Session 04 — Into the Valley

The party tears through Death House's living flesh to escape, fleeing through floors and rat-infested corridors while a regenerating shambling mound pursues them. They emerge onto a muddy road into Barovia, where ancient gates and vineyard symbols confirm their location—and where the Vistani people face a creature of straw and malice.

Pre-Session Recap

The party defeated a ghast in Death House's basement crypt but discovered the mansion itself had become an active antagonist—walls transformed into spike traps, plaster peeling like dead skin, the entire structure pulsing with malevolent life. They took a short rest in the sacrificial chamber, uncertain whether full sleep was possible in so cursed a place. Now they must escape before Death House's traps consume them entirely.

Session Summary

Opening

The party returns to Death House's upper floors after their victory over the ghast, only to discover the house itself has become their primary enemy. Spike-lined passageways pulse and extend with a high-pitched squealing of creatures with too many teeth. Walls creak under internal pressure. Windows are bricked over with seamless brick. The air tastes of iron, copper, mildew, and spoiled breath. The DM narrates: "This is no house. It is a body, and you are inside of its stomach."

Rather than attempting to navigate the deadly spike traps of the upper levels, the party makes a tactical retreat to the basement, where Ria hears Lorgath the Decayer shuffling toward them. The shambling mound has regenerated. Faced with both an active exit above and a regenerating monster below, the party chooses offense over caution.

Middle

Ria executes a brilliant and unconventional escape: she uses action surge and her axe to smash through the basement floor itself, breaking through multiple levels and leaving a trail of destruction that Lorgath the Decayer pursues. Each floor she breaks through releases rat swarms, but the path downward is clear. The creature becomes so distracted consuming the massive quantities of rats that it abandons pursuit.

Daisy uses cure wounds while waiting at exits. Aleric navigates the crypt and eventually falls through one of Ria's holes, landing in an unfamiliar parlor where he takes a critical hit from rats for 16 damage and gains a punctured lung injury. The party regathers and pushes through the dying house, escaping to the exterior.

They emerge onto a muddy road in Barovia, surrounded by dark rolling thunderclouds and thick fog. After walking for two hours, the gates appear—two headless statues flanking high stone buttresses with iron gates, above which blazes the vineyard symbol of Barovia. Daisy recognizes it from her favorite wine bottle: they have entered the land of Barovia, south of Waterdeep.

Closing — The Scarecrow and the Vistani

The party continues for several more hours through increasingly dark and misty woods before encountering four Vistani people arguing near a dead tree about a buried object. An elderly woman with a dagger argues sarcastically and skeptically. An older gentleman — her husband Petru — argues loudly with animated Italian gestures, shouting "It is accursed!" A middle-aged man presents himself as handsome and charming, though less attractive on closer inspection. A young woman watches everything with sharp, observant eyes.

When a scarecrow erupts from the brush to the north — a creature with a burlap face twisted in a stitched snare, claws raised, hay trailing behind it like smoke — its horrifying wail frightens the young woman. The Vistani pull scimitars and fight, but the scarecrow is formidable. Petru, the band's healer, is killed before the party can intervene. Aleric makes the pragmatic argument: if they don't help, all the Vistani will die and the scarecrow will come for them anyway. Ria and Daisy are reluctant due to injuries, but agree. Aleric warns: "If I die, I'm haunting you." Daisy responds: "If I die, I hope my spirit leaves this realm and I'm just nothingness forever."

During the approach, Aleric makes a critical Insight check: the charming man — later identified as Stefan — deliberately pushes the young woman Diona into the scarecrow's path. It is not accidental. The party immediately distrusts him. The elderly woman, Raxandra, fights with acrobatic grace despite her age, ultimately defeating the scarecrow with an elegant flourish of her dual scimitars — striking twice, cutting the creature in half in a pool of hay and burlap.

After the Battle — Raxandra's Grief and Stefan's Nature

Raxandra reveals herself as the band's leader. She states the Vistani "never leave a debt unpaid" and invites the party to break bread and rest. She reveals the dead man was Petru, her beloved husband — their healer. She will bury him deep in the woods "so his soul can move unbidden into the world."

When Aleric offers to help with the burial, Raxandra refuses — it is not the party's duty. She turns on Stefan: "You will dig the hole, you useless piece of dog shit." Stefan protests weakly: "Hey, there's no reason to act this way. I fought just like you." Diona steps forward: "You son of a bitch, you were less helpful in that fight than tits on a nun." Stefan, with an insincere toothy grin: "Tits on a nun could be useful." Then, casually: "What can I say? I'm a lover not a fighter. I'm a peacemaker not a war maker. I have always been this way." Ria: "I'm surprised he's not missing more teeth." Then, quietly: "God, I hate him."

