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Curse of Strahd Ep. 8: Krezk
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Last week, through some Mad Max antics and the combined power of Tenacious D, the Pointy Ear Gang managed to escape the evil druids and the fucked up freaky trees! They delivered the booze to Krezk and earned some much needed rest. The next day, they received a tarot reading from Esmerelda, who helped to divine some secrets hidden across the lands of Barovia. In this episode, the PEG explores Krezk, learning some sad truths to the youths of the land. Atop the village at its highest peak lies the Abbey. A meeting with the Abbot, answers to some questions, and more mysteries to come...
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Transcript
Wine Delivery to the Burgomaster
00:00:03
Speaker
Good morning, Barovia, and welcome back to the Blade's Edge Curse of Strahd, Episode 8. Last we left off the characters finally back from the Wizard of Wines with a shipment for the town. They have delivered this wine to ah the Burgomaster. And if that word is confusing to anybody, um just picture me saying Baron.
00:00:38
Speaker
Baron Burgomaster, same thing. Baron Baroness, Burgomaster, Burger Mistress. um Burger Mistress, there is actually a Burger Master restaurant here in Seattle. Wow. Yeah. um Yeah, this is yeah the Burgomaster, but it's just Baron. You guys got back from one of the wines, you were in Kresk, which for all intents and purposes can serve now as a home base for you guys. yeah Should you like?
00:01:07
Speaker
You rested.
Disturbance at the Abbey
00:01:08
Speaker
Finally, uh, Vesrak got up to some shenanigans, uh, replacing certain bottles of wine with other certain other kinds of bottles of wine. Wink, wink, hint, hint, nudge, nudge. Um,
00:01:26
Speaker
Roy awoke to screams in the village at night, anguished screams, and a bell tolling somewhere off um up the hill a bit towards the Abbey, where you've heard about this man called The Abbott, not the club in West Hollywood, Kyle. I was trying to figure out how to make a joke as you described this.
Taroka Reading and Revelations
00:01:54
Speaker
um the next morning you met i'm gonna move you guys over to this map here you met this lady who i don't know if i had had properly described her so this right here is we'll call him baron dimitri kreskov who you met um sort of bald ah gray beard coming down from the ears connecting. He's got the Abe Lincoln no mustache. um His wife who you met. ah Baroness Anna Kreskov.
00:02:28
Speaker
And this is Esmeralda who you met the next morning. um who, as you guys ate breakfast, gave you guys a Taroka deck reading, which is like tarot cards. And this has implications for the um adventure. So you know that there are three pieces of treasure in Barovia that could help you on your mission. There's an ally who can help you and you now know
00:03:03
Speaker
that when the time comes and you are searching out straw, do you know where to find him? The treasure you found is one is in the womb of darkness, the devil's lair, the one place which he must return. The second piece of treasure was in the mad dog's crypt. The treasure lies within beneath blackened bones. And the third one was a lonely mill on a precipice. The treasure lies within.
00:03:30
Speaker
The ally that you found that you could search out ah was an entertaining man with a monkey. This man is more than he seems. And Esmeralda seems to maybe infer that she knows who this card is talking about in the tarot deck, somebody who maybe she's familiar with. And then, you know, the location of the enemy, he waits for you in a place of wisdom, warmth and despair. Great secrets are there.
00:04:00
Speaker
So with the day at your fingertips, I know also Valerius, you had you guys had found that.
Wine Distribution and Town Interactions
00:04:12
Speaker
That letter outside the gates from Kolyan in Derevich. And I know that you had mentioned potentially. You know, you guys are going to go around that this place and distribute the wine throughout the town and meet some people potentially collecting you know, rewards if anybody has any. And then I know that in addition to these things, these treasures, you can look for this ally that Valyrias you had mentioned, potentially wanted to go to the village Barovia because of this. um
00:04:46
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, um we could that we're talking about the letter that I found on that body, right? Yes. Yeah. And then um this morning we're supposed to go to the Abbey to deliver all of the casks of wine. Correct. Yeah. So we're we're picking up literally breakfast. We fade back in black and white drizzling outside foggy morning, foggy London morning.
Dimitri's Sick Son and the Baron's Family
00:05:17
Speaker
These cards in front of you as Esmeralda
00:05:21
Speaker
Dimitri gets up and says, excuse me, I must done check on my my son, Ilya, who's not feeling well, but this was a night thing. He excuses himself and Esmeralda begins to put the cards back in the deck. Mm hmm.
00:05:43
Speaker
I find it nice to know that ah father takes care of his his six son with affection. And they've had multiple children pass, right? Yeah, you look past Esmeralda out the window in the kitchen. You see in their backyard, there is a ah makeshift grave with three tombstones for three deceased children. Mm hmm. Brutal. Could I do like a again, awkward pat down on the mom just to.
00:06:17
Speaker
You know, see what what what's her like state? Is she does she seem jovial? Does she seem somber? Oh, yeah. Give me a insight check. We're starting that off with a soft 20 noise. She seems fearless. She seems like somebody who's gone through a lot. Yeah. Having three children die and one being ah very sick, their son Ilya, only the age of 14.
00:06:47
Speaker
Um, they're pretty old. So although she seems fearless, uh, that sadness also comes from potentially the fact that, uh, they might not be able to have any more children. Right. Um, which if, you know, with a soft 20, you get, you're getting the implications of that, the Baron Baroness of a town, uh, their last living air, the last, uh,
00:07:15
Speaker
person to continue the Kreskoff bloodline is sick. Yeah, I'll ask her what what sickness ails your boy. i Well, so she's in. She's taking care of him. You're just with Demetri was excusing himself from the table as he was there with you and Esmeralda. If you'd like to ask him. Oh, yeah, sure. ah He says that we're not we're honestly not sure I it's it's befell all of our children and is, I don't want to say supernatural, but it's something that is beyond our means. We've tried everything. Goodness gracious.
00:08:00
Speaker
um And the same sickness has taken all of your children so far. So it seems. how old was the oldest, um, how how long has the, or who's like the longest lived of your children before they passed or do they all pass out of like a same age or, um, he says ah he mentions Elia, his son, who's 14 is, but is the oldest 14. Hmm. Um, well, I guess, uh, is this happening to anybody else in town or just you guys?
00:08:39
Speaker
ah We've heard about it happening to two others. It's it's a dour life in the country of Brodia. Pardon me, I must get, I must tend. Dimitri, before you go, i I seem to be somewhat proficient in medicines. I could take a look in on Ilya if that's okay.
Significance of the Taroka Reading
00:09:06
Speaker
He says, I'll tell you what, when you guys get back from your journey, it's early in the morning. he He's sleeping. I, uh, take, you can take a look when you're back, but I must tend to him now. This has been an eventful morning. He says and a mere mere minutes ago, you guys were all floating out of your seats as, as Marla was wrote reading this terror reading. So I, I, I must, but let me know how it goes with the delivering of the wines and, um,
00:09:39
Speaker
Esmeralda, that was lovely. Uh, I'll see you all when you're back. And if Ilya is feeling up to it, I'll, you can give him a once over. I look forward to it. Okay. Yeah. And I'll finish my breakfast and I don't know. Do they have tea or coffee here? Both. Both. Yeah. I'll be drinking some tea today.
Guiding Through Barovia
00:10:08
Speaker
As Esmeralda finishes putting away the tarot deck. Standing up. Live kind of tall, big, bushy, curly hair robes around her. um cut bush a Huge Huge on her head, yeah. Jesus. Is the is the.
00:10:35
Speaker
ah Is Demetri's wife in this room that we're in right now? No, she's with the sun. You guys are in the kitchen. Okay. Um, can I, I want to go up to Esmeralda and ask her about Ilia. I just want to say, do you, do you know anything about, uh, what's going on with Ilia? Have you ever seen anything? Have you, have you seen him? Do you know what he has? Um, I've seen him. Yeah, I don't know. No, nobody knows what he has. Same as their other children.
00:11:06
Speaker
What are what are the symptoms? Like, is he does he have a fever? What what's the vibes? He's growing weak, weaker and weaker every day.
00:11:18
Speaker
Could he be a curse? She she smile she like gives like a very weak smile and says, I don't know if it's a curse, Mr. Roy Halovich, but it seems you're starting to get the idea here.
00:11:36
Speaker
She, uh, her, her head like perks up as if she, she hears something and she says, well, since Bezrak, you're so eager to help with medicine and Roy, you're so curious as to what's going on with this child. Let's get this wagon of wines. We'll go throughout the city, distribute it and I'll take you somewhere where somebody might ah be able to use your help. Somebody that I need to check in on today.
00:12:06
Speaker
are ah Are tenacious D still attached to the wagons? Are they going to help us carry the wines up? Yeah, you look outside, you see the wagons are are outside, locked up out the open. Nobody's taking anything. Are both of the horses referred to as tenacious D? Yeah, I'm referring to them as a group. yeah Or maybe one is tenacious and the other is D. I and i don't think we've talked about it formally yet. I'm down to address them as tenacious D. Yeah.
00:12:35
Speaker
She says, um yeah, so we can go give these out. And since you're also eager to help, we can ah swing by. There is a a woman in town who is due to give birth any second. And if that's happening, you can assist. Oh, yeah. Sounds interesting. She looks at you, Valerius, after having done this entire tarot reading and all this has happened.
