OOC: Martha has grown up in a monastery. Loony childern are what she has prepared for!

Lilitu laughs at the mention of her having magic, "I am nothing silly bean... just a common peasant... a drudge, you know I am just a pack animal my job is to take Loocinda where she needs to go and not ask too many questions, she doesn't like that you know but then who does right?" She pulls Loo Loo against her chest tighter as she talks, "you will have to talk to Loo Loo, sometimes I just lack the proper words, she can explain things better than I can. All I know is that her celestial powers come from the Celestial Auditors, our Patrons. I guess you could think of me as Loo Loo's familiar sort of kind of and that she can cast her spells through me. Let's just say It's complicated and leave it at that, as for why my name is on the invitation... we work between life and death and much of our power is healing so perhaps it's as simple as that."

Quote from JcAndD >>

OOC: Martha has grown up in a monastery. Loony childern are what she has prepared for!

“Neat. Sounds like you both are quite a force to be reckoned with. You know, I just realized, I’ve been talking to you this whole time. I don’t think I speak Loocinda’s language. Would you mind translating for me if she needs to tell me something?”

Posting again in about an hour. Be prepared to journey onward =)

Kia returns from outside, on Briella's heels, but settles in another part of the common room where she can see Grishkar but doesn't have to interact with him.

Bors remains quiet, nursing his drink in the corner and taking note of his companions and their interactions.  By the gods, how did I get matched with this lot?

Martha waves at Bors.

Bors gives Martha a slow nod and gestures to the barkeep for another drink.

Thinking to himself: There is power with this group, that much is obvious.  But will they hold together when it is needed?  Or even realize their moment is at hand when it comes?

THE OLD SVALICH ROAD

THE NEXT MORNING, DAY 2

Allowing some time to get acquainted, the talk went on through the evening and beyond. Our group was able to rest up in their own ways, and it was time to move on the next day. While it was morning, the pale yellow sun up in the sky did not shine bright, and it was cold, and damp.

Following the directions on the letter, our travelers head west along the Old Svalich Road. Black pools of water stand like dark mirrors about the muddy roadway. Thick, cold mists spread a pallor over the road. Giant tree trunks stand on both sides of the road, their branches clawing into the mist. In every direction the mists grow thicker and the forest grows more oppressive. 

Thankfully, nothing disturbs your travels. It takes you all about 5 hours before you see, travelling on the road, the Gates of Barovia.

THE GATES OF BAROVIA

AFTERNOON, DAY 2

Jutting from the impenetrable woods on both sides of the road, high stone buttresses loom up gray in the fog. Huge iron gates hang on the stonework. Dew clings with cold tenacity to the rusted bars. Two statues of armed guardians silently flank the gate. Their heads, missing from their shoulders, now lie among the weeds at their feet. They greet you only with silence.

The gates are currently closed, and there are no sounds of any life other than a cold, rustling breeze in the afternoon woods.

“Huh. That’s ominous.”

OOC: Speaking of, did Martha hear anything from Tadriel as she slept?

Oh, nothing really except a foreboding sense of fear and dread. A wave of emotion. How odd.

What could be a part of this world that could instill such feelings?

Bors approaches the gates, looking for a latch or lock.  Perception: 6

OOC: Really? Huh wonder why...

Martha has been teaching Kia how to play a card game she picked up in her travels using her Illusion deck, “And now it’s my turn, so I’m going to sacrifice my Goblin and Kobold to summon the legendary Red Dragon in Attack Position. Then, using my Kobold’s sacrificial ability, Red Dragon gains 600 attack points. My Red Dragon attacks your Lich for 1600 points of damage to your Life Points. I end my turn. Now you draw.”

THE GATES OF BAROVIA

AFTERNOON, DAY 2

As Bor approaches the gates, they open, screeching and groaning wide for you all to pass. Lilitu, as you walk through the gates you see that one of the eyes of the headless guardian is following you. When you look at your dolly...one of it's eyes is bleeding. As you all pass through it, the gate slowly closes. After a few moments, you all notice that the fog has closed in just beyond the closed gates, and you cannot see beyond it, nor go beyond it.

THE SVALICH WOODS

AFTERNOON, DAY 2

You are all now following a long trail west towards what appears to be a small town in the distance. It must be Barovia? Towering trees, whose tops are lost in a heavy gray mist, block out all save a death-grey afternoon light. The tree trunks almost touch. The thick, damp undergrowth presses in on you, making it impossible even to see one another at all times, even though it's well into the afternoon. The woods have the silence of a forgotten grave, yet exude the feeling of an unsounded scream.

The road continues well on to the west. If you follow it, you should arrive in Barovia in the early evening.

OOC > "impenetrable woods" means we have to go through the gates, right, they're not just ruined gates standing in an empty field that we can walk around? That would be too easy.

 If Bors is unable to find a latch, Kia will give it a try. Perception roll: 24 

On the trip, Kia seems fascinated by Martha's cards, more than once seeming to lose herself in the game. She even once gives a decidedly kittenish squeal when one card turn surprisingly shifts the balance of the game in her favor, only to pout when the goblin and the kobold summon the dragon in the next move. "I will draw this next card, but I confess I cannot keep all these numbers in my head, Martha. It is... difficult to separate this game from what I know of reality... see? This card, it appears to be a griffin, yes? But these markings say it cannot be used unless I have no other flying creatures? Is that right? So I must be rid of this card, the murder of crows?" She glances at Grishkar as they walk, though she has always known exactly where he is in relation to her. "It makes little sense, I am afraid I have no head for this. The monks would tell me so, as well, when I was in their tutelage"

OOC: We’ve actually already gone through the gates, they auto-opened

”Yeah, they can take a little while to understand. Maybe I should’ve started you off with my deck first, the winged creature deck is a bit harder to play... Anyway, looks like we may be on this road for a bit, what do you do for fun?”

"What is.. fun?" She tips her head quizzically at Martha.

Then she smiles at her own joke, but softly. "I do not have much time for that. My guide has given me tasks to do, and if I am not at them, I must meditate to be prepared for them. I owe a life debt, but I am grateful, too, and stand willingly to the test. What is it that you do, Martha? Are you questing? Do you... as they say, adventure?"

Martha laughs and smiles, “I like to think of it as study abroad, but yeah, I adventure. I have my own guide who’s been helping me out. So we’re similar in that regard. Actually that’s how I got here. A shadow ate a town and I popped out here.”