Ravenloft: Town Without Pity

Summer is a bit slow on the uptake.

       

Last session, the servants of Lord Dhelt of Elturel chased a burglar into a forest to retrieve a holy symbol that he stole. They killed him, but shortly after they retrieved the symbol, they were transported through a mist to the Svalich Woods in an alternate dimension. There, they started to hear about the enigmatic ruler of the place, Count Strahd von Zarovich. They found a couple of companions, but the ranger Quill was poisoned in a fight, prompting the adventurers to cut short their exploration of the Old Svalich Road South and head directly to the village of Barovia, hoping to find a cleric, temple, or potion that would cure the condition.

      

It becomes clear quite quickly that this isn't the kind of friendly "service town" of many RPGs. It is depressed and deserted. Most of the buildings are deserted; some are boarded up; the few people on the street refuse to talk with us. Sound effects include shrieking cats, crying babies, and howling beasts. Summer compares it to towns in the Forgotten Realms that had been ravaged by war.

       

This man has nothing to say to us.

        

We explore in east-west strips (despite Summer's suggestion below). Encounters:

   

• As we enter, the paladin Summer suggests we try to find "its first citizen, a mayor, burgomaster, or such," maybe in a large, prominent building near the edge of town.

• There are four "Strahd skeletons" (skeletons on poles with notes pinned to their chests advising the reader to follow Strahd's laws) clustered right at the entrance. Jeez, man, we get it. And how did you duplicate the same exact handwriting on so many notes? 

     

The desolate streets of Barovia.

         

• A house with a skeleton. It has a broadsword, shield, and two throwing daggers.

• Some warehouses in the southwest are empty except for barrels and boxes that I can't interact with. Fhalken explains: "Trade has become a forgotten art in Barovia. Few travel, and fewer still can afford to transport valuables from place to place."

    

What could possibly be after "contact manager at"? A phone number?

        

• Three broken ones (a grotesque, humanoid enemy) attack as we enter a deserted building. I try a few times, but I can't kill them without losing someone. We leave it for later.

• Several houses have people sitting in chairs, but they refuse to say anything to us.

• One old woman does speak with us, but only to make mad rantings.  

      

Someone's off her medication.

        

Summer notes that we're committing burglary when we enter some of the buildings. I wonder if these comments are tied to her class (paladin) or alignment. 

      

Summer rationalizes our trespasses.

        

• We're attacked by a brigand as we enter one house. We kill him and find a stairway down to a lower level behind him. The map shows us in the "Lesser Catacombs Beneath Barovia." However, we soon run into a locked door and cannot continue. 

• Items found in miscellaneous houses: battle axe, spear, Potion of Speed, Scroll of Raise Dead, broadsword, Potions of Extra Healing, Scroll of Negative Plane Protection, Scroll of Fortify, Scroll of Fireball, Scroll of Neutralize Poison, dagger, Oil of Fiery Burning, Keoghtom's Ointment, chain coif, chainmail, Wand of Fireballs, white robe, bow and a bunch of arrows, shield, warhammer, footman's pick, lots of stones. I slowly identify them with "Improved Identify"; when finished, I have several swords +1 and a warhammer +2.

• There are a lot of cats curled up in the vacant houses.

• An attractive, noble-looking woman in a vacant house offers to join the party. Her name is Tatian. She's a Level 4 neutral good half-elf fighter. As we don't really need another fighter, we leave her there.

      

An unnecessary fighter.

         

• The party members frequently comment on how bleak everything is.

        

I want to know what evil party members have to say.

           

Brigands and darklings attack as soon as night falls. They're not hard to kill, but their sheer number threatens to overwhelm us. It becomes clear that we're going to need to rest at night. We can't sleep while Quill is poisoned, but a commenter alerts me that Keoghtom's Ointment cures poison. I waste it on that purpose, continue on, and then Quill gets poisoned again by a broken one. Of course, I accidentally save while he's poisoned, forcing me to reload from almost the beginning of this session. 

      

Bandits roam the night.

        

True to what the manual promised, Fhalken and Velika cannot attack the moment we enter an indoor area. That limits Fhalken's utility considerably. I hope I'll meet a cleric or another mage soon.

   

Velika can at least cast her spells. The game freezes during spellcasting, allowing accurate targeting. "Magic Missile" is as useful as always.

   

Continuing on:

      

• A large house crawling with broken ones has something I can't quite identify in one of the squares. It looks like wriggling green vines descending from the ceiling.

 

What the hell is this?

        

• An old man with an eyepatch sitting in front of his fire. In poetic language, he introduces himself as a fallen paladin facing an impending death. We ask what we can do to help, and he asks us to find a holy symbol he abandoned in chambers beneath the village—presumably the Lesser Catacombs we found earlier. He tells us to take the footman's pick (which we've already found) and use it to dig west of a stump to find the key. He promises us multiple magical items if we return with the symbol. We later find the stump and the key.