00:13:04
Speaker
and is trying to gauge, uh, you tell, she's trying to gauge where your head's at. Uh, I think my head is still, even from waking up this morning, I like woke up in a bed that was not mine in a place that I didn't even know existed, uh, in a different point dementia. I don't even know where I am right now. I feel like Valerius is trying to kind of,
00:13:31
Speaker
keep his sanity a little right now. Yeah. Um, and trying to just kind of come to terms with the fact that his life, like he's taking on a different life than he was expecting in this moment. And I think not that he's upset, he doesn't mind it. He's just trying to understand it, I think. Um, so very pensive. Cool.
00:13:58
Speaker
She just regards that for a second, maybe taking in the weight of looking over you all. And ah you're finally, you know, seeing somebody who ah you met the Mardukovs outside the winery, you've met the Kreskovs, the Baron and Baroness. But this is the first person, Esmeralda Davenir, who maybe seems to understand what this is like for you guys.
00:14:24
Speaker
that you are in this place, you know, as you guys maybe will start walking outside this place that is almost has these walls of mist as you step out as if getting back to the outside world. And Strahd himself had said to you, there is no escape.
00:14:44
Speaker
from Barovia, whether or not that's true, is yet to be seen. But um I think Esmeralda sees the gravity of your guys' lives being maybe turned upside down and respects it.
00:15:02
Speaker
Yeah, got to
Sacred Water and Barovian Health
00:15:04
Speaker
make the most of it. ah So she starts you guys hitched tenacious d up to the wagon. um She heads a around town and ah first you see, you know, you're right by the gatehouse. The the air is is cold here as you guys look off into the mountains that have snow peaks on them.
00:15:27
Speaker
um You head further into the town, and it's this mist-shrouded village behind the walls. There's nothing more than a scattering of humble wooden cottages along dirt roads that stretch between the stands of snow-dusted pine trees. So many trees, in fact, has to constitute a forest. ah To the northeast in this town, you see the gray cliffs rise sharply, and the road ah winding up to what has been referred to as the abbey
00:15:59
Speaker
Seems easy to see from this vantage point. Hell yeah, I think we should make our way towards the Abbey, folks. What do you think? Yeah, let's get this wine distributed. As she's walking you guys through town, she says um and the Abbey of St. Markovia. It was once a convent and hospital. St. Markovia and her followers failed to overthrow Strahd.
Strahd's Dark History
00:16:28
Speaker
back in the day, and the abbey became a fortress closed off from the rest of the world. Strahd ruthlessly prayed on the fears of the clerics and nuns holed up inside, but ultimately it was their isolation and greed that doomed them. The clergy began fighting over food and wine, and by the time their supplies ran out, they had either been killed by each other's hands or driven hopelessly insane by Strahd's acts of terror against them.
00:16:58
Speaker
For years, people avoided it, thinking it cursed, haunted, or both. But it ah it was about over a century ago, the story goes, that a ah pilgrim from a distant land came to Kresk and reopened the abbey. Nameless, strikingly handsome, persuasive, has been eternally young. The abbot,
00:17:28
Speaker
has presided over the abbey to this day, since then. A wanderer like us then, huh? She shrugs, potentially. Depends on who you ask in town. Some people think the abbot himself is Strahd, in disguise. Wow. I mean, we met Strahd once, but what,
00:17:56
Speaker
like, what are the, What are the evils that he does? Like we met him and he gave us food, but we don't know that much about him. The wheels of the wagon clinking along the road, the clip clop of tenacious these hooves as you guys work your way slowly through the town.
00:18:21
Speaker
She says, um well, The story goes that, in life, Strahd von Zarovich was a Count, a prince, a soldier, a conqueror. and After the death of his father, King Barov, and Strahd waged long bloody wars against his family's enemies. Him and his army cornered the last of these enemies in a remote mountain valley before slaying them all. Strahd named that all that valley Barovia, after his deceased father.
00:18:55
Speaker
and was so struck by his its scenic beauty that he decided to settle here.
00:19:02
Speaker
Oh, so this is kind of the ah the cemetery for his you know fallen enemies. It's kind of cool. He. So the story goes made a pact with some dark powers. Giving him the undeath.
00:19:22
Speaker
of which he's so famous for, a vampir, you might say. But he rules here with an iron fist and arrogance. It is a cold heart that reigns over this valley.
00:19:44
Speaker
Well, if I know my party over here and I gestured ah to to Roy and Valeria specifically, um They like to do some good. Maybe we could put some smiles on people's faces. Doesn't have to be all bad. There's a wreck standing there. and Arms wide open. What the fuck, dude? And she says, well, why don't we start here as she pets tenacious, one of the horses, they they both stop, takes a carrot out, feeds it to him.
Mysterious Barovian Births
00:20:20
Speaker
And, uh, says this, she stops at a home, nothing special about it. She says, this is the home of a Kreskite woman named Demira Yolensky. And she's about to give birth. The midwife inside Kretiana Dovov is, she like looks in the window, he is here to, uh, deliver the newborn.
00:20:47
Speaker
Um, she says in the absence of a priest, I'm usually called upon to supervise the blessed events such as this and offer prayers for the health of the mother and the child. She says, uh, those of you who wish to help. And she looks at Vesrak who mentioned wanting to help Ilya and Roy, who was curious. She says, those of you who are willing to to help me, let's go. She walks up to the front door.
00:21:19
Speaker
Yeah, I'll follow her in. I'll trail. Opens the door. I'll stand outside the door. And what about you, Valerius? Yeah, I'll stand outside of Gil. Okay. All right, so Vesrak and Roy. There's not much help that is needed inside. You see this, this woman is giving birth. It is a intense visceral act of human nature.
00:21:47
Speaker
um Maybe you even find it beautiful. ah At a certain point, the midwife needs help with something. Which of the two of you is going to help her?
00:22:02
Speaker
um I can. I have proficiency in medicine, so I could try to like, you know, like, or like heat some water with like a firebolt or
00:22:14
Speaker
Um, yeah, give me a, go ahead and give me a medicine check at advantage. Okay.
00:22:25
Speaker
First role is a 12 second role is a 19 as Vess rack helps maybe just handing the midwife stuff as she needs it. Um, getting fresh sheets, fresh towels, things of that nature, heating water, Roy, you watch.
00:22:44
Speaker
Demira Yolensky give birth to a healthy baby boy. But the baby does not cry. And as the mother coddles the infant afterwards, Roy, why don't you give me an insight check at advantage?
00:23:06
Speaker
That's perfect because I'm proficient in insight. Advantage is going to be a 23. You see, as Demira is coddling this baby boy, not crying, but healthy, beautiful baby boy.
00:23:25
Speaker
You see Kretiana Dovov, the midwife, stands up and sort of backs up you know some blood on her smock. um And as she backs up, you notice she's kind of standing next to you watching as well. You notice that she seems deeply troubled.
00:23:45
Speaker
She seems deeply troubled. What what was her name? Sorry. Her name was Kretiana Dovov.
00:23:57
Speaker
I'm going to look at her and kind of quietly lean towards her. Say, hey, Kretiana, is is everything OK? Did that did that go all right? Are you OK? Without looking at you and you get a sense with a 23 insight that the words she's about to say are not the first time that she's consented them. And she's not saying them with any massive amount of weight as if this is something that just happens as she says under her breath. That child has no soul. Very sad.
00:24:42
Speaker
What makes you say that? It looks perfectly perfectly happy, perfectly healthy to me. She looks at you and rolling over this 23 insight with an air of absolute confidence, ah meaning you get the sense that she's telling the truth. And what that what that means is, is she right remains to be seen, but does she believe without a certainty of a doubt that she's right? She absolutely believes these next words, which she looks at you and says,
00:25:15
Speaker
Newborns in Barovia are soulless if they don't cry.
00:25:28
Speaker
That's pretty freaky. She begins to sort of pack up and help as Esmeralda sort of grab gently grabs Vesrak and ah Roy, you know, says her goodbye to the mother and the midwife and says,
00:25:46
Speaker
All right. Let's keep moving. How'd it go in there? Well, I didn't expect to help someone give birth this morning after breakfast, but here I am. Yeah. You guys can do, uh, you guys can do, um, what is it? Transmutation without a circle now. Foam at alchemist stylies.
00:26:08
Speaker
Um, it's what you need. We both kept your food down. That's impressive for boys.
00:26:17
Speaker
Yeah, I had my eyes closed. I just hold up my book, ah Blood Wizard.
00:26:26
Speaker
The book just says Blood Wizard on the front. The dazzle and shit. Hey, you can design your spell book any way you want. so He's got gel pens sticking out of his pockets. Oh, that's good. I love it. so Makes sense.
00:26:47
Speaker
Anyways, should we, should we continue on? Yep. Towards the Abbott. Yeah. There's no one else that needs to give birth today, right? Uh, she, she gives you a gentle smile and says, no, you guys headed down this road on the map I'm showing you here, sort of on the west road that went up. Maybe it was this house over here, uh, sort of midway through the town that you stopped at where her token is.
00:27:12
Speaker
As you continue ah with the horses at sort of a walking pace, she um is going to. She's bringing you guys up this way, but as she does, she begins saying. So I bet you're wondering about this land, and let me tell you a bit about this town, at least as residents of Kresk never leave the village for fear of being attacked by Wolves, dire wolves, and werewolves that are nearby.
Werewolves and Kresk's Fears
00:27:48
Speaker
Yeah, I've gotten fucked up by some wolves. Wasn't really the best situation. She says... That's kind of why we're here. She says, yes, Dimitri mentioned that, and he also mentioned that he promised you a location. ah So she asks for your map. Sure.
