At the beginning of December, we have gathered together because we wanted to go to an international festival in Milan. And so, we have done a three day session
Chapter 5 – Mordent
The party, after some minutes of perplexity, decided to move towards the city in front of them. On the way they saw merchants, adventures and common peoplae. Nobody seemed too impress by them.
They noticed, entering from the walled entrance, that the dress customs of this city is a bit strange to them (
DM Note: I described Mordent like was a Pride and Prejudice landscape).
They entered the city and follow the main road to a square, wanting to find a inn in which they could ask some questions.
At the center of the square there was a fountain, and behind it, they saw a inn. And a blacksmith near it. (
DM Note: I took heavy licenses on Mordent description, because I wanted to make Ravenloft a bit bigger and with more inabitants.)
They entered the inn and took a table, asking the waitress for the day dish. They were cautious, but tried to ask some questions, saying that they were from Souragne and that they had lost the road and they didn't know where they were.
The waitress tell them they were in the city of Mordent, in the Mordentshire's region. They asked for a map, but the inn hadn't one. The waitress pointed them towards the blacksmith. He was an ex adventurer and he was famous for some old maps he had.
The group ate and then went to the blacksmith. A dwart with brown beard who were working a piece of steel in a blade.
The dwarf welcomed them and he looked them a bit before saying "I understand, follow me."
They followed him in the shop, where they asked for a map, telling him the same story they told to the waitress.
He told them his name, Geddar, then started to make some questions about geography and the road thay should have done from Souragne. They obiouvsly hadn't a clue on what he was talking about.
"Don't you know where you are?" he asked and then quickly continued, "don't answer, I know other people like you. I, and others, call you 'Visitors'.
You want to know where you are. There it is."
He showed them a map (
DM note: map of the core from the campaign book) and showed them Mordent and Mordentshire.
The party was perplexed for the missing of Souragne, even if there were islands on the map.
Geddar talked about islands and clusters, quoting some name (
DM Notes: for future adventures, like Rokushima and Nidala).
They started to trust him, and talked about the golden sphere.
Geddar looked at it and decided it is too much for his knowledge.
"But I know who can help you"
So Geddar pointed them to the herbarl shop of Dr. Van Richten and told them to say it was him to send them. He knews about people like you, he guaranteed them.
They thanked the dwarf and exited the shop.
After some minutes walking, they arrived to the herbal shop.
They entered, finding a shop full of herbal vases. Nix looked at them with curiosity, searching for some herbals he can use with his job as an alchemist.
After a brief time, two girls arrived to greet the new customers.
The group noticed they seem the same person, thinking about twins.
The said what Geddar told them and the girls nodded. One went to close the shop, while the other asked the group to follow here in the studio in the back of the shop.
In the studio, the girls introduced themselves as Gennifer and Laurie Weathermay-Foxgrove, assistants of doctor Van Richten.
They said the doctor was out of town for some business, and that he would return in some days.
They offered them to stay at the Weathermay mansion and, after a bit of concercn (
DM Note: my player thought about strangers who wants to hurt them. Soon or later I used that against them eheh) they accepted.
At the Weathermay mansion Gennifer and Laurie told them about knowing of some people that were from other places. One of their friend, and doctor's friend, was Davyyd, a 'visitor' like them.
The twins introduced them to Jules Weathermay, who was very friendly and granted them hospitality and then asked the servants to add more chairs for the dinner. Also Geddar and this Davyyd would be there for dinner.
Geddar and Davyyd arrived and Davyyd expained his story. He was a Lathander clerci from Cormyr and that one day he finished in Mordent. He ended liking the place and forged a bond with Geddar and Van Richten. He actually stayed at the Ezra temple of Mordent, since Ezra was the goddess nearer to Lathander's dogma.
Even if Davyyd was curious about the Morninglord, the god venerated in the region of Barovia. But he hadn't decided yet to go there (
DM Note: seed for adventure planted, but not for the near future).
The dinner was good, the group, Geddar, Davyyd shared stories, for the pleasure of the twins and Jules.
After dinner, a boy came with a letter for Van Richter.
The twins read it and look worried. They explained it was a letter from Kjell Lumpenstain, a friend of the doctor.
He had sent a letter with some concerns about strange behavior in his village some days ago and now the letter is more worrying. He asked the doctor to come as soon as possible, because he thought there were something strange at work.
Davyyd explained to the group that Dulcaster was a recently formed village, some Falkovnian refugee took an old abandoned village and the lord of Mordentshire, Jules Weathermay, allowed them to stay. Brief digression about Falkovnia and Vlad Drakov.
