12. Back in Barovia

[Zhym]

"If Old Madam Eva had the power to grant wishes..." she says, her voice trailing off. "Well, I'd have a tent full of hunky men with a thing for older women, wouldn't I?" she laughs.

"Anything else?" she asks.

[GreyWolfVT]

Gragog "Not sure if it matters but can you tell us where the location of the weapon to defeat Strahd is located, I understand one of a prior group had it when he was possessed by a vampire. Take another item or two more from the jewels I'm not much into jewelry myself."

[Dram]

Bragar- Walks out the tent. So what you gents want to do. Walk into the mist and choke ta death or become dinner for Strahd?

[Zhym]

Date: Trieluna 14, 1222
Time: ~7:30 PM
Weather: Fog
Location: Gypsy Camp
**************************************

Madam Eva selects a gold brooch from Gragog's treasure pile. She reaches for a deck of cards—an act that induces flashbacks to the devastation caused by the Deck in the dungeons of Ravenloft.

She turns over a card:



"The High Priestess stands between darkness and light," she says. "The sword of light is guarded by darkness. Where once was a commander of men who protected their liege, the bane of men stands vigil over that which Strahd fears and seeks once again to destroy."

Bragar rolls his eyes at hearing more riddles and walks out of the tent. The others follow (unless Gragog has more questions?). "So, what do you gents want to do?" asks Bragar. "Walk out of the mists and choke ta death or become dinner for Strahd?"

Point of clarification: you're in the mists. Leaving the mists is what starts the choking, so you're told.

----
Status: Gragog (F8): 60/60; Bragar: 42/42 (C7); Agax (MU7/C4): 45/45; Petyr (F3): 23/23; Bogdana (C3): 23/23; Mindless: Castran: 23/23 (F5/I6); Shinyah (D7): 38/38
Effects: Phantom Armor (Castran): 6 pts
Light sources: CL coin (60', held by Shinyah); CL gem (60' Agax's staff)

[GreyWolfVT]

Gragog has no more questions and gives Madam Eva his chest of jewelry "Keep it. Does me no good for soon I shall be dead or enslaved by a vamire...or dead of my own hand." the grim warrior half-orc leaves.

[Dram]

Bragar pulls the pouch he took from Castran. Tosses it to Madam Eva. Shall these feed your family well.
I do not wish to let the vampire to have them back.

[Inferno]

Agax must be dreaming.

Bewildered at the sight of his friends emptying their pockets with talk of suicide, he awkwardly changes his mind and stays in the tent. "Um... Yes!
...Yes. And in exchange for these generous untold riches, we have the following questions, Madame!"

The game mage asks them in turn, after hearing the answer for each.

• • "Is there anyone in Barovia who will willingly help us fight against Strahd?"
    
    "If we wait for more adventurers from beyond the mist, how long will we wait?"
    
    "Where and who is 'the bane of men' who guards the weapon of light that Strahd fears?"
    
    "What can you tell us about this weapon?"

Depending on what answers he receives, Agax may try to ask more questions.

[Zhym]

Gragog and Bragar give Madam Eva all their treasure. Her eyes go wide. "Oh my!" she says. "Yes, this will pay for a few answers, such as I can give them."

"Is there anyone in Barovia who will willingly help us fight against Strahd?", asks Agax.

The old woman shakes her head. "There are none in town who would stand a chance. Perhaps a few might be stirred by inspiring words, but you would be taking cattle to slaughter."

"If we wait for more adventurers from beyond the mist, how long will we wait?"

"Difficult to see, the future" she says. "Always in motion, it is." She shuffles her cards and lays a few of them out. She stares at them for a few moments. "Others will come. Others always come, eventually. Who and when—that is shrouded in mist. Not tomorrow, I think. Perhaps not for years. Sometimes adventurers come in waves. Sometimes generations come and go with no one from the outside world entering into the mists."

Agax asks his next question. "Where and who is 'the bane of men' who guards the weapon of light that Strahd fears?"

She deals her cards again. "The bane of men is a creature of shadow, hater of light" she says. "It lurks in the place where a leader of men once belonged."