00:28:09
Speaker
and sort of, this will just be another thing, once again, that is, um can you guys see this page or no? You can't, right? It's all dark again. All black.
00:28:20
Speaker
um Well, then I will just tell you. um She says, yeah, he he he mentioned that. And once again, this is just something added onto your guys' list of things that you can do. Mm-hmm.
00:28:35
Speaker
um
00:28:39
Speaker
The map, which is, you guys have that map. It's right here.
00:28:49
Speaker
Yeah. So if you, uh, at the top of the map, uh, Kresk is like right near the border.
00:28:58
Speaker
um Basically. And she mentions like once you notice Kras gets sort of on the western, northwestern side, and then you see how there's like the topography, like the mountain range right behind it. If you went like northeast, but like connected to Kras, go most.
00:29:23
Speaker
Yeah, like in between the trees, you guys see that? Yeah, but I like the solace woods. Yeah, like right. Right. This fudge woods. It's fudge woods are to its west and Lake Baratok is to its east. You see that little like mountain right there in between them. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I see it. Yeah. She marks that for you. And she says, I don't think it's a good idea. Especially such early days being in Brovia to go to the werewolf den.
00:29:57
Speaker
But if you're looking for them down the road, that's where you'll find them. I'll need to make my way there. Eventually. That's kind of while I'm here. Are you familiar with, uh, the leader? We've, we've come across the name, Carl, K a R I L Carol.
00:30:17
Speaker
Oh, career. Yeah. Way back in episode one. You remember episode one? Yeah, I don't know if you tuned into that episode Esmeralda, but make sure you give that a listen. Actually, she's gotta be one of our biggest fans, for sure. We have a podcast, I don't know if you've heard it. Check out our Patreon. That's so funny. She says...
00:30:39
Speaker
I I've heard of Kirill. I have not um met him personally. I am. I'm here for a different kind of evil as ah she shows, pulls her coat back and you can see garlic hanging from her belt, a wooden stake. And you also notice for the first time that she has a prosthetic leg with legs as prosthetic.
00:31:07
Speaker
Uh, she says, um, the ally that the tarot card seemed to be pointing you towards was a mentor of mine. And I'm actually here looking for him, but the cards speak that it's, he's not for me to find. He's for you to find. So I'm not here for the werewolves. I'm here for the vampire. And if you find your ally,
00:31:37
Speaker
You might just have to. She smirks. Appreciate that. um Hey, on that topic, what do you know of the title Mother Night?
Dark Powers and the Amber Temple
00:31:52
Speaker
ah She looks pensively as you're walking along with the horses. Says I she goes, I've not heard it in any sense other than that's what the.
00:32:06
Speaker
werewolves seem to worship, she goes, but there is a place ae here in Barovia that these dark powers seem to emanate from. There's a place in the Balinok Mountains called the Amber Temple. The Amber Temple, interesting.
00:32:38
Speaker
And on your map.
00:32:45
Speaker
um
00:32:49
Speaker
She would mark. um All the way. All the way to the.
00:33:10
Speaker
To the south, does Mount Gackis on your, it is. Yes. You see where it says Mount Gackis at sort of like the Northwestern or kind of directly West of where it says the words Mount Gackis to all the way to the West, to where that red line is indicating a road. She marks that for you and says,
00:33:38
Speaker
people, a lot of people believe these dark powers originate here. Don't know much about the Amber temple myself, but Amber temple. Uh, I believe mother nights sounds, sounds a bit on par. Could I slow up like while we're walking and could I pull like duck behind like a like a house and like pull out some of the amber shards that I have in my pack and do like an arcana check to see what's going on. If like they're kind of like, that's kind of what she's talking about. Yeah. Uh, make a stealth check for me. All right. Stealth check coming in. oh oh Stealth check. You're trying to beat a six 12. So you go off and maybe you'll pull these out of your pocket on the other side of the wagon, um, and do an arcana check as you're looking at them.
00:34:32
Speaker
All right, I kind of check. Fifteen. um They seem like they're left over residues of magic currently non magical, but they whatever they were used for was magical. um As you look up from that, you lock eyes with Esmeralda who saw you do this, but she doesn't say anything.
00:35:01
Speaker
I like stuff them back in my pockets and I go, and I like straightening up my ropes. Uh, non-magical. I, uh, non-magical.
Religious Symbolism and Hope in Barovia
00:35:11
Speaker
Non-magical. Yeah. Nothing says conspicuous, like non-magical. not magic and Just toss that back in there real quick. Definitely not magic. Um, well, I guess that's, uh, that's interesting. I'm, uh, I'm actually here to get revenge for a friend.
00:35:33
Speaker
She, uh, as you guys keep heading north, you eventually come to this pool, the pool at the north end of the village. She says she lets the horses drink from it. She says this, this provides fresh water to the people of Kresk. Um, you see next to the pool, there's a shrine and she says, this is a shrine to the morning Lord. It's known as the shrine of the white sun.
00:36:03
Speaker
You guys see, even under gray skies, this pool at the north end of the village shimmers and sparkles near its shore, sits an old gazebo on the verge of collapse and a wooden statue of a mournful, bare chested man is painted, chipped and faded stands in the gazebo with arms outstretched as though waiting to be embraced. Does nobody maintain this?
00:36:32
Speaker
She goes, Which the statue? I mean, the statue seems like it's ah it's kind of wearing away that they're not maintaining it as as best it could be. I think people here are a bit more superstitious. That's meddling with a what they believe to be religious artifacts of power would be an ill omen.
00:37:03
Speaker
um Interesting. anybody Anybody know anything about that? Have you guys ever heard of anything like this? You guys can all make religion checks if you'd like. Yeah, yeah i'll take I'll take a look.
00:37:20
Speaker
my Not me, I got a three. Ooh, a little nap for a 24. Trev, 11. Wow. Trev. Yeah, you're a teacher, dude. Come on. I've studied this extensively. Oh, I've studied this.
00:37:38
Speaker
um The morning Lord, Trevor. The morning Lord, the commander of creativity, ah the inspiration's dawn, the rose and gold God, the bringer of the dawn, Lord of birth and renewal, patron to spring and eternal youth, mentor of self-protection, mentor of self-perfection, sorry, AKA La Fander. The great Bambino.
00:38:00
Speaker
the Forever.
00:38:06
Speaker
Lathander is a greater God, one of the sort of main gods and ah one of the oldest. ah There's a hopefulness, there's an optimism, ah focus on hope for the future. ah You get the sense people here need this. ah They need to hold on to hope. And this ah is the religion in Barovia, you get the sense people worship lathander. So in the other towns, there might even be um I mean, the abbey and the Abbott seems like a religious thing up on the hill. But in other places, you definitely know there's going to be churches to lathander, which seemed like a ah respite for people here, you know,
00:39:03
Speaker
Nice. Well, it's nice that they have some something that they can reach out to.
00:39:11
Speaker
um Can I fill my flask or my ah water skin with the water from here? Sure. Can I walk over to the shrine? Yes. Does he have you said he was in a position where it's like arms are outstretched for wooden statue, mournful, bare chested.
00:39:34
Speaker
chipped and faded, arms outstretched as they're waiting to be embraced. Can I just give it a hug?
00:39:43
Speaker
You give it a hug and make a deck save. Are you um on a Nat 20 religion check? Are you a religious? Are you a religious man or do you just know a lot about it? No, i'm I'm a fairly religious man, especially with Sennin.
00:40:04
Speaker
But I like to consider or I like to think of myself as open to most re it not like a my religion or no religion kind of person, but a I'm not interested, but well, yeah, I guess interested in all religions. Nice.
00:40:22
Speaker
Well, let's let's go ahead and roll over this religion check to an arcana check at advantage since you rolled a nat 20. Oh, I'll take it. And is there anything that your dark power can assist with in this moment? 19 for 23. If so, it will. I don't know, actually. i don't let me Let me see.
00:40:46
Speaker
The ring on on your finger. he's
00:40:54
Speaker
um It says, when I fail a saving throw, I can spend a hit dice and add to the saving throw. um Okay. It says, Symbiocrave's knowledge expects me to assist.
00:41:14
Speaker
ah
00:41:18
Speaker
i don't I don't think, yeah, I don't i don't really think so. All right, so you rolled a 23. A 23, yeah. You hug this um statue, and you don't necessarily feel like this thing's not alive. there's There's no power coming from this thing, but this area you're in looks like you step away and you catch catch the glint, the shimmer of the water, and there's no sun beating on the water. Yet there is this shimmer and this glint.
00:41:50
Speaker
And you know that the water. Seems like it has defied corruption. And this water has there's magic in this water. um And how it persisting for so long, that magic could only be. Divine in nature. Is it like holy water?
00:42:19
Speaker
Damn. I might try something a little weird. I don't know. It's not that weird. Yeah. hey yeah you're all the bath water but already I want to try and like pull some of the water up into like my hands and take the water to the statue that's like corroded and aged and just like pour it over the statue. Like in my head, I'm thinking if that water's magical, maybe it's maybe lathander or Some sort of essence of him may be involved in maintaining this water for the people so I would if like
00:42:57
Speaker
in an attempt to give it back to him in a sort of way. You know what I mean? Like my intention is if, if, if Lathander is doing this for the people, maybe they can help, you know, like maintain his image and glory or what have you, you know? Yeah. You do that and nothing happens to the statue, but you look at your hands as the water has left your hands.
