12. Back in Barovia

[Zhym]

Date: Trieluna 14, 1222
Time: ~7:00 AM
Weather: Stormy
Location: Barovia
**************************************

You return to your protected hideout, speaking the command words to bypass the wards Castran had set about the place.

As you settle in, you take stock of your situation. Castran and Shinyah remain mindless, their selves trapped elsewhere. They eat, they sleep, and they follow where led, but they do nothing else. Five of you survive and retain your wits. The town appears to be as it ever was. You were not accosted by anything on the way back to your hideout, but neither did you see signs of other visitors to this hellish place. You seem to be trapped here by the fog.

"Way I see it, we got three options," says Petyr. "One, we go back and find out whether the Vampyre is destroyed. If it's not, we die. If we're lucky. Two, we stay here, hide, and hope some other idiots wander into town to help us before we die of boredom or old age. And this place ain't exactly on a main road. Or three, we try to get the hell out of here. The gypsies go in and out of the mists, right? So it's gotta be possible."

----
Status: Gragog (F8): 57/60; Bragar: 42/42 (C7); Agax (MU7/C4): 45/45; Petyr (F3): 23/23; Bogdana (C3): 23/23; Mindless: Castran: 23/23 (F5/I6); Shinyah (D7): 38/38
Effects: Phantom Armor (Castran): 6 pts; Invisibility (Castran)
Light sources: CL coin (60', held by Shinyah); CL gem (60' Agax's staff)

[GreyWolfVT]

Gragog "To me the choice is simple lets go talk to the gypsies. Pray we can afford the cost to find the secret to coming and going as they do from this place."

[Dram]

Bragar- Lets go see the gypsies. Hopefully they be willing to help us. Do we leave Castran and Shinyah here?

[GreyWolfVT]

Gragog "Might as well bring them with us. Leaving them here just leaves them open to attacks if anything undead does still wander around this town."

[Inferno]

Agax Gryyg, game mage:

The dreaming wizard scowls at the lingering fog and murmurs darkly, "Hm. It would seem that each new entry of evidence reverses the theories spawned by the previous evidence."

He emphatically agrees with his companions, "Why, yes! Of course we should see the gypsies!
"And we must bring everyone. Perhaps their folk magic can return Shinyah and Castran to us?" he smiles, ever the optimist. "Let's go!"

[Zhym]

Do you set out immediately, or will you rest after a long and harrowing night?

[Inferno]

Agax added, "Let's go now. It would be positively novel to operate in daylight (such as it is). Don't you agree?"

[GreyWolfVT]

Gragog nods agreeing with the mage "Yes best to travel in the light."

[Zhym]

Fair disclosure: Agax has been awake for 24 hours. Everyone else has been awake for 21 hours. If you set out again without a rest, there will be frequent dice rolls.

[Inferno]

Suddenly, still standing, the dreaming wizard's eyes shut and his bearded chin rests on his chest.

"Zzzzzzz... zzzzzzzzz ... huh? What?! Oh... Perhaps a short nap is in order first. Shall we use our last resting place, or seek another? Bogdana's church perhaps?"

[Zhym]

Bogdana's church is outside of Barovia.

[GreyWolfVT]

Gragog "Yes resting would be a good thing we've all been awake straight for at least a day or close to it."

[Dram]

Bragar There are wards in place at the abandoned house to warn us of danger. We could rest there.

[Inferno]

The dreaming wizard nods again, this time at Bragar. "Good idea. Let's go, shall we?"

[GreyWolfVT]

Gragog groggily agrees shaking his head "Alright sure."

[Zhym]

Will you rest long enough to recover spells, or just long enough to avoid mystery rolls? Avoiding mystery rolls requires four hours of sleep. Recovering spells requires 4 hours for 1st and 2nd level spells and 6 hours for 3rd and 4th, plus 15 minutes per spell level to study the spells. It is currently around 7:00 AM.

BTW, you're already in the hideout.

[Zhym]

Date: Trieluna 14, 1222
Time: ~7:15 AM
Weather: Stormy
Location: Barovia
**************************************

You resolve to seek out Madam Eva in hopes that she could give sell you some way out of this hell. But you are exhausted, and Agax needs to recover his spells, so you settle in at the abandoned house to get much-needed rest. Before turning in, you take a moment to eat. You have to hand-feed Castran and Shinyah as if they were infants. Hand-feeding an invisible gnome turns out to be a messy, tiring, and time-consuming job. Bogdana heals Gragog's minor scrape.

Your sleep is undisturbed. You wake in mid-afternoon, then wait as Agax replenishes his arsenal of spells for the day. It is early evening when Agax is ready to go.

Do you set out now?

Deduct 1 days' rations each, please.

Please post spell lists in the OOC thread if you want different spells than you memorized yesterday. The description above assumes that Agax only replaces spent spells. Memorizing new spells to replace those that he did not cast will add the time needed to study.

----
Status: Gragog (F8): 60/60; Bragar: 42/42 (C7); Agax (MU7/C4): 45/45; Petyr (F3): 23/23; Bogdana (C3): 23/23; Mindless: Castran: 23/23 (F5/I6); Shinyah (D7): 38/38
Effects: Phantom Armor (Castran): 6 pts;
Light sources: CL coin (60', held by Shinyah); CL gem (60' Agax's staff)

[Inferno]

Agax, game mage of Urth, sleeps.

He dreams he is a batwinged evangelist in a howling, sun blasted landscape after the fall of a mighty civilization. He dreams he is a diminutive conman grifter, fleeing a burning circus. He dreams he is wild-eyed prophet, marooned on a desert island. He dreams he is a barbaric serpent man warrior trapped in an iron dungeon. He dreams he is all these people and none of them. And finally, as always, he dreams he is an enigmatic Gamer of Urth, the pan-dimensional beings whose childish games weave entire lives in the lower realms; their whims and the roll of the dice deciding life and death on countless worlds.

The dreaming wizard awakens, surprised to have slept undisturbed. Another promising sign!

He peers out into the storm attempting to gauge the fog, the only dire portent remaining. "Thank you, my patient friends. Are we ready to set out then?"

Spells memorized. Rations deducted. Thanks!

[GreyWolfVT]

Gragog "I'm ready if you are ready, replenished and full of magic."

[Zhym]

Date: Trieluna 14, 1222
Time: ~5:30 PM
Weather: Stormy
Location: Barovia
**************************************

You rest and then wait the several hours needed for Agax to study his spells. Even as the day grows late, you are anxious to find a way out of this place, so you set out immediately to find Madam Eva. Do you bring Shinyah and Castran with you?

At the outskirts of town you see four men of the village. They look at you and talk in hushed tones between themselves before hurrying off down a side street.

You reach the gypsy camp an hour and a half later. It is dark. On the far side of the clearing, colorful wagons are parked on the banks of a pool. Several brightly clad figures surround a large, roaring fire. One of them has an accordion, another a flute. Others are strumming stringed instruments, or slapping tambourines. Nearly all are singing.

A fat man with a scruffy black beard greets you. "Madam Eva's expecting you," he says. "Come with me."

----
Status: Gragog (F8): 60/60; Bragar: 42/42 (C7); Agax (MU7/C4): 45/45; Petyr (F3): 23/23; Bogdana (C3): 23/23; Mindless: Castran: 23/23 (F5/I6); Shinyah (D7): 38/38
Effects: Phantom Armor (Castran): 6 pts;
Light sources: CL coin (60', held by Shinyah); CL gem (60' Agax's staff)