Through the Mists

Session 29: Sunlight and an Invitation

At a glance

Summary

The coffinmaker still would not name the person behind the stolen bones. Rage knocked him unconscious and searched the house. The bedroom yielded nothing more, and the workshop offered only the ordinary tools of an ordinary trade. Upstairs, a drafty storeroom held crates of old implements and junk. Six crates looked newer than the rest.

Rage opened one and found soil. When he broke the crate, earth spilled across the floor with something flesh-colored buried inside it. He dug deeper. Something seized his hand. The other crates burst open around him, and six pallid, half-naked vampires rose from the dirt with claws and bared teeth. Rage screamed.

Ignatius ran upstairs and called on his guide’s druidic magic. Vines tangled through the crates, binding three of the creatures as the others descended on Rage. A thunderwave drove attackers back. Carver charged in with Chip and sent a pulse of protective vitality through the company; Ignatius struck one vampire into a stun. Under claws and bites, Rage drank a greater healing potion and fought on.

Then the light of his Sun Blade began to do its work. The vampires hissed and recoiled as its sunlight burned their flesh. Carver tossed an ice-cold vial into their midst and shot it in flight, the bursting glass giving shape to his shatter spell. Steel, thunder, vines, and radiance reduced the six attackers to three. One turned to another: “We must go back, we must recover.” Two fled through a window and scurried away. Rage killed the last vampire left in the room.

Rage holds his red-tinted radiant Sun Blade against recoiling vampires while Ignatius controls vines among broken crates and spilled soil.

The vampires recoiled from the sunlight, but two would escape. View image record.

The broken crates held strangely cold soil. Rage took a severed head and put it in the Bag of Holding. Downstairs, the company shut the unconscious coffinmaker into one of his own coffins; Ignatius lay across its lid while they rested for an hour. Only then did they open it and slap their prisoner awake.

His name was Henrik. Carver held up a vampire’s head and announced that they had met his friends upstairs. Henrik said he had filled the crates with soil, and that the vampires had begun entering his home and threatening him, first one and then another. Rage activated the truth trinket. Henrik described an old man called Vasily, whom he had invited inside after an offer to help his business. According to Henrik, the vampires heard about the bones and persuaded him to obtain them. He claimed not to know what they wanted the relics for.

The company decided that Henrik should explain himself at the church. Before leaving, they also took the head of the vampire described as the leader. Rage played his instrument to disguise the prisoner as a large dog being led through the streets, and they followed the town wall without attracting much attention. There was no sign of the escaped vampires. Outside the south gate, Vistani gathered again, slipping into the woods as the party passed.

Milivoj nodded to them outside St. Andral’s. Carver rewarded him for delivering the bones, and the company brought Henrik before Father Lucian. Ignatius explained the theft and the vampires behind it. The priest rebuked Henrik for betraying the town, then completed the ritual with the returned relics. The church was sacred ground again, a refuge for Vallaki’s frightened people when night came.

Father Lucian blesses the returned bones by candlelight as Ignatius watches and Henrik sits with his head bowed.

With the returned bones, St. Andral’s became sacred ground again. View image record.

Lucian gave the company a pair of matching, etched sending stones in thanks. They had once been used to speak with the church in Krezk, he said, before ties were cut after it fell to evil. He did not recognize Vasily’s name. Leaving Henrik with the church, the company returned to the Blue Water Inn.

The hunters were back in the quiet taproom. The party apologized for missing their earlier outing, and Soldar praised what they had accomplished around town. Over dinner, Rage bought wine for other tables and encouraged the patrons to drink. When the company left with the hunters, he drummed up more business in the streets, urging townsfolk toward the inn.

Beyond the west gate, the bald hunter hurried ahead. The company helped set traps in the woods until the scout returned with word of figures moving through the brush. Rage ran forward and called out. Pitchforks, clubs, and torches emerged from the trees: Barovians fleeing Krezk, lost and circling while trying to find their way out. Carver offered St. Andral’s as a place of shelter. Soldar told them how to follow the mountains to the road and reach Vallaki, and the groups parted.

