Time: 1:50 PM
Weather: Fog
Location: On the Way to Castle Ravenloft
**************************************
Having rested, recovered spells, and split the spoils of the zombie corpses of those who launched the previous unsuccessful expedition against Strahd, you set out for Castle Ravenloft. Each of you hopes or prays that you will be victorious where so many others have failed.
You leave Castran and Bragar's hideout and head west down the Old Svalich Road. Even in the mid-afternoon, the dense fog that constantly hangs over this land is still present. A bite in the air tells you that although it may be early spring, winter has not yet released its chilly grip. "How does anything grow here when the sun never seems to break through the fog and clouds?" wonders Shinyah aloud.
The few townspeople you see in the street hurry away into their houses to hide behind barred doors. A pair of gypsies laugh and offer you mock salutes as you pass by.
Half an hour out of the hideout, you cross the river Ivlis. Its surface is diffuse with the soft patter of the light rain. Past the bridge, the road turns from broken stone to dirt, crowded on both sides by the thick Svalich woods. Raindrops mix with mud and the remains of rotting leaves to form a thick, squelching glop that sucks at your boots. You pull your cloaks about you and trudge onward, the *sqluck* *sqluck* of your boots sucking against the muddy road and the occasional howl of a wolf the only sounds you can hear.
You eventually come to the fork in the road where Bragar and Castran turned north to meet with Madam Eva. You turn south, where the road gradually descends into tall grassland. The path is still muddy, but at least the mud is untainted by stinking, rotting leaves.
The road turns west then northwest to the bottom of the towering cliffs. It follows the base of the cliff, steadily climbing up a foothill, turns west around a spur of the cliffs, then rises to another cliff wall. There, the road ascends steeply along the sheer cliff face. You begin the slow trek up the side of the cliffs. The climb is strenuous and you are buffeted by winds and stung by drizzling rain, but after about an hour of climbing you safely reach the top.
At the top of the cliffs, you find yourselves surrounded by the craggy Balinok peaks. The muddy road wends around one of these peaks. About half a mile after you had reached the top of the cliffs, you cross a bridge over a high, thin waterfall that crashes to the valley floor far below. Once again you continue down the disused road, followed by the big bears, mud sucking at your boots.
You come to a place where the road splits in two. The dirt road continues to the northwest while a wide road leads west into the heart of the dense forest. Patches of cobblestone show through the west road, telling that this was once a great road. You follow the road northeast.
After passing through the craggy peaks of the Balinoks, the road takes a sudden turn to the east and the startling, awesome presence of Ravenloft itself towers before you.
You have made it unmolested to the boundaries of the castle. It is early evening. The last of the diffuse and feeble lights of gray Barovian day have faded into twilight. Night will soon be upon you.
Actions?
-----
Status: Bragar: 34/42 (C7), Castran: 23/23 (F5/I6); Gragog (F7): 49/49; Lar (P6): 35/40; Scarlett (C7/T5): 34/34; Agax (MU7): 45/45; Petyr (F4): 26/30; Bogdana (C3): 23/23; Shinyah (D7): 37/38, Honeynose: 26/28, Treescratcher: 29/29, Hihu: 4/4
Effects: Phantom Armor (Castran): 6 pts left