"What can you tell us about this weapon?"

She points to Bragar. "He knows of it," she says. "It is the weapon of light, the weapon sundered and unsundered, hidden and found, now hidden once again."

[Zhym]

Date: Trieluna 14, 1222
Time: ~7:45 PM
Weather: Fog
Location: Gypsy Camp
**************************************

Though the party yet lives, its spirit has broken. Strahd has won, as he has for centuries.

Gragog, having given a princess's dowry to madam Eva, ask her to marry him. Her eyes twinkle and she grins. "Well, that's a surprise, boy, and Madam Eva doesn't say that often! And that's sweet, it really is, but granny's not looking to get hitched again. I just want you for your body," she says with a wink. "As much as I'd like to keep a boy toy—well, you don't exactly fit in here, do you? But you come back any time you want, and I'll show you a time you won't soon forget!" She cackles, her leering open mouth showing a gaping chasm of blackness lined with tobacco-brown gums and a few scraggly teeth.

You leave the gypsy camp. Though it is past dark and you have been warned of the dangers that lurk in Barovia at night, you no longer care. Or perhaps you seek the release of death. Whatever the reason, you brave the horrors of the night to make your way back to town.

A little while after leaving the gypsy camp, two huge Worg wolves flank you at the edge of your light on either side of the path. The follow you, vanishing into the darkness when you stop or make a move toward them. After about half an hour, the wolves disappear into the forest, perhaps not liking their chances of survival if they attack.

Back in town, you settle into your hideout and wonder, yet again, what to do next. Agax settles into a corner and tries fervently to believe that he can wake himself from this nightmare. Shinyah and Castran, as always now, do nothing.

"You can stay here and rot if you want to," says Petyr the next morning. "But I'm at least going to try to leave this place. Maybe I die, maybe I don't, but at least I'll be doing something." He walks out the door. You never see him again.

Bogdana also takes her leave of you. "Father Donavich has been protecting the church alone for too long," she says. "I will go help him as best I can."

The prospect of living the rest of your natural lives in Barovia looms before you. Perhaps you could take up trades. Learn to farm, or blacksmith, or sell adventuring gear at an insane markup. Find nice local girls who aren't vampires, make families, and hope Strahd doesn't take an interest in your children. Feed Shinyah and Castran every day. Or you could follow Petyr's example and try to leave Barovia. Even if you die trying, would death be worse than life here?

You have the rest of your lives to decide.

Any last actions before I close this out?

----
Status: Gragog (F8): 60/60; Bragar: 42/42 (C7); Agax (MU7/C4): 45/45
Mindless: Castran: 23/23 (F5/I6); Shinyah (D7): 38/38
Effects: Phantom Armor (Castran): 6 pts
Light sources: CL coin (60', held by Shinyah); CL gem (60' Agax's staff)

[Inferno]

Agax Gryyg, game mage:

Agax faithfully awaits reinforcements, never completely losing heart.

But every day, he sleeps a little longer than the previous day. And dreams.

[GreyWolfVT]

Gragog hangs out near to the gypsy camp hoping one day they might allow him into their ranks. Hoping maybe since Madam Eva appeared to like him in their first meeting thinking maybe they'd adopt an outsider.

[Zhym]

And so it is that you spend the rest of your days. You who once called yourselves adventurers wait for others to save you. Strahd and his minions no longer bother you. Perhaps he no longer considers you worth notice.

Agax goes slowly mad, convincing himself a little more each day that the world he lives in is but a dream. At the end, decades later, the nonagenarian dreaming mage can only babble the word "Gygax" over and over.

Gragog spends his days trying to join the Vistani, but they do not accept outsiders into their clan. A encounter with a large band of worg wolves, from which Gragog barely escapes with his life, finally convinces him to stop making the trek to the Tser pool encampment. He dies of old age at 53, feeble—an ignominious end for a half-orc.

Bragar tries to spread the word of Haela Brightaxe but the humans offer only polite acknowledgement of his god. He alone, with his long dwarf life span, may hope to see the day when adventurers of true heart and doughty spirit finally defeat Strahd, Lord of Ravenloft.

THE END.