One of Us Will Die
Curse of Strahd
Adventure Report 4: Bonegrinder

The party leaves Barovia Village with Ireena for the town of Vallaki. Istmark upgrades their station wagon into a Barovian carriage worthy of Ireena’s station. The night before, we learn that Father Donavich passed some books to Marjorie, a book on the life St. Andral and Prayers to the Morninglord. He claims that the books may help them sometime in the future. He did not take into consideration that Majorie barely knows how to read.

The Corpse by the Roadside

The trip is rather uneventful save for the party recounting what happened to each of them the previous day. Sabrione also discovers that her voice has returned to its usual hoarseness. They arrive at a fork in the road and find that a corpse has been left on the roadside. To the other direction is a gallows located conveniently near a cemetery. Upon investigation, Rowan and Marjorie discover that his belongings were taken and he was shot through the back indicating a roadside robbery. Marjorie covers the corpse with pieces of a nearby bush to provide some dignity. The two discuss their goals in Barovia with Rowan feeling rather lost after finding out her quary is dead, though remains steadfast to protect her partymates and get them home. Marjorie still longs to find her lost daughter whom she had given to a hag many years ago.

Back at the coach, Hope contemplates Madame Eva’s card reading. Mists by the Abbey. Drowned ruins and a hut that walks. Amber doors. A wizard’s tower. As she naps in the carriage, she hears the screams of children and the rattling of chains. Another vision so soon after her nightly visions of her sister’s face in pain. Sabrione broods over the pain of losing her voice once again.

Approaching the graveyard, the other two reach the grave the man seemed to point towards as he died.

“Harriet, beloved wife. I miss you so much. Please come back.” Is scratched on a makeshift wooden gravestone.

They place the roses by the grave before they recite a prayer for the dead from Father Donavich’s book of prayers. Marjorie’s sincerity in prayer awakens a shade to emerge from the grave.

“Darren?” The shade cries out. “You’re not Darren. Where’s Darren?”

“He’s nearby.” Marjorie claims nervously.

“You’ve seen him! That’s wonderful! Darren! Happy anniversary! Where are you!”

When informed of her husband’s sorry state, the shade is immediately distraught, blaming herself for his death. She recounts the tale of how she was driven by desperation, after her husband lost his job at the lumbermill, to allow herself to be charmed and seduced by Strahd von Zarovich. She left him, too focused on the idea of living her life in the safety and nourishment of Ravenloft Castle to realize what she was leaving behind. By the time she arrived at the crossroads, she was beset by Vistani bandits who killed her and took her possessions. Harriet claims that she was betrayed by the vampire as the Vistani do his bidding and that she was promised safe passage through the roads. She warns Marjorie and Rowan of the Vistani, that none of them are to be trusted. She tells them she’s been trapped in her current space by the intense shame and guilt she feels for betraying her husband, wishing instead that she’d stayed to starve with him than live in that castle in the end. They offer to bury her husband’s body with her own, but she refuses, knowing that nobody would like to be buried with someone that betrayed them. Rowan reads Harriet’s epitaph for her as her eyes well up, having been too illiterate to realize that her husband had forgiven her a long time ago.

Enlisting the help of Ireena, Hope and Sabrione, they dig the grave and place Darren inside with his wife. In the process, Hope’s back muscles give in making it necessary to guide her back to the carriage. Marjorie asks the shade if she’s aware of a wizard’s tower, prompting the latter to tell her the tale of the mad mage.

“An adventurer came to Barovia once. A magician of awesome power. He too challenged the Devil Strahd and he too fell. They say he built a tower for himself somewhere to the north but I do not recall where.”

She is unable however to give them any info about the other clues. When the graves are finished, the shade thanks them and sees the glowing outline of her husband’s spirit in the distance. Immediately the shade transforms into a bright glowing figure, rushing towards her husband as the two disappear into the mist. Satisfied with their good deed, the party continues on. Hope sees the image of herself hanging from the gallows but shrugs it off. These woods play tricks on you.

