Tribulations and Preparations
In the wake of Councilwoman Tasuk’suva’s assassination, the
state of affairs in Lerwick had grown tense. The Court had
struck down one of Lerwick’s own, and several members of
the Hyther party took refuge within the security of Mulmaster
Yard. But the Court it seemed was not yet done with Lerwick:
it was during the early morning hours when a courier came
by the Yard to drop off a mysterious letter, claiming to seek a
meeting with the Watch’s Lord Commander, Ophelia
d’Vespere.
The letter stated that it wished to pose a proposition to the
Hawthorne Guild, requesting a one-on-one meeting between
her and an envoy of the Court near Welton, with the full
moon as its witness, in precisely five days time. Cryptically,
the letter concluded by swearing on the “hunter’s code” that
merely business would be the nature of the meeting, signed
“BVR.”
At the time, Ophelia was not present in Lerwick, busy
raiding a lich’s lair with other guild members out in the
Moonshae Isles. However, she received the contents of the
letter via multiple sendings, and she sent commands back to
research into this “BVR” or the “hunter’s code,” and that she
would be back in time for the meeting.
Back in Lerwick, Finn took the initiative to look into the
matter himself, heading to Emberhollow to receive an
expertly constructed disguise by Eliza Starfeather, and he
was off to meet his Harper contact in Waterdeep to learn
more. He met the Violet Otus in Waterdeep, inquiring about
the meeting, but all he could glean was that whoever this
“BVR” was, they were an important figure in the Court and
that the Court had been hunting down members of the
Harpers wherever they could, with several slain apparently by
massive ballista bolts the size of a person. Finn thanked the
Otus and after some additional investigation that sadly turned
up little, he returned to Lerwick.
Meanwhile, Merkin, on orders from Ophelia, also headed
to Waterdeep to conduct his own research, but uncovered
frustratingly little. It was on the morning of the third day that
Ophelia arrived back in Lerwick, after she and her
companions had slain the lich. Ophelia, with the counsel of
Warlic and others, immediately went into a flurry of
preparations, ensuring that the meeting ground was scouted
out and prepared in case certain contingencies were needed,
as well as ensuring some contingencies for herself. Lerwick
was placed in a state of high alert, with Merkin casting
multiple Forbiddances around on the day of the meeting.
By the Light of the Full Moon
It was in the early morning hours of the fifth day that Ophelia
and the party headed to the meeting grounds. Leaving the
party behind at the staging point (though she retained contact
via telepathic bond and telepathy with them) she went alone
to the meeting point, a field with but a broken down
farmhouse and a windmill. Though the letter had stated that
the meeting was to occur under the full moon, it was not a
full moon that night in Welton. Ophelia stood, waiting for a
time, before a stagecoach arrived in her path, pulled by a
horse and its rider.
Stepping out from within the stagecoach was a formally
dressed man, stating that Ophelia was to come with him to
meet the chosen envoy. After a brief back and forth, Ophelia
eventually acquiesced and entered within. The stagecoach
began to travel, and as it did, Ophelia noticed that they
appeared to be entering into some kind of mist. She
pondered it before a horrible sensation of dread entered her
as she recognized just what this mist was.
The stagecoach finally stopped, allowing Ophelia to exit
before what appeared to be the broken down remnants of a
church. By now, she had lost all contact with her team: she
was no longer in Faerun by this point. Ophelia looked up into
the night sky, resignation and dread warring within her: it
may not have been a full moon in Welton, but the full moon
shone brightly and clearly out in Barovia.
The butler informed her that the envoy lay within, and
Ophelia looked on towards the church: a passageway
shrouded in mist lay between her and the meeting. Ophelia
steeled herself and stepped through, and she felt nearly every
single trace of magic that had been inlaid upon her vanish.
She continued walking, eventually stopped before a faceless
statue that held a large hat, eerily similar to her own upon it.
She looked out of the corner of her eye to see a tall figure
stand up, moving to take the hat and put it on, revealing an
individual with grizzled, rugged features, graying hair—with
long fangs in his mouth and eyes that burned red.
1
Part 49 | The Legend of the Scarlet Prince
The man introduced himself as the “Cardinal,” the “BVR”
to which the letter spoke of. After Ophelia and the Cardinal
exchanged introductions, the Cardinal got to business right
away: the Court it seemed had lost track of Cinnabar, the
vampire that Tasuk’suva had struck down previously before,
and that had shown up again in the Moorfield manor when
the Hyther party had gone there. The Cardinal inquired if
Ophelia had any idea as to the location of Cinnabar, to which
she replied that she did not.
A Dark Deal
The Cardinal then offered the proposition to which he come
for: that the guild would assist the Court in locating Cinnabar,
and to do further business with the Court of Shadows in the
future, with none the wiser. Ophelia declined, and the
Cardinal pressed further, appealing to Ophelia’s pragmatism,
then trying to convince her as a fellow hunter.
Ophelia dismissed the last, saying that she pitied the
former hunter for clinging to what she perceived as feeble
excuses to justify his current existence. The Cardinal simply
smiled at Ophelia’s reply, revealing a sketch of Spencer Doe:
the insinuation being that the Court had captured him, with
the promise of terrible things in store for him if Ophelia did
not comply. Ophelia paused, considering the threat before she
declined once more.
The Cardinal warned Ophelia that she was condemning
the guild with her actions, but Ophelia demurred, saying that
if it would come to war between Lerwick and the Court, so be
it. The Cardinal replied that a war implied that the two sides
were of comparable power: a conflict between the Court and
Lerwick would not be a war, but simply an execution.
Deciding that conversation had come to an end, Ophelia
made her way to leave, saying that when next she and the
Cardinal met, it would be not so polite. The Cardinal
informed her that this would be the last time they would meet
and that when she would go outside, she would either find
the stagecoach to take her back... or a Devil.
