5.1 : The provenance of pies

-

Serenity sighed. She took a long drink from a wine bottle and then placed it carefully back in her pack; it clinked against the other bottles that were waiting patiently for their turn to be drained.

“How much further to Vallaki?” Serenity asked no one in particular. “About a day and a half” replied Ireena, politely. Serenity sighed again, turned slightly toward Ireena and nodded in acknowledgement.

“We will need to find somewhere to set up camp soon” Serenity muttered, again to no one in particular. “The pie eaters will drop to sleep before long”.

It had been a treacherous journey of vampiric mists and undead abominations. It had also been enlightening – seeing the undead Revenant cut down the group of zombies as if they were nothing, whilst Serenity and her companions hid amongst the trees; it was somehow reassuring to see that the evils of this land were not all united against them.

But most interesting and worrying were the pies. Serenity looked across at Destiny and then to Hoskgak, she shook her head and frowned. There was something very odd about those pies. This morning the signs of their addiction were plain, Serenity was certain Hoskgak knew it too, not that it did him much good. Perhaps Serenity might not have even minded were it not for the bewitched slumber the two of them fell to each evening, leaving Serenity and Ireena to keep watch alone. Serenity looked across at Ireena again, she was not sure how many more nights the two of them could keep this up before exhaustion left them undefended from the dark.

No matter, Serenity had a plan. She reached into her pack for another swig of wine. It smelled of wet dog and tasted of dust - Serenity grimaced slightly as she drank – if they made it to Vallaki alive she would buy the good stuff from now on.

But for now it would do and tonight... when Serenity took her watch, she would destroy the remaining pies. Her companions would be forced to face their addiction head on in the cold light of the morning. She just had to decide whether to blame wild animals or to be honest; honesty was her preference, but she was slowly learning that following her gut without thinking of the consequences was an increasingly dangerous habit in this land.

They turned a corner and in the distance stood a windmill. The dark of night was approaching and this looked as good a place as any to find shelter, safety and escape these pies for good. She had just spotted some movement in the grass when Destiny foolishly stepped off the path and was promptly swallowed up by a swarm of spiders. Serenity sighed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Session 17 : Heist of Yesterhill

-
Image
And so it was, the Heist of Yesterhill went down in history as one of the greatest heists in all of Barovia, told and retold to many as an inspiration of courage and sacrifice. The origin and many facts of the event are no longer known. But this much we do know for certain: Hoskgak the half-orc did exist and the heist probably happened around 400 years after Barovia was taken by Strahd. Although many of his companions died that day and Hoskgak himself was said to have suffered grave injuries, they were able to recover one of the legendary gem of Rozana right under the nose of Strahd. *** The rain is hard and lightning strikes sporadically at the top of Yesterhill. Ahead of them is a large circular field and on one end is a giant 50 foot high statue made out of living wood. Inside the statue is a glowing green gem, the very item they are tasked to recover for the Martikovs. A woman is tied halfway up the statue, a daughter, and mother, of the Martikov clan. A stone wall 10 foot tall sur...
Read more

004 : Serenity in the Storm

-
Image
The barkeep placed the drinks in a row on the bar, glancing between Serenity and the door, as if expecting a large party to arrive to join her. She paid him little attention and filled her travelling flask with glass after glass for the journey, drank one to remember absent family, another for friends lost and finally left the last glass standing alone on the bar as she left to find lodgings for the night. Always a lonely glass for the Abbot. A toast left un-drunk for all the good in the world. The Storm The Snowflake Mountains were vast, slicing upwards through the clouds. The monastery, carved into the rock face of a nameless peak, sat just above the cloud layer. On a calm day, the clouds lapped against the stairs leading to the monastery entrance like a layer of foam. To descend the mountain was to submerge into the clouds as if disappearing under the sea. On the days that were not calm, black storm clouds would envelop the peak; the windows and doors would be bolted closed and the ...
Read more

Tight Spot

-
It was on the thirteenth day, or rather the evening preceding the thirteenth day, before Ireena's ill-fated wedding to the dreaded Strahd that our band of inexplicably cohesive heroes found themselves in a bit of a tight spot. And by "tight spot," we mean the kind of situation that would make even the most hardened adventurers wince and consider a career change to something less life-threatening, like accounting or perhaps, in Barovia, vampire-slaying door-to-door salesmanship. Destiny, having just been revived by Serenity, was immediately greeted by a magic missile that did nothing to improve her already dour mood. As if that weren't enough to dampen anyone's spirits, the entire party suddenly found a rather lot of vampires dimension doored into a scene of utter chaos. You see, dimension door is a rather nifty trick that allows one to pop in and out of existence like some sort of cosmic jack-in-the-box. In the ensuing mayhem, Serenity and Zuleika made a run for i...
Read more