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Hugo Fowl

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  1. Hugo Fowl
    Session 7: The Vampire went down to Barovia
    As the paladin strode down from the manor house,the invisible Billy and the shape shifted Bruno would opt to scout the place. They would also be in time to hear the last words of Henry Sutton, who brought out a hand mirror and spoke to someone he called 'Anastasia' as he said he'd impose on her hospitality after all as soon as he switched on the defenses.
    He then teleported away, though Billy and Bruno had no idea how far. But the pair then engaged in a battle against a Barbed Devil Hillbilly, wielding a golden fiddle as he played and with a burning dance floor, took both out.
    When they woke up, stabilized and barely conscious it was to the sight of the Ghost of Strahd talking to the Hillbilly before they shook hands and the Hillbilly left. The Ghost then clapped both on the shoulder and proclaimed it was a shame before leaving as the strange, Flesh-Wearing Worms appeared from grates to approach the tied up duo.
    Bruno would turn into a horse. Billy would use a lockpick planted on him from the Ghost clapping his shoulder to escape, the two fleeing off into the dark.
    Meanwhile, the party below argued whether or not to go up,with Kalin and Alistair opting to do so, accompanied by Murica the drone before meeting the Ghost midway. After a brief talk about why bothering to do so, the Ghost decided to help them through the first part.
    With him, they removed land mine traps and when the hounds came out to fight and bite, the Ghost made short work of them before they vanished. Within, Kalin and Alistair fought off a phantasmal killer trap and managed to defeat the Hillbilly, earning the golden fiddle though Alistair attempted to sell off Kalin in doing so, earning the rangers ire.
    Around at this point, the rest of the party caught up to them and they had a choice of two places to go. Either through golden doors with musical notes engraved or beneath the wendigo dummy set up to hide a secret passage to the basement. After fighting off two giants, the party headed below, found the fallen Billy and Bruno and decided to retreat for the night.
    The town due to their actions with the camp locked them out of the inn, the place closed to them leaving their only choice to be with the Vistani camp for the night.
    There they spoke to Madame Eva, who was slowly dying due to the efforts she was making to protect them as she revealed her left hand-shriveled and black from the arcane attacks. She answered their questions, revealing and clearing up some of what puzzled them. From 'the beast with a weapon', referring to the Ghost and the tool he protected(the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, which was a bane to the undead as a whole). They also discovered more of Strahds past as well as information on the realm as a whole, learning that the demiplane was a prison for more than Strahd Von Zarovich as they learned of his rivals and peers. Other monstrous beings whose crimes in life swept them away to this cursed demiplane.
    Including 'A Beast that fed upon minds that lurked below the earth'. 
    They also learned due to waiting too long, that they failed to retrieve and kill Sutton... Something that Strahd had words for them in the morning hours over. Thankfully, he had made one of them pay in blood for them all and casually tossed the still gas-masked head of Heinrich to the group, proclaiming to do better next time as he turned to leave. Yimir,fed up at this point mooned the vampire lord and then threw off his polymorph attempt. Strahd, deciding his willpower enabled a stay of execution nodded in respect and told them he expected them at his castle and would send his gamekeeper to retrieve them when the time came before he left on a Nightmare.
    The party then headed back to the manor to clear it out. Discovering a Sending Stone with a connection to two places-one in the manor and one out to the forest, they found a Dwarven teenage girl-supposedly buried alive. She turned out to be a vampire spawn, recalling 'red eyes' and nothing more. Yimir put her to rest among a sober party and the Ghost spoke over the Sending Stone, expressing sorrow they killed her. Yimir, angered at this point proclaimed he would be coming for him next, the Ghost grimly satisfied as he said he would be waiting before the connection cut off.

    The way before them is clear. Before Strahd tires of them further, they would need the tools and weapons to defeat him. Starting with the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind.
    If they could get past the Ghost of Strahd first.
     
  2. Hugo Fowl
    Session 6: What's Insurance like in Barovia?
     
    The party split up according to their choices and means. Komodo alongside Bruno and Roukai opted to sleep at the inn to rest and recuperate. Heinrich, Alistair and Billy decided they would press on in the night to the forge in an attempt to meet the dwarves. Along the way, Alistair howled into the night, seized by a sense of playfulness which swiftly turned to regret as prowling wendigo heard and converged on their position. As they clashed and came close to potential death, they were driven off by sunlight-cast by an old Vistani woman who had been looking for them.
     
    Taking them back to her Caravan, she introduced herself as Madame Eva and revealed she had been helping them since the moment they came to Barovia. With her power, she had sent visions to the party as well as protected them in their sleep from Baba Lygasa of Strahds Black Fist-the hag had apparently been attempting to strike them through their dreams since the windmill and only stymied by her power,though she warned she could not keep it up forever.
     
    As to why, she claimed the party was a force for change in Barovia and warned them there was far more at stake should Strahd get his hands on Ireena. And in response to Heinrich asking what, she showed him a vision that made him down the vodka fortified tea she had served them. When asked for more clarification, she said that she could only show so much at the present time and would share more when she could.
     
    When asked about the Ghost, she said simply that he had always been in this region and added with mild scorn that he cheats at cards. Before the party left, she graciously offered to take the body off their hands and sent them away with a Lantern of Revealing-a magical object that could show invisible things in its light. As they left her wagon, they noticed John the Felyne watching them from a rooftop though they made no attempt to do anything but express disappointment.
     
    The next day at the inn, the party went over their options and decided that it was best to get the Dwarves and the town on their side. Which meant infiltrating and finding ways to free the hostages kept by the Lord Mayor to impose order.
     
    John, who just invited himself to their table offered to lead them through a tunnel he and the Ghost used. He also mentioned how deliveries were made to the foundry and it's possible to slip in that way. When suspicious party members brought up the fact he was friends with the Ghost, John simply said he was friends with everyone. Also he had been paid a quarter and proudly displayed a necklace with the quarter on it.
     
    And so, Roukai, Alistair and Billy went with the delivery route and Komodo and Heinrich would follow John underground.
     
    Bruno and Kalin would go to the wood shop and wouldn't realize what happened till the explosion(but all in good time).
     
    The forge was built into the mountain, with a half moon shaped wall creating an open space before it that when seen, had been designed after a Concentration Camp. Starving Dwarves would be watched over by constructs, those of the town that sided with the Lord Mayor and hostages-skimpily dressed youth, with glazed eyes who served water to the guards. As they made their deliveries, one of the hostages shook off her dazed state, took in her current surroundings with horror and began to flee. Billy stopped her by shooting the ground before her, prompting her swift recapture by the guards. As they congratulated him, the false Ghost approached and invited them to his office for a job.
     
    Two targets to be killed, one 'a crazy hermit in the woods' who sniped any of their men who tried to approach his territory and 'some Vistani hag' who showed up to town. Negotiations fell short when Roukai insisted on a greater pay than the False Ghost was offering, prompting him to shoot him in the leg. Roukai immediately flung a lightning bolt, dodged by the false ghost which went out a window and hit one of the transport wagons.
     
    This immediately sparked a fight, that ended with the death of the false ghost, a petrified Roukai and the subsequent wagon full of gunpowder exploding.
     
    And triggering a chain reaction from the traffic jam of gunpowder wagons leading into the forge.
     
    Meanwhile, Heinrich, Komodo and John traveled the tunnel, past a golem guard the dwarves made on the sly and encountered a disquieting thing.
     
    Six dwarves corpses, with holes in their heads and covered in webs spoke in unison for a sacrifice, claiming to serve 'The Beast Below'. Heinrich decided to hell with this and with John, ran immediately back just in time for an explosion.
     
