Note: I was absent for this week's session, but my amazing group sent me both notes on what happened and an audio recording of the combat so I could still write something up. I hope this does the session justice.
Last time, the group had an encounter with Strahd in the streets of Vallaki, but when Gilligan, Elle and Jaro went to warn Izek about Strahd's presence at the Festival the next day, Izek didn't believe them. And to make matters worse, Elle departed with a jab about the doll Izek had ordered that looked like Irena...
"We have to warn Blinksey about this!" Jaro said. "Elle, you may have just gotten him killed! Izek was furious!"
"I couldn't resist! He thinks he's so high and mighty, but I got him!" Elle said, laughing at the image of Izek's expression as she had left.
"You didn't see the fireball hit the door as Jaro and I shut it behind us though," Gilligan said. "That man is dangerous, and he controls the town guard. I don't want Blinksey to get hurt from this."
Elle shrugged, but the three proceeded to Blinksey's shop despite her indifference. The toy shop was dimly lit in the moonlight forcing its way through the overcast sky, throwing a forbidding look across the shapes of the macabre toys in the window.
"I hope the monkey is alright. Maybe I can take it with me," Jaro said under his breath.
"It looks closed," Elle said. "Oh well, let's go back to the inn, it's been long day."
"No, we need to warn him about this," Gilligan stated. The goblin walked up and knocked on the door with his metal gauntlet. The noise echoes down the street.
"He's probably asleep, let's just talk to him tomorrow," Elle suggested.
Gilligan knocked again, louder this time. Jaro, trying to be helpful, kicked the door, making it jump on its hinges. The sounds faded into silence. After a moment, Gilligan once again pounded on the door. Finally, the bolt slid back and the door opened a crack.
"Why do you pound on Blinksey's door so? The shop is closed," Blinksey's voice inquired from within.
"We need to talk to you urgently," Gilligan replied. "We believe you may be in grave danger!"
"Oh no, it is you again. Why must you torment me so?" Blinksey moaned.
"So, see, we had a busy day yesterday, and there was a nasty vampire guy by the church, and Gilligan hit him really hard, it was great, but then we thought that maybe dangerous for people around here, so we thought we should warn Izek, but then he didn't believe us, and the gnome maybe told him we knew about the doll he ordered from you, and we're sorry but we think you should maybe skip town for awhile, at least until its safe, and we're sorry," Jaro blurted out.
"Yeah, I didn't mean for you to get in trouble," Gilligan added. "Elle, you should apologize, it was your mistake."
"It wasn't a mistake," Elle said flatly, "that guy is a sodding arse and he deserves to be put in his place."
"But he has power here, he can do terrible things to Blinksey!" Gilligan protested.
"Alright, alright, fine. I'm sorry that you made something resembling our friend for the lumpish whey-face in charge around here, and that maybe I told him we knew about it in a roundabout way which may get you in trouble," Elle allowed.
"You... you told Izek that I told you?" Blinksey said after a long pause, his voice sounding hollow with disbelief. "You were not supposed to tell him! I only tell you because you seem like good sort!" He said, looking hard at Gilligan. "Not like these... others," he added, gesturing at Jaro and Elle.
"Well, Gilligan is certainly not like the rest of us," Jaro agreed, "he is too short to be like me and too green to be like Elle!"
"Please, just go away and never come back here," Blinksey said, defeated.
"Please, we are truly sorry about this, and we are worried for your safety. Here, take this gold, you can use it to flee town for awhile, and live somewhere safer for you, like Barovia, until we sort this out," Gilligan offered.
"No, I trusted you once, I will not trust you again. I will not take your filthy money, and I will not leave my home. Just go away!" Blinkey shouted, and slammed the door.
"Well, that went well," Jaro said.
"Can we go back to the inn now?" Elle asked.
Gilligan looked sadly at Blinksey's door and the trust he had lost. "Yeah," he agreed." Let's go back to the inn."
