[continued from Search For The Silver Dragon, played in the same session concurrently with COS 037 - The Mourning After]
Through trial and tribulation, the Devilborn Warlock Mormeros Fayan, crossborn Sorceress Ajuni Elajoral, Gnome Artificer Tobias Villie Broadnose Cogsmith, and his Steel Defender Geronimo wandered up the Tsolenka Pass. After being betrayed by "Marcus", trapped in Barovia, saved by the mysterious Szabina Pokolytsch, and tormented by Strahd von Zarovich himself, they had somehow survived. Having left Szabina's Cabin with only their fast-depleting rations, the party found solace in each other.
Ajuni confided in Tobias that she understood his fears and doubts, but that she needed him as a brother, and told Mormeros that she needed him as well, though promised his murder if he crossed her. Tobias appointed himself and Geronimo as the "hunters" of the group since they were running out of food, but his survival skills left something to be desired; he never came back to the camp with more than handful of berries or a scorched rabbit.
Through rain and mist, they followed the pass up cold mountain ridges and back down into cursed tree-lined vales. As the road turned from gravel to mud, Mormeros noticed an outline of humans concealed against a crag wall. These forest-folk clearly feared the foreign adventurers, but Momo managed to ease their worries. Their leader spoke common, a massive bald man named Izek Strazni, and he concealed a long devilish arm. Izek explained to them that he was the guard captain of Vallaki, but had been chased out as the town burned.
Izek told them about the heroic adventurers Ghalwin of the Grove and Shakti of the Wildhunt, as well as the betrayer Atlas Atruvian, who conspired with Fiona Wachter to oust the Vallakovich family from their rightful seat. During their conversation, Ajuni clocked that he was obsessed with redheads, possibly relating to dreams about his young sister. They considered pitching Izek to join their party, as he was clearly a powerful warrior, but ultimately chose to be cautious. They did make friends with him before departing, however, and he offered them solace among the forest-folk of "Yester Hill" if they were ever in the area.
As Mormeros' environment grew bleaker, the tiefling surprisingly became more sincere. Across the fire, Ajuni saw an opportunity to interrogate him, and Momo admitted he did not understand her seemingly unconditional care for Tobias. As the youngest of six sadistic sisters, he had no trust in anyone; "everybody in my life until now has been a Marcus." The warlock doubted that they would survive their quest, but Tobias gave him a comforting waist-high hug. Ajuni established herself as something of an emotional anchor to the waylaid group, and she joined their shoulders, finally uniting the party with some degree of purpose.
Traveling the pass for nearly six days, they found that their skills had been honed along their difficult journey. As Tobias hunted with Geronimo, he began to come up with creative magical solutions in snap-decision situations. Ajuni, who had always focused on solo short-term teleportation, learned how to carry her trusted companions with her. Mormeros' fiery ruby Spellcasting Focus began emitting necrotic energy, and he found comfort in the deep shadows of Barovia, able to disappear into them at will.
They came to the Raven River crossroads as thick fog interrupted the approaching dusk, and were hailed to by a lone hunter. The man, who identified himself as Kiril Stoyanovich, was a decoy, as his hidden pack began to surround them. Werewolves and dire wolves pounced on the party; though the adventurers were well-skilled in combat, they were outnumbered. Suddenly, from the mist, a fey knight riding an elk charged straight at Kiril!
The paladin recognized the werewolf leader with his blind-sense, and demanded he stop the attack. Kiril had a PTSD-like response to seeing his torturer; he involuntarily shit himself, then commanded his wolves to flee. The party let them go, then had a tense and somewhat sassy standoff with Ghalwin and Pip. Tobias identified him as one of the Four Fires from Szabina's sister's prophecy, and Mormeros trusted Izek's word on the "hero", but Ajuni was unsure about this strange fey knight and his talking mouse.
Ghalwin told them that he was from the "previous" batch of adventurers waylaid in Barovia, and that he was the only living member of The Pack. He planned to go to the Wizard of Wines, where he supposedly had friends, and welcomed the strangers to join him.
The mists clung heavily as the sky turned dark; a new moon would after this twilight.