Dungeons and Dragons

Session 4 Done. Had one player absent, but we continued. Aftter meeting with Donavich, the party went back to the burgomaster's home for a late dinner of dream pastries and a long rest. Sleep was quite peaceful, though each had an odd dream.
Almaeri, the celestial warlock had a dream of the celestial being that seems to be hanging around her. It thanked her for giving it permission to use its power (healing the paladin when the was knocked unconscious by ghouls in Death House) and thus strengthening their bond. It said its name was Berstruk and it was once a guardian of nature before being imprisoned. It partially freed itself, and her picking up the chip of amber she found formed a connection between them. There is little it can do to help besides provide advice, but if they could find a way to grant it more power (ie the fanes) it can help them defeat Strahd. IT is, of course and escaped vestige from the Amber Temple trying to manipulate her.
Hamm, the paladin dreamed of a deva, but not his usual celestial guide (this is the Abbott) The deva expressed surprise in meeting "one of his kin" in this land. He asked of Hamm was interested in helping him break the curse of the land. When Hamm said yes he told him to seek out the old woman selling pies in Barovia, kill her, and bring him her tongue. This surprised our paladin ,who asked why. The deva merely said "she is a murderer and worse" and that she lived in an old windmill halfway between Barovia and Valiki. Ham is kinda ambivalent about this. He asked Ismark later about Granny, who just said that "Granny Morgan" was an old lady who lived in an old windmill with her daughters and came into town every few days to sell pies. He didn't know much else, being on the outs with Barovian society.
His reaction upon waking: "Given a quest to murder a little old lady. That's a paladin quest if I ever heard one"
Mort the hexblade dreamt of the crossroads, and following a path to Tser Pool, where Madam Eva greeted with by name.
The party volunteered to be pallbearers for the burgomaster's funeral, though they expected to get jumped along the way (especially since both Ismark and Ireena donned armor and weapons) Donavich conducted the funeral, until he started stammering and stuttering before finally taking cover behind a gravestone. They turned around to see a pale, middle-aged man in dark clothes and walking what appeared to be a dog until he got closer and it could be identified as a wolf (actually a werewolf). He dropped a flower on the grave and declared Kolyan Indirovich was a brave man, a good man, but ultimately not a wise man" He bowed to Ireena, as Ismark put himself between her and Strahd. Strahd then looked the party over. He declared he hadn't seen aasimar in an age, identified the hexblade as a disciple of the Raven Queen, and the Bard (Malek, absent) as a Durst Scion. He expressed the greatest interest in Malek. Hamm correctly surmised because he could have a claim to parts of Barovia through the documents in Death House. (though Strahd dismissed the Durst cult as "a bunch of poseurs")
The whole party was oddly subdued in his presence. I fully expected combat to break out at some point, but aside from a few mild insults, they were quite docile in Strahd's presence (the hexblade later claiming he didn't realize Strahd was a vampire despite me making it clear at one point that THEY COULD CLEARLY SEE HIS FANGS WHEN HE SMILED)
As Strahd left, a swarm of bats swooped down upon Ireena. They left her unharmed, but deposited a gold locket with an engraved "T" on it and a note "To my beloved -S" No one has a clue what the T means. But Donovich did privately tell the party he knew Ireena wasn't the burgomaster's natural daughter, and that the T may tie into that.
Plans proceeded to escort Ismark and Ireena to Graesnekov for his wedding. They stopped at Bildrath's, but the massively inflated prices put them off. They offered to sell the spellbook they found in Death House to him, but Bildrath flat-out refused, saying Strahd has confiscated all spellbooks in Barovia and, much as Bildrath likes making money, he wants to live to spend it. He won't risk selling such a potentially dangerous item.
SO off they went down Old Svalich Road. After about an hour of travel they encountered a panicked horse coming back up the road. They stopped it, and Ismark recognized it as Vasili von Holtz' horse. They cautiously proceeded until they heard calls for help and cackling. They found at the gallows two Barovian WItches and five Strahd Zombies surrounding a tied up Vassili. The witches told the party to just keep walking, this didn't concern them. They didn't listen, and battle was joined.
At first I was worried that they would steamroll through the fight. Sleep spells put Almaeri and Ireena out of the fight early, but Mort and Ismark bottlenecked the zombies as Hamm used his Radiant Soul ability to fly over and engage the witches.
But the witches managed to get a sleep spell to stick to him, and down he went as well. He woke from a hit, then went down to another Sleep spell. Then the dice started turning and before we knew it, he was unconscious with two failed death saves.
At that point, though, Mort and Ismark managed to cut their way through most of the zombies. Ismark was able to wake Almaeri, who got a heal to Hamm in the nick of time (just as I starting mentally prepping for a dark gift scenario) The battle didn't last much longer.
Vasili thanked them profusely for the rescue and asked them to look him up in Vallaki if they were ever in town (the party ended up wondering why he was never affected by the Sleep spells being thrown around, but I think the players believe I forgot about him, even though there was a token on the mat representing him 😁).
At the crossroads, and after a short rest, Mort insisted they take the northwest branch and meet Madam Eva. Ismark is in no hurry to get married and agreed, and the party was willing to oblige Mort. As they left, they heard the creaking at the gallows. Hamm saw himself dangling from a noose while the rest of the party saw a random Barovian. They were kinda afraid to approach it. Hamm refused to touch the body. Finally Mort tried to cut it down and bury the body. but it dissolved as soon as he touch it. Still creeped out, he quipped that at least he tried to cut the body down BEFORE digging the grave.
We ended the session at Tser Pool just as Mort pulled back the tent to Madam Eva and her greeting of "At last, Mort, you have arrived!" We called it at this point so the whole group could be there for the Tarroka reading.