Session 38 - Finding Van Helsing.

 The party take the vamp-uber back to Vallaki where Mulberry jumps out just before reaching town to go and work on some Druid Training Material that she needs to get finished. 

The head to the Bluewater inn and Denzel goes off to see Henrik the coffin maker to see if he has heard from Van Helsing of late. 

Henrik confirms the last he heard Van Helsing was headed to the woods north of Lake Zarovich to try and find a trail of some powerful magic. 

The party in the mean time determine that The bone thief from St Andels has been beheaded and their head adorns a spear with the wolves outside of town for the ill fate that became the people seeking shelter in the church. 

The check in with Ismark who tells the group that he has to return to Barovia to take up the role of Burgomaster, and that he will work to find some kind of safe haven for Ireena, but for now she will stay in Vallaki. 

The party decide to rest for the night then head North to Lake Zarovich via way of the Vistani Camp. They approach the camp and see a hill with small houses around the base, wagons on the top  in a circle a bunch of horses tied up and a large tent. They see some guards outside a house who informs them that they are not welcome here and should avoid the camp. They manage to convince the guard that they just want to pass through and will be no trouble. 

The send out Snowy owl and Karaki to scope out whats what on the hill, and are unable to determine how many Vistani are actually present. 

The party work out that as much as Grimdur wants to steal the horses the unknown number of Vistani makes this infeasible at the moment. and as they start to pass through the camp, the guard lets the other guards know via a complex series of whistles and clicks that its ok for them to pass. They her this repeated by the guards as it works its way around the circle. 

They take the road North to the lake and arrive at the shore, where a lone fisherman sits mending his net. They see three small shacks but only one boat and person, they approach him and ask him how to get across the lake, he introduces himself as Gorvian and offers to ferry the group across in batches, Snowball, Baromar and Pallas go first and discuss some of the local lore with Gorvian. They work out that he has transported another nameless traveller who was covered in scars across the lake recently but has not seen many other people. He tells them of the mad mage who lives in a mansion in the mountains, and lost his mind after battling Strahd, who now wanders the hills sometimes without reason or purpose. 

He drops them off to the landing on the North shore and the party see an established camp here, fireplace and some game trails. They work out while they wait that one of the game trails seems to have been widened and used recently by something taller than a wolf. Pallas uses detect magic and sees a great deal of magical energy in the forest, of conjuration an abjuration, with one specific point being slightly more intense than the others. 

Gorvian returns and picks up Grimdur, Gnarvick and Denezl  who have a similar conversation about the Scarred traveller and the mad mage, before they arrive on the other side. 

Gorvian wont accept payment and leaves the party to the wilderness. They compare notes and determine by Denzel that the Scarred traveller matches the description of Van Helsing. They head to the more intense magical area where they locate a man in a long coat with a hat reading from a notebook furiously. 

After a short reunion Van Helsing shares with Denzel and the party that he is tracking some kind of magical portal which was opened in Vallaki and landed here, he explores the area some more and Pallas points him to the more intense magical presence, once they arrive there he determines that a portal opened here, something was dragged through and then another portal opened, resulting in the death of several people to complete the ritual, they find blood stains and drag marks to confirm this. 

The party share that Fiona had been performing a similar ritual and he is able to determine where the portal had been opened too. The Amber temple way up in the hills of Mt Ghakis is the likely end point. 

The party decide this their next destination and Van Helsing says he will join them in this quest. But they will need to make adequate preparations as the extreme cold in the temple will kill them otherwise.