     

I think if I were a paladin trapped in a pocket dimension, ruled by an immortal vampire, I'd lose faith, too.

      

• A tavern seems to be open. It offers several NPCs. The first is a woman with a masked face and an unmasked chest. She rebuffs our attempts to get to know her, saying only that she wants to get out of Ravenloft.

    

So that's why this town is so desolate: COVID.

        

• A Vistani—presumably the one we met earlier—offers to sell a potion that will allow us to escape the fog for 15 coins. Since I don't have a single coin, I have to decline. He suggests he'll take us to his camp if we allow ourselves to be blindfolded. I leave this for later.

• The innkeeper is named Bray Martikova. He welcomes us to the tavern and has quite a lot to say. Strahd's laws are to pay taxes and anything else Strahd wants; Strahd's castle is to the north, but hardly anyone sees him; we should talk to the burgomaster. We do not, curiously, have any options to order a drink or a room.

     

Wait. Helm is a deity in this setting, too?

         

• There are rooms where we can rest, though since we can rest anywhere, that's not much of a boon. The inn has an entire second floor with nothing of value that we can find. 

• A resident is mourning his dead son. I think he might be the same guy we already encountered in the forest. 

• The buildings have a fun set of decorations, like statutes and paintings. The image below gives some examples of this environmental art. On the negative side, hardly anything is interactive. 

         

Some of the game's environmental graphics.

       

Summer feels a dark premonition before we enter a house. We're confronted by the ghost of a jeweler named Strobel. A gang of thieves entered his house one night looking for jewels. Although he handed them over, the leader of the gang, Grymig, killed Strobel and his family. Later, Grymig somehow escaped death and lives in the cemetery as the Lord of Ghouls. He demands that we avenge him and possesses Summer to ensure that we do so.

     

The once-humble jeweler possesses Summer.

        

This seems like something we'd better resolve, so we discontinue our explorations of the town and try to figure out where this cemetery is.

   

We leave town via the north gate and find ourselves in the Old Church Grounds, which seems to be promising. The large map has a large church on it and one exit, maybe to the cemetery, but it seems to be locked. Seeking the key, we enter the church. Strobel warns us that if we dally too long, he'll tear Summer apart. 

      

Note how the game depicts possession.

        

"Cherish and obey the land but defy it not," reads a message on the wall of the church entrance. Unfortunately, that's as far as we can go. The door beyond is locked. We don't have the key. We look around the area a bit, trusting that the automap will show us if we've missed something, but we don't find anything.

      

That doesn't seem like a "but."

       

I generally like to deal with what happens to me, but I don't want to be another three hours into the game and suddenly have Strobel lose his patience, so I reluctantly reload from before his possession and skip his house.

   

With the paladin's key, we open the door in the Lesser Catacombs. Immediately on the other side of the door, we run into a living wall: a grotesque, undulating assemblage of faces and limbs. (Summer: "By Helm and Lathander both! What is this thing?") Fortunately, it's static. After it wallops us in melee range, we stand back and use the old "throw the dagger and pick it up again" trick to kill it slowly, but with no damage to us. A fireball roars down the corridor towards us from a distant source on the other side, but we manage to dodge it.

     

The old "picking up the same knife and throwing it repeatedly" trick works on this living wall.

       

It takes me a couple of hours to clear the dungeon, which is swarming with wererats and plenty more of those living walls, blocking access to rooms until I destroy them. Fireballs shoot down corridors frequently, requiring me to dodge or suck up the damage. 

     

Wererats attack as I enter this room.

        

Fhalken is useless in the rear rank, so I reluctantly give Quill a composite longbow and quiver, then have him switch places with Fhalken. This allows everyone to participate in battle (Velika has throwing daggers), but picking up all the items afterwards is no fun. 

 

I ultimately have to find two keys, which open the way to a central chamber where the holy symbol resides.

     

What do you suppose a "winged" holy symbol depicts?

        

Back on the surface, the old paladin is grateful for the artifact. True to his word, he opens an adjacent room, in which I find a paladin's sword +3, a paladin's dagger +2, an adamantite chain helm, and an Arrow of Slay Undead. I'm glad I took a paladin. 

      

The reward room. Note how everything in the game is on the floor. Although the buildings have shelves and tables, it does not appear they're capable of holding objects the player can pick up.

    

I have to wrap up this session early. I had meant to talk to the burgomaster. I guess that will wait for next time. Ravenloft  is growing on me, certainly more so than Pagan. I still don't like the controls, but it has a solid atmosphere, with a Dantean sense of talking to people who are already dead but perhaps don't know it. I look forward to seeing where the plot goes.

   

Time so far: 7 hours
   

****

   

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  09/05/2026