The party arrives at a Vistani camp on a hilltop overlooking the town of Vallaki. They learn that the daughter of the Vistani leader, Luvash, has gone missing. Determined to find her in the morning, the heroes spend the night in the hovel of Kasimir, a dusk elf living among the Vistani.

Player Characters: Eliza, Gydean, Kane, Lemoni, Nyr, Pera

Part 2: The Seer

I.
The sword discovered by the heroes in the Old Bonegrinder was the Sunsword, a powerful weapon from whose hilt shined forth a blade of sunlight. Now it revealed to the heroes a vision of the distant past.

There was a wedding in a grand castle. A beautiful young woman and a handsome knight were wedded before all the people of the land. The soon to be newlyweds were beloved by everyone. Among the bride’s maids at the wedding there was even a tabaxi from a faraway land.

However, one person was not happy at the wedding. It was the groom’s older brother, a dark brooding prince. He hid in the shadows and watched the procession from afar.

In a flash of light, the wedding scene was gone. Now it was a dark, stormy night upon the ramparts of the castle. The knight and the prince were fighting upon the castle walls. The knight did not have the heart to harm his brother, but the prince had no such restraint. He slew his own brother cruelly, and the knight fell from the high wall of the keep. Only when he saw the blood on his hands did the horror of his deed dawn upon the prince. But by then, it was too late.

The prince then tried to take his brother’s wife as his own bride. But she was horrified by what he had done. In sorrow and despair at the loss of her beloved, she cast herself from the tower of the castle and fell into the mists. But her body was never recovered.

The knight had a mystical sword with a blade of crystal. It was the Sunsword when it was once whole. The prince feared the power of his brother’s sword, so he tasked his head wizard with destroying it. The wizard was only partly successful and the crystal blade was destroyed. But before he could complete his task, his apprentice stole the sword hilt and fled into the woods. His body was later discovered, mutilated beyond recognition by vicious claws and teeth. But the sword hilt could not be found. It was lost in the lands of Barovia until a raven found it and brought it into her nest.

And now it was in the hands of adventurers from beyond the mists. But the sword was no longer a weapon of pure good and strength. Now it was seething with anger and wanted only vengeance. Gydean could sense as much when he held the sword hilt in his hand.

The heroes had all witnessed the vision in the flash of light. Yet none but Gydean saw that the woman from the vision looked just like the young Barovian woman named Ireena whom they had rescued from the hags of the mill. He kept his peace and said nothing to the others for the time being.

II.
Now the heroes were ready to continue. Ireena and Ismark joined them as they set out for Vallaki once more. But Casaba was nowhere to be seen. They imagined he must have gone off on goblin business. In truth, he had set off on his own quest to spread his name across the land. He would see to it that the people of the valley knew that Casaba was the greatest goblin who ever lived.

The party continued along the road. At midday, they came to a path with a fallen tree. Inside the log of the tree, they found a bundle of common clothes. The clothes had a canine musk to them. The heroes thought it might be useful later and took the bundle with them.

As they continued, they noticed that a flock of ravens began to gather around them. They wondered if these might be the same ravens that they had seen before. But before they could investigate, the ravens scattered and flew toward the west, once again in the direction of the Town of Vallaki.

As the sky grew dark, the heroes saw the silhouette of a large town nestled beneath a hill. A few of the lights could be seen in the taller buildings that peeked over town’s palisades. Further west just beyond the town, there stretched a river flowing from the south and feeding a wide lake north of the town whose dark waters spread as far as their eyes could see.

The base of the hill was encircled by seven decrepit hovels. Upon the hilltop, there was a ring of wagons around the light of a bonfire. The sounds of singing and laughter came from the top of the hill. The heroes realized they were standing before the Town of Vallaki and a Vistani camp. They had had good dealings with the Vistani so far, so they opted to approach the camp rather than trying to enter the town at night which might draw unwanted suspicion.