    The ground collapsed into a pit. The camp, the foundry was destroyed. Corpses were scattered everywhere in pieces, smoke rose as fire burned and explosions continued to pop. In their weakened state, things got worse as the rains began to fall and Strahd descended from the skies as he asked for an explanation.
     
    What followed was an incredibly surreal scene as Strahd the more the conversation progressed looked less and less like a Dark lord and more akin to a harried teacher who isn't paid enough for this shit. Right down to the party raising their hands to speak, like a classroom of students. They managed to secure his interest by mentioning the fake Ghost as well as the fact that they attempted to put a hit on the Vistani matriarch-they then progressed from Strahd washing his hands of them by volunteering to deal with the Lord Mayor for his obvious plans that seemed to subvert his own.
     
    Conceding this, he grabbed John and told him to inform the Ghost that to ensure the party does his will, that he will join them for now.
     
    He then told them to inform Madame Eva that they have permission to restore Roukai after the party told him he would be useful and was gone.
     
    Battered, ash covered the party returned to the Vistani as Madame Eva fed and comforted them. They also managed to buy a few magical objects with Alistair offering a favor in future to the Vistani.
     
    It was then Rob appeared-jovial and grinning as he mentioned how impressed he was with the explosion. He also shared information on what to expect from the Mayor's house, citing a Hellish influence. In the end, Komodo volunteered to talk under flag of truce and see what he could discover. Accompanying him would be Bruno in gecko form and an invisible Billy, who had claimed a ring of invisibility from the corpse of the false ghost.
     
    Alistair would go alone with Strahds Black Fist, the latter who warned him he may just push him off the sniping point. When he decided to go anyway, he seemed surprised but in the end, got along fairly well as they prepared themselves just in case.
     
    The diplomatic party would succeed in a meeting, Komodo speaking to the Lord Mayor as Billy and Bruno explored and spied.
     
    The mayor introduced himself as Henry Sutton and offered information in exchange for a delay of a day and a half. Komodo agreed and Henry shared the reason he had taken power.
     
    In Barovia were three objects that combined, allowed the users to kill Strahd and the Dark Lord had taken pains to remove all information on them. What he knew for sure was that one of them was guarded by Strahds Ghost, who lived in the woods and slew all who came for it. Infesting Wendigo into the forest to flush him out did nothing and any obvious show of force would draw Strahds eye. The starvation, the false ghost-all of it was for a chance for Henry to obtain what the Ghost guarded-a medallion of his house, wrought in silver. A holy item.
     
    A symbol of Ravenkind.
     
