[Returning to my later adventures in Barovia with Sylvia, Yli and Tie-Pie]
DAY 344 (11th Alturaik)(February) cont ...
And so as the evening came to an end we returned to the Inn and ate a late supper before heading for our beds.
I chatted to Ireena for a while before retiring, but gained no new information. She is a pleasant enough conversationalist though.
Geyven, as usual paid for everything. He is a good sort!
DAY 345 (12th Alturaik)(February)
I talked to the landlord in the morning, before we set off west to see the wise woman. He only knew that people that set off in that direction didn't come back and warned of strange beasts and
twisted women.
This part of the world was not a good tourist destination it seemed.
I invested in a hamper full of booze, food and other goodies to help smooth the way when we met this wise woman and whatever other raggle taggle gypsy folk she associated with. I stuffed it into my bag of holding with everything else.
We left the town then, and entered a cold and rugged landscape of tall dark pine forests and mist shrouded mountains. The mist lingered everywhere, limiting visibility and sending a shiver down the spine.
As the day wore on we passed over a bridge, then later found a some wolf paw prints (or something wolf-like anyway, neither myself or Sylvia were not sure) in the track.
They lead to a area choked with underbrush were we found the dead body (dead for two weeks) of a villager. On the body we found a letter sealed with a letter 'B'.
The letter read:
''
Hail to thee of might and valour:
I, a lowly servant of the township of Barovia, send honour to thee.
We plead for thy so desperately needed assistance within our community.
The love of my life, Ireena Kolyana, has been afflicted by an evil so
deadly that even the good people of our town cannot protect her.
She languishes from her wound and I would have her saved from this menace.
But I fear the only cure lies within the dreaded walls of the castle,
where none may enter without risking their lives.
There is much wealth in this community. I offer all that might be had
to thee and thy fellows if thou shalt but answer my desperate plea.
Come quickly, for her time is at hand! All that I have shall be thine!
Kolyan Indirovich,
Burgomaster of Barovia
''
Now this was interesting because we had come across another letter earlier (stuffed in the envelope with the strange diary page we had been given in the Weary Horse Inn.
This letter was similar, but where the one we had just found talked of an 'evil so deadly' the earlier one read:
''
The love of my life, Ireena Kolyana, has been cursed by the witches
of Lysaga Hill, and even the good people of our town are powerless
to free her from this enchantment. She wastes away under the witches’
curse and I would have her saved from this menace.
''
Ireena recognised the hand writing of the first letter as her fathers. The letter that talked of the witches then was likely a forgery.
We left the body where it was and continued on our way. After an hour or so we were stopped by an elf that asked us 'What evil do you bring to this forest?' He had a couple of wolves with him.
When I replied that I was a druid and my cousin was a cleric of Sylvanus he relaxed a bit and let us continue. I asked his name and he gave it as Qinnan Thedithas.
As night began to fall we found a decent camp site and settled down to a meal of trail rations and subdued talk. We discussed the events of the day in hushed whispers, feeling the mist about us like a lurking presence. We lit a fire though and that warmed us a little. The magic bedrolls we all have are a tremendous boon in regions like this.
On Ashlyn's watch she heard rustling in the bushes. She quickly woke us all and as we rubbed the sleep from our eyes and drew our weapons there was a tremendous roar and two dire bears charged into the light.
As a druid I have empathy will all animals and attempted to calm them, but they were too enraged or hungry.
Dire bears attack by grabbing you, then slashing with tooth and claw. Fluffy attacked one but was grabbed in a massive bear hug, the poor lad yelping in pain as the bear sunk its teeth into him. As the others backed off I turned into a dire bear myself and met the other one head on, our massive paws swiping at each other.
The bear I was fighting was having the better of me and if I not managed to escape its grasp I'm sure I would have suffered terribly. Sylvia shouted she had a plan though and I disengaged and drew back about twenty feet. Tie-Pie managed to land a Ray of Enfeeblement on one of them and as we scattered Sylvia encircled the bears with a Wall of Thorns.
It was a domain spell and good luck that she had it as it stopped the bears in their tracks and rendered them harmless. I turned into an eagle to get a better view while Yli fired two more arrows through the thorns and killed one of them.
Sylvia cast a Searing Light at the other one then I finished it off with a Splinter Bolt.
As the other bear breathed its last I suddenly realised that in all that heap of fur and thorns was poor Fluffy! He had not stepped back when the Thorns hit and in the darkness I had lost track of him.
Sylvia dispelled the thorns and I went to him. He was a whisker away from death but we managed to bring him back with magic healing. Sadly he had lost an eye and that would require greater healing later on. He did look rather dashing when we put an eye-patch over it though.
We had also lost a couple of magic bedrolls, torn up in the thorns.
In the morning Sylvia told me she had received a dream from Sylvanus, who was somewhat miffed at us for killing 'defenceless' bears. Well, they were defenceless only after we had penned them in.
I'm not sure how Sylvia took it, but as far as I was concerned Sylvanus could stick his bears up his arse.
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