Session 5 : Cold chicken

“Wake up! Mistress, wake up!”

Destiny was rudely awoken by Watch. It was hard to get angry at Watch; someone as ugly as him deserved sympathy, not anger. Nonetheless, it was annoying to be woken up from such a beautiful sleep. She did sleep well these days. Adventuring was really suiting her. 

Where were they again? Oh yes, the Vistani camp with that Madam Eva… wait… something was not right.

“Watch, where are the Vistani? Why is the camp completely empty? Just how long have I been sleeping? Days?”

“Mistress, this is why I’ve been trying to wake you.” Watch wondered how both Hoskgak and Destiny could love sleep so much. It seemed nothing could possibly wake them until a full eight hours had passed.

“The Vistani just vanished in the middle of the night. And just before they did, a bird flew towards the Castle. Maybe the Vistani are working for the Count! Maybe this whole fortune telling thing is a trick!” Watch reported.

Destiny looked around. Sure enough, she could see from the disturbed ground where the tents and wagons had been just a few hours before, but no tracks showing how they moved. It looked as if everything had just vanished.

But she dismissed Watch’s conclusion that Madam Eva was trying to trick them. If the Vistani meant them harm, there had been plenty of opportunities to do so. Besides, with Hoskgak and Serenity by her side she doubted even the most cunning trickery could stop them from defeating the Count.

“You are too suspicious for your own good, Watch.”

***

So, they once again set off for Vallaki.

“Mistress, danger! Let me show you.”

Destiny closed her eyes and saw through Watch's eyes. Everything seemed less vibrant, yet somehow sharper at the same time. Weird, but very cool. Watch darted about, quickly glancing around to survey the scene.

“Slow down, Watch. Keep your head still. You are going to make me throw up!” Watch huffed, but did as commanded. He raised his hands to either side of his head and clamped it like a vice. Then he carefully panned his head according to Destiny’s instructions. “Up a bit”, “down a bit”, “perfect, just stay looking at that while I talk to the guys.”

Destiny turned to Serenity and Hoskgak, “So there’s a Knight and he is in trouble! He’s fighting off a group of zombies.”

“Look again. How sure are you this IS a knight? Remember the horse...” Serenity snapped warily.

“Good point. Watch, you still there? Good, ZOOM IN to the Knight, we need a clearer look on his face. Enhance!"

“What? I can’t do that, you are looking through my eyes, not a spyglass.”

“Ah ok, then… er… can you fly closer without being detected? With your invisibility power and all that?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Watch flew closer, all the while holding his head between his hands. He did his best to mimic a zooming effect, which he was rather proud about.

It turned out, the Knight had a distinctly “undead” look to it, the grey shrivelled skin and sunken eyes kind of gave it away.

“Ah crap, the Knight is actually one of them! Ok, Plan B. Let’s hide on either side of the road and surprise attack them!”

Given their recent experiences, Serenity, Hoskgak and Ireena didn’t need much persuading that charging head on wasn’t always the best option. They darted to the trees on one side while Destiny hid on the other. All poised and ready to spring on the unsuspecting fiends.

But just as quickly as Plan A became Plan B, Plan B was replaced with Plan C.

This was because not only did the undead Knight continue to fight these zombies for real, it dispatched them with such ease that it could only be described as a slaughter. And now, with the zombies gone, it was walking down the road towards them.

If that thing could single-handedly kill a group of zombies without even a scratch, they might meet a similar fate.

And thus Plan C was conceived. The hiding part was essentially the same as Plan B, except that instead of jumping out to surprise attack the undead Knight, they would stick with the hiding part.

With that decision settled, Destiny and Hoskgak both felt this was a good time to eat a portion of their pies. After all, what harm could it possibly do?

***

The Revenant walked down the path. He saw the Imp behind him, watching. And ahead he saw a half-orc crouching by a tree, eating pie.

Curious.

He walked on.

