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

[count_strahd_von_zarovich]

[The creature roars, angrier than ever, when that holy mojo flows through him. It's oozing black sludge-like blood from it's massive collection of slashes and bullet wounds. Willow attempts to communicate, and it turns to her as Paige's magic burns through it;] Not... again... [Doru falls to his knees, the glimmer of un-life fading from his eyes. The body rapidly decomposes, even as it's falling, leaving little more than a skeleton and a pile of gore.]

[Suddenly all through the town, the cries of the dead tortured souls rises up to a maddening din. And then, it ends in an abrupt silence. The few shambling dead they might have seen heading their way, from the edges of the town or wherever, all instantly stop and fall to the earth, returned to death. Anyone infected also no longer feels sickened. The supernatural disease dies with Doru.]

[pickyourbattles]

... Well. [ aurelius looks around with wild eyes at the falling zombies. and then back at his teammates, concerned ] Is everyone--

[autorevive]

[nathan flips off doru's remains. that'll teach him.] Serves you right, window-licking cunt bastard!

[anyway. he then addresses aurelius.] I'm okay. Except for the whole chunk taken out of my shoulder! [he basically shoves his shoulder in aur's face.] Look at it!

[somepagesturn]

Oh sweet Milil. [Paige gasps and raises her pin to her lips to kiss it, faltering a bit. She's pretty banged up, but she'll endure. Nothing a good night's sleep won't fix.] We actually did it...

[pickyourbattles]

[ aurelius recoils slightly, jaw dropping as he stares at the wound ] We should head back to Ireena, let her know. Maybe the, er, paladin can help with that on the way.

[olreliable]

Maybe we can take a look around before we go? I'd hate to have missed something and have it just end up buried in the rubble.

[count_strahd_von_zarovich]

[Someone in the init plurk had a 20+ search, which is more than enough. Digging about in the rubble, they would find that the corrupted altar survived the blast, with the corpse of the mad priest Danovich lying lifelessly nearby.]

[Amid the ruins, they find the remains of the Lightbringers Thendrick and Mathilda. There are some items among their possessions that are completely undamaged by the explosion, clearly magical. A +2 Greatsword, one suit of +1 Chainmail, Two scrolls of Cure Moderate Wounds, and one Scroll of Restoration.

[Additionally the altar contains the fragment of the Liber Blaspheme that Danovich used to raise his son Doru as a Blaspheme. And there is something curious about it... It's clearly torn from a larger book. Paige knows it's an excerpt from a copy of the Book of the Damned, but there's something more. They've seen the handwriting before. It's a perfect match for the handwriting on the letter they had found - the one that was allegedly from the dead Burgomaster.]

[somepagesturn]

[as soon as the page is found, paige gasps, recognizing the handwriting. (wis 22)] It's that scumsucking jerk Strahd again.

[autorevive]

[nathan grabs at the greatsword as soon as someone else unearths it. don't count on him to do any work by himself tbh.]

I say we murder the shit out of him! [he triumphantly swings the sword around.]

[pickyourbattles]

[ /collects potions like pokemon ] What is he ... getting out of all this?

[olreliable]

[Well, even though Willow found the stuff, she keeps none of it lmfao. It's probably almost comical, like her going HEY GUYS DID YOU SEE THIS-- and then it's gone. Blinking and turning back towards the group, she looks super concerned.]

Sometimes evil just evils for the sake of... evil-ing. [Poetic, really.]

[somepagesturn]

Let's hope not. I think we're gonna have to have a chat with him.

[pickyourbattles]

One thing at a time. Let's see if we can get Ireena to come back with us this time.

[wanttobeahero]

[ They seem to have everything of use, and Henry's with Aurelius. ]

Yeah, good idea.

[autorevive]

Forward, then! TO MURDER! Or, uh, that other shit, too.

[pickyourbattles]

[ /leads the way???? and goes a-knockin' back at ireena's if they don't hit any encounters on the way ]

[count_strahd_von_zarovich]

[All along the way, they see what remains of the risen dead, now lying motionless scattered in the streets. The small town will have a long restoration to face, now that this plague has been brought to an end. The group has a quick and safe journey to Ireena's house.]

Oh, you're back! What the devil happened? There were such horrible noises outside a few moments ago... Has the town square fallen?

[autorevive]

Guess again! We did it! We stopped the zombie apocalypse! Right heroes, we are! [he's so enthused. and still emphatically waving that greatsword around.]

[pickyourbattles]

We found the source of the contagion. A magical incantation cast by a man attempting to bring back his son. [ he sounds sad about it BECAUSE HE IS. ITS SAD even if he was crazy. ]

[count_strahd_von_zarovich]

That's... that's incredible! [She says, flabbergasted, as she wrestles with getting the barricaded door freed.]

If you can handle this, you might be able to help us fight off that devil, Strahd!

[After a few moments she frees the door, and comes out to meet the new heroes of Barovia face to face.]

[somepagesturn]

We intend to... Possibly after a good night's sleep.

[I Want My Spells Back, a story by Paige Lyons.]

[pickyourbattles]

[ aurelius' eyes go wide as saucers, and it takes a moment for his mouth to connect to his brain. when it does, he all but sputters as he stares in disbelief at the woman. ] Aurelian?

[autorevive]

[so oblivious] And you tried to tell me it was like South Korea over here! Look at you, findin' your old mates.

[olreliable]

[Im guessing a wis check of 18 is enough to connect similar features and similar names.]

...Are you two related?

[pickyourbattles]

She's my twin sister!