Dusk had arrived by the time the company left the woods. On the return journey, after crossing the bridge, Soldar paused beside a forest path and asked to speak freely. Did they truly oppose Strahd? They assured him they did. He warned of listening spies and pointed down the path toward the Vistani camp. The Vistani seemed more active lately, he said; he suspected something was underway, though he could not say what.

Back in Vallaki, Lucian was tending to his flock and blessing them with holy water. The Blue Water Inn was livelier than it had been on recent nights, but Danica came toward the company visibly distraught. She handed Carver a paper: an invitation from Strahd to dine at his castle. An old man had asked her to deliver it. The invitation read:

My friends,

Know that it is I who have brought you to this land, my home, and know that I alone can release you from it. I bid you dine at my castle so that we can meet in civilized surroundings. Your passage here will be a safe one. I await your arrival.

Your host,
Strahd von Zarovich

There was good news as well, she said. A feathered visitor waited upstairs.

A distressed Danica hands Carver a folded letter in the busy Blue Water Inn, with an empty staircase behind them.

An invitation waited downstairs. A feathered visitor waited above. View image record.

Key events

  1. Six vampires emerged from soil-filled crates; four died and two escaped.
  2. Henrik described Vasily’s visit, the vampires’ threats, and their demand for the bones.
  3. Milivoj’s delivery was confirmed, Lucian consecrated the church again, and the company received sending stones.
  4. The company joined the hunters, directed people fleeing Krezk toward Vallaki, and heard Soldar’s warning about increased Vistani activity.
  5. Danica delivered Strahd’s invitation and announced a feathered visitor upstairs.

Decisions and consequences

  • The sanctuary is restored. The returned relics and Lucian’s completed ritual ended the church’s immediate vulnerability.
  • Two vampires remain at large. Their destination and plans are unknown.
  • Henrik was left at the church. His account names Vasily but does not establish that man’s identity or explain the vampires’ larger purpose.
  • The company affirmed its opposition to Strahd. Soldar asked for that assurance before discussing the nearby camp.
  • No answer to the invitation is recorded. The session ends with the letter and news of the visitor.

People

  • Henrik, Vasily, Father Lucian, and Milivoj — the theft’s aftermath and the restoration of St. Andral’s.
  • Soldar and his unnamed bald companion — hunting guides; Soldar shared suspicions about the Vistani camp.
  • Danica, Urwin’s wife — bearer of the invitation and news of the visitor.
  • Strahd — invited the company to his castle without appearing in person.

Places

Clues, lore, and notable items

  • The vampires’ soil was unusually cold; its significance is unknown.
  • Henrik’s account and Danica’s delivery story both mention an old man. No connection between those men was established.
  • Lucian’s former connection to Krezk is preserved in the history of the sending stones; no active contact there was established.
  • In his invitation, Strahd claims he brought the company to Barovia and alone can release it. He promises safe passage to his castle; these are his assertions, not independently established facts or a guarantee of safety afterward.

Story threads

Rewards, losses, and character changes

  • Reward: A pair of sending stones from Lucian; the individual stones’ carriers were not recorded.
  • Recovered: Vampire heads, including the leader’s; one was placed in the Bag of Holding.
  • Received: Strahd’s invitation, handed to Carver.
  • Ability established: Ignatius used his new Stunning Strike.
  • Consumable used: Rage drank a greater healing potion; its source among the company’s supplies was not specified.

Memorable moments

  • A hand reached out of what appeared to be a crate of soil.
  • Carver shot a cold vial out of the air to unleash shatter.
  • Ignatius made a coffin lid his resting place while Henrik lay inside.
  • Rage escorted a prisoner through Vallaki under the illusion of a large dog.

Open questions

  • Who is Vasily, and where did the surviving vampires go to recover?
  • What is happening in Krezk and at the nearby Vistani camp?
  • What does Strahd want from a dinner with the company?
  • Who is the feathered visitor upstairs?

Next session

  • Immediate situation: At the Blue Water Inn, Carver holds the invitation and a feathered visitor waits upstairs.
  • Likely goals: Meet the visitor, consider Strahd’s invitation, and decide which of the new leads to pursue.

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