Ludi Blog

56. No more room in Hell

The group moved through the misty outskirts of the village, passing several burned out buildings. The groaning of the dead could be heard coming ever closer, attracted by the noise of the party as they moved down the cobbled streets.

At a narrow crossroads, several corpses loomed out of the twilight fog, moving stiffly but quickly to consume these living souls. Unfortunately for these hungry zombies, their intended victims were Jacob Grantly, Isaiah Greenwood, Hugh D'Montvert, Marsha Cravenwood, Bovrain Hammerhand and the hulking Caliban gladiator known simply as Cweno. The dead didn't stand a chance.

Despite one of the undead retaining some semblance of memory, and the ability to cast magic missile spells (causing everyone to remember the rotting shell of William Maskyr beneath the Old Tower in Dead Tree Hollow), the party dispatched them with very little effort, destroying their brains or severing their heads to bring an instant end to their strange animation.

Deeper into the settlement, the party came upon a high, makeshift wooded barricade. A dozen or more of the undead had broken through, and a sole defender, pushed back into the town square beyond, was quickly being overwhelmed as the undead stumbled through the wreckage.

At once, the party moved forward to engage them at the barricade, but as they did so two shrieking bats flew down the street towards Bovrain. As they came he saw to his dismay that these were not, in fact, bats at all, but disembodied heads with demonic faces, from which sprouted huge leathern wings.

They were slain, but not before one of them had bitten the dwarfs face - a poisoned wounded that wept bloody corruption.

Wiping the blood from his beard, Bovrain reached the barricade, his friends hewing the skulls of the dead all around him and the light of Chauntea burning behind him as he pressed through the breach into the square.

Immediately he was confronted with another corpse, shorter and more ancient than the others, its flesh dry as tomb dust, yet faster and more deadly than its kin. It darted forward and struck the dwarf with a double overhand blow, literally driving Bovrain into the ground, entombing him below the cloying earth.

Fortunately, the rest of the party saw him fall, and coordinated their attacks to destroy this menace quickly before it could unleash its devastating attack again.

Eventually, the party caught up to the sole defender in the courtyard, a figure in dark plate armour with a shining sword, her shield bearing the device of the Eternal Order, assisting her to dispatch the remaining dead, and in all likelihood saving her life. For the moment the battle was done.

"Fog swirls around the bodies of the dead, their blood mingling with the mud between the slick cobbles. All around the square you can see houses and shops, universally boarded, their doors and windows reinforced against the dead. The shop signs hang faded and motionless in the still air, the houses still and silent. However, lights can be seen within, shining bright in the fading light of day. These dwellings show no signs of attack like those further out. Across the square, one large building stands unboarded, golden lamplight spilling from its broad windows into the silver mist, a large painted sign proclaiming it as the "Blood of the Vine" tavern. (Although some cheery soul has modified the sign with a little local graffiti - and the sign now reads "Blood on the vine".)

Several men emerge from the tavern and head in your direction, headed up by a huge, broad shouldered youth wearing a long apron over his work clothes, whose head looks too small for his massive frame. He doesn't appear to be armed.

Sagging visibly under the weight of the armour of the Eternal Order, the defender approaches you and removes her black, stylised, skull faced helm, revealing the face of a woman in her 60s, framed with long hair of the purest grey, the colour of the swirling mist.

"Whoever you are, you're welcome here. Time for introductions later. We need to rebuild that barricade before the ghouls spot the breach. Help me?" She hurries to the barricade and grabs a fallen beam. Her fatigue is obvious, clumsy, tired movements as she tries to manoeuvre the ungainly timber into place. The big man from the inn grabs the other end and together they begin to rebuild. The other men from the inn also lend a hand, but with obviously less gusto. They look familiar, particularly to Jacob, their dark hair and beards and their garish gypsy clothing marks them as Vistani".

The party gave their aid, and Jacob insisted that the lady retire to the inn across the square to recuperate from the fight. She complied, but only when the work was done, and once Marsha and Hugh offered to stand guard.

The Blood of the Vine was warm but quiet, occupied by a few frightened local people, the four Vistani, and a richly dressed young man who kept to his wine in a far corner. The party ate, drank and took rooms, finding to their dismay, that the prices were extremely steep. Arik, the seemingly emotionless proprietor, appeared to be in some sort of shock.

The woman introduced herself as Ashlyn, a servant of the eternal order. In conversation over brandy, she explained:

• She's from Darkon. She and her companions Thendrick and Mathilda were driven from her homeland when the order was declared outlaw by the Lords of Darkon - including Lord Doomdark and his wife Rosanna. She hates Doomdark with a passion, and seemed impressed that you had survived an adventure with her. (And not sad to hear of her (assumed) demise).
• She's here in response to call for assistance, a letter from the Bergomeister, talking of the walking dead and asking for help. Destroying the undead is what she does, so here she is.
• She's also heard of a magic sword, a great weapon against the undead, called Luminus Est, "the light of steel", rumoured to have disappeared in Barovia long ago.
• The locals think that this recent "walking plague" began at the church to the northwest, and suggested that Ashlyn and her friends consult some sort of wise woman called Madame Eva before going there. Thendrick and Mathilda ignored the advice, and went up there straight away. That was three days ago. She's been alone, defending the town square with minimal help from the townsfolk ever since.
•  She's heard the name "Strahd" before, but thought it was just some local curse. She doesn't seem to know anything about him - other than the locals are deeply afraid of the word.
• The well dressed man in the tavern is Ismark, some kind of local noble. He doesn't say much, but she suspects he knows much about what's going on here.
• There's a general store across the street, run by a tight fisted merchant called Bildrath. His enormous stock boy (the size of a large out house) is called Perrywimple. He's a bit soft in the head.
• She knows Malaki Goodman. She was married to him for 14 years. She didn't know his current whereabouts until Marsha told her. Small world.
• If the party are here to destroy the undead, then your aims coincide. She asked if you would accompany her to the church in search of her friends.

The next morning the party set out from the inn. The plan was that Isaiah and Bovrain would clear the street north of the town square barricade, killing the zombies with headshots from an upstairs window that overlooked them. When the coast was clear, the party would head up to the church. But things didn't go exactly to plan.

Isaiah and Bov opened fire, and the dozen or so undead beyond the barricade immediately congregated below the window. Isaiah had an idea to trap them there, and cast an entangle spell, holding most of them fast. Problem was that the spells area of effect was bigger than he'd remembered - and many of the party, waiting behind the barricade, were also entangled.

Marsha was the first to extract herself. She climbed over the barricade and dropped into the street. One of the undead turned towards her, and moved forward quickly, its hands reaching for her throat. She fought it off as Ashlyn dropped down next to her. The two Paladins saw the way ahead was clear (the bulk of the undead trying to get to Isaiah), and chose to move ahead up the street, trusting the rest of the party to follow.

But some of their number were still stuck in the entangle, and Jacob and Cweno had trouble climbing over in their heavy gear.

The upshot of this was that Marsha and Ashlyn found themselves 60 feet or so ahead of their friends, where three zombies feasted upon the carcass of a dead horse. Marsha decided to charge them, and the two women ran forwards and struck two of the three stone dead with strong, accurate strokes of their swords. The third one stumbled towards Marsha, trying to grab her and get a good hold, so it could take a good big bite. She was wrestling with this particular horror when Ashlyn shouted a sudden warning. Marsha hadn't seen the three ghouls leap from the roof behind her... surrounded and beset by the undead, Marsha screamed as the monsters bit her right arm and neck, her blood flowing freely in the cold morning air...