09/09/2020 – Fleeing from the Ottomans (1)

August 1798

Juan De la Vega plans to lead his pirate ship, St Peter, on a raid on Constantinople. He has Sergey Myrdin allow his ship to be spotted in the Black Sea, which draws off the Turkish fleet at Constantinople in pursuit.

Juan has learnt through an informer that the Emir El-Akir keeps his riches in a palace near the docks, defended by a gun battery. At night, the gun battery and the palace is lightly manned.

Under the cover of darkness, the St Peter sails into Constantinople harbour, heading for the gun battery. He leads a party ashore, taking Ruben DuPont to act as scout and Enzo Faust to open any locked doors. They quietly break in to the battery and manage to slaughter the guards without making too much noise.

They then move to the palace and Enzo uses gunpowder to blast open the main doors. This rouses some of the guards. Juan leaves most of his men to deal with the guards and leads a small party with Ruben and Enzo to find the treasury.

The Trap is Srung

The treasury doors are tough and take all of Enzo’s skill to break open. When he finally does, the party are shocked to see that it is empty. Then they hear a whistle blow and then the sound of soldiers moving in. It is clear they have been caught in a trap.

A company of Janissary soldiers has lay in wait for them and now they have surrounded the palace. Juan rallies his men and try to fight their way out, but in a courtyard they are surrounded, wounded and captured.

During their incarceration, Juan was interrogated and tortured by a Captain El Akir, a relation of the Emir who owned the Palace. The way the captain behaves and the things he says, as well as an odd glint in his eyes, leads Juan to begin to believe that he is possessed by some demonic spirit. El-Akir tells him that this torture is just a prelude to that which he receives in hell, where he will be sent and his soul will be bound and forfeit.

Juan is able to escape with help from a loyal informant who managed to sneak in and help him. Juan is able to rescue some of his crew, including Enzo and Ruben. They fight their way out of Constantinople, stealing from the treasury of the Palace, as well as some horses. They flee northwards, heading for Bulgaria.

Captain El-Akir musters one hundred Janissaries and they pursue them on horseback. He chases the escapees doggedly. Juan is forced to leave wounded behind and bribe locals not to give them away. Despite this, at one point they are betrayed and another desperate fight ensues, with only Juan, Enzo and Ruben escaping across the border into Romania.

01 September 1798

Once in Romania, they hoped that the Ottomans would not cross the border into Austrian territory, but Captain El-Akir splits his men into smaller groups and has them cross the border quietly, continuing to chase after the mercenaries. They are forced to continue to head northwards, approaching the Carpathian Mountains.

04 September 1798

Helped by Gypsies

The three survivors stumble into some Gypsies, known as the Vistani. The Vistani are surprised that the Turks have come back into Romania and are inclined to help them by hiding them in a cave.

Vistani Camp

Once the Ottomans pass, the Vistani take them back to a camp. They drink and chat as best they can. Slowly, though, the number of Vistani increase and are exchanging knowing glances.

Things begin to get tense as the mercenaries realise the Vistani are going to attack them. Two rough-looking younger men stand up, which appears to be the signal for the others to act.

Then suddenly a sharp-tongued woman steps out from one of the caravans. She talks angrily to the men in some sort of gypsy cant, referring to the mercenaries and apparently telling the others to stop what they are about to do.

Madam Zelda

This woman is Madam Zelda and even the mean looking Vistani balk when they receive the rough end of her tongue. She invites them into her caravan for a private audience.

She tells them she has does a tarot reading and recognises that they are famous. Their enemies are closing in on them and they will be pursued relentlessly.

She sees a way for them to escape in the mountains. To go to a special place and change their destiny. Juan asks what the place is, she tells them it is called Barovia. Few go there and even less ever return.

The land is ruled by a Devil, an evil man. Eviler even than they are. Yet he lives with his own curse. Though he also sometimes seeks to do good, or at least thinks he does. He seeks warriors to rescue someone who is in danger. Someone who he cares a lot about, but cannot act in their defence right now.

The vision came to her when they arrived in the camp. She felt their presence and it was important she spoke to them.

Cursed by Dark Powers

Juan asks about this curse. She says he is doomed to re-live his life over and over, until he is granted his escape, or the relief of death. The curse is old and from a darker power than even he.

Juan tells the other two that while he was previously in charge, now they are all in this together and they need to decide together what to do. Ruben says he does not see much alternative, the Ottomans are pursing them hard.

Enzo says she is a creepy lady, for which she thanks him and then whispers something to him that makes him look embarrassed. He then decides they should do what she says.

An Offer from Barovia

Zelda says the offer comes from Barovia and that a hand reaches out from the mist, but once they are there they must complete their quest or they will be trapped.

Juan asks if they are dead already, but she says not yet. Death, though, may be a relief in time.

She then tells them to follow the river back up the mountain and find the mountain path. When the path splits, they must go to the left and follow the old mountain path.

Ottoman Attack

Gun shots outside interrupt them. The Ottomans are attacking the camp. Zelda bids them go and the mercenaries rush out of the caravan, grab their belongings and flee. The Ottomans spot them and pursue, but the Vistani engage and delay them.

The mercenaries ride for the river and then follow the road up into the mountain. They have a head start, but the Ottomans are in pursuit, a good dozen well-armed riders in the vanguard and more behind them. Their horses struggle and slow down, but so do the Ottomans.

They reach a fork in the path and take the left hand path as Madam Zelda advised. The path seems to level off a little but does continue to climb. It is an old, little-used path and the vegetation is over-grown and rotting. There is also a lot of mist, which seems to get worse as they head higher up the mountain.

