 11

"....and certainly not the only one who can disappear in to the shadows."

[Stealth: 24]

(OOC - boy I hope this works hehe)

As you leap into the shadows, Elwarith, a chill runs up your spine as a whisper curls around you, “And you are a fool, assassin. You will become another wailing soul bound to my whim. Do you truly believe that you can hide from my gaze! The shadows betray you because they belong to me.” Elwarith, give me a Charisma Save.

George rage.  George grapple Strahd.  25.  It work, George knock Strahd prone.  22. 

George may do so. However, there is one issue. Strahd vanished into the walls, as mentioned earlier. There is no trace of the vampire lord, save for his mocking voice ringing through the chapel.

(OOC - is he trying to charm me? If so advantage!)

[Charisma save 20]

It is in fact, not a charm effect, so unfortunately that’s a 10. Instead, as his words creep over you, you feel nauseous. A cold, unnatural feeling seizes your body, as you feel something pulled from deep within you. You stumble for a moment, dropping to a knee, while the world still spins. However, it stops. Suddenly, you see the reason for this unnatural feeling. Your shadow has abandoned you. You see it slither along the floor like a serpent, rising ever so slightly with dark hunger. However, just as quickly, it darts off into the darkness of the castle.

"Good....it only got in my way."

Would Viorela know any rumors about such a thing as losing one's shadow? Would that be arcana or history or religion...?

We’ll say Arcana.

6

It’s difficult to say. It’s no doubt bad, but it is hard to gauge how bad. For now, you don’t believe that there will be any immediate side effects for Elwarith, but the shadow will hunt him down. It is the personification of his murderous intent, his very assassin instincts are now distilled into an inky, black horror.

"Lovely..." Viorela mutters. "It isn't wise to let the devil steal your shadow, but it is done. We shouldn't just stand around here waiting for him to come back. In a game of attrition, I believe he has the advantage."

Despite his bravado - you can clearly see Elwarith is shaken from the experience of having his shadow ripped from him.

(OOC - do I know anything about vampires or how to reattach my shadow - I can make a roll - perhaps Strahd isn't the first vampire Elwarith has hunted down in his service of being a hired assassin...)

Sure, I will also allow an Arcana roll from Elwarith.

[Arcana: 4]

With that, you know that this is something that vampires cannot do. You have never once interact with a vampire that can steal the shadow of its target. However, Strahd is different. Thankfully, you’ve interacted with some shady, mage types in the past. The way to reattach a shadow is to destroy it and then have a high level restoration spell cast on yourself. Without that, you will be shadowless forever.

(OOC - is being shadowless such a bad thing? hehe)

(Observant people would probably not trust you at all, thinking its some occult nonsense or that you are cursed and they should have nothing to do with you, I think.)

"That will probably come back to haunt me at some point.....and I will need to deal with it then.....it appears that Strahd has the third item we were looking for so perhaps we should find the vampire and conclude our business."