    Komodo then returned and would attempt to delay as promised. And so here is where the party stands. With the Ghost of Strahd over their shoulder, Strahd himself watching them as the rains have yet to clear and a promise of hope and damnation.
  3. Hugo Fowl
    Session 5: Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, golly, what a day.
    Kalin the Wood Elve Ranger and Billy as the play went on would be preparing to help the resistance in the fight against the Toymakers forces. Together, the pair fought the mine overseer as well as his bodyguard , Billy close to death even as Kalin blew up dynamite to drive away the bodyguard as the coup initiated by Lady Volenta took place. Meanwhile, the party would fight the Puppeteer who used his wires and puppets to clash and slash. The Toymaker, revealing he had some power would take control of a puppet to help defend and in the end, as the puppeteer was dying he screamed in fear, about how he could See now. With this look of terror, he died and his prosthetics would be taken by the party. His body was strange, maggots en mass within him and his eyes had been sliced out.
    But they would manage to escape Toy Town and together, they would all escape alongside refugees and resistance members, the elderly Toymaker at their side. Alana would find them, the group giving each other some choices as to what to do next before the party decided that the Black Kegs; the gunsmiths of Barovia were next. The journey would be far and as they considered what to do, the Toymaker suggested an idea. And with the party, helped establish a hot air balloon for them all. Before they left, Alana warned them that Strahd had conducted work up there fairly recently and to be wary.
    For two days, the party lingered and the balloon took off as they flew towards the direction of the mountains, the party briefly seeing a strange floating structure in silhouette against the red moon of Barovia.
    Three to four days passed, the party encountering nothing of any real significant danger though in the distance, they could see the storms that followed Strahd below in the lands away from them. The vampire lord seemed to be working if the storm was any indication, swiftly moving from one end to the other of Barovia as a whole. And then as they approached the mountains, a sniper below began to hit their balloon.
    The party immediately scrambled to fix it, using a combination of mending, water spells and other things though the engine blew out and a scuffle ensued. Ashes and soot upon the wind would be tasted in the breeze ahead, down below the figure of a monster keeping pace in the woods sighted before vanishing.
    Heinrich would fly off ahead, sighting the walls of a town and what looked like fortifications towards the woods.
    As spotlights would be centered on him, he swiftly waved a flag of truce and managed to convince the people they were friendlies.
    The balloon landed in the square of the town, more than a few among them intently happy to be on solid ground again. Though as they relaxed, they realized who the town belonged to now as on a flagpole, Strahds emblem could be seen flying in the breeze.
    The people looked to be a mix of regiments, dating from 1863 it was discovered. Civil War regiments of both sides,caught up in the mists about three years ago from their perspective. When told it had been more than twenty years for the party, Officer Boone they had established relations with was shocked.
    At the saloon, it was here too that they met other folks...A Felyne named John and a sleepy, Irish looking cowboy named Rob-both who introduced themselves after the party encountered the Lord Mayor with his bodyguards. Two golems and the Ghost of Strahds Black Fist-a burly rifleman who could turn invisible. Upon discovering Ireena, the mayor laughing would ultimately decide to wait. He would call Strahd and for the next three days, the party would be watched...But not molested, provided they behaved. 
    Between Boone, Rob and John(the latter two who claimed to be smugglers), they painted a grim story.
    Dwarves were being made to work the factory, producing firearms and siege weapons by the score on Strahds orders. Starved to prevent rebellion by the mayor, a greedy soul who loved money and kept hostages-dwarve and americans to keep the town under his thumb. As he mentioned a curfew, the druid had long since left on a quest to find wood. With Vec following to make sure he was alright as both missed the last part of Boones warning.
    Of something stalking folks in the streets and killing them.
    The druid would almost die to it, the creature revealed to be a Wendigo as Komodo drove it off with holy light. 
    It also proved to be vulnerable to silver, a fact that came in good stead when the party(save for Rokai and Ireena who stayed in their rooms) were ambushed by three of them, learning as well that exposure to daylight would kill it for good when weakened enough to the point of death.
    Though in their clash, someone had taken the time to kidnap Ireena behind everyone's back and left a calling card.
    A rolled up cigarette, smoked to a stub. The same brand as left behind in their camp long ago.
    The same one favored by Rob who got them to give him a light earlier. While the mayor claimed to have the Ghost on his payroll?
    The REAL Ghost had been here all along. Following the party since Toy Town and managing to get ahead of the group at the Black Kegs Town. Now, as the party must figure out how to deal with Ireena, Strahds Agent and the Mayor's plots and a Wendigo infestation? The town gates open wide as a Vistani Caravan rides in.
    Madame Eva, seer has arrived and with the Vistani allied with Strahd, will her presence bode for good....Or ill?
    Time will tell....
  4. Hugo Fowl
    Session 5: We Barely Knew Ye
    After a strange dream, the party woke up for the day in the manor of Lady Volenta. After a quick discussion of their options, they came down for breakfast where the Lady of the House had set a feast for them with Olivia by her side. Upon being asked, she then shared information about the Murder Plays of the Toymaker and what do expect, cautioning them to be ready for anything as no two renditions(even of the same story) were alike.
    She then pointedly asked Yimir why he kept looking at Olivia so intently, upon which he admitted to the promise he made to the Tin Soldier to help her escape from her. He then asked if he could talk to her and Volenta granted five minutes in exchange for seeing the sun. Casting sunlight, the party watched as Lady Volenta charred and was harmed though she made no outcry and if anything looked transfixed. Keeping her word after, she declined Yimirs offer to feed on him and gave them time to talk.
    Yimir would tell Olivia there was an escape route and he would find her after the play.
    The party would then be escorted to the infamous Opera House where they would meet the rest of the cast as well as a being from their world, one Dorian Gray who would play the role of Strahd himself. Alistair in particular despised him on sight and the feeling was mutual, as they engaged in a contest of pain-the dandy healing from the strikes inflicted. They would also meet the Puppeteer; the Toymakers second in command who initiated his orders and laws. He would inform the party and those connected to the play that they would be expected to merely survive, the talking lines reserved for others. 
    The play itself also had them meet new party members, as well as saw the death of Grimoire who would be ripped apart in the first act.
    The play took part in four acts and was as a whole, the tale of Strahd first coming to Barovia with his army and his Black Fist legion, which the group played as. The first act had them combat a puppet construct known as the Songbird which killed Grimoire and dropped Yimir and the second upon a ship had them face the Giants of the Lake, which managed to curse both Alistair and Heinrich into deformed beings.
    As the play continued, it was clear that Strahd was watching them as they fought and seemed incredibly annoyed. As the third act rolled and the party was healed and de-cursed by their patron, Lady Volenta would mention how Strahd and a man named Sergei painted as a villain by the play were no such things. And how much he idolized and loved him, the two of them actually brothers. This gave a spark of an idea and as the third act rolled, Heinrich went entirely off script.
    This was not a new thing, the party not being actors in the slightest accidentally turning the tragic story into a comedy from hoisting Dorian Gray at the ship front, king-of-the-world style to the stoic nature of Komodo who utterly refused to participate and became the straight man of it all.
    Heinrich, seeking wordless permission as Dorian Gray monologued would look up at Strahds box, miming a backstab into Gray. Strahd, considering would slowly nod and give the thumb of approval,suddenly more interested. And so, aloud the wizard would ask if 'Strahd' knew how to deal with fiends.
    Gray would flounder, the audience snickering and Strahd unamused as the man attempted to sacrifice one of the party members to get the play on track, a thing utterly foredoomed to failure as Heinrich summoned Imps.
    Both Imps, normally liable to go wild would realize where they were and recognized Dorian Gray. As the actor panicked, Yimir who had been busy assuring one of the extras(Olivia) to stay close, would go to Gray and proclaim if he submitted to his magic, he would protect him! Gray did so.
    And would be subject to a hold person. The Imps, recognizing this as their lucky day decided to leave the question of escaping Barovia for another day as they took out clubs and proceeded to beat the crap out of a frozen in place Dorian Gray, his strange immortality doing nothing for the pain. The narrator, seeing Strahd leave the box at this point would declare to Gray's panic, that the forces of the island lake spirits would steal Strahd away.
    Though not without his prop cape that Heinrich took nor without being pantsed, the last they saw of Dorian Gray being the Imps stealing him away as he vowed revenge, at this point giving up any pretense of staying in character.
    And so the play ended, Lady Volenta granting Yimirs request to release Olivia from her service as she thanked him for letting her see the sun before this ending. Because at this point now, when she left the room? They would no longer have this relationship and would be enemies again. The thought was surprisingly bittersweet, and interrupted as Strahd entered the room. As Volenta attached herself to his side, Lord Strahd would declare he hadn't been so entertained in a long time. He would also extend an invitation for two weeks and a half from now to dinner at his castle, handing them a personal invite.
    After leaving, the party would have enough time for a short rest, the play enabling them to be led to the Toymaker himself! But when they arrived....It was not to any sort of evil.
    Instead, they found an old human male-working on a doll in his workshop as Ireena helped him, the latter explaining how she stayed with him-at first because she knew the others were seeking her, and then later to help the old man. When told what had become of Toy Town, the Toymaker was horrified and completely ignorant of what was going on outside his workshop.
    For the true enemy and agent it seemed was his Second in Command, the Puppeteer confronting them and gleeful about Ireena here. In the midst of his monologue, Yimir flung a guiding bolt.
    And the clash of the Puppeteer and the party began!
  5. Hugo Fowl
    Session 4: 'Babes in Toy Town'