Stefan gives the party a stink eye and appears disappointed when they turn out to be adventurers rather than potential recruits for whatever he was expecting. When Aleric confronts him about his cowardice, Stefan steps up aggressively, squinting one eye and opening the other wide: "You dare accuse me of lying?" Raxandra puts her hand between them: "Stefan, you are not in your right mind and it is not your place to do such a thing. You close your evil eye and you dig that fucking hole. We must bury him." Stefan holds the stare for a moment, then looks down and complies.

The Camp — Diona's Whispered Request

After Petru's burial and a meal of stew, Raxandra explains that beyond the village of Barovia, on the river, lies the camp of Madam Eva — "the greatest seer among us" — who can provide healing. She warns them about the Blood and the Vine tavern in Barovia village — a Vistani-friendly establishment where "the three sisters do not take kindly to those that cause trouble."

The camp arranges sleeping quarters with men and women separated. Diona is assigned to set up lean-tos for the party. As she does, she looks at Stefan, then at Aleric, with an unspoken request in her eyes. When Aleric asks if she needs anything, Diona draws close, makes warding hand motions, and whispers urgently:

"Ensure Stefan stays on his side of the camp. Without Petru here to keep him behaving himself, I do not know that I trust him. He's been acting oddly." She reveals their mission: "We are looking for a ring for Madam Eva. It is an ancient magical thing that is of some use to our people. She did not give me the details. Raxandra and Petru were chosen for this, and we needed two others. Vistani never travel in groups of less than four. I was chosen as the youngest — we always bring someone young to train for these missions. And then Stefan was voted to go by someone from his camp. He was not welcome."

Then, the real request: "If you want to help us, find a way to get Stefan to leave the wards. We can take no action against him, and if you were to take action against him directly, you may become an enemy of our people, by honor and right. But if you convince him to step out of the wards and stay there, or keep him there by any means necessary, he will not be protected."

She smiles hopefully at the thought. Then leans in one final time: "Whatever he says he serves, it is not the master I grew up fearing. It is something new and worse. Strahd is our protector. I do not think he serves Strahd."

The Plan — Luring Stefan Beyond the Wards

The party conspires without hesitation. Aleric devises a plan: he will convince Stefan that Diona wants to meet him deep in the woods for a romantic encounter, luring him far beyond the camp's protective wards. Diona needs only to stay hidden in her tent. Raxandra overhears Diona whispering the plan — she gives the young woman a steely, disapproving glance, then looks at the party, but says nothing. She does not intervene.

After midnight, when the camp falls silent, Aleric wakes Stefan in his tent. What follows is a masterclass in manipulation, with Aleric playing directly to Stefan's grotesque vanity. He tells Stefan that Diona approached him while he was relieving himself, that she looked disappointed it wasn't Stefan, and that she wants to meet him deep in the woods — where "the night hides what the fires dare not show." Stefan's ego requires almost no persuading. He is immediately convinced. "No one can resist the charms of Stefan," he declares with a toothy grin. He and Aleric banter about who has the looks and who has the muscle. Stefan asks Aleric to cover his ears while he performs a "pre-performance ritual" inside his tent — an act so revolting the players at the table could barely contain themselves.

Stefan emerges from his tent, takes off his belt, folds it in half, slaps it in his hand, and walks confidently into the dark woods. Aleric: "Sleep well, friend." Stefan: "I shall not be getting any tonight."

The party long rests.

Morning — The Fate of Stefan

Aleric wakes under his lean-to and naturally looks into the woods where Stefan departed the night before.

Impaled just twenty feet outside of camp on a tree of bones that was not there before is Stefan. His mouth is stuffed with ash. His eyes have been removed from their sockets and lie on the ground, staring up at him. His pants have been removed. His genitalia are scattered around the base of the tree.

Aleric walks to the women's side of the camp, pale and shaken. Diona looks at him with hope in her eyes. When she reads his expression, her eyes go wide and she rushes to the men's side. Raxandra follows. They see what Aleric saw. Diona curses in a language the party does not understand, spits at the feet of the corpse, and walks back toward the party — smiling.

