romania ♔ in the end of the night i can feel you breathe

[pickyourbattles]

♬ Night - Zola Jesus

WHO || Willow, Paige, Nathan, Henry, Aurelius, Dovan [Closed]
WHAT || The Knights travel to Romania to investigate a mysterious, magical fog
WHERE || Romania
WHEN || April 11th [back dated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

February in Romania isn't very comfortable, so hopefully everyone bundled up for this little trip into the countryside.  The appearance of a mysterious bank of fog into which several locals have gone inexplicably missing upon entering, has caused Wynn to speculate that it might be connected to the mist that appears when the Veil brings people from other worlds.  Could this be the first instance of a door going the other way?  If so, here's hoping it's a round trip...

Comments

[somepagesturn]

[Oh! Nice old lady... creepy old lady. Paige gives her an awkward nod and then turns back to Willow.] We learned something to- the girl in that letter we found with the map? She's not ill at all. Someone lured those people into some sort of trap. And, even worse, we might have figured out an origin for this... zombie invasion.

[olreliable]

[Willow's eyes widen and she heads for the old woman.]

Okay, this way... [Shit is gonna get real and they need to drop off this lady first. And probably not saying traumatizing things around her. So Willow will just guide her for the tavern or something.]

[pickyourbattles]

[ aurelius picks up on that vibe and also doesn't ask questions yet but he's clearly BURSTING AT THE SEAMS ABOUT IT ]

[count_strahd_von_zarovich]

[They quickly return to the barricade and assist the old woman in climbing to (relative) safely. As she enters the tavern, there are sarcastic greetings and hushed curses. It would seem "Mad Mary" has a bit of a reputation among the townsfolk.]

[Ismark still sits sipping from his wine. The trio of Vistani are assisting Ashlyn in reinforcing some of the barricades. The party can speak with anyone they'd like, or they can get some privacy to discuss matters amongst themselves.]

[somepagesturn]

[Paige is on this shit. Once they've safely tucked the lady somewhere, she leads the group to a quiet corner so they can share each other's findings.]

Did any of you hear about a man named Strahd while you were out?

[autorevive]

Can we talk about the cat lady now that she's gone, though? [HE WAS DOING SO WELL HOLDING IT IN ALL THIS TIME!!!!] Are we even sure her daughter's real?

[pickyourbattles]

If she is, I feel rather sorry for her. But it's... difficult to say.

Who's this Strahd fellow?

[olreliable]

[Willow just shakes her head, adding to Aurelius' question.]

All we heard about was the daughter. Why? What's up?

[somepagesturn]

Well, apparently, before all this started, Strahd got into a big kerfuffle with one of the people responsible for protecting this town. Not a day later, the werewolves and the undead appeared, and the man was poisoned, leaving the town unprotected.

That man was the father of the woman whose name was mentioned in the letter- the brother of a man named Ismark we spoke to. Whatever's happening here, it seems to come back to Strahd and that family.

[autorevive]

[he takes in this information like it's the first time he's hearing it because he only has like two braincells to rub together.]

Sounds like a cunt to me.

[pickyourbattles]

Did the man die? [ look, it could be a slow poison death ]

[wanttobeahero]

[ This entire situation keeps getting worse, it seems. And in the back of his mind, he's still thinking of Dovan, hoping he's safe, wherever he is. ]

And...where is Strahd?

[olreliable]

Do we really want to know? I mean... maybe to run in the opposite direction. But he sounds like bad news.

[somepagesturn]

Well, he's clearly someone of great power. And maybe we can talk to him and... convince him to not be so mad at these people. If he is the cause.

[a beat] Besides, if he's powerful, maybe he can help us find Dovan.

[autorevive]

If he doesn't already have him strung up in his torture basement. He seems like the sort of bloke to have a torture basement, doesn't he?

[olreliable]

[Willow feels uncomfortable agreeing with Nathan but she sort of does.]

I guess we don't have much of a choice but to see what he knows about Dovan, helping out around here, or if he can help us get home.

[Thats a lot of things to hope a bad guy will tell them tho. This is gonna end so bad.]

[wanttobeahero]

Yeah. He does. [ Also agreeing with Nathan. ]

He probably won't want to help us, but even people like him can sometimes be talked into helping if we're nice. Maybe there's something we can help him with in return.

[ Can being the operative word because some people are just so bad they would just laugh at anyone who was nice to them. And then kill them. But he knows from his grandfather that making a deal is often the only way. Hopefully they don't have to go down that road, though, because that is definitely bad news. ]

[somepagesturn]

Exactly, Henry. I'm hoping we can work out whatever disagreement he has with the Barovians. Then everyone wins.

[She's... actually really optimistic this will be exactly what happens. Poor lamb.]

[autorevive]

Yeah, he plays nice with the Barovians if we mop the blood off his torture basement floor. [look at y'all like y'all bitches crazy.]

[pickyourbattles]

If it's our only lead... [ aurelius is clearly not happy about this either, shooting a look at willow to express his uncertainty ] I think we have to try.

[olreliable]

Well...no time like the present? [So...not confident in this plan...]

Where do we think he is?

[somepagesturn]

I think we should track down this woman in the letter first. If nothing else, she might know where to find him, but I'm curious as to why she, of all people, was mentioned to lure those men here.

[pickyourbattles]

Good idea. Perhaps we can ask the paladin?

[autorevive]

OI! PALADIN! [/so helpful.]

[count_strahd_von_zarovich]

[Ashlyn takes a break from overseeing the fortification of the barricades to come see what's going down when Nathan calls her. She trots confidently over;]

Oi yourself, fancy hat. [She grins.] What d'ya need?