***

By night fall, they came to a derelict watch tower. There was nothing special about this watch tower except for a spyglass mounted to the top of the tower. Watch was able to fly to the spyglass and look through it. Destiny and the group looked like ghostly figures. Only Ireena looked like herself.

The group thought nothing of it. “Just another oddity of this land.” Watch was not so sure.

They spent the night there. Destiny and Hoskgak once again fell to their slumber. Ireena and Serenity were forced to take watch on behalf of the group.

Morning came and Destiny woke to some commotion between Hoskgak and Serenity.

"This is becoming a problem. It's those pies, there's something not right about them, what is in them? You said yourself, back in Barovia, there are no animals here! Every night, you both drop to sleep and nothing wakes you, I've tried, I kicked you! You did not even stir!" Serenity just kept talking "Two nights! You promised to protect Ireena and she is the one exhausted in the morning from watching over you!"

“Serenity is right. Hoskgak wrong. I will no longer eat them. Pies are bad.” And with that, Hoskgak took out his pies and tossed them to the ground.

Destiny did feel a bit guilty about not having taken watches. Maybe she could ask Watch to do the “watching” on her behalf. Destiny giggled to herself at the cleverness of her idea and her Imp’s name. And why would sleep have anything to do with the pies? Speaking of pies… she took out another piece and started eating some. She felt instantly more energised and stronger than before. She saw Watch staring at her hungrily and tore a small slice for him.

Just three slices left now. It’ll be a shame once they are finished. Destiny wondered whether Vallaki might sell some, these exact ones. Looking at Hoskgak’s discarded pies…

“It’s a shame for them go to waste.” Destiny gave Watch a knowing smile.

***

“Hoskgak, are you alright? You don’t look so good.” Destiny could see that Hoskgak was visibly swaying as they walked.

“Hoskgak has the cold chicken.”

“You’ve got what?”

“Cold chicken. Not eating the Pies make you have cold chicken. Sweats and shakes. Difficult to focus, difficult to fight. Pies are no good. You should throw yours away like Hoskgak.”

“You mean you have withdrawal symptoms? From pies? Look, your pies... errr... would you... errr like them back?”

“Hoskgak wish, but we cannot go back to the watch tower.”

“About that,” but before Destiny finished, Hoskgak rushed to the side of the bridge they were crossing and promptly emptied his breakfast to the river below. Just as that happened, a strange red mist materialised out of thin air and engulfed Destiny.

Destiny screamed as she felt her life sucked out of her by the red mist.

Suddenly she saw Hoskgak charging towards her swinging his hand axes like a mad-half-orc.

“Stop! Hoskgak, it’s me!”

She could see that Ireena was now also coming towards her, weapons at hand. Serenity not far behind.

“I’ve got to get our of here, maybe they can’t see me in this mist!”

Bloodied, Destiny summoned her remaining strength to dive out of the mist and ran as far away as she could.

Where did this mist come from? Why did it attack her?

Ireena swung her sword at the mist and seemed to have visibly hurt it. But instead of attacking Ireena, it turned after Hoskgak.

“Maybe it’s attacking only people who ate the pies!”

Could that be? Maybe Serenity was right all along and that there was something wrong with these pies. After all they were rather too delicious for this cursed land.

No time to think. Focus Destiny! She unleashed a barrage of magic at the mist.

***

It was getting close to night time. They needed a place to rest for the night. In front of them (after some unpleasantries with swarms of poisonous snakes) stood a old windmill with smoke coming out of the chimney. 

Not just any windmill, though. Destiny took out the deed from the Death House. Yes, this was the very same windmill. In fact, it was really their windmill. They had the deed after all. And, based on the smell wafting through the air in its neighbourhood, it was making the very same pies they had been eating. What a coincidence!

Destiny politely knocked on the door.

“Hello? Who is it?”

As the door opened, the smell of pies flooded their nostrils and an old lady looked at them.

“Can I help you?”