Session 5 — The Polite Thing Would Have Been To Miss

Session 5 — The Polite Thing Would Have Been To Miss

The party left Barovia a morning session ahead of whatever else the village was planning to make their lives worse. They were heading to the Vistani camp, Sable had a shortlist of items to acquire, and nobody had any particular reason to expect the road to be interesting. The road had thoughts about this.

What Happened

The cart rolled west along the River Ivlis road. Ireena Kolyana and Ismark Kolyana sat up front controlling the horse. The four party members rode in the back, lounging in hay, scanning the treeline with the vigilant paranoia of people who had been ambushed by a house. About two hours out, someone with high perception — several someones, actually, as the whole party rolled in the high teens — spotted a carefully dug hole in the road, positioned at the exact wheel-width required to ruin a cartwheel. The cart stopped. Celeste rolled a 14 on investigation, which was enough to notice voices and movement in the trees.

Sable and Brother Moro slipped into the treeline to flank. Merich and Celeste stayed visible as bait. The stealth roll was a 13 and a 15, against an NPC perception of 19. One of Sable's ears slapped a branch. Brother Moro said "ow." The ambushers turned around, which was when Merich and Celeste realized they had a surprise round.

The ambushers were Vistani — dark reds and yellows, extra jewelry, scimitars. Four of them. One looked smaller than the rest.

Merich went first, surprise round and regular turn both, dealing 18 total damage to ambusher three. Celeste fired an Eldritch Blast at the smaller one, dealing ten force damage. Sable put Hunter's Mark on the small one and shot with the hand crossbow: 11 damage, hit to the face.

The small one had 12 hit points. He had 2 left. Sable had just overkilled a Vistani teenager by 13 points. The DM confirmed he went to negative 13 and bounced off the ground "like Smash Brothers."

Combat continued for two more rounds. Brother Moro grappled and dragged the apparent leader. Merich finished two more. By the end, only the leader — already grappled, already bleeding, barely alive — remained conscious.

Celeste tried persuasion on him (rolled 19). He knelt beside his dead son and grieved in public and in motion: he spoke words under his breath while making direct eye contact with Sable, which Merich's Arcana check (14) flagged as something, though not anything familiar. The anger in it was notable.

When he finished, Sable's holy water vanished from her inventory. That was the Vistani curse: a minor thing, as curses go. He could have done worse.

The man wouldn't negotiate his way to safe passage. He said what had happened would follow them if the camp found out. Sable said, "I guess they can't find out." She pulled the trigger. Then she made sure the others couldn't report back either. The bodies went into the treeline. Forty bolts distributed between party members. Forty-four gold divided by four. The DM noted they would have looted a child, which the table acknowledged without enthusiasm.

Sable passed her Wisdom saving throw with a 20.

Back on the road, not far past the treeline, the party reached a crossroads. A gallows stood at the fork. One road led back to the village; one went northwest toward Tser Pool and the Vistani camp; one went southwest toward Vallaki. A signpost noted these. A crumbling graveyard with fog lay opposite the gallows.

Brother Moro, wisdom save of 6, looked at the gallows and saw a gray body hanging there. It looked like him. He asked the party if they were seeing that. Celeste looked and saw a body that looked like nobody she recognized. Sable did not look. Sable suggested strongly that they leave.

Brother Moro climbed down from the cart, confirmed to himself it wasn't real, and rolled a 13 on his second wisdom save. He accepted the ambiguity and got back in the cart. The party took the northwest road.

At the copse of trees before the lake, five zombies shambled out of the forest. The party had been hoping for a moment to breathe. Initiative was rolled.

Sable shot Zombie Five's head clean off (17 damage). The head landed nearby. The body remained standing. Celeste's Scorching Ray hit all three back-rank zombies for 8 fire damage each. Brother Moro punched Zombie One so hard its arm detached and continued moving independently on the ground. The fight had a texture to it.

Merich finished Zombie Three with an Eldritch Blast. Celeste cleaned up Zombie Five. Ismark's long swords and short sword put down Zombie Four, then Two. The severed arm got its own initiative entry, attacked, missed, and was stomped by Ismark with a righteous 11 damage. Brother Moro used his Deflect Attack feat to redirect a claw swipe into Zombie Two (who saved). The last zombie standing — Zombie Three, having lost a head and an arm and still not quite dead — collapsed when Merich dealt 10 damage and described it imploding like controlled demolition.

No loot on zombies. The party noted this was poor design.

The Vistani camp appeared through the trees at what was probably dusk: colorful round tents, four barrel-topped wagons, a large tent near the lakeshore lit from within, horses drinking from the river, firelight, wine, and someone playing an accordion. About fifteen people total. Three standing near the wagons, tense. Everyone else around the fire, listening to someone tell a story.

