Are We There Yet?
A group of people meet up at the eastern gate of Barovia. Marillion and Xuza wake up in an abandoned guardhouse. Darren and Geoff arrive through the gates that shut immediately after they are let in. The four are further joined by a Barovian sorcerer who introduces himself as Bart and asks them to help him with a problem he is having at the Vineyard. Finally, a familiar Kalshtar druid, Cinna, together with her dog Sophaxis, reveal themselves from their hiding and join the group.
The group travels to the mansion, which some saw in a dream a few nights ago, a mansion Cinna now claims to own. On route, they find a note from the burgomaster of Barovia, Kolyan Indirovich, urging people to stay away from Barovia. This is strange to Darren, who received a very similar note from the same Kolyan just a few days ago inviting him to come.
Leaving the mansion, the group travels to the town of Barovia, where they temporarily split with Bart, who says he has errands to run. The rest of the party heads toward the burgomaster’s house, hoping to find Kolyan and find out why he invited Darren to Barovia. Instead of Kolyan, the party is met by a demonstrating mob outside of the house demanding for “the bitch to leave”. The house door is opened by Ireena Kolyana, Kolyans daughter, who hesitates to let them in. She urges them to seek her brother, Ismark, who is expected to be in the Blood of Wine Tavern. Simultaneously, after purchasing pies from a nice old lady by the name of Morgantha in the square, Cinna found something of interest in the well. After convincing the other party members (sans Bart) to help her go down the well, they are met by a group of zombies, one guarding a golden acorn. The ensuing combat produces enough noise for the townspeople to notice, resulting in the party being arrested after climbing out of the well.
After being arrested, the party is next brought before Ismark Kolyanovich, who determines them to be mostly harmless. Finally joining Ismark in the burgomasters house, the group learns that Kolyan is dead, which immediately raises the question of who sent the letter inviting Darren to Barovia. Ismark had no answer to this question but instead asked the group to return the next day on another matter.
The day ended with the party reuniting the Blood of Wine Tavern, recapping the day’s events to each other; in addition to Bart, the party found a sad woman–later determined to be Mary–who did not want to be disturbed. They were also greeted by Bart associates Alana Belasco, Alenka, Mirabel, and Sorvia, from whom Bart had loaned some money, and the barkeeper Arik. The party spent the night at the tavern, pondering over the unexpected situation they now found themselves in.