Since the doctor is away, Laurie decided to go to Dulcaster and see what was the problem.
Geddar and Davyyd offered help, but Laurie asked the group to help instead, since the two had other problems to manage, while the group had to wait for the doctor, so actually they were free.
The group accepted and, since during the day and the evening Gennifer started to be interested to Nix's alechmist job (and Laurie about Ruben's gun), he promised Nix to let him use the alchemy lab before departing.
The night was quiet and in the morning Gennifer allowed Nix to use the lab (
DM Note: with level two, he could take an alchemist discovery, so I let him make some bombs, since I don't use the stupid pathfinder rule that he has to make them while fighting. Too unbelievable for me).
He created some frozen bombs and then the group left for Dulcaster.
On the way they talked to Laurie and she told them a bit about Van Richten and his job. And the guide to fight the evil creatures that roam the lands. And some about the Mists, to explain some odd behaviour the group had faced, like a sort of teleportation from Souragne to Mordentshire.
Dulcaster was almost one day from Mordent andthe group arrived with the fall of dark.
They found a wood worker, who introduced himself as Gyorgi Zagorovich, and he gave them Kjell's house position and where to find a inn.
They left the horses at the inn's stables and entered to bookmark some rooms.
In the inn they met the local bard, Ludwig Vanderleden who was excited to see some new customers, and even adventures!
He questioned the group with too many questions and Agatha thought about some extreame measure to silence him.
Frantisek, the innkeeper, helped the group to avoid the attentions of Ludwig and asking what their business were.
They rent two rooms and said they were here to see a friend, Kjell.
The innkeeper nodded and gave the same indication as Gyorgi.
The group put some equipment in the rooms and then went to Kjell.
His wife, Stella, opened the door and let them in, calling the husband who was on the upper floor.
Kjell came and greeted them, asking what business brought them to Dulcaster.
Laurie told about the letter and Kjell started to apologize because he was worried, but also a fool. Nothing was wrong, only his imagination created some false ideas. Two villagers died recently almost at the same time and he became paranoid, fearing a falkovnian attack. But then he found that the death were naturally and only the timing created false suspicion.
He was very sorry to make them doing a long trip for nothing.
Agatha and Laurie questioned a bit him, while Cordelia, asking for the bathroom, took a look in the house, finding some arcane books, but nothing evil or suspicious. Only some essays about use of magic and magic theorizations.
The group exited the house with a perplexed look. They decide to sleep at the inn and the day after do some investigations. If all would be good, they would return to Mordent.
On the way to the inn they were approached by a mad man, who talked about the end of village, about some man-wolf who were killing and attacking the village, and that only him had seen them.
Leaving the mad man, they arrived at the inn and from Ludwig the discovered the mad man was Rupert, and that he was paranoid, every week he believed that a new menace would destroy the village. Hellish mastiff, bandits, and so on.
The group had dinner then went to their rooms. Nix decided to go outside and go to the cemetery. He wanted to see with his eyes the graves of the two villagers. The others would wait him in the rooms.
Nix went to the cemetery, but nothing seemed wrong. Good graves, well manteined. There were an old cemetery, but it seemed old and untouched.
A bit disappointed, Nix went back to the inn, but on the way Rupert blocked him and repeated the same dialogs about man-wolf.
Then he moved towards his home. Nix changed his face in one of a blind man and knocked to Rupert's door.
The mad man welcomed Nix in and Nix, pretending to believe Rupert's fears, tried to make him talked, believing even in mad man's words truth could be found.
Rupert didn't notice the other was blind but he could tell nothing more. Man wolf is a meanace he believed very firmly.
Even more disappointed, Nix returned to the inn, where Ruben told him that he saw Gyorgi while he was working to a wood statue with the light of a lantern.
The two were perplexed and went to ask advice from Corderlia, Agatha and Laurie. The three girl were perplexed too, but they dismissed the thing with a logical explanation.
"He had forgotten something important and wanted to fix it tonight"
All agreeded to that and the group went to sleep.
On the moring, while having breakfast, they hear a scream and a some noise.
Remembering the trouble in Souragne, they run towards the noise, finding many villagers standing in front of the house of Gyorgi. The wife of the man was crying in the arms of Stella Lumpenstain. And near them there was another woman that the groupo didn't know.
In a few minutes the local law enforcers arrived. The wife told what was happened. She woke up and find her husband Gyorgi dead in the bed.
One of the two law enforcers cursed the priests that didn't want to go out from the temple, then he noticed the group, and Cordelia's holy symbol.
