Session 3 - The Village of Barovia

The oppressive mists of the Death House finally receded, not into relief, but to reveal the grim, waiting village of Barovia. For the adventurers Getafix, Gowain, and Lorian, one nightmare had ended only for a waking one to begin. The village was a picture of desolation, shrouded in a perpetual, sunless gloom. The only sound was a mournful sobbing that seemed to bleed from the very cobblestones, a chilling welcome to a land steeped in sorrow.

The Unquiet Dead

Their first interaction was not with a welcoming villager, but with a weary official, his face a mask of grim duty as he boarded up a home. A terrified family pleaded with him, and the party learned the horrifying truth of the local plague: the sick in Barovia did not stay dead. This was not a house, but a tomb, meant to contain a newly-forged zombie. Seeking refuge and answers, the official pointed them toward the Blood of the Vine tavern, advising them to find a man named Ismark.

Morgana

The road to the tavern, however, presented a strange and sinister detour in the form of Morgana, an old woman pushing a cart of pastries. Wary of the party, particularly the imposing dragonborn Lorian, she refused them service. Their curiosity piqued, the party stole a few of her wares. Getafix, eating one, was washed over with a wave of magical euphoria. These were no ordinary pastries.

Their investigation took a dark turn as they watched her trade her goods to a desperate couple not for coin, but for their young son, whom she stuffed into a sack and carried away. The party’s attempt to rescue the boy with a clever raven-based illusion was a dismal failure. The old witch, faster and stronger than she appeared, simply shrugged off their tricks, clutched the boy, and fled into the wilds at an unnatural speed, leaving the heroes stunned and with a new mystery to solve.

Blood of the Vine

At the Blood of the Vine—its sign ominously altered to read "Blood on the Vine"—the party found a populace hollowed out by fear. They met its proprietors, three colorfully-dressed Vistani women who others claimed served the devil Strahd and were the only souls permitted to leave this cursed land. It was here they finally met Ismark Kolyanovich, the anxious son of the late Burgomaster. He painted a grim picture of a village eating itself alive: his father lay unburied, his sister Ireena was a prisoner in her own home, stalked by Strahd himself, and villagers were disappearing. He implored the party for help, directing them to the home of the most recent to vanish, Gregor Stanovich.

Gregor and Mad Mary

Following the threads of despair, they found Gregor's home ransacked, the only clue a broken holy symbol of a rising sun. Then, drawn by the incessant wailing, they found "Mad Mary," a woman consumed by grief. Her daughter, Gertruda, had vanished a week prior, and Mary was convinced Strahd was to blame. She spoke of a dark, robed figure she’d seen dragging something towards the church, setting the party on their next path.

The Church

The church was a monument to decay, its doors scarred by claw and fire. Inside, they met the priest, Donavich. Suspicious, the party questioned him, pointing out the absence of his holy symbol (the one they found in Gregor's home). Clearly unsettled, he stumbled through lies that the party saw through plainly. As Gowain's rat familiar Rudy crept through the rooms of the church, their suspicions were confirmed by a desperate scream from behind a trapdoor in the floor: "Father, I'm starving!"

Cornered, Donavich confessed his sin. His son, Doru, had been turned into a vampire spawn by Strahd a year ago. Unable and unwilling to destroy him, Donavich had been feeding his monstrous child, luring unsuspecting villagers like Gregor to their doom. "What would you do if your child was starving?" he pleaded, his morality rotted away by a twisted sense of fatherly love.

Confronting Doru

The party knew what had to be done. After subduing the priest, they descended into the undercroft. The battle against the vampire spawn was ferocious. Doru, a whirlwind of claws and fangs, nearly killed Lorian, whose life was only saved when Getafix stabilized his dying form and later brought him back to consciousness with a healing word. The fight raged, a desperate exchange of steel, magic, and supernatural fury.

As they fought, the party began to understand Doru's weaknesses, namely that radiant energy weakened him and cut off his regenerative abilities. The tide began to turn after Gowain handed Lorian a flask of holy water, which he threw at Doru, shattering it against him. The consecrated liquid seared Doru's flesh, and in that moment of agony, the party pressed their advantage, striking the staggered monster down with critically powerful strikes and ending its reign of terror.

As Doru's form crumpled to the ground, the party took a breath. The battle was won, but the fate of the man who enabled it, as well as the many other shadows hanging over the village of Barovia, remain to be decided.