Session 36 - St.Andals Feast

The party take care of the skeletons without breaking a sweat,  the highlights being when Mulberry uses a thorn whip to restrain one while pallas finishes him off with a firebolt. Baromar kicking a skeleton head across the room to Snowball was also worthy of a mention. 

During the battle Snowball casts his swirling tornado of death hamsters and they hear someone scream from the room behind the hidden door. 

They listen in and hear chanting quietly coming from the other room. First considering if they should revivify Ernst for some weekend at Ernsts action, and then deciding that hey should burst in, which they do to see Fiona standing amongst several dead cultists, she is smiling wickedly and she tells them its too late, its done. before vanishing into mist.

They check the cultists and see that one of the bodies has bite marks on her neck, they all appear to have had their throats cut in some kind of very dark ritual. 

Grimdur senses that Fiona has or is about to make her move against Izek and they rush there, Mulberry wanting to ride her invisible wolf. 

The Burgomaster answers the door and is unharmed and unaware of any odd happenings. They Convince him, his wife and child to spend the night in St Andals church which is traditionally a safe place for Vallakains to shelter when there is danger from dark forces. 

They arrive back at the church to a worried Father Lucian who greets them with the news that the bones have not been returned, and that they have been working to fortify the church as much as possible but there are a significant number of holes in the roof, all windows are boarded up, and if they plan to spend the night then guards at the door would be a very welcome contribution from the group. 

Around 3am the mist closes in around the church and a familiar voice calls out a greeting from outside. 

Mulberry who is outside sleeping in a giant tree greets Strahd and they discuss the dinner party and how Strahd will be drinking his own "wine" and that he will send a carriage to collect the party at the appropriate time. 

During the conversation Strahd makes a gesture with his hand and for the following seconds after, fledgling vampires, and swarms of bats raid the church taking as many sheltering Barovians as available to them. Father Lucian, the Burgomaster and his family are sheltering in Snowballs tiny hut with one other villager, and are kept safe while the attack takes place.  

Over in seconds the death of 12 villagers shakes the remaining locals to their core. In the morning light Izek and his family head back to his mansion to conduct the business of calming the town down after this atrocity. 

Father Lucian is in shock but he is repeating over and over must find Milivo, as the Vallaki come out and start their day they hear tales of the night, and come to the church to offer help. Two young men offer to go and retrieve Milivo as they believe they know his whereabouts. 

The return shortly after and The Father confronts him about the theft of the bones, he admits that he took them under threat from Ernst and he can retrieve them as he has them hidden in town. The two villagers escort him to get the bones and return a while later with them, and without Milivo who they explain slipped away during the recovery. 

The bones returned to the church restore the protection from evil, and now Father Lucian has the job of restoring the faith of the village in his beloved church.