Raxandra approaches the corpse and investigates. She reaches into the right eye socket and pulls out a folded piece of cardboard. She unfolds it. It is a card — a Tarokka card — that reads "The Innocent," with the word Innocent crossed out on both the top and bottom.

Raxandra turns toward the party, holds the card between two fingers, and says with a knowing look: "The Tarokka deck never lies."

Key Events

• Death House's Transformation — The manor becomes a living antagonist with spike-trap corridors and regenerating creatures
• The Floor-Breaking Escape — Ria uses tactical brilliance to escape downward through multiple floors
• Lorgath's Feast — The shambling mound becomes so distracted eating rat swarms that it ceases pursuit
• Emergence into Barovia — The party discovers they have arrived in the kingdom of Barovia through the vineyard gates
• The Scarecrow Encounter — The party aids the Vistani in battle against a straw-filled horror, and Petru is killed
• Raxandra's Victory — The elderly Vistani leader defeats the scarecrow with a dual-scimitar flourish
• Diona's Whispered Request — The young Vistani reveals Stefan was unwanted, serves something worse than Strahd, and asks the party to lure him beyond the protective wards
• Stefan's Death — Lured into the woods by Aleric's deception, Stefan is found impaled on a tree of bones, eyes removed, mouth filled with ash, with a Tarokka card reading "The Innocent" (crossed out) in his eye socket

Decisions Made

NPCs Encountered

Locations Visited

Combat & Encounters

Combat Breakdown 1 — Death House Escape

Phase 1: The House Becomes Hostile

• Party returns to upper floors after victory over ghast
• Discover house has become active antagonist
• Spike-lined passageways pulse and extend with high-pitched squealing of creatures with too many teeth
• Walls creak under internal pressure
• Windows bricked over with seamless brick
• Air tastes of iron, copper, mildew, and spoiled breath
• DM narration: "This is no house. It is a body, and you are inside of its stomach."
• Party debates: navigate deadly spike traps of upper levels or return to basement
• Choose tactical retreat to basement

Phase 2: The Regenerating Threat

• Aleric hears Lorgath the Decayer shuffling toward them in basement
• Shambling mound has regenerated despite being defeated previously
• Party faced with impossible choice: active spike-trap exit above, regenerating monster below
• Party chooses offense over caution

Phase 3: The Floor-Breaking Escape

• Ria executes brilliant and unconventional strategy: uses action surge and axe to smash through basement floor itself
• Breaks through multiple levels, leaving trail of destruction
• Lorgath the Decayer pursues
• Each floor Ria breaks through releases rat swarms
• Path downward is clear despite swarms
• Swarms accumulate: first floor releases rat swarm, second floor releases second swarm, third floor releases third swarm
• Ria accumulates three separate swarms by time Alaric catches up
• Daisy uses cure wounds while waiting at exits
• Alaric navigates crypt and eventually falls through one of Ria's holes
• Lands in unfamiliar parlor (servant's quarters with straw mattresses, footlockers, uniforms — undocumented servants' quarters)
• Takes critical hit from rats: 16 damage
• Gains punctured lung injury (lasts one day instead of Ria's two days)

Phase 4: The Creature's Distraction

• Lorgath the Decayer encounters massive rat swarms that Ria left behind
• Becomes so distracted consuming enormous quantities of rats that it abandons pursuit
• DM narration: "the sounds of rats as if they have been thrown in a blender as he enters the room"

Outcome: Party escaped Death House via floor-breaking strategy; Lorgath distracted by rat consumption; party emerged into exterior of Barovia; both Ria and Alaric sustained punctured lung injuries

Combat Breakdown 2 — The Scarecrow vs Vistani

Phase 1: The Encounter Setup

• Party on muddy road through woods; encounter Vistani people arguing near dead tree about buried object
• Four Vistani present: elderly woman with dagger (arguing sarcastically), older gentleman arguing loudly (using Italian gestures, shouting "It is accursed!"), middle-aged handsome man (later identified as Stefan), young woman (sharp-eyed and observant)
• Party attempts to hide and observe
• Young woman (Diona) suddenly turns as if alarmed
• Scarecrow erupts from brush to north: creature with burlap face twisted in stitched snare, claws raised, hay trailing behind like smoke
• Scarecrow's horrifying wail frightens young woman; fails save and becomes frightened
• Scarecrow lunges; Vistani pull scimitars

