Session 3: Into the Woods! Report
General Summary
Casimir and Bastien had good head start but did not appear to be on horseback, th eonly advantage given to the party. Ulric took the lead pushing his horse to its limits while stopping occasionally to confirm the trail. Pushing into the wilderness as the moon crept high into the sky, they would hear an unearthly baying in the distance. A fell wolf from a darker world, they spurred their horses faster. An eerie whistling and the sounds of shouting came next, the could just barely make out, "Casimir RUN, take the boy, I shall hold them!" "It is too late Grimwald they have surrounded us!" For those of the party that could see in the monochrome of darkness would find Casimir and Grimwald, strong men of the forest village putting the sickly Von Dagen boy between them, backs to each other as they were circled by Shadow Wolves and Vampirc Strigoi. The Shadow Wolves, long dead corpses of Dire Wolves, held together with Shadows, ectoplasmic like goo from the Plane of Shadow, the wind whistling thru their hollow bones creating an unsettling din. The Strigoi, an abomination even by Vampiric standards, are a turning gone horribly wrong, creating a feral creature intent on endless feeding, created and released on a Sires most hated enemies.
Drogomir lit his sacred lantern casting a light about the forest for the others to see. Ulric charged his mount forward Leaping from its back as he changed from man to his hybrid wolf form, claws sinking into the Shadow Wolf before him. The others rushed their horses closer who began to get skittish in darkness and sounds of battle before dismounting. Grimwald was swarmed by 2 of the Wolves and a Strigoi, fangs and claws tearing into his flesh as his axe spun trying to keep them at bay. Casimirs ancient sword, recovered by the party and returned to him, glowed with sacred light as it cleaved a Strigois head from its shoulders in one blow. Darius called upon his deity to heal Grimwalds wounds and keep him in the fight, as a Strigoi and Shadow Wolf descended on Ulric. A 3rd Strigoi lunged at Adelaide as she rounded the group still mounted, as the claws sank deep the horse would spook bucking her to the ground where she landed with an oof. Pozake would step forward to defend Ulric as Katarina danced her way into the melee her rapier piercing enemies as she spun. Drogomir would press the Strigoi back with heavy hammer blows as Adelaide gained her feet and lit the creature ablaze with her incendiary concoction. Grimwald would succumb to the onslaught of the attackers, but Darius would not see his soul depart, knitting his wounds with divine magic, as the Bastien fled the chaos, Katarina would shout, "Stay with Darius!" pushing forward to fight the monsters chasing her brother. Clonk who had been darting in and out the wolves chopping with his butcher knife would find himself in the jaws of a Shadow Wolf being shaken like a ragdoll until Pozake would end the creature freeing his would be squire. As the battle turned against the Strigoi, one made a last ditch effort to reach Bastien, Darius standing between them its claws would sink into the priest before a Rapier would pierce its throat and the snarls and howls would go silent.
Ulric would give Casimir an annoyed grunt for his risk taking, and would go to help Grimwald. Katarina would take her brother into a quick embrace, feeling his weakened state having returned he felt frail and withered from the curse. The others would recover their horses as Drogomir went about staking the Strigoi. The quiet of the night interrupted as a great war horn bellowed. Ulric would look up and frown, "Wildborne....we need to leave." The exhausted horses were pushed to their limits again as the party raced thru the woods. Leaping downed trees and navigating thick brambles, Ulric would drive his javelins into the brush as stakes to slow their pursuers down. Horns and braying of the animalistic Wildborne licking at their heels. Crossing a stream with some difficulty the howls of those impaled on Ulrics traps echoed behind. Trying to mask their scent and distract the Wildborn Ulric would throw his food rations about as they ran and smash up his soap as they cross the next ford. The horses foaming and near falling from exhaustion would get the party safe across the river proper and the Wildborne would end their pursuit. They would push on exhausted thru the night and arrive at the Village early in the morning.
Ulric would look to Casimir, "You have a family to go speak with," referring to their comrade left dead in Wolfsfelden. Casimir would nod and set out to do this while the others would interrogate the Duke one last time. He had little to offer other then this new Vampire seemed to have her own motives vs Dimitri to which they had dispatched. Debate ranged if she wanted Bastien for something nefarious or simply a bargaining chip against them for their interference. As the conversation turned to Bastien and his curse, Drogomir would take interest and after some sleep would try his ritual to break the curse. Finding it of immense power he would be drained by it himself as he attempted to break it. "This is ancient and powerful, it is slowly syphoning the very essence of his soul from him...to where and to what, I can not say." Darius learning of this, would attempt to break the curse with his divine magic but also find it beyond his ability, but in the matter of soul thefts, his patron Drusarius would demand he get to the bottom of this. After several days rest the party decided they would return to the City and hunt Visela.
