16/02/2024 'Slide into the 'Burger Master' lineage'

 After the ordeal of escaping the Death House and taking a full day to just rest and recover in their dingy room in the 'Blood of the Vine Tavern' the party are awoken in the evening by one of the tavern owners, Alenka, who orders for them to pay for another night if they planned to stay in the room another night.
After Summer tossed her a gold piece, she called the Kobold ugly before leaving the party.

While Tariel awoke to pray to her god in the room, the rest of the party headed downstairs to the bar for something to eat.

After another jab at Summers appearance by one of the other workers when she tries to order food, the party talk with Alenka who tells them that not much cash flows through the town anymore.

A man eating alone in the bar asks for the group to join him, ordering wine for the group as he wants to make a proposition to them. The man introducing himself as Ismark, the self-appointed Burgomaster of the town of Barovia, asks for their assistance.

Hearing that title once again, Fran comments that the party had received an invitation to Barovia by a Burgomaster. Showing the letter the party received from the Vistani, Ismark tells them that the letter was note written by the late Burgomaster, his father. But the letter telling them to stay away from Barovia was written by his late father.

Curious as to what happened with his father, Slate and Abe inquire further to learn that his father had passed away the night before the groups arrival. Under the assumption that his heart gave out but refuses to tell them why.

Ismark tells the party that he needs their help to have his step sister escorted out of the town to somewhere safe.

Ismark pays for the partys meal and takes them to his home, a large manor with damaged exterior walls and boarded up windows covered in strange markings. Abe notices paw prints among the bizarre array of tracks on the ground, assuming that wolves had tried to get in...

After a secret knock at the door, the party is let inside by Ireena, Ismarks sister.

Being lead into their lounge, the party spot the boring simple coffin that houses the siblings deceased father. Ismark tells them that the priest refuses to help in the ceremony to bury the former Burgomaster for some reason...

While Ismark and Ireena gather refreshments for the party, Francesco investigates the coffin and the body. The first thing he notices is the holy symbol held in the mans hands is similar to the one Tariel possesses... But he isn't able to discern anything else before sneaking back to the group as the siblings return.

While the party indulges in cakes and drink, Ismark tells the party what has been going on:
A week earlier the Lord of Barovia, Lord Strahd Von Zarovich, had asked Ismarks father for Ireenas hand in marriage and that his father refused the proposal. As well as Strahd having bitten Ireena twice, but none of the party are sure what that means.

Since that meeting, their home had been attacked every night by all manner of creatures of the night...

After their fathers passing, the creatures didn't attack the house. But it has only been one night and Ismark wants to get his sister out of town while he can, but she refuses to leave without her father being buried first.

Ireena outbursts and grabs a sword, declaring she can defend herself. While Summer and Ismark try to calm her down, the boys in the party discuss having Ireena marry someone else so Strahd can't. And they all look to Abe to make the play.

Francesco tries to be Abes wingman as he proposes to Ireena, but she turns the kid almost instantly.

Ismark explains that there is a more fortified town to the West of Barovia called Valaki, which the party can reach by travelling a road that leads past a Vistani campground. Hearing the mention of the Vistani, the party are peeked and ask about the strange group.

It's rumored that the Vistani are able to leave the country of Barovia as they see fit and may have some connection to Strahd. Also turns out the that Blood of the Vine tavern owners are Vistani, having swindled the previous owner into giving them the rights to the property.

Ismark asks the party to convince the towns priest to perform the service for their father so they can escort Ireena out of the town as soon as possible.

Agreeing, the five Babykillers head to the church to find it in a sad state of destruction and decay with a solitary figure praying before a destroyed alter.

Entering the church, the group is shocked to hear inhuman screams coming from below the holy building...

As the rest of the party approaches the priest, Slate explores the rest of the floor and discovers one door has been used for more often than others of recent.

The screaming voice below them screams for their father to feed them.

Torbin grabs the priest attention but is shocked by the drained state of the man, his arms wrapped in dirty bandages with dried blood on his hands...

When Abe points out to the group that the holy symbol of the church looks similar to the one Tariel worships, the Priest seems far more hopeful for a moment as he believes his prayers have been answered.

He tells the party about a powerful wizard that came to Barovia weeks earlier and had bolstered many of the teens in the town to take up arms and aid them in storming Castle Ravenloft, Strahds home that looms over the town. The Priests son, Doro, joined the wizard in the assault.

But returned days later with cold skin and the hunger for blood...

Unable to see his son in such a state, the Father fed his son his own blood...

