Ravenloft Play Report Part 2.

The party left the Inn at daybreak, assuring the anxious Inn Keep that they will return and settle their accounts. I gave them an opportunity to provision themselves before entering Borovia , but they hand waved the notion, apparently  confident that they had everything they might need.

Soon they find themselves in the fog and passing through the gates of Borovia.  Under a grey sky in the snow covered woods they discover a corpse with another letter from the Burgomaster. This letter warns away any travelers, urging that Borovia be quarantined against the outside world. Nicolo the Magic User  quickly spots several key differences between the two letters, one referencing the object of the quest, Ireena Kolyana as “the love of my life”, the other as the burgomasters “daughter”. Date discrepancies, and the conflicting general thrust of the missives has the players deducing they have been lured to Borovia and they wonder at the audacity of anyone intentionally misleading such a powerful group of adventurers.

While discussing the implications of the different letters, the Svalich woods come alive with the howls of worgs, eight of which attack the party. This fight was pretty much a straight up brawl, with the worgs immediately moving into melee. Several pistol shots rang out, and Anthaar Zweck  the Fighting-Man made impressive work of the beast. The Magic User was bitten, and quickly became aware of his “squishiness” moving out of melee to take pot shots with his wheel-lock pistol and commanding the parties Moorish allies to assist against the worgs.

The party then moved west down the road and in the afternoon entered the Village of Borovia. They heard the wails of a woman coming from the west, and being the hero’s they are decided to head straight for the source of the moaning. This leads them into the main square where they discern human shapes in the fog, which turn out to be zombies. A gentle reminder from the DM of his ability and Dastur the Cleric boldly steps forward to turn the unholy creatures with the power of Ahura Mazda. Zombies don’t stand a chance against a 7th level Cleric…

Once they reach the source of the wailing, there is some dithering about possible traps and whether or not to investigate. Eventually wrapped in his cloak of elvenkind Ulric the Thief sneaks upstairs to find Mad Mary who tells the tale of Gertruda the daughter she has kept locked away and that is now missing. The old woman pleads for the party to rescue the girl who she fears has been taken by Count Strahd the Vampire who apparently takes most of the women of Barovia into his power. The players try to get more information from the old lady, but she refuses to speak about the Count, making the sign of the evil eye and asking Jesus to save them all.

The players then investigate the rest of the town, finding it mostly abandoned. Looking for signs of life, they come to Bildraths Mercantile. Realizing they are probably unequipped to face vampires they try to buy the appropriate accouterments. Outrage and shock ensue as Bildraths names exorbitant prices with a  smarmy attitude. Nicolo discusses burning the place down and murdering the merchant and Dastur the Cleric wonders if Borovia is actually worth saving.

Eventually they make their way to the “Blood of the Vine” tavern. They order food and drink, and while the mutton is being prepared meet Ismark the Lesser, son of the late Burgomaster. Ismark confirms the party’s suspicion about the letters, but offers no speculation as to the intent of bringing them to Borovia. He informs them that they cannot leave the land as the fog which surrounds it is poison. Only the gypsies may pass freely from the lands of Borovia. He then ask that they assist him in saving his sister Ireena Kolyana whom the Count seeks to make a vampire bride. The players agree and after Ismark assures them they do not want to eat the tavern’s mutton they venture to the Burgomasters house.

At the house, signs of battle are everywhere. The body of the burgomaster lies rotting in the parlor. Ireena and Ismark explain that he passed several days ago , but that recently all the graves have opened and the dead walk the streets so they are afraid to bury him. Ireena  is the adopted daughter of the burgomaster who found her in the woods when she was a child. She wears western style clothing, and appears to be a capable warrior wielding an old fashioned longsword.  She explains that the Count has bitten her twice, and that their home was once defended by the Relic of St. Ravenloft but that the relic was captured by a great black shadow demon two nights ago. She now fears that nothing will stop the Count from taking her into his possession.

The players spend the night in the House, and Ulric who cannot resist a damsel attempts to woo Ireena. As a result he is on watch with her downstairs when the house is assaulted. A swarm of bats fly down the chimney filling the front rooms. Wolves circle outside the boarded windows. Suddenly one of the bats becomes a man of evil aspect that stands before Ulric. The Thief fails his save and becomes charmed. The rest of the party awakes and rushes downstairs only to find that the vampire has transformed into a bat and flown away with the rest of the swarm.  

Knowing he has been affected by the vampire’s magic, Nicolo and Dastur discuss who should attempt to dispel the charm, with the Cleric finally casting Dispel Evil. He succeeds releasing the Thief from the Charm.

The next day the Party decides they need to visit the gypsy camp west of town in order to find out more information on the Count, as well as a way out of Barovia if it becomes necessary. They also realize they need silver bullets and set about town until they find a disused smithy in order to melt down silver coins to make shot. Inside the smithy rust monsters lurk. I gave the party a break and allowed the monsters to be struck without rusting weapons, only affecting metal with a successful hit themselves. Nicolo the Magic User uses Charm Monster on one of the creatures bringing it under his control, and promptly naming it Anthony. They use much of their silver ducats to cast bullets in anticipation of facing werewolves and vampires.

They subsequently visit the Church and meet Father Donavich the Orthodox priest, who offers them holy water in return for dispatching a couple of werewolves who stalk his grounds. By this time it was getting late, and I jumped past the tracking of the werewolves and straight into a combat encounter, assuming that a Thief with a cloak of elvenkind should be an effective scout.  

I gave the party a surprise round as a reflection of successfully stalking the beast and preparing an attack. They were at long range and together with their Moorish retainers formed a firing line while the thief sneaks off to the flank in an attempt to backstab one of the creatures. The muskets, arquebuses, and pistols fired silver bullets at the werewolves opening the combat. After a two rounds of somewhat ineffectual fire, that saw three weapons jam (perhaps the fog and snow dampened the powder) and the werewolves moving closer, Zweck the Fighting-Man bravely moves to intercept the beast while Nicolo decides to throw a fireball. Both werewolves made their saves and I think the players were somewhat taken aback at the amount of damage the lycanthropes had absorbed thus far. At this point, Ulric the Thief is positioned for a backstab netting a +9 to hit… And he misses much to the chagrin of the table. The werewolves are now in melee with Zweck the Fighting-Man who fires a pistol at the one who has been the target of all the silver bullets. He gets lucky and rolls exploding firearm dice three times doing a considerable amount of damage and dropping the werewolf to its knees. Nicolo realizing that this creature has taken 50+ HP in damage is perhaps getting nervous and desperately cast a sleep spell on the other werewolf. I misinterpret the Swords and Wizardry sleep spell chart , reading 4+ HD as four or more hit dice, not 4 hit dice + a modifier and rule that the creature falls asleep.

As they dispatch the fallen lycanthropes, the beasts transform into young women. This does not even cause a moment’s hesitation in the grizzled veterans as they administer the coup de gras. They search the area and find some much needed ancient byzantine gold coins in the wolf’s nest.

Returning with the heads of the young women, the Priest is relieved and grants them 1d3 servings of holy water a day. He tells them of Count Strahd von Zarovich the Vampire Lord of Barovia, who has ruled in death for over four centuries. He cautions the party to seek out the Tome of Strahd in the castle in order to find information before facing the Vampire.

I awarded XP for monsters, treasure, and undertaking the quest. And we called it a night.

A fun game, the players seemed somewhat distracted at the beginning, but were actually asking for more game towards the end. (I extemporized the rust monsters and werewolves) 

I wonder how they will react once they start getting level drained...