00:43:22
Speaker
and your hands are pristine. Cleans, cuts on your hands, gone. Dirt, gone even from under your fingernails.
00:43:40
Speaker
Has anyone bathed in this before? like Is that disrespectful? would that be Is this just for drinking? uh she smiles and just says well no it is um it is the fresh water that the entire village uses so people don't say bathe in the lake but you can people come here often it and take bucketfuls of this and bring it home she looks up towards the abbey and says um
00:44:14
Speaker
So the abbey of St. Markovia is named after a priest of the Morning Lord, a priest of Lathander, who took a stand against the Devilstrad.
00:44:27
Speaker
After a fierce uprising, Markovia and her most loyal followers stormed Castle Ravenloft only to be destroyed. The abbey was once a hospital and a convent, but it fell in hard times after the land was swallowed up by the mists.
00:44:44
Speaker
Some of the clergy fell prey to Strahd while others went mad and either starved themselves to death or turned to cannibalism. But in the days in which it was open and a hospital, this pool, so the story goes, was of great use to the hospital.
00:45:03
Speaker
Gotcha.
00:45:09
Speaker
While while we make our way to the Abbey, could I like grab some of the water and like a little vial and for the next? Like while we're walking, can I ah cast identify on the water to see like if they're like what type of magical properties are in it? oh Yeah, baby. Hell yeah. You cast identify and you know that the water in this town ah drinking from the water has the effects of a lesser restoration spell.
00:45:38
Speaker
So you can either, uh, in less respiration is you can end either one disease or one condition afflicting it. The conditions can be blinded, deafened, paralyzed, or poisoned. Wow.
00:45:54
Speaker
Well, so that's why the people love to drink it. Yeah. Which means that none of those things are what the poor, um, poor boys afflicted with.
00:46:11
Speaker
Esmeralda then turns around, takes you guys back down the road, switch backing up the hill, all the way up to the gate of the Abbey.
00:46:30
Speaker
You see the switchback road that hugs the cliff is 10 feet wide and covered with loose gravel and chunks of broken rock. The ascent was slow and somewhat treacherous and the air grew colder as you guys near the top. It took so far half the days already gone because this road climbs 400 feet up.
Arrival at the Abbey
00:46:55
Speaker
So in in seeing the town helping with the birth doing this, it's probably about, you know, 4 p.m. by the time you guys reach the Abbey.
00:47:07
Speaker
Wow. OK, cool. Well, good afternoon, Abby.
00:47:18
Speaker
Yeah, are we like ah at the gates right now? Yeah, you guys are approaching the gates, the northern gate. um Cool. Yeah, let's let's go in and start unloading this stuff and. See if we can meet the the Abbott.
00:47:37
Speaker
You guys get there and the the road from the village climbs above the mist to the wide ledge on which the abbey is perched. A light dusting of snow covers the trees and the rocky earth. The gravel road passes between two small stone outbuildings to either side of which stretches a five foot high, three foot thick wall of jumbled stones held together with mortar.
00:48:08
Speaker
And you see in between this blocking the road are iron gates attached to the outbuildings by rusty hinges. They appear to be unlocked and viewed through the gates, you see the stone abbey stands quiet. It's two wings of it are joined by a 15 foot high curtain wall. A belfry protrudes from the top of the closer north wing, which also sports a chimney filling gray smoke.
00:48:40
Speaker
ah You see there are two guards at this gate, um but they both look to be asleep. ah You see they're both sleeping under piles of musty animal furs. I'll just clap my hands real quick.
00:49:03
Speaker
And I'll ah I'll do a little thaumaturgy. On them to make him a little bit louder, OK? Uh, they both sort of jump up and one of them, this guy who jumps up, who's a four foot nine. Uh, this guy's like, looks like he looks like a beardless dwarf. Uh, but he, meant don't you each make a perception check for me? Yeah, sure. Beardless dwarf would be an insult in some 14%
00:49:43
Speaker
Who's got a high one? 17 Trev?
00:49:48
Speaker
Oh, okay. Nevermind. I'll be over here. So to Roy and Gilman, this guy looks like he just has like patchy skin and his ears kind of look weird. as guys like This guy's just weird looking, you know, he's like, he's, he's wearing a lot of stuff right now. He's wearing like, one of those caps with like the furry earmuffs that come down. ah He's wearing very layered clothing, but Vess rack and Valerius. You see this man for what he really is. The patches of flesh are covering his face and body.
00:50:27
Speaker
You see, he's got one human ear and one wolf ear. Oh, God. He's got a protruding wolf's snout and fangs. His arms and hands look human, but his legs underneath the pants he's wearing look like a leonine. Like they look like a lion's almost. ah You see, you guys notice that he has a tail that he's trying to hide.
00:50:56
Speaker
Abomination. this Is his name Godric? Is he grafted? Yeah, he's got everything grafted to him. and he he sort of there's There's two people there. as now that you have The other guy's four foot seven. ah You see the left side of this person's face looks like it's covered with lizard scales. ah The right side with tufts of gray wolf fur. ah Between these tufts is a pale human skin. One of the eyes looks feline. and The fingers and hands resemble cat paws with a opposable thumbs.
00:51:27
Speaker
Uh, what kind of a hotel is this? Uh, as you clapped, they, they perked up and the, the one, the four foot nine, one looks like a dwarf was like, who's that? Who's that? Who is it? Uh, gross. Point, point a year. Gang making a delivery. Jesus. Uh, as Marilla says out of the side of her mouth, she goes, the Marta cause usually make the deliveries. I've never delivered the wine.
00:51:58
Speaker
Ah, well, we're here on the half of the Mardicobs. Pointy gang, you said you're a gang. I mean, a gang is in like, you know, you get a gang of homies together. Yeah, like a collective. Yeah. But yeah, I guess you could say we're a gang. A gang? That sounds scary. That sounds like you trying to rumble. We've been known to rumble. Just call us peg for short. And it's less scary that way.
00:52:29
Speaker
It is OK.
00:52:34
Speaker
Well, my name's Otto. I am the smartest, wisest, strongest, fastest and most beautiful person that I know. Welcome to the Abbey. I see you have the wine and you the other person goes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, we got the wine. OK, you can go ahead and leave the wine here with me.
00:52:59
Speaker
You sure you aren't going to need a hand? um We're happy to help. We got it here all this way. Wouldn't believe what we had to go through to get to it. Esmeralda also says, um unfortunately, Otto, we we need to bring the horses and the carriage back. We cannot leave those with you. This is all right. Well,
00:53:27
Speaker
We bring it in. We bring it inside together, right? And then you a we bring it in. We just fall asleep mid-sentence. That's what I thought. Instant narcolepsy. We bring it in and we unload it together at the base of this first building here. And then you're on your way. Can I do an inside check on this dude? Yeah. Give me an inside check on this dude. Can I inside check you?
00:53:57
Speaker
Uh, give me an insight check on this 15.
00:54:02
Speaker
Um, so insight. Interesting. So this guy is weird. I mean, this is all weird. This is all very, um yeah I mean, yeah, he's like, he's like grafted. He's like, he has like, they both have like pieces of animals as, ah as a part of them. They don't look unhappy. Um,
00:54:28
Speaker
They look they look dumb, not very bright. um They look they look malformed even outside of the. Those things, but yeah. Yeah, I think I think with that insight check there also, they don't know you guys and hearing the word gang. I look over at Roy um say.
00:54:57
Speaker
And the screams we heard last night.
00:55:02
Speaker
Yeah, I have a feeling this guy, if if anyone was to be a part of that, I peg this guy to ah potentially be part of that. Well, let's ah just keep so keep our eyes open in there, huh? Yeah, I'm going to stay. I'm going to stay alert.
00:55:25
Speaker
Okay. He opens the gate and, um, let's go ahead and move. I'll move the map here. So let me get to get your guys's tokens on the same place. So I'll be moving your tokens. I'll allow it.
00:55:57
Speaker
Okay, so... Here you go.
00:56:16
Speaker
Um... Apologies, by the way, if I sound a little... I've been sick, so... Apologies. Something's going I was gonna say, yeah, you've got the curse.
00:56:29
Speaker
Um, all right. Here you are. You are let in. This is auto. Oh my God.
Suspicion and Exploration of the Abbey
00:56:41
Speaker
Here is the other person. These guys are gross. dude These guys are kind of, they look sick, but they're kind of gross. We aren't judging them and they judge us on gang. I mean, honestly. Yeah.
00:56:54
Speaker
I'm honestly pretty bold of them to, you know, judge us based off yeah one word in our in our group and our club name. But I mean, gosh, they are devilishly handsome, aren't they? They're so handsome or he's so handsome. Yeah, I'm rolling. I'm rolling deceptions. Yeah. We just got to be really, really polite.
00:57:19
Speaker
What do they smell like? yeah What do they they smell like? This whole situation just turned completely upside down. face Yeah, they they smell really bad. I mean, they smell like shit. I mean, they were when you when you approached, they were sleeping underneath musty animal furs. That's murder. These guys definitely don't have souls, right? They certainly did not cry. when they were born Not even an Olympic pool of the holy water down at that fountain could clean these guys. Yeah. Yeah. Why don't they go take a dip in the holy water? She shrugs and she says, listen, I'm just I am just accompanying you and being your guide. I have no idea. OK, well, and we didn't get like a name with who we should be dropping this stuff off with, did we? Or just the Abbott. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just the Abbott.
