[Curse of Strahd] Session I

We begin with everyone introducing their characters, who are all coincidentally traveling together on a merchant caravan.

• Ariadne Weaver ♀ Dhampir half-elf fighter, rat-catcher extraordinaire w/partially sundered & patchwork soul (hence dhampir nature) due to a run in with a phase spider
• Spindle ♀ familiar. Remnants of original phase spider, otherwise a blue-white tarantula
• Coswald ♂ High elf wizard, a historian who has decided to expand into arcane lore
• Echo Silence ♂ Kobold paladin, protector of the oppressed & lover of dragons
• Sorshaa ♀ Harengon rogue, dagger-loving thug that understands friendship

Sleep in the colourful forest of Rotak is fitful, eventually waking to an exceedingly dim dawn. The camp is gone. Their packs are missing. All each of them have is their bedroll and what they were wearing that night (dagger for the rogue, 150gp for Echo’s “bed”, and that’s it); as it happens, Spindle was sleeping on Coswald’s spellbook that night, so it came with them.

They’re not in Rotak anymore, but some dim, dun forest of thick fog. Searching the immediate area doesn’t pull up any information as to where they are beyond “not home.” They forage some makeshift clubs & staves. Eventually, they find a twisted, winding road that should hopefully lead to civilization. It’s slow-going, but by mid-day, they see lights off the side of the road; three drab, scared humans with pitchforks & torches.

• Bebriska [40, ♀ human] Anxious, hands randomly grip & grasp the air in a tic, very flat affect
• Nyanka [20, ♀ human] Stressed, premature grey, presumptive widow of a lost wizard husband
• Viggo [22, ♂ human] Riddled with rickets, very knowledgeable of Barovia’s flora

There’s some back-and-forth before productive dialogue begins, as they initially think Echo to be some kind of fiend, Sorshaa to be a beast, Ariadne an ill omen, & Coswald an unsettling fellow. Honestly, them all being in their bedclothes helps them in this instance. The humans are locals who got desperate & decided to try to leave the land & its curse, but can’t make any further progress without the Mist stopping them. Some Persuasion later, they agree to act as guides back to civilization in exchange for protection, the three having given up hope of escaping.

It’s during the rest of the day & into the night for their camp that they learn some of the lay of the land; its ruler, their woes, some Vistani slurs, etc. Sometime during the next day of travel, they come upon a ruined ‘hamlet’ (like six buildings along the road. The tallest building, a three-story brickwork affair, has two crying children in front. They speak of their parents fighting a monster in the basement, of how they forgot their baby brother in the nursery.