The coming of the Mists
Welcome to my humble abode. I trust that the night outside did not bother you...
Strahd von Zarovich, Lord of Barovia
After finishing their tangle with the Zhentarim and an ages old curse, the heroes returned to Elventree for some rest. Unfortunately, one night, while Myrd was patrolling the area, a thick mist rolled in from the Moonsea. It was just as the mist rolled in that the heroes could hear maniacal laughter, and the sound of trees being chopped down. Minutes later the heroes found themselves on a mountainside covered in coniferous trees; Elventree had only oak and other leafed trees. Both Guerrand and Stumpwubble, disconcerted by the sudden change of surroundings attempted to contact their gods, they both were answered with cold, uncaring emptiness. Guerrand dropped to his knees in fearful resignation. It was just at that moment that three of the risen dead, zombies, approached, climbing up the mountain to the heroes. Thesian stepped back in fear, seeing the gruesome cadavers lurching up towards him. Both Guerrand and Stumpwubble called on their gods again, this time to turn the undead from their task. The answer was the same cold emptiness, and both of the holy men shivered in fear. Thesian was able to hear a single word on those dead tongues, "Strahd." As the zombies approached, Stumpwubble noticed a large bat hanging from a tree, staring at the heroes with its predatory red glowing eyes.
After fleeing the undead horrors, the heroes came upon a vardo, a gypsy wagon, and were invited inside it by an old vistani woman. She gave them directions to a town were they could be safe for the night, Nirvok, and warned them of the howl of the wolf. The heroes followed the path that the old vistani told them and found the town of Nirvok. Unfortunately, since it was night, the guards would not let the heroes in. When the sun rose however, the guards let them in, keeping them in the prison for a good part of the morning, trying to decide whether to trust the heroes or not, since they did approach the town gates at night, something no Barovian in his right mind would do. After being let out of the prison, with the townsfolk still skeptical of them, the heroes saw a gruesome scene: All the townsfolk were hard at work burning ravaged bodies that were being pulled out from alleys and houses. The mayor told the heroes that the children of the night did this to the town.
The heroes bided their time and waited for nightfall, expecting to be able to combat the horror that was brutally murdering the townsfolk. During the day, Saganth went hunting for some wolfsbane to protect himself from the wolves at night. He came across a lone wolf caought in a hunter's trap. Saganth freed the wolf, but not without getting bit by it as it ran off. Saganth then returned to Nirvok by mid-afternoon with some wolfsbane for everyone in the party, but not telling anyone about his wolf bite.
That night, Stumpwubble, Rynd, Thesian, and Saganth decided to travel towards Castle Ravenloft, thinking that they would be able to find out more about the mysterious marauders of this land. After getting to the river, Saganth disappeared. Thesian, Rynd, and Stumpy then had to confront the undead horrors that they fled from when they first entered these lands. After a grisly battle, the undead corpses were finally put to rest, burning slowly to ashes. Thesian then disappeared. Rynd and Stumpy then camped for the night, keeping a vigilant watch because of the "disagreeable" nature of the Barovian night.
Meanwhile, at the town of Nirvok, Myrd was spying on the mayor of the town, suspecting him of the heinous acts committed against the townsfolk. After sundown, while Myrd was spying on the mayor's house, a piercing howl echoed through the night. Some people from within the house screamed,"Protect the mayor!" and a huge man/wolf hybrid crashed out of the house through a window. Myrd tried to follow, but some smaller wolfmen leapt over the town walls and started chasing him thoughout the town. He found a well in the center of town and jumped into it, but one of the wolfmen followed. The wolfman crashed into the side of the well and fell unconscious. Myrd crawled down the well to inspect the monster, and saw it was wearing Saganth's torn robes and all of his spell components. Myrd knew what he was up against now. The town was being ravaged by werewolves, and Saganth had been infected by them. As he was dwelling on this, he looked upon the water of the well. The moon's reflection was on the cool waters. Its shape did not bode well for the ranger, for it was a full moon...
While the other heroes went off to face the horrors of the Barovian night, Guerrand stayed at the inn in Nirvok, in order to protect the innkeeper and his daughter. He was also waiting there to see what the old suspicious looking man would do that night. The heroes had met the man in the tavern the day before. He wasn't very talkative, and he only cryptically alluded to a lupine terror. The heroes suspected he was behind the brutal murders of the townsfolk. The night for Guerrand was uneventful, so he retired to his inn room for some rest, knowing there would be more bodies to investigate in the morning. As he opened the window in his room, a werewolf in hybrid form leapt up from outside, and attacked him. Guerrand closed the shutters on the thing's claw, and managed to break it off. Even though he escaped with his life, Guerrand didn't escape with his sanity. He collapsed in the room with wolf howls echoing through his shattered psyche.
That morning, Myrd and Saganth crawled out from the wel and returned to the inn. They found Guerrand looking around his ravaged room. There was a severed human hand on the floor next to the paladin. Guerrand then asked his companions, "What do you mortals want of Ilmater, for I have appeared before you, ready to grant respite fromyour endless agony." The paladin was suffering from delusions, thinking himself the very god he worshipped. He followed Myrd and Saganth thinking he was to defeat the great beast-god Malar. The paladin told the group that he had severed Malar's right hand, and that they must pursue him that night in order to end the beast pain-causing ways. The reat of the heroes treated Guerrand harshly about his madness, beating him to the ground unitl they could tie him up. After realizing that they could not convince Guerrand that he was not Ilmater, they decided to untie him at nightfall, when they would trek up the mountain to face the beasts on the last day of the full moon.
When night fell, Myrd and the addled paladin, Guerrand, led the heroes up the mountain. After starting on the journey they heard the sound of trees being felled, and manical laughter. Myrd then tracked down the location of the mad priest. They came upon a ruined chapel, with a charred and broken disc, originally the lavender holy symbol of Lathander. They entered the chapel and found all the pews over turned and all the windows broken. There were candlabras on either side of a dark staircase , where the altar should have been. The stairs led down into a crypt. The heroes first came upon four sarcophogi, two on either side of the narrow passage-way. They delved deeper into the crypt, and found a figure clothed in the robes of Lathander, kneeling before a charred and broken altar to his god.
The figure was the Mad Priest of Lathander, the one who the heroes followed into the mists; and possibly their way out. The priest aided the heroes in defeating the lycanthropic horror by providing them with weapons of silver. The lord of the land had an interest in keeping the lupine insurrection.
The heroes were able to defeat the gathering of the werewolves at the top of the mountain, but with one cost: the curse was "given" to the paladin Guerrand through a ritual under the moon performed by the high wolf. In order to free himself of the curse, Guerrand had to find the one in Vallaki who knew of a cure to such a ritualistic curse. His name was Erek Vildebrecht, and he did aid the heroes in finding and performing the ritualistic cleansing of Guerrand. Erek then decided to join them, seeing them as his only way of escaping the mists because they still had the purity of goodness on their side. Erek had already fallen down one of the steps towards the darkness of the land, and he had paid even more of his soul to darkness in order to cure the paladin. The heroes were his way out, and possibly the help he needed to avenge his lover's death. Erek joined the group of heroes and the quest in the mists began...
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