(Fortune / Tarot deck was placed before you completed even if it wasn't, LOL) As I said, the reading was completed but you cannot 100% understand the cards at this point although I heard some very good ideas about some of them floated around already in the group. i.e. you are making connections The sensation of stepping through a portal you would not return from manifested for each of you in some way. In the smoke and haze of the private reading chamber each of you made a choice and then in a dreamlike fugue state wandered out of Madam Eva's tent into what was now the night though you entered during daylight. Several new strangers had gathered by the fire that weren't there when you had arrived. Each looking as if they weren't too keen on letting their identity be fully known and each one looking as grim as the next. They seemed to be very sullen and you got the odd sensation they carried heavy weight on their shoulders. After some back & forth banter, they said they had stumbled upon a tool of sorts, but this tool appeared to only have a one way use. Like a type of bank account it could be deposited into but the means to withdraw from it escaped them. Until the day you showed up in camp... They said you brought the other piece of the puzzle and the knowledge and latent raw power could now be extracted. And with that, they opened a small chest with several bright purple crystals very much like the ones you'd seen prior to arriving in this place. They showed them to you and approached so you could get a better look. Only then did you realize they were quite pointy and in a gesture that at the time you may not have seen the symbolism for or similarity to, drove these purple crystals (stakes?) into your chest right about where your heart would be. At that moment you had a feeling of a tremendous surge of latent power being released as well as strange and dark visions and dreams. Some more detailed than others but all seeming grim and filled with despair. The one common thread in them all was, you are certain they are tied to the cards and fate. Whether they are realities that already exist, or may yet come to be, you couldn't be certain. Strange but somehow alluring.... yet very dark.... images flowed into your mind. Images of great wars in the heavens... (anyone look familiar in this image above?) disturbing visions of twisted realities, of blood and darkness, and of flame... After some indeterminate amount of time you were overwhelmed with the energy and lost consciousness. But not before somewhere in your fever dream hearing a strangely familiar metallic voice intoning "not able maintain control systems, higher level user override code accepted". And with that, darkness again. You awoke the next day wandered out of tents into the daylight once again and saw the Vistani gypsies going about their routine as well as the mysterious strangers from the night before. After comparing notes about the weirdness of the prior evening and the fact that just when you thought this land couldn't get anymore strange, it did! You sat down to eat and parley with the strange group gathered here. From what you learned they all seem to have gotten here by a method not unlike your own though they did not go into detail. You did get the impression from the one they simply called the Wolf because he said he'd forgotten almost everything since arrival, that he was intentionally brought here by the ruler of this land. You aren't sure of the validity of that statement but it came across that way. You figured out the three men were called, Wolf (white?), Roland, and "Steve" (read: Lucian Fenris), Though "Steve" was quick to take off his hood, he apparently is quite paranoid about anyone knowing his true name. You also found long lost Talia but she seemed very confused and frightened. After getting ready to travel again it was soon determined Talia was -very- different than the prior day. Much more so than even the significant changes others had experienced. One of the strangers introduced himself and told of an active guerilla movement, a resistance intent on freeing the land from the grip of the host of the castle. He was heavily armored and appeared to be knowledgeable about the land, its customs, inhabitants, and monsters in particular. After seeing Talia it was immediately clear to the new stranger what may be amiss. After some forceful commands for everyone to clear out of the tent he said he would need to "inspect" Talia to be certain if his theory was correct. So Talia still in a confused state complied to being groped and molested searched. It was determined she had been struck with vampirism the previous night after having wandered off alone after the encounter with the Super Friendly Kid Sisters. After some mounting tension and angst, the new stranger said he could help Talia and would make it a priority by taking her to his leader ("take me to your leader!") who would know how to best proceed. The group despite some hesitation about his rather 'direct' methods decided that having someone that was from this place outweighed the frosty intro and proceeded onwards. Vitallis pointed out a much faster path down the river and through the woods (to grandmother's house we go!). After some travel time you came upon a massive chasm with a raging river beneath a old stone bridge. You also found a cave that seemed to follow the descent of the steep drop and a rather odd landmark far in the distance to the west. You decided the cave was the better route and after some falling and sliding on the damp rocks and clearing some cave critters you emerged out onto the lake which had a plunging waterfall at the edge of it. There was something a bit odd about this lake as you found out both in the upper portion and when you descended the falls to the lower portion. A familiar ship seemed to have been landed (crash landed?) on a large rock outcropping in the middle of the lake. It had been but a week prior when you saw the ship last during that cataclysm that brought you into this realm. But this ship appeared weather worn and covered in vines and greenery. Nano estimated it had been here at least 6 to 8 months from the foliage / growth. This was a very worrying sign given the last encounter you had with the occupants of that vessel. As you pressed on in the lower portion of the river it became a dry riverbed and the reason became obvious. A piece of the ship was ejected during the landing and fell into the low river apparently being damaged? There was an odd gray ooze all about that seemed to be getting bigger as it crawled out of the riverbed. It was metallic in nature looking not unlike mercury. You scooped some of it up for??? and proceeded onwards but not before Nano informed you this gray goo was extraordinarily dangerous because it seems to consume all biological material around it and multiplies geometrically while doing so. You collected yourselves up after weighing the grave implications of an already pretty perilous situation and headed up towards the road. You managed to hit the road again just about evening and about an hour into your trip back into the deep woods you heard some familiar laughter. The children from the house in Barovia did not feel you played enough and played fairly since they just wanted to play, and you tried to hurt them. As promised though, they told the Helper Man that you had been naughty and brought him along too... And so here we are, Good times!