Torbin heals some of the mans wounds, but they don't heal completely despite his best efforts.

The priest asks the party to bring the soldier of his god to the church and he shall see what they can do to help.

Leaving the church to retrieve Tariel, the boy below the church howls hungrily once more...

The Hindsight of Reading Signs...

 After slaying the Greck in the closet, the party took a moment to collect themselves and discuss if they should continue exploring the basement or leave the place before noticing Summer had wandered further into the next passage.
Poking her head back into the room, she lets them know of a room with bodies lining the walls around it with an altar at the end of the room.

Abe Stoker

With the party following Summer to the entrance of the room, Abe enters the room first to examine the strange wooden statue that had been painted a pale white color. As Tariel informs the party that she can feel undead nearby, the lights in the room go out and Abe is swarmed by moving shadows that grab hold of him and begin sapping his strength from his body at a rapid rate!
Gathering that the shadows were waiting for the lights to go out, Abe cries out that the light is what keeps them at bay before falling to the floor.
As Slate lights a torch to see the room again, Summer bolts into the room and starts dragging Abe out.

Francesco casts sleep on the shadows as Summer and Slate drag Abe away, but it doesn't seem to affect them.
Torbin starts to lead the party out of the basement, but runs into a ghoul! As he begins to fend off the ghoul, Fran rushes to his aid with a thrust of his blade into the undead's neck!
Hearing Slate mention that light keeps the shadow creatures away, Torbin attempts to light a table on fire to no success.

With Summer, Tariel and Slate hauling the weakened Abe out of the dungeon and up the stairs, everyone starts to notice the walls and steps are oozing a bloody liquid that makes it hard to climb... A red light almost blinds them as they ascend into the Attic of the house..

Reaching the Attic first with Abe in their arms, Summer and Slate are almost sliced by blades protruding from the wall as the spin rapidly!
The house itself is actually trying to kill them now!

Slate jams his torch into one of the blades mechanisms and manages to stop one set of blades, enough for the party to slip into the storage room they found the maids body within.

Slate and Francesco start looking to disable more of the blades while Tariel heals Abes wounds, but his body's strength is still sapped...

Summer and Torbin work together to make a harness for Tariel to carry Abe better.

Slate finds the stairs leading out of the Attic and sends Fran to collect the party as he tries to work out how to open the new portcullis now barring their way down with spikes randomly stabbing out of the walls down the staircase.

Bringing an armchair with them, the party uses one of its legs to wedge open the portcullis enough for Slate to slip under and navigate the traps to a lever that seems to turn off the traps in the attic.

Heading down to the second floor with Abe strapped to Tariels back, Slate breaks another blade trap at the foot of the steps so the party can enter the room they first met the maids ghost in.

As Slate begins to dismantle another trap, Torbin and Tariel note that the windows on the floor appear to have been bricked over to seal the building as a strange black smoke is slowly filtering from the fireplace into the room...

Leading the party to the stairs and noticing the smoke is getting heavier the further they go down and obscures their vision of any traps that lay ahead, Tariel wonders aloud if they could potentially break their way through the bricked up windows.

Jamming her spear into the brickwork in the maids room, she doesn't seem to make any progress until Summer points out that a blunt weapon is better for knocking down brick: like a fist!
Punching at one of the bricks, Summer hits it hard enough to dislodge it and with a few more strikes she's able to knock the brick out and see the world beyond the house!

Seeing their chance to escape, the party relentlessly batter the wall with all they have until the can fit through!
Using some rope and a support beam, they create a way to safely descend the building to the ground.

Slate passes out as Torbin climbs down, but Tariel gets him up in time to get down themselves.
Summer jumps and misses the rope, almost falling to her death if Francesco hadn't flicked the rope around her leg to catch her!

Once the party all stand (except for Abe) outside the house, they notice everything within the house appears to return to normal as it awaits it's next prey...

As the party make their sigh of relief, they hear the sound of applauding hands behind them.

In the driveway up to the manor is a lone figure beside a black coach, the figure praising the party for managing to survive the house before climbing inside the driverless coach and leaving.

Not wanting to think about it too much right now, the party leave the estate and back to the fork in the road. Reaching the fork, Slate spots the sign on the fork that has a message scrawled into it: 'DO NOT SPEAK TO THE CHILDREN'

With an agitated and tired sigh, the party trudges into the town toward a tavern to rest.

Torbin at the back of the part hears a faint barking sound and turn around to see a small spectral shape of Lancelot, his dog friend following him now as a ghost.

With a smile on his face, the Gnome enters the tavern after his allies to eat, drink and rest...