Leaving Village Barovia

Grom Shield-Breaker, that’s the Dwarf’s name. He’s always been with our party, or so I’m told, but maybe I never noticed since he’s so short. Maybe he can help carry the corpse of Doru up the ladder and out to a stream. Truth be told I’m not sure if a vampire with a stake through the heart can really be considered a corpse, but that’s what I’ll call the poor wretch until we can figure out if the advice Aera read about running water will truly keep us safe from the abomination.

Scholpkht has volunteered to bring the sunburst relic back to Father Donavich and side-step the part where we killed his undead son, and that we plan to kill him for good so that we may learn how to be rid of vampires.

Faher Donavich agreed to perform the burial rights for Ismarks father by praying to the “Morninglord”. I wonder if he’s any relation to Lathander, the “Lord of Birth and Renewal”, but decide this isn’t the time to ask academic questions.

After the ritual a ton of bats fly from the church up to the west, perhaps towards the castle.

Ismark asks us to escort Ireena to the Abbey of Saint Markovia in Krezk, and that the Church of Saint Andral in Vallaki could be a sanctuary along the way. My notes also mention “Red har – bad luck” but I can no longer make sense of it.

Ismark recommends stopping by the Tser Pool which is just a two hour journey west of here. We are to leave at noon, which gives us some time to shop or wander around.

We took Doru’s body to a stream and set it in the water. As the stream flowed over him he disolved and we recovered the stake.

Olfin noticed Irena heading into the village and followed her. He recovered a keepsafe from the ground for her and retrieved a Silver bracelet, pressed aster flower, wooden charm and a hankerchief. Irena gave the bracelet to Olfin for his kindness and honesty. It has the Moon and Stars in Lapiz Lazuli on it, along with the inscription Tatiana “Find your path in the darkest of places”

Olfin notices two bite marks on Ireena’s neck and she explains that Strahd bit her and controlled her in the past, but that’s she’s not become a vampire, yet.

I took the opportunity to speak with Father Donavich and confirm that we both know Lathander by different names. He was pleased that we are of the same faith and blessed me with the “Strength of a new dawn”, which should last for three mornings (+6 max hit points)

Meanwhile the rest of the party went shopping, but found that the prices were most unfriendly (5 times the standard), perhaps due to our association with Ismark. Aera made the most of the situation by feeling justified in pilfering two healing potions from the shop.

At noon we gathered the party and ventured forth towards Tser pool. Irena joined us in her full armor, but we surrounded her as we took our charge to protect her most seriously.

After some time on the trail we were met with a voice from the thicket which asked who we were. Grom was most confrontational and challenged the hidden party. A woman walked out of the mists and was identified as a scout of the village by Irena. Kreza and Conga are the scouts names. They are searching for the Landston family, two parents and five children that have gone missing from the village.

We consult the map Ismark gave us (I’ve made a crude copy), and decide it would be faster if we leave the path and enter the woods to follow the river towards the pool. We come into a clearing with a tall ancient oak in the middle. There are seven figures, two larger than the others, surrounding an eighth figure and looking up into the tree. Red mist is coming from the final figures mouth and pooling onto the ground. His eyes were white and he was wearing armor. We engaged in combat and slaughtered everyone. Most certainly this was the Landston family, but we believe they were already long gone, and we spared them from a fate worse than death.