Four

Still from the first session. Next chapter will be the end of the first session and the start of the second session mixed together.

Eventually, our group made it to our destination. The people involved with the caravan looked uneasy and swiftly dropped us off and left. I glanced around the town with a frown. It honestly did not look like anyone lived there. Even if they did, it was definitely not a new town. The buildings were worn down and almost every single one of them had boarded up windows. There was decay and marks of animals everywhere and there was not even a hint of anyone living there. Frowning, I moved forward and knocked on the nearest door.

“G-Go away! Go away!” A woman's voice whimpered, obviously terrified.

I considered knocking again as Gorwin and Salshire joined me at the door, but eventually thought better of it. There were other doors to try. I turned around and went to the house directly opposite and made my way to the door. I knocked lightly, but there was no answer. Knocking again, the door suddenly fell off it's hinged, revealing a dark, filthy room beyond.

Inside the room I was startled to find seven wax figures posed about in the room. One in particular drew my attention and I swiftly realized something was very wrong. I went in, calling for the others to join me. The high elf and Gorwin had been right behind me, and the others were not slow in joining me either. The room was filled with identical wax figures of each of us.

I stood in front of the one that looked like me and poked and prodded at it. I pulled away slightly and examined it closely. Someone had spent a lot of time to make the wax figure, I guessed. Someone who knew my image well. I frowned and immediately shoved it over, hoping it would break. At the same time, I felt my stomach drop and felt as if I were the one falling. My tail inflated to three times its normal size as I felt an impact on my own back when the wax figure landed. All my fur was standing straight up as I stared at the wax figure in shock.

The others glanced over, but when I knelt down and lit a torch most of them lost interest. I lowered the torch toward the wax figure's tail and felt uncomfortable hotness from my own tail. I swiftly snuffed out the flame. A shrieking wail sounded out suddenly and half of the group bolted out of the room. I watched them leave and noticed the high elf and Gorwin had stayed behind.

“We should get rid of these,” I suggested, attempting to tug at mine.

The wax figure wouldn't budge, no matter how I tugged. I shook my head and gave up. Getting to my feet, I went to stand with the high elf for a moment, but did not think of anything more to say. I headed out with the two to swiftly join up with the others, following them to stand in front of a two story house. There were claw marks all over the wood and every window was boarded up. No matter how we knocked, we were ignored and the woman continued her crying. Annoyed with the inhabitants of the town, I kicked out violently at the door.

The door shook, but stayed firm, not budging.

“What are you doing?!” Someone, likely the cleric, snapped at me.

I ignored them and looked around. Without any hesitation, I clambered up onto the roof of the house. I heard noise behind me and saw the ranger following suit. I nodded to him and charged at the nearest boarded up window. The impact threw me from the roof and I was caught be those below.

“Thanks!” I grinned at them and returned to the roof.

This time the teifling joined the ranger and I on the roof. My second attempt at busting open the window worked and the three of us piled in. The sobbing woman seemed to not have heard us, so I made my way down to her. Everything was dusty and looked long unused. The teilfing stayed behind, but Gorwin stayed at my back, ready for anything that may jump out at us.

The woman we found collapsed in a miserable heap between the stairs and the front door.

“Hey, lady, what's wrong?” Gorwin asked gently, startling her.

“H-How did you get in here?!!” The woman gasped, her face twisted with grief and horror.

I began to regret my decision to break into the house. I had thought perhaps she had been trapped there, but seeing the expression on her face, I was likely wrong.

“We're here to help! What's wrong?” Gorwin tried again.

I made my way to the front door and pried off the boards that were blocking it from being opened. I ushered the others in, but they seemed uncertain. Salshire slowly wandered down the stairs to join us and came to stand beside the crying woman.

“My-my daughter! You've let her escape, she's going to get out! She's going to get out! The evil will get her! What have you done?!” The woman wailed, her face paling considerably.

“Your daughter? But no one else was here,” I pointed out hesitantly.

There had been other rooms on the upper floor, but it was obvious that no one had been up there in a very, very long time. The others gathered around to comfort her and try to get some information out of her. I stepped outside and tried to find any sort of tracks from the daughter. There was nothing that I could find.

Going back inside, I returned just in time to hear the woman explaining the 'evils' that would get her daughter.

“...vampires and wolves!”

My blood ran cold. I rushed up to try and question the woman about the vampires, but was immediately pushed aside. I had done enough damage, they seemed to be saying. I backed off and waited for them to finish by the door. I watched as the woman, who seemed quite taken with Salshire, pass the teifling a worn down looking doll and the conversation seemed to come to and end.

As the group left the house, one of them pausing to mend the damage I had done to the window and door, I suddenly had a sinking feeling. If vampires and other evils were involved in this place, those wax figures could spell danger and death for everyone of us. I called to Gorwin and dashed toward the building with the figures, Salshire close behind. The others started to come along, but they stopped in front of a merchant store that seemed to be open and went in.

We made it to the building swiftly, but I was dismayed to find that the door which had fallen from a few knocks from me had been replaced. The two of us went on the alert and entered cautiously. The door opened and revealed an empty room. I searched out frantically, but there was nothing much to be found. It looked dirty and unused, as if we had not been there just a few dozen minutes earlier. There was no sign of the wax figures and I knew we were in for some difficult times...

Finding nothing that would help us find the statues, the two of us swiftly rejoined the group at the merchant's shop. It was well lit once you were inside it and there were several guards watch our movements around the store. The shop owner was discussing where the burgomaster's house was as we entered. We did not stay much longer than that and finally set off for our original destination. After walking down the empty roads, we made it to the house of the burgomaster...and it was quite a sight to behold.

Once it might have been a grand house. It was several stories tall, had a wide garden and front gate, but no longer. The windows were boarded up and there were claw marks evident everywhere. It seemed they had more than just an animal problem...it might be more appropriate to say that there was some sort of war going on between these animals and the people of this town.

We approached cautiously and knock at the door. After a pause a woman's voice calls out from the house.

“Go away!”

“Friendly bunch,” I mutter under my breath, earning a chuckle from a few.

“Here let me try,” Gorwin grins, stepping forward.

“Ahem, hello, lady! We were summoned by the master of this house, the burgomaster of Barovia! Could you let us see him?”

“You lie! My father has been dead for three days, there is no way he could have called for you!” The woman snarled.

“We aren't! We received a letter from a man who was sent by...your father!” I attempted.

“I said go away!”

I glanced back over my shoulder at the others. Hopefully one of them would be able to clear up this mess. This did not seem like a town I wanted to spend much time in.

At the time, the dwarf stepped forward and began to speak.

“I'm afraid that it must have been your father who sent for us...or someone posing as him. We were tasked to come here to help save his wife, Ireena, who had fallen in. May I ask where she is? Perhaps we can still save her?”

There was a slight pause and then the woman appeared at the door. She was very pretty, with a stern, tired face and long brown hair. She glanced down at the dwarf with a scowl.

“My mother has been dead for a long time. I am Ireena. You've been led astray...the damned...”

“You...are his daughter?” The half elf called uncertainly.

“Yes, I am Ireena.”

Author's Note

First draft, unedited, please forgive my faulty memory...