Ophelia left without a word, passing through the mist, and
stopped in place as she took in the sight before her: it was a
Devil indeed, the devil Strahd himself. However, it was not the
first time Ophelia had come across or faced the devil, and
was well aware of the tricks he employed. Rather than draw
her weapon immediately, she tried to discern if it was truly
him she saw. She didn’t have the chance to, as the figure of
Strahd simply raised a hand as he approached—and
darkness enveloped her.
Marked
Ophelia took out a light to reveal that she was just outside
what appeared to be the clearing she had left, with the
windmill before her. But there was something new: a mark
upon her hand in the shape of a shadowy disc, and Ophelia
knew that she had become marked for the hunt. Ophelia
returned to the party at the staging point, explaining that
there was much to discuss. Warlic identified that there was
powerful divination magic around her, and so she activated
one of the greater restoration glyphs nearby—to no effect.
Warlic cast a spell of mind blank upon her, to help suppress
the divination magic if not outright remove it, and the party
teleported back to Lerwick. As Ophelia entered through the
forbiddance laid through the town, she could feel the mark on
her hand throbbing with pain, as almost a shadowy mist
began to waft from it.
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Part 49 | The Legend of the Scarlet Prince
She and the others made their way to the Lerwick Hospital,
to see what could be done, enlisting the help of Fredrick
Lumin and Loric Aloro, newly minted member of the Lerwick
Watch. With the others assisting, Ophelia instructed Loric to
cut off her cursed hand. After some hesitation, he did so, even
channelling radiant energy into the blow to assist. It was a
clean cut, and Ophelia grit her teeth to fight off the pain.
The shadowy mark disappeared almost as soon as the
hand it was upon was removed from her person. Fredrick
immediately cast a spell of regenerate, and a new hand began
to grow from the stump of Ophelia’s former hand. But, to
Finn’s keen eyes, the threat had not abated: the mark could
now be seen within Ophelia’s left pupil. The party, rather than
now trying to cut out Ophelia’s left eye, elected to try the most
powerful magic they could muster, using the combined efforts
of Warlic, Finn, and Fredrick to remove the curse upon her.
However, after a medical examination from Finn, all the mark
did was move over Ophelia’s heart instead.
Hunting the Hunter
The party then sat back to weigh their options, pondering this
puzzle as Ophelia began to put her armor and gear back on.
It was at this point that there was a massive impact, the
sound of shorn stone, and a massive bolt tipped with shadow
as strong as steel impacted itself near Ophelia. The shadows
around the bolt dissipated, revealing a wooden bolt as tall as
Ophelia was... and just like what Finn had seen in the
drawings the Otus had shown him.
Another bolt shot into the room, tearing off another piece
of the Hospital’s wall, this time solidly impacting against
Ophelia and grievously wounding her. At this, the whole party
sprung into action, with Warlic erecting a protective sphere of
force around Ophelia to shield her from further impact, while
Fredrick took flight, carrying Finn along with him towards
the source of the firing. Ophelia, in spite of being shot, took
pursuit herself, with Warlic, Loric, and the Kazukis moving
alongside also, all of them flying out the Hospital window
between the use of flying carpets or natural flight in the case
of the Kazukis.
More bolts fired periodically as the party gave chase in the
twilight hours in Lerwick, the sun not yet risen. Eventually,
they shifted focus towards Finn, as the assailant seemed to
realize that trying to attack Ophelia further was futile, and
even with Finn’s magic and skills, he was taken to the brink
of unconsciousness. However, Kazuki’s sun lantern shone the
way forward, illuminating just who had been trying to kill
Ophelia: none other than the Cardinal himself. He shied away
from the light, moving to retreat backwards out of the radius
of the sunlight which seared and scoured his skin.
The Kazukis racing forward to ensnare him, wishing for a
forbiddance to be erected around him, but it seemed the
Cardinal had done some preparation of his own: Kazuki’s
spell failed as it attempted to overlap the forbiddance that the
Cardinal had cast previously. All the same, the party gave
pursuit, with the Kazukis and Ophelia racing forward to cut
off the Cardinal’s escape. The Cardinal raced through the
trees for cover, even as Kazuki blew intervening ones apart in
his path to open the way.
He made it to the edge when at last Ophelia caught up to
him, her eyes set and crossbow raised. She informed him that
she was here to remind him of the “hunter’s code”—and then
she shot him 10 times in quick succession, her hands
operating the crossbow at speeds scarcely possible for a
human to do. The Cardinal staggered back in the face of the
assault and fell to a knee. By all rights, no mortal could have
survived the injures he’d accrued, but the Cardinal had long
since thrown away his humanity, and he got back up to his
feet, his wounds reversing themselves before Ophelia’s eyes.
He locked eyes with Ophelia, declaring that “The hunt has
just begun,” before he touched a glyph on a nearby tree—and
disappeared out of sight. Warlic and the others caught up to
see Ophelia lowering her crossbow as she stared at the spot
the Cardinal had disappeared, the mark over her heart still
throbbing. The Cardinal had escaped, to perhaps strike out
from the shadows another day.
The party returned to Lerwick, and as Ophelia passed by
the gates, she received news that five guards already had
gone missing. It was, it seemed, as the Cardinal said. War
between Lerwick and the Court had begun, and first blood
had just been drawn...
@Doge as Warlic 20
@Finn as Finn 18
@A lingering memory. as Kazuki 20
@Luolang as Ophelia 20
@Case as Fredrick 13
@Loric | William as Loric 18
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yk0PRE4RQWn80Mt9Xf32UqJpTkh16njg/view
https://discord.com/channels/308324031478890497/343418646300852225/500043493683625986