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Lenora's Journal for Our Phandelver Campaign Transition into Curse of Strahd
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<blockquote data-quote="Rhenny" data-source="post: 7330272" data-attributes="member: 18333"><p>Session 35 and 36 - Back to Vallaki - Strahd Makes an Appearance (about 3 hours of play)</p><p></p><p>Before leaving the church, Brigby casted lesser restoration upon Fid, just in case. With that, Fid had a strange vision. He saw a bathing pool somewhere and Esmeralda was there doing some kind of remove curse ritual upon his cursed sword.</p><p></p><p>Donovich was simultaneously distraught and relieved to see the dead body of the creature that used to be his boy. He buried Doru in the graveyard and then we bid him farewell. Since it was late, we checked into the Inn, The Blood on the Vine, and found Erik and Ismark. We spent dinner speaking with Ismark about our adventures and asked more about the card reading that Madame Eva gave to us. He helped us pinpoint more accurately where the Gulthius Tree might be and also the ruins of Argenvastenhalt, as well as St. Markovia Abby (which he said we’d need to go to Krezk to find). </p><p></p><p>In the morning, we checked on Ireena and found her to be in better health and spirits. The manor seemed to be in better repair as well. </p><p></p><p>All the time, Fid kept asking people about silver weapons. We were a little worried that we might encounter werewolves so this was an important precaution. Unfortunately, none of his inquiries paid off.</p><p></p><p>On the way back to Vallaki, we stopped at the Vistani camp near the Tser Pool and their upbeat spirit, the dance, song and wine was a welcome. We spoke again with Madame Eva (Katarina) and the story teller in the camp and checked to make sure that the little girl we had rescued was still ok. She was. After a night, the Vistani bestowed us with a few small vials to help us along our way. One turned out to be a potion of hill giant strength and the other a potion of vitality. We thanked them and again told them we’d find Esmeralda and continue to gain influence so that we could one day challenge Strahd.</p><p></p><p>Back at Vallaki, we checked into the Inn and took our rest. That night, Syvrina called for the Martikoff boy, and asked him to deliver a note to Lady Lydia, the Burgomaster’s wife. We all wanted to speak with the lady since we heard that during the Sun Festival, a soldier named Lars Ceurls was dragged behind the Burgomaster’s horse to punish him for some unfounded crime. We heard that Lars died and his gear, which might have included a silvered weapon, was confiscated so we wanted to get our hands on it, and also find out more about the incident. As Syvrina was talking with the boy, the boy showed her that he could turn into a raven. He also said his father could do it too. Perhaps these were the ravens that Madame Eva foretold would help us in our quests. </p><p></p><p>The next day, after securing a meeting with Lydia, Irwin spoke with us. He revealed that he and his son were wereravens, but that must be kept secret. Then he told us about the path to the Wizards of Wines, and the path to the Gulthius Tree beyond and the road to Krezk. </p><p></p><p>Late morning we rode the carriage to the Burgomaster’s home and met with Lydia. Syvrina and I stayed together as the others waited in the parlor with Issak and the butler. After only a few minutes of conversation, it seemed that Lydia wanted us to go see her brother Lucien again since he was the one who performed the rites on Lars and he kept his equipment. She offered to write a note to her brother granting the spoils to us, but Syvrina convinced Lydia to reluctantly go with us. </p><p></p><p>On our way out, we saw two familiar visages in Arrigal and Luvash. They were waiting by our carriage and seemed to be upset. Arrigal told us that we shouldn’t have taken Luvash’s daughter to the other Vistani camp. He was telling us how we’d have to pay. Immediately, I used my message spell to alert Isaak that there were Vistani inside the walls of Vallaki. His reply confirmed that this was not something that the Burgomaster would abide. Before Arrigal could offer more terms we saw two groups of thugs come from around each side of the Burgomaster’s house. Fid lost it and attacked.