Mystra's Marked: The Life of the White Witch

Tabitha Lennox

       Tabitha Marie Lennox is from the island of Amarune in the Moonshae Isles in Faerun, and island her family has ruled for hundreds of years. A prophecy has hung over the Lennox family bloodline, a line that has always been passed down through the females, since its beginning. This prophecy foretold that identical girl triplets, born in a month, day, and year that were all multiples of three, would together have the power to save or destroy the world.

       Tabitha is the youngest of identical triplets born in the triple three; the first to be born in five generations. When she and her sisters, Loretha and Agatha, were born, her parents were terrified that the prophecy would come true, so they both decided to split up their children to ensure the prophecy would never come to be. The problem was, they did not both to tell each other of their plans. Their parents were a purely political marriage, they did not love- or even truly like- one another, so their communication was always minimal.

       Their mother made a deal with a mysterious supernatural force, known only as the Mists, and gave up her firstborn, Loretha, to it; she was renamed Sypha. The triplets were only five days old when their mother did this, and neither Tabitha or Agatha were ever told about their eldest sister. Meanwhile, their father made a deal to give up their firstborn to another entity on her sixteenth birthday; he unwittingly made this pact with Lolth. Since this deal was made shortly after Loretha was given up, and her existence was erased from the records, Agatha became the target of their father's deal. Their mother sank into a deep depression that she never shook herself out of; she spent a good portion of the girls' lives drunk.

       Agatha and Tabitha were inseparable until their sixteenth birthday, when Lolth collected on their pact, turning Agatha into a black witch. Tabitha watched in horror as her sister's hair and eyes darkened and her cheery smile twisted into a scowl of contempt. She flew off, telling Tabitha she'd be back for her. Agatha's goal has been to turn Tabitha evil, while Tabitha's goal became saving her sister.

       Tabitha found a book that helped her make a her pact with Mystra to become a white witch, a beacon of good; hoping this would help save Agatha. She's convinced her sister can be saved. After Agatha was taken, their mother mentioned in a drunken stupor that it was because of the prophecy, but Tabitha could only find a prophecy about the Lennox triplets, not twins, so she was convinced it was the drink that made her mother say that. Her father fell into drugs and alcohol when Agatha was taken, leaving Tabitha with no one to help or support her.

       After a disastrous fight with Agatha one year later, Tabitha knew she needed to hide and gain power before she could save her sister. Mystra directed her to the Mists, and even though Barovia isn't a terribly safe place, it's safer than being somewhere Agatha could find her. Tabitha told her parents she wouldn't return until Agatha was saved.

       Tabitha quickly made a name for herself in Barovia, as the White Witch. She healed anyone she saw in need of it, and would try to aid anyone in need to the best of her ability. The Resistance found out about her quickly, and brought her into the fold; they gave her the ability to move through the Mists so she could bring in supplies to help them. Tabitha has been there for two years now, helping in the Resistance and biding her time, waiting to become powerful enough to save Agatha, and hoping her sister doesn't come through the Mists to find her in the meantime.

        Tabitha stands at 5'8 and weighs 158 lbs; she has some curve to her and a modest chest. She has white, alabaster, nearly translucent skin, and a porcelain complexion. Her hair is white, and goes down to her thighs; her eyes are ice blue. In the center of her chest is a silvery scar of Mystra's holy symbol.

The Ravenloft Chronicles- Shit Storm: Book One, Chapter Six

Here There Be Dragons

Dramatis Personae:
Kithri "Quickshadow" Tealeaf, the Lightfoot Halfling Werebat Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter and Ruin Raider
Tilea Aervavil'A'Sum, the Wild Elf Circle of the Moon Druid Barbarian
Scritch, Tilea's Squirrel Animal Companion
Sachi Kno, the Vistani Weremonkey Thief
Forgrotken Anvilrocker, the Blugrim Forge Cleric of Moradin
Belmont Von Richter, the mysterious Human who tends to show up just in the nick of time
Lythana, the Human Werewolf Order of the Ghost Slayer Blood Hunter
Tabitha Marie Lennox, the Human White Witch of Mystra
Nikko, Tabitha's Flying Monkey familiar

Comrades we have lost:
Pineck, Anvil's Horse- turned into soup by a cursed crate

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Kithri's perspective, switching later to Tabitha's, anything in italics is from a third party view, since they can't be everywhere at once. 

***** Hetedik Honap 9, CY 735, Krezk

       I spent a lovely morning in my private rooms, searching through Lythana's books for something- anything- that would help lift my curse. I eventually came upon some sort of ritual, but there weren't enough details for me to go on.

       My studies were interrupted around noon, when we were taken to the Abbey of Saint Markovia. The bloody door wouldn't open until everyone had arrived, which was just damned annoying, but once we were all there it opened on its own. Inside were several elders with the church, along with Belmont and Lythana. Belmont told us we could speak freely in here, so Sachi immediately began singing "consecrate" and Anvil asked for a consecrated weapon- again.

