34 Castle Vallaki
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06/10/2021-20/10/2021

The chasm between Zenovia and Vlach offers no resistance to them this time and the group enters the Baron’s territory without any dramas. After playing hide-and-seek with a group of local gypsies they are directed to a camp and a mysterious fortune teller who turns out to be none other than Atheris. A sudden storm sweeps into the camp, and the group make haste for the shelter of the nearby Abbey.

There they wait out the storm and find evidence of a camp fire. Since the locals don’t come to the abbey any more who could have been here? Once the squall has passed the group ventures forth and comes across an old arched stone bridge; when they try to cross, they meet the resident guardian. After being knocked in the river and variously knocked about, eventually the great brute is overcome and they hasten to the castle itself.

After witnessing a strange revelation between Brother Andre and Irina, the group follows on up the stairs to the upper chamber, destroying the huge clock tower pendulum in the process. They encounter a cluster of sleeping vampires and destroy them before they can stir before attacking and cracking the glowing red heart-shaped stone at the centre of the room.

They flee the creeping red gloop that flows from the cracked stone and dive through the shattered floor into a chamber decorated with painted eyes which doesn’t appear to have been used for some time. By some miracle they find a secret passage which leads into the catacombs where their prize is supposed to be, but they find it empty. They follow the trail back away from the castle to a crossroads where Percy and a stranger are waiting patiently, the Orgone accumulator in the rear.

Quickly they return to Corjen and the pomegranate-smeared Tyche is sat in the central chamber to absorb the healing rays. Mission accomplished, thoughts turn once more to the Bloody Baron and his malign rule and threat to the Duchy of Vlach. Perhaps this is not something that can be walked away from.

35 Unfinished Business
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20/10/2021-10/11/2021

Passing through the portal does indeed return the group to Zenovia, but they are in a forest shrouded by mist and have no guide with them to inform them where they are. Ninevah tries to explain how the Baron controls the pathways to a disinterested audience, but they are soon focused on forging a new path.

Aside from forest and mountains, they distantly spy what appears to be a floating castle over a lake, and head in that direction. Along the way they are harassed by a silent hunter, who leaves dismembered animals and skeletons pinned to trees. Eventually Jack manages to catch the creature in the act and attacks it, but requires the others of the group to come to his aid. While they are engaged, Ninevah attempts to call friendly spirits but only receives the attentions of hostile ones and ends up gravely wounded.

Once the hunter is dispatched, they fashion a stretcher and continue their journey, pausing to rest at a remote chapel surrounded by sealed tombs. Henry finds the word “Argynvost” carved above the door, while dragon-like gargoyles peer down from the walls. The font was once a holy place, but now only an ancient armoured guardian sits in quiet vigil. Once somewhat recovered Ninevah attempts to communicate with the knight, but only succeeds in awakening it from its long slumber.

36 Floating Castle
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10/11/2021-17/11/2021

After a long and bloody battle with the revenant knight Vladimir and his lieutenants, the group retreats to see to their many wounds. Lt. Jack is on deaths’ door, and only with Ninevah’s careful ministrations in the ruined chapel does he begin to recover. They cannot stay though, and retire to a makeshift shelter a safer distance from the unquiet dead. Fortunately, the hunting party brings back some venison for the group and manages to make a success of cooking the meat, bringing colour back to everyone’s cheeks.

Continuing onward, they at last come to the edge of the lake and its flying castle, at the centre of which is a wooden sailing vessel, occupied but anchored with no place to go. Taking a fishing boat they find on the shore, the party heads over and hails the captain, who brings them aboard. No sooner has he done so then Henry shouts a challenge to the keep above, which starts bombarding the lake below with rocks. The Brig “Dawncutter” is soon matchwood and its crew fleeing in all directions, in some cases pursued by the dark fanged beasts that stalk the depths.

Lt. Jack rallies the sailors but due to some treachery they are assaulted during the night. Many of them have been drugged and the crew take grievous losses though the Vistani skirmisher cavalry are driven off. Assembling those that remain willing to fight, the group press on towards the Baron’s castle, though few have proper weapons. With them is Bishop Reid, a Teslan Pilgrim learned in the arts of the Pangool. They will likely need all the assistance they can get in the battle to come.

37 Deja Vu
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17/11/2021-01/12/2021

Another scrap with the guardian of the bridge assisted by the remaining crew of the “Dawncutter” presages the entry into Castle Vallaki for a second time, accompanied by the arrows of vampire ladies.

A showdown with some of the Baron’s more deadly allies then ensues, flanked by the impaled bodies of some of the lost sailors from the lakeside skirmish. Casualties among the survivors are severe as the undead remains of a once-great dragon breathes deadly ice on the unwary. With grim determination the fell beast is overcome, only for more of the dark fae and a rider in black armour to emerge from the castle.

For a while the outcome of the skirmish is in doubt, but with help from Lucius, who slays the dark knight with a single inspired blow, they prevail. Taking the skull of the undead drake, they return to the chapel of Argynvost and place it in the setting beneath the font. With a burst of light the dragon rises in all its silver-scaled glory and flies out over the trees to wreak revenge on the baron and his castle.

Once rested and recovered, the group returns to the baron’s abode to find it a ruin with the dragon sat proudly atop it. Though the Baron has been vanquished and exiled, he is still out there though the dragon says he will cause no more trouble.

With objectives achieved, though with little material wealth to show for it, the group return to the Duchess’s castle where they are feted as victors. Kat makes some friends and Henry gets a close encounter. Jack is told he would be better wintering here where there is comfort and security, but he wants to be back in Corjen with his wife. He bids Ninevah open a gate, which she reluctantly does and they all step through.

Before joining them, Ninevah and Lucius have an encounter of their own with the Queen of Winter who demands a toll. She takes a skull and warns them about using the paths of her domain.  The world is suddenly colder.