I. Violet Leads to the Mountain Spire
For one brief instant, violet fire wrapped around the party and kept them warm.
Then it disappeared.
They stood upon a narrow mountain road beneath dark rolling clouds. Icy cliffs rose sharply around them while a blizzard ripped across the pass, driving snow and ice into their traveling clothes. To one side, the mountain fell away thousands of feet into a sea of fog.
Ahead stood a high black wall lined with spikes and crowned by statues of vultures in horned helmets. An iron portcullis barred the way, green fire humming between its bars. Beyond it rose a guard tower of white stone.
The road ended there.
The party approached the gate and found no way through. Whatever waited beyond the green fire would have to wait for another day.
Da’amir tested the flame with a torch. It burned green while within the fire, then returned to an ordinary flame when withdrawn.
At least they had heat.
Validus looked toward the night sky and, for the first time, the hunting cycle of Ravenloft was set.
A new moon.
No wolves howled in the mountains.
The night was quiet.
For now.
II. Down the Mountain
There was nowhere to go but back down.
Visibility in the blizzard was miserable, and the trail had barely been maintained. Before long the party discovered that the road simply dropped away into an eighty-foot descent.
They had rope.
What they did not have was climbing equipment.
Haleria reached into her supplies and produced a piton, purchased from Bildarth in Barovia. She began the descent, lost her footing, and dropped from the cliff. The rope snapped tight against the piton, leaving her swinging helplessly beneath the others while the wind threw her back and forth against the mountainside.
The climb became an encounter of its own.
Haleria fought for a handhold. PaK began climbing down after her. Validus fastened a second length of rope around the first and sent it sliding down so Haleria could extend her descent.
Working with one hand while clinging to the mountain with the other, she managed to tie the ropes together.
At last she slid to solid ground.
Then she looked up.
Standing above the cliffs was a goat.
A goat with three heads.
It stomped its hooves into the snow.
And prepared to jump.
III. Salazar
The beast hurled itself from the ledge and crashed into the valley below.
The party had stumbled across one of Ravenloft’s legendary creatures.
Salazar.
The three-headed beast did not fight like an ordinary animal.
Da’amir slid down the rope and fired his crossbow into the storm before closing on the creature. Haleria reached through the spirits for its weaknesses, dazzling it and opening it to supernatural harm.
PaK did what PaK did best.
He stood in front of it.
Salazar lowered all three heads and charged.
Da’amir attempted to meet the beast like a bullfighter, fishing net in hand, but Salazar crashed through the maneuver and struck with terrifying force. When Da’amir later attempted another trick within its reach, one of the goat’s heads intercepted him before he could finish, goring him through the chest and ruining the attempt.
PaK absorbed blow after blow behind his shield.
Haleria kept the party standing with Heal.
When Salazar unleashed a tremendous three-headed shriek, the sound tore through the snow and struck nearly the entire party at once. Haleria called upon the spirits restoring the wounds the blast had opened almost as quickly as they appeared.
The party slowly dismantled the beast.
Validus studied the monster, shouted threats into the blizzard and tripped it into the snow.
Da’amir, followed up on the opening and drove his rapier through one of Salazar’s necks. Another head parried his follow-up with its horns.
Still the beast fought.
Salazar surged forward once more, striking PaK, Da’amir, and Validus in rapid succession.
The party surrounded it.
Validus knocked it down again.
Da’amir attacked and missed three times, blinded by the blizzard.
Then PaK stepped forward and struck.
The legendary beast finally collapsed into the snow.
They had survived Tsolenka Pass.
Barely.
IV. The Mountain Was Not Finished
There was little time to celebrate.
The party considered harvesting Salazar properly, but the blizzard had not stopped simply because the monster was dead. They tied the creature together for transport and began moving again, dragging the carcass behind them.
Then the cold struck.
As the adrenaline faded, Validus collapsed into the snow.
Haleria immediately called upon her healing magic while the others forced themselves onward.
They could not remain on the mountain.
The storm continued to drain warmth from them as they traveled. Validus used whatever materials he had at hand, stuffing sheets of paper beneath clothing to create crude insulation while treating wounds on the march.
Hours passed.
Every delay meant more exposure.
Eventually stone and ice gave way to forest.
The blizzard fell behind them.
For the first time that night, the mountain stopped trying to kill them.
V. The Long Way Around
It was nearly three in the morning.
The party still had no intention of stopping.
A river crossed beneath the road and disappeared into marshland. The trail toward the swamp promised a shorter route, but the landscape beyond was miserable: stagnant pools, collapsed peasant cottages covered in black mildew, clouds of hungry flies, and a settlement slowly sinking into the mire.
They declined.
The snow was painful.
The swamp looked worse.
They continued along the road.
Strahd’s promise still held.
When the road might otherwise have brought the creatures of the night down upon them, none came.
He had kept his word.
The weather, however, had made no such promise.
More cold followed before the first traces of morning began staining the clouds.
From higher ground they could make out several landmarks through the fog: the dead settlement in the swamp, a great tree beneath rain, and a vineyard in the distance.
The vineyard offered the possibility of refuge.
The party refused it.
Their goal remained Vallaki.
They had the Count’s Courtesy for the night, and they intended to use every remaining moment of it.
By five in the morning the horizon had begun to brighten.
A walled settlement rested among snowy mountains behind them. Somewhere in the distance, a church bell tolled.
A lonely tower stood upon an island in a lake.
Farther away, through the trees, another lake and the distant walls of a larger settlement could just be seen.
A signpost offered directions:
Krezk.
Lake Baratok.
Vallaki.
They chose Vallaki.
Again.
VI. The House on the Hill
As morning overtook the night, the road curved through the valley.