       Once they were done being stupid, Belmont told us that since we kept kicking the bloody hornet's nest, they were going to have to induct us into the Resistance against Strahd. Anvil said Strahd looked squishy and easy to hurt, so Belmont challenged him to give him a mere taste of what we're up against. He brought Anvil to his knees instantly. Belmont said that being in the Resistance meant we had to have synergy and be equal in power, so Sachi challenged him to a fucking race... I hate these arseholes sometimes. Okay, fine, most of the time.

      Sachi was indeed faster than Belmont, no surprise there, but Belmont was able to grab him anyway. As Belmont's arm swung back to punch the monkey, Tilea grabbed his arm with a vine whip. Belmont proceeded to grab Tilea with his own whip and slam her into Sachi. For a moment, it looked like Sachi would just stop, he even said he'd learned his lesson, but then the idiot attacked Belmont again. Belmont snared him in his whip, but fumbled a little, allowing Sachi to break free. Tilea shifted into an enormous beetle of some kind... Then Anvil dumped water on the three of them and told them to cool it.

       Belmont's eyes flashed for a moment, and he yelled "the darkness will never stop, and neither will I!" Then he threw Anvil into Tilea. I didn't feel a need to get involved in this, it wasn't a required test or anything, so I drank tea and watched them get their arses handed to them. Belmont did something to Anvil and Sachi that made them confused, then he did some sort of mass attack against all of us- hurting me badly.

       Eventually we were done with this nonsense and we moved on to the initiations. Tilea went first, and was stabbed in both palms, then she made an oath that she would not leave Barovia until Strahd was killed. Sachi and Anvil did the same, but then we got to me. I told Belmont I could not make this oath, because if I found a way to go home I was taking it, period. My oath was if they helped me go home, I would become the Archivist for the Resistance; something I would love to do, and it allowed me to make an oath I knew I'd keep.

       After our initiation, Belmont told us that the Sun Sword- the original one- was hidden somewhere in Barovia, and there was a scroll that had more information on it, but it was currently in Strahd's possession. The Resistance wanted us to search the Village for it, we said we'd leave first thing in the morning.

***** Hetedik Honap 10, Krezk

       We met up just before dawn and started our trek back to the Village of Barovia. After a couple hours, we came across a group of Vistani who had a flask that Anvil insisted was magic. They tossed it to me to identify, but it was a shitty throw, and the flask hit the ground, its contents spilling out. Sachi snatched it up and began chugging; the bloody thing was cursed, of course.

       A little later, Lythana, Anvil, and Tilea said they thought something was watching us. Then Til said something was wrong with Syn, that the amulet didn't seem to be working and she wasn't responding. I realized the flow of magic was wonky and it was coming from the bad ring of mind shielding that had temporarily booted Syn out of the amulet. To make things even stranger, Sachi began vomiting shit... We stuck the ring in a bag of holding, but it didn't fix the issue. Anvil tried to remove the curse, but instead he began puking shit too. Sachi had taken the empty bag of holding and was puking into it instead. These boys are so bloody disgusting sometimes. Tilea destroyed the ring, and the spirit within it escaped; we don't know where the Hells it went, but after an hour the boys were able to speak again.

       It still felt like something was watching us; almost as if the sky itself was watching us. It was bloody creepy.

       Around noon the others watched to stop in Vallaki for lunch, which was a bad idea, but we were able to get in with no issue, which worried me. Lythana took us to a seedy looking bar where she said we'd be safe enough to rest for a meal. Sachi wanted to set a trap for the Guard Captain, just to fuck with him, which I thought was a fucking stupid idea, but the monkey ignored me. While the rest of us ate, Sachi went shopping, and apparently fucked an old lady for a discount. That monkey is fucking weird.

       When we were done, Sachi and Lythana set up a trap with the shit filled bag of holding for the Captain, while Tilea, Anvil, and I went back to the city gate to wait for them. Not long after we got to the gate, we heard a bell clanging and saw Lythana running toward us. She stopped and began beating on the guards until the Captain showed up... Sachi dumped that entire bag of holding right on top of the poor bastard, and it went right in the bloke's mouth this time. It was fucking hilarious, and disgusting.

       Once they were done with that shit, we continued on our way, and eventually it was time to make camp. We spent a bloody ridiculous amount of time arguing over where we should camp for the night, it was a stupid and pointless argument, but that seems to be the theme with these arseholes.

***** Hetedik Honap 11, Svalich Woods

       Anvil and Tilea really wanted to go to the Old Bonegrinder in the morning. Apparently they ground up the bones of children and cooked them into little cake. I didn't think we were properly equipped to take on a bunch of baby cooking hags at the moment, but the others insisted, so I reluctantly agreed to go with them.

       On our way we came across a Vistani merchant caravan, where we bought 50 pounds of salt and 50 gallons of holy water. I didn't think that would help us much, but whatever.

       There was a huge line at the Bonegrinder of people waiting for their Dream Cakes, so Tilea wanted to make it look like a delivery. The problem was they were fucking stupid, and people in line started accusing us of cutting. I just... I couldn't take anymore of this stupidity. I blew up at those idiots and went to see Belmont about getting home.

