Lore

Open threads

The Children in the Wagon Open

Under the blanket in Morgantha's wagon: children, tied up and unconscious. Beowolfe pulled one girl out. The fight with Morgantha, and the gnome who was her horse, is still going on the bridge.

Keep Ireena Safe Open

The party swore to Rahadin that they would take Ireena and keep her safe; he is carrying the offer to Strahd. Ismark agreed to let her go with them and asked them to bring her to the Church of St. Andral in Vallaki. At two in the morning on the first night, a vampire took her from her window. That vampire wasn't following the master's deal; he wanted the reward for himself. The party destroyed him and set out north with Ireena.

Find Madam Eva Open

The Vistani seer camps about a day north of the village. Ireena thinks Madam Eva could help them find a lost book of Barovia's history, and the party wants answers about why the master wants Ireena. Her camp was last seen by a lake to the north. The party is on the road.

The Vistani Betrayal Open

Two Vistani women Beowolfe paid to help hold the west gate turned on the defenders and opened the gate to the dead. Beowolfe wants his gold back, and more than that.

Who Killed the Burgomaster? Open

Kolyan was torn open by claws in his own hall a few hours before the party arrived. A man's footprints surround the body and come from nowhere. Hay-zel's spell showed a dark, wispy trail coming in through the front door and going back out.

Ireena's Bite Open

Five nights ago the master visited the mansion, took Ireena upstairs, and said he would be back for her. She has the bite and no memory of it. Some villagers want her handed over, and they blame her for the attacks. Hay-zel told her what the master wants: not her death, but her as his bride.

Locked Open

In the mansion library, a margin note in the family history says servants have started to vanish. Under it, in a shaking hand: Locked.

Hold Barovia Against the Six O'Clock Dead Open

The dead come at six every evening, in waves. With the party at the east gate, it held through zombies, ghouls, plague zombies and a wight with a bow of smoke, but Parriwimple died there. Nobody knows how to stop the attacks. Nash wonders if someone should just knock on the castle door and ask. Then the west gate fell when the hired Vistani turned on its defenders. Rahadin says the attacks will continue until Ireena is given up, unless the master accepts the party's offer.

The Bells From a Broken Bell Open

Hay-zel followed the sound of church bells through the mist, and the party heard them from the road. But Donavich's bell has been cracked for months, and nobody else has been up the tower. Remi fixed it, and it rings now when the priest pulls the rope. The other bells still aren't coming from anywhere anyone can find.

Find Gertruda Open

Gertruda took one of Barovia's last horses in the night to go after Doru. Doru is home now. Gertruda isn't. She didn't go down the road; she went up to the castle, looking for him.

Lucy's Search Open

Lucy is looking for a tall, black-haired woman who smiled at her in the woods, and for anything that can wake her parents from a sleep no cleric has been able to lift. Ashka said it would take powerful magic and promised to ask around.

Balasar's Missing Father Open

Balasar came to Daggerford looking for his father Krug and Lord Sezzer, who vanished there. Sister Maren remembered a group of dragonborn asking about the house and heading north. Balasar wrote to his cousin Nash for help. Balasar is gone now, and the question is still open.

Things of note

Ireena's Rapier

Ireena ran upstairs to show it off after Nash froze her father's body. Not magical, but beautifully made and very well balanced. She and Ismark have been training with it for months.

The Wooden Violinist

Bram carved it and never strung it. Lucy bought it for Petra at the festival for four silver. That night an identical one sat on the toy shelf in the Durst den, and the stuffed wolves came alive when Genji picked it up. It's buried now with Rose and Thorn.

The Amber Necklace

Hidden under the ballerina in Elizabeth's music box. Set in a demon painting's mouth, it opened the secret stair. Under the house, Balasar held it up and said Walter, stand down, and every tentacle fell. It went into the water with him, and Mayla couldn't reach it.

Klara's Locket

Remi found it hidden in the attic storage room. It held a little healing magic, and Remi spent it three times: on Lucy after the spiked pit, on Beowolfe in the black water, and on Eric's bite in Barovia. That last one emptied it.

The Ornate Ritual Dagger

The tentacles knocked the bundle open fighting over Balasar's bloodied ration, and there it was. Genji carried it out. At the church he used it to cut his own arm for Doru's test.

The Locket Compass

The corpse by the road held it clenched in his left hand. Its needle steadied and pointed down the road, then swung to follow a skeleton walking through the fog, and spun again once the skeleton was gone. Beowolfe worked it out: it points at that.

Ismark recognized the work: clockwork by Blinsky, the toymaker of Vallaki.

The Unsigned Letter

No name, no date, not old. I'm sorry. I can't handle it anymore. I have to leave. The horse had been ridden until it lay down and died. The tracks beside it led into the fog and around in a circle.

Morgantha's Pies

Morgantha sells them from her cart every two weeks, and they stay hot for days. A famished woman begged Nash for them and said they keep her and her children happy and full. Kolyan won't let his children eat them; he thinks they fog the mind. Her cart is two weeks late. Hay-zel's detect magic shows enchantment and transmutation on them. Remi took a bite. It was blueberry.

Donavich's Sun Symbol

Father Donavich's chain hangs empty. Doru wears the sun of Lathander now, and during the test it glowed until the light swallowed him. Hay-zel says whatever holds him is tied to it. Genji told him to keep it on.

The Church Bell

Split right through as if lightning struck it, and silent for months. Remi repaired it with his tinker's tools in a quarter of an hour, and the priest rang it for the first time in months. It isn't the bell everyone has been hearing.

Powers and factions

The Dursts

Gustav and Elizabeth, their children Rose and Thorn, the baby Walter, and generations of ancestors in urns under the floor. What happened to this family is still happening in that house every night it appears.

Barovia's Defenders

Ismark on the west gate, Bildrath and Parriwimple on the east, and villagers with pitchforks and crossbows. Vallaki hasn't answered their call for help. Nash set up a signal: three horn blasts means a gate needs reinforcing. One man Lucy healed now fights with a scrap of her clothing tied to his wrist.

The Six O'Clock Dead

Zombies that come out of the scrub and up the roads at exactly six every night, and then stop, giving the town a day to get ready. The corpses change from night to night. The town burns what it destroys.

The Vistani

Wandering folk who can pass through the mists that trap everyone else. Ismark says they bring strangers to the master and that every one of them is evil; Ireena says some have come through town with food and healing. Two of them, hired to hold the west gate, opened it to the dead instead. Their seer, Madam Eva, camps a day north.

Closed threads

Who Is Screaming in the Mansion? Done

Genji, Remi and Hay-zel walked up to the burgomaster's door, and from inside, somebody screamed. It was Ireena, finding her father dead on the floor.

Find Doru Done

The priest's son was missing for a week. He was in his father's cellar the whole time, bitten and chained. The party didn't put him down. He passed their test, and he's holding the hunger back under a holy lock.

Escape Death House Done

The front door locked behind them, and the blood on the walls said be out before midnight. They got out, minus Balasar and Mayla, with minutes to spare, buried the children, and looked up to find themselves in Barovia.

Bury Rose and Thorn by the Flowers Done

Genji promised the ghost children he'd carry their bones out and bury them by flowers. Rose picked the spot on a hill outside the house. Petra's wooden toy went into the ground with them.

Find Petra Ended

Ashka's daughter went up the hill to get Lucy a present. The party found her toy, then a ghost wearing her face, then the real girl chained in the cells under the house. They freed her. In the fight in the black water, the creature took her into its chest, and what became of her in there is not known. Ashka doesn't know any of it.