<< December 17, 2021 | Notes | November 5, 2021 >>

Percy returns to the Blue Water Inn and and waits for the others, reading the Strahd book that he stole. A commotion outside. He wakes Magda, hides the books in a chest, and heads toward the noise. He hears Bellerand's horn and runs into him. Bell tells him what happened. Magda runs to the church. Percy checks the Inn with Message and gets no response so he and Bell head to church as well. Percy casts Message to Dren and Gale to try to find them.

Gale and Dren head to the mayor's house because they're assholes. They go into the ethereal plane and Gale steals the Shield Guardian's pendant from the Baron. They have a conversation about what to do and Gale says he doesn't trust Percy and doesn't want to give it to him. Dren says he doesn't trust anyone after the Temple. Gale takes it and says Percy has to gain his trust. They hear Bell's horn and run towards the church.

We get to the church and it's all fucked. Townspeople are all around defending. Gale commands the SG through the crowd while Dren clears them out. Bell begins to heal people and Percy gives him his staff back. Dren bares his sword and inspires the people as the fight ends. Some sob that "the devil himself" came to town. Dren asks Magda to "secure the city" by being the Burgomaster's right hand man. She reluctantly agrees.

Dren finds Bell. Bell tells him what happened with Strahd. Percy furiously confronts Dren and Gale about the SG, then Dimension Doors away and travels to the Inn via ethereal plane to pick up his books. People in the inn are heatedly discussing what happened so P tries to rile them up with Fiona's manifesto. He convinces a mob of them to go to Fiona's house. Bell comes in and asks Danika for permission to use a raven to send a message. He sends it to Izek and tells him there are complications and to wait for him until the morning, then goes to sleep.

Gale and Dren use the SG to bury bodies at the church.

Percy goes to the Burgomeister's. He's flipping out and accuses P of taking the SG. Percy goes off on him telling him that he wouldn't be alive without him, using spooky void eyes. He successfully intimidates/insults him and tells him the SG never belonged to him and to follow P to Fiona's. The servants are crying that the Lady is dead. The mob wants to search the house. P Messages the Mayor to take control and he leads the way upstairs. They see the bodies. Percy accuses Fiona of necromancy and asks for a strong man or two to help him carry the husband to the graveyard. The mayor agrees and says they'll burn the witch's body. P Messages the mayor to check the closet. Mayor finds Izek's things and accuses her of being a murderer.

P takes the husband's body to the church and tells the men that he would like time alone to try to reverse the effects of necromancy on the man. Gale and Dren come over and Percy calls Gale his apprentice dismissively, then shows him P's notebook opened to the prophecy page. P says they need holy water and the church is deconsecrated so they'll have to take him back to Raven Roost -- playing it up for any bystanders watching. P stays with the body miming doing magic until sunrise. G and D return to the inn. G gets his hounds, D tells Bell that we're going to RR. A plume of smoke rises from Wachterhaus.

After sunrise we head to RR. Gale uses the SG to carry the body. We notice a few patches of freshly distubed soil. One has a makeshift cairn over it. Some are smaller or possibly disturbed. P remarks that they are probably graves from the townspeople but that we won't know unless we dig them up. We keep walking.

--- NEXT DAY ---
Percy puts the body in the pseudo-basement and waits for Bell to show up while reading the strahd book from Fiona's.

Bell goes to Adric's shop but no one opens. The town is subdued. He goes to A's house next door. A is there but says his daughter died last night. Adric offers Bell anything in the shop if he will Reincarnate her but he wants to see how it works first. Bell takes him to the cemetery to retrieve Nelshann. He tells Adric that he'll bring her into town soon and Adric returns home.

Bell Wild Shapes and flies to RR with the body. He sees a well-dressed pale man coming down the road. He says "Hello Bellerand" and says he's come to deliver a message, handing him an envelope. With a red seal and fancy script: "My friends, Know that it is I who have brought you to this land, my home, and know that I alone can release you from it. I bid you dine at my castle so that we can meet in civilized surroundings. Your passage here will be a safe one. I await your arrival. Your host, Strahd von Zarovich"

Bell comes inside with the moss-coccooned body of Nelshann. Percy shows him the body in the basement and explains that it is the horseman from the prophecy, and tells B that he must be brought back. B explains that he can bring people back without the Temple power but that they may be different. P is fascinated and agrees to experimenting with N but says Gale may not like it. Percy inspects the body while B wakes Gale up. Bell performs the ritual over an hour while Percy takes notes. A woman takes shape from the spores -- a tall, beautiful, honey-haired wood elven woman. She recongnizes Gale and Percy and hugs Bell. Percy asks her what she remembers about the in between time. She says not much -- she couldn't shepherd souls, called out the Kelemvor but got no response. P asks if she saw Malicus -- yes, she was able to commune with several souls from this land who cannot leave until their task is finished. B gives her some of her things back: medallion of Kelemvor and Thorn's doll. B reveals that he has Malicus' finger and can bring him back as well. Nelshann disagrees and says M is fine.

Bell explains that Adric gave him the material to bring back Nelshann in exchange for bringing back his daughter and that he doesn't have the material to do it for the horseman yet. Nelshann, Bell, Gale, and Percy go back to Adric and buy the supplies. Percy buys 150 gp worth of ink and everyone donates 250 gp for the horseman. Gale asks about wedding dresses but he has none.

We return to RR and sleep. Percy inscribes Alarm in his tome and casts Find Familiar. The next day we reincarnate Nikolaj as a Halfling. He asks about the town and his family. Gale explains about Fiona's support for Strahd and tells him that his daughter seems to have maybe gone insane. He doesn't remember how he died or know how long ago but thinks his sons were around 12-13. Percy points out that perhaps Fiona turned to Strahd because she did not have the power to bring him back herself, since she preserved him for 15 years. He agrees to help destroy Strahd.

Bell reveals that we got a letter from Strahd.