***** Tabitha

       I was in the line at the Old Bonegrinder to get my Dream Cakes, when I saw Lythana and a few buffoons walking up the line with what looked like ingredients. As I prepared to call out to my dear friend, the halfling with her started yelling and stormed off. I had Nikko hold my place in line while I went to see what Lythana was up to; she's much more intelligent than that. She told me these people were the Saviors of Barovia, which was honestly a little hard to believe, but I believed her. I called Nikko over to me, I had much to catch up on with my friend, so I wouldn't be getting my Dream Cakes today.

       When we arrived at the gates to the Village of Barovia, the Wives of Talmot were waiting for us. Of course they attacked instantly, and after a few moments, a woman appeared who looked like Agatha, my evil twin, if Aggie had our natural hair and eye colors; but her pact turned her hair as dark as her soul. This woman, Not-Agatha, attacked Tilea. I shot a witch bolt at Not-Agatha, and Tilea shifted into something weird and began beating on her. After exchanging blows a bit more, Sarah did something to try to drop Tilea out of her beast form, but Tilea reflected it back at her, and she turned into a fucking black dragon! This was not good...

       Not-Agatha shot something at Tilea, which she reflected back, and then Not-Agatha reflected it back, then Tilea reflected it back, and Not-Agatha returned it again. As Tilea reflected it back yet again, I called out a blessing to her to aid her in this strike. It didn't hit Not-Agatha, but it didn't bounce back again. Clarah went for Tilea next, but she couldn't land a blow. Apparently Tilea was the primary target for them, probably because of her druidic power. Lythana screamed "run" and charged Sarah.

       I swooped down on my broom and healed Tilea, then swooped back into the air to keep an eye on the others and get them out alive. Tarah shot at Anvil, and Tilea summoned a swarm of wharflings to attack her; then she went after Sachi and Scritch. Sachi ran into the Village screaming "dragon," panicking the villagers. Lythana was parrying Sarah's attacks with ease, and I hoped she'd be able to hold out until we could grab her.

       Farrah grabbed Anvil with her whip, then Not-Agatha shot something at him and vanished. Clarah joined in the assault on him. He managed to hit Clarah hard and tangled the two of them in Farrah's whip. I polymorphed him into a giant eagle so he could fly over the wall, but he paused to give Lythana a boon, and didn't make it to the wall quickly enough. Tarah, Farrah, and Clarah all went at him, killing him quickly.

       Lythana was bound up by Sarah, and I tried to open a dimensional door under her to get her, but Not-Agatha countered my magic twice, and I did not have enough magical energy to try a third time. I had to save my friend somehow.

All maps from the "Curse of Strahd" Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast

The Ravenloft Chronicles- Shit Storm: Book One, Chapter Five

Nowhere is Safe

Dramatis Personae:
Kithri "Quickshadow" Tealeaf, the Lightfoot Halfling Werebat Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter and Ruin Raider
Tilea Aervavil'A'Sum, the Wild Elf Circle of the Moon Druid Barbarian
Scritch, Tilea's Squirrel Animal Companion
Sachi Kno, the Vistani Weremonkey Thief
Forgrotken Anvilrocker, the Blugrim Forge Cleric of Moradin
Belmont Von Richter, the mysterious Human who tends to show up just in the nick of time
Lythana, the Human Werewolf Order of the Ghost Slayer Blood Hunter

Comrades we have lost:
Pineck, Anvil's Horse- turned into soup by a cursed crate

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Kithri's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the Hunter can't be everywhere at once. 

***** Hetedik Honap 6, CY 735, Lythana's safe house in Vallaki

       Lythana cut the amulet from Tilea's neck and bound it. Lythana said they had eight hours to perform a ritual that would put Syn back in the amulet, but she'd need some odd components. 

***** Hetedik Honap 7, Lythana's safe house in Vallaki

       I awoke to Sachi yelling "consecration" at the top of his lungs, just outside my room. I grabbed my whip and walked out, forgetting I was mostly naked, and demanded Sachi tell me what the Hells he was doing. Lythana took one look at me and said it looked like I was ready for a good night- unfortunately there's no good choices here for me to have it with. Then stupid Anvil ran out of his room, grabbed Sachi, and covered his mouth. Lythana and Tilea told us it was safe to say consecrate here, and made Anvil put Sachi down.

       Lythana told us we had three hours to collect some odd components and perform a ritual. We needed to infiltrate Talmot's vault and steal a consecrated dagger; get the still beating heart of a vampire thrall; and something about a lycanthrope that Lythana wouldn't go into detail about. After a brief discussion Sachi and Tilea decided to go to the vault, Anvil and I would go for the thrall, and Lythana would deal with the lycan part.

       Of course the vampire nest was in a ritzy area of town, in a bloody gated community. Anvil wanted to bribe someone living near the wall to let us onto their roof so he could climb the wall that way. While he was doing that, I flew off to scout. As I reached the wall, it flared, and I saw two of the Talmot wives inside the gates. The one with the bow shot me twice, but I somehow managed to keep myself from shifting, and I hurried to find Anvil so he could dig them out of me.