    Fleeing from Chalkworth and the screams therein, Yimir and Vec split up midrun as Grimoire, now out of a job joined them. Reuniting with Billy and Komodo, they realized that the others were still missing when Alana landed and informed them of what happened to the wagon.
    A massive construct Crow had descended, grabbing the whole thing and flying it away with Ireena in it, Heinrich having fallen into a tree to break his fall. Aided by Alastor, who had witnessed the abduction, both were ready to follow after but for the lateness of the hour.
    And so with Alana promising to prepare the way before them as well as follow up on the Resistance, she transformed and flew away. Though not before informing them of where the Crow had taken Ireena.
    Toy Town. The domain of the Toymaker, one of Strahds Agents of the Black Fist.
    Taking up two days, one night on watch Alistair smelled tobacco coming from a breeze from the woods. He remained where he was, opting to simply be more cautious and nothing noteworthy happened until the final watch when Komodo was keeping an eye out. The smell of tobacco wafted again, stronger now from the direction of their fire and he immediately alerted the party. Nothing was missing and nobody had been poisoned or hurt....But by the fire, resting on a log that served as a bench was a roll-up cigarette smoked to a stub left behind.
    Opting to keep a more cautious eye out, the party continued on their way and came eventually to the entrance to Toy Town, a cavernous highway that led down to underground gates and a bright, cheery city.
    Toys of all description worked alongside humans, creating a seeming utopia. People were smiling, trade was in full flow and a more terrifying sight could not be envisioned.
    Every smile was forced. Toy soldier constructs with blades for fingers would lead packs of ghouls on leashes,snarling and slavering. And if locals did NOT fit the narrative(an innkeeper who wasn't fat and jolly, or a toy maker who doesn't whistle), they would be culled. The rest who didn't fit the ideal narrative would work below in the silver mines, for which the city produced. Worked by slaves in all but name alongside toys.
    Alistair and Billy would come across an execution in progress and curious, the Warlock discovered that there was something strange about each sentient seeming toy construct. Each seemed powered by something odd, which sparked an idea.
    Komodo and Grimoire would be discovered by Professor Vasili Van Holtz, who had been contacted by Alana and came prepared, offering up silver weapons as he warned their possession was illegal in Barovia as a whole. Further sharing that they could find the Resistance down in the workers level, he then left.
    Yimir and Heinrich would head up to the market district, seeing that there were levels closed off to the general public currently. In doing so, they would meet Lady Volenta Popofsky, one of Strahds vampiric brides. Attended by her handmaiden, she engaged them in light conversation and left on amiable enough terms. Though oddly, her handmaiden made sure to catch their eyes secretly, looking to the upper levels before following her mistress.
    And so, with each duo finding out more, they came together and pooled their information, deciding it was best to go find the Resistance.
    The workers level was a slum. Ramshackle structures, soot clouds and trash fires mingled with the workers voices in song as they mined silver to fulfill the daily quota. Coming to the 'Blood of the Vine' inn, the group would share the password and be let in as the situation was shared.
    Ireena was indeed in Toy Town and in the hands of the Toymaker on the highest level. The Toymakers personal stronghold, where Resistance agents were being held as well. Though oddly enough, the Toymaker seemed to have no intention for calling in Strahd and was silent though the city had seen the return of the Songbird-the massive construct Crow that had snatched Ireena away. They would also gain information on the city itself from the arena known as the Opera House on the middle level to the mines, including the ones who worked there to bring the silver in. They would also gain information on Strahds Black Fist and how each of them fit into the whole of Strahds rule of Barovia.
    They also gained information on where Ireena is most likely kept,several options presented to them regarding how to get up. After a discussion and the tidbit about how the Toymaker and Lady Volenta Popofsky are at odds, they decided to seek her patronage in order to traverse the dreaded Murder Plays-a combination of gladiator combat and operatic theater put on by the Toymaker for his town subjects with his second in command, the Puppeteer. They also discovered a potential additional source of information, a unique toy known as the Tin Soldier who lived in the slums. Feeling it was better to get more information first, they decided to visit the Tin Soldier.
    The Tin Soldier when they found him was driving off a thug, the soldier himself about the size of a halfling. He was wary at first of them and when they asked for information, he declared food to be his price-the soldier being a guardian of children, whose parents had died in the mines or been killed. In a stunning move of generosity, Yimir, Alistair, Heinrich and Billy all shared their rations including a chocolate bar from Alistair which none of them had ever seen before.
    It was a feast for them and the Soldier shared what information he had. The party discovered that the toys were all once human-the intelligent, sentient ones. Transformed by his power to fill his town and work without rest in the silver mines. All of them forced to obey the Toymaker, save for him. This due in part to escaping the process by sacrificing an arm to break free of his restraints. He also revealed that he was once the Burgomeister of this place before it became Toy Town and that his daughter was now the handmaiden of Lady Volenta. And so with this information, Alistair and Heinrich went to find Lady Volenta.
    Billy and Yimir stayed behind with the children and the Tin Soldier, forging a new arm for him and keeping an eye on the kids. At some point during the night hours, they would face the ghouls unleashed into the slums, protecting the children and before witnesses, being the first to successfully stand up to the current regime.
    Meanwhile, Alistair and Heinrich would impress Lady Volenta enough for her to entertain their request when the whole party came. Though a slip up enabled her to know they had allied with the Tin Soldier as she told them to bring the children with them when they returned. When her handmaiden led them to the door, she told them an interesting fact.
    There are only ever three brides. No more. No less.
    At the Tin Soldiers hideout, the party got into a furious debate over bringing the children or not to Volenta with the most prolific proponents of either side being Yimir who refused and Alistair who wished to get every advantage they could. Despite it, it was not a decision easily made and in the end? Billy would forge a dictated letter from Heinrich seeking to play on this rivalry both with the Toymaker and Volenta. With private sighs of relief, but wary misgving they came to Volenta Popofsky and found her in a brightly lit garden, painting as she used a corpse for her materials.
    She challenged them over the lack of the children and Yimir boldly said they refused to do so. It turned out to be a test of their principles, which Volenta laughed over and prompted Yimir to attempt to make her flinch with fake sunlight. To his surprise, she was wistful instead as she spoke how she missed the sunlight as she gestured to her garden space-crafted with the idea of replicating a Summer day.
    They presented their case, showed the letter and she had them perform a final test. Yimir and Komodo would both fight two of her minions to test their performance and brutality. They passed with flying colors and are now under her patronage... Guests of the Bride of Strahd as they prepare for their debute on stage in the Toymakers brutal murder plays!
  6. Hugo Fowl
    Session 3: The Bloody Crow and the Raven Maid.
    The party after searching the bodies of the werewolves discovered a wanted poster for Ireena, the woman being uneasy at how organized they seemed as compared to before. With that in mind, half of the party decided to split off as a decoy and meet them later when they could. And so, Ireena, Heinrich, Yimir and Vec together would go down the road, opting in the end to visit the village of Chalkworth where Ireena said a family friend ruled as Burgomeister.
    Chalkworth seemed more prosperous than other villages they had seen, the banner of Strahd flying over the gate. Actual currency was used here, stained glass windows adorned the massive church in the center and there was traces of interplane settlement here in some of the building structure. Arriving just in time for a funeral, Yimir and Vec became suddenly, intently interested at how three bodies in question seemed to be prostitutes killed and knifed. The odd part was the fact the spine and skull were removed, prompting them to wish to look more deeply into this.
    At Burgomeister Richards house, the group would meet the jolly figure who seemed to be looking into the deaths as well. On a scale model map, three places-an area in the slums, a factory and a graveyard would mark locations of deaths. It was here also they met Grimoire; an agent of Richard, a wizard who just wanted to set everything on fire and didn't care what it was. They also would meet a maid named Elena by happenstance, who used to work in the brothel and smiled a lot. As Heinrich and Vec interacted with their host, Yimir and Grimoire would head to the chapel to find out more.
    There, Yimir would have his hands full in keeping their newest ally in hand. With his constant wish to burn everything, irregardless of time and people, Yimir would be hard pressed. More disquieting was the chapel interior around them as well. Shadows made the pillars look embraced by tentacles and the stained glass images of a Shepard with goats would at a second look, reveal fear on the expression of the Shepard and subtle mutations on the goats.
    Behind the pulpit, a massive image of Strahd himself overlooked the audience in the pews.
    At the end of the funeral sermon, while Yimir spoke to the cleric Sister Syrena, Grimoire attempted to upgrade from arson to breaking and entering, attempting to sneak into her office. Luckily, she seemed more amused than anything considering how poorly planned it was and decided to speak to both within.
    Her holy symbol of a Crescent Moon to represent Mother Night would briefly look intertwined with some strange, twisted creature in the low light and shadows the cleric favored as they found the following.
    -A nine headed serpent tattoo on the wrist of the victims.
    Gaining additional information that all had worked at a brothel known as the Wink, they decided to leave even as the Sister watched them go with well wishes for their path.
    The meeting proved unnerving enough that the duo would head to the inn first to throw off anyone following, Yimir seeing a Raven in particular that followed after them.
    Meanwhile, while all this was going on, Heinrich and Vec would be interacting with Burgomeister Richard who was extolling the virtues of his home and how with Strahd and his patronage, the village prospered. He also upon being asked of anything that happened fairly recently besides the Ripper-esque murders, lamented how his favorite brothel was closed down. Though he had taken on the workers as his staff and even offered their use to his guests while here.
