Mists of Winter: Chapter One

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

DORGIO

The priest and his Barov ally head toward the Gundarakite district, in search of Dorgio's advisor.

[ewancummins]

THE LORELEI

As the evening wears on, Kat and her friends make conservation, gather tidbits or lore, carouse as they like.

Raen gets plenty of inviting looks from the harlots, who tease him by shifting positions on their upholstered couches like the fabled water-nymph on her river rock, first showing and then concealing décolletage and limbs.

Kat strikes up a conversation with thick-accented working girl, pretty but with a small birdlike scar on her forehead. The girl tells tells her that King Drakov of Falkovnia has ordered his soldiers to stamp out some kind of blood drinking cult in Lekar.
"It's more impalements than usual, fraulein. Some people are denouncing their neighbors for spite, or to steal their possessions.I decided to leave. "


Sara gets a brief opportunity to talk with Theon. If asked about the vases of the strange canine (or vulpine?) humanoids, he

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offers no special knowledge, but suggests this may be evidence of "the shifting kind" or "the moon's get" and urges caution.
"The creatures that made those might still be present, hidden among the folk of this city, even after centuries. If you come by tomorrow evening when I am less busy, I would be most happy to look at them for you and see if I remember or notice anything that might prove helpful

."


THE DERELICT HOUSE

Munchen pisses on the floor , almost splashing Benn's feet.



STEFAN'S HOME


Dorgio and Vlad walk north over a long bridge , where lamplighters are at work setting up the lantern poles that warn boats below the wooden bridge and guide traffic along the top. They keep on until the rushing noise of the dark, chill waters dissolves amid the clatter of horses' hooves, the creaking of cartwheels, and the chatter of the evening crowds. As twilight deepens into night, the city noises lessen and the crowds thin.

Soon, the two men walk in an otherwise deserted lane, searching for Stefan's address.
They find Stefan's humble little cottage (he's moved in the last week) tucked away at the end of a crooked lane in the Gundarakite Quarter, overtopped by crumbling tenements.

The long-bearded, gaunt priest welcomes them at the door and ushers them both in. He wears ordinary , drab layman's clothing. Firelight from the bright hearth to his left and inside the house glares on the copper sun symbol that hangs at his neck. He smells of incense.
"Please, please, sit down."
Stefan waves to a wooden bench pushed up against one wall of the small, plainly furnished room.
The fire fills the small house with warmth and light. A cleverly rigged chimney of clay pipes carries most of the smoke up and out.

[VAN]

Sara
The Lorelai

Sara stares for a moment the woman confused by her reply but when the bard starst singing concentrated on the song. Her mind drifts back when she was a child and her mother was singing to her so she could sleep. Maybe her mother has heard this song from someone else, she liked it and then sang it to Sara, after all was a good song even she didn't understand the words. The domino masked woman's gesture to wipe a tear gets her back to reality. She raises her glass to salute the bard offering him a big smile.

When she finally has the chance talking to him and ask her questions she is surprised and same time worried by his reply.

"The shifting kind? I have never heard of them. And they can still be among us? This isn't good news, we need to be very careful. Thank you very much for your time Mister Theon. I will try getting you a vase tomorrow so you can examine it better. You are a great performer, the first song you sang I have heard it from my mother once, what a coincidence!"

[kintire]

Kat gives a long look around the room, then wanders past Raen;

"Time I was going. Have a good evening!"

She heads for the door, returning her mask, and wanders through the streets for a while, wending her way back home deep in thought.

[Adam]

"Munchen seems to think that our quarry is down there," he gestures to the gap. "Do you have anything to pry it open?"

[steveflam]

"Well, we could use my Great Sword. The floor looks flimsy enough to break."

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

STEFAN'S


Dorgio finds a seat quickly, as the day's work has proven tiring to his feet. Not yet thirty, and already he feels like an old man at times. "Stefan, this is Vlad," he says, introducing his new companion. "Do not let his obvious heritage fool you; he is a fellow believer. And he brings news of a new threat to our waters."

He recounts the tale that Vlad told him, and the details of their thus far fruitless search. "As of now, I am out of ideas for how to search for this creature. Have you ever encountered such a beast?"

[ewancummins]

STEFAN'S


Dorgio finds a seat quickly, as the day's work has proven tiring to his feet. Not yet thirty, and already he feels like an old man at times. "Stefan, this is Vlad," he says, introducing his new companion. "Do not let his obvious heritage fool you; he is a fellow believer. And he brings news of a new threat to our waters."