Celeste walked up with her hands visible and asked for Madam Eva. Mentioning the name caused recognition across multiple faces. A woman by the fire introduced herself as Yelena — Madam Eva's daughter — and confirmed Eva was in her tent. She invited the party to sit and listen while they waited.

Yelena's story: over a year ago, a charismatic foreign wizard arrived in Barovia and managed to inspire a peasant revolt against Strahd. The peasant army fled when Strahd appeared. A few remained and were never seen again. The wizard dueled Strahd directly at a precipice above River Ivlis falls, surviving both boulders and lightning strikes. He did not survive Strahd falling upon him personally. He was thrown a thousand feet into the river. Yelena climbed down to look for the body. The river had already taken him.

Merich asked if she would want to know that a survivor of the wizard's army existed. She said she would find that interesting. The party chose not to press it.

Sable asked about Toma. Yelena pointed to a forge-cart at the edge of the camp.

Toma's operation: a sturdy iron-bound wagon reinforced with blackened steel ribs and Vistani wards. An awning over a hot forge. Racks of hunting trophies — werewolf claws, vampire teeth, twisted silver bolts. Two draft horses with charm-decorated tack. Scent of hot metal and alchemical oil. A man in a long leather coat with a raven-feather charm on his belt, dark curls threaded with early gray, hands scarred from forge work. His name was on a brass plate above the driver's seat: Thoma's Tempering.

His opening line: "Careful where you stand. Last fool who touched my anvil without asking still smells like pork."

Sable produced a moss agate. He offered her the basic hand crossbow for the agate, garnet, heavy crossbow, and Scroll of Bless together — plus a near-perfect replica of his own personal crossbow, a weapon he called Whisper. The replica was named Gossip. It was a plus-one hand crossbow with dark wood stock inlaid with silver knotwork and a noise-treated bowstring. Sable took it. Sable had been pointing toward this moment since Session 1.

Merich asked about swords. Toma showed him a silvered longsword (200 gold, 300 if you want it to stay sharp after the first werewolf), then produced a better one from private stock after Merich rolled a 20 on insight and Toma warmed up to him. The private stock blade was named Mercy's Bite: magical, silvered, deals an additional d4 radiant damage. Once per long rest, when striking a target below half hit points, Merich may force a Wisdom save instead of dealing damage; on a fail, the creature is stunned until the start of his next turn. If the blade is used to kill an innocent, it goes silent until an act of redemption or self-sacrifice is performed. Toma wanted the payment in two parts: the Heartstone as down payment; the heart of a hag and a pouch of bone-dust flour from the Old Bonegrinder windmill — the one west of here, the one that grinds children into flour and flour into dreams — in exchange for the blade itself. Merich traded the Heartstone, and Toma handed over a plain silvered longsword as a loaner for the work ahead. The real sword would wait.

Brother Moro asked about movement and stealth items. He rolled a 14 on persuasion. Toma produced the Charm of the Silent Step: a pendant woven from black horsehair, raven feathers, and moonstone wrapped in silver thread. Advantage on Dexterity checks in dim light or darkness. Once per long rest, the wearer can activate it as a bonus action to move soundlessly for one minute. Cost: 150 gold, knocked down to a trade for the Scroll of Protection from Poison and some additional gold. Brother Moro took it.

Madam Eva received the party in her tent. Magic flames. Red glow. Crystal ball. Hunched figure. Cackling: "At last you've arrived." This was standard Madam Eva.

She performed a reading using a Taroka deck — five cards, each representing a different component of the party's future in Barovia:

  1. The Master of Glyphs — knowledge of the ancient will help them understand their enemy; what they seek is in the castle, amid ruins of a place of supplication.
  2. A card of power and protection — a holy symbol of greater hope lies buried among the dead, at the crossroads of life and death.
  3. A card of vengeance — a sword of sunlight; a fallen paladin of a fallen order of knights, lingering like a ghost in a dead dragon's lair.
  4. A card of a hidden ally — a vault of temptation hidden behind a woman of great beauty; something waits at the top of a tower of treasure.
  5. The card of the enemy — a creature of darkness whose powers are beyond mortality; this card will lead them to him.

Each card indicates a location or ally relevant to defeating Strahd. The draw is random each campaign; no two runs are the same. This was the party getting their quest board.

The session ended with the party welcomed to rest at the camp for the night — and a level up.

Key Decisions

NPCs Met

Locations Visited

Items Found

Items Given / Lost

Loose Threads