    When the others returned around this point and compared notes, Heinrich went and called one of the maids, further confirming this to him. They also discovered that Henry Sutton had visited Sister Syrena and the brothel, prompting an odd connection.
    Grimoire attempted to get ingredients for moltov cocktails.
    In the end, led by Alana during the evening hours, all of them headed to the slums and the Wink. With Yimir noting an odd, birdlike movement to Alana as she kept a lookout for danger.
    As she headed home, Grimoire attempted to burn down the door to get in, prompting Vec and Yimir to stop him.
    Heinrich went around the back and began to break open the back door quietly,though he found himself watched by a Raven intently.
    Taking a leap of faith, he said 'Alana?'
    And the Raven responded with a croak and then cursed, realizing belately that Ravens don't croak.
    Descending and transforming, Alana revealed herself in a Hunters guise and apologized for the deception. Revealing herself as a member of an order devoted to fighting Strahds influence, she also dropped the bombshell that she was the killer in town. The reason being that all the victims were already dead, infested by something that took over them. The proof of which laid within the Wink itself. Offering to keep an eye out, she transformed back into a Raven and flew away into the fog.
    Inside, all of the group fought off a trio of Shadow's, in eerie, barbed tentacled forms. From a treasure chest in the center of the room, Grimoire plucked out a letter and set off a silent alarm to Syrena though they did not know. The letter was addressed to Sutton, whom Syrena apparently hated as in the background she would gather up a mob.
    Meanwhile, back at the brothel the Wizard would plow ahead, finding the office of the owner and going after anything of value, ignoring the corpse and the portrait behind the desk of an apparently dead man watching him. The others catching up would perform an autopsy, discovering exit wounds along the throat and chest but also a lack of organs and a brain.
    Alana in Raven form would fly to the window, squawking a warning as a mob approached. And the wizard, yielding to temptation set the brothel on fire. The flames grew and spread, creating a beacon that inadvertently caught Strahds eye, who had been conducting other business and corrected his path to Chalkworth.
    By the time the party made it back to the manor, they had just enough time to make plans before the storm hit and they realized just who was in town.
    Back with the mob, Strahd descended to see what was going on and the crowd grew silent and fearful. The wizard ignored it, pointing to him and declaring him the murderer the mob was seeking.
    Cue every mob member splitting away from him, isolating him to Strahd who took his time walking to him. Realizing who he had just tried to invite violence against, Grimoire shit his pants and bowed. Strahd was distasteful, not wishing to sully his hands. But he recognized him as the Burgomeisters agent and produced an illusion of the party as he asked about them. Grimoire sold them out, speaking freely of where they were staying and who was with them, prompting Strahd to nod and walk away without even an afterthought for him, directing the mob to disperse as he sent his agent to the manor.
    The party meanwhile would be frantically packing and preparing the wagon. The skies would be rife as crows clashed against the ravens, bodies dropping from the skies as Strahds agent arrived.
    Alana, Heinrich, Vec and Yimir would fight as one against the Bloody Crow of Strahd, Alana unwilling to let Yimir sacrifice himself and the rest joining.
    Together, they defeated the Bloody Crow though he had served Strahds ultimate purpose.
    And so weakened, they emerged from the manor in time to meet Strahd himself, accompanied by Sister Syrena. Recognizing her clerical counterpart, the nun healed Yimir to allow him to stand on his feet, Strahd taking no notice as he looked at Ireena who seemed struck as she looked back, almost dazed.
    All of them attempted to appeal to Strahd to let them go, claiming it would be more entertaining if he did so. When Strahd declared they would leave Ireena, they stood as one and declared they would fight first.
    Strahd was thoughtful, then looked at Vec who had taken the Crows sword. Directing Grimoire(cringing, who had cowered and stayed out of the fight) to bring him the Crows body, he would take it and declare to them a test.
    Five Enforcers of Strahd, making up the Black Fist would now be actively hunting them. The goal was to survive and should they defeat the rest of them(the Crow being one of the five and the weakest), Strahd himself would come for them personally.
    He then left them, content to wait until then. Grimoire then attempted to loot the manor, only to be terrified off by Sister Syrena-the new Burgomeister of Chalkworth, the latter a husk for a lamprey-like worm Ireena killed in the background. Yimir, seeking closure went to ask directly the name of her God.
    Upon hearing it was the Goat of a Thousand Young, he vowed to return. Syrena merely smiled and told him she expected nothing less and they parted without any ill feeling on her part.
    And so here they are....With Grimoire at their side, Ireena safe...For now and an ally in the form of Alana. Soon to be hunted down by Strahds Black Fist, as Barovia looms before them.
  7. Hugo Fowl
    Session 2. 'Come Little Children.'
    The party made it to Anarky, a town of near ghostly silence as a counterpoint to the nightmares that drove Cedric away into the blood night. There,they met an old woman  who was selling Mince Meat Pies in town.  Though she creeped out some of them, others accepted the pies and she gave them directions to the Burgomeisters House. She also upon being asked, mentioned how she had seen Dorian Gray and a gentleman with 'strange eyes' alongside the description of a Hyde. All of whom had apparently entered Castle Strahd some weeks prior to them.
    The manor looked as though it had endured a siege and only fortune spared the house survivors. Ismark and Ireena, son and daughter of the Burgomeister who had perished from fright. His body in a coffin, they wished to bury him in a churchyard, in sanctified ground. Staying overnight, Vec the Bounty Hunter and Billy the Gambler both experienced strange dreams of a nightmarish person, rotting from the inside out reaching for them and woke up with maggots in their bed from the dream intruder. Yimir, priest of Anubis would experience a vision of a storm swirling in black and hungry in the desert, as he prepped the body for worship. Escorting the body to the church, they met the priest and his son-a vampiric stricken man whose sanity was kept alive by the constant prayers of a fellow worshipper. After they buried the father of Ireena and Ismark, they heard the sound of a carriage.
    And they sent Ireena and Ismark into the chapel, as they met Strahd and his jester, Piddlewick. A wooden puppet with a sadistic tone and wicked humor. Strahd himself seemed respectful, placing a flower on the headstone of Ireena's father and talking politely to the party. Taking their measure in whether or not they'd bow to him, all seven remained straight and he seemed approving, even in the way all of them decided to protect the Ireena from him.
    His response was to corrupt one of his horses into a monster to deal with them and ride away. The party engaged in a fight then, repelling the creature as it came!
    But in the aftermath of the fight, the creature in it's death throes managed to desecrate the chapel and it was agreed they could not stay. For Ireena to be safe, she would need to go to the Abbey of Markovia on the other side of Barovia.
    The second night as they traveled had them encounter in passing a hut with legs, walking in the distance as it carried it's load of children, sobbing in fear. Though only Ireena heard them, oddly enough. The old lady they had encountered in the village then suddenly appeared in their midst, offering to invite them home as soon as she saw Ireena.
    The party warily accepted and at the windmill, they discovered the doors were magical in nature, the final one bringing them to a shrine to Strahd atop the mountains, though the image seemed warped and twisted oddly enough.
    The alarm spell she had set on the door they broke through tipped off the Hag, prompting her to trick them with an illusion before she tossed in a fireball spell.
    In the fight, she alerted Strahd to their presence and as he came, Vec killed the witch with railroad spikes after a weakness to radiant damage was found and the witch severely injured. The last they saw of the windmill was the presence of a single figure, landing on the ground from the skies.
    They then ran into Professor Vasili, a scholar and a traveler who helped them. Providing sanctuary and company, he made good company and discovered a tracking spell among them, throwing away the object which had it on as well as alerted them to a town in the mountains run by a Gun Smith and his company. The Black Kegs were among those like them, brought in from the mists and so they ultimately decided to visit later.
    At Lake Zarovich, they parted ways with the professor and learned of a process the village uses to protect themselves from Strahd...Which required a sacrifice to the God of the Lake of their children. They left the night before the sacrifice, believing their mission came first and vowed to return to deal with this when they could.
    Upon the road, they ran into a trio of werewolves who attempted to question them about Ireena and were blasted by the Warlock, prompting a deadly fight. In the end, they killed all three and discovered that Strahd had put out a reward for Ireena, with information about her or her whereabouts to be rewarded.
    Loot: One map of Barovia, one tarp, a week's worth of supplies, fifty feet of rope, crude tribal amulets ×3
  8. Hugo Fowl
    Entry 1: Into the Mist.
    The posse devoted to hunting Jack the Ripper has been brought together. Discovering the killer in Whitechapel, what they fought was no man but rather a beast! And when they killed it, it ceased to become even that as it reverted into the first victim of the Ripper. Bringing her body back to HQ, the Occult Society discovered that a love note found on her person was that of a particularly depraved man known as Sir Henry Sutton. His debauchery had brought many down to infamy, including a man named Dorian Gray whose townhouse the Ripper beast was said to have originated.
    Tracking it down, the party entered the house and was assailed by the haunts within, culminating in the united desire to burn it.
    It failed and stepping out,no longer were they in London.
    Instead, they find themselves in a strange country of perpetual night, a red moon and a name whispered in fear.
    Strahd von Zarovich rules these lands and the latest entertainment before him has appeared.
    Luckily, the party has met two potential allies. A crippled ex-hunter named Rudolph Van Richten and his daughter, who has read the tarot for the party concerning their fate and what lies ahead. From Rudolph, they learn where this place is and of a potential ally named Ireena who could very well be the opening key for the various towns that lie across the land of Barovia.
    If they can get to her first. Lord Strahd seeks to turn her into a vampire spawn and in protecting her, the eyes of the Dread Lord shall be fixed upon our intrepid heroes....
    Loot: 50 GP each, one bottle of cure wounds(2d4+2 healing) each. Letter from Strahd to Dorian Gray. One longsword with Gray's emblem in the hilt. Three potions of Inner Transformation. One jewelry box radiating necromantic energies with a Raven necklace.
  9. Hugo Fowl