He recounts the tale that Vlad told him, and the details of their thus far fruitless search. "As of now, I am out of ideas for how to search for this creature. Have you ever encountered such a beast?"

Stefan frowns at Dorgio's remark about heritage. The old priest sits down with a sigh. In Balok, he says-- "Early, early I learned how the founder Martyn Pelkar and his student Sasha Petrovich first taught the message of our god and raised his shrine--in the Village of Barovia, under the shadow of the Devil.''

Vlad mumbles a blessing in his native tongue.

Switching back to Luktar, Stefan says,
''But this creature... When I was a little boy, my grandmother warned me to stay away from the river at night, lest the evil woman-ghosts tempt me to wade in too deep. They are very beautiful, she said.''
He shrugs, ''But she also told me of a tribe of green, warty devils, like toads bred with men. They were supposed to seize travelers at night and drown them in deep pools, sacrifices to some demon...I can't recall more. It was a long, long time ago. ''

[Adam]

"Give it a try," suggests Benn.

[steveflam]

"Give it a try," suggests Benn.

Franz sheathes his two blades and unstraps his Great Sword, bending to the task of making the hole bigger.

[ewancummins]

THE DERELICT BUILDING, ROOM OPENING ONTO ALLEY

"Give it a try," suggests Benn.

Franz sheathes his two blades and unstraps his Great Sword, bending to the task of making the hole bigger.

Franz rips up a long section of boards with surprising ease. The uprooted segment flops up and lands between Benn and Franz, its underside exposed to the light. Patches of brown mildew grow all the rotted wood. Tiny white insects crawl out of many little burrows, moving away from the sunrod tucked in Franz’s belt, towards the darkness below.
Munchen leaps about and barks.
The floor under the two men sags and groans. A sodden crack echoes around the room. A hair-raising screech rises from below.
Munchen jumps back, bumbling into Benn’s feet and tripping the man. Benn falls into the crawlspace as the floor under him gives way. He lands hard on his backside, amid a great puff of dust. No injuries—excepting some splinters in his bottom.
Muchen stands at the edge, panting, staring at Benn a moment before moving closer to Franz.
Franz manages to step clear of the falling boards. Looking about, he sees that the gap has become wider by about the length of his sword.
. The dog sits down on his rump as if imitating Benn, and makes big , soft puppy eyes at the Lamordian.
Only a couple of feet below the floor level, Benn has but to stand up and step out to escape the crawlspace.
Something scuttles in the dark recesses of the crawlspace, but by the time the haze has cleared and the sunrod been brought near, whatever made the sound cannot be seen.

[ewancummins]

KAT, AT HOME

Kat gives a long look around the room, then wanders past Raen;

"Time I was going. Have a good evening!"

She heads for the door, returning her mask, and wanders through the streets for a while, wending her way back home deep in thought.

Fresh snow falls in the street as Kat reaches her home in the tenement.
Flurries chase after her into the dark house.

By her lantern's glow, Kat sees that everything appears as she left it.

[ewancummins]

Sara
The Lorelai

Sara stares for a moment the woman confused by her reply but when the bard starst singing concentrated on the song. Her mind drifts back when she was a child and her mother was singing to her so she could sleep. Maybe her mother has heard this song from someone else, she liked it and then sang it to Sara, after all was a good song even she didn't understand the words. The domino masked woman's gesture to wipe a tear gets her back to reality. She raises her glass to salute the bard offering him a big smile.

When she finally has the chance talking to him and ask her questions she is surprised and same time worried by his reply.

"The shifting kind? I have never heard of them. And they can still be among us? This isn't good news, we need to be very careful. Thank you very much for your time Mister Theon. I will try getting you a vase tomorrow so you can examine it better. You are a great performer, the first song you sang I have heard it from my mother once, what a coincidence!"

Theon says,
'Yes, just come by later, tomorrow, and I'll help you if I can."

The bard goes back to playing his music.

[steveflam]

THE DERELICT BUILDING, ROOM OPENING ONTO ALLEY

Franz looks at Benn to make he isn't bleeding. "Are you all right, Benn? Do you want to come up or shall we look around? That sounds awfully like a cat. And if it isn't one, it sure is doing a good imitation."

[Adam]

Bennedict stands, brushing the dirt off of his coat with irritation.

"Drop the hound in, and I'm sure we'd find out," he says, "We may have wasted enough time on this as it is. Shall we go find Dorgio and touch base?"