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The day of the festival dawned in a dreary haze. A soft mist had crept into town overnight. The streets were busy nevertheless with preparations for the burgomaster's festival. Streets were cleared, and city guards patrolled ceaselessly. In the center of town, the burgomaster's people set up a large wicker ball, or rounded up children and handed them costumes to wear around the town square. Around midmorning, it began to rain, but the weather did nothing to disrupt the pomp and circumstance beginning at the Burgomaster's mansion, as a carriage bedecked splendidly in yellow and red streamers began a stately drive down the road to the town center, preceded by a quickly dampening group of city guards in full dress uniform. A small band played brass instruments and walked behind the carriage. Unhappy and bedraggled children dressed as sunflowers lined the street as the burgomaster's carriage reached the center of town.
The carriage stopped in front of the wicker sphere, and with a flourish of trumpets the burgomaster stepped out into the drizzle. Walking up to the sphere with a grandiose poise, trodding on doggy banners that had fallen to the ground, the burgomaster turned to the sullen crowd gathered behind him.
"My people, today is the Festival of the Blazing Sun!" he proclaimed. "We will light this representation of the sun, and bring light and joy back to our lives! With this festival, we will drive back the darkness that surrounds us, and show ourselves the beacon of light to all around!"
He turned to the sphere. An attendant passed him a torch.
"With this light, may we bring forth the light of justice! ALL WILL BE WELL!" With a cry the burgomaster thrust the torch into the sphere. The wicker frame smoked, and a small fire began to sputter, but as it attempted to gain purchase, the rain picked up, and a sudden gust quenched the burgeoning blaze.
The square was silent. And then a solitary chuckle from the back of the crowd could be heard.
The burgomaster whipped around in a fury. "Who dares laugh at the ceremony!" he shouted. The crowd parted, revealing a frightened looking man in the back. "Arrest that man!" The burgomaster shouted. Two city guards quickly move in and apprehend the man, and march him to the burgomaster. "Strap him to my horse, he will be cleansed!"
As the guards move to do this, the crowd begins murmuring in protest. The burgomaster looks up, and laughs. "Do not fear my people! The ceremony will continue, and ALL WILL BE WELL!"
"All will NOT be well!" came a cry from the back of the crowd. Once again, the citizens part around the speaker, trying not to be caught in the circle of judgment. "This farce has gone on long enough Vargas, it is time for someone else to take charge in this city!" shouted the form of Fiona Wachter, backed by several hooded figures. "How can you say all will be well? All has never been well, and will not be well, until I am in charge!" she continued. The crowd shifted nervously at this, and several of the guards put their hands on their weapons and began to advance toward Fiona Wachter and her backers.
At that moment, a tomato flew from elsewhere in the crowd and hit the burgomaster square in the jaw. Buoyed by the events, several others in the crowd also stooped to gather rocks, which soon flew at the burgomaster as well. "Guards!" shouted the burgomaster. The crowd behind Fiona was growing as citizens began taking sides, while others moved to support the guards hurrying over to arrest Fiona and her crew. The burgomaster was rushed back to his carriage, and Izek arrived, bellowing orders to the guards present and calling for reinforcements. Chaos engulfed the square.
Izek quickly sent the burgomaster's carriage back towards the mansion, accompanied by a squad of city guards, and began forming the remaining guards into formation to suppress the dissenters. As he stands in the middle of the mass of guards however and arrow strikes him in the shoulder.
"Take that you surly dogfish!" Elle's voice rang out from a high up perch, blending in with the chaos in the square.
Mixed in with the crowd, Gilligan looked around him in horror at the unfolding scene. Looking up, the goblin saw the form of Strahd watching events unfold from a rooftop.
Near where Fiona and her supporters stood, Jaro emerged from the press of bodies. "Call off your people lady!" the satyr called out, "Someone is going to get hurt here!"
