Session 14 — Paul Blew Up the Wagon

Session 14 — Paul Blew Up the Wagon

The party escaped Vallaki with a tiger, a cart, a distraction explosion they didn't set, and all of Rictavio's portable vampire-hunting wealth. They made it about three miles before a halfling druid tried to kill them. They survived that. They then found a locked wagon full of extraordinary supplies, and Brother Moro rolled a natural one on the trap check and destroyed every last bit of it.

What Happened

The plan, such as it was: leave town quietly before Rictavio noticed his tiger and all his belongings were gone. Sable Burrowbane sneaked ahead to the church to say goodbye to Ismark and Ireena, who were asleep and did not know the party was departing. Ismark was informed that adventure awaited, responsibility weighed heavy, and Sable patted him on the head with her hand. He accepted this gracefully. Ireena slept through the farewell entirely.

Meanwhile, Danica and Irwin were asked for a distraction. They asked no clarifying questions, closed the hatch, muttered between themselves, opened the hatch again, and told the party to be ready in ten minutes. Ten minutes later, a massive explosion erupted from the direction of Lake Zarovich with accompanying smoke, fire, and the sound of every bell in town ringing simultaneously. The guards flooded toward the noise. The party went the other direction. Stanley the tiger was concealed by the simple expedient of walking him next to the party while things burned. A running saber-toothed tiger in Barovia does not, it turns out, register as unusual when something is also on fire.

They left through the western gate at approximately 3am.

Sable maintained Speak with Animals on a ten-minute ritual cycle throughout the night march, primarily to coordinate with Stanley and to ask him to stop batting at her tail.

The Old Svalich Road west of Vallaki eventually reached a broken signpost at an X intersection. Sable picked up the fallen top half and held it against the post long enough to read the arms: Krezk and Solenka Pass to the southwest; Lake Bark to the northwest; Vallaki and Ravenloft to the northeast; Berez to the southeast. She put it back down. It fell over. The road they wanted ran northwest.

The woods at the intersection were doing something. Merich rolled a 23 perception and noticed branches along the treeline shifting and tracking them like eyes, plus a low murmured chant from inside the trees. Stanley confirmed: smells like magic. The party agreed this sounded extremely inviting.

A halfling druid emerged from the treeline with glowing eyes in a swirl of lime green and vibrant red, and summoned two twig blights from the undergrowth. Combat was brief. Sable opened from hiding with a nat-20 sneak attack that killed the druid outright. Brother Moro destroyed both twig blights barehanded except for the third, which fled into the woods. The bonfire Celeste summoned directly on the druid probably contributed to the outcome. Stanley stayed back from the flames because he is a very large cat and very large cats have sensible opinions about fire.

The druid was looted. She had singed robes, mittens in poor condition, a bowl, some vegetables, firewood, and a quarterstaff.

They took the northwest road. It became a dirt path about half a mile in, then curved until they found a mountain lake enclosed by misty woods and rocky bluffs. Thick fog on the water. In the middle of the day, which still looked like late afternoon. A grass-covered causeway stretched a hundred yards across the lake to a flat marshy island holding an ancient, partially crumbling stone tower — scaffolding clinging to a cracked wall, moss-covered griffin statues on the buttresses, visible through the mist.

Parked at the base of the causeway: a barrel-topped wagon with fresh purple paint, gold trim on the wheels, brass lanterns at each corner, red drapes over tombstone-shaped windows, and a padlocked rear door bearing a sign that read: Keep Out.

No horses. No owner. One hidden trapdoor under the belly.

Brother Moro investigated the trapdoor, opened it from underneath, and found the wagon interior full of notable items: a trunk covered in claw marks; a narrow wardrobe; a golden lyre on its side; a sculpted cage holding a live chicken; a silver ewer containing five chicken eggs; a little table with a wooden box and copper pots and pans; a shovel; a wooden chest; manacles on one wall; and on the floor — a large map of Barovia with locations written on it, and beside it, a single charred page that looked to have been torn from a book.

Brother Moro read the page. The party listened.

It was a journal entry from a man who introduced himself as a hunter of supernatural creatures — a hunter whose reputation had grown into heroism, whose career had begun as a grief-fueled obsession, and who had, in the process of pursuing his first target, inadvertently set a pack of zombies on a Vistani caravan. The Vistani leader cursed him before she died: Live you always among monsters, and see everyone you love die beneath their claws. He believed the curse. He had evidence for it. He had killed his own son — made into a vampire, begging for release — and described this as the moment an insatiable desire for vengeance replaced grief as the engine running his life.

He did not give his name in this entry. The party filed this information for future use.

Moro then attempted to disarm the trap on the padlocked rear door. He rolled a natural one.

The wire looped around the inside handle connected to a flask of alchemist fire hanging from the ceiling. The wagon exploded. The blast caught everyone within thirty feet. Moro, being inside, failed his constitution save and took 55 fire damage, leaving him with three hit points. Everyone else took 27. Stanley did not take any because tigers do not need to inspect wagons.

The map of Barovia was destroyed. The golden lyre was destroyed. The trunk of weapons was destroyed. The wooden chest containing a gold holy symbol of the Morning Lord, two vials of antitoxin, three vials of perfume, hempen rope, a tinderbox, a steel mirror, a sharpened wooden stake, a spyglass, and two spell scrolls of mirror image and remove curse — all destroyed. Brother Moro surfaced from the wreckage holding the charred journal page, which he had reflexively clutched as the trap fired. He was smoking. He was also vertical, which the party found acceptable.

The DM revealed what had been in the wagon. The session ended.

Key Decisions

NPCs Met

Locations Visited

Items Found

Loose Threads