</p><p></p><p>Before Brigby could act, Arrigal took Brigby down with one poisoned sword attack. Luckily, Bynn could save Brigby, healing him so that he could call lightning to decimate some of the thugs. Syvrina, Fid and I fought with Arrigal as Luvash joined the fray. Arrigal was quick and tough. I had difficulty jabbing him with my rapier. Fid connected a few times and Syvrina also stabbed him, but kept fighting. Bynn turned into his wolf form and engaged with Luvash, ripping into him a few times. When Brigby tried to hit Arrigal with a lightning bolt, we found that Arrigal could evade damage using his quickness and stellar reflexes. Luvash was more of a fighter, attacking three times with his scimitar. Brigby continued to call lightning to destroy some of the remaining thugs, Bynn kept Luvash engaged. Then, as a result of Syvrina’s deadly attacks, and Fid’s cursed weapon attacks, Arrigal disengaged and tried to run. I ran after him, but he seemed so quick, even I had trouble handling him. I started to doubt my own courage when Fid came beside me to take on the assassin. Fid delivered a lethal blow to Arrigal, and the tainted Vistani went down. Moments later, Syvrina thrust her shortsword right through Luvash and toppled him as well. We had no mercy for these Strahd loving Vistani, and I felt a strange satisfaction seeing Arrigal, the one who first drew us into this mess when we arrived in this strange place, dead. Again, I used my message spell to contact Isaak to tell him that we dealt with the problem, and I heard him clapping.</p><p></p><p>After finding some gold on the two dead Vistani, we traveled to the St. Andril’s church to see Lucien. He and Lydia spoke for a short time and then Lucien asked us to help guard him during a ritual that he needed to perform to protect Vallaki from Strahd. He gave us Lars’ silvered shortsword and we gave that to Syvrina. Lucien warned us that anytime he performed a ritual Strahd was watching. In fact, people in town no longer come to Lucien to perform rituals because Strahd has disrupted Lucien’s work all too often. </p><p></p><p>Before the ritual, we took Lydia back home to keep her safe. Upon our return to the church, Lucien took us to the basement and walked up to an alter. We surrounded him and the alter keeping our eyes to the walls and windows on the perimeter of the room, guarding him. He began the ritual and within a few seconds Strahd himself materialized in the room with us. He warned Lucien and spoke lovingly to Syvrina, calling her Tatiana. Then he gazed at her and asked her, his bride, to come with him. Syvrina fought the urge, and was able to resist the vampire lord’s magnetic charm. Strahd laughed and turned into mist, seeping out one of the windows in the basement. Lucien continued his ritual, but then the room grew cold and from more seeping mist, five vampire spawn appeared, all bent on taking us down.</p><p></p><p>We fought for over a minute trying to keep Lucien safe as he continued his ritual. We didn’t know how long it would take, but we hoped that the deeper he got into his ritual, the more chance we’d have of defeating these powerful foes. Through the fight, Brigby was taken down to unconsciousness a number of times. Bynn went down at a point and so did Fid. Fortunately, we were able to bolster the fallen and Fid did a fantastic job of fighting defensively to withstand more than his share of vampire attacks. I used two of my fireball spells and a few burning hands to injure a number of the spawn, but they were hardy creatures that just kept attacking us with claws and draining bite. </p><p></p><p>Strangely, the vampires did not seem to attack Syvrina, in fact, one hesitated momentarily and turned away from Syvrina instead of attacking. At one point in the battle, Brigby cluched his holy symbol and urged the vampires to be gone. Two of the creatures put up their hands and cowered. Throughout the fight, I tried to stab creatures with greenflame blade, connecting at times missing at other times. I danced around and even used misty step to reposition myself so that Syvrina and I could focus our efforts on one of the most injured spawn. I had to use my shield spell a few times to avoid a vampire bite that would have drained my life essence, and I managed to remain unscathed for a while. </p><p></p><p>Toward the end of the battle after we had caused two of the creatures to turn to mist and run, I went down. Brigby moved over to my fallen body and used one of his last spells to get me back up. Then, Fid and Brigby went down again, but by the grace of gods, Fid stood back up again stabilizing and revitalizing on his own. Bynn got Brigby up and also used his moonbeam spell to damage a remaining spawn. Syvrina seized an opportunity and cut it down causing it to turn to ash in the radiant light of Bynn’s moonbeam. Fid and the others took out the last vampire spawn as the turned ones fled. </p><p></p><p>Lucien continued his ritual, but we were afraid that these creatures or worse would come back to finish us off. That’s when I began my own ritual to call forth Leomund’s Tiny Hut to encase Lucien, the alter and all of us in a protective dome.