As they walked up the hill, they saw guards standing watch outside the hovels. They were somber looking folk who looked different from the Vistani and the two Barovians traveling with the party. These guards had a grey complexion, dark hair, and the pointed ears of elves, although they looked nothing like any elves the heroes had seen before. The heroes wondered if these were the dusk elves spoken of by Madam Eva. Gydean, in his travels, had heard of the dusk elves, but he had never seen them before. He thought it curious that the rumors said there were only adult male dusk elves, no women or children among them.

Sitting around the campfire were several dozen Vistani. The Vistani at this camp did not seem as friendly as those they had met before. At first, they fell silent and looked at the party with a mixture of curiosity, fear, and suspicion. But when the heroes mentioned that they had been sent by Madam Eva, the Vistani suffered them to share their fire.

To lighten the mood, Kane asked them to sing a song. One of the leaders of the camp, a man named Luvash, began to sing his daughter’s favorite song which told the tale of weretigers and wereravens. After singing a few drunken lines, he suddenly burst into tears. Evidently his daughter had gone missing. The members of the camp looked everywhere but to no avail. The last person to see her was a Vistani named Alexei who saw her walking north toward the lake shortly before she vanished.

The co-leader of the camp, an angry looking man named Arrigal whose face was a permanent scowl, told the heroes they were welcome to stay in the camp if they could find Luvash’s daughter, knowing that this was a nearly impossible task at night, especially for strangers who did not know the land. Otherwise, they could seek shelter in the Town of Vallaki instead.

Ismark was eager to head to town, but he feared that the guards might not let strangers into the gates at night. Ireena on the other hand felt sorry for Luvash and wished to help the Vistani find the missing girl. It was then that the party noticed someone else sitting beside the bonfire. She was a tabaxi woman who looked much like one of the bride’s maids from the vision of the wedding.

III.
The tabaxi’s name was Lemoni. She herself was uncertain how she had arrived here. In truth, Lemoni came from the distant past. The bride at the wedding was her dear friend Tatyana, and Tatyana’s husband to be was a noble knight named Sergei von Zarovich. After Sergei was slain by his own brother, Lemoni watched helplessly as Tatyana threw herself from the castle into the mist below. She went to look for Tatyana, but she became lost in the mists herself. Then the mists transported her to the present day.

Now the land was much changed. It had become a dark and desolate place full of grim creatures of the night. No one recognized her as a tabaxi or even knew of her people’s name. Everywhere she went, people mistook her for a weretiger or werewolf and shunned her in fear. Only among the Vistani did she find refuge, for the traveling gypsies took pity upon her. Yet Lemoni was not idle or given to self pity. She learned all that she could from the Vistani and mastered the art of the assassin. She swore that the man who killed her friend’s husband and drove her friend to her death would pay dearly for his crimes.

However, Lemoni was taken aback by the sight of Ireena. She looked just like her friend Tatyana who had fallen into the mist.

“Tatyana, is that you?” Lemoni exclaimed. “What has happened? How can you be here?”

Ireena did not know Lemoni. She only saw a feline face with gleaming eyes in the firefight. Ireena gasped and drew back in fright. Ismark step in front of his sister protectively. But a moment later, Ireena looked curiously at the tabaxi as a glimmer of recognition came into her eyes. It lasted only for an instant before it was gone again as if the half formed memory was snatched away.

“Do you know me, creature?” Ireena asked cautiously. “Why do you call me by that name?”

Lemoni was about to answer when she noticed a pair of puncture marks on Ireena’s neck. Upon seeing this, she replied with a question of her own.

“Your neck… What happened to you?”

Ireena had been wearing an unseasonably thick scarf, but as she stepped back in fright, part of the scarf had fallen down, revealing the scars upon her neck. When she realized this, she grew alarmed and quickly raised her scarf. Frightened at the prospect of being discovered, she looked around to see if anyone else had noticed. Fortunately, by now the Vistani had returned to their songs and revelries in an effort to console Luvash. No one other than the party of adventurers had heard what Lemoni had said.

“Tell me what happened to you,” Lemoni insisted.

“Alright, I will tell you the truth,” Ireena said reluctantly. “But not here in front of all these people.”

