Dave Wood's

Campaign

Adventures

In Pursuit of the Lost

The group reconvened in the Blackard Inn in Mordent. After a brief period of time, Brother Dromar, Father Lucius and Aylward ventured to Heather House to meet with Lord Seacroft. Lord Seacroft dined with the group, where they explained some of their past adventures. Brother Dromar caused quite a stir when he revealed the Prophesy of Hyskosa and how it was coming to fruition. Lord Seacroft was very frightened and taken aback by all this disturbing news - as were Father Lucius and Aylward! After things calmed down a bit, Father Lucius asked if he could have a private room for a seance to contact Lord Weathermay's ghost. Seacroft granted his wish, and reluctantly joined in the seance.

Port-a-Lucine, Dementlieu

They contacted the spirit of Lord Byron Weathermay and asked him a few questions about Strahd and the manner of his and his daughter's deaths, as well as the coming prophesy. Lord Weathermay's spirit told them that Strahd still lives, but not in the manner which you would think. The Lord's soul can only rest once his daughter's spirit is put to rest (blessed by a true god). As well there are six signs of the coming apocalypse, three of which have come to pass already.

The group took this disturbing news back the Inn and slept for the night. They woke before dawn to catch the "Barnacle Buster" which they had previously booked passage to Port-a-Lucine in Dementlieu. They scrambled aboard and met a few of the sailors. The four day journey up the coast was uneventful.

The One-Eyed Orc

Arriving in the port, they went straight to the One-eyed-Orc tavern - a popular place for sea dogs and the scum of the town. There they tried to gather some information about their missing friends or passage on a ship to get them to Graben Island. They learned that the island has been cursed for quite some time, and that all who go there die in some kind of ice storm.

The city was splendorous and culturally advanced. The cities seemed to be partrolled by knights in suits of shining mail, as well there were all kinds of wonders to beheld. Gaslights in the streets, beautifully constructed architectural styles, and looming over everything was the great tower.

When all seemed lost, Brother Dromar decided to share a secret about a visitor that came to his keep in Gundarak. He was a member of the Shadow Guild of Lekar, and also an acquaintance of Kuros. The Shadow Guild is a powerful network of spies within Lekar, the capitol city of Falkovnia. They have been known to hold much secret information Recently they have been broken and dispersed, by a rival faction known as the Ebon Fold.

After leaving the One-eyed-Orc, Father Lucius and Aylward visited the 'Bibliotheque' where they ordered maps of the region to be produced. Meanwhile, Axel, Reg and Dromar explored the market. Reg inquired about the weapons and fish, Axel busied himself by picking pockets, and Dromar found out about local wine making techniques. Axel learned of a great ex-Falkovnian weapons merchant Mikhail. They saw many wondrous sights, and inventions beyond their imaginations. Lucius questioned one vendor in particular about his compass - wondering what kind of spirits directed the needle. The vendor merely explained that is was 'science' - but because of his thick accent Lucius interpreted this to mean 'seance'. They left the market, Lucius and Aylward retrieved their maps of the region and re-grouped in the Barl's Edge Merchant Inn.

Streets of Port-a-Lucine Painting by Henry Wimbush

They discussed at length how they were to cross the Falkovnian border, then Aylward got an idea. He approached some local merchants in the Inn and befriended them. He inquired about Mikhail, the arms merchant. As it would happen, his new friend had a job for him - in two days Mikhail would be shipping a supply across the border. The merchant would find out more about the deal and get back to Aylward the next day. Lucius befriended the local bar wench.

The next day Lucius and Dromar went to the 'bibliotheque' to do research. Aylward preached to the masses, and Axel set up a three card monte bench. The merchant returned with news from Mikhail, saying that the shipment would leave early the next morning, and the group was to meet with their escorts - soldiers from Falkovnia. Lucius returned in the evening, from a day of research with news about the prophesy and who Hyskosa was.

After hearing about the arms deal, Lucius took Dromar, Axel and himself to the One-eyed-Orc. There he met up with two Falkovnian soldiers that were in the bar the night before. He questioned them about the upcoming 'escort mission', but they were fairly tight lipped about the situation. Axel had an idea, and 'borrowed' a half-orc from the washroom to create a distraction. The charmed Orc believed Axel when he told them the soldiers were insulting him. Immediately, the disgruntled, drunk, charmed half-orc began pounding on the soldiers. Then, while invisible, Axel snuck over to the unconscious body of the soldier and rifled through his shirt - finding a letter outlining the soldier's duties - to make the arms shipment and get rid of the 'cattle'.

A Dark Alley

That night it was decided that Axel and Reg would go to the poor section of town and see if they could produce forged documents for travel in Falkovnia. They met a couple of shady characters and Axel went to their workshops, meanwhile Reg confronted the other one, and killed him in cold blood. He was lost and separated from Axel in the rat-maze that made up the streets of Port-a-Lucine. Dragging the body on his shoulder, he finally came back to the main street where he saw a patrol of heavily armoured men coming his way. At that point, he burned the evidence expelling raw magical energy from his body. Rumbling could be heard overhead, the clouds went black and it began to rain a thick, hot rain over everything. Axel made it back to the Inn, Reg ran back - and when he arrived at the Inn he was covered in thick blood. Immediately he went to Axel's room - everyone woke up and questioned Reg as to what happened - they had a lengthy discussion as to what they were to do for the next day.

The group awoke early the next morning, and discussed what was to be done with Reg. Dried blood was in the hallway, the group decided to hide out in the 'bibliotheque' and leave Reg behind. In the streets, they discovered members of the city watch putting up wanted posters. Immediately they left the town and headed for a copse of trees between Port-a-Lucine and Chateaufaux.

There they awaited until the caravan of arms that was intended for Falkovnia passed by. The caravan approached, and the soldiers had found peasants to pull the cargo. At that point Aylward jumped in front of the caravan demanding that they stop. The commander simply laughed, and they parleyed for a bit. The commander gave the order to fire, and they all pulled out crossbows from under the tarp. After Aylward resisted the commander's orders to step down, the soldiers fired and struck Aylward. That is when a gigantic Lucius and six trolls came crashing out of the woods. Looking back, the commander saw only the backs of his soldiers fleeing, along with the peasants. He abandoned his cargo and fled after them.

The giant Lucius and the trolls (who were all really Axel), hauled the cargo to a nearby copse of trees. They lifted the cloth coverings embroidered with the hawk logo, to reveal wooden crates bounded in metal. They broke the crates open and inside were small pieces of metal and wood cut to various sizes and shapes. One crate contained heavy metal balls. The group proceeded to destroy the cargo, and left it in the forest.