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rhenny, post: 7330272, member: 18333"] Session 35 and 36 - Back to Vallaki - Strahd Makes an Appearance (about 3 hours of play) Before leaving the church, Brigby casted lesser restoration upon Fid, just in case. With that, Fid had a strange vision. He saw a bathing pool somewhere and Esmeralda was there doing some kind of remove curse ritual upon his cursed sword. Donovich was simultaneously distraught and relieved to see the dead body of the creature that used to be his boy. He buried Doru in the graveyard and then we bid him farewell. Since it was late, we checked into the Inn, The Blood on the Vine, and found Erik and Ismark. We spent dinner speaking with Ismark about our adventures and asked more about the card reading that Madame Eva gave to us. He helped us pinpoint more accurately where the Gulthius Tree might be and also the ruins of Argenvastenhalt, as well as St. Markovia Abby (which he said we’d need to go to Krezk to find). In the morning, we checked on Ireena and found her to be in better health and spirits. The manor seemed to be in better repair as well. All the time, Fid kept asking people about silver weapons. We were a little worried that we might encounter werewolves so this was an important precaution. Unfortunately, none of his inquiries paid off. On the way back to Vallaki, we stopped at the Vistani camp near the Tser Pool and their upbeat spirit, the dance, song and wine was a welcome. We spoke again with Madame Eva (Katarina) and the story teller in the camp and checked to make sure that the little girl we had rescued was still ok. She was. After a night, the Vistani bestowed us with a few small vials to help us along our way. One turned out to be a potion of hill giant strength and the other a potion of vitality. We thanked them and again told them we’d find Esmeralda and continue to gain influence so that we could one day challenge Strahd. Back at Vallaki, we checked into the Inn and took our rest. That night, Syvrina called for the Martikoff boy, and asked him to deliver a note to Lady Lydia, the Burgomaster’s wife. We all wanted to speak with the lady since we heard that during the Sun Festival, a soldier named Lars Ceurls was dragged behind the Burgomaster’s horse to punish him for some unfounded crime. We heard that Lars died and his gear, which might have included a silvered weapon, was confiscated so we wanted to get our hands on it, and also find out more about the incident. As Syvrina was talking with the boy, the boy showed her that he could turn into a raven. He also said his father could do it too. Perhaps these were the ravens that Madame Eva foretold would help us in our quests. The next day, after securing a meeting with Lydia, Irwin spoke with us. He revealed that he and his son were wereravens, but that must be kept secret. Then he told us about the path to the Wizards of Wines, and the path to the Gulthius Tree beyond and the road to Krezk. Late morning we rode the carriage to the Burgomaster’s home and met with Lydia. Syvrina and I stayed together as the others waited in the parlor with Issak and the butler. After only a few minutes of conversation, it seemed that Lydia wanted us to go see her brother Lucien again since he was the one who performed the rites on Lars and he kept his equipment. She offered to write a note to her brother granting the spoils to us, but Syvrina convinced Lydia to reluctantly go with us. On our way out, we saw two familiar visages in Arrigal and Luvash. They were waiting by our carriage and seemed to be upset. Arrigal told us that we shouldn’t have taken Luvash’s daughter to the other Vistani camp. He was telling us how we’d have to pay. Immediately, I used my message spell to alert Isaak that there were Vistani inside the walls of Vallaki. His reply confirmed that this was not something that the Burgomaster would abide. Before Arrigal could offer more terms we saw two groups of thugs come from around each side of the Burgomaster’s house. Fid lost it and attacked. Before Brigby could act, Arrigal took Brigby down with one poisoned sword attack. Luckily, Bynn could save Brigby, healing him so that he could call lightning to decimate some of the thugs. Syvrina, Fid and I fought with Arrigal as Luvash joined the fray. Arrigal was quick and tough. I had difficulty jabbing him with my rapier. Fid connected a few times and Syvrina also stabbed him, but kept fighting. Bynn turned into his wolf form and engaged with Luvash, ripping