       Since Anvil had apparently failed at the bribery idea, or at least given up on it for now, he decided he wanted to turn himself into a t-rex and smash the wall down, but then he realized he wouldn't be sentient if he did it, and we didn't need to unleash a mindless beast onto the streets. Anvil decided since he was so bloody tall, he could probably jump the wall on his own- and he managed to do it. There was a mob of people on the other side of the wall, and they all backed away in terror. I pointed out a thrall to Anvil, but the big lug accidentally killed that bloke. The second one tried to run when he reached for it, so I tripped it with my whip, and it died... I pointed to the third one and said "if you want to live, come quietly." The bloke frozen in place, allowing Anvil to grab it and run.

       When we returned, Sachi and Tilea ushered Anvil into the other room, and told me Sachi had been briefly captured in their mission, and had learned that Anvil was a spy for Strahd because of the deal he made. We told Lythana as soon as she returned, and she told us we had an hour at most. She brought out some haversacks and told us to pack up everything we could. I went for the books, of course, Sachi gathered the weapons, Tilea the alchemical supplies, and Anvil grabbed everything else. Once we'd packed up, Lythana obtained some really nice horses for us from the innkeeper. As we rode out of town, we saw the Talmot wives.

       We were heading in the direction of Belmont's tower as fast as we could, time was running short for us to complete the ritual. A few minutes after passing a crossroad, Lythana's horse collapsed out from under her. The monk was waiting for us. Lythana tossed her saddle bags at Anvil and told us to keep moving. Anvil stayed behind to help her while Sachi, Tilea, and I kept running for the safe house.

       As we finished setting up the circle, Lythana and Anvil arrived and we were able to truly get it going. Lythana placed the amulet and ring in the circle, pulled out the heart and stabbed it with the werewolf fang, and let it bleed for about a minute before putting it on top of the amulet. Then she stabbed it with the consecrated dagger. A black-looking-thing came out of the amulet and slammed into Lythana. Lythana spent the next two hours thrashing and fighting the thing, in complete silence. Finally a burst of energy shot out, throwing Sachi, Anvil, and I into the wall. Lythana was standing over the amulet, with a twisted, demented look on her face. Tilea threatened it and there was another burst of energy; it was gone! And the consecrated dagger had shattered to pieces. Lythana was laying on the ground unconscious. We made her comfortable and settled in for the day, hoping she'd be okay when she came to.

       After a while we heard hoof prints outside, and looked out to see four blokes in robes. We assumed it was the Wives again, and Sachi suggested we use the necklace of fireballs he'd found on them. They pulled out a philter of love and began soaking arrows in it, hoping to make the Wives turn against Talmot, at least briefly.

       Eventually we cracked open the door to talk to them. It was four old blokes, not the wives. They said they were with the Resistance and were looking for Belmont. I asked them to show us their marks, but Tilea pointed out that with Anvil compromised we couldn't have them reveal themselves. We put a hood on the big blue dummy, to deal with the old blokes. Then I made Anvil strip so we could look for the mark, which was hiding behind his nut sack... I really wish I hadn't seen that. The blokes said the mark won't go away until the agreement is fulfilled, which was apparently that Anvil deliver Syn to Strahd. We all pointed blades at him over that, but before we could do anything else, there was another knock on the door.

       It was one of the Wives this time, the one with whips and blonde pigtails, saying she wanted to "talk." We opened the door and Scritch chucked the necklace of fireballs at her, but he messed it up and hit me instead. Then there was a massive explosion outside. When the smoked cleared, the Wife was gone. Instead, the monk was standing about 300 feet away with a cannon, looking confused.

       The monk tried to fire again, and the cannon jammed, so she started walking toward us. Anvil sprinted toward her, Tilea, Sachi, and I all shifted and followed Anvil. The monk turned to mist and a strange glow came from the tower. When the monk reappeared she missed Tilea with several blows, then parried all of our attacks. She hit Anvil with a staff and did some odd strike to me that rocked me to the core. The monk had been using a bow, so I snagged it with my whip and flung it behind me; Lythana caught it before it flew into the tower.

       Tilea managed to score a brutal looking hit on the monk, just as Lythana reached us. The monk threw Lythana and hit Sachi and Tilea hard. Of course the monk parried my whip attacks too. This was bloody ridiculous. This continued for what felt like ages, exchanging blows with her, though we almost never hit. I don't know how in the bloody Hells we're supposed to defeat a bloke we can't hit. Suddenly, a burst of golden energy seemed to come from nowhere. It felt nice, peaceful, except to the monk who screamed in agony, turned into mist, and fled.

       Tilea took the monk's bow and stuffed it in the mountain of monkey poo from last time we were here. Then I had to bully Sachi into stripping so we could check him for a mark, and found Talmot's hiding behind his balls. Tilea, knowing that Talmot could hear her, challenged him to come face us. About five minutes later, Talmot knocked down the door and asked who dared challenge him.