Behind Jaro, the mist along the stage in front of the wicker sphere began to thicken ominously. In the distance, church bells began to ring, and screams began to echo from elsewhere in the city, even above the chaos in the square. Gilligan, still looking around, notices a plume of smoke rising from the direction of the burgomaster's mansion.
And then the fighting broke out in earnest.
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"We need to take out Izek, Fiona and the burgomaster!" Talna called over to Jaro. "I don't trust any of them." Raising her holy symbol high over her head, Talna shouted a blessing from her god, attempting to turn any undead in the crowd, but nobody around her moved. "I don't think anyone here is undead!" She shouted out in Elven.
Jaro hurled a bolt of eldritch force over Fiona's head, attempting to force her and her people away from the square. Fiona turned to look in Jaro's direction, an irritated expression on her face.
The sound of alarm bells from the east and west gate guard stations joined the chorus of church bells. In the square, the citizens fight amongst themselves, some clearly choosing a side between Fiona and the burgomaster, while others just seem to be lashing out, in fear or in anger.
Gilligan approached Izek in the chaos, and shouted "Strahd is up there!" Izek turned towards the voice, but Gilligan ducked between some people's legs, getting out of sight again. Izek looked around, confused.
Talna turned around and conjured a Chill Touch on Fiona, sapping her strength. Fiona snarled at Talna. Jaro attempted again to distract Fiona. "Lady Wachter, please, take your people out of here! Your target is over there," he pointed towards the smoke plume, "and I think its on fire! Just please, leave these people alone!"
Behind the fighting, the fog forming around the stage releases six humanoid creatures, flesh peeling off their dead musculature as they stumble towards Izek and his guards. A ripple of panic flows through those of the crowd who see the appearance of the zombies. The zombies fall upon guards and civilians equally, biting and clawing at any living thing in their path. The people in the square begin to run in any direction away from the zombies, trampling less aware citizens in their rush to escape.
From the west, another commotion arises, as a crowd of panicked people begins to flee down the street from the direction of the church.
Despite the commotion, Elle focused her sights on Izek, and fired another arrow into him, the arrow magically biting deeply into the flesh of his thigh.
Turning around, Talna saw through the thinning crowd the zombies shambling forwards. Oddly, she noticed that while they attacked civilians and guards with equal abandon, they seemed to veer away from Fiona and her initial groupies. "Hellsfire, that's not good," Talna cursed under her breath. Turning back to Fiona, Talna shouted "Are you working for Strahd?!" Fiona merely smirked in return. Then Fiona gestured at Jaro, and the satyr stiffens up, magically frozen in place. Then Fiona gestured at Jaro again, and a mace made of necrotic energy formed in the air over his head and swung at him viciously.
Sadun, who had been standing guard by Elle's position, threw herself into a rage and rushed past Izek to attack the zombies. She brought out the Briarblade, and plunged the blade into the ground. Flowers burst from the ground in a ten foot radius around her, and pollen filled the air. Everyone around her, guard began coughing as the magical pollen poisoned their blood stream, Sadun stood immune in the center of the circle. Three of the guards fall to their knees, vomiting their lunch on the cobblestones. The zombies, however, seemed unimpeded by the poison.
Several of the guards, fed up with the whole situation, stabbed their spears at Gilligan, but their aim was thrown by the effects of the flower poison, and the spears went wide.
Gilligan, ignoring the hostile guards, swung his mace and knocked the head from the shoulders of the nearest zombie. The zombie continued to move towards him though.
The zombies and the remaining guards attack each other as the last of the civilians flee the square. Talna, glaring at Fiona, pulled out a scroll from her pouch. She reads the scroll rapidly, and a large spectral dove appears and pecks at Fiona's head, though Fiona is able to duck out of the way. Cursing, Talna spun around and summoned a pillar of flame, which burned one of the zombies.
As the session ended, Jaro was able to shake off the magical paralysis Fiona had placed on him.
Next time, we resume combat!
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