00:58:14
Speaker
Um, so so these are the normal denizens up here, to your knowledge, Esmeralda. She looks and she shrugs. She goes, i I don't deliver the wine. I've never been up here. Oh, and these guys never. She's like, I also don't live in Kresk. I guess that's true. Sorry. we Yeah. We appreciate you ah for the knowledge you bring. ah They park your guys as horses right at this building.
00:58:44
Speaker
and begin ah offloading the wine. ah You see that auto ah lifts one of the barrels up, which would indicate to you guys that he's pretty strong. um I want to take a sip from my water skin that I just filled up, but I'm not going to swallow it. I just got a mouthful of holy water.
00:59:12
Speaker
you Oh no. He lifts it up him himself and he looks at the other person and then looks at you guys and says, what is this? He goes, hey, what what does this mean? And he points to a spider symbol that has been drawn on the cask of wine. What is this? Is this not from Wizard of Wines?
00:59:36
Speaker
It is from the Wizard of Wines, but through the process of shipping and handling, it's a you can think of it as a gift from the Spider Queen. His head tilts like a dog's.
00:59:56
Speaker
Okay. Puts it down, they begin offloading the rest of it. Bezrek is sweating profusely.
01:00:09
Speaker
Um, yeah. And we'll, uh, I'll, I'll grab one of them and say, Hey, where are we taking these? He's just putting them down at the base of this building. Okay. Um, and as I'm walking over with one, I want to like. Trip and fall and spit a little bit of this water onto like the guy's foot. Okay. I needed, when I needed a deception check from you, a deception check. Yeah, absolutely.
01:00:34
Speaker
That's a nine, ah but I'm gonna use my, ah let's see, deception. I'm gonna use my side bolstered Knack. um And add a D6.
01:00:49
Speaker
Which adds six, so 15. Nice. Okay. So with a 15, you do that. Uh, he doesn't even stop to consider the fact that you tripped and doesn't notice that liquid came out. You spit it on his, on his, uh, leg foot. Nothing happens. yeah Okay. Well, one question and not necessarily answered, but was that like a little impromptu exorcism? yeah I just wanted to see what happened if they were, uh, you know,
01:01:20
Speaker
blind, deaf, paralyzed, or poisoned. You never know what special water is going to do. ah Before kind of going in with the wines, Brian, I'd like to cast major around myself, have a ah getting a little worried.
01:01:36
Speaker
Yeah. Give me a, go ahead and give me a slight of hand check because casting mage armor, there are components for doing that. I love that. like Or I'll just like help these guys unloaded. You're just looking all nervous in the corner. the fucking armor of That's a nine. hundredri Yeah. You see this big purple plate armor. I'm just putting on this big plate armor over my top robes. Don't mind me. Oh my God. Anything you can do for that nine.
01:02:06
Speaker
no That's all I got.
01:02:10
Speaker
um It's cold here. moreova It keeps you warm. All right. You see at that, ah they share a couple of words and you see ah this one. Heads off as he's as the other guy continues helping you. Oh, man, I met it as not combative. Now you've got it. Now you fucking don't know.
01:02:36
Speaker
ah We were told there would be a ah reward for coming up here. He furrows his brow and says, we already paid for the wine. Yeah, but what about our glory?
01:02:56
Speaker
ah Yeah, is the abbot here? He throws four copper at Vesrak's feet.
01:03:07
Speaker
I just spit on your foot. He didn't see the spit on the foot. I'll pick up the fork opera anyway. I'll take it, I'll take it. Uh, nice, uh, nice place to have up here. Is there, uh, like how many of you guys live up here?
01:03:29
Speaker
Um. Also, that was a valid question you asking if the Abbott was around. Yeah. Yeah, you can make, go ahead and, uh, you can all make perception checks. Let's get a couple, let's get a couple of checks out out of the way here. 19 because we're 13. We're dangerously close. Okay. So you hear noises from the other building. Um, lots of noises. Um, as if there's a lot of people, air quotes here.
01:04:10
Speaker
Um, who asked about the Abbott? I did. Big a persuasion check a disadvantage. Yeah, sure.
01:04:22
Speaker
Eight. OK. Two nines, actually. ah You ask how many people are here and he says ah he you get the sense he lies to you because you hear there are more. But he says there's only a couple of us here in the Abbott's busy. OK.
01:04:40
Speaker
I'll probably just speak up and say, well, we were told to deliver this wine to the Abbott, so ah we might need to. It's like all off the cart already on the on the ground. I mean, there was only maybe there's like a barrel or two left on at this point when you guys are bringing this up, but he'll sort of stop. And if you want to make it, if you want that to be an intimidation check, Valerius,
01:05:06
Speaker
Uh, I would say I'd give you another go, but because the persuasion check failed, the DC is going to be higher. Fuck it. I'll try. I'll i'll try and be an intimidating teacher. What do we think?
01:05:18
Speaker
You can surely rise scare of a wolf pig dog human guy. Oh, I was in that 20 for a 22. You say we were told to deliver it to the Abbott. So we might do that. And I'll say maybe at you doing that as Merle that takes a cue and as he's about to lift off the last two casks, she puts her hand on one so that he can't lift it out.
01:05:43
Speaker
Uh, and he says, hmm. All right. Be right back. And he leaves, goes in the same door you saw the other guy go into. Should we start reloading these, uh, these wine things? him back Maybe he's just, maybe, maybe the Abbott's actually just going to come out and confirm that these wines are here, but we'll see.
01:06:10
Speaker
I'm going to walk over here towards this window. Yeah. Stealthfully. Oh, OK. Make it. I want to look through the window. Stealth check coming in. That's a 12. All right. Well, he does that. Does anybody want to do anything before the. Eighteen it comes back outside.
01:06:37
Speaker
Hmm. I'd like to lean over to deliver bit the other guys and go, do you think they're mad at me because of the mage armor?
01:06:48
Speaker
I don't think it was a wise decision. I thought it would be stealthier. I didn't realize it would be this big clunking purple armor. I didn't realize it would show. It's all right. I thought it would be more of like an ethereal, like unseen kind of thing. Like is it because he smells bad? Is that why you did it? No, I just like,
01:07:11
Speaker
This place is freaking me out. It's freaking me out a little bit too. He also lied about how many people were in here. He said there weren't that many, but I mean, we can, you guys can, we can hear that, right? There's more than just a few people. I think all the time. Screams were weird though.
01:07:32
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if I told you guys about that. i Yeah, when I woke up last night, I woke up in the middle of the night and I heard screams coming from the abbey. As if I don't know, it was like really kind of blood curdling screams, like something wasn't right. I don't know if they were doing like a ah ritual or something of that nature, but Something seemed weird, but it didn't seem like anyone in the town seemed to notice. I'm down to check it out if sir if there's a ritual going on. I'd love to get a piece of it.
01:08:13
Speaker
Wait, what? I think for now, let's just get... Wait, what? I want to get a piece of that ritual. I love screams. Maybe maybe if we can get the ah the abbot to come out here, we can sort of...
01:08:28
Speaker
I don't know, size him up, see what kind of vibe he has. Yeah. Gives off any sort of evil demonic, not good vibes. Well, he's been here for over a hundred years, so either he's really old or really strong. Or he's really strong. And, ah you know, it's a certified peg moment, my guy. Yeah.
01:08:51
Speaker
certified peg moment yeah yeah that's like the uh the intermission and now we're here with a certified peg moment brought to you by mountain dew the at and&t peg moment yeah ah ah yeah we're gonna get sponsored by at and&t hell yeah that's crazy we definitely don't have an hour right between them leaving and coming back right just what I just got to ask. You don't have an hour, but you could I mean, you could start to do something also Gilman. So you're using one of your two psionics. Did you use the other one before? So are you using your second psionic? I have I have four psionic energy dice um and I have used two now.
01:09:36
Speaker
And they only get expended if I succeed on the thing that I'm doing, allegedly. That's cool. and Yeah, that's pretty cool. Your guy's proficiency bonus is four. Oh, twice your proficiency. Yep. Cool. google All right. So you're using your second one. So you you stealth over there. um Go ahead and give me a perception check through the window. And if you did want to start doing something, just let me know. No, we would have time. It would be fine familiar, but we just we don't have the time. I've already. I'm out of my It's like own cartoon. I would watch that shit for sure. Adventures of your favorite blood wizard. Yeah. Yeah. um And then, well, I guess I'll use another one of these psionic dice. OK.
01:10:27
Speaker
Four. So it turns that eight to a 12. Through the window, you hear some gentle sounding music. Um, you don't see where it's coming from, but you look in and you see that this is a ah one large 50 foot square room with, uh, arched leaded glass windows. Um, from where you're looking from, you see that there's a wooden staircase, um, towards the other end where there seems to be a front door. Um,
01:11:01
Speaker
You see several chairs around a wooden table that stretches nearly the length of the room. ah Wooden dishware and gold candelabras are neatly arranged on the table. Hmm. Well, then I'll just kind of wait here with my um stealth and watch to see when the ah when the two guys come back out. And if I can get a glimpse at the Abbott before he comes to greet the party. OK. And what are the recipe? Do that the else you guys want to do?
01:11:33
Speaker
Hmm.
01:11:37
Speaker
I think I'm just waiting, keeping an eye out, leaning against the wagon. Maybe I'll climb. Maybe I'll climb into the wagon looking conspicuous and as non-threatening as possible. Like visible, not hiding. OK, you're not. i No, I'm very visible. OK, so there's still two casks in there. ah So you're in there with two casks.