       Tilea told him to knock, not be rude, so he animated the door to knock on Til's head. He couldn't enter the tower though, I think it was hallowed ground. After a couple more hours, Talmot began trying to break down the wall. Tilea responded by dropping a moonbeam on him, making the vampire scream and fly away. Then for some stupid fucking reason, Tilea started cussing him out and insulting him as he flew sway. I thought she was one of the saner people in this little group, but apparently I was bloody wrong. These people are all stupid. I just want to go home.

       Lythana recommended we leave, and it was a bloody good thing we listened; meteors began raining down on the tower. It finally stopped after about ten minutes. Apparently Til had really pissed him off.

       We headed deep into the forest, to a cave Lythana used sometimes to lay low, and settled down to rest.

***** Hetedik Honap 8, Svalich Woods, Lythana's cave

       After about four hours of rest, a storm began, and it felt like the thunder was moving closer. Tilea said Syn warned her we need to run. The Executioner was coming; a colossal sized undead frost giant. He was so massive we could see him from where we hid, and it looked like every step he took caused the storm to crackle.

       Lythana told us to follow her and we ran to Krezk, a little village not far from where we were. The guards let us in the moment they saw Lythana's face. Once we were in Lythana told Sachi and Anvil to make their peace, they had until dawn. Tilea and I were led to little rooms in the village, while Anvil and Sachi were taken elsewhere.

       This place felt peaceful and relaxed; that oppression felt pretty much everywhere in this realm was gone. I liked it here.

       In the morning we were treated to a lavish breakfast, then Lythana took Tilea and I to where they were performing the ritual to remove the marks on Sachi and Anvil. They couldn't fulfill their oaths, obviously, so instead they had to be broken for them... by chopping off their heads, then bringing them back to life. Death broke the contracts and removed the marks.

       The villagers invited us to stay as long as we wanted, which sounded lovely to me.

       Sachi and Anvil decided to make me strip to check for marks too, even though I was clean. Since I'd bullied them into getting naked yesterday, I rolled my eyes and stripped. Sachi grabbed my tit and honked it, then ran. I flew after him, caught him in my whip, and flew back, still tangled in my whip, while he apologized. As everyone laughed, I gathered my clothing.

All maps from the "Curse of Strahd" Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast

The Ravenloft Chronicles- Shit Storm: Book One, Chapter Four

It's Raining Vamps

Dramatis Personae:
Kithri "Quickshadow" Tealeaf, the Lightfoot Halfling Werebat Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter and Ruin Raider
Tilea Aervavil'A'Sum, the Wild Elf Circle of the Moon Druid Barbarian
Scritch, Tilea's Squirrel Animal Companion
Sachi Kno, the Vistani Weremonkey Thief
Forgrotken Anvilrocker, the Blugrim Forge Cleric of Moradin
Lythana, the Vistani Werewolf Order of the Ghost Slayer Blood Hunter

Comrades we have lost:
Pineck, Anvil's Horse- turned into soup by a cursed crate

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Kithri's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the Hunter can't be everywhere at once. 

***** Hetedik Honap 5, CY 735, Blood of the Vine Tavern, Village of Barovia

       Over breakfast Tilea randomly decided to toss that creepy baby skull necklace at Sachi... and it began to strangle him instantly. I'm starting to think he's right about Tilea hating lycanthropes. I managed to help him get out of the chain and he tossed shit at Tilea, which was honestly rather amusing.

       Right after this nonsense, there was a knock at the door; a terrified looking serving girl and a group of guards were on the other side. Apparently this little tussle had drawn some attention. Sachi told the guards Tilea had just tried to kill him, and they didn't believe him; instead, they demanded he clean up his shit, and wouldn't let any of us leave the breakfast room until it was done.

       Lythana had slipped out and was over at the bar. I ordered whatever she was having, and got completely tossed from a single drink. I stumbled back upstairs to pass out again.

       A few hours later, I was making tea over the fire in my private room, and I saw a shadow of a humanoid figure out of the corner of my eye. I pretended I didn't see it and went through the motions of making my tea, keeping a sharp eye out for the ambush I was certain was coming.

       A red-head Vistani woman with strikingly beautiful violet eyes struck me; she was holding a blackened bow with silver arrows... and here I was, in my bloody small clothes. I scooped up my whip, slashed at the bitch, and ran out of my room, into the shared living room off our chambers. There, Tilea was facing off with a Vistani woman with golden blonde hair, holding a twisted looking whip. Tilea shifted into a dogmole and charged the one with the whip, while I continued to use my whip on the bitch with the bow. The one with the whip managed to ensnare me in it, but I was able to keep her from throwing me into Tilea; Til slashed at her with her razor-sharp claws. I wriggled free of the whip quickly, and the one with the bow shot Tilea- good thing she's not a lycan. Til scored what was apparently a nasty hit on the one with the bow; right after her claws connected, the bitch said "we'll be back," dropped something to the ground, and vanished- the other woman did the same.

       Sachi and Anvil walked in right after that- apparently Anvil had been taken down by a black-haired woman with a staff, and a platinum-blonde woman with two blades had gone after Sachi; she lost him though, the little bugger is just too quick. Anvil had just finished digging the barbed silver arrows out of me when the guards showed up. We quickly told them what happened, and I guess they'd look into it, they didn't react much.