The Vistani

Ireena informs the group that the north fork will take them the short way around, closer to Castle Ravenloft and through a Vistani camp. The south fork is the long way around but will not have the risk of trouble with either Strahd or the Vistani. Rowan recalls what she knows of the Vistani from Daggerfall’s own interactions with them. They are a nomadic people who move around in wagons. They are known for their hospitality and festive attitude towards life. There is a rumor that they also cast dangerous curses on people they don’t like. The party also recalls that Vistani bandits also attacked them on the road to Barovia and that they seem to fear Sabrione and Hope.

After weighing their options, they elect to pass by the camp, hopefully to buy some supplies on the way. Meanwhile, in Castle Ravenloft, Rahadin the elven chamberlain, approaches Strahd in the audience hall. He informs the vampire lord that the party is moving close to the castle. Strahd lets them pass through curious as to how their journey will go, though he vows to take Tatyana for himself. Asha throws a cockroach at him both in jest and in scorn.

Arriving at the Vistani camp, they are welcomed by Luvash who they had already met in Barovia village before their encounter with Madame Eva. They ask him for directions and he tells them of Vallaki and the other Visatni camp near the area. He also informs them that their gold is worthless in Barovia and that people have taken to paying with silver. Sabrione refuses to part with her silver bullets, but Rowan manages to convince Luvash to exchange her gold for silver. The adventurers decide to rest at the camp.

Marjorie continues her little embroidering project while Hope attempts to peer into the mind of Luvash on the Vistani wanderer mentioned to them by Madame Eva. A tale of the Mad Mage of Mount Baratok, and his tower to the north west. A riveting tale of his battle of Strahd interests the vampire who praises the storyteller. The storyteller happily accepts her compliments and mentions that she knows another storyteller when she sees one.

Hope learns through her brain-sleuthing that Luvash is looking for his niece, Arabelle who went missing under his watch, something his brother, Arrigal blames him for. Initially, Hope feels sympathy for him, but peers into another memory as he rejects a Vistana exile who seemed harmless and well-meaning. She leaves him to his devices for his cruelty, finally learning that they are looking for a young woman with a mechanical leg.

Rowan shares a dance with Sabrione, though learns that keeping up with an experienced stage performer is different from fighting. The vampire looks back to the dances she once shared with Ivan and realizes that after their encounter on the streets of Barovia, she is finally beginning to heal.

Before they leave the camp, Marjorie hands Sabrione what she’d been working on; the dress she wore the other day. In place of the bullet hole, a calla lily is cross stitched.

“I couldn’t restore it to what it was before, but I’ve tried to make something beautiful over the damage.” Marjorie tells her.

"Monsters will do what monsters do. Speaking as someone who's used manipulation many a time, it's quite easy to manipulate desperate people. You shouldn't blame yourself so much." the vampire replies.

The entire time, Ireena keeps her distance. Mistrustful of the Vistani due to their apparent allegiance to Strahd.

The carriage leaves the camp as Luvash and the storyteller wave merrily.

Bonegrinder

On their way to Vallaki, the road forks once more, and they see the windmill in the distance. They remember Granny Morgantha’s invitation to Rowan to visit her bakert at The Old Bonegrinder if they want more pies. As they are out of dream pastries and everyone, save for Hope, elects to at least pass by for some. This scene is played out very reminiscent of children in a car asking their mother if they can get drive-thru.

Bella, a young woman, sits beside the windmill where a stall is set up, with the window high enough that they can buy dream pastries from the window of their carriage, one of Granny Morgantha’s many innovations. Hope can hear the screams of children coming from the third floor. It is unclear if this is another psychic vision or actual screams. Rowan buys a whole pie with four slices, haggling the price down to 12 silver pieces. Before anyone can eat and before they leave, Hope sends a psychic message into everyone’s brains explaining what she can hear. Nobody else hears the screams, and her theory appears ridiculous to them, a side effect from consuming the pies. Through sheer willpower, Hope manages to convince everyone of her visions and Rowan shuts the window. The party is appalled and horrified and deciphers that the secret ingredient to the pie’s magic comes from children killed by Morgantha and the other millers. Noting the name of the place, they figure out that it comes from ground human bones. A brief silence overcomes the group before they decide to keep the pie for their own needs but decide that they want to stop the operation once and for all. Sabrione, however, is unphased by the revelation. It’s not the worst thing she’s put in her mouth.