They discuss how to slow down the Ottomans and take the opportunity to knock down an old tree to block the road. The tree is rotten and maggot-ridden, revealing a stink like death when it is pulled up. A pool of water is left where the tree was, with a hint of red, like the ground itself is bleeding.

The Ottomans have put on some speed and when they encounter the fallen tree their lead horses are downed by it, one breaking its leg and causing them a lot of delays.

Cloaked Figure

The group take the opportunity to put some distance between them and their pursuers. The mist gets thicker and thicker, closing in on them until they can barely see more than a few feet in front of them. They pass a rope between themselves so they do not get lost.

Suddenly, they see someone standing in front of them. He is wearing a cloak but otherwise obscured by the mist. He reaches out to them and welcomes them to Barovia, in German. Juan introduces them.

The figure in the cloak tells them he can sense the blood on their hands. They have killed many, which seems to please him. He has someone who needs saving and will send his servant to them. He laughs, the mists close in and he disappears.

The Gates of Barovia

Beyond where the figure was, they see something large. As they head forward, they see two large wrought iron gates, hanging on the sides of a huge stone wall that heads off into the fog in both directions.

As they approach the gates, they see a symbol, a crest embossed on the gates, that of a raven. The gates then mysteriously open of their own accord. Although they are a little spooked, they head through the gates.

The heavy mist begins to clear and they see they are on a road passing through some sort of creepy old wood. Then the gates crash closed behind them. Juan checks his compass but it seems to be broken. Navigation by the stars suggest they have now turned to the west, although the stars seem odd and not in the right place for this time of year.

They carry on along the road, leaving the mists behind them and the night is clear. It turns chilly.

A Dead Messenger

Ruben spots someone lying on the side of the road, like someone collapsed trying to leave the woods. They stop to investigate and discover it is corpse of a moderately well-dressed man, lying face down. Its face is crawling with maggots and stinks. The body and clothes have multiple claw marks on them.

In his hand, the dead man is clutching a note. It is written in German and is from the Burgermeister of Bavaria, lamenting that his daughter has been bitten by a vampyre. The fiend is the Lord of the lands of Barovia and has ruled for 400 years. The Burgermeister suggests that no one should approach the lands and they be sealed off with holy water.

The mercenaries wonder what a vampyre is. Juan insists that they move the body a little into the woods and cover it with bracken as best they can. As they do, Ruben notices lots of wolf paw prints and an odd track suggesting a human with clawed feet. He wonders if it is a bear.

Following the Path

They leave the body and continue along the path. They plod on for a while, realising that the Ottomans are not following them. The sky is now clear of clouds and the moon shines down brightly upon them.

Eventually the trees thin out and the woods come to an end. They are surrounded by farm lands on each side, with scattered buildings between the fields.

It is very late and they have been travelling all day. They are becoming more and more tired. They trudge onwards, the horses stumbling as well. Juan wonders if they should stop, but Ruben points out packs of wolves and bears roam these lands.

The Village of Barovia

An hour later, they see lights ahead. They are approaching a village. Most of the houses are shuttered up tightly. Loaming over the village is a tall mountain with a sheer cliff edge facing the village. At the top of the cliff lies a gothic old castle.

They find an inn, the Blood of the Vine Tavern. It is closed for the night, but Juan bangs insistently on the door, demanding entry. Eventually, he rouses Arik, the inn keeper, who reluctantly comes down. He asks where they come from and demands to see their money before he will let them in

Juan flashes his pouch of coins and pays four shillings for them to stay for a week. The inn keeper has not seen Ottoman silver before, but accepts them. He takes them to their room and wakes up a boy to sort out their horses.

The mercenaries collapse into bed and sleep, though they have bad dreams about being trapped and unable to escape.

05 September 1798

Food and Rest

They wake up late and Arik the inn keeper tells them they have missed breakfast, but asks for more shillings for food for the week. Juan haggles with him and after a modest threat, they agree a price for food.

The mercenaries eat hungrily and relax, hardly saying anything. A few locals come in and look strangely at them, talking in Romanian. Enzo knows a little of their language, but not very much. The locals do not seem very happy that they are here.

Coach from Castle Ravenloft

Around midday, there is a disturbance outside and the locals seem concerned. Juan stands up, wondering if the Ottomans have caught them up. Ruben looks out of the window, seeing a fancy coach and four horses parked outside.

A local man comes in, saying in broken German that a man from the castle has come for the strangers. They head outside and Juan recognises the crest on the coach – a raven – as the same one from the gates they passed through.

There is a well-dressed man on the driving seat of the coach and he steps down. He looks slightly Turkish and greets them in German. He introduces himself as El-Hadid.

Screams of the Dead

There is something odd though. There is the sound of someone screaming in the air. It passes, then another in a different tone starts. Juan asks the man if he can hear the noise, but he ignores that and tells them that his Master has ask him to pass on an invitation. He hands Juan a letter.

As he speaks, the sounds of screams continue to sound around him. El-Hadid seems a little embarrassed about it, but shrugs it off. He then climbs back onto the coach, says he will be back at 6pm and drives away.

Invitation to Dinner

Juan wonders who he was and Arik tells him that was El-Hadid, the servant of the Devil, Strahd von Zarovich, who rules in Castle Ravenloft. Strahd has ruled for many centuries. He cannot die, he is cursed as a vampyre. If they go to the castle, they will not come back. No-one comes back from there.

Arik tells them last year, the locals rose up against Strahd, led by a wizard who had come into these lands. They marched on the castle – and none ever came back.

Arik asks where they come from and Juan says all over the world. He tells them they will not be going back, now they have passed through the mists they are trapped in these lands.

Juan reads the letter that El-Hadid gave him. It is written in Spanish. It is from Strahd von Zarovich, telling them he has brought them into these lands and he invites them to dine with him.

End of Episode One