The Adventurers stood silently still, among the litter of human corpses in tattered rags, some of them in disbelief, some of them in pride. Hohenhiem held his wife Andetara, as they walked away from the bloody meadow. That quiet place no longer held the same sense of peacefulness, like everything else in this land it was now tainted. The mist that once was held at bay began to creep slowly, twisting and tightening around the flowers and weeds. While nothing visible changed about the place, it simply felt wrong to stay the party searched one more time for the girl, but even Trojan lost the scent. They walked back through the dark Svalich woods, with a new understanding of this dark place, and for Ilaryon and Hohenhiem, a twinge of sadness for one more pure place of nature had been lost.
As the four exited the dark woods, and found the dim glow of the village of Barovia it excited a small spring of hope inside them all. This town, though dismal and dark seemed safer the the wilds, for all their adventuring years they hope even in this strange fog shrouded land even this rule would hold up. The same sad sobs the greeted the party the first time still rang deep through the city. As if sadness was so ingrained in this land it traveled like the wind, with each gust spreading further and further. The party stopped at the city gates. “We need to find somewhere to rest Von Hohenhiem” stated. “Where?!” Zara responded, “We can’t even find an inn!”. Andareta looked around the desolate village, and spotted the hill that overlooked it from the south. A small chapel sat, lonely and dilapidated. “Maybe we could stay there tonight?”
The others looked up at the church, unsure “There’s nothing else around, priest are usually friendly” Ilaryon said as he looked at Andetara and Zara, their nature might cause a problem they all knew, but it was worth a shot. The road leading up to the church was steep, and dirty. Small cart ruts dug into the ground like claws, deep and jagged that filled with stale water from days before. The black fence and gate surrounded the small building was covered in rust and broken in a number of places. the graves contained within sat pooled with water, open to the elements with broken caskets inside, the bodies interred there missing. The Church itself was in better condition, at least on the outside. It was painted a light blue color, with purple accents, and a relief of a yellow sun was seated above the door, although it was far into the process of fading away. The two six foot tall doors stood covered in claw and blade marks, the bottoms looked gnawed away and in some places blood stained. The left door sat slightly ajar, a slight whispering could be heard inside. The side doors sat boarded and reinforced, it seemed trouble plagued the chapel all to often.
“Hello?” Andetara said softly as she knocked on the sturdy wooden door, It swung open slowly, and the pale moon light filled a long hallway. Four doors two on each side, sat closed and behind these rooms rows of destroyed pews sat on stone floors. A blue carpet that matched the colors of the building trimmed in the same purple ran straight down the building to the only source of light in the room. An alter sat at the far end of the room, where a single only candle burned, crouched on his knees in front of the candle sat a figure rocking back and forth and muttering something under his breath. His voice echoed across the room, bouncing from shadow to shadow but remaining out of earshot. Andetara reeled back, and Hohenhiem stepped forward, the party approached spreading out, hoping to not stumble over the littered pews and splintered doors. The man’s figure became more apparent, he was an older male, and sorted a scruffy and ragged beard, which looked out of place. His robes matched the church, and a long purple iron change hung around his neck, at the end sat a large purple disk, painted yellow and carved to resemble the sun. His black hair, was slicked back but loose strands pulled free, and hung to his shoulders. The words he became clearer now and the adventurers heard ” Roland, deliver us from this darkness, bring the eternal morning you have promised. Shine you’re rays from the eternal sun on the demons and vanquish them from our land of darkness. Most importantly Morninglord, deliver Doru from the plague placed upon him.”
Upon finally comprehending the words the priest spoke, Andetara fell to her knees, and embraced the priest. She understood he had lost much, and was a broken man. After some time, and some water the priest came to his senses. “Who are you people? Why have you come here?” he looked around at the four ragtag visitors. “We were looking for a place to stay, but what happened here” Andetara asked. The priest looked despaired, “It started not long ago, creatures started attacking the church” He motioned to the windows “We had to destroy the pews, and tables to board up the windows and doors. They came each night, and not long after that the graves opened and terrible monsters began roaming the yard. That was when it happened, my son Doru, he was attacked by the creatures, he became sick, and we were all but trapped in the church. I’ve been praying for days, I’ve lost hope he maybe lost to me forever.” The Priest looked at a small trapdoor in the corner of the room. ” I locked him down there, he one of those Monsters now unless Roland has saved us. But his visits are not as frequent as they once were and his miracles even weakers, a terrible curse has visited this land friends, and you are most unfortunate for coming here now”
Bounding over roots and holes, sneaking through logs and hollows, Trojan moved at a quick pace, the trail was still strong despite the long passing of time. Hohenhiem worked hard to keep up, but the only one who could truly keep pace was Ilaryon, and he doubled checked the trail every chance he got, he would briefly catch faint impressions of small feet in the dirt or mud two steps here, three there, then they would vanish for a moment. Or they appeared to vanish, here in the dark Svalich woods, it seemed either no one traveled or everyone did, sometimes its seemed tracked crossed and zigged, but it was hard to tell exactly how old they were, it was a wonder he could find the girls’ tracks, thankfully they were much smaller then the rest. Finally the determined mutt slowed his pace, he came to a small , peaceful clearing in the woods. The grass here swayed gently in the wind, the sound of small night insects chirped and the ever-present full moon cast calming shadows of the grim world around them, it was like pocket of bliss in nightmare they were currently engulfed.
thatnewdm 
