Hmm. Tying it into Tatyana might be very handy.
If people are interested, here's the rundown of the first session. If not, I'll not post anymore.
The game starts in late September of 740 B.C. in the tiny town of Koskun, nestled on the slopes of the Bloodfangs, looking over the Tepurich forest. On this day, the PCs are all working the furthest fields from the town - herding pigs and goats and cutting grain*. A thick fog has been hanging in the area all day, so it is not until the workers are returning home at dusk that they smell the smoke on the air or see the flickering fires. They find their town burnt to the ground, half the population cut down and left to rot. Many of their family members are dead, especially the elderly.
They stay long enough to bury the dead, and then pack what little they have left and head North along the only road out of town, following the hoofprints and wagon tracks they find. That night on Gundar's Road they meet a band of refugees from Teufeldorf, who tell them of the Barovian invasion and the fall of their town. The leader, one Ardonk Szeriesa, informs the group of his plans to head West to his cousins, in the hope that the Barovians will be content to have the cities and will leave them be. In return for their few livestock, the refugees trade weapons taken from Teufeldorf, and a strange book bound in pale leather looted from the twisted tower**.
Over the next week*** they continue to follow the road north, passing several small towns under Barovian control on the way. They avoid the garrisoned troops, and manage to discover that a caravan carrying captives passed by several days before, led by Barovian militamen. No-one can tell them why the invaders would burn out and enslave their town however; everywhere else has been subjugated and put to work.
On the seventh day they reach Teufeldorf. Forming a plan to pose as labourers looking for work, they approach the gates. But when quizzed by the guards, they reveal that they are from Koskun, and all that they can think to say is that they have been following the tracks of the bandits who raided their village. They are taken to the captain overseeing the town, who detains them while he waits for orders on their fate...
* I have no idea whether on not this is seasonal. Look! A distraction!
** One of the players wants to be a wizard, so this is to be his spellbook. It's going to have a terrible history to go with it, as soon as I figure one out.
*** I have also greatly increased certain distances in the Core, mostly because I like large realms where it takes a while to get anywhere. I find this increases the sense of isolation.
Thank you again Rotipher for your idea of Barovian interest in the town. It gives me a good reason for why the invaders woulod utterly destroy one village while leaving the others untouched, which is what I needed to get the players out there and moving, as well as to give them a mission. And now they really have nowhere to go home
to. Strahd wants the redheads of that town... now I have a few weeks to decide why
Bloody Morgan