01:12:03
Speaker
And you three and Esmeralda see the double doors open That looks the same guy went into you said that both guys went into it looks like the Abbey entrance It's 15 foot high curtain wall joins the Abbey's two wings sort of right over here Boo behind that ah there There are these these two 10 foot tall wooden doors reinforced with bands of steel Um, you see that there's, you can't read what it is from where you are, but there's a, uh, mounted on the walls, a tarnished copper plaque. And as the door opens, you see one man come out and begin to walk your direction.
01:12:53
Speaker
It's like this. Oh wow. Yeah.
01:13:00
Speaker
He was so sick. Very sounds from this this direction. ah So you don't you do not see him from where you're hiding. OK, let's see if there's a full art, full body art now. Is this a cemetery over here with gravestones and shit? ah Yeah, as you are waiting over there, you see that there's this cemetery that wraps around that you can check out. I would absolutely have gotten distracted by that.
01:13:28
Speaker
Okay, cool. Why don't you write me in an investigation check? yeah you You'll be doing that while the Abbott talks to the party. 17. Cool. I'll come right back to you. Uh, this, uh, man comes all the way up, stops smiles and says, ah, sorry for having you you having to deal with auto the, uh,
01:13:58
Speaker
The Bellevues. You dealt with Otto and Ziegfreck, Bellevue. They are an ornery type.
Interactions with the Abbot
01:14:08
Speaker
Something that we've been working on. But ah I apologize if they've given you any concern.
01:14:18
Speaker
But I am the Abbott. Nice to meet you. I'll say Valerius and reach my hand out to shake his hand. He shakes your hand.
01:14:30
Speaker
I'm going to stay leaning against the wagon and say, my name is Roy. Hello, Roy. Um, so, um, apologize for, uh, auto and sick frecks the Bellevues. Um, so how can I, how can I pay you? How can I repay you guys for getting these wines? But it's been delayed. I imagine there was some sort of holdup at the, uh, wizard of wines. Yes.
01:14:58
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Holdup is a good word for it. Yeah. Holdup is putting it lightly. Well, then a reward is is ah most most deserve it. um what can ah What can I provide?
01:15:17
Speaker
I think money would be nice, but I think information would be more valuable.
01:15:27
Speaker
He says, yes, of course. ah Information, I have plenty. Money, less so, but for all the help that you've done, why not both? While he's talking to Roy, can I make an some sort of check on this guy to just tell if he is who he says he is? Yeah. You make an insight check as Gilman, you're investigating the graves.
01:15:55
Speaker
Yeah. I wait for nine. Curious. What can you do about that, Valerius? A nine? No, I don't think so. Okay. You're at the graves. So ah stunted pine trees grow out of the rocky earth in the graveyard near the foundation of the abbey's north wing. The windows of the structure are ah cracked panes of leaded glass.
01:16:23
Speaker
ancient gravestones burst from a thin crust of snow in the yard. Beyond a low wall that surrounds the graveyard, the ground falls away. The village lies 400 feet below, and the view is breathtaking. As you make your way, we'll come back to this graveyard scene. You see all that.
01:16:49
Speaker
ah You maybe go down here, you catch some names on the gravestones, you catch the names Brother Martek, Brother Valen, Sister Constance, Sister Lenora. And would you like to continue searching the graveyard? Yeah, I would just continue around kind of the perimeter here and just kind of getting lost in it. This is a kind of a place that I feel a little comfortable. Cool.
01:17:14
Speaker
As you do that, we head back over, uh, insight check on this guy. Valerius seems like he's telling the truth. Also seems like he, uh, doesn't want any problems.
01:17:32
Speaker
As he's, you know, take, he takes out a bag of instances starting to count coins to give you guys, you notice they're all gold. Um, as he looks up and says, yes, you wanted done information.
01:17:44
Speaker
ah What kind of information can I help you with? Yeah, we just have a couple questions. um The only reason that we're even here talking to you in the first place is because we're investigating some werewolf attacks that have been happening within Barovia. I was wondering if you knew anything about a man named Kirill, as well as something named Mother Knight.
01:18:12
Speaker
He looks at you, he looks up, has has some gold in his hand and says, yes, so ah the mists of Barovia are strange. I came here similar to you. I was not born here, as I can tell, none of you were.
01:18:39
Speaker
The mists are strange. There are certain people, the Vistani being one of them. As he says, Vistani, he gestures towards Esmeralda. There's the Vistani being one of them. ah Certain people can travel through the mists. Most people can't. The werewolves being in the good graces of Strahd von Zerevich can. So if there were attacks in your town, I apologize for that on behalf of Strahd and this cursed place.
01:19:11
Speaker
As far as Kirill, I've not met Kirill myself. ah We are absolutely not allies. We are at odds. and He poses a threat to the people of Kresk, and I am a person of Kresk. He poses a threat to me.
01:19:30
Speaker
Mother Knight, potentially a reason why you have not heard about Mother Knight is because Mother Knight is a And he does air quotes dark power here in Barovia ancient and powerful What that means he shrugs he says dark power One person says dark power another person says God The difference that being only what lives in that person's heart
01:20:07
Speaker
That's about as much as I know. I'm not familiar with the ah ah details of Mother Night as I myself have not traveled to the Amber
01:20:29
Speaker
As Rachvalerius, what do you guys think? I guess I'm far away, sorry.
01:20:38
Speaker
that's cool with me I think as maybe as he started explaining all of that and I if I got the sense or felt like he wasn't lying I would probably start helping take the last two ah barrels of wine off the back.
Curing the Bellevue Family
01:21:08
Speaker
Um, he says, uh, when I came here, the, I came to the Avi to fix what had gone on here, being a follower of the morning Lord myself. When I showed up, I found a Bellevues, a family of sickly inbred lepers.
01:21:39
Speaker
I came to the Abbey. They were seeking salvation. I attempted to rid them of their diseases, an act for which they were eternally grateful, but I could not cure them of certain human defects that have been present since birth.
01:21:57
Speaker
I, the Bellevues, have strange ideas of what it means to be perfect. I'm sure Otto told you all about how he thinks he's beautiful and perfect himself. You did tell us that. He is beautiful and perfect in every way. He hears you yell from the graveyard. um He says they didn't want their imperfections. They wanted to get rid of them in their own way, whether that's the eyes of the cat, the wings of a bat, the strength of a mule, the guile of a snake.
01:22:32
Speaker
In short, they craved bestial traits, and I took pity on them and i yielded to their mad desires.
01:22:55
Speaker
what Um, he looks at you and but says, if the four of you traveled to this realm and survived the trials and tribulations that this land has thrown at you, you are no normal person either. I can sense the magic within all of you.
01:23:27
Speaker
That same magic, albeit a bit different, resides in me. We are all extraordinary creatures here.
01:23:49
Speaker
is a good, decent person. You get no sense. You're over in the graveyard. So as we come back to you, um Gilman, you are in the graveyard. You at this point see you turn the corner. There are more gravestones um and you see a ray of golden sunlight breaks through the clouds to the west and shines down upon a specific grave.
01:24:19
Speaker
The yeah fog and the gloom shrink from its brilliance as the sunlight causes the gravestone to crack and crumble. This gravestone had an X carved with roses and was bearing a three-inch diameter sun-shaped indentation on its east side.
01:24:43
Speaker
Wow. Hi. Yeah, I want to look at that. I'll go closer to it. As you go closer, the fog and the gloom shrink. The sunlight comes through, catches the gravestone and the gravestone begins to crack and crumble and crumbles away. And I'll step into the sunlight. As you do, you see ah it lasts for an entire minute. That minute that it's there, you look down and you see that there's a ring on the ground. Oh, yeah, I'll I'll take a look at the ring.
01:25:15
Speaker
OK, you pick it up. Seems like a magical ring. OK, I'll ah I'll put it on and start heading back towards the group. All right. It requires attunement. OK. Yeah, we'll see what see what it does. All right. You attune to it. It is a ring of regeneration. While wearing this ring, you regain one D6 hit points every 10 minutes, provided that you have at least one hit point.
01:25:39
Speaker
You lose a body part. The ring causes the missing part to regrow and return to full functionality after one D six plus one days. If you have at least one hit point the whole time for. Golly, that's actually kind of crazy. As he is doing that, the Abbott's hands over one, two, three, four, he and he hands over to you guys 12 gold. Oh.
01:26:09
Speaker
ah in ah in a bag um and says, you can leave the wine barrels here. If you're heading back down, let Dimitri know that's... ah Gilman, are you coming back? Yeah, I was going to head back. He stops mid-sentence and he looks directly at you and you feel the wind push your hair back and he goes, and where were you? ah I got distracted by your well-kept cemetery over here. What are you doing walking amongst the dead?
01:26:40
Speaker
I've spent a lot of time with the dead. It makes me feel at ease. Sorry, this is a new place. I'm going to need you to make a stealth, deception, or sleight of hand check. Sure. I will do, I mean- For him to not notice that you're wearing that ring. Sure. I'll just do a stealth check. DC-12.
01:26:59
Speaker
22. Cool. The wind sort of stops and he says, well, next time, please wait.
01:27:11
Speaker
to ask the man of the house before you can just go snooping around the graveyard. I understand. My apologies. If you are are all heading back, please let Dimitri know that I am praying for Ilya's recovery. And I'm here should he need me.