    Hiatus/Work

    By Hugo Fowl,

    So I had intended to post more up here, but work sucked me in and all in all, I've been forgetting this. Some good stuff though!
    I started running an IRL Curse of Strahd 5e game and am keeping a log. Depending on how it goes, I might just write it out to keep my hand in here. Otherwise, that's all I can think of that's going on.
    Whoever is reading this, take care of yourself. 
  10. Hugo Fowl
    So I've been busy these past few years, running games and such. For your delight and my own amusement, I have opted to show some of what I've been doing. The following is a roleplay I've GM'd for some folks, using the Curse of the Crimson Throne and using a setting more familiar to my players. I'm happy to have such good writer and I hope you enjoy our collective work.
    =======
     
    It had started out with a little ad on the Paranet. The growing, online network of supernaturals and powers seeking to exchange ideas or ask for help. The jobs listed would range from helping arrange the feng shui of a home, to a desperate plea for hunters to find a missing child. For a select number of folks, they would see none of that...Nothing but an email, direct to them and addressing them by name with the following.
    I understand you to be a figure of skill and power. Please-join me for lunch at my place in Brighton Beach, at 12pm where I will explain more of my plight. I am willing to pay for this meeting and accept you all as my guests. But for what I need justice for, I cannot gain it from none but you. It went on to explain more details, including the day and address.
    That was then. This is now.
    A bus slowly drives off, a boy in the garb of a priest waits uncomfortably as he looks around. There's a deep history to this place, rich and smelling of pine and fresh snow. It is heard in the Slavic and Russian tongues bargaining, discussing the day and the chess games on the street between old men. It is in the smell of Borscht, Solyanka and Ukha that pervades and winds between that of the sea, the slums and Coney Island as a whole. Like all things in this city, the place feels like a little replica of a larger whole, all combining to create the amalgamation men call 'America.'
    He smiles, opens the door for an old lady and helps her with her groceries before asking where the place he seeks is. Though she looks at him oddly, he is polite and kind. She directs him and so he goes, until finally he stands before an apartment door that when he knocks, has no one but opens at a touch. Within, the place is quiet and peaceful.
    A traditional lunch rests on the table before him in the main apartment area, as pictures of landscapes on the wall draw his eye. Some fantastical, such as the crumbling castle. Others, less so like the cityscape.
    All of it, pleasing to the eye as he finds a note and reads it.
    Stepped out briefly. Please, help yourself.
    There is Pelmeni dumplings, with minced meat. Pirozhki pastries, packed with potatoes, meat and cabbage and gravy. There is Stroganoff, filling and delicious and overall, a dusty bottle of wine-quite nice from the smell, adds to it all. He smiles, lets it air and then goes to get water instead for him from the ice cold pitcher as he waits for the others and wonders who else may come.
    ~
    Someone was already there, picking at the offered food. He had looked up at their second, snorted through his nose, then went back to a dumpling. He was young, a teenager dressed much the same way any kid these days would: jeans, shirt, a jacket covering up tattoos along his arms. His hair was black, cropped short with a dyed streak of blue throughout, natural or artificial was hard to tell.
    There was the feel of magic around him, but not in the way it reflected in mages, or fae. He was a creature born of magic, but not in the same way. It was a magic that was twisted, unnatural. From something that by all accounts did not belong in this world, gripped man and beast under its grasp.
    His mother and her two consorts were the start of a new generation of dragons, a new brood. Dragons twisted by baria into something different, the energy of chaos warping their inherent magical blood. Other true dragons cast them out for this, saw them corrupt and a scourge upon their proud race.
    Mazynth thought otherwise.
    This was her firstborn son, the young drakonid Midyr, first of many, in time.
    ~
    "Hi."
    It was a polite nothing, Azreal looking at the other as he sat down and ate in silence. As he did, he looked at him with a degree of watchful interest, curious and a little intrigued. A few moments later, he spoke. 
    "So you got the message as well then?"
    ~
    The dragon looked up at him again, didn't seem inclined to answer. But realized he might as well, if they were going to be stuck together in the same room for a bit.
    "You sure you're in the right place?"
    The religious garb had a way of attracting attention from others. It drew to mind thoughts of Executors, even though this kid was obviously too young to be one. Maybe just a holier-than-thou type, then.
    "Yeah, I got it. It's why I'm here."
    ~
    "Paranet email, by name and asking us here? Yeah." He finished off a dumpling and swirled his cup, contemplative for a moment before he continued. "I'm Azreal. Hunter in training." He glanced around at the walls, the sense that this place gave him. Idly, he murmured a prayer and listened thoughtfully before his eyes widened in surprise. 
    "This place is an oddity. I can feel a sense of the dead...But there's love here. Quiet, powerful but still there." His curiosity was piqued even further.
    ~
    Who exactly did they all send this message out to?
    "I came out from Queens. I'm Midyr," he said, the name enough was indicative of a draconic heritage. "What do you think all this is supposed to be about, who sent it?" He had been wary of the message when it was first received, but his mother convinced him it might be worthwhile..
    ~
    "Well...She said her name was Fedosia. And that it would be a matter of importance to us all, as well as for herself. And that our combined skills would possibly be enough to gain what she said would be dangerous otherwise." He gave a little shrug as he added mildly.
    "I don't like bullies. So I do what I can to help with that."
    ~
    A middle aged man who looked like he was going through a midlife crisis walked into the room. He stood roughly around the height of 5'11". He wore a faded leather jacket, some torn blue jeans, a faded white long-sleeve shirt under the leather jacket, some black socks hidden by his jeans, and some boring old work shoes. "Random message show up at your doorsteps as well?" 
    Dan Torrance looked around the room. "The food looks good at least." And he walked over to the tables and served himself, not questioning the other two's appearance. 
    ~
    "Not gonna lie, was kinda hoping a girl would show up, at this point," he said, with sharp laughter as they were joined by a third.
    Midyr picked something out of his teeth with a nail, looking over the newcomer. "So, what's your name then, huh?"
    ~
    "Dan Torrance, apparently I'm the old man of the group so far." And he sat down at the same table as the Drakonid, sitting directly across from him. "Now, may I ask for you two names in return, since it appears you two seem to be already acquitted." The old man took a bite of the lunch he grabbed.
    ~
    "Azreal.' Hunter-in-training, specialist in martial works and what gifts the Lord saw fit to bestow." Replied the boy as he looked on curious despite himself.
    ~
    "Midyr, dragon, if you couldn't tell by the name," he answered, finding a particularly large pierogi and biting into it, quite the appetite and no real concern about things being poisoned, even if they were essentially in a stranger's house.
    ~
    "If we're telling each other what we do for living, I might as well, too." Dan grabbed a chip on his plate and ate one. "I work at a hospice in New Hampshire, I use my abilities to comfort dying patients. But I can do more than help said patients pass on to the afterlife."
    ~
    Entering the room, a bag slung over one shoulder, she'd glance over those present, before she'd allow her bag to rest on the floor, and away from the door, before she'd examine those in the room a bit more closely. Satisfied with what she sensed, she'd allow the disguise self spell on herself to fade, revealing a pair of cat ears, two tails swaying lazily behind her and green, slitted cat eyes
    Her attire would be that of a long jacket with fur around the collar and hood, underneath of which was  a grey shirt as she hangs the coat up, a pair of baggy black pants and a pair of black boots, she'd then plop all of her 5'3" height into a chair, taking care not to sit on her tails.
