Towering trees, whose tops are lost in the heavy gray mist, block out all but a death-gray light. The tree trunks are unnaturally close to one another, yet exude the feeling of an unvoiced scream.

You catch the scent of death in the air.

The foul scent leads you to a human corpse half-buried in the underbrush about 15 ft. from the roadway. His muddy clothes are torn and raked with claw marks. Crows have been at the body, which is surrounded by the paw marks. it is obvious the man has been dead for several days. he holds a crumpled envelope in his hand. 

Taking the initiative, one of you takes the envelope from the hand of the corpse. It is a bit unsettling when you realize the hand seemed to open slightly as you grasped the envelope, almost leading you to believe the corpse released the envelope to you. The envelope is spattered with mud and blood and appears to be unsealed. One of you opens the envelope and pulls out a piece of parchment folded into thirds. You open it and start to read aloud the words written on the parchment:

Hail thee of Might and Valor:

   I, the Burgermeister of Barovia, send you honor with despair. My adopted daughter, the fair Ireena Kolyana, has been these past nights bitten by a vampire. For over four hundred years, this creature has drained the lifeblood of my people. Now my dear Ireena languishes and dies from an unholy wound caused by this vile beast. He has become too powerful 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 sorrow 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 Indivovich
                                                       Burgermeister

After a brief search, a little way into the underbrush, Gillain calls gently back to Dmitri "I think I've found something...". She stows her spear and shield, unties the rope around her waist, and kneels beside the tattered corpse. She bows her head and closes her eyes. She reaches up to an amulet around her neck, and takes a moment with the body...

Bob stumbles through the mist until he finds Gillain and sighs with relief. The sound catches in his throat and he gasps at the sight of the corpse with Gillain kneeling over it. He shuffles around her as she says her holy prayer or whatever it was she was doing and nervously reaches out to take the note in the dead man's hand. He begins to read, slowly murmuring the words aloud, though as his companions approach his voice grows in volume so the others ca...n hear.

"...'Leave our sorrow to our graves'... 'Much wealth'... Signed..." He squints at the strange name before reading it aloud, haltingly. "'Ko...lyan In...divo...vich'...?"

Gillain stands up just after Bob arrives, and offers him a kind smile (along with a concerned frown).

“My old mentor would perform last rites over a body ravaged like this one...”, she looks a little ashamed, “...but I don’t remember the ceremony...”.

She takes a small step away from the body, and listens as Bob reads the letter aloud. “What do you think it means?” she asks.

Dmitri muses, "Do you think this is how the land came to be accursed with this fey fog?”

"There's not much else we can do for the body best just leaving it for birds and beast." Tio will turn to the others "Perhaps this village is closer and we can inquire more answers besides this land is cursed." Tio will give Ermren the bag of coins she picked up on the road "Here I think you would be the best choice to have hold of these coins. Well , if there is nothing else I think we should go to this village..." 

Bob snorts in laughter as Ermren yet again is handed something while he has full hands, but the brief flash of mirth quickly curdles like milk in the desert sun as he glances at the decaying Burgermeister's corpse.

"Well... we were put on this road, just as sure as we were plucked from our home and put in this cursed place. Strahd wanted us to stumble on this poor sod. The letter certainly confirms that this blighted land needs saving. Maybe Strahd put us on this path because this is a clue to Barovia's salvation?"

Gillain looks at Tio, “You’re right, there’s nothing more we can do for this man now... We should head to town”.

She looks at the body for a second. “But maybe we can get someone from town to retrieve the body, for a proper burial”.

“Before we go, does anyone know how to check for the cause of death? Or is the body too far gone for that?”.

While someone else checks for cause of death, Gillain will walk slowly around the the body just looking for anything personal / valuable she might be able to take back to town that could identify the body and that she could give back to a family member. She will only look, and maybe go so far as to pat down any mysterious bulges in pockets she can see.

((feel free to roll for me if needed))

Bob groans. He was worried she would ask that question. He often had nearby townsfolk or constables knocking on the door to his hill asking him for healing or to do a necropsy on a dead animal - and once or twice an autopsy of a person, a task which he always dreaded but was up to with all of his medical and alchemical know-how.

He waits until Gillain is done examining the corpse and kneels next to the deceased man, checking for wounds or injuries that may or may not have lead to his death.