Rowan opens the window again and asks Bella what the secret ingredient is. Bella gives her a wide toothy smile and declares that the secret ingredient is in fact “love”. Rowan shuts the window again and deduces from their bullshit that these people might be witches or even hags at worst. She steps out of the carriage and asks to see the process. Bella takes note of her childlike naivete and optimism and wonders if her bones might work for their recipe. She allows it but only if she goes in alone.

Suspecting a trap, the party refuses, stating that they are all interested in the process. Hope casts a minor illusion of Morgantha’s voice coming from the windmill, taking a sample of it from Rowan’s memory and using her psychic powers to create the illusion.

“Bella! Are those my friends? Why haven’t you shown them in?”

Terrified of punishment, the witch guides the adventurers into the house. Her two sisters emerge from upstairs and see the intruders. All three of them appear the same except for different colored hair.

“Where’s mother?” Bella asks.

“Mother isn’t here you nitwit! It’s a trick!” says Ophelia.

A third sister pulls a lever and sleep powder falls from the ceiling. All but Rowan fall into a deep pleasant sleep. The knight fends off the three attackers who come at him with knives. Initially successful, she is outnumbered and overwhelmed by them, subdued and forced to consume a pie. They do not kill her. Their bodies are lined up as they all dream of their families. Hope is with her husband and child. Marjorie is with a young Morgwyn reciting nursery rhymes to her.

Morgantha arrives and scolds her daughters for letting strangers into the windmill. Her voice changes completely as she changes from the kindly old granny to a cruel hideous hag threatening to kill them the next time they fail her. Bella tells her Rowan alone is worth several children. When she goes to check on them, Morgantha is horrified to find Marjorie among the bodies. She forces her daughters to close Rowan’s wounds and to send them out of her sight. When questioned, she only gets angrier and rushes upstairs.

The scene of Marjorie reciting nursery rhymes to Morgwyn in her dream overlaps a curled up Morgantha reciting the very same rhymes to herself. She rushes to the mirror and drinks the last of a set of potions as her appearance takes that of Morgwyn’s human form. She shatters the mirror, howling in disgust and begins to sob wildly as the scene fades to black as her sobs are drowned out by the crying and wailing of children on the upper floor.

End credits theme: House of Wolves by My Chemical Romance

Post credits scene:

The adventurers wake up still in the carriage as a procession moves by them. Wolves heads adorn pikes held by men, women and children wearing wolf head masks. Welcome to Vallaki.

“All will be well!” shout the townsfolk. “All will be well!”

But nothing is well. Nothing is well at all.

Reflections from the Director

This episode is definitely a slow burn. I wanted to give the characters time to develop their characters the way they wanted. We see them doing a good deed at the beginning, relaxing in the middle, and find out that they’ve been all this time consuming the bones of innocent children.

We see Sabrione slowly regaining her confidence as a strong family centered mother. If this episode had a theme, it would be ‘healing’. Doing something good for someone else like she did for Harriet and Darren restores The Sinner archetype’s faith in themselves.

Sabrione begins to heal from the hatred and anger she’s felt towards her nemesis, Ivan. Unlike in one-shots it seems that The Scorned, instead of just continuously getting worse, has a more complex emotional rollercoaster. She seems just as concerned with getting her voice back as she is with killing Ivan.

Rowan also dips into her noble roots, making use of her education to guide the party’s decision and even sharing a dance with someone she finds fascinating. The Oathtaker’s strengths shine best when they believe in what they’re fighting for and the more Rowan grows close to her teammates, the stronger her devotion to her oath becomes.

The growing psychic power in Hope begins to reveal itself more with her ability to sense trouble from a distance, but also this strange tendency for people to not believe her when it does happen. Initially, I had imagined The Seer to have one major vision that nobody believes for a one-shot, but I don’t think this works too well in a campaign. Instead, I think the Seer in general seems to be cursed to be ignored for her many visions, much like the Cassandra of mythology.

 It was fun to watch the characters heal, but also painful given that I knew where this episode was going to end. Initially it was going to end with Hope not being believed, and her hearing the cries of innocent children as the carriage carries on to Vallaki, but considering she succeeded in her spirit check, it ended very differently. I wasn’t expecting the party to find out about the fate of Morgwyn so early in the game, but there it was. The characters, however, still do not know.