Werewolves Will Kill You

The day started with a Vistani breakfast during which plans were made. Marillion looked a bit tired, like he had had some of his dreams again. Darren had expressed an interest in finding the the werewolves north of Krezk in order to learn more about his newfound power. Cinna on the other hand wanted to go back and have Xuza–the healer–take a look at Illya. To get a jump on the travel, the rest of the party started tracking north towards the supposed location of the werewolf den, while Cinna and Xuza went to Krezk to meet Illya.

Unfortunately, Ilyas parents were still hesitant in letting in Cinna and Xuza, so they had to settle with looking at Illya through the window. Seeing the poor girl Xuza got worried that she might have had an–encounter–with a vampire. This seemed to upset Cinna to the point of her swearing venegance on Strahd himself. Seeing as there was very little they could do for Illya at the moment, Cinna turned into a giant eagle, and set of with Xuza on her back to find the others.

Shortly after Marillion had heard a familiar voice urging him not to venture further into the wilderness, the lost travelers on foot saw a familiar giant eagle approach them with a drow on her back. Before the party could regroup Cinna suddenly saw something and went into a dive toward a platform a bit higher up on the mountain. Hurrying after her, the lost travelers soon found that they had interrupted some kind of a ritual. The werewolves were apparently pitting children against each other in some kind of a fighting ring. Whats worse, they had also gotten a hold of Geoff who was waiting his turn.

Aggressions soon broke out. When the dust settled, the travelers were successful in rescuing the three children and ridding the werewolf pack of its current leader Kiril and his mate Bianca. After some discussions with Zuleika, the mate of the supposedly deposed leader Emil (who Darren had met earlier) the party learned of the werewolves connection to mother night who grants them their power, the same power that Emil had granted Darren as well. While Darren had initially been on a path toward lycanthropy, he had since diverged from that path. Zuleika mentioned that Rictavio (or Van Richten) had also received the same power several years ago and urged Darren to meet him.

Trusting in Zuleikas competence and confidence, the party decided to leave before the members of the wolf pack they had not slaughtered would ocme back. On the track back Geoff apologized for disobeying Darrens orders and leaving the church in order to try to find the mage on his own. He also described being followed by a group of strange Barovian youth, during which he was given a strange spell book. Marillion in particular took an interest in the book and started studying it. Approaching Krezk Cinna decided to make one last trip to see Illya. This time, with the help of her mother, Cinna got into Illyas room and found out she is turning into a mongrefolk, supposedly due to some kind of influence from the abbot. This turned the anger that Cinna had directed at Strahd in the morning toward the abbot instead. Cinna declared she would kill the abbot the next day, but also realized she might need the help of the others to do so, so the lost travelers regrouped at Barts camp.

During the evening, Bart managed to convince Ana to take on one of the rescued children, the orphan Boris, into the camp. The other one had been returned to his family in Krezk. The party spent the evening in a wine induced soul searching argument over what to do next. While their loyalties to each other remain strong, their views on whether killing the abbot, or even Strahd, is a good course of action differ strongly. After an intensive discussion, resulting in some hurt feelings the party laid down for the night. SOmewhat surprisingly, the discussion in Xuzas and Marillions tent seemed to go on a bit longer than the others.