He introduced himself as Franz Slodoski, Sergeant and chief of the local Lamplighter and asked Cordelia if she was a cleric. When she nodded, Franz smiled.
"I need you" he said, "if Gyorgi is dead, I need a cleric to visit him and eventually do an autopsy. I need the death's reason to tell his wife and the citizen. I would ask to the local clerics, but it is some days that they have closed themselves in the temple and let nobody in."
The group accepted (
DM Note: the evening before this session we have seen the movie "The Autopsy of Jane Doe", which of the four, only me and my wife had seen it. We ended the evening with all four liking it. So when I have said autopsy, the player were more than happy to accept the offer of Franz. And the movie has been chosen casually. When the Mists are good with you, you create atmosphere without thinking about it) and follow Franz in the house, with the other enforcer keeping the villagers outside, specially Stella and the other woman, who Franz called Katarina, which offered her help.
Franz thanked the women but refused, preferring the help of the group. The party found that both Katarina and Stella were arcane magic users.
The group and Franz arrived on the upper floor and find the dead body of Gyorgi in the bed, with a calm expression on the face. No visible sign of the reason of the death. Agatha and Cordelia started to look Gyorgi, while Nix and Ruben looked the room.
Nothing suspicious were found, and Cordelia asked for an autopsy.
Franz was visibile unhappy, but agreeded.
With the help of the other enforcer and some villagers, the body was moved to the barracks, on the table of a little infirmary.
Only the group and Franz remained to testify the search.
Cordelia and Agatha started the examination.
Agatha wanted to extract some blood samples to let Nix analyze it, while Cordelia started to cut the man's chest, to open it.
Agatha extracted the blood, but it was green!
Cordelia instead opened the man's chest and found it empy, no muscles, no organs, no bones. And the color was a strange green tonality.
An horror check was requested: Franz, Agatha and Ruben failed it by little, while Laurie, Cordelia and Nix passed it.
Shocked but still determinated, they cut the head, and find some greenish mush where there should be the brain.
The group didn't understand that body. If closed they could touch it and sense the skin, the bones and the muscles.
But even cutting an arm and look the section, no bones on muscles, only some strange green fluid and fibers.
They also cut the skull to check what could be inside, and instead of the brain, they found a green mush.
Being very perplexed about that turn of events (Franz obviusly was the most shocked and perplexed), the party started to wonder if the two townsfolk who died the week before were humans or not.
Franz was very worried about this possibility and agreed to exhume the corpses, with the excuse to better investigate the recent death of Gyorgi.
With the help of Franz's subordinate and some townsfolks, the two corpses were exhumed and bringed to the milita barracks.
Franz this time stayed outside, to avoid rising suspicions about the autopsy.
Cordelia and Agatha did this new autopsy and found that both Helmut and Hans were a plant ccreature. The same as Gyorgi.
Franz, when entered the room after making the curious go away, was shocked that Helmut, an old and dear friend, was not human. He didn't believe, because he has senn Helmut bleeding a lot of time, he was a soldier too in Falkvonia.
Agatha suggested that thise three weren't the real townsfolks, but that they were transformed or substituted by plants.
Franz had to seat because he was overwhelmed by fear and discouragement. He didn't know what he could tell to the wifes of Gyorgi and Hans (Helmut hadn't a family, only Franz as friend).
The group promised more investigations and left Franz with his problem, because now they had a firm thought: why Kjell and his wife had said that all was fine? Kjell had surely some doubts, the letters to Van Richten were clear enough.
This sudden change of mind was suspicious, and Agatha had her Inquisitor's Sixth Sense ringing.
The group went directly to knock to Kjell's door and like the previous time, the wife, Stella, opened the door.
As soon as they were in the sitting room and Kjell has arrived, they informed him on the new events and asked him why he has suddenly changed opinion when his concerns were legitimate.
Kjell was surprised by the new events and swear that he had doubts, but then after a bit of investigations he hasn't found nothing. And without the clerics and a proper autopsy, he convinced himself that nothing was wrong.
With high perception rolls, the group believe is words, but being a suspicious team, they decided to do a test. Nix asked them for a blood sample, to verify that they were real humans.
Kjell and Stella agreed and, when Nix came closer to Kjell, the man gave him a strong punch on the face (
DM Notes: 7 damages), while Stella casted a
Magic Missile against Cordelia (
DM Notes: 5 damages)
After the surprise round, initiative rolled....
but we had to stop the session, since it was very late and our friends had to leave.