Medicine check (though if there's a more suitable check you'd rather I make I can edit this): 11 

Quote from BeastyC >>

As the tea and pastries were passed out Tio declined politely, lifting her hand as the tea was set. Watching her companions become drupe and staggered she tries to comfort Gillain. The room begins to spin, then sudden darkness Tio will keep her hands up in a defensive position. Ready to fight, the world coming back to focus she will lower her stance. "Hmmm, Are you all alright? Was there something in the food? Perhaps we should keep this Count at arm's length."  Tio will pick up the sack of coins opening it to check its contents. 

 The contents of the bag are various coin, gold and silver. It will take some time to count it out and the middle of the muddy road may not be the right place to do such a thing, especially if there were any bandits in the area that might happen upon you while doing so.

Quote from stronglyworded >>

Bob groans. He was worried she would ask that question. He often had nearby townsfolk or constables knocking on the door to his hill asking him for healing or to do a necropsy on a dead animal - and once or twice an autopsy of a person, a task which he always dreaded but was up to with all of his medical and alchemical know-how.

He waits until Gillain is done examining the corpse and kneels next to the deceased man, checking for wounds or injuries that may or may not have lead to his death.

Medicine check (though if there's a more suitable check you'd rather I make I can edit this): 11 

 The obvious things you see are the bite and claw marks. The neck seems to have a severe bite resulting in the ripping of the throat. to your mind, this would be consistent with a wolf attack but the pattern of the bite would indicate a very large wolf. 

Dmitri stays alert as the others review the body. He keeps an eye out for the wolves or anything else sneaking up on them.

Perception:  16

Ermren looks at the bag and sighs yet again, he hands the rope to Tio, plants his staff into the ground and takes the pouch to put into his pack, reclaims his staff and takes the rope back from Tio, wraps it around his staff and grips then together, then reclaims his torch. "So, I guess that means we have to slay this vampire to break the curse?" 

(What would Ermren know about vampires? Arcana?: 10 same roll for religion, but subtract 2 if its history instead)

Bob strokes his voluminous beard as he examines the body, prodding at it with his staff here and there. What he finds makes his face go pale. He looks over his shoulder past the rest of the group towards where they came. "Wolves tore the poor lad to shreds. An' I'd wager we're next if we don't get a move on!"

He doesn't bother mentioning that the ragged gash in the man's throat was caused by a large wolf. One with huge fangs and foam dripping from its jaws and...

“Very well let us move forward.” Tio will stick to the middle of the group with James as the group continues to move down the road towards the village.

As Ermren talks of slaying a vampire, Gillain tries desperately to recall anything she might know about the foul beasts...

History and religion (both +4): 9 (passive 14?! lol)

And when Bob describes the likely cause-of-death, and the wolves, this galvanises her into action again. She agrees with Tio, “Yes, lets get moving!”.

Unless Gillain can quickly find an identifying trinket on the body to take back to town, she will draw her spear and shield and head back to the road, and onward.

((same speed and formation as before?))

Perception for the road ahead: 15 

Dmitri settles in with Ermren in the rear of the party once more. He keeps a constant look about the flanks and rear of the party.

Perception: 6

Dmitri settles in with Ermren in the rear of the party once more. He keeps a constant look about the flanks and rear of the party.

Perception: 13

Ermren unties the rope and returns it before tang his place at the rear with Dmitri.

You leave the body behind and continue your journey. The road seems to be long and there seems to be no end of mud nor mist. You stop for a short rest to refresh yourselves and keep your spirits up but, in the distance, you hear the wolves again. A bit closer. When you look out, trying to see something through the ever-present mist, all you seem to make out are dark shadows in the distance. Some are close to the ground, where you might suspect to see a wolf. Other shapes are higher, above the road, and flint in and out of the trees. These shapes are to obscure to make out what they might be. Finally, after 2 1/2 more hours of traveling you see something ahead of you:

Tall shapes loom out of the dense fog that surrounds everything. The muddy ground underfoot gives way to slick, wet cobblestone. The tall shaps become recognizable as village dwellings. The windows of each house stare out from pools of blackness. No sound cuts the silence except for mournful sobbing that seems to echo through the streets from a distance.