Phase 2: The Opening Combat

• One Vistani fires crossbow at scarecrow: misses
• Vistani show combat skills; elderly woman fights well despite age
• Scarecrow proves formidable despite Vistani efforts
• Vistani are surprised and taking casualties
• Scarecrow kills elderly man (later revealed to be Petru, the group's healer and beloved of elderly woman Raxandra) before party decides to intervene
• Party debated involvement; Alaric argues if they don't help, all Vistani will die then scarecrow comes for them anyway
• Ria and Daisy reluctant due to injuries but agree to help
• Alaric warns: if he dies, he'll haunt whoever got him killed
• Daisy responds she hopes to be nothing forever rather than haunt anyone

Phase 3: Party Ambush and Insight

• Party moves to 80 feet from combat and prepares ambush
• Alaric makes Insight check: perceives that Stefan deliberately pushes young woman (Diona) into scarecrow — it's not accidental
• Daisy and Alaric also gain this insight
• Immediately makes them distrust Stefan

Phase 4: The Surprise Round

• Daisy casts Sacred Flame: 7 damage
• Ria attempts to cast Fairy Fire but creature makes Dexterity save and resists (technical issues with character sheet initially prevented save from registering; DM resolved)
• Alaric fires crossbow from kneeling position: 6 damage

Phase 5: The Actual Combat Round

• Vistani woman Raxandra moves with acrobatic grace despite advanced age
• Fights ferociously with dual scimitars
• Scarecrow attempts multiattacks: rolls natural 20 against elderly woman (Raxandra), dealing significant damage
• Young woman (Diona) fights at disadvantage: trying to escape while in combat
• Stefan runs toward party shouting "Help! Help! We are under attack!" while displaying obvious reluctance to actually fight

Phase 6: The Conclusion

• Raxandra defeats scarecrow with elegant flourish of dual scimitars
• Strikes twice, cutting creature in half, finishing it in pool of hay and burlap

Outcome: Scarecrow killed; Petru (elderly healer) dead; Raxandra revealed as band leader; party established debt with Vistani ("the Vistani never leave a debt unpaid"); Stefan's cowardice and manipulation immediately recognized and mistrusted

Loot & Rewards

Memorable Moments

"I'm gonna Kool-Aid Man my way out of here."

— Ria, describing her floor-breaking escape strategy

"You will dig the hole, you useless piece of dog shit."

— Raxandra to Stefan, after Petru's death

"Whatever he says he serves, it is not the master I grew up fearing. It is something new and worse."

— Diona, whispering about Stefan

"The Tarokka deck never lies."

— Raxandra, holding the crossed-out Innocent card from Stefan's eye socket

• The House's Death Throes — The description of Death House as a living body with peeling flesh and high-pitched squealing creates visceral horror
• Rat Swarm Symphony — "So many fucking rats" repeated as the party accumulates swarm after swarm
• The Vineyard Recognition — Daisy's moment of realization connecting the gate symbol to her favorite wine
• Stefan's Cowardice — "I'm a lover not a fighter. I'm a peacemaker not a war maker" spoken with an insincere toothy grin, cementing party distrust
• Raxandra's Elegance — An elderly woman moves with acrobatic grace and cuts the scarecrow in half, earning the party's respect
• Diona's Spit — After seeing Stefan's mutilated corpse, Diona curses in an unknown language, spits at his feet, and walks away smiling
• The Tree of Bones — Stefan's body impaled on a tree that was not there before, eyes on the ground, mouth stuffed with ash, a Tarokka card in his empty socket — the land's judgment rendered in silence

Plot Threads

Threads Opened

• The Vistani Debt — The party has incurred an obligation with Raxandra that "will never be left unpaid"
• Madam Eva's Existence — A legendary seer who may provide healing and guidance; sent Raxandra's band on a mission to find an ancient ring
• The Tarokka Card — "The Innocent" crossed out, found in Stefan's eye socket; Raxandra says the Tarokka deck never lies
• Stefan's Master — Diona revealed he served something "new and worse" than Strahd; whatever killed him left a message
• Death House's Mysteries — The manor's true purpose and the fate of the Durst children remain unresolved

Threads Advanced

• Arrival in Barovia — The party has confirmed they are trapped within the mists and now begin their true adventure in this cursed kingdom

Threads Unresolved

• What was the buried object the Vistani were arguing about?
• What is the ancient ring Madam Eva sent the band to find?
• What force killed Stefan so precisely and left the Tarokka card?
• What master did Stefan serve that is "new and worse" than Strahd?
• What is Madam Eva's connection to the larger curse affecting Barovia?

PC Highlights

GM Notes