As Lemoni pressed Ireena, Gydean peered into Ireena’s mind. He sensed that she was hiding something. Upon probing deeper, he made a horrifying discovery. Ireena had been visited by a vampire in the night, and she had been bitten. Feeling the Sunsword raging at his side, Gydean knew that the vampire must be Strahd von Zarovich. Why the vampire had not yet taken Ireena or turned her into his spawn, Ireena did not know. But the fear of the devil’s return had driven Ireena and Ismark to flee their village. They were trying to escape before Strahd finished what he began.

IV.

The heroes, fearful of being driven from the Vistani camp, ushered the tabaxi and their Barovian companions down the hill. They could not stay the night among the Vistani, and they were fearful of approaching the town by night. They decided to take their chances with the dusk elves at the base of the hill.

They approached the largest of the seven hovels, which had three guards standing outside. They explained to the guards that they were weary travelers with nowhere else to stay for the night. One of the guards knocked twice on the door. There came a single knock in reply. The guard curtly nodded and waved the adventurers inside.

Inside the hovel, the disheveled interior was lit by the light of a fire blazing in the hearth. A lone figure sat in a chair facing the flames. He had the same grey complexion and black hair as the dusk elves outside, but his face was lined with weariness and his ears were not pointed like the others. The ragged scars were clearly visible where his ears had been cut and mutilated.

The dusk elf did not acknowledge the visitors or even stir in the least. It was as though he was entranced by the fire. Eliza grew impatient and began to mimic and repeat the words that Madam Eva had spoken as she pulled the fourth card from her deck.

“The Seer. This card will shed light on one who will help you greatly in the battle against darkness… Look for a dusk elf living among the Vistani. He has suffered a great loss and is haunted by dark dreams. Help him, and he will help you in return.”

Only upon hearing these words did the dusk elf in front of the fire wake from his reverie. Then as if noticing the heroes for the first time, he spoke.

“So you are here. Then perhaps it is finally time. Perhaps now I can atone for my sins and bring an end to my dark dreams.”

The dusk elf introduced himself and told the heroes his sad tale. His name was Kasimir Velikov. He and his people came to this land long ago. He had a sister named Patrina who sought great power. She attempted to seduce the master of Castle Ravenloft, Strahd von Zarovich, and become his bride. When they learned of her designs, Kasimir and the other dusk elves slew Patrina by stoning her to death. Upon hearing what had happened, Strahd punished the dusk elves by slaughtering all their women and mutilated Kasimir by cutting off the ends of his ears. Patrina’s remains were borne to the catacombs of Castle Ravenloft where her spirit languished to this day. Having no rest, her spirit visited him in dark dreams each night, tormenting him with guilt for his role in her demise and in bring down the devil’s wrath upon his people.

The heroes asked whether there was a way to restore Patrina to life. Kasimir admitted that there was one place in this land that had the power to bring someone back from beyond the grave. It was called the Amber Temple, high upon the frozen slopes beyond the Tsolenka Pass. It was a place that was built millennia ago to encase the vestiges of ancient gods of surpassing evil. Kasimir suspected that Strahd himself had made a pact with one of those vestiges, granting him power and immortality.

Neither Kasimir nor his people had the strength to mount an expedition to the Amber Temple on their own. But if others would be willing to undertake the dangerous quest of delving into the temple, Kasimir would join them and guide them as he could.

The heroes empathized with Kasimir’s plight, and they now had a glimpse of the evil that Strahd, the man whom Madam Eva had called their enemy, was capable of. But they had another quest at hand first. They were searching for a dead village drown by a river where Madam Eva said they might find a valuable treasure. Kasimir told them that there was only one such place he knew of. It was the ruined village of Berez, located south of Vallaki on the banks of the Luna River. It was a dark and murky place full of strange terrors, ruled by a powerful witch named Baba Lysaga. From the sparse rumors alone, Kasimir judged that it might be nearly as dangerous a place as the Amber Temple.

The heroes now had much to consider. Exploring either the ruins of Berez or the Amber Temple would surely be a dangerous undertaking, but where there is great risk, the rewards are also great. For now, they had another task to complete. In order to ingratiate themselves with the Vistani of this area, they would first search for Luvash’s missing daughter.

To be continued…