Dinner With the Devil

The day starts with the travelers, Geoff and an anxious Ireena, waking up at the abandoned mill. After a brief breakfast, the group continues their travel toward Castle Ravenloft. After passing through the gates of Barovia, the group is met by Strahd’s black wagon, which is obviously sent to get them. Ireena, Cinna, and Bart enter the wagon, while Xuza and Darren stay in the group’s wagon.

Right before arriving at the castle, the group crosses a bridge over a thousand feet deep chasm. They note the bridge cracking significantly more under Xuzas and Darren’s wagon than Strahds, explaining why the black caravan was sent in the first place. After safely crossing, the group arrives at the courtyard of Castle Ravenloft and is met by the chamberlain Rahadin von Zarovich. Rahadin greets the group and tells them that dinner will be served in a few hours. The group’s horses are guided toward the stables. The way to the stables is blocked by the only gate whose command word Cinna had got to choose. After uttering “openogatto,” the horses found their way to the (surprisingly) well-supplied stables.

The hours before dinner are spent exploring the castle. After settling in the guest room, Ireena is asked to meet with Strahd himself. Since the party hesitates to let Ireena go alone, Darren agrees to go with her. Meanwhile, the rest of the party goes on a castle tour guided by Cinna. They head to Cinna’s room, located up high in the farthermost tower of the castle. To get there, the group passes through the cathedral and finds the body of a former adventurer, reaching for a silver statuette on the altar. While Bart especially seemed interested in investigating, he was outvoted by an eager Cinna and led toward the furthest tower.

Ascending the tower’s stairs, Cinna opens up about her strained relationship with the other inhabitants of the castle, suggesting that the distant location of her room is due to them not liking her very much. Arriving in Cinna’s room, they find a variety of chaotic textiles in numerous colors covering the room. They also learn that Cinnas’s room serves as the entrance for the visitors of Strahds castle arriving in bat form.

On their way back to the guest room, Bart’s curiosity gets the better of him, and he decides to get the silver statuette in the cathedral. To be safe, Bart taps into his newfound powers, raises a zombie out of the body, and tells it to get the statue. Even if he does not say anything, the reanimation of the dead clearly disturbs Xuza. Bart’s caution is, however, warranted; as soon as the zombie touches the statuette, it is instantly obliterated by a lightning bolt of energy. Luckily, it did manage to push the statuette enough to make it fall to the ground, rendering it harmless for Bart to pick up.

While the rest of the group is off looting the castle, Darren is led by Rahadin to the audience hall, where Strahds and Ireena’s meeting occurs. Falling into his old habits, Darren stands an observant guard in the room during Strahds and Irena’s discussions. During the meeting, Strahd asks Ireena (mistakenly calling her Tatyana at least once) to stay with him in the castle. In exchange, the cities of Barovia would become calmer, and Irena would find a place she could call home. Even if Darren can observe some interest, Ireena declines the invitation and returns to the guest quarters with Darren. Darren cannot discuss any specific details of the offer with Irena because of Rahadins constant escort.

Reconvening in the guest quarters, the party fills each other in on their dealings. Before dinner, they are visited by two of Strahd’s consorts: Escher von Preshlow and Ludmilla Vilisevic. While Esher seems sympathetic toward the party’s predicament, Ludmilla seems very annoyed that Ireena is with them. Cinna explains that Strahd has a habit of getting bored with current consorts when more interesting ones come along; thus, Ireena’s presence in the castle threatens Ludmilla’s position, even her continued existence.

At dinner time, the party is again picked up by Rahadin and brought down to the dining hall. For dinner, they are joined by Strahd, Ludmilla, Esher, and Volenta. Dinner is served by Helga and cooked by Cyrus Belview. The menu includes Lobster Bisque, roast beef and wine sauce, fresh bread, and homemade butter. The party also enjoyed fresh fruits for dessert, which they had not found anywhere else in Barovia. Strahd and his consorts do not partake in eating; they only enjoy a reddish drink instead.

In addition to extremely fine dining, the dinner is filled with somewhat tense discussions. It quickly becomes clear that the other consorts do not appreciate Cinna killing Anastrasya. The worst aggressions are, however, held at bay by Strahds’s authority. Instead, the dinner discussion revolves around the party’s other actions in Barovia. Strahd lets the group know of his increasing agitation regarding the party meddling in the affairs of the land. Discussions revolve around what kind of behavior is acceptable for strangers arriving from a foreign land and whether it is okay for such a group to impose their own values on another land. Besides that, the party learns a bit about the history of Barovia and Strahds’s role in shaping it. They also learn that Strahd had a direct role in inviting Darren to Barovia, but he had much less to do with Xuza and Marillion being there. Finally, the travelers also hear about a new resident in the castle, a thiefling cleric arriving from Madam Eva’s camp.

At the end of the dinner, Strahd suddenly declares that while he held no authority over Marillion and Xuza and no grudges against Geoff, Cinna, Darren, and Bart would be required to stay in the castle, Cinna as a guest, and Darren and Bart as prisoners. Strahd and the rest of the consorts leave the dinner, leaving Volenta in charge of incarcerating Bart and Darren. With some fast(ish) thinking and the sunlight feature of the Xuza medallion, the party manages to escape the castle into the (somewhat dangerous) Barovian night. They leave a furious Cinna behind.