01:27:37
Speaker
He shrugs. He goes, I do not. Lots of people get sick. Even this family, the Bellevues, I was unable to rid them of their deformities, even with my magic.
01:27:54
Speaker
He sort of cocks his head and goes, physically? No. Emotionally, from time to time. I feel that.
01:28:09
Speaker
Um, yeah, and I'm, I'm thinking back to our Taroka card reading this morning. Um, and I want to ask him if he's ever heard of, um, someone called the mad dog. Hmm.
01:28:25
Speaker
Let's roll. Not 20 as a role to see if he has heard of the mad dog. So he says.
01:28:40
Speaker
but bo Boo, boo, boo.
01:28:47
Speaker
OK, he says. This is, yeah, General Krovol, Mad Dog Grizzlic, some known as the master of the hunt. He was a he was a ah leader of hounds and men. He's dead. Fascinating.
01:29:07
Speaker
Leader of hounds and men, sounds like a ah ah regal figure. Where is his crypt? where where Where did he fall or where where does he lay? He was a general of Strath's, so his crypt would be in Strath's castle, Castle Ravenloft. Ah, I see.
01:29:33
Speaker
General Croval, Mad Dog Grislek. Fucking sick. What a title. Okay, cool. Well, I appreciate the ah the information. What do you think, guys? Should we yeah should we head back or do we got more questions?
01:29:55
Speaker
I'm ready to head back whenever you guys are. I'd like to head back before nightfall as well.
01:30:29
Speaker
that he wants to find love
01:30:39
Speaker
think that he is searching for a reason to retire. He is searching for love. And I am working on getting him somebody to love.
01:30:59
Speaker
What's his type? What's his type?
01:31:08
Speaker
Would you not, if you lived here and you found that he wanted to to hee knew he wanted love, he was searching for somebody on another path to sail off into the sunset lit with and leave these people alone, you would do nothing?
01:31:26
Speaker
He goes, you haven't been here long enough. Anything would be better than shard.
01:31:36
Speaker
He says, Oh, you think just because he rules, he needs to continue
Plans to Change Barovia's Future
01:31:40
Speaker
to rule. So it's either he rules or nothing. Because if he doesn't rule, wouldn't that make a power vacuum? So by your understanding, he should just rule forever.
01:31:57
Speaker
I think maybe what he's trying to say is just giving him somebody to love and letting him set off doesn't really help find a replacement and just opens up the possibility to anybody stepping in as opposed to bringing a replacement first. He goes.
01:32:13
Speaker
He laughs. He laughs.
01:32:23
Speaker
Yeah, green to the ways of Barovia. And while this conversation was pleasant, it is turning not so. I bid you all do. I hope one day you change your mind about the devil you know.
01:32:50
Speaker
I like hide my horns.
01:32:54
Speaker
Yeah, same.
01:33:01
Speaker
Yeah. He kind of started turning into a dick there at the end. I thought he was pretty chill until... No, me neither. I think he just wants Strahd gone.
01:33:21
Speaker
But hey, those were good questions. Those were valid questions. Something that... I don't know enough of the politics of this place yet. Guess we'll find out soon enough.
01:33:48
Speaker
Well, as should we ah so we head on back? Yeah, she sort of she sort of looks and says, Yeah, I'm ready to go. And you guys are. I mean, this place is obviously weird. She goes, I'm that's pretty cuckoo. I'm not very religious myself. So I yeah don't vibe with that kind of a guy anyway. She says, but so listen, ah people are. She looks at you as rack and says, ah I will say the one thing I do happen to agree with him on is that the devil you know is sometimes not better than the devil you don't.
01:34:24
Speaker
She once again pulls her coat back to reveal all of the implements she has on her to kill Shrod. So that same question of a power vacuum maybe rings true in your head that her and her supposed mentor who you guys are supposed to look for are both here ah in this land to kill Shrod.
01:34:56
Speaker
He says, yeah, no, I hear you. I think.
01:35:10
Speaker
She goes, Oh, absolutely. And she goes, i I agree with you. I don't I don't I don't know. I think, ah listen, if I were the one to kill Strahd, my hopes would be that this land would be free. She motions around to the mist surrounding the place that this land could be at peace, that these babies could start having souls, that this land would not be trapped in its own valley that is unreachable to the outside world except for accidents that would be my hope but what I don't know if that's true if I if I were to be the one standing over his dead body would this place be free I'm not sure if it would be free perhaps there wouldn't be a need to replace him he doesn't really do much for the people besides
01:35:57
Speaker
He doesn't provide. He is all authoritarianism. No benefit. Yeah. like So change. Yeah. Change would be good. That I agree with the Abaddon as for who would replace him. i Yeah. Would somebody rise up and try to take his place and maybe be worse. That's hard for me to imagine. But I understand that maybe historically that happens in places And then she, and then she shrugs and looks at you and says, you could always take over.
01:36:39
Speaker
She, uh, she looks at the, the spider drawn onto the barrels of wine, the spider thing, and and looks at you and says, the devil, you know, huh?
01:36:55
Speaker
She shrugs. She goes, I listen, like I said, I'm not religious in any way, but.
01:37:04
Speaker
um Yeah, the ah the cult of the spider mommy takes over. She says, Oh, I if I was a betting woman, I would put my money on this point. Devil, you don't. Yeah, someone new. Yeah. Or she says I buy the people I know me.
01:37:27
Speaker
The man you guys are searching for. Others the Abbott potentially, although that was my first time meeting him. Take any of us over him.
01:37:40
Speaker
Well, then we gotta find some. ah Find some tools. To fight against him. I mean.
01:37:55
Speaker
Yeah, make a insight check.
01:38:03
Speaker
Definitely knows about the wolf. I mean, you heard that she's part of a group that's called the Vestani, the abbot mentioned, and that the Vestani are able to travel through the mists.
Adventurer's Story and New Quests
01:38:19
Speaker
So she is not born, bred, whole life in Barovia. This is a traveled, learned adventurer,
01:38:30
Speaker
you know? Yeah, and she can probably sha like a higher level of adventure than you guys. You get the sense. Yeah, she made us all flow. Yeah, you also see she's she's got like a silvered short sword. She got two hand axes where there would be like gun holsters on a person, like two hand axes, a silvered short sword, a rapier on her back that looks magical. You see that she also has a spell book, Tommy.
01:39:01
Speaker
I was like, all right. She's wearing. Yeah, she's wearing this like studded leather armor that looks pretty magical. Once again, I'll show you.
01:39:18
Speaker
You see her prosthetic leg in that. Oh, yeah, super cool. ah She says, i've I've had this for a long time. It's my life's work learning.
01:39:35
Speaker
When I was, she begins to tell you guys the story as you head back down the mountain with the horses in the wagon. And she says, when I was a little girl, my family kidnapped ah a man's son and we delivered him this son into the clutches of a vampire. I was a little girl and I didn't know what was happening. And I can still hear that little kid's pleas for mercy.
01:40:05
Speaker
that haunts me. The man whose son we took tracked me down later in life and my whole family. He could have killed us all. He interrogated us and he spared our lives. He departed with the information that we had given him to for him to go save his son. And this man's act of mercy deeply moved me and changed the trajectory of my life.
01:40:37
Speaker
At the age of 15, I ran away from home, I tracked down the man whose son we took. I convinced him that I wanted to help him find his missing son. And he told me the sadness of the tale. He told me that he had found his son, and his son had been transformed into a vampire spawn.
01:41:07
Speaker
And his son was a vampire spawn, but still held his same mind. And his son pleaded to his father for salvation. And this man who I found who ended up becoming my mentor granted his son's request and ended his existence.
01:41:33
Speaker
I find a little bit of, uh,
01:41:37
Speaker
commonality in that in that story because my sister was sold by my father and I'm still looking for her, but that's a pretty bleak ending, but I guess there's a, at least at least you got your your path out of it, so there's still some good coming out of it.
01:42:08
Speaker
Yeah. This man, this man who ended the life of his son, mercy killing. That was all my family's fault. Left at a certain point because he didn't feel he could ever fully trust the Vistani. He kept secrets from me. We had arguments. We parted ways,
01:42:32
Speaker
but I heard a rumor that he's here to slay the most powerful vampire of them all. And so I traveled for months to reach this domain. Is he the man with the monkey? She smiles and nods. She goes, he is. Oh shit. Because I've been searching for him, but the cards, she takes the cards out and flips a card in her, in her fingers. It wasn't in the cards for me to find him.
01:43:07
Speaker
Some cards for us to card said that's your job. Well, that's pretty exciting. Cool, let's. I'm kind of excited, I want to find that guy.
01:43:30
Speaker
Guys head all the way back down. As night comes, you guys reach the Baron's house.
01:43:50
Speaker
Okay. So I think I kind of want to try to pull this thread of tracking down the man with the monkey. That sounds really interesting.
01:44:03
Speaker
same come on board with that entertainer a monkey probably traveling with like i don't know uh are there any like carnivals or anything i mean it seems like this place is devoid of of happiness for the most part but are there Like, are there fairs? Are there carnivals? Are there events that happen? Or is it all just like.
01:44:39
Speaker
This is probably as you're as you guys reach the Demetri Kreskov's house, you see a light on inside candle as Beryl that helps you sort of tie up the horses, stow the wagon, maybe under some brush, give it a little bit of shelter.