    ~
    "Youkai." Azreal said with surprise, glancing at his group. Between the dragon, the catwoman and the apparent psychic, he seemed to be the only human in the room. He cleared his throat as he looked to everyone before he spoke.
    "An interesting party of folks. And some from a long way away." 
    "There is a touch of fate on you all. You simply have yet to know it." The speaker was female, English with a touch of Slavic as she entered the room. A handsome, somewhat thick matron in a dress as she smiled and spoke.
    "Doctor Uzuka and Torrance. Both connected via the psychic murder of Jesse Sinclair, age five...Young, Master Midyr who's siblings corpse was desecrated by this selfsame figure...And Azreal-ah, you do not wish to share? Very well...Your father missed this one in his day. And he had worked his mischief in evil, petty ways since. He kills for coin, he plunders for profit and while never really at a level where he has come to the attention of the powers-that-be, from where we stand? We know well what sort such figures may wrought unchecked."
    She paused and continued. "I am Fedosia. And I have called you all because you all, knowing or not have a debt to settle with the man I am asking you all to slay."
    ~
    "If you are asking me to kill a man, miss, I don't think I could do such a thing. Reasons being that I sit with patients as they pass on and the last dead man I feel at blame for is the death of my father." He had stopped eating his food, now looked more decrepit than before. If she had the same ability as he did, she would be able to sense the hidden feelings caused by the Outlook. "Now if you can find a way to persuade me, I might have second thoughts about leaving after I am done with lunch." Then he continued like she had not said a word.
    ~
    The young dragon didn't bother to stop eating even when they were addressed, but he listened carefully. The assorted connections that drew them together - he didn't know about the others, but his family, small as they still were had their enemies. As far as he knew though, they were above his capabilities.
    He didn't blanch at the idea of killing someone though, that was no concern of his.
    "Yeah?" he asked, once she had finished speaking. "So who is it you want dead?"
    ~
    Picking up one of the dumplings, Kiyo would take a bite and would chew in silence even as the woman enters the room, her gaze flicking towards Fedosia, she'd then finish the dumpling and use a napkin to clean her fingers 
    "Yes, that poor child, and the rest of those affected"
    ~
    She nodded to Dan as she spoke. "A just question...Allow me to explain. There is a man named Gaedren Lamm. A spiteful, sinister figure who hoards whatever scraps of power he can get. It's enough to make him feared around here, especially with how he works. His cruel reprisals are matched only by his evasion of the Laws and it's why I come to you all. You see...He stole a family heirloom from me. My son, wishing to please his mother went to get it back and he died. I have appealed to the police, but they say they cannot act without proof-they fear him! But I do not! I seek vengeance, not on a man but on a beast! A creature who lives only to harm and who's passing will make things better."
    She relaxed and huffed out as she spoke.  "But I cannot do this alone. Will you help me?"
    ~
    He looked at her as he ate, how can he just stand by and watch as a woman suffers from losing her son and knows that it wasn't an accident. Well he couldn't, not after everything that he has experienced. "Maybe, but I won't aim to kill him, I'll aim to turn him into the authorities. But if I get stuck in a situation where I have to kill, then so be it." He had finished his lunch at the time he spoke again. Something could be seen that was bothering him, and he wasn't trying to hide it this time.
    ~
    Killing somebody without concrete proof was what it sounded like? Honestly, Midyr was down for that, he considered with a self-satisfied grin. Maybe this was enough to convince his mother they were ready to move against their enemies, become freeholding lords in their own right.
    As it sounded, if Danny-boy got cold feet, he could pick up the slack and finish the job.
    "So where is it we can find this guy, huh? Bet I can have it done by nightfall."
    ~
    "And what else can you share with us about him?"
    She nodded thankfully to everyone as she spoke. "I have some small, skills in Divination magic.  I also am incredibly driven and thus have the information you will need to find him. As of now, he lurks in his current base of operations. A warehouse by the sea, with a spiral mark on its doors. Once an abode of cultists who specializes in traps, it is now his and there he sits. Ruling and terrorizing this neighborhood as he will."
    She gave the rest of the information they needed to find it before asking. "Are there any questions?"
    "What dangers need we beware?" Azreal spoke up as she nodded at him.
    "The traps may yet be in use. It is an old fishery-they take the refuse from the fish market typically and convert it into a slurry for cheap dumplings. You will have to contend with his followers if any, and he himself. He is a monster.  Of what sort, I do not know for sure."
    ~
    "Also, what would you have us do should we find proof he's not the one responsible for the incident at the hospital? Do you still wish him dead?" Kiyo asked.
    ~
    She looked at Kiyo as she said simply. "He killed my son for no reason. He was no threat, he was not dangerous. He was just a child. Yes. I want him dead."
    Her emotions to Dan were grief-stricken and painful as she added, looking him in the eye.
    "I'm sure one of your number knows that for a certainty."
    ~
    "Sorry Ma'am, I just had to make sure that we weren't being scammed. And, I'm so sorry for your loss." Dan held up his hands as if he got caught in the act of something illegal.
    ~
    Much didn't really seem to have any questions, perhaps too impulsive to bother asking. But then as they all spoke up he reconsidered.
    "Yeah. Why us, is it really just a revenge thing, getting people who would care? Why not just hire you actual assassins."
    ~
    She laughed at the very idea. "I spent my savings to feed you all. You think I have money for that? Aside from that....I could not use them. It has to be all of you." She looked somber now as she glanced to them all before she spoke.
    "You will understand why, when you see him face to face."
    ~
    Kiyo pondered and replied. "Very well, I'll help you...I have no need to turn someone away who's in need."
    ~
    So she wanted people who would do it for free, because of some seated desire for revenge. Midyr could get behind that idea.
    "Yeah, I'm in."
    ~
    "I will do this for the girl, Jesse Sinclair, who I helped pass on to the afterlife, and for your son, who couldn't experience a fulfilled life." The noble part of Dan was coming out, it just need some prodding. He took his cup of Root Beer and raised it to her, before taking a drink out of it. "Let me go out to my car and grab some things." And then he exited the room and the building to get to his car. 
    ======
    With that said, the group would have no other reason to stay and would leave the apartment, heading to the warehouse in question.
    The reek of brine and the stink of week-dead fish hang thickly in the air here. The old double doors in the side of this weathered building are tightly closed, with a drooping signpost hanging above. The sign it once displayed is long gone, leaving behind only a single short length of rusted chain. As Fedosia had mentioned, the faded spiral tag sign on the door was prominent despite things as on the left side, a crumbling walkway led around and below the whole thing.
    Azreal frowned, looking at it all before he finally spoke.
    "What an absolute dump."
    =====
    End of episode 1.  And a list of our cast of characters.
    -Dan Torrence. Psychic doctor and sorcerer.
    -Doctor Kiyo. Youkai Immigrant, owns her own clinic. Rogue.
    -Midyr. Drakonid heir to Mazynth, a powerful Draconic matriarch. Barbarian(homebrew). Sixteen years old.
    -Azreal. Monster Hunter in training, trainee of Iscariot XIII. Should not be sneaking out. Paladin, sixteen years old.
  11. Hugo Fowl
    Been a long time since I've used this blog. And as it stands, I figure....Why not use it for this? And so I dedicate this work to the players who make the room a wonder, the imaginations which make our adventures fun, and the epic-ness of a story that started with a simple tournament. None of the characters belong to me. All that I own now, is the claim that I was there since the beginning.....
     