into him a few times. When Brigby tried to hit Arrigal with a lightning bolt, we found that Arrigal could evade damage using his quickness and stellar reflexes. Luvash was more of a fighter, attacking three times with his scimitar. Brigby continued to call lightning to destroy some of the remaining thugs, Bynn kept Luvash engaged. Then, as a result of Syvrina’s deadly attacks, and Fid’s cursed weapon attacks, Arrigal disengaged and tried to run. I ran after him, but he seemed so quick, even I had trouble handling him. I started to doubt my own courage when Fid came beside me to take on the assassin. Fid delivered a lethal blow to Arrigal, and the tainted Vistani went down. Moments later, Syvrina thrust her shortsword right through Luvash and toppled him as well. We had no mercy for these Strahd loving Vistani, and I felt a strange satisfaction seeing Arrigal, the one who first drew us into this mess when we arrived in this strange place, dead. Again, I used my message spell to contact Isaak to tell him that we dealt with the problem, and I heard him clapping. After finding some gold on the two dead Vistani, we traveled to the St. Andril’s church to see Lucien. He and Lydia spoke for a short time and then Lucien asked us to help guard him during a ritual that he needed to perform to protect Vallaki from Strahd. He gave us Lars’ silvered shortsword and we gave that to Syvrina. Lucien warned us that anytime he performed a ritual Strahd was watching. In fact, people in town no longer come to Lucien to perform rituals because Strahd has disrupted Lucien’s work all too often. Before the ritual, we took Lydia back home to keep her safe. Upon our return to the church, Lucien took us to the basement and walked up to an alter. We surrounded him and the alter keeping our eyes to the walls and windows on the perimeter of the room, guarding him. He began the ritual and within a few seconds Strahd himself materialized in the room with us. He warned Lucien and spoke lovingly to Syvrina, calling her Tatiana. Then he gazed at her and asked her, his bride, to come with him. Syvrina fought the urge, and was able to resist the vampire lord’s magnetic charm. Strahd laughed and turned into mist, seeping out one of the windows in the basement. Lucien continued his ritual, but then the room grew cold and from more seeping mist, five vampire spawn appeared, all bent on taking us down. We fought for over a minute trying to keep Lucien safe as he continued his ritual. We didn’t know how long it would take, but we hoped that the deeper he got into his ritual, the more chance we’d have of defeating these powerful foes. Through the fight, Brigby was taken down to unconsciousness a number of times. Bynn went down at a point and so did Fid. Fortunately, we were able to bolster the fallen and Fid did a fantastic job of fighting defensively to withstand more than his share of vampire attacks. I used two of my fireball spells and a few burning hands to injure a number of the spawn, but they were hardy creatures that just kept attacking us with claws and draining bite. Strangely, the vampires did not seem to attack Syvrina, in fact, one hesitated momentarily and turned away from Syvrina instead of attacking. At one point in the battle, Brigby cluched his holy symbol and urged the vampires to be gone. Two of the creatures put up their hands and cowered. Throughout the fight, I tried to stab creatures with greenflame blade, connecting at times missing at other times. I danced around and even used misty step to reposition myself so that Syvrina and I could focus our efforts on one of the most injured spawn. I had to use my shield spell a few times to avoid a vampire bite that would have drained my life essence, and I managed to remain unscathed for a while. Toward the end of the battle after we had caused two of the creatures to turn to mist and run, I went down. Brigby moved over to my fallen body and used one of his last spells to get me back up. Then, Fid and Brigby went down again, but by the grace of gods, Fid stood back up again stabilizing and revitalizing on his own. Bynn got Brigby up and also used his moonbeam spell to damage a remaining spawn. Syvrina seized an opportunity and cut it down causing it to turn to ash in the radiant light of Bynn’s moonbeam. Fid and the others took out the last vampire spawn as the turned ones fled. Lucien continued his ritual, but we were afraid that these creatures or worse would come back to finish us off. That’s when I began my own ritual to call forth Leomund’s Tiny Hut to encase Lucien, the alter and all of us in a protective dome. [/QUOTE]
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