01:44:58
Speaker
as the the moon looms overhead. She says, honestly, I'm, I'm not too sure. I think, letter, I remember you mentioning that you were going to track down, uh, a different burger master, uh, Kolyana Indirovich of the town of Barovia. That might be a place to start. They're not as closed off as Kresge is.
01:45:30
Speaker
He might be. Maybe he might be the the right person to ask. How far of a how far of a walk would that be? I don't know if we can take tenacious D with us because they're not our horses necessarily. She says it's pretty far. It's all the way on the other side of Barovia on your on your map. You see you guys are at the. ah
01:45:55
Speaker
Northwest and the village of um the village of Brovie, you can see it all the way on the east. It's it's labeled on your map. Oh, yeah. Wow. We are.
01:46:11
Speaker
We can also just ask.
01:46:19
Speaker
She's yeah, be. She says that she's at the far be it from me. You know, the Markovs are still alive, right?
01:46:34
Speaker
Yeah, we do. Yeah. It's yes. You go. That's another thing you could you mentioned they had some stones problem. This this letter you found these treasures that you seek these werewolves. She goes. It's the perovia is your oyster.
01:47:01
Speaker
Yeah, unexpectedly, yet no faults to us, guaranteed. I mean, look, they were maybe throwing some burning hands out there or something at us. so funny Definitely not explosions. Definitely not explosions, for sure. You're like, we had binoculars and we're watching everything. They're just shaking their heads the whole time. we
01:47:31
Speaker
I mean hey that is a threat that we can still pull we we should probably go to the yeah, we should go check out with the Marta cops Yeah, they're not gonna be stoked As you guys, ah you know, get back to the house, tie up the horses and begin to you maybe head inside to rest, to rest for the night.
01:47:57
Speaker
Esmeralda stops at the doorstep as you guys all go in and enter the house. And she says, well, where do you think you're going to go? Because this is this is going to be farewell for now for me.
Esmeralda's Farewell and Advice
01:48:12
Speaker
Um, well, what's next for you guys? What's next for the pointy ear gang?
01:48:24
Speaker
Um, I, I think maybe we go meet up with the Martikovs and then find out how to track down this, uh, this man with the monkey, this mentor of yours. I think we're going to try to follow that trail. We'll try to gather some information and share it with you. Yeah, I think the Mardukovs don't have any info. We'll go to Barovia, see what we can find there. She takes a piece of paper out like a parchment. She takes out a bottle of perfume and she sprays
01:49:00
Speaker
the paper with the perfume and then rolls it up. And I'll say she'll hand this to you, Roy. And it's just a blank piece of paper. And she says, well, she goes, when and if you find the man with the monkey
01:49:19
Speaker
Find a raven, write a letter to me on this piece of paper, most likely be at a Vistani camp. but Is there a way to see Vistani camps? Like, do you guys leave markings or anything like that to let other Vistani know that a camp is nearby? or Just no, we travel in caravans. So if you see a big caravan pulled off on the side of the road or on a hill or something, that'll be a Vistani camp. okay ah She all of Vistani are as cool as me, but they're not all friendly.
01:50:15
Speaker
smell the paper? What does the perfume smell like? It smells like it's not very it's not like as Decadent it's not this rich sweet Like like high brow perfume that you're smelling it's sort of like It's sort of just like Like it's flowery but in an earthy way
01:50:47
Speaker
Lilac and gooseberries. Not lilac and gooseberries. I'd say it's make a nature check. Oh, that's a great making nature check at advantage, Mr. Ranger.
01:50:59
Speaker
Nature smells like sweet baby rays. Nineteen or or. Nineteen. OK.
01:51:15
Speaker
um
01:51:17
Speaker
You are able to tell with a 19 since that's so good that it is a lavender scent, which is very nice. But there's a hint of something else, something that makes this unique to her.
01:51:33
Speaker
And it's this lavender scent, but there's a hint of like a little a little bit of a musk to it. It's more of them there's a an earthy musk to this that you know is from a you know, a black nightshade could be toxic if consumed. It contains a chemical compound that is actually poisonous.
01:52:02
Speaker
to people ah called Solanine. But ah the smell is so it's like it's lavender, which smells nice. And then there's just this hint of something else that honestly probably doesn't smell very nice. It's just like this earthy muskiness that makes it uniquely hercent. Is a black nightshade a plant? insight check on this is Esmeralda. They handed me this. Yeah.
01:52:33
Speaker
Um, just to see if she's anything other than what she's presenting herself as. Yeah, totally. You could do insight. You could do perception or investigation for that.
01:52:55
Speaker
Yeah, she looks like she is a human. She is fully a human with a prosthetic leg. So at some point she lost her leg and ah has it's it's nice. So she commissioned a master artist and to craft this prosthetic leg, lower leg and foot. Wow. she looks exactly like she's been telling you the truth and is absolutely who she says she is. ah With a 24 you see that she doesn't really hold any love for the Vistani though she might ah roll with them. I see.
01:53:41
Speaker
With that I would say to you know that you know that the Vistani are Always they're always on the move. You've heard about them. You've heard about this ah while being in town. They're they travel in caravans sort of like um it's it's very ah what's that movie with Brad Pitt? Where are these are there? You like dags? Oh, they're like they're like gypsies. I know that's maybe gypsies. Sure. Frowned upon word um these days. But that would be that that's the the movie Snatch.
01:54:22
Speaker
Snatch. Sure. Yeah. Great movie. Great movie. So the Vistani are like, you know, gypsies, like in the movie, in the movie Snatch, basically. um
01:54:34
Speaker
I'd say you get the sense that a lot of people are feel. Weird because the Vistani are like. Aligned with fraud. Hmm.
01:54:50
Speaker
Mm hmm. Really? You know that she's not. But the people of which her origin is and the people of which she travels with and comes with are.
01:55:03
Speaker
Allies of Schrod and in why and in what way you're not able to discern, but.
Vistani Speculations and New Challenges
01:55:10
Speaker
Hmm.
01:55:16
Speaker
Yikes. That is a good observation. From the story you got, uh, Bezrak, that is definitely maybe one of the things they do. Well, then, uh... Oh, shit. Yeah, we'll have to keep trying out for them. Jimmothy. Jimmothy! Oh,
01:55:41
Speaker
I think the Vistani stole Jimmothy. Oh, my goodness. OK. New quest. Yeah, don't you dare think the jimothy law left our minds. You guys head inside for the night. Esmeralda bids you all farewell, gives you all the ah the soldier salute, forearm grab. Goodbyes. You have a perfumed paper that you can send to her whenever you find her mentor. OK.
01:56:14
Speaker
the And the plan is to go south, yes? Yeah, back to the Martokobs. Okay. And then take care of what we can finish up there and then start looking for, I mean, keeping an ear out for the Vistani and where some of their caravans might be while making our way across to Barovia, the town of Barovia, seems...
01:56:43
Speaker
Pretty interesting, even though it's like miles and miles away. I don't know how. I don't know what's in between.
Bat Attack and Future Plans
01:56:49
Speaker
Probably take you a couple of days unless you guys like a beeline that sprints Lord of the Rings running style. Yeah. um Probably take a couple of days to get there. But for tonight. You.
01:57:08
Speaker
You've go in. You sleep.
01:57:14
Speaker
You get rest with the intent of waking up, heading back to Wizard of Wines and checking on the Mardukov family, maybe to return the horses, maybe to check on that potential quest they had, maybe for information. And as you all go to sleep, Roy, in the middle of the night, you wake up to screams.
01:57:45
Speaker
and raucous laughter and a bell ringing from the Abbey on top of the hill.
01:57:58
Speaker
You maybe get up and look out your window, Roy, and do you see
01:58:07
Speaker
As we fade from your point of view to the narrators in black and white, we see Roy and these shadow creatures in the room with you. Maybe one hops up on your shoulder as you look out the window and looks as well. Big white smile against his shadow frame. And you look as you listen to these sounds.
01:58:35
Speaker
Do you see a house, the house next door? Are you looking, trying to look past that house next door? Up at the abbey, but the chimney's blocking the way. But there's no smoke coming out of the chimney.
01:58:55
Speaker
Because it's not a chimney at all. It is a creature hunched down
01:59:04
Speaker
crouched with his back to the Abbey, facing you, looking directly at you as you realize what it is. The well-dressed man, the white of his eyes surrounding a red pupil, barely visible in the night.
01:59:31
Speaker
As he sees that you finally recognize what he is, blocking the view. He stands. And as he looks up, his body explodes into a swarm of bats. Each bat flies at the house that you're at.
02:00:00
Speaker
breaking every window. Everybody else wakes up to the sounds of windows breaking. You hear Dimitri. A woman scream.
02:00:17
Speaker
You all wake up. What the hell? Search the house. There's nothing inside. Roy, you look back out the window and just very faintly on the moon. See a bat flying away.
02:00:37
Speaker
We will see you guys next time. Spooky. The blade's edge. Curse of Strahd. I. um
02:00:50
Speaker
I have good news, which is that you guys leveled up. Whoa. No way. It's wild. Stone leveling is a beautiful thing. Leveled up for delivering some wines.
02:01:04
Speaker
Mm hmm. Oh, shit. Yes, you guys you guys leveled up to level four and we will see you guys and all of you listening next time when the gang goes to visit the Mardukov family, figure out what's going on and then potentially head to the village of Barovia. Amazing sesh guys, great, great lore, great info. um And we'll see you guys next time.
02:01:33
Speaker
I love that.