Then another landmark emerged from the fog.
A great mansion stood high above the river upon a lonely hill. Fairy-tale turrets and battlements crowned the structure, though nearly a third of it had collapsed. An octagonal tower rose above the surviving ruins.
Thunder rolled behind it.
The house stood silent.
Like the fossilized remains of something long dead.
Nothing came to greet them.
The party kept walking.
By seven in the morning, daylight had finally extinguished the terrible night.
Vallaki was close.
They wanted nothing except to reach it.
VII. Congratulations
Just outside the town, the road produced one final surprise.
A familiar figure waited in the forest.
Rahadin.
The chamberlain sat atop a magnificent black horse whose mane and hooves burned with red fire.
He greeted them with a slow clap.
“Well done.”
Rahadin had been sent to deliver his master’s congratulations.
They had completed Strahd’s first trial.
Then he noticed the carcass they had dragged down the mountain with them.
Salazar.
One of the legendary creatures of Strahd’s hunting grounds.
Killing such a beast, Rahadin explained, had certainly gained the Count’s attention.
As a reward, he offered the party use of Lord Zarovich’s manor house while they remained in Vallaki. The property had once belonged to one of his relatives. They needed only find the von Holtz estate once inside the town.
Haleria’s attention drifted toward Rahadin’s strange steed.
Bucephalus.
Strahd’s prized mare.
The horse snorted flame into the morning air.
Rahadin prepared to leave.
There remained only one matter of business.
The hunter’s tithe.
The party had killed Salazar upon Strahd’s hunting grounds. Rahadin did not intend to rob them of their trophy or their bragging rights.
One head would suffice for his master’s mantle.
Rahadin dismounted, drew his scimitar, and severed one of Salazar’s three heads.
When the party admired the weapon, Rahadin described the curved elven blade as one of the few things he still possessed from the old world.
He cleaned the blood from it.
Then, with Strahd’s business completed, Rahadin offered one final piece of advice.
It would be in their best interest not to make such a spectacle of themselves again too quickly.
His master might become too enthralled with them.
The party promised to try.
Rahadin looked back at them.
“You will try.”
He mounted Bucephalus.
Horse, chamberlain, and Salazar’s severed head vanished together in a burst of fire.
VIII. Vallaki
At last the road entered a broad valley.
The woods receded.
Before them stood Vallaki.
A wooden palisade surrounded the gloomy mountain town while thick fog pressed against the walls as though searching for a way inside. Iron gates blocked the road.
Outside them stood half a dozen pikes.
Wolf heads had been impaled upon each.
Banners hung beneath them.
COME ONE, COME ALL!
THE FESTIVAL OF THE BLAZING SUN!
THIS SUNDAY!
CHILDREN AND ADULTS — ATTENDANCE REQUIRED!The party approached.
The guards immediately became nervous.
One leveled a crossbow through the gates.
Their attention settled on PaK.
They had already told his master that no more mongrelfolk would be admitted into Vallaki after what the last one had done.
The party objected.
The guards did not care.
The previous mongrelfolk, they explained, had caused a massacre at the orphanage only days earlier. Three children had been killed.
Then the guards turned their attention toward Haleria.
Vistani were not welcome either.
She could go around the walls to the Vistani camp.
Perhaps, one guard suggested, she could take the mongrelfolk with her.
Validus stepped forward.
These were guests of the land.
They had been invited personally for entertainment by the Count.
The guards recoiled.
“Get Izek.”
The Devil’s pawns had arrived.
Validus realized immediately what he had done.
But he did not withdraw the argument.
They were already marked for death. The only question was whether they might accomplish something before it happened.
If they were to make any difference in Barovia, they needed to enter the town.
He pleaded their case.
The Count’s Courtesy worked against him here.
But the enormous carcass dragged behind the party told another story.
They had killed Salazar.
One of the legendary beasts that plagued Barovia.
Validus’ appeal was just enough.
Heavy footsteps approached the gate.
IX. Izek
The captain of Vallaki’s guard was enormous.
Tall.
Bald.
Blue-skinned.
One arm ended in a swollen, monstrous claw.
The guards hurried to explain.
These people were the Devil’s pawns.
Izek did not care.
“Adventurers kill goat.”
That was good enough for the Baron.
The gates would open.
He would save them from the guards.
Then Izek lifted his monstrous arm.
Fire gathered within the claw.
If they caused trouble, he would burn them and all their friends to death.
The party accepted the terms.
Izek welcomed them to Vallaki and reminded them to attend the festival.
They were not to cause unhappiness.
If they did, Izek would hang them.
Or kill them.
Whichever came first.
Then he noticed Da’amir.
“Kitty cat.”
The enormous captain reached down and began petting him.
Izek liked kitty cats.
He had strangled the last one.
Da’amir reminded him of it.
Izek decided they were friends.
Then he grabbed Da’amir and began dragging him into the town.
Kitty needed milk.
The rest of the party watched their companion disappear into Vallaki behind the captain of the guard.
X. The Laws of Vallaki
The exhausted party attempted to gather themselves.
Validus thanked the guards and offered one of them money for the assistance.
The guard immediately returned it.
Taking money from the public was punishable by death.
Validus reconsidered.
Were the laws written somewhere?
Not exactly.
Perhaps Father Petrovich at the church could explain most of them.
One guard quietly admitted that even he did not know all the newer laws.
He was hired to enforce them.
Not know them.
The party asked what they should do with the remains of Salazar.
Take them to the Blue Water Inn.
Someone there would want to see them.
Haleria took PaK by the hand.
The party stepped through the gates.
After Ravenloft, Tsolenka Pass, Salazar, the blizzard, and an entire night spent crossing Barovia, they had finally reached Vallaki.