Too Much Gardening Will Kill You

The day started with the lost travelers waking up in a previously hag-infested windmill to find Geoff was not feeling too well. He described having had intense nightmares to the extent of the dreams sucking out his life force. Considering that Morgantha had gotten away after their battle, a working theory of her having something to do with Geoff’s current predicament. The group decided to look up Jeny, Vallakis’s friendly neighborhood spellcaster, and Morganth’s sister for help. They quickly set off on their journey, aiming to make it to Vallaki by lunch.

Jeny agrees to help the party and Geoff. However, since curing Geoff will require a relatively high level of magic, she does ask the party for a favor in return. The group agreed to get rid of a poisonous and sentient plant roaming the woods outside of Jenys hut, charming bunnies, and unsuspecting party members. The Florabarian put up a fairly strong fight, even knocking Marillion unconscious, but in the end, the party emerged victorious.

After their victorious gardening, the group returns to Jeny’s hut. They learn that Jeny had been visited by Morgantha, who indeed harbored a grudge and swore not to rest before killing Geoff. Since Morgantha is not one to let a grudge go, Jeny had taken Geoff to the church of St. Andrals in Vallaki since the protective spells on the church would prevent Morgantha from entering.

The party enters Vallaki, the biggest town in Barovia. Since it is late at night, most of the townspeople have divided between the church and the Blue Water Inn. Since the Inn is run by Urwing, whom Bart was eager to talk to, the group splits between the two locations. Darren and Cinna head toward the church while the rest settle in at the Inn.

The group finds a mysterious, robed figure overlooking the numerous people seeking shelter at the church. Inside, they find Geoff, Freek, and (somewhat surprisingly) Ireena, who tells them she wanted to escape the unfriendly mob in Barovia. Cinna and Darren also meet Lucian Petrovich, the priest of Vallaki, and learn that neither Morgantha nor Strahd could enter the church, so–with permission from Lucian–Darren decides that Goeff and Ireena would remain there for the foreseeable time to come. As for Freek, Cinna took him to the orphanage and left him in the capable hands of Milivoj, the caretaker.

The party (sans Goeff) reconvenes at the Blue Water Inn, where Bart confronts his old business friend Urwin about his involvement in a secret organization seeking to overthrow Strahd. Even if Urwing remains somewhat skeptical, Bart manages to convince him of their joint interests, so Urwin sets a task for them to do in order to prove their loyalty. Urwin asks the group to go to “the house of the dragon” south of Vallaki and seek further intel on Strahd. The party spent the rest of the evening discussing their next steps. In addition to the house of the dragon, the group also discussed whether to move on toward the wizard of the wines or even the possibility of looking up the mad mage of Mount Baratok, a magic user powerful enough to potentially stop Morgantha.

With their options open, the party decided to spend the night at the Inn. During the night, Marillion again had some unpleasant dreams involving being pushed down a tower by a cleric.