       Lythana walked in as the guards were leaving. She told us those four women were the Wives of Talmot. Baron Talmot is a newer vampire lord, something of an up-and-comer, who has four wives. She said he was after that creepy necklace Tilea was wearing, and we had to get out of there before they returned. Until we hid the amulet, they'd be after us.

       We found a grave as we traveled, which Sachi insisted we dig up; Anvil was vehemently against this for some reason. Lythana began digging, and as Sachi moved to help, Anvil grabbed him and attempted to restrain him to keep him from helping. I don't see what the problem was, if they're dead it's perfectly fine to steal from them; but I suppose an archaeologist has a different point of view on this than many people. There was nothing useful in the grave, so Lythana salted and burned it.

       Lythana took us to a little village that wasn't on any map I've seen, nor have I heard of, and we were greeted to a group of werebears. She told them the Wives had gotten wind of us and we were in need of sanctuary. The bears led us into a lodge to a secret set of stairs; after going down about a mile, we entered a large, circular chamber to stay the night in.

       After a couple hours, we could hear the bears snarling at something, but we couldn't tell what; we figured it was in our best interest to stay put. A couple hours later, the growls got more energetic. Not long after that, the growls became pained. We heard some footsteps, then a knock at the door.

***** Hetedik Honap 6, Secret Werebear Sanctuary

       Sachi wanted to open the door, but Tilea used a thorn whip to haul him away from it. The knocking continued, but it sounded off somehow. Anvil rushed to the door while Tilea was dealing with the monkey, and found the source of the knocking to be dead bodies. They were being rolled down the stairs and the knocks were the bodies hitting the door. Sachi moved to check a body, and it bit him; bloody vampires. Anvil hit it with a pillar of radiance and slammed the door.

       We decided we needed to face this directly, so we headed out. Not far up the stairs was a bear fighting that monk we'd seen earlier and two vampires. Sachi and I were small enough to just go under the bear to deal with the vamps... That was a really stupid idea. I moved to whip a vampire, and somehow it got tangled around the bear's balls... I neutered the poor bloke; then the nut sack fell right on Sachi's face!

       The monk turned to mist and vanished, just as a massive wave of ghouls started coming down the stairs at us. Anvil threw the bear corpse at the ghouls and Sachi threw the nut sack at a vampire... it went straight down its throat and the vampire choked to death on a nut sack! Anvil told us to give him some room and he began lighting up the ghouls. Sachi, Lythana, and I were able to just run up the tunnel over the ghouls- I flew- while Anvil set up a spell that made spectral blugrim begin swirling 'round him, killing them quickly. Tilea stayed with him and took out any that survived Anvil.

       That monk was waiting outside when we got there, and she just stood there while we slaughtered the vampires waiting with her. When Tilea and Anvil reached us, a dominant feminine voice came from the monk, saying "enough, children! Give us-" I interjected and asked if we could just have a cup of tea and talk like civilized people... she said yes! I was beyond flustered by the response, but we sat down and set up a little fire to brew some tea, and I pulled out my travel cups.

       She wanted that creepy amulet of Tilea's, and when I attempted to talk her out of it, she told me if I told her who had the amulet, Strahd would send me home. Before I could even register that offer, Anvil hurriedly said Tilea had it. Anvil vanished and the monk told the vampires we hadn't killed to get her. A spectral doorway opened under Tilea as the vampires moved toward her, and another one opened a thousand feet above us. Sachi yelled at them to go after her, and the idiots did... It was raining vampires. The monk glared at Sachi, so he jumped through the doorway, I followed, doing a perfect dive, and catching the monkey. The monk actually followed us.

       Tilea dropped a moonbeam in the area the vampires would be falling through, scorching them as they tumbled to their dooms. Anvil randomly appeared in the air with us, and Sachi gave him an immovable rod to help slow his fall. A swarm of flying squirrels appeared and helped Tilea get away. Sachi and I flew off on our own; Anvil eventually wandered off; we had no idea where Lythana had gone.

       In the morning there was a small group of Vistani camped out at the base of the tree Sachi and I had slept in. We joined them for breakfast and I gifted them a bunch of tea. Everyone needs good tea.

       We began heading toward Vallaki after breakfast, since we'd briefly discussed that last night before everything went to Hells. Sure enough, Tilea was there and Anvil was just arriving. There were some merchants just outside the gates so we were able to get things together to disguise ourselves; I was sure that guard captain hadn't forgotten about us. Tilea's stupid amulet came up and they instantly sent for Belmont.

       Not long after that, Lythana and an old Vistani woman arrived; the woman gave us each a reading from her Tarokka Deck. The reading she gave me was not pleasant; I was destined to return to Barovia over and over, it was my true home, and what I seek will not set me free. She then drew a card that represented all of us, and said we seek the same thing, we just don't know it yet. I felt power well up, then the woman vanished in a puff of smoke.

