Ravenloft game thread

Lysander leads the party down the south (left) path.
A moaning sob floats through the still, gray streets, coloring your thoughts with sadness. The sounds flow from a dark, two-story townhouse, 60ft down the road.

The house is barricaded up from the inside. However, the door is not, and opens with a creak. The crying comes from upstairs.

---

Divine Sense lasts only 2 turns (12s), so no

A woman sits in the middle of the floor of an upstairs bedroom. She is lost in her sorrow and despondency. She barely recognizes your presence in the room, and continues weeping.

"The...the...poor girl...I let her rot here...confined...I thought she would be safe? ...sob...why, why did you run? Oh Gertruda...she must be dead by now...Gertruda!"

She seems too upset to talk, almost beyond sanity. You notice she is poor, wearing stitched-up clothing, and is a little weak from malnutrition.

"Oh...my sweet girl! Thanks be to you...but, you can't save her...there is no hope here, only DESPAIR! But it's my fault, all mine. Please, if you find her body, return it to me...I can only fear the worst. She is a young Barovian woman, so innocent and sweet, with curly brown hair and bright green eyes...she wears a brown ribbon and has a mark...a mark on her wrist. Please find her so I can mourn her true fate. Clearly you are not from here, you smell so different...but soon you will be the same as all of us! I ask you leave me to my sorrows. There is little I can do to repay your kind words and actions."

She talks to the group as if one entity, perhaps too distraught to entertain you each as individuals.

The lady tries to compose myself: "I suppose I am as fit as any to tell you. In that I am not. It's been several hundred years since our village was trapped like this, at least as anyone can determine. We work hard to sustain our community but there is little we can do to grow strong crops. That creature, Strahd, who calls himself Vampyr, dwells in an old castle high in the sky. When you are outside, look to the North West and your may hear great thunderclouds signalling it's eternal presence. Sometimes you can see it high above Barovia when the fog is a little clearer.

My name is Mary. I doubt you shall now me much longer for I feel I will perish in my grief soon.

The Burgomaster lives just at the bottom of this road. He is the wealthiest person in our community, but his mansion is boarded up just like all of our buildings. For at night, he comes with his wolves...

He has two children, Ireena and Ismark. I do not know why he has sent for you, for it is an extreme unkindness to trap you here. There is no way out...I hope his intentions are true and honorable

As for my daughter, she fled my care. I kept her trapped here for her own safety"

Although she seemed to have calmed for talking you through the situation, bringing up her daughter again seems to cause her more stress. She falls silent and sullen.