    -Hugo Fowl
     
     
    It was the end of the world as they knew it. A small group, having made it to the end. The City of Ry'leh, in ruins and darkness and all about them, chaos and confusion. The eye of a storm that had swept across the multiverse. Scarring all that was in its path, as per the plan. And on the floor before the gate, the last noise anyone would expect to hear as laughter rocked the euclidean city.
     
    His moniker was "The Master." One of the last on a long-extinct race of beings who walked in Time itself. Now finally dying as by the cold body of his opposite number, the eyes of the Doctor looked blankly up into the swirling maelstrom. He was not the only victim either...Scattered throughout the city, the beings recruited for this job laid out in various poses of death or worse. Master Chief, his body snapped in half. A tyrannosaurus rex not far from him, its lower body burned through from acid, and an bearded soldier with a Hello-Kitty assault rifle weeping manly tears as his hand rested on its snout. Further along, more evidence of the carnage could be seen as a ring of discarded keys laid where they were flung out of danger, and the noise of rampage yet continuing from the summons once locked within were heard. Avenging their summoner, with all the rage they could muster and ducking through the mess, a boy would be seen. His hair, overgrown slightly and wearing a green jacket. Just a boy really, but his eyes resembled more of a war-weary veteran, as on his watch, a strange beeping noise would be heard as he yelled again in fear for his friends.
     
    "ED! LUCY? GALEN! IS ANYONE ALIVE?!"
     
    A clatter would be heard, and spinning around, hand on the watch Ben would be wary before collapsing in relief as he spoke.
     
    "Figured you'd yet be alive."
     
    And with a chuckle, the other would glance over. One eye human, the other demonic in nature as it peered beneath the white bangs of his hair. His normally red jacket, now ripped and torn to shreds. A greenish ichor upon them as he shrugged and spoke.
     
    "Like I'd leave a party like this so soon? You've seen the others?"
     
    Ben shook his head solemnly as he rested with his hands on his knees.
     
    "Last I saw of Adam's and Vin's group, he pulled the "All-your-powers-combined" thing and summoned his zords to attack that....That thing. Then I got lost from my group when the Shoggoth attacked. Where's Raziel?"
     
    Dante chuckled as he leaned against Rebellion.
     
    "If I know him, most likely having a lot of fun."
     
    And almost on cue, an explosion would occur some ways off in the city and looking in its direction, Dante flashed a grin.
     
    "I rest my case...."
     
    And zooming out from the two friends position, the view of the risen city would have been carnage. Confusions. The flashes of light below on certain places heralding gunfire or magic, as the combined resources of almost a multitude of worlds fought against the chaos that was known as simply "The Cult." A vague name, and not one to inspire much terror either, but what they represented was terror. Confusion on a grand scale, and chaos to feed the Powers that Be. Great Yog-Shogoth the Wise, Nyarlathotep the Crawling Chaos and Dread Cthulhu. Herald of Woe, who once released when the Stars were right would usher in an age of such destruction, as well as Chaos. A world twisted into their own image, and after? So many dimensions, so little time.
     
    Raziel would not tolerate it and with a cold fury, he would bite into yet another of the crawling filth that sought to fight he and his partner. Despite past events which locked him into this particular sword, Raziel retained his mind still yet, and much of his pleasure in dealing death as grasped by the hilt, his voice would be an amused whisper in the mind of his wielder.
     
    "Your getting slow, Galen."
     
    At that, Galen would scowl. His Sith cloak, long since ripped up for bandages. One over his right eye, and another wrapped around a stump that was his left hand though his demeanor remained unchanged as he snarked.
     
    "Alright then, you can fight the next waves then. And I'll be the sword, how does that sound?"
     
    Despite his words however, Raziel was right. Galen was getting slower. His reaction time, lowering ever so slightly the more blood he lost though he managed to cauterize the wounds to stop it. But he couldn't stop now....Not now, so close to the center of this city and he would run for it.
     
    Making it to the square to see the Master stagger into the Doctors Tardis, Galen would snarl as he ran to get inside, watching the Master work before Ben and Dante likewise ran in. The latter, narrowing his eyes as he casually, withdrew Yamanato which he retrieved from the body of his fallen brother. Pointing it directly at the Master before he spoke.
     
    "What are you doing?"
     
    And still working on the Tardis controls, the Master would chuckle as he spoke.
     
    "Giving the Cult...A little parting gift. I am dying and I have run out of regenerations...And having been used by them up to this point, I have no wish to see their victory arise. I cannot stop the summoning now, nothing can. But I can do this."
     
    And tapping the last control, the Master would gesture towards a lever.
     
    "P-pull it....And respawn. Hehehehehe...."
     
    And with that, he would expire. Leaving the four to make a choice as on the comm, Adam and Vin asked on the situation....
  12. Hugo Fowl

    What is RP?

    By Hugo Fowl,

    Hello all. So I finally got the hang of this stupid thing and then decided..... "Why not?" Hence began the story of a lone, 23 year old man who in seeking out something mildly intriguing to talk about on this blog, has elected to speak of that Nerdish pastime, that classic game of a million forms....Known as Role Playing.
     

     
    Yes, yes I know. We've all heard the horror stories, was forced to endure the stigma of eternal shame when in striving to pick up women, would speak of our Level Twenty Wizard(Level fifteen Rogue for me). And only rarely did this ploy succeed in its purpose. Sadly to say, I have yet to find that one women who would then ask me to raid her treasury in reply and-
     
    *Coughs* Sorry. There are children on this site.
     
    So what is Role Playing? Well, it depends on who you ask.
     
    Role Playing in general is in theory, much like acting. You slip into the role of a character, and from there attempt to see through their eyes as you interact with others in similar roles. This can take the form of something as simple as, say.....A school teacher in a PSA, taking a student from the audience to interact how to say "NO! I don't want no stinking drug! I WANT THEM ALL!"
     
    Whether such IC work should be rewarded, I leave to you to decide dear reader. Because after all....
     

     
    Now a Role Playing Game? Ah, now that's a dragon of a different color.
     
    From LARP(Live Action Role Playing) to the standard D&D setting which is forever associated with Geeks and the like, Role Playing Games come in various forms and mediums from Friday Nights around the game board with friends, hacking out Orcs to the Final Fantasy Series and more. But why are these games so popular, and why do they captivate us today?
     
    Many are the theories set forth on this matter from Satanic Possession(or Chuthulu for you CoC players out there) to accusations of loneliness and anti-socialist tendencies, a la "Mazes and Monsters." But in all honesty, its just really, really fun.
     
    As children, many of us delighted in pretending we were something else other then who we were, and in a sense, we are continuing that tradition today. More controlled, more grown up but just as much fun whether your character is a Rogue or Shining Knight. The next Dark Lord or an Angel of Light. No matter the character, or the medium Role Playing is a fun, excellent way to pass the time and for the would-be writer or theatrical, an great way to improve your gifts. And on occasion, if your really lucky or like me, had begun sacrifice of fellow players to the Dice Gods, you may just run into someone like this.
     

     
    YES, OH YES!
     
    Till next time readers!
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