       It took five long hours to disguise ourselves cosmetically. We made Anvil up to look like a goliath, Tilea was a high elf, I was a gnome, and Sachi was a halfling. Lythana got us into the city and took us toward an inn where we were taken to a secret room. It was lovely; Lythana's personal chambers. I retired to my room and climbed into a nice hot bath, then settled down in a cushy bed with silky sheets. It was glorious.

        Anvil gave Tilea a ring of mind shielding to help her hide the amulet. Tilea decided to have Syn, the little girl in the amulet, try to attune herself to the magics instead. After a bit, Syn got quiet; she'd gone in the ring and something else had moved into the amulet. Once everyone else was in bed, Tilea explained everything to Lythana. The Vistani looked at her and said "I'm sorry. I'll make this as painless as possible." She lunged at Tilea. 

Blood of the Vine Tavern

All maps from the "Curse of Strahd" Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast

The Ravenloft Chronicles- Shit Storm: Book One, Chapter Three

The Saviors of Barovia

Dramatis Personae:
Kithri "Quickshadow" Tealeaf, the Lightfoot Halfling Werebat Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter and Ruin Raider
Tilea Aervavil'A'Sum, the Wild Elf Circle of the Moon Druid Barbarian
Scritch, Tilea's Squirrel Animal Companion
Sachi Kno, the Vistani Weremonkey Thief
Forgrotken Anvilrocker, the Blugrim Forge Cleric of Moradin
Pineck, Anvil's Horse
Lythana, the Human Werewolf Order of the Ghost Slayer Blood Hunter

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Kithri's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view, since the Hunter can't be everywhere at once. 

***** Hetedik Honap 3, CY 735, Svalich Woods

       I realized quickly that I was in a maze, and was able to get meself out of it quickly. I emerged to see the wolves all snarling at Sachi and Anvil. Anvil scooped up Sachi and ran toward the exit- the maze- putting up a wall of force to prevent the wolves from following. I caught up to Anvil in the maze quickly, but there was no sign of Sachi. I told Anvil we were in a maze, and had to think ourselves out of it, and that I thought Tilea was in trouble.

       Almost instantly, Bruno- Tilea's dog- tackled me, happy to find someone in the maze. I calmed him down quickly. I hoped if I focused on him I'd be able to take him out of the maze quickly, so I wrapped my arms around splitting my focus between the pup in my arms and leaving this stupid bloody maze. Thank the gods, it worked!

       Tilea was on the other side of the cave's exterior, spraying her chalice at full blast at a person who was wrapped in cloth like a mummy This was the monk Aurora faced the last time her group was in Barovia. Then a Vistani woman appeared and went after this mummy-monk. Tilea dropped a moonbeam on it, which then made Sachi turn human instead of attacking this bloke. The monk and the Vistani woman exchanged blows while I flew over and missed the mummy-monk with me whip. The monk then scored a few nasty hits on Anvil, before vanishing into thin air.

       Tilea hurried into the cave to try to calm down the wolves, but it didn't work; Strahd's hold on them was too firm and they were now coming at us. Anvil and I killed one while Tilea continued trying to dominate the others. Sachi went to help the Vistani woman face off with another one, which she killed instantly. I whipped another one and Anvil set it on fire, then I finished it off with my whip. Sachi tried to hide behind the Vistani woman as a wolf went for him, but she threw him at the wolf instead. Tilea gave up on dominating the wolves and joined us in taking them out. We finished the rest off quickly.

       The Vistani woman introduced herself as Lythana, and said Belmont had sent her to help us. She got the gloves off of Sachi, with a Blood Rite, but she wasn't with my Order, and took great offense to my inquiry about it. We told her about how Sachi has gotten us kicked out of Vallaki, and Anvil has pretty much driven himself out of the Village of Barovia by asking about consecration.

       Lythana set up a fire to prevent Sachi and I from shifting, since it was still the full moon.

***** Hetedik Honap 4, Svalich Woods

       When it was time to wake Tilea for her watch, I couldn't get her to come out of reverie. It was a bit worrisome, but I'm not a healer or mage, so there was nothing I could do for her. I just took an extra couple hours for watch.

       Not long before dawn, Sachi heard something dragging out in the woods. He went to go investigate, was hit by the moon, and jumped back into our circle of firelight. Lythana said something was dying out there, so Anvil and I went to investigate. We found a human, who died as soon as we arrived, his last words unintelligible, even for my sensitive hearing. Clutched in his grasp was an executioner's hood, which Anvil wanted. The bloke literally had a death grip on the hood, so Anvil wanted to cut his arm off to take it back with us, but I talked him out of it, and we stuffed the body in a tree.

       We decided we needed something to contain the cursed shit we've been finding, so Tilea and I headed to town. We managed to find a bag of holding for two vials of some substance that lycanthropes think smells bad, all of our gold, and- per the merchant's insistence- I had to shift into me hybrid form.

       The boys had found more cursed shit while we were gone. Apparently Sachi put the gloves back on and found a book with a necromantic nursery rhyme. Lythana had cut off the bloke with the hood's arm, and Sachi's new book turned it into a crawling claw. We loaded all of the cursed crap into the bag of holding, but as Anvil went to put an amulet he'd snagged off the body from last night into the bag, he moved to put it on. Sachi grabbed it, but Anvil held on; now they both wanted the bloody thing. Tilea tried to grab it with the bag, but it didn't work, so Lythana chucked a dagger at it, breaking the chain and destroying the amulet.

       Anvil asked us what that was about, and I told him it looked like he was about to put it on. His oh so mature response was "well, you look pretty stupid." I whipped the stupid bloke, because I was sick of his shit. He looked at me and said "my poop is bigger than you," then walked away. How in the Nine did I get stuck with these stupid bastards?! I need to get home.

       Lythana said she wanted to head to the Village of Barovia because she could keep us better protected there; even though Anvil couldn't really be seen there, she didn't think there'd be an issue. About half an hour later we found a piece of paper in the road... probably cursed. I managed to keep Sachi from snatching it up by pointing out what has happened every time he's picked up something random. Instead, he unfolded it with a pair of sticks to see what was on it. He said there was a picture of his (imaginary) friend on it, and bent to pick it up; the paper was blank as far as we could tell. Anvil picked up Sachi to get him away from the paper and a monkey appeared, it looked like an evil Sachi; Lythana killed it instantly.

       I tried to pick up the paper with sticks to get it in the bag, but it fluttered away and hit Tilea in the face. An evil owlbear appeared, so Tilea threw the paper in the bag... Lythana realized the owlbear was also in the bag and shot it, causing the bag we'd just spent all of our money on to explode. She was right though, the owlbear was still there, and it was on fire. We killed it instantly. On the plus side, every cursed item we'd found was now destroyed... except for the bloody gloves. Tilea stabbed the gloves with her moonblade and they vanished.

       Sachi and Anvil began fighting over the existence of evil, which Anvil apparently doesn't believe exists. Sachi attempted to curse Anvil to beleive in it and failed miserably. Once their stupid argument was done, we resumed our course toward town.

       When we were about a mile outside of town, we came upon what appeared to be the wreckage of a merchant's wagon. Anvil found a small crate in it, and ignored my warning that it was probably cursed, like every other bloody thing we've found here. He put it on Pineck and the horse vanished. Anvil opened up the crate and what could only be described as liquefied horse came flowing out, along with a silvery hairball- a wig. Sachi announced he was going to smash the crate, so Anvil swung at him. Sachi flipped the crate around so Anvil would hit it instead, and as soon as his weapon connected he dropped. Tilea shoved a goodberry down Anvil's throat to revive him.

       I picked up the wig with my sword and carried it out in front of me. After a few moments, Anvil convinced Sachi to put the wig in a scroll case and then in a bag; they attached the bag to the end of my sword. I didn't want to risk touching a cursed object.

       A strange shadow then enveloped all of us. Lythana began running toward town, saying everyone would die if we didn't do something. She summoned a spectral mount and took off, Sachi grabbed onto her. I tossed the wig bag aside and shifted into my tiny form, while Tilea turned into a horse that could carry Anvil; I grabbed on.

       Just as we reached town, and the shadow reached the center of town, Tilea and I lost our forms. The entire village was in a frenzy, everyone terrified of what may be coming. Lythana told us that Strahd had found out we're here. I shifted again and flew up to look for what we were facing; a golem of some sort that's literally the size of a mountain. When I told the others, Lythana scribed a weird rune in the dirt, which turned into a canary; she whispered to it and it flew off, Lythana saying she hoped it made it to "him" in time. Anvil ran off to get healed and ten clerics came out to help us as a result. Sachi went looting, of course. Tilea, Lythana, and I all waited for the behemoth to arrive; I set up my blood rites to hurt it more. 

       When the golem arrived, Strahd's voice rang out to all of us, "submit and you will be spared, resist and you will die and serve me anyway." Sachi told him to fuck off; Tilea said he had to beat her to prove he was worthy of serving; I asked if there was an option where he just sends me home; Anvil suggested Strahd should just submit to us; and Lythana asked if we didn't agree or disagree if we didn't have to fight him. His eyes narrowed in anger by our responses.

       The gates to the Village were destroyed instantly, sending debris flying everywhere. Tilea shot the golem, Lythana paralyzed it, and I sunk my claws into its flesh. The boys arrived and began beating on it too. Lythana began to climb it while the rest of us beat on the damned things. Then the paralysis broke and it sent out a massive shock wave; I felt myself go sailing through the air, just before it all went dark.

       The next thing I knew, I was still falling, and a very familiar canary was fluttering away. I was badly injured, so I hurried to the clerics Anvil had recruited. While I was getting healed, Lythana burrowed into the golem, killing it in the process. She retrieved a twisted looking amulet that looked to be made of blackened iron, and was in the shape of a tiny baby skull. Upon closer inspection, the skull was made from the bones of actual babies. Tilea put it on to keep it away from Sachi.

       We retired to the tavern and were greeted as the Saviors of Barovia. After a while, a merchant accused Sachi of stealing, but he was in his human form, so there was no evidence of the theft.

Map